It’s hard to be awesome all the time, we all eventually have our downfall. Sometimes you awkwardly stick your leg out at the Academy Awards, sometimes you lose a lot of wrestling matches, being awesome is a gift and a curse. 

The Miz has already accomplished far more in WWE than anyone ever thought he would before the draft in 2009. When Miz & Morrison split up, it was because Morrison was going to become a singles star and Miz was going to be the guy that Big Show knocks out in one punch. Okay, bad example, but the fact is, no one expected this meteoric rise from The Miz and he did it by overcoming all the doubters. The doubts may be back, but this is just another bump in the road for the Awesome One.

Yes, he’s on a losing streak, yes he got crushed by Big Show and no, he doesn’t have a WrestleMania match—but let’s just look back one year. This time last year, Sheamus got destroyed by a returning Triple H, got bumped off the WrestleMania card and only had two PPV appearances between Elimination Chamber and SummerSlam. Do you remember anything significant Sheamus did in that period last year besides almost murdering Sin Cara?

But a quick face turn later, Sheamus is one of the most beloved figures in the company, won the Royal Rumble, and is poised to win the World Title at WrestleMania. He’s not quite at that level of mega star, but that’s the same problem Miz is facing right now: they’re both in a place where they can be bumped down the card. In fact, that’s pretty much a problem any main eventer they’ve created since 2006 is facing—they’re not at that level.

What is that level? Remember last week when Punk told Jericho, “you’ve never really been the man, the way that I’m the man, have you?” It’s kinda like that. Punk is arguably the first guy since Edge to get to that level and it happened three years after his first World Title reign. That’s a problem for WWE, but it’s because they still have their safety net.

I’m not faulting WWE, but every year at WrestleMania time, they find a way to not have to make someone a true blue, top tier guy. WM24 was a solidifying performance for Edge, he got to headline a WrestleMania in the real main event match and it could no longer be argued that he wasn’t a top guy, even if he’d already been a multiple-time World Champ. Orton was a bust in that role the following year, but it’s okay because he was mostly established and everyone remembers that show solely for HBK vs. The Undertaker. The next year, they knew not to take the risk and let those two guys headline. Last year, it could’ve been a star making performance for The Miz, but just to be safe, they threw The Rock in there too. And just like WM26, they know to play it safe this year and just let Cena and Rock headline, the title matches are secondary… hell, they’re even behind Triple H vs. Taker.

Making new main eventers is easy, but it’s incredibly difficult to get guys on that level. Whether it’s Miz, Sheamus, Punk, Bryan, Del Rio, Ziggler, Swagger, Henry or anyone else that’s captured their first World/WWE Title in the last four years, they’ve all hit (or will hit in Bryan’s case) that rough patch because they’re not on that level. It’s not their fault. They can fill roles down the card because WWE can fall back on Cena, Orton, Undertaker, Triple H, Kane, Mysterio, Jericho, Big Show, and now even The Rock for main events, especially around WrestleMania. Until those guys cease to be viable options for big match situations, which is going to be soon for a many of them, the younger stars can’t climb up to that level. 

Bringing it back to The Miz, he’s just the latest in a long line. I remember Sheamus was buried last year when Triple H Pedigreed him through the announce table and Kevin Dunn supposedly “didn’t like his look.” Punk was buried in 09 when he was demoted to IC Title range and teaming with Kofi Kingston. Bryan was buried when he was on NXT, when he got fired, when he never got to defend the US Title, with the Bellas…you get the point.

Guys hit slumps, sometimes they bounce back (Sheamus, Punk), sometimes they don’t (Kennedy, Morrison), but it’s too early to make the call on The Miz either way. WWE obviously sees value in him, otherwise he wouldn’t be one of the five people they allow to talk to the mainstream media on a regular basis. He has a presence that you can’t learn in a ring or in any acting class, and that carries serious weight with WWE. I’m quite confident he’ll bounce back after WrestleMania, but don’t be surprised if he drops down again next year in favor of Stone Cold’s triumphant return. 

What? A guy can dream, can’t he?

Razor is a regular contributor to Fair to Flair and the founder of Kick-Out!! Wrestling. It’s pretty difficult to miss him on Twitter, trying to be clever in 140 characters or less. You can also check out Kick-Out’s Facebook and Tumblr pages, because there just aren’t enough social networking sites out there.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul.

The Rock & John Cena v. The Miz & R-Truth at Survivor Series 2011 is discussed by Jason Mann  and Alex Torres of Failraiser.  They talk about the strengths and weakness of the Rock-Cena story in 2011 heading to WrestleMania 28, how Rock and Cena have each been insufferable louses at times, how fun the Awesome Truth were together, and Alex’s experiences attending this show in person.

