2013 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER AWARDS
The following are the results of the 34th annual Wrestling Observer Newsletter readership awards, along with a listing of the previous winners in the various categories. On a worldwide basis, these are the most covered mainstream international pro wrestling awards. The awards are based on the time frame from December 1, 2012 through November 30, 2013. Readers are encouraged to send in their comments on the results.
"CATEGORY A" AWARDS – WINNERS
DETERMINED BY POINTS ON A 5-3-2 BASIS.
FIRST PLACE VOTES IN PARENTHESIS
LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (348) 3.488
2. Kazuchika Okada (153) 2,168
3. Daniel Bryan (139) 1,444
4. John Cena (58) 925
5. C.M. Punk (31) 520
6. KENTA (13) 133
7. Shinsuke Nakamura (2) 51
Hiroshi Tanahashi, 37, won the award handily for the third straight year, joining Ric Flair (1982-87) and Kenta Kobashi (2003-05) as the only wrestlers in history to take it three years in a row.
While not in the same order, the top five were identical with last year and of the top five this year, Tanahashi, Punk and Cena were also top three in 2011. It speaks volumes about the lack of movement in top positions in pro wrestling over the past few years. Tanahashi was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2013. My prediction is Tanahashi won’t make it four in a row, because I don’t expect him to be positioned as champion and do the champion style matches, plus you can see his body catching up to him at his age, and his style depends on movement. There were no surprises since it was pretty much a given either Tanahashi or Okada would win, and Tanahashi had the edge in the sense he had more great matches, and was the bigger star, even though Okada was put over in the rubber match on 10/14 of their two-year program. Still, fans voting Tanahashi into the Tokyo Dome main event ahead of Okada made it clear who the bigger star was in a year where New Japan’s business improved greatly. Tanahashi headlined the first iPPV to hit 100,000 buys in Japan, the January 4, 2013, show from the Tokyo Dome, in a title defense against Okada.
Even though Cena was clearly the WWE’s biggest star of 2013, Bryan was the cult favorite who got the big chants and was the highest ranking North American.
Tanahashi held the IWGP heavyweight title from June 16, 2012, until losing it on April 7, 2013, to Okada, at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. During this reign, Tanahashi tied the all-time record with his sixth title run, and also holds the record with 27 successful career title defenses. In addition, he won the CMLL’s Champion of Champions tournament, also called the Universal championship, on 9/6 at Arena Mexico, beating Rush in the finals. He also held the CMLL tag team titles this year, with Jushin Liger, recognized in both Japan and Mexico.
Okada, 26, is now a two-time IWGP champion, and is expected to be the focal point of the promotion for the next several years. He would likely be a favorite for the award next year.
None of the positions were a surprise, but most notable was the complete lack of voting for Randy Orton, the WWE’s current world champion.
Bryan (Bryan Danielson), 32, did have a chance if Tanahashi and Okada split the voting, but as it turned out, the vast majority of balloters had them 1-2 with Bryan picking up a lot of third place votes, so it was a moot point.
Bryan got over based on the “Yes,” chants at arenas all year, but broke out of a tag team with Kane in August to challenge and beat John Cena to win the WWE title at SummerSlam. But special referee HHH turned on him after the match, gave him a pedigree, and allowed Orton to cash in and take the title. Bryan seemingly regained it via a fast count at Night of Champions the next month, but was stripped of it the next day. The angle seemed to build toward a title win at Hell in a Cell, but special ref Shawn Michaels turned on Bryan, allowing Orton to win again, and the program largely ended.
Cena, 36, a consistent top five finisher and 2010 winner, is the biggest full-time pro wrestling star in the world today. He won the WWE title from The Rock at WrestleMania on April 7, before 72,000 fans at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, holding it until August 18. He then came back from elbow surgery to win the world title from Alberto Del Rio in October, before losing the title unification match with WWE champion Orton.
Cena was the company’s biggest drawing card, except during the few months early in the year when The Rock worked three PPV shows and numerous Raws building those shows up.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Harley Race; 1981 - Harley Race; 1982 - Ric Flair; 1983 - Ric Flair; 1984 - Ric Flair; 1985 - Ric Flair; 1986 - Ric Flair; 1987 - Riki Choshu; 1988 - Akira Maeda; 1989 - Ric Flair; 1990 - Ric Flair; 1991 - Jumbo Tsuruta; 1992 - Ric Flair; 1993 - Vader; 1994 - Toshiaki Kawada; 1995 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 1996 - Kenta Kobashi; 1997 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 2000 - HHH; 2001 - Keiji Muto; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Kenta Kobashi; 2004 - Kenta Kobashi; 2005 - Kenta Kobashi; 2006 - Mistico; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - Chris Jericho; 2009 - Chris Jericho; 2010 - John Cena; 2011 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE
1. GEORGES ST-PIERRE (569) 3,215
2. Ronda Rousey (110) 1,414
3. Jon Jones (48) 1,211
4. Cain Velasquez (41) 861
5. Anderson Silva (12) 732
6. Chris Weidman (3) 85
St-Pierre, 32, captured the award for the second time, based on his drawing UFC’s two biggest buy rates during the awards period in successful championship defenses against Nick Diaz and Johny Hendricks.
St-Pierre won via landslide over Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones. I can’t really see an argument for Jones, although he got some first place votes. Both St-Pierre and Jones won close decisions during the year, with Jones’ decision coming against Alexander Gustafsson. Each took a decisive win, but St-Pierre was the bigger drawing card.
Rousey was a timing issue, in the sense that she only had one fight during the awards period due to filming Ultimate Fighter. She still likely wouldn’t have won, but an argument can be made that the addition of women fighters to UFC was its biggest story. The addition would not have been made without Rousey and Miesha Tate, who convinced company officials of the viability of women in ticket selling positions when their Strikeforce match in 2012 did the best walk-up sales for any event in recent memory, even though original sales were slow.
Rousey was put in a position where she easily could have failed. Instead of the debut of women being put on television, a venue she and women had proven they could draw in, she was put on PPV. In addition, her opponent, Liz Carmouche, was not well known, nor considered one of the top contenders. Several women were offered the match and turned it down, including Cris Cyborg and Sara McMann. Marloes Coenen was under contract with another company and Miesha Tate had told UFC officials she wanted to take time off, and never told them she was interested (they didn’t call her with the idea she had made it clear she wasn’t interested in being booked, but she later said she’d have come back if offered that fight). Still, the fight was a success. It’s pretty much impossible to view the rise of women in general in UFC as anything but a positive this year. They stole the show on several occasions. In that sense, no fighter this past year had anywhere near the overall influence on the sport, both for this year, and from an historical factor, as Rousey.
New category in 2007. Highest place winner from MMA in previous Thesz/Flair award balloting: 1994 - Royce Gracie; 1995 - Ken Shamrock; 1996 - Mark Coleman; 1997 - Maurice Smith; 1998 - Frank Shamrock; 1999 - Frank Shamrock; 2000 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2001 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2002 - Bob Sapp; 2003 - Randy Couture; 2004 - Wanderlei Silva; 2005 - Kid Yamamoto; 2006 - Tito Ortiz
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2007 - Randy Couture; 2008 - Brock Lesnar; 2009 - Brock Lesnar; 2010 - Brock Lesnar; 2011 - Georges St-Pierre; 2012 - Anderson Silva
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (470) 3,237
2. Daniel Bryan (205) 1,894
3. Kazuchika Okada (126) 1,760
4. C.M. Punk (10) 374
5. Negro Casas (18) 275
6. Shinsuke Nakamura (22) 245
7. Antonio Cesaro (16) 163
8. Katsuyori Shibata (11) 137
9. Prince Devitt (3) 133
10. Tomohiro Ishii (1) 132
HONORABLE MENTION: KENTA 122, Daisuke Sekimoto 110
In repeating from last year, it was another year where four of the top five were repeats, with the only change being Negro Casas making the top five at 53 years old, the oldest person ever to finish that high, and El Generico in WWE developmental and not making top ten.
