By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

Here is Part 1 of my Hits & Misses of the year, a special look at the very best of WWE in 2011. As in the past, I will not be looking at individual matches or moments from this past year. Instead, I will be focusing on the wrestlers who had good years, the top feuds and storylines, and other good trends from WWE's 2011. And be sure to watch out for the 2011 Misses of the year coming soon.

2011 HITS

Dolph Ziggler: Dolph Ziggler had a very good 2011. He started the year off in a feud with Edge for the World Title on Smackdown. He and Vickie Guerrero made a good team throughout the year on both Raw and Smackdown. Ziggler has found his voice on the mic and has become one of the top bump takers in WWE. His matches have been of very high quality. He had a nice run as the United States Champion. He has flirted with the main event and as the year ends has gotten some high profile wins over some top talent, most notably Randy Orton. In fact, he found himself at the end of the year as the #1 contender for the WWE Title. He should be given a serious look as a potential top Champion in 2012. In fact, I'm predicting him as the Royal Rumble winner.

The Miz: This was a good year for The Miz. He started the year off as WWE Champion, a title that he held for several months. He had some good PPV matches along the way. He had a memorable feud early in the year with Jerry the King Lawler. He was an after thought at WrestleMania, but the fact remains that he was in the main event against John Cena, rubbing shoulders with The Rock. The middle of the year for Miz wasn't as strong. He got lost in the shuffle somewhat after losing the WWE Title. However, I did enjoy his team with R-Truth. It wasn't always good. It had some bumps, but they did make an entertaining duo. At the end of the year, he found himself back in the WWE Title picture which is a good thing.

The Rock: I felt conflicted giving The Rock a Hit for the year, but his performances (at least the live ones) were so strong that I have to. He was awesome in his first night back. He and John Cena created a ton of intrigue for a possible match heading into WrestleMania. His line saying that Cena looked like a big bowl of Fruity Pebbles was one of the best lines of the year and probably the most memorable. I was very intrigued by the idea that Rock vs. Cena was announced one year in advance. It hasn't always been great since then. It was a mistake to have him wrestle at Survivor Series, but he looked great in the match. Every time he talks, he has the fans right where he wants them. He says "boots to asses" and the fans start chanting it. It is amazing and despite some of the issues, 2011 will be remembered if for no other reason than for the return of The Rock.

Undertaker - Triple H: This was the angle of the year as far as I'm concerned. It got off to such a strong start with Triple H unexpectedly coming out to interrupt The Undertaker's return. That might be my favorite segment of the year. I loved how not a single word was spoken between the two icons yet we knew exactly what was going on. It was a great way to challenge Undertaker at WrestleMania. The angle kept going strong from there. I loved how WWE got Shawn Michaels involved. He was awesome when he couldn't tell Triple H that he thought he would defeat Undertaker. Everything was perfect, including Undertaker's Johnny Cash music. Triple H vowed to end Undertaker's streak or die trying and in my favorite match of the year (with all due respect to Cena vs. Punk), it was Undertaker who actually appeared to die to keep the streak. It was the continuation of a WrestleMania saga that started three years ago with Undertaker vs. Michaels I. The tease for a rematch was also a nice touch.

Alberto Del Rio: At the end of last year, Del Rio looked to be posed for a huge 2011 and he did not disappoint. He won the Royal Rumble and had a good match with Edge (Edge's last) at WrestleMania. He consistently gave good promos throughout the year. His rapport with Ricardo Rodriguez is always fun. His matches are always Hit or Miss. He can deliver good quality wrestling action, but he doesn't always. If he became more consistent in the ring, he would definitely be one of the best all around performers in WWE right now as his charisma, mic skills and facial reactions are top notch. He ultimately won Money in the Bank and fulfilled his destiny as WWE Champion. At the end of the year, he still found himself in the Main Event picture with a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk.

Sheamus: As I started to review my Hits & Misses from the year, I started to see Sheamus' name pop up in matches quite often, including early matches against John Morrison, Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston. And the trend would continue throughout the year, including late in the year when he had a very nice string of matches against Christian. I was excited to see him turn face and the fans have strongly responded to him as a babyface. His brutal physical style is fun to watch in the ring, and he has a good thing going with his jovial attitude (as a babyface) that can turn quickly to anger with his temper (which keeps him credible with the male audience). In 2011, he clearly justified his position as a top performer in WWE.

