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2007 HITS

Royal Rumble: The Royal Rumble is my favorite PPV of the year, and 2007’s Rumble did not disappoint. In fact, it was one of the best Rumbles in recent memory. The PPV undercard was pretty strong, headlined by the much better than expected John Cena vs. Umaga Last Man Standing match. But, this Hit is really for the Royal Rumble match itself. The final moments of the match, the confrontation between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker was perhaps my favorite wrestling moment of the year. Michaels vs. Undertaker is one of the few dream matches WWE can really put together at this point.

Kevin Federline: Some of the early highlights of 2007 were K-Fed’s appearances with Johnny Nitro, Melina and John Cena. He really did a great job on the mic. At the time, I said that he could easily be brought in as a full time manager, and I stand by that statement.

Jillian Hall: As I read through my Hitlists for the year, I was amazed to see that Jillian Hall’s horrible singer character started way back in February. For some reason, I didn’t realize she had been doing it for so long. I have listed her as a Hit multiple times throughout the year. I really do enjoy her performances. I was a fan of her work before this character, and this character has been an improvement, so she has had a very entertaining year.

WrestleMania: WWE’s Super Bowl has been good, but not great since WrestleMania 19. I would not put any of the last four at that level, but they have all been good, and number 23 was no different. Other than Kane vs. The Great Khali, there were no bad matches. It had a nice big event feel to it. MVP vs. Chris Benoit was the surprise match of the night. It was the first time we had our eyes opened to what MVP can do in the ring. That was the start of his great year. The Money in the Bank match lived up to expectations. The Main Event, Cena vs. Michaels was a great match. The other big surprise was what many called the best match of the show, and a true match of the year candidate, Undertaker vs. Batista. That was the start of what was easily the best feud of the year. All in all, it was a great show.

Undertaker vs. Batista: As I just mentioned, this was the feud of the year, and I’m not sure what else could even be considered in the running. They had several good to great matches. Their match at WrestleMania stole the show. They also had a great PPV Last Man Standing match. The feud got cut short earlier in the year when Undertaker got injured. Luckily, WWE was able to revisit the feud later in the year with their good, but not great Hell in a Cell match. Undertaker and Batista work very well together, and Undertaker clearly brings out the best in the Animal. I did not expect to enjoy their feud early in the year, but I was wrong.

MVP: With his match vs. Benoit at WrestleMania, and their subsequent series of good rematches, Montel Vontavious Porter finally proved he deserved a spot at the top of Smackdown’s midcard. He really was an MVP for Smackdown. The start of his VIP Lounge talk show was a lot of fun. His mic work was great all year long. His improved in ring work was great to witness. While Undertaker vs. Batista was feud of the year, MVP and Matt Hardy was the storyline of the year. Their work together came at a very low time in terms of quality on Friday Nights, so they became the best and sometimes only reason to tune in to Smackdown. It was a great 2007 for MVP, and I am greatly looking forward to an even better 2008.

The Hardys: This was a good year for Matt and Jeff. I already mentioned Matt, so I will start with him. The year came to an unfortunate early end for him as he had to have an emergency Appendectomy. But until that point, he was having a great year. As I said above, his interaction with MVP was the storyline of the year. He also had some nice moments early in the year teaming with Jeff in a feud with MNM after Joey Mercury came back from his broken nose. His involvement in Money in the Bank was good too. Clearly, Jeff had an even better year. He had some nice matches with Johnny Nitro. He has had multiple runs with the Intercontinental Championship. His matches later in the year, particularly vs. Mr. Kennedy were strong. He got constantly great reactions from the fans all year. As 2007 closes out, he finds himself in the middle of the biggest push of his career leading into his biggest career match vs. Randy Orton at the Royal Rumble.

Emergence of CM Punk: One of the only reasons to watch ECW this year has been to see the emergence of CM Punk as a legit Superstar. The earliest indication that he was getting a push was when he appeared in home town Chicago on Raw during the build to Money in the Bank. He got the biggest reaction of that segment. He had a good showing during the match itself. He ultimately had a nice feud with ECW Heavyweight Champion John Morrison culminating in his Title victory. He has unfortunately been saddled with too many matches vs. Big Daddy V, and really needs someone like Shelton Benjamin to have a great series of matches. He had a good year, but I also see him having an even better 2008.