Tanahashi had 15 four-star singles matches during the balloting period, including having the best match on six of the nights of G-1, Okada had 13 during the same time period. Tanahashi was probably not just Most Outstanding of this year, but there are very few years by wrestlers in the last 20 that would hold up to his 2013 when it comes to performing at that level on big shows. Bryan had five, but he did have good matches on television virtually every week. Then again, Tanahashi almost never had anything less than an excellent match when put in singles on PPV this year, which can’t be said for the other two. Punk had more great matches than Bryan this past year, but Bryan was more in the spotlight and also has the reputation as Most Outstanding that helped carry him.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Ric Flair; 1987 - Ric Flair; 1988 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1989 - Ric Flair; 1990 - Jushin Liger; 1991 - Jushin Liger; 1992 - Jushin Liger; 1993 - Kenta Kobashi; 1994 - Kenta Kobashi; 1995 - Manami Toyota; 1996 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1997 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 1998 - Koji Kanemoto; 1999 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 2000 - Chris Benoit; 2001 - Kurt Angle; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Kurt Angle; 2004 - Chris Benoit; 2005 - Samoa Joe; 2006 - Bryan Danielson; 2007 - Bryan Danielson; 2008 - Bryan Danielson; 2009 - Bryan Danielson; 2010 - Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson); 2011 - Davey Richards; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
1. CAIN VELASQUEZ (354) 2,062
2. Jon Jones (70) 878
3. Johny Hendricks (45) 512
4. Chris Weidman (23) 502
5. Georges St-Pierre (51) 488
6. Vitor Belfort (34) 449
7. Demetrious Johnson (41) 447
8. Anthony Pettis (3) 373
9. Urijah Faber (26) 282
10. Ronda Rousey (29) 281
Cain Velasquez, 32, won more based on timing than anything else. For Velasquez, during the time period, he had two wins, both one-sided, over Junior Dos Santos, who is probably the second best all-around heavyweight in the sport’s history (don’t get me started on Fedor myths but Fedor would have nothing but a punchers chance against Dos Santos, who is a far better boxer and who Fedor couldn’t have taken down or kept up with standing for any length of time), and a first round destruction of Bigfoot Silva.
The timing worked against Chris Weidman, who would have to go into 2014 as a favorite off his second win over Anderson Silva, if he is champion by the end of the year. He’s likely to have two more high-profile title defenses barring injury, if he retains the title through the year.
Jon Jones, in second place, had a quick win over Chael Sonnen and a very competitive and close win over Alexander Gustafsson.
What’s interesting is that Johny Hendricks took third, and during the time frame, Hendricks had a win over Carlos Condit and a loss to Georges St-Pierre. Granted, the majority thought he won the fight with St-Pierre, but it was a loss in the record books, and I’ve never seen a situation, even with more obvious “wins” by challengers who didn’t get the decision in title matches, and in ratings and polls, they are treated as complete losses. St-Pierre placed fifth in the same balloting, behind Weidman at fourth. In their other bout, St-Pierre dominated Nick Diaz for five rounds, while Hendricks clearly won the decision, but had a lot tougher of a time of it, with Condit.
Vitor Belfort, who had spectacular high kick knockouts of Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold during the period, was seemingly hurt by the TRT issue, and that he did lose last year to Jones, very handily. While not a champion, or involved in any title bouts, Belfort’s opponents were all major stars and he finished all of them in impressive fashion. I have to believe almost anyone else with those type of spectacular finishes and quality of wins would have finished higher, or possibly even won.
HONORABLE MENTION: Renan Barao 230, Jose Aldo Jr. 194, Robbie Lawler 115, Gilbert Melendez 72
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1997 - Maurice Smith; 1998 - Frank Shamrock; 1999 - Frank Shamrock; 2000 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2001 - Wanderlei Silva; 2002 - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira; 2003 - Randy Couture; 2004 - Wanderlei Silva; 2005 - Fedor Emelianenko; 2006 - Mirko Cro Cop; 2007 - Quinton Jackson; 2008 - Georges St. Pierre; 2009 - Georges St. Pierre; 2010 - Georges St. Pierre; 2011 - Jon Jones; 2012 - Anderson Silva
BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1. GEORGES ST-PIERRE (351) 2,699
2. The Rock (220) 1,915
3. John Cena (115) 1,533
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi (35) 562
5. Brock Lesnar (15) 309
6. Ronda Rousey (34) 305
7. Anderson Silva (2) 155
8. Daniel Bryan (1) 63
St-Pierre was the deserving winner here. He was a very good draw in the U.S., but his Canadian numbers were through the roof. While his second fight with Johny Hendricks didn’t do as well as his other PPV shows of the past five years, part of the reason was the show did a UFC record as far as movie theater buys, and was in more bars and restaurants than any show in history (a record likely beaten the next month by UFC 168).
Rock led to significant increases in both Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber numbers over recent years. The increases may not have been enough to cover his seven-figure per show deal, but he did move numbers. And even though WrestleMania was down from 2012, it was still the highest grossing pro wrestling event of all-time overall, and was the fourth biggest pro wrestling PPV of all-time.
The reality is that there were a lack of monster draws this year. Cena was the biggest draw of the full-timers, but that aspect of wrestling is almost disappearing. WWE is every year becoming far more the brand than any individual, unless it’s an outsider like Rock for a few shows a year.
Still, Cena’s return from his elbow operation drew surprisingly well on PPV, and did a very good television rating given it was football season. His tours consistently and noticeably outdrew shows he wasn’t on.
