WWE 2012 Power Rankings

2012 in the WWE was a wacky time. There was no pipe bombs or even the promise of one. It wasn’t a bad year though, just one mainly owned by a lucky few, with several promising superstars failing to make the most of their potential. For some, time may be running out. For others, their chance to shine isn’t nearly as wide as many may think. For a select few, superstardom is just one match away.

Here’s ReviewFix.com’s list of the WWE superstars who made 2012 a year at least they’ll remember.

10: Kofi Kingston: Runs with the Tag Team and Intercontinental titles hasn’t made too much of difference with Kingston. Immensely talented, he still needs that persona that’s going to make him larger than life on the microphone. He still hasn’t cut that promo that makes him more than a vanilla bean face. Regardless, he’s one of the best workers in the company.

9: Cody Rhodes: His situation is very similar to Kingston. He’s talented and loaded with potential. His allegiance with Damien Sandow could be the thing that puts him over the top. Aside from that, Rhodes had a special year in that he made the Intercontinental title mean something again.

8: Ryback: What a rookie year. He’s still undefeated, but he hasn’t proven anything on the mic. He hasn’t proven he can sell either. He’s a one-trick pony, but one that WWE has packaged well.

7: Kane and Daniel Bryan: These two haven’t revitalized the tag team division, but they have given each other a much-needed boost. After a bad angle with John Cena, Kane needed to reboot. After his loss to Sheamus at Wrestlemania, Bryan was at a low point. Together, they bring out something special they cannot find anywhere else. However, if they don’t find a real angle with another team soon, this whole experiment was a short-term gain and a long-term loss.

6: Sheamus: The guy is still hated on message boards, but he continues to sweat his pale skin off in the ring. Night in and night out he dishes out punishment and takes just as much. His run as World Champion solidified him as a face and put him over for good. The Celtic Warrior is here to stay.

5: John Cena: No WWE title run for an entire year wasn’t exactly a terrible thing for Cena. His matches with the Rock and CM Punk were more than solid and his angle with AJ Lee was entertaining. WWE has finally understood that Cena has Jake Roberts and Roddy Piper status. He doesn’t need a belt to be over.

4: Dolph Ziggler: One of the best workers in the company aside from Bryan and Kingston. The “Show-Off” has all the makings of a future multi-time World Champion, but feuds with Chris Jericho, Sheamus and John Cena have not put him over yet. With that being the case, what will?

3: Antonio Cesaro: Easily the most underrated superstar on the roster. With virtually no promo time and only his in-ring work to stand on, Cesaro has continually proved he is one of the best workers in the company. If he is given time to speak in 2013 and gets the right sparring partner, the entire WWE Universe will speak five languages.

2: Big Show: Armed with his Iron-Clad contract, the Big Show took no prisoners in 2012. Many may be sick of his antics, but the guy continues to win big matches and is still underrated on the mic. Regardless of his winning ways, he continues to sell at the right times and put people over. Bottom line, you know something interesting to going to happen when Show is in the ring.

1: CM Punk: Sad to think this wasn’t his best year and he was WWE Champion for the entirety of it. Poor creative synergy was the main reason for Punk’s follies. His in-ring work was stellar and for the first eight months, his promo work was equally as impressive. A big time match with the Rock at Royal Rumble will get his 2013 off on the right foot.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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