Download this episode of Wrestlespective Radio. Do it for the children.

Okay, I’m going to level with you. I thoroughly enjoyed Money in the Bank. If you don’t believe me, read my review of it over at my other blog. There were no fewer than four strong candidates for Match of the Year, let alone Match of the Night. That’s what made my decision for this week’s installment that much harder. Do I go with the Smackdown Money in the Bank, with one of my two favorite active wrestlers in the world claiming his biggest prize in the big leagues yet? Is my choice Christian and Randy Orton putting in yet another in their series of outstanding matches, telling a story about outwitting and losing one’s temper? Was it the main event, where an unlikely hero did battle with a reluctant villain in what many others are calling the best match in quite some time?

After much soul-searching and consideration, I had to go with the Raw version of the match that gave the event its name. How could I not? Sure, the narrative was overtaken by John Cena and CM Punk, and the two delivered in a huge way — more huge than even I could have imagined. However, how could I ignore what could have been the best Money in the Bank ladder match of all-time, maybe even the best ladder match ever? I couldn’t. That’s why my potentially controversial pick for match of the week is the Raw Money in the Bank Match: The Miz vs. Evan Bourne vs. Alex Riley vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. R-Truth.

I knew that something special might happen when all the participants grabbed ladders on their way to the ring. When everyone got there, it was a scene out of a movie. All eight men stood, ladders cocked like shotguns. The atmosphere was tense. It was about as close to a Mexican standoff as one could get without arming wrestlers with live firearms. However, the hate-filled stares wouldn’t stay fixed on random targets for long, as soon, del Rio, the prohibitive favorite in the match as laid out by the WWE’s narrative in the last six months, fell under a heap of blows from aluminum ladders wielded by the other combatants. For a moment, the cause was singular, but the solidarity wouldn’t last.

From there, the match devolved into the free-for-all that these kinds of matches are known for. There were high spot s… boy were there high spots. At one point, there was a gathering of combatants out of the ring on the floor. On one turnbuckle climbed Mysterio. The other, Kingston. They both flew into the throng, knocking them over like bowling pins. Of course, not to be outdone, Bourne saw that, thought “pfft, amateurs” and then, as the crowd reassembled, climbed upon one of the ladders situated in the aisle before leaping with a shooting star press, taking out the masses again.

While that might have made any other Money match, these eight men weren’t nearly finished creating memories with aluminum and flesh. As Miz and Bourne jousted on the ladder, del Rio sneakily came up beside them and tipped their ladder over. Miz would fall to the floor, clutching his knee and seemingly dash his hopes for a repeat briefcase. Kingston used the ladder as a springboard on more than one occasion. Mysterio found new and inventive ways to give people swinging double kicks to the face. del Rio tried to emulate his smaller, Mexican brethren by flying to the outside, only to smash his face into the announce table.

But all of it paled to what would happen at one point near the end of the match. In a spectacle that I myself had never seen before₁, the seven remaining competitors started scaling ladders simultaneously, each jostling for position, hands raised in the air, grasping at a swaying briefcase like it was the last bit of potable water in the middle of the Sahara. There were many things that WWE has done, both in match action and in promos or storyline tropes, to try and drive home how important the briefcase is. All of those devices paled in comparison to the world’s most dangerous mosh pit. That visual to me represented the desire to be a future champion, that these men would risk falling 20 feet on unsteady footing just to grab a briefcase.

Then, each man would start to fall. One by one, they were eliminated from the fray at the top until no one was left. No one but The Miz, that is. As the crowd had just started to settle down from the standoff at the top of the ladders, they exploded again for the former WWE champion and last year’s match winner to hop down to the ring on one leg, scurrying to the ladder, feeling like he’d be only the second man in history to win two straight Money in the Bank matches…

…but then he was thwarted by Mysterio, who took Miz out of the match again with a beautiful sunset flip powerbomb. The oft-maligned but still relatively spry Rey took to the ladder, looking as if he would win. He scaled the ladder, looking like he’d take the briefcase…

…but he’d lose his mask at the hands of del Rio, who swooped in from the side. He swiped the mask, threw a covering-his-face Rey off the ladder and claimed his prize. The man who was the target of an attack based in uncharacteristic synergy at the match’s beginning was the one left standing at the end, the veritable cat that ate the canary. It turned out the rest of the competitors were right to try and eliminate the man who has proclaimed it to be his destiny to become WWE champion. It didn’t work…

…but you already knew that.

1 - Forgive me, but I’ve never seen the following Money in the Bank ladder matches: Edge’s win, RVD’s win, CM Punk’s first win. If you don’t want to be my friend anymore, I’d completely understand.