BEST BABYFACE PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS: 1980 - Dusty Rhodes; 1981 - Tommy Rich; 1982 - Hulk Hogan; 1983 - Hulk Hogan; 1984 - Hulk Hogan; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Hulk Hogan; 1988 - Hulk Hogan; 1989 - Hulk Hogan; 1990 - Hulk Hogan; 1991 - Hulk Hogan; 1992 - Sting; 1993 - Atsushi Onita; 1994 - Atsushi Onita; 1995 - Perro Aguayo Sr.; 1996 - Shawn Michaels
BEST HEEL PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS: 1980 - Larry Zbyszko; 1981 - Don Muraco; 1982 - Buzz Sawyer; 1983 - Michael Hayes; 1984 - Roddy Piper; 1985 - Roddy Piper; 1986 - Michael Hayes; 1987 - Ted DiBiase; 1988 - Ted DiBiase; 1989 - Terry Funk; 1990 - Ric Flair; 1991 - The Undertaker; 1992 - Rick Rude; 1993 - Vader; 1994 - Love Machine (Art Barr); 1995 - Masahiro Chono; 1996 - Steve Austin
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - Steve Austin; 2000 - The Rock; 2001 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2002 - Bob Sapp; 2003 - Bob Sapp; 2004 - Kenta Kobashi; 2005 - Kenta Kobashi; 2006 - Mistico; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - Brock Lesnar; 2009 - Brock Lesnar; 2010 - Brock Lesnar; 2011 - The Rock; 2012 - The Rock
FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (534) 3,259
2. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (106) 875
3. Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata (1) 634
4. C.M. Punk vs. Brock Lesnar (23) 623
5. C.M. Punk vs. Paul Heyman (82) 535
6. Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz (38) 447
7. The Shield vs. Kane & Daniel Bryan (44) 358
8. Negro Casas vs. Rush (52) 334
9. La Sombra vs. Volador Jr. (2) 171
10. C.M. Punk vs. The Rock (6) 142
HONORABLE MENTION: Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn 117, The Shield vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust 95, Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman 89
When you have four singles matches, and any one of them could have won Match of the Year, you’ve got a pretty obvious winner. The Tanahashi vs. Okada feud taking first for the second straight year ranks it with the greatest feuds in wrestling history as one of only four two time winners, Freebirds vs. Von Erichs (1983-84), Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (1990-91), and Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon (1998-99). As far as a program that dominated a year to the level it did with many of the best singles matches, the only one I can think of in the last 30 years to be at the same level was Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat in 1989 when they had the top three finishers in Match of the Year in the same year. There were tag team feuds in All Japan, in particular, who had as good or better matches, but nobody had four Match of the Year candidates in the same year probably dating back a quarter century.
No. 2 is equally unique, as it would have finished a strong second without a match during the ballot period.
No. 4 and No. 5 were notable because they were almost the same. C.M. Punk vs. Paul Heyman included the Brock Lesnar feud, as well as Punk vs. Curtis Axel and Ryback. If you add up the first place votes or points, you have a solid No. 2 instead of four and five.
And through all that, GSP vs. Diaz is way too low. They did 950,000 buys on PPV and GSP has never done that with anyone else. The unscripted Diaz interviews ended up being more effective than the smartest people with all the thought out material in the world.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko; 1981 - Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan; 1982 - Ted DiBiase vs. Junkyard Dog; 1983 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs; 1984 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs; 1985 - Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff; 1987 - Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich; 1988 - Midnight Express vs. Fantastics; 1989 - Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk; 1990 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa; 1991 - Jumbo Tsuruta & company vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & company; 1992 - Moondogs vs. Jerry Lawler & Jeff Jarrett; 1993 - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler; 1994 - Los Gringos Locos vs. Mexican AAA; 1995 - Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero; 1996 - WCW vs. NWO; 1997 - Steve Austin vs. Hart Foundation; 1998 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon; 1999 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon; 2000 - HHH vs. Mick Foley; 2001 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Wanderlei Silva; 2002 - Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz; 2003 - Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle; 2004 - HHH vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit; 2005 - Batista vs. HHH; 2006 - Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock; 2007 - Undertaker vs. Batista ; 2008 - Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels; 2009 - C.M. Punk vs. Jeff Hardy; 2010 - Kevin Steen vs. El Generico; 2011 - John Cena vs. C.M. Punk; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1. SETH ROLLINS & ROMAN REIGNS (440) 2,723
2. Goldust & Cody Rhodes (72) 1,152
3. Young Bucks (94) 1,035
4. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer (47) 705
5. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (10) 312
6. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian (7) 258
7. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (26) 247
8. Jack Evans & Angelico (12) 205
9. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (11) 204
10. Jimmy & Jey Uso (2) 196
HONORABLE MENTION: Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards 180, Atsushi Aoki & Kotaro Suzuki 145, Daniel Bryan & Kane 124, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste 97, Jun Akiyama & Go Shiozaki 85
This was a no-brainer pick. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns were the key factors in taking what for years had been a mid-card or lower level tag team division, and making it something more important than it had been in years. They had the push to win, they had the work to win, and they had the value to the promotion to win.
Rollins, 27, was a long-time independent wrestling star who signed with WWE. For years it seemed like he was going to be a good wrestler who would go nowhere. As a single, as talented as he is, he probably would not have done well and when The Shield runs its course, even as the most talented in the ring of the three by far, he’s the one that will probably be hurt the most.
Reigns, 28, a former college football star at Georgia Tech, whose father (Sika) and brother (Rosey) were WWF wrestlers, is being groomed to be one of the company’s biggest stars going forward, very similar to how Randy Orton and Dave Bautista were groomed a decade back. Because of that, it is unlikely they will remain a team for long, and thus wouldn’t have much of a chance to repeat.
The Rhodes Brothers were originally put together simply to split them up, have a WrestleMania match and send Goldust on his way. But Goldust has been one of the best performers in the company. A singles feud between the two of them has a good chance of failure. More important, both will be far worse off apart after the fact than would be kept together.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Freebirds (Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts); 1981 - Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka; 1982 - Stan Hansen & Ole Anderson; 1983 - Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood; 1984 - Road Warriors; 1985 - British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith); 1986 - Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton); 1987 - Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane); 1988 - Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane); 1989 - The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty); 1990 - Rick & Scott Steiner; 1991 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada; 1992 - Miracle Violence Combination (Steve Williams & Terry Gordy); 1993 - Hollywood Blondes (Brian Pillman & Steve Austin); 1994 - Los Gringos Locos (Love Machine Art Barr & Eddie Guerrero); 1995 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi; 1996 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama; 1997 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama; 1998 - Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa; 1999 - Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama; 2000 - Edge & Christian; 2001 - TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima); 2002 - Eddie & Chavo Guerrero; 2003 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji; 2004 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji; 2005 - America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm); 2006 - LAX (Homicide & Hernandez); 2007 - Mark & Jay Briscoe; 2008 - The Miz & John Morrison; 2009 - Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards; 2010 - Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli; 2011 - Giant Bernard (Tensai) & Karl Anderson; 2012 - Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian
MOST IMPROVED
1. ROMAN REIGNS (323) 2,013
2. Tomohiro Ishii (51) 757
3. Goldust (89) 577
4. Lance Archer (19) 439
5. Adam Cole (35) 425
6. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (46) 285
7. Magnus (29) 272
8. Big E Langston (10) 213
9. Cody Rhodes (9) 203
10. Taryn Terrell (19) 199
HONORABLE MENTION: Tommaso Ciampa 183, Damien Sandow 165, Karl Anderson 156, Kyle O’Reilly 153, Vangellys 147, Usos 137, Katsuyori Shibata 132, Antonio Cesaro 116, Bobby Fish 85, A.J. Lee 70, Seth Rollins 60
Reigns picked up his second category win here. When The Shield act was put together, the belief was that Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins were great performers and that Reigns was a project, a top level athlete with a great look who they would cover for, very much like Batista in the early incarnation of Evolution.
While Reigns is not the singles wrestler the other two are, he actually got over the most and has more than held his own in the tag and trios matches. He’s developed some unique moves, and taken advantage of his power and explosiveness to become the heavy hitter in the group. While still inexperienced in long singles matches, he can be put in any situation now with no fear that it may not work.
Ishii, 38, really isn’t so much a guy who has improved a lot, as a veteran who due to size, background and body, had been categorized as a good working undercard guy. He started getting over big at Korakuen Hall as a cult figure for his ability to sell and take punishment, and overall toughness. This year, with Katsuyori Shibata brought back, Ishii was the perfect opponent for him and they had one of the best matches of the year during the G-1 tournament. Ishii also had a killer match at G-1 with Tanahashi. He was voted MVP of the tournament, which is a pretty significant honor.