Hornswoggle: While he has been involved in some bad moments during the year, he has been involved in more good than bad. From finally getting a name other than Little Bastard early in the year, to his Cruiserweight Title Victory and feud with Jamie Noble, to his being named Vince McMahon’s son, to his recent re-teaming with Finlay, he had a good 2007.

The Rookie of the Year: The 2007 WWE Rookie Class was very poor (more later). But, there was one who clearly stood out well above the other rookies as the unanimous choice for WWE Rookie of the Year. Santino Marella. As I scanned through my Hitlists, I noticed his name appearing in the Hit column more than any other. Now, this was far from scientific as I did not count the number of times anyone appeared. But as I relived the year, I definitely got the impression that his name came up the most. His great year got off to a less than great start with his debut vs. Umaga. His early run as Intercontinental Champion was not good. Luckily for Santino and us fans, a heel turn came and he started getting more and more mic time. Now we look forward to his appearances on Raw each week. He still has a long way to go in the ring, but whenever he gets on the mic, you know something good is coming.

Randy Orton: With injuries to just about every other top WWE wrestler, Randy Orton emerged as a very reliable Main Event performer this year. His early work with Edge in Team Rated RKO was a lot of fun. They even had a very good match on Raw which was one of the best t.v. matches of the year. He had some behind the scenes issues, and it looked like he might be on the outs with the company. But as the injuries piled up, WWE gave him a bigger and bigger push, and he responded. He had memorable feuds with Rob Van Dam, Shawn Michaels, John Cena and Triple H. Edge is the best heel in the business right now, but with him missing about four months of action, a case can certainly be made for Randy Orton being the heel of the year. He continues to show that he is very worthy of carrying the WWE Championship.

Emergence of Jamie Noble: One of the great things going in WWE at the end of the year is on Smackdown. I was a big fan of Jamie Noble during his first run in WWE. I was thrilled when they brought him back last year, but his team with Kid Cash went nowhere. It looked for most of the year that he was going to be underutilized. However, during the last few months, he really emerged as a big part of Smackdown. His mic work first with Vickie Guerrero, now with Michelle McCool has been great. He is hilarious. We also got to see him in some good t.v. matches vs. Rey Mysterio and CM Punk. His recent three victories over Chuck Polumbo have given him more in ring credibility. I look forward to seeing his continued push next year.

Return of Y2J: I had a long internal debate over whether or not to have Chris Jericho’s return on this list. Ultimately, I decided that while there has been both good and bad in his return, the good outweighs the bad, and the sheer fact that he is back is pretty much Hit worthy in and of itself. The SaveUs videos over several weeks were very intriguing and well done. Then came the fiasco of everyone (including myself) mistakenly thinking he was going to show up at a particular Raw in October. That was partially our own fault for creating the hype, but I still say WWE was partially to blame as well. His ultimate first appearance was great. His subsequent appearances leading up to his match vs. Orton at Armageddon were Hit or Miss. I enjoyed some of it, but not all of it. After a luke warm reception for awhile, the fans are starting to warm up to him more and more. I am intrigued by this feud with JBL, and look forward to having Jericho back for the entire year in 2008.

Start of Flair’s Sendoff: After some early great work with Carlito on Raw, Ric Flair got lost in the shuffle after being drafted to Smackdown. After walking away from the company over frustrations about his lack of a push, Flair luckily worked things out with WWE, and is poised to have a very good sendoff to his career. The win or your fired stipulation got off to a great start about a month ago, and has been followed up nicely. Flair is getting the respect that he deserves and is responding with good performances.

15th Raw Anniversary: The special anniversary edition of Raw was a very fun show, especially for long time fans like myself. I loved seeing the old video footage of the best moments in Raw History. There were Misses mixed in with the Hits, but on the whole, it was a good show and a very fun trip down memory lane.

Tribute to the Troops: I can find fault with this show. The few clips of wrestlers entrance videos (Jericho and DX for example) were unnecessary. I could have done without the Raw Rebound. I also could have done without Vince McMahon’s self congratulatory speech which made it sound like WWE is the only entity in the country that supports the troops. But, the show has become a great tradition. It seemed like the actual wrestling quality was higher than in past years. The tone of the show is very good and meaningful. The video packages of various visits with the troops are always well done. The one focusing on the mess hall that was destroyed by a suicide bomber a few years ago was particularly touching. Regardless of how one feels about the war in Iraq, it is safe to say that the vast majority of Americans support the troops, and seeing them have a great time with the WWE Superstars is very touching.

