Dot Net readers voted on a variety of 2011 awards throughout January and early February. The following are the results of our poll for Biggest News Story of 2011. Thanks to everyone who took part in the voting. You can check out the other winners and winners from past years in the Awards section.

(1) C.M. Punk contract saga and WWE Championship win at Money in the Bank: 51 percent
(2) Edge announces his retirement: 24 percent
(3) The Rock and John Cena announced as WrestleMania 28 main event: 12 percent
Others: 13 percent

Will Pruett's Thoughts: The Rock and John Cena announce WrestleMania main event a year out – This is a story that is still developing (and does not seem to be going well). I was absolutely shocked when Rock and Cena shook hands on the night after WrestleMania XXVII and made a match for April 1 in Miami. What followed was the specter of The Rock hanging over Cena for the remainder of the year. Every Cena story had Rock in its sights and nothing seemed as important as what was to come. This was not a successful story, but 2011 in WWE felt like a long waiting game where we were eagerly anticipating Rock.

Ryan Kester's Thoughts: While I can respect the readers choice of CM Punk's contract saga for the biggest news story of 2011, my picks has to go to the announcement of The Rock vs. John Cena as the WrestleMania 28 main event. That single announcement set the tone for the entire WWE from post-WrestleMania Raw up until this year's WrestleMania, and it is either going to deliver in a big way for WWE, or it will be a colossal failure. Honorable mention has to go to Edge's sudden retirement as that brought Randy Orton over to Smackdown and set several feuds in motion that continue to this day.

Jake Barnett's Thoughts: The C.M. Punk contract saga and walk out on WWE at the Money in the Bank PPV was by far the best wrestling moment of the year. What made it the best news story of 2011 was the fact that there was some genuine doubts as to whether or not C.M. Punk would sign a new contract leading up to and after the event. We all know how it played out, but as we were all in the moment, there wasn't a more exciting time be in a pro wrestling fan in 2011 than in July at the Money in the Bank PPV.

Chris Shore's Thoughts: The biggest story of the year should have been Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania, but of course it wasn't. Not only was there little to no buzz for it, most of what was said about it was fans not caring. The CM Punk contract situation and fallout was a much bigger story, and kept all of us enthralled for weeks. Is it a work? Is it a shoot? Could he really leave with the WWE title? Edge's retirement meant a lot, but even it fell short to the dram created by Punk. Sadly, the CM Punk story was also the most blown moment in WWE this year too as they failed to capitalize on the energy in a fruitful way.

Jason Powell's Thoughts: I agree with the readers. The Rock vs. Cena announcement just didn't generate the type of buzz that it should have. It's a huge story, but it didn't generate the mainstream buzz that the Punk saga did. Edge's retirement shocked everyone and involved one of the true stars of the current generation. Obviously, Rock vs. Cena was more of a story as the year went on and it definitely set the course for the rest of the year, but I just can't get past the shocking level of apathy that the announcement was initially greeted with. The Brock Lesnar retirement story didn't get many votes, but it could turn out to be a huge story as far as pro wrestling is concerned, assuming he strikes some type of a deal with WWE.

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