Similarly, third place Goldust (Dustin Runnels) fits more as comeback wrestler of the year. Runnels, 44, has had the talent ever since debuting as Rookie of the Year in 1989. He did well as a high card babyface in WCW, and had a headline run with the controversial Goldust character. But issues with drugs and weight pretty much killed his career, and his run as a major league performer seemed to end prematurely when he was released by WWE in 2003. He was given a shot in TNA, where, at about 300 pounds, weight issues curtailed him. He was hired back by WWE as a wrestler, but more to put people over, and as a producer, but didn’t last. In 2012, they started a program that would have led to Cody vs. Goldust in a WrestleMania match, but after about a week, Vince McMahon nixed the idea. He was brought back, really, just to lose to Randy Orton in a match where he would try and get his brothers’ job back, and when he got over, the idea was to go back to the Cody vs. Goldust idea. They’ve at this point made no hints of doing that, and as noted earlier, it may be an idea to do when all of their momentum as a team is gone, but it seems premature now. Having dropped weight, Goldust is wrestling as good as he ever has.
Lance Archer was a guy with size, and not a lot else, who was able to make it work in Japan where his size can be an attribute as somebody different as opposed to being just another big guy. Partner Davey Boy Smith Jr. showed this year in singles matches with the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura that he can have strong main event quality matches, to go along with his tag team role.
Taryn Terrell, 28, who placed 10th, should also get a mention. She had two high-profile matches with Gail Kim that were the two best U.S. women’s matches on the big stage this year, a last woman standing match on the Slammiversary show on 6/2, and a ladder match rematch on Impact. You’d probably have to go back to the days of the Jumping Bomb Angels to have a women’s in-ring feud going at that level. She had been around for years and had generally been viewed as someone with a great look, but not as any kind of a serious top level performer. However, just as she was earning her reputation, she left wrestling due to pregnancy, and it probably made her somewhat forgotten when it came to the awards.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Larry Zbyszko; 1981 - Adrian Adonis; 1982 - Jim Duggan; 1983 - Curt Hennig; 1984 - The Cobra (George Takano); 1985 - Steve Williams; 1986 - Rick Steiner; 1987 - Big Bubba Rogers (Ray Traylor); 1988 - Sting; 1989 - Lex Luger; 1990 - Kenta Kobashi; 1991 - Dustin Rhodes; 1992 - El Samurai; 1993 - Tracy Smothers; 1994 - Diesel (Kevin Nash); 1995 - Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero); 1996 - Diamond Dallas Page; 1997 - Tatsuhito Takaiwa; 1998 - The Rock; 1999 - Vader; 2000 - Kurt Angle; 2001 - Keiji Muto; 2002 - Brock Lesnar; 2003 - Brock Lesnar; 2004 - Randy Orton; 2005 - Roderick Strong; 2006 - Takeshi Morishima; 2007 - MVP; 2008 - The Miz; 2009 - The Miz; 2010 - Sheamus; 2011 - Dolph Ziggler; 2012 - Kazuchika Okada
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1. PAUL HEYMAN (310) 2,150
2. C.M. Punk (206) 2,054
3. The Rock (55) 573
4. Mark Henry (24) 472
5. Chael Sonnen (39) 354
6. John Cena (19) 311
7. Bray Wyatt (23) 273
8. Bully Ray (13) 254
9. Daniel Bryan (31) 229
10. Dean Ambrose (2) 207
HONORABLE MENTION: Nick Diaz 143, Jay Briscoe 125, Ronda Rousey 117, Prince Devitt 83, Zeb Colter 75
In one of the closest major races, C.M. Punk failed to three-peat, with Heyman, 48, winning the award for the first time in his career.
Punk & Heyman worked together early in the year as a modern day Nick Bockwinkel/Bobby Heenan pairing, where you had a heel who certainly didn’t need a mouthpiece, but with one the synergism only added to the top heel aura. Punk was turned babyface to feud with Heyman and his stable for the next several months, producing the best interviews on both sides of the year.
It’s really telling how much the two dominated the year when The Rock, perhaps the most dynamic talker in wrestling history, placed a distant third.
As good as the aforementioned three were, th eprize for the best single interview of the year had to go to Mark Henry’s retirement interview, which led to his challenge of John Cena for the WWE title. While that was only meant to be a one match show, as a way to push back the planned Cena vs. Daniel Bryan match to SummerSlam, the Cena vs. Henry match was the company’s most surprising success on PPV of 2013 as far as the numbers went. But for the year, Henry wasn’t in the spotlight nearly enough to win, and overall week-in and week-out wasn’t close to the level of the top three.
The emergence of Bray Wyatt at the end of the year was such that I can see him as a candidate to win the whole thing next year.
The most unique name on the list was Nick Diaz. Nobody’s talking drew more money this year than Diaz. If that’s the idea of a great interview, talking you into paying to see a match, even Heyman and Punk would probably concede that nobody ended up more effective than Diaz.
However, unlike everyone else on the list, who are practiced great talkers, Diaz is exactly the opposite. His rambling dialogues, where neither he, nor anyone else knows where they are going to end up, have always been perversely compelling. If anything, he’s proof that what we think of a great interview isn’t necessarily the best interview in the big picture, and different, even awkwardly done different, under the right circumstances if it fits the personality, may be the most effective of all. The key is Diaz’s interviews completely fit his personality and people buy into them. Nobody else could do them and make them work. In pro wrestling, Jimmy Snuka was an example of this, a guy whose interviews in his prime were horrible but they were effective just because of how he’d look into the camera with that far away look, But nobody drew more money this year from his interviews. They made it appear the always under control Georges St-Pierre had been gotten to, and you had a match that based on “logic” shouldn’t have even been booked, and it wound up as the most anticipated match by a large margin of the year, blowing away almost all predictions as to how well it would do. There was no example this year even close of a dynamic for a match that clicked big, and the reason was the interest Diaz created in the final few days.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Lou Albano and Roddy Piper (tied); 1982 - Roddy Piper; 1983 - Roddy Piper; 1984 - Jimmy Hart; 1985 - Jim Cornette; 1986 - Jim Cornette; 1987 - Jim Cornette; 1988 - Jim Cornette; 1989 - Terry Funk; 1990 - Arn Anderson; 1991 - Ric Flair; 1992 - Ric Flair; 1993 - Jim Cornette; 1994 - Ric Flair; 1995 - Cactus Jack (Mick Foley); 1996 - Steve Austin; 1997 - Steve Austin; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - The Rock; 2000 - The Rock; 2001 - Steve Austin; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Chris Jericho; 2004 - Mick Foley; 2005 - Eddie Guerrero; 2006 - Mick Foley; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - Chris Jericho; 2009 - Chris Jericho; 2010 - Chael Sonnen; 2011 - C.M. Punk; 2012 - C.M. Punk
MOST CHARISMATIC
1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (181) 1,425
2. The Rock (236) 1,382
3. John Cena (76) 1,078
4. Daniel Bryan (134) 1,025
5. Shinsuke Nakamura (82) 925
6. C.M. Punk (13) 482
7. Brock Lesnar (2) 129
8. Minoru Suzuki (8) 122
9. Negro Casas (16) 115
10. Chael Sonnen (2) 98
HONORABLE MENTION: Akira Tozawa 95, Ronda Rousey 89, Georges St-Pierre 85
This was Tanahashi’s year for awards, and he clearly deserved a top four spot, but this one should have gone the other way. The argument is that Rock was only there three months and Tanahashi carried a company for the full year. Any of the top four could have won in what ended up a five-person race. John Cena was there all year, while Daniel Bryan got such incredible crowd reactions that you could make a strong case this should have been his year as well.