Christian: I was disappointed in how short Christian's reign as World Champion lasted, but Christian himself was at the top of his game this year. He had a nice moment early on when he returned from injury to surprise Alberto Del Rio at Elimination Chamber. He got a good rub from working with Edge at WrestleMania and then got a rub from taking over his position after his retirement. Christian helped carry Del Rio to some good to very good matches around this time. After being in WWE off and on for so long, he finally became World Champion. The fans responded to him. I wish WWE had given him more of a chance, but they had him lose right away to Randy Orton. That did lead to a feud that overstayed its welcome, but featured a series of very good to great matches. As mentioned above, he also had a good series of matches against Shaemus. His "one more match" mantra was very memorable too.

Little Jimmy: After a rough start to his heel turn, things quickly turned around with R-Truth's outstanding performance as a heel. He was great in his acting somewhat deranged at the fans and sometimes talking to himself. Little Jimmy became a great catch phrase. I also always laughed when he would talk about being a good R-Truth, or when he would tell the fans "don't boo me, you should be booing yourself", or when he would tell them "don't What? me!" It never translated into great matches, but R-Truth's heel work was one of the most memorable things about this past year. He is now set as a babyface to feud with The Miz in early 2012 which has some definite potential.

The Ryder Revolution: Zack Ryder accomplished something in 2011 that very few WWE Superstars have been able to accomplish - he went outside of WWE and did something on his own to make the fans notice him and forced WWE to give him a push. His "Z True Long Island Stories" YouTube show has been a sensation. It was consistently entertaining and often more enjoyable to watch than Raw. You started seeing more and more Ryder signs in the audience. He started getting Raw cameos and his role grew bigger and bigger as the summer proceeded. It was great to see. I was a fan of his going back to his work on ECW. He has a great amount of skill and the fans have responded positively to him. He has gotten quite a bit of tv exposure in the last few months of the year, culminating in his fun feud against Dolph Ziggler over the United States Championship.

Mark Henry: It started in the summer with a feud against The Big Show where Mark Henry started showing more fire than we've seen from him in his entire WWE career. If you had told me at the draft that the recently turned heel Henry would become the focus of a renewed and entertaining Smackdown, I would have laughed. But, that is what happened. Smackdown's ratings went up as the year proceeded which coincided with Henry's rise to prominence. With all the crap that was going on on Raw in terms of complicated angles involving authority figures and conspiracy theories, it was nice to see a focus on Smackdown of a strong (and well portrayed) heel Champion running through the roster. His Hall of Pain was fun to watch. It started with him destroying an audio technician by throwing him into the abyss which was one of my favorite WWE moments of 2011. Henry was great in his role and he had some solid matches with guys like Big Show, Sheamus and Orton. This is a case where the writing and the performance came together to a great effect with Henry rising to be the top heel in WWE in 2011. It is unfortunate that an apparent groin injury derailed his Title reign at the end of the year.

Cena vs. Punk: While ultimately the "CM Punk is leaving WWE" storyline was a Miss, it did have some good moments, mostly from the great mic work that Punk did leading to his first WWE Title match against John Cena. This Hit therefore is really not for the storyline of the feud, but for the quality of the matches that Cena and Punk had against each other during the Summer, including on Raw and two great PPV matches, one of which was a Match of the Year candidate. Punk and Cena do work very well together in the ring and had excellent, memorable matches carrying WWE from an in ring product this summer.

Randy Orton: I considered giving Randy Orton a Miss for 2011. This summer, Smackdown was dominated by the babyface World Champion, Orton. I gave him multiple Misses throughout the summer as I didn't buy him as a babyface. He seldom acted like one. He acted like an ass more often than not. But despite that, there were bright spots too. He and Christian had one of the top feuds of the year, largely due to their in ring abilities. Beyond Christian, Orton should be commended for his good in ring work in 2011. In addition to those Misses for seeming awkward in the role of a babyface, I gave him many Hits for his wrestling. He had good to great matches against a wide range of opponents including Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett and Dolph Ziggler. He got good reactions from the fans, so plenty of them did respond to him as a babyface, even if I didn't. Plus at the end of the year, he did seem to grow into the role more and more. He was better in his role as a face against Wade Barrett than earlier in the year, so he is moving in the right direction.

"Wrestling": This Hit is not for the quality of the wrestling in WWE in 2011. This Hit is for the word "wrestling" coming back into the vocabulary of WWE this year. It started with Punk's promos where he said wrestling and wrestler instead of Sports Entertainer. Reportedly, this is a case of Triple H's influence back stage. You still get Sports Entertainment, but more and more wrestlers and announcers are actually using the word wrestling which has been a breath of fresh air. At one point, Michael Cole even called the company World Wrestling Entertainment instead of just WWE. This shouldn't be a big deal. This should have been the norm all these years. But, it hasn't been. That word was not allowed on WWE tv for so long, I'm not even sure how long it has been. Now, it is normal and mundane to hear someone say it as it should be.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE TV Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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