The Roderick Toombs Award - Best Performer on the Microphone in 2011

This award honours the performer who has consistently cut the best promos, made the best speeches, given the best interviews and generally used his microphone time in the best manner. Named after Roderick 'Rowdy Roddy Piper' Toombs, one of the most electric, explosive and outstanding verbal talents ever.

Last Year's Awards:

Winner - The Miz

1st Runner Up - CM Punk

2nd Runner Up - Wade Barrett

WINNER - CM PUNK

"Pipe Bomb!" CM Punk's catchphrase is supposed to indicate that a microphone in his hands becomes a dangerous entity, because he will say anything and everything that comes to his mind. And boy, did he ever in 2011. It is impossible to summarize the number of deliciously shocking things he said on the microphone in the year, from calling Triple H 'Paul Levesque' to telling Vince McMahon to his face that he had no idea what his audience wanted to using WWE-banned words like 'professional wrestler'. The one thing that was constant throughout was the command that CM Punk had over the microphone. He is one of the few performers who has mastered the art of controlling a crowd with his words. He was booed more than anyone else as a heel, and then cheered more than anyone else as a face. Most importantly, he spoke from his heart than from a script. To illustrate Punk's enthralling mastery of the mic, I could give you Youtube links to his now-legendary worked shoot from the 27 June Raw, his face-off with Triple H or his contract signing with John Cena and Vince McMahon before MITB. But I shall instead talk about an almost insignificant promo from Smackdown a couple of months ago. CM Punk was on the show as a special attraction, and Christian told him "Take your pipe bomb and leave. Nobody wants you here." Punk cartoonishly drooped his face, slumped his shoulders, said "Gee, nobody wants me? Guess I'll go back to Raw." and began trudging out of the ring. This was clearly a rare instance of Punk working with a script by the writers, the sort of corny rubbish that would have made you want to stone John Cena if he had said it. But guess what? Punk hit just the right tone, had just the right expressions and made that one line work like nobody else currently in WWE could have. The crowd ate it up. That is how great CM Punk has become.

1st RUNNER UP - THE MIZ

I would argue that The Miz was the best performer on the mic for the first quarter of the year, in the months leading up to Wrestlemania. The Rock and John Cena may have been trying to one-up each other throughout and made bigger splashes with some grand speeches and segments, but no one was more consistent with his promos than The Miz. He alternated between sarcasm, arrogance, intensity, aggression and crowd-bashing effortlessly. Since Wrestlemania, he lost momentum and was shunted out of the spotlight (for no fault of his own). As a result, he may not have been given much to say, but he still made every opportunity on the microphone count - which is more than can be said for most wrestlers. Whether it was his 'conspiracy' rants in his stint with R-Truth or simply in a ridiculous segment to promote a Subway sandwich, Mike Mizanin was always making the most of talk time.

2nd RUNNER UP - CODY RHODES

Cody Rhodes is one of the most interesting performers around. I often think he overacts, and is not very good with his facial expressions, but I still believe that he is one of the most promising talents when it comes to working a microphone. This is mainly because of one thing - substance. Almost every sentence that Cody Rhodes utters either develops his character or furthers a storyline. He is a remarkably economical speaker in this sense. Everything that he says is worth listening to in context of the show. There is no filler. His delivery is constantly improving as well. I recently discovered that his promos are a different experience if you listen to them with your eyes closed. The dark and foreboding tone he often takes gains much more credibility it is not seen in conjunction with an overblown villainous smile or a hammed look of rage. If he works on the acting aspect of his promos, he will be a much improved act on the microphone, which is an exciting prospect considering how good he already is. There were other performers in the year who were at times better than him on the mic, but only in flashes. All in all, I feel confident in naming Cody Rhodes one of the best talkers of 2011.