Five of the top six were repeats from last year, with Nakamura in and Chael Sonnen out. Rock had won the prior two years and six times thus far during his career.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Ric Flair; 1981 - Michael Hayes; 1982 - Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair (tied); 1983 - Ric Flair; 1984 - Ric Flair; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Hulk Hogan; 1988 - Sting; 1989 - Hulk Hogan; 1990 - Hulk Hogan; 1991 - Hulk Hogan; 1992 - Sting; 1993 - Ric Flair; 1994 - Atsushi Onita; 1995 - Shawn Michaels; 1996 - Shawn Michaels; 1997 - Steve Austin; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - The Rock; 2000 - The Rock; 2001 - The Rock; 2002 - The Rock; 2003 - Bob Sapp; 2004 - Eddie Guerrero; 2005 - Eddie Guerrero; 2006 - John Cena; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - John Cena; 2009 - John Cena; 2010 - John Cena; 2011 - The Rock; 2012 - The Rock
BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
1. DANIEL BRYAN (362) 2,269
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (157) 1,314
3. Antonio Cesaro (34) 787
4. Blue Panther (58) 517
5. Zack Sabre Jr. (47) 443
6. Kazuchika Okada (2) 425
7. Shinsuke Nakamura (62) 363
8. Prince Devitt (36) 352
9. Davey Richards (4) 163
10. KENTA (10) 135
HONORABLE MENTION: Katsuyori Shibata 122, Daisuke Sekimoto 97, Minoru Suzuki 95, Kyle O’Reilly 85, Jonathan Gresham 84, Drew Gulak 79
This is the ninth straight year Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan has won this award. And he’s clearly a top contender for it. A lot of this is reputation. There was no killer standout performer in this category, so the incumbent has the edge. Bryan is great at what he does, the moves he does, he hits well, and has great timing. But when I think of great technical wrestlers, it involves using a lot of matwork, and really neither Bryan nor Hiroshi Tanahashi, who are more great workers, fit that master of technical wrestling label. Bryan has shown in the past he can, but in WWE, it’s more of a patterned style. Really the strong technical style this year, of all places, seemed strongest in Mexico with some of the older wrestlers. WWE is more about doing the same spots and getting them over than a wide variety of things. New Japan is more about dramatic hard hitting physical matches with technical wrestling involved but not at the forefront.
Tanahashi is also very good, and had more great singles matches than anyone. I sense both of them more as excellent workers than what you would call the best Technical Wrestler of this year. But third place Antonio Cesaro didn’t have the same kind of high-profile opportunity, mostly being a prelim guy and later a mid-level tag team match guy. Blue Panther fits the mold as a great pure technical wrestler as much as anyone, but he’s in his 50s, looks older, and has slowed way down even though he can display the skill when given the stage to do so.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bob Backlund; 1981 - Ted DiBiase; 1982 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1983 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1984 - Dynamite Kid and Masa Saito (tied); 1985 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1986 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1987 - Nobuhiko Takada; 1988 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1989 - Jushin Liger; 1990 - Jushin Liger; 1991 - Jushin Liger; 1992 - Jushin Liger; 1993 - Hiroshi Hase; 1994 - Chris Benoit; 1995 - Chris Benoit; 1996 - Dean Malenko; 1997 - Dean Malenko; 1998 - Kiyoshi Tamura; 1999 - Shinjiro Otani; 2000 - Chris Benoit; 2001 - Minoru Tanaka; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Chris Benoit; 2004 - Chris Benoit; 2005 - Bryan Danielson; 2006 - Bryan Danielson; 2007 - Bryan Danielson; 2008 - Bryan Danielson; 2009 - Bryan Danielson; 2010 - Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson); 2011 - Daniel Bryan; 2012 - Daniel Bryan
BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)
1. KATSUYORI SHIBATA (306) 2,187
2. Tomohiro Ishii (134) 1,330
3. Kevin Steen (107) 1,099
4. Togi Makabe (59) 767
5. Brock Lesnar (85) 629
6. Bully Ray (56) 575
7. Minoru Suzuki (22) 210
8. L.A. Park (19) 186
9. Roman Reigns (16) 154
10. Masato Tanaka (10) 145
HONORABLE MENTION: Dean Ambrose 128, Luke Harper 119, C.M. Punk 93, Hirooki Goto 60
Kevin Steen’s three year streak ended at the hands of Katsuyori Shibata’s ridiculously stiff matches with Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe and Tomohiro Ishii.
Shibata, 34, may have been the best in the world this past year at making his matches look real. Maybe because they were harder hitting than real fights.
Shibata’s path to winning was interesting. The son of a pro wrestler, New Japan’s Katsuhisa Shibata, he went to high school and was on the same wrestling team as Hirooki Goto. He placed in the high school nationals in 1997 and started with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1999.
He was quickly considered one of the best young wrestlers in the promotion. By 2004, the decision was made to build the promotion around a new version of The Three Musketeers. In 1990, New Japan made a similar decision to build around Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto, and led to the most successful period in company history when it came to big show attendance. The second version were going to be Shibata, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura. His big push came in the 2004 G-1 Climax tournament, where he beat three former world champions in Chono, Nakamura and Genichiro Tenryu, before losing to Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the semifinals.
However, he quit New Japan in 2005 to become the top star of a promotion that had big money behind it, Big Mouth Loud. Several of the biggest names were brought in, and he also had heated matches with Pro Wrestling NOAH. But when that group fell into financial problems, with his name as a pro wrestler and background from high school wrestling, he was recruited into MMA in 2007.
