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PWTorch Guest Editorial
By Roger Stuart, PWTorch reader

Stop the presses, Wade, because you may want to hear this. And bust out your most deadly computer viruses internet fans, because you definitely do not want to hear this and will hate me after reading on... ready? Batista is Wrestler of the Year.

An award like Wrestler of the Year should be awarded, in most fans' minds, to the proverbial guy who could have a great match with a broomstick. But if every month of the year, the broomstick looks spectacular no matter the opponent, doesn't it follow that it has to be doing at least something right?

At some point, you have to start giving the broomstick a little credit. And while it is especially ironic after the tour de force of musculature that was 2007 to be comparing "Big" Dave Batista to a broomstick, most Internet wrestling fans see closer similarities to Dave and that broomstick than to Dave and the Wrestler of the Year. Yet, despite all of the cynicism perpetuated by bloodthirsty shut-ins in mother's basements around the globe, it's quite possible Dave Batista was just that last year.

Batista [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

To understand this argument, you first have to consider the current format of WWE television. Each week, they run five hours worth of advertising / marketing in the forms of Raw and Smackdown and ECW in hopes of getting buys for PPVs. In other words, barring the one time a year gift (read: Cena-Michaels), if you're not paying $39.95 for a WWE match, you're probably not going to see anything memorable.

That puts WWE performers in a spot where they basically have their reputations defined by just a few matches and puts WWE into a spot where 12 times a year, they are in a must-deliver situation. And with the WWE talent pool suffering major injuries almost once a month, that was no small task. Enter Batista.

2007 was a year which saw the perennial internet whipping boy step up and carry the company on his genetically engineered shoulders.

WAIT! WAIT! I know there are people reading this that have leaped away from the computer to double check that their Bryan Danielson shrines haven't been disturbed by the mere THOUGHT of the heresy I'm presenting in this column. But if anyone is still reading, hear me out on this one.

First, we can all agree that except for maybe at WrestleMania, most PPV matches are kept short and sweet with a couple cute spots but for the most part are designed to be bland, leaving only main event level players allowed to shine in their matches.

So that being said, there are really only a handful of guys who can even reasonably get Wrestler of the Year consideration. Let's name them: John Cena, Triple H, Sawn Michaels, Edge, Randy Orton, Batista, Undertaker, Umaga, Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley (like it or not, he was pushed hard), Jeff Hady, Matt Hardy, and possibly Kennedy. Of those names, MOST were out for half the year due to (ahem) muscle tears. (Quick tangent: Bobby Lashley weighed like 185 in high school! I bet he has atrophied testicles that big at this point!)

Not only did Batista stay healthy all year long, he also performed. We all remember the program with Taker that effectively spanned the entire year. But in my mind, the defining moment for Batista was the match with Khali and Rey Mysterio. A five-star match it was not, indeed. But it may have been the only watchable match of Great Khali's championship reign. Sure, Rey was in the match and he helped a lot, but he was a complimentary player at best.

Batista was the key, and he brought it. He's a big man who does big man spots, but he can sell and he has tremendous charisma. Last time I checked, the latter two qualities also had something to do with being a good worker. He may not be the man of 1001 holds, but he contributed to an exciting and memorable match. For that matter, he did the same at nearly every PPV all year long.

I've never been much of a Big Dave mark, but here is the key in my mind: who has been a participant in matches the magnitude of Batista who has wrestled at more than four or five PPVs?

That's right - NO ONE! The only guy who made it through the whole year and produced exciting match after match was the inimitable Animal.

But no love in the chat rooms and no love on the message boards. No love anywhere. Why?

Because he's a big man with a big, clunky style.. .a style that works. Is it as pretty to see a spinebuster as it is to see a moonsault? All I know is it was pretty cool and looked realistic when Khali got a spinebuster.

He may not be "your guy," but this year he was your guy. For that, maybe even if you don't see him as YOUR wrestler of the year, you should give the broomstick just a small amount of credit.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

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