Wrestler of the Year: 2009

To call myself a pro wrestling fan is one of the hardest things I’ve had to come to terms with. When all of my friends grew out of it I didn’t. I’ve explained this before, but I always feel as though it needs to be reiterated. In the past several years the wrestling industry has gone from bad to worse, and as my old TNA pieces pointed out the problems with particular divisions, I had such a difficult time writing the remaining pieces I gave up completely! The company had lost so much credibility that I just couldn’t justify writing critique pieces. It’s like critiquing a third graders art project. It may be terribly painted, but it’s a third graders! In TNA”s case, it may be a terrible wrestling promotion (at this juncture) but it’s people who have no idea what they’re doing! So you have to let it slide.

But all of that being said, in my Best of 2009 series, I’d like to present my wrestler of the year. Before I do so though, I’d like to go over some runner ups.

Jeri-Show. For those that don’t know, the tag team of Chris Jericho and The Big Show. When Y2J brought out Show as his partner at the Night of Champions pay-per-view I was upset. With so many talented undercard performers like Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, Chavo Guerrero, Jack Swagger, and former partner Christian on the roster, why would he “choose” a multi time heavyweight champion instead of putting over a younger guy? The answer came in the following months as the team proved to the world exactly why tag team wrestling is great. The combination of Jericho’s incredible microphone skills and proficient ring work alongside Big Show’s size, strength and vastly underrated ring work, they just dominated. So much so that they brought the tag team titles to the main event of WWE’s TLC pay-per-view.

C.M. Punk. Punk has been a favorite of mine since he debuted a few years ago. The straight edge gimmick that he really lives is great, and can work easily as a face or heel alignment. Punk’s face run was great, becoming the first man to win the infamous Money in the Bank ladder match twice only adding to his credibility. But perhaps the most shocking and awesome move came at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view when Punk cashed in his money in the bank against Jeff Hardy after Hardy had won a grueling ladder match against Edge (fantastic match by the way, great finish). Punk slowly morphed into the manipulative heel that he is now, chastising the beer drinking audiences at live shows and converting the one time “slow” wrestler Festus into Luke Gallows, who claims everyone had him on sedatives to keep him from being himself. Punk has become one of the top heels in the company and he has done it quickly and effectively. While he has left the main event level for now, I have no doubt he’ll return to it.

Alright. To the main event.

Dave Winchell’s wrestler of the year for 2009 is Nigel McGuinness.


The shirt looks like the beer logo!

Wrestling fans shouldn’t be surprised by this call, but those that don’t keep their finger to the pulse of the industry may be a little weary about just what Nigel has accomplished in the past year.

He started the year as the reigning Ring of Honor champion, and he was a fighting champion, with a title length closing in on Samoa Joe’s record. He battled through much of the early year, and upon injuring his shoulder, STILL had a match of the year candidate against KENTA in New York City (I was there, it was fantastic).

Even after dropping the belt to Jerry Lynn, Nigel’s presence in Ring of Honor was felt. He cut promos on video wires, showed up to shows, basically did everything he could to keep his name relevant. He even took the place of Ric Flair in New York City as enforcer of a match after Flair stormed out ( I was there for that too, Nigel was on his game).

Perhaps the biggest shock came to the industry this year as Bryan Danielson signed with WWE, and Nigel followed suit shortly after. Ring of Honor is probably the number 3 federation in the country right now behind WWE and TNA, so losing its two top draws in less than a week was a devastating loss. After the announcement, ROH went on a “Final Countdown” tour that touted Danielson more than Nigel, but ended with an epic bout in New York (I did not attend that one...) between Nigel and Danielson. Ring of Honor gave them the grand finale they both deserved.

And as Bryan Danielson moved into WWE’s “before we put you on TV you’re going to have to adapt to OUR style attitude” Nigel seemed to veer off the radar. Nigel didn’t have the connections that Bryan did (he was Shawn Michaels and William Regal’s star pupil), and as if nothing happened all rumors about him seemed to fall off the face of the rumor sites all of us wrestling fans flock to.

But Nigel just couldn’t sit around, within days of his WWE rumors disappearing he reemerged, in the biggest way possible. The word had barely hit the air when Nigel signed with TNA, under the name Desmond Wolfe. But the signing wasn’t the big deal, it was the instant elevation of him, the fact that he was made a superstar in a matter of minutes after his debut. Against whom? Most big guys start their TNA run against the likes of Scott Steiner, Eric Young, Kevin Nash, anyone that can put them over, but not quite over that rope of title contender-ship. But not Nigel eh-hem, Desmond. He made his debut approaching none other than Kurt Angle and telling him just how much he respected Angle as a competitor, and within moments of shaking his hand he had him knocked out in the ring. Basically, Nigel said, “Hey WWE, you don’t want me? Well how about I go to your top competitor and make myself a star in 5 minutes.” Although he lost two pay-per-view matches to Angle, he still got his name, and his in ring abilities over in less than two months.



Rumors going around are that Nigel wouldn’t sign with WWE because of some qualm he had with the drug testing policy, and what that means about his use of drugs is beyond me, and I don’t care to know. But Nigel in TNA is the best thing for him right now.


Bobby Lashley should stick with unscripted stuff.

So, all of that being said, Nigel McGuinness a.k.a. Desmond Wolfe is easily the most dominant and impressive wrestler of the year. While his win/loss streak isn’t flawless, the fact that he created such waves in the industry is enough to make people aware of his incredible in-ring and microphone abilities.