The problem was, as a big name, he was rushed into big name fights. With the Dream promotion, he faced Ralek Gracie in his second match, losing via quick submission, and also lost to Kazushi Sakuraba and Yoshihiro Akiyama. He ended up 4-11-1 as a fighter, ending his career in 2011. He returned to New Japan in 2012, and worked doing the uncooperative shooter gimmick that made his tag team matches where he and Sakuraba were outsiders battling New Japan wrestlers, into something different from everything else on the show. This year was highlighted by his feud with Goto, one of the best in-ring feuds of the year, as well as a match of the year candidate to Ishii, and a number of great matches in the G-1 tournament, most notably against Tanahashi.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bruiser Brody; 1981 - Bruiser Brody; 1982 - Bruiser Brody; 1983 - Bruiser Brody; 1984 - Bruiser Brody; 1985 - Stan Hansen; 1986 - Terry Gordy; 1987 - Bruiser Brody; 1988 - Bruiser Brody; 1989 - Terry Funk; 1990 - Stan Hansen; 1991 - Cactus Jack (Mick Foley); 1992 - Cactus Jack; 1993 - Cactus Jack; 1994 - Cactus Jack; 1995 - Cactus Jack; 1996 - Mankind (Mick Foley); 1997 - Mankind; 1998 - Mankind; 1999 - Mick Foley; 2000 - Mick Foley; 2001 - Steve Austin; 2002 - Yoshihiro Takayama; 2003 - Brock Lesnar; 2004 - Chris Benoit; 2005 - Samoa Joe; 2006 - Samoa Joe; 2007 - Takeshi Morishima; 2008 - Necro Butcher; 2009 - Necro Butcher; 2010 - Kevin Steen; 2011 - Kevin Steen; 2012 - Kevin Steen
BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1. KOTA IBUSHI (416) 2,777
2. Ricochet (186) 1,788
3. Adrian Neville (96) 1,224
4. La Sombra (88) 890
5. Sami Zayn (9) 404
6. Mascara Dorada (42) 388
7. A.R. Fox (25) 289
8. ACH (22) 246
9. Samuray del Sol (12) 228
10. Rey Cometa (3) 192
HONORABLE MENTION: Tetsuya Naito 144, Prince Devitt 135, Titan 109, Fenix 71, Kofi Kingston 60
Kota Ibushi, 31, captured the award for the fourth time in the last five years, and the year he didn’t win, he was injured for several months with a separated shoulder. He outdistanced Ricochet for first, just like last year. It was a similar ballot as eight of last year’s top ten were in the top ten this year, with Prince Devitt having toned down his flying going heel, and Kenny Omega having less exposure, leading to Rey Cometa and ACH as newcomers. The top three were in identical order, but Ibushi won by a far greater margin.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Jimmy Snuka; 1982 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1983 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1984 - Dynamite Kid; 1985 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa); 1986 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa); 1987 - Owen Hart; 1988 - Owen Hart; 1989 - Jushin Liger; 1990 - Jushin Liger; 1991 - Jushin Liger; 1992 - Jushin Liger; 1993 - Jushin Liger; 1994 - Great Sasuke; 1995 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1996 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1997 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1998 - Juventud Guerrera; 1999 - Juventud Guerrera; 2000 - Jeff Hardy; 2001 - Dragon Kid; 2002 - Rey Mysterio; 2003 - Rey Mysterio; 2004 - Rey Mysterio; 2005 - A.J. Styles; 2006 - Mistico; 2007 - Mistico; 2008 - Evan Bourne; 2009 - Kota Ibushi; 2010 - Kota Ibushi; 2011 - Ricochet; 2012 - Kota Ibushi
MOST OVERRATED
1. RANDY ORTON (164) 1,145
2. Ryback (104) 900
3. HHH (102) 651
4. The Miz (62) 564
5. Big Show (19) 501
6. Alberto Del Rio (28) 425
7. Magnus (31) 304
8. Curtis Axel (14) 177
9. Eva Marie (10) 120
10. Ken Anderson (8) 119
HONORABLE MENTION: Kane 117, Great Khali 102, Tetsuya Naito 83, John Cena 75, Sin Cara 74, Jack Swagger 74, Akebono 72, Davey Richards 72, Bobby Roode 70
Randy Orton, 33, is one of the best in the modern business at playing his character. That said, after being moved down the card for some time after a long run on top, there was a lot of negativity toward him being brought back to the top as the world champion in WWE and pushed as the face of the company. The reality is they wanted a heel for John Cena and Daniel Bryan to chase, and possibly Batista as well. There was nobody else who would be as effective in that role and they had more viable face challengers than heels, making a heel champion seemingly the best thing.
That said, Orton did not knock them dead at the box office as world champion. He had very good matches with Daniel Bryan, but so does everyone. His PPV match with Big Show was very weak for a PPV headliner. He beat out Ryback, who saw his push diminish greatly this year after having great momentum a year ago.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Mr. Wrestling II (Johnny Walker); 1981 - Pedro Morales; 1982 - Pedro Morales; 1983 - Bob Backlund; 1984 - John Studd; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Dusty Rhodes; 1988 - Dusty Rhodes; 1989 - Ultimate Warrior; 1990 - Ultimate Warrior; 1991 - Ultimate Warrior; 1992 - Erik Watts; 1993 - Sid Vicious; 1994 - Hulk Hogan; 1995 - Hulk Hogan; 1996 - Hulk Hogan; 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Hulk Hogan; 1999 - Kevin Nash; 2000 - Kevin Nash; 2001 - The Undertaker; 2002 - HHH; 2003 - HHH; 2004 - HHH; 2005 - Jeff Jarrett; 2006 - Batista; 2007 - Great Khali; 2008 - Vladimir Kozlov; 2009 - HHH; 2010 - Kane; 2011 - Crimson; 2012 - Ryback
MOST UNDERRATED
1. ANTONIO CESARO (296) 2,027
2. Dolph Ziggler (149) 1,427
3. Tomohiro Ishii (49) 652
4. Chris Hero (32) 521
5. Daniel Bryan (52) 364
6. Tyson Kidd (29) 308
7. Sami Zayn (8) 224
8. Tomoaki Honma (1) 194
9. Yoshi Tatsu (26) 153
10. Austin Aries (20) 128
HONORABLE MENTION: Atsushi Kotoge 115, Bad News Barrett 104, Curtis Axel 63
While viewed as a new young character, what’s notable is that Antonio Cesaro, at 33, with 13 years in the business, is actually the same age as Randy Orton.
Cesaro is tremendous inside the ring, and when allowed to do long matches, shined in almost every case. Still, he’s in a largely undercard tag team with Jack Swagger and the giant swing spot, that was getting him over, seems to be focused on a lot less. Cesaro is victimized because Vince McMahon wasn’t a proponent of his and the few times there seemed to be thoughts of giving him a push, it would be dropped within weeks.
As far as Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma, both are very good wrestlers who are not pushed much in New Japan. Honma is pretty much your good working prelim guy, a role every big company has had since the beginning of time. Ishii was the same, but over the last 18 months has really picked up a cult following in some cities, particularly at Korakuen Hall, so he gets great reactions. While not pushed as a top guy, he did beat Hiroshi Tanahashi in the G-1 tournament and is probably going to be in singles programs going forward.
Dolph Ziggler is a different case. Ziggler is one of WWE’s hardest and most spectacular workers. It took forever for him to get a push, but he was the darling post-WrestleMania and his title win over Alberto Del Rio was one of the biggest moments, crowd-reaction wise, of the year. A few months earlier, as a heel, he headlined with John Cena in shows that did well at the box office, but their PPV ladder match didn’t do so well, although the December show can be a tough one. But he’s been buried since suffering a concussion and the world title being taken from him. At this point, the crowd sees him like The Miz, a guy once pushed who has been given up on.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Iron Sheik; 1981 - Buzz Sawyer; 1982 - Adrian Adonis; 1983 - Dynamite Kid; 1984 - Brian Blair; 1985 - Bobby Eaton; 1986 - Bobby Eaton; 1987 - Brad Armstrong; 1988 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa); 1989 - Dan Kroffat (Phil LaFon); 1990 - Bobby Eaton; 1991 - Terry Taylor; 1992 - Terry Taylor; 1993 - Bobby Eaton; 1994 - Brian Pillman; 1995 - Skip (Chris Candito); 1996 - Leif Cassidy (Al Snow); 1997 - Flash Funk (Too Cold Scorpio); 1998 - Chris Benoit; 1999 - Chris Jericho; 2000 - Chris Jericho; 2001 - Lance Storm; 2002 - Booker T; 2003 - Ultimo Dragon; 2004 - Paul London; 2005 - Shelton Benjamin; 2006 - Shelton Benjamin; 2007 - Shelton Benjamin; 2008 - MVP; 2009 - Evan Bourne; 2010 - Kaval (Low Ki); 2011 - Dolph Ziggler; 2012 - Tyson Kidd
PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (634) 4,520
2. Ultimate Fighting Championship (110) 1,942
3. World Wrestling Entertainment (14) 1,136
4. Dragon Gate (2) 558
5. PWG (3) 302
6. Ring of Honor (5) 212
7. CMLL (11) 209
8. Glory (11) 60
It was a landslide win for New Japan Pro Wrestling, which increased business significantly, had the best matches, and blew away the field for consistently good shows. But going into the new year, there is some question about the top of the card being stale and a tough physical style taking its toll on so much of the top talent in their mid-30s and older. Right now the company has momentum, but a tough domestic television market where wrestling airs in poor time slots or on small satellite stations that most people don’t get makes wrestling a tough business. It’s actually remarkable New Japan has been able to make a turnaround in that environment, and that really speaks volumes for the product they deliver and the charisma of the leading stars.