2007 MISSES

The Donald: While there were some nice moments involving Donald Trump during the build up to WrestleMania, his storyline with Vince McMahon ultimately lands as a Miss for the year. His first appearance on Raw was good, as were some of the fun “Tale of the Tapes” comparing him to McMahon. But starting with the Trump vs. Rosie “match” (one of the worst segments of the year), Trump’s involvement with the WWE was not very good. His first performance was strong, but subsequent performances were weak. Bobby Lashley’s push into a top feud with Vince McMahon was far from compelling t.v. His work with Trump did nothing to help out. Trump’s Stone Cold Stunner Bump was very bad. The shave your head gimmick is one of those wrestling mainstays that should go far away.

Lack of 4 Star Matches: When thinking back on the best WWE matches of 2007, it might take you a long time to come up with a good top 10 list. Three WrestleMania matches stand out, as do rematches from two of them. But, there isn’t a lot to look back on fondly. That isn’t to say that there weren’t a lot of good matches, or even very good matches, because there were. But, there were very few great matches. Part of the problem were the injuries to many of the top workers on the roster. Rey Mysterio missed most of the year. Triple H missed over half of the year. Shawn Michaels, Edge and Undertaker all missed significant time. Chris Benoit killed himself halfway through the year. Before his death, he was involved in a nice feud with MVP that helped develop MVP into a better worker, but resulted in good, not great matches. Rob Van Dam left the company halfway through the year. There were also injuries to the second tier of the roster who you don’t expect to turn in consistently great matches, but are capable of doing so with the right opponent. I’m thinking about Cena and to a lesser extent, Lashley. On Raw that left good, not great workers carrying a huge load - Orton, Kennedy, and Umaga. On ECW, without RVD or Benoit, that left younger talent like Punk, Morrison, and Burke, all capable of having great matches in the future, but all still developing and not there yet. On Smackdown, without Edge, Mysterio or Undertaker in the middle of the year, it left Batista, Kane and The Great Khali alone at the top of the card, not a recipe for 4 Star Matches. There are plenty of wrestlers on the roster capable of having great matches, and hopefully they will all remain healthy in 2008 and can provide more memorable individual matches for next year.

ECW: ECW had an up and down year, but the downs outweigh the ups. I enjoyed the New Breed vs. ECW Originals feud early in the year. But at that same time, the ECW Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley wasn’t even featured on ECW. After the nice feud came to an end, after RVD left the company, ECW really faltered and was hurt by the biggest name on its roster killing himself. John Morrison did an admirable job stepping up, but he was never a very credible Champion. There have been some better matches lately, but those memories are overshadowed by the memories of Big Daddy V vs. Kane. When the show was so bad that I was hoping it would not get picked up for another year, it is easy to put the show as a whole in the Miss column, even though it has been better lately. There are some nice signs that it won’t be in the Miss column next year, but only time will tell.

“The Condemned”: The constant hype this Spring for Steve Austin’s movie on Raw, ECW and Smackdown was very tiresome. I gave it a Miss multiple times on all three shows. Sadly for WWE Films, the hype didn’t do much to help the success of the movie which bombed at the box office. Luckily, the hype for the dvd was much better due to Santino’s involvement.

2007 Rookies: Speaking of Santino, as I said above, he is by far the Rookie of the Year. Even in a better year, he would be a likely choice, but in this terrible year for rookies, he was an easy choice. Here’s a list of the other WWE wrestlers who debuted in 2007: Deuce & Domino, Cody Rhodes, Harry Smith, Jesse & Festus, The Major Brothers, and Drew McIntyre. I believe that is everyone, and it is not an impressive list. My readers know that I have been less than thrilled with Deuce & Domino and don’t think either is good. Cody Rhodes has been up for almost half the year and has shown little other than a name. Harry Smith has only made a few appearances, but his short stint in WWE has been marred by a Wellness Policy suspension. Jesse & Festus get good reactions, but I am not a fan of their work. I think Festus’ gimmick is very overrated by people, including other writers on PWTorch. The Majors have been boring so far, and while they have a chance to succeed in their new personas with Edge, only time will tell if 2008 is better for them than 2007. Drew McIntyre has had too few appearances to judge, but if he were really that good, he would have been on more since his debut in October. Throw in Vladimir Koslov’s numerous ringside interviews before his disappearance early in the year, and I think most would agree that this was not a good year for debuting Superstars.