TH writes The Wrestling Blog and broadcasts The Wrestling Podcast. You can find him on Twitter, or at various other spots around the Internet. He also loves Chikara, and quite frankly, thinks you should too.

Edited by Jason Mann.

Jason Mann and Don Owens of Future Endeavors review WWE’s Capitol Punishment 2011. They discuss R-Truth’s insanity, how it fit into his match with John Cena, strong efforts again from Christian and Randy Orton and CM Punk and Rey Mysterio, creative storytelling in The Miz v. Alex Riley and Alberto Del Rio v. Big Show, and much more.

Download this episode of Wrestlespective Radio (right click and save link as).

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There are cries from a few corners of the fandom that call for there to be more realism in the art, to make things look like a more legitimate form of fighting. I have to wonder whether those people have ever seen a real fight, i.e. a MMA match. Either they’re already MMA fans and miss the entire point about wrestling, they’re somehow brainwashed into thinking that mainstream acceptance (i.e. not being fake) will make it cool to be a wrestling fan in the eyes of others or they have some other perverse reason why they want wrestling to still be real to them, dammit₁.

That’s why I always find it funny when cries from those same fans come up reveling in calling out wrestlers for obvious botches, like they expect every move to look perfect and clean and crisp. That’s an awfully funny set of paradoxical standards. On one hand, everything’s supposed to look realistic, but on the other, if there’s any hint of a guy flubbing a move, it’s the end of the world. I mean, have these people ever watched someone fight for real? It’s the opposite of crisp and clean.

Granted, botches can look bad and be bad at times. I mean, it was a botched running powerbomb that sent Droz to an early retirement via wheelchair. Botched piledrivers led to Ricky Steamboat and Steve Austin ending their active careers. Those kinds of things are filed under “S” for “Shit Happens”, but they’re still the kinds of things that pro wrestling can do without. What happens when it’s something benign, like maybe slipping on a rope, or mistiming a move? Well, there’s no definitive answer to that hypothetical question. It all depends on how the botch is handled.

I’ll give you two examples of some pretty high-profile botches in WWE in calendar year 2011. The first is an example of the two wrestlers handling it right. The Miz was wrestling Daniel Bryan on RAW, back when both guys still had their respective Championships. Miz had Bryan in the electric chair position₂, and clearly, the intent was that the Awesome One would pull off some kind of offensive maneuver. However, there was a miscommunication (some online accused Miz of sandbagging Bryan, which I thought ludicrous, but whatever), and the move fell apart. Rather than making it look bad, they improvised, with Bryan segueing from being the victim to making it look like a clever counter into a rear naked choke. It turned a bad moment into something that really enhanced the match. Later on, Miz was able to hit the electric chair spot, and all was well with the world.

Contrast that with Sin Cara’s first WWE match against Primo. The finish was scheduled to be a Spanish Fly, or a top-rope backflip Rock Bottom, but before he could hit the move, Cara fell to the floor. We learned it was a botch, not because of the action of Cara falling from the top, but because of how they handled it afterwards. There was an awkward stoppage in action, with Cara and Primo looking at each other like something was wrong. Primo just sat there and waited for Cara to get back to the top to finish him off rather than improvising something to make it look like more of a planned spot. It totally killed the match, and it had people rightfully crying about a botch that really detracted from what turned out to be an otherwise decent tilt.

So, it’s not so much the act of botching itself, but it’s the handling of it that will make or break a wrestling match or even a promo. So why don’t some people look at the whole picture when analyzing this sort of thing? Do we blame our inner nature to point and laugh? Can we blame the mutants at the ECW Arena for starting the trend by chanting “YOU FUCKED UP! YOU FUCKED UP!” at obvious botches? Actually, I’m far less interested in assigning blame than I am at fixing the problem of our waiting-for-a-car-crash-at-NASCAR attitude towards it.

Believe me, handling a botch correctly adds far more of this mythical “realism” to the product than anything else. Besides, I’m not entirely sure that I want to watch a product where they don’t Irish whip people any more, or where body slams become more of a deadlift competition than a wrestling move. However, I will thoroughly enjoy it when guys like Bryan, Miz and others think on their feet and turn lemons into lemonade. That kind of “realism” is welcome in my wrestling any day.

1 - Point of reference, because this vid is never not funny.

2 - For those who aren’t familiar, the electric chair position is when one guy is sitting on the other guy’s shoulders, like if they’re getting ready to play “chicken”. This set-up is most commonly used for the Road Warriors’ Doomsday Device.

TH writes The Wrestling Blog and broadcasts The Wrestling Podcast. You can find him on Twitter, or at various other spots around the Internet. He also loves Chikara, and quite frankly, thinks you should too.

Edited by Jason Mann