PREVIOUS WINNERS - 1983 - Jim Crockett Promotions; 1984 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1985 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1986 - Mid South Wrestling; 1987 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1988 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1989 - Universal Wrestling Federation Japan; 1990 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1991 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1992 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1993 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1994 - AAA; 1995 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1996 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1997 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1998 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1999 - World Wrestling Federation; 2000 - World Wrestling Federation; 2001 - Pride Fighting Championships; 2002 - Pride Fighting Championships; 2003 - Pride Fighting Championships; 2004 - Pro Wrestling NOAH; 2005 - Pro Wrestling NOAH; 2006 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2007 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2008 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2009 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2010 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2011 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2012 - New Japan Pro Wrestling
BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
1. WWE NXT (172) 1,837
2. WWE Raw (113) 1,210
3. Dragon Gate Infinity (83) 844
4. Ring of Honor (81) 812
5. The Ultimate Fighter (77) 660
6. WWE Total Divas (38) 393
7. WWE Smackdown (31) 372
8. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (46) 297
9. CMLL (15) 272
10. TNA Impact (16) 263
HONORABLE MENTION: Bellator 205, WWE Main Event 182, AAA 179
The most notable thing here is that TNA Impact went from winning the category last year to a distant 10th place. It’s also something that the WWE’s developmental show instead of its main shows won.
The positives of NXT is that it’s one hour, so it doesn’t drag. It’s also produced like a basic wrestling show. There have been some good matches this year, but some weeks, the only positive is that it inherently focuses on new talent, some of which is good, some of whom will make it, and others who won’t make it.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1983 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1984 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1985 - Mid South Wrestling; 1986 - Universal Wrestling Federation (Mid South Wrestling: 1987 - CWA 90 Minute Memphis live show; 1988 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1989 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1990 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1991 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1992 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1993 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1994 - Extreme Championship Wrestling; 1995 - Extreme Championship Wrestling; 1996 - Extreme Championship Wrestling; 1997 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1998 - WWF Raw is War; 1999 - WWF Raw is War; 2000 - WWF Raw is War; 2001 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 2002 - WWE Smackdown; 2003 - Pro Wrestling NOAH; 2004 - WWE Raw; 2005 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2006 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2007 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2008 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2009 - WWE Smackdown; 2010 - Ring of Honor; 2011 - WWE Smackdown; 2012 - TNA Impact
PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 4/7 TOKYO (305)2,002
2. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/4 Osaka (153) 1,497
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 10/14 Tokyo (142) 1,151
4. Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk 8/18 Los Angeles (76) 829
5. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan 8/18 Los Angeles (34) 556
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/2 Tokyo (14) 451
7. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi 8/4 Osaka (33) 338
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 1/4 Tokyo (39) 252
9. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 6/22 Osaka (11) 229
10. Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk 4/7 East Rutherford (15) 212
HONORABLE MENTION: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba 1/4 Tokyo 195, John Cena vs. C.M. Punk 2/25 Dallas 184, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane & Ryback 12/16/12 Brooklyn 126, KENTA vs. Takashi Sugiura 5/12 Tokyo 115, Kevin Steen vs. El Generico 12/16/12 New York 112, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 8/10 Tokyo 112, Akira Tozawa & Ricochet vs. Naruki Doi & BxB Hulk 7/21 Kobe 97
Going into the balloting, my thoughts were that with four Tanahashi vs. Okada matches that were all among the best of the year, that they may split the votes and lead to another match winning.
That may have even happened, but it wasn’t enough to keep their Invasion Attack match, where Okada won the IWGP title, from taking first place, the King of Wrestling match from taking third, the Tokyo Dome match in eighth place and the G-1 Climax match from garnering an honorable mention.
Two shows, the 8/4 G-1 show from Osaka and 8/18 SummerSlam had two top ten matches, and the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show nearly did, with Nakamura vs. Sakuraba finishing 11th.
Tanahashi won last year as well, for his match with Minoru Suzuki. He joins Ric Flair (1988-89), Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (1998-99), Kobashi (2003-05) and Shawn Michaels (2008-10) as those who have won the award in consecutive years.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera 5/19 New York Madison Square Garden; 1981 - Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter 4/21 New York Madison Square Garden; 1982 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) vs. Dynamite Kid 8/5 Tokyo; 1983 - Ric Flair vs. Harley Race 11/24 Greensboro; 1984 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs 7/4 Fort Worth; 1985 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa) vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 6/12 Tokyo; 1986 - Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham 2/14 Orlando; 1987 - Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage 3/29 Pontiac; 1988 - Ric Flair vs. Sting 3/27 Greensboro; 1989 - Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat 4/2 New Orleans; 1990 - Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (Takuma Sano) 1/31 Osaka; 1991 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki 3/21 Tokyo; 1992 - Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 5/25 Sendai; 1993 - Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki 4/21 Osaka; 1994 - Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) 3/20 New York Madison Square Garden; 1995 - Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue 5/7 Tokyo; 1996 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace 6/7 Tokyo; 1997 - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin 3/23 Chicago; 1998 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 10/31 Tokyo; 1999 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 6/11 Tokyo; 2000 - Atlantis vs. Villano III 3/17 Mexico City; 2001 - Keiji Muto vs. Genichiro Tenryu 6/8 Tokyo; 2002 - Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle vs. Edge & Rey Mysterio 10/20 Little Rock; 2003 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 3/1 Tokyo; 2004 - Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama 7/10 Tokyo Dome; 2005 - Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe 10/1 New York; 2006 - Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. Cima & Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino 3/31 Chicago; 2007 - Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima 8/25 New York; 2008 - Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho 10/5 Portland, OR; 2009 - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels 4/5 Houston; 2010 - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels 3/28 Phoenix; 2011 - John Cena vs. C.M. Punk 7/17 Chicago; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki 10/8 Tokyo
MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. GILBERT MELENDEZ VS. DIEGO SANCHEZ 10/19 Houston (345) 2,298
2. Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 9/21 Toronto (189) 1,835
3. Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann 3/3 Tokyo (82) 723
4. Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler 11/9 Long Beach (1) 629
5. Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks 11/16 Las Vegas (41) 302
6. Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva 7/6 Las Vegas (34) 251
7. Matt Grice vs. Dennis Bermudez 2/23 Anaheim (14) 238
8. Carlos Condit vs. Johny Hendricks 3/16 Montreal (2) 209
9. Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche 2/23 Anaheim (6) 202
10. Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano 4/13 Las Vegas (13) 166
HONORABLE MENTION: Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos 12/29/12 Las Vegas 89, Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz 3/16 Montreal 85
It was a two-fight race, with Melendez vs. Sanchez garnering nearly double the number of first place votes. With more shows than ever, the one advantage is this was the best year in history when it comes to great fights. After the Stann vs. Silva fight in March, I thought there was no possible way that fight wouldn’t win. Even No. 10, Tate vs. Zingano, could have easily won many, if not most years.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1997 - Maurice Smith vs. Mark Coleman 7/27 Birmingham; 1998 - Jerry Bohlander vs. Kevin Jackson 3/13 New Orleans; 1999 - Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz 9/24 Lake Charles; 2000 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie 5/1 Tokyo Dome; 2001 - Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo 5/4 Atlantic City; 2002 - Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 6/23 Saitama; 2003 - Wanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida 11/9 Tokyo Dome; 2004 - Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva 10/31 Saitama; 2005 - Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 4/9 Las Vegas; 2006 - Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan 8/17 Las Vegas; 2007 - Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia 3/3 Columbus; 2008 - Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson 7/5 Las Vegas; 2009 - Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida 6/20 Las Vegas; 2010 - Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung 4/24 Sacramento; 2011 - Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua 11/19 San Jose; 2012 - Chan Sung Jung vs. Dustin Poirier 5/15 Fairfax, VA
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. YOHEI KOMATSU (58) 906
2. Konosuke Take****a (118) 902
3. U-T (146) 879
4. Sho Tanaka (86) 769
5. Enzo Amore (47) 361
6. Charlotte (17) 352
7. Mojo Rawley (33) 306
8. Ryotsu Shimizu (4) 301
9. Hitoshi Kumano (22) 185
10. Andrew Everett (11) 112
Yohei Komatsu, 25, of New Japan Pro Wrestling, had the unique distinction of finishing a distant fourth in first place votes, but being named on more ballots by far than anyone else, to win a race that literally came down to the last ballot.