Cruiserweight Championship: This was also not a good year for the now-defunct Cruiserweight Championship. Then again, when was a good year for it? Hornswoggle winning it was a funny joke, but a joke nonetheless. There are some Cruiserweights who are getting a nice amount of air time, but the division has ceased to exist, and ended on a rather weak note.

Return of Triple H: Triple H was injured very early in the year and missed 8 months of action. He was one of the most popular babyfaces in WWE when he got hurt, and you would expect his return to be a huge deal. However, WWE botched his return by having his first appearance be a match vs. King Booker who was feuding with Jerry “The King” Lawler at the time. Yes, Booker made multiple disparaging remarks about The Game, but that was not nearly enough of a build for his return match. Having him come out unexpectedly would have been a nice surprise to help build to his first match back. Keeping him out of matches until then would have still helped sell the PPV while doing more to make his return seem special.

Tag Teams: This was a down year for the tag teams in WWE. There are talented teams on the roster like The Worlds Greatest Tag Team, London & Kendrick, and even Cade & Murdoch. But who are the Raw Tag Team Champions? Oh yeah, Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly. Sure, Cade & Murdoch spent most of the year as Champs, but they were never heavily featured, and other than a short feud with London & Kendrick, they were mostly involved in feuds with lesser talented teams like Cryme Tyme and the Highlanders. On Smackdown, Deuce & Domino dominated much of the tag team division. The end of the year got better with MVP & Hardy holding the belts, but that only underscores the lack of quality regular teams on the roster.

The Great Khali: I called him the most undeserving World Champion in WWE history (with the exception of the brief time when Vince McMahon held the WWF Title). He was heavily featured at the top of both the Raw and Smackdown rosters. He had Main Event PPV matches on both shows against guys like Cena and Batista. He was a major part of WWE programming, which is great for his career, but bad for the viewers. He was too heavily involved, and that involvement landed him in my Miss column many times throughout the year.

Vickie Guerrero: Like Khali, Guerrero had a good year for her career, which ended up bad for the viewers. She is just bad at what she is asked to do. Her friendship with Krystal and their apparent conspiracy against Teddy Long the first half of the year never went anywhere. Her sudden rise to power and the ridiculous way she is now in charge of Smackdown has not been fun to watch. I am just not a fan of her work, and she has had a prominent place on Smackdown’s roster for most of the year which is unfortunate.

Authority Figures: Vickie’s place as GM of Smackdown is the final example of how this was a bad year for authority figures in WWE. Raw spent half of the year with no official authority figure. The show was run by either Vince McMahon or Jonathan Coachman. It was bad to have the inconsistency of not having an official GM. Plus, as I have complained multiple times, the 100% heel authority figure that McMahon and Coach play is over done. Finally, Raw got a GM with William Regal, who is good at the job, but he hasn’t done anything to establish his power. McMahon is still in charge, so it is a joke to even have Regal as the GM. ECW also spent much of the year without an authority figure. There were so many times that I tried to figure out who was running the show and booking the matches. Armando Estrada was named the GM, but he hardly has appeared since then. Teddy Long had a good, but not great year as Smackdown GM, but now we have Vickie Guerrero once again playing the traditional heel GM.

Brand Co-mingling: There was so much interaction between the brands all year long, that it never once felt special or different or interesting when it occurred. It just happened way too often. Now there is even a built in constant brand interaction between ECW and Smackdown to the point where there is little reason to even have them have separate rosters at this point. With all of that co-mingling, you would think that would be enough for WWE. But it isn’t, as there were plenty of examples during that time period of Smackdown stars like Khali showing up on Raw. WWE can’t build to a meaningful inter-brand match at WrestleMania, as they haven’t kept the brands separate enough to make it special.

Vince Blows Up: The award for Worst Storyline of the Year has to go to Vince McMahon faking his own death. Now, if the real life Benoit tragedy had not happened to interrupt the fake McMahon is dead storyline, who knows where the plot would have gone? But, it was far from good while it lasted. It was in poor taste to mimic the real life memorials to deceased wrestlers like Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero with a fake memorial to Vince McMahon. WWE could have played it up for camp value, but instead took a somber mood which was not fun. It was disrespectful and just plain not enjoyable to watch.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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