Revolution in Review

Happy New Year MPW fans! It’s been my honour to have been a witness for you all to the 2011 Revolution in Canadian pro wrestling, and it’s twice the honour to have been asked by MPW management to select the Monster Pro Wrestling top matches of 2011. So pull up the edge of your ringside seat and I’ll warm up the spotlight for the strongest, fastest, most hilarious, and the singularly most profound action of the year:

“Mr. Intensity” Mark Posey v Spooky Bonanza; Christmas Cheer, December 3rd

Mark Posey has had an incredible run as Heavyweight Champion, holding the title for the entire year despite huge threats from Massive Damage and Jack Hammer. In the last show of the year, Mark felt the need to celebrate in the ring with his Greatness on Demand cronies. But then Spooky Bonanza shows up, and Nino immediately sanctions a match, and Posey finds himself falling into a Spooky funhouse of insanity and humiliation. But Posey is still at a champion level and regathers himself until a pink-hooded stranger runs into the ring, and rips off Spooky’s mask! The revelation of the person under the mask leaves Mark Posey in what must seem to be an unending nightmare!

Greatness on Demand (“Mr. Beefy Goodness” Vance Nevada/Adam Ryder/Melisha) v Fast’n'Furious (Sexy Samantha/Jack Hammer/Sonic Insania); Showdown, April 7

Mark Posey’s cronies were a big asset in helping him keep gold around his waist, and this match is a microcosm of how effective that faction is. Vance Nevada is a two-decade heavyweight veteran, but doesn’t have the raw power of a Jack Hammer. Sonic Insania has reached heights in his rookie year that Adam Ryder can only wish for. Sexy Samantha’s the leader in the women’s ranks of western Canadian wrestling, and got a big boost from an upcoming marriage to Massive Damage, while Melisha’s been spending more time bitching in everyone’s ears than backing it up in the ring. Yet, together G.o.D. knows how to put their collective assets to work in a unified direction, while the overwhelming talent in the opposite corner struggles to find focus. I wish someone would finally take their arrogant butts down a peg, but if they keep clicking like this I can’t say I see it anything other than a long G.o.D. domination in 2012. (And take note of Wrestling Legend Bob Leonard hosting the match.)

Phil Lafon v Kyle Sebastian; Fusion, February 5

Phil Lafon has waged a campaign of relentless intimidation over his peerless international career, and had ended 2010 with downright disrespectful destructions of several neophyte journeymen. When rising international star Kyle Sebastian calls Lafon out over his bullying ways, Lafon goes ballistic on the fans, on the ref, on the security detail, and especially on Kyle. But the eventual Future Legend finds a way to get his point across. This was the match that turned Phil Lafon’s whole year around, that led him to take on a new ward and partner in Sonic Insania, and in turn how Phil found redemption and rejuvenation that has been a delight for the MPW fans.

Nite/Chris Perish v “Wild Child” Tyler James/Kyle Sebastian; Tag Team Gold Rush (semifinals), April 2

Nite has been the chaotic catalyst in Monster Pro Wrestling for the last several years. First selling out his former tag champion partner Tyler James in a master tactical push for the MPW Provincial Championship, then taunting and aggrivating TJ to the point of insanity, provoking TJ to run in on Kyle Sebastian’s shot at Nite’s belt. The tag team gold rush tournament was convened the very next show, and the only available partners Tyler and Kyle could find for a champion run was each other. This was a powderkeg begging to explode from the start. And when James and Sebastian draw Nite and factionmate Chris Perish in the tournament semifinals, the rivalries threaten to tear everything apart.

Nite v “Wild Child” Tyler James v “Tattooed Terminator” Massive Damage; R.I.P.Tribution IV, November 5

The previous year’s R.I.P.Tribution III event featured an incredible Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match between Nite and Massive Damage, and MPW management slotted an insurgently-superior rematch in tribute number IV in November, adding “Wild Child” Tyler James and a recently-regenerated MPW “Ripper” Hardcore Championship shiny to the mix. After the extremes in brutality these superstars brought to this match I’m not sure the provincial commission would extend its sanction for any of them to do another rematch in 2012′s tribute number V. See for yourself:

The MPW roster let it all out in 2011, and here are my best-of-category picks:

MPW Heavyweight Wrestler of 2011 Mark Posey

Hard to argue against a full-year’s reign with the belt. Massive Damage and Jack Hammer had huge campaigns in 2011, (and Massive Damage also arguably landed the biggest prize in an April Vegas wedding), but “Mr. Intensity” turned them both away from the belt. Posey’s faction partner Vance Nevada also had a solid year plus a big Money in the Bank win in December. However, Posey’s run was a quantum level above everyone.

MPW Provincial Wrestler of 2011 Nite

Much like Mark Posey, Nite’s unimpeachable run as Provincial champion locked up this recognition even before the phenomenal victory in the TLC hardcore championship. Kyle Sebastian showed limitless talent but an injury limited his 2011 results, Tyler James was perhaps the most powerful wrestler on the roster but stumbled over his ego too much, and Taylor Stone made a red hot push into the big leagues but hasn’t yet figured out the Morningstar Mercenaries puzzle to break through.

MPW Breakthrough of 2011 Sonic Insania

Taylor Stone pushed himself to the brink of greatness in 2011, but couldn’t quite cross that chasm. Meanwhile Sonic Insania boomed onto the MPW scene after being hand-selected by Phil Lafon from the MPW school to be his new ward and partner. Kyle Sebastian broke through to earn the tag team belts in the first half of the year, but injuries had him letting his partner down and dropping the belts to Sonic and Phil. Nite’s clutch of the hardcore gold and Vance Nevada’s masterplan for the Money in the Bank contract were big moments in this category too, and wrestlers like Insane Irishman, Michelle Starr, Adam Ryder, and Bonecrusher made their own splashes. Yet nobody evolved from so little to so much as Sonic Insania evolved this year.

MPW Invasion of 2011 Sarita

TNA Knockout Sarita is in my eyes the easy choice for the year’s Invasion nod, with an impressive win over Sexy Samantha in April. Team Impact (Robbie Royce & Anderson Tyson Moore) took then-tag-champs Kyle & TJ to the limit, and Principal Pound came an inch away from stealing the Heavyweight Division #1 Contender from Massive Damage. Newcomer Matt XStatic briefly but exhilaratingly had Vance Nevada on the run. Kenny Doll courageously tried a second invasion of MPW after his first attempt in 2010 was nearly eaten up alive by a bully-mode Phil Lafon. But no one had the impact that Sarita had on the fans.

MPW Best of 2011 Nite

This category is a two-man race between Mark Posey and Nite. But Nite’s completely-stunning November win of a second belt edges him over the top. Meanwhile Posey and G.o.D. have struggled to get any footing on the tag belts or much else in 2011 (though Vance’s Money in the Bank win is a good step forward). Until someone can find a way to break Nite’s grip on the company, the alpha position is Nite’s to lose.

On behalf of the MPW ring crew, thank you all for supporting Monster Pro Wrestling in 2011. Looking back it has been a war of a year, and amazing for a wrestling fan like me to witness. 2012 is shaping up to be a real apocalypse starting with Heartless on January 14th. I can’t wait!

Monster Pro Wrestling; Pro wrestling the way it should be.

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