Dot Net Awards: 2010 Biggest News Story

Dot Net readers voted on a variety of 2010 awards throughout January and February. The following are the poll results of the Biggest News Story category.

(1) Shawn Michaels retires at WrestleMania: 49 percent
(2) Daniel Bryan fired and rehired by WWE: 22 percent
(3) TNA Impact moves to Mondays to compete with WWE Raw: 11 percent
Others: 18 percent

Chris Shore's Thoughts: Once again, we are stuck with a semantics debate over the word "biggest." Does it mean most covered? Then I would agree with the readers and say Shawn Michaels retirement was the biggest. Does it mean most shocking? Then I would have to cast my vote for TNA moving to Monday nights to try and revive the Monday Night Wars. Is it most significant in affecting my weekly TV? The Daniel Bryan's firing would get my vote.
 
For me, I think when we talk about "biggest news," we talk about things that create waves in the industry. That's why I pick TNA's return to Thursdays as the biggest news story of the year. Moving to Monday nights certainly made headlines and tsunami type waves through the industry. At least until the rating came in. Then the conversation turned to TNA actually being able to compete. The move back to Thursdays confirmed what we all suspected: WWE cannot be knocked off from their top spot. I don't think anyone will ever try again. And that's big news.

Powell's POV: The retirement of HBK at WrestleMania 26 really did surprise me. Obviously, I knew there was a chance, but I was holding out hope that the plan was for him to beat Undertaker, which would set up a rubber match with both careers on the line at WrestleMania 27, and then Shawn would bow out. Whether you knew it was coming or not, the retirement of one of the best wrestlers in history is huge news.

The Daniel Bryan story was bizarre. WWE panicked or responded to sponsor complaints over his use of a neck tie during the Nexus beatdown. Years from now, Justin Roberts will be the answer to a trivia question thanks to Bryan. This wasn't big news to casual fans, but it was a huge story that generated a ton of online attention.

TNA's move to Monday night was huge news. There was a sense of optimism about the company, and I think a lot of online fans were hopeful that a creative shakeup would occur due to the addition of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. Sadly, TNA swung and missed on Monday nights, and the same creative issues that plagued the company are still in play once again this year.

A few readers asked why Bret Hart's return to WWE wasn't among the voting options. Technically, his return took place in January, but the news of his return came early enough that it was included as a voting option last year. It actually topped the list of top news stories in 2009, so it seemed a bit repetitive to include it this time around. I am surprised that Linda McMahon's run for the U.S. Senate didn't garner more votes.