The 187-pound Komatsu was a lifelong pro wrestling fan, watching it with his parents from 1991,and aspiring to work for New Japan since sixth grade, when he started amateur wrestling. He continued to wrestle in high school and college, and trained for wrestling while working part-time, until he was accepted into the New Japan dojo. He debuted on November 19, 2012.
However in Japan, Konosuke Take****a, 18, from Osaka, won most of the key awards for best rookie, and likely would have won it here had the DDT promotion had more exposure.
The most first place votes went to Dragon Gate’s U-T, real name Yuta Tanaka, 20, who just started wrestling in April, and is already impressive. But at 5-foot-4 and 150 pounds, size may be working against him.
Ashley Fliehr, the daughter of Ric Flair, a former high school gymnastics and volleyball star, as Charlotte, cracked the top six as the highest ranking woman.
Some of the best performers of the past two decades started their careers winning this award, including Hall of Famers Steve Williams, The Road Warriors, Jushin Liger, Steve Austin and Rey Mysterio, as well as other major stars like Barry Windham, Bam Bam Bigelow, Brian Pillman, Goldust, Jun Akiyama, Perro Aguayo Jr, Big Show, Bill Goldberg and Bob Sapp.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Barry Windham; 1981 - Brad Armstrong and Brad Rheingans (tied); 1982 - Steve Williams; 1983 - Road Warriors; 1984 - Tom Zenk and Keiichi Yamada (Jushin Liger) (tied); 1985 - Jack Victory; 1986 - Bam Bam Bigelow; 1987 - Brian Pillman; 1988 - Gary Albright; 1989 - Dustin Rhodes; 1990 - Steve Austin; 1991 - Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero); 1992 - Rey Misterio Jr.;1993 - Jun Akiyama; 1994 - Mikey Whipwreck; 1995 - Perro Aguayo Jr.; 1996 - The Giant (Paul "Big Show" Wight); 1997 - Mr. Aguila; 1998 - Bill Goldberg; 1999 - Blitzkrieg; 2000 - Sean O'Haire; 2001 - El Hombre sin Nombre (Rayman); 2002 - Bob Sapp; 2003 - Chris Sabin; 2004 - Petey Williams; 2005 - Shingo Takagi; 2006 - Atsushi Aoki; 2007 - Erick Stevens; 2008 - Kai; 2009 - Frightmare; 2010 - Adam Cole; 2011 - Daichi Hashimoto; 2012 - Dinastia
BEST NON-WRESTLER
1. PAUL HEYMAN (659) 2,730
2. Zeb Colter (44) 1,187
3. Gedo (2) 566
4. Vickie Guerrero (1) 328
5. Brad Maddox (10) 244
6. Ricardo Rodriguez 195
7. Maria Kanellis (9) 144
8. Stephanie McMahon (1) 121
9. Konnan (9) 113
10. Truth Martini 105
HONORABLE MENTION: Bruce Tharpe 96, Summer Rae 89, Vince McMahon 83, Renee Young 71
Heyman won this award for the fifth time in his career, and by a landslide since last’s year No. 2, Ricardo Rodriguez, played far less significant of a role this year and his babyface turn killed him just as predicted.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1999 - Vince McMahon; 2000 - Vince McMahon; 2001 - Paul Heyman; 2002 - Paul Heyman; 2003 - Steve Austin; 2004 - Paul Heyman; 2005 - Eric Bischoff; 2006 - Jim Cornette; 2007 - Larry Sweeney; 2008 - Larry Sweeney; 2009 - Vickie Guerrero; 2010 - Vickie Guerrero; 2011 - Ricardo Rodriguez; 2012 - Paul Heyman
MANAGER OF THE YEAR PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1983 - Jimmy Hart; 1984 - Jim Cornette; 1985 - Jim Cornette; 1986 - Jim Cornette; 1987 - Jim Cornette; 1988 - Jim Cornette; 1989 - Jim Cornette; 1990 - Jim Cornette; 1991 - Sensational Sherri (Sherri Martel); 1992 - Jim Cornette; 1993 - Jim Cornette; 1994 - Jim Cornette; 1995 - Jim Cornette; 1996 - Jim Cornette
BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. WILLIAM REGAL (173) 1,460
2. Joe Rogan (106) 1,160
3. John Layfield (92) 817
4. Shimpei Nogami (123) 686
5. Kevin Kelly (59) 634
5. Mike Goldberg (61) 428
6. Nigel McGuinness (45) 393
7. Michael Cole (10) 370
8. Jose Manuel Guillen (43) 299
9. Michael Schiavello (25) 274
10. Mike Tenay (19) 198
HONORABLE MENTION: Jimmy Smith 186, Mauro Ranallo 182, Steve Corino 176, Renee Young 174, Bernardo Guzman 128
Jim Ross being off the air opened this up and William Regal (Darren Matthews, 45), defeated two-time winner Joe Rogan for the top spot. Most notable here is New Japan’s Shimpei Nogami had the second most number of first place votes, largely because Takashi Iizuka tears up his shirt and spray paints al over his face and body on most PPV shows, so everyone knows who he is.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Gordon Solie; 1982 - Gordon Solie; 1983 - Gordon Solie; 1984 - Lance Russell; 1985 - Lance Russell; 1986 - Lance Russell; 1987 - Lance Russell; 1988 - Jim Ross; 1989 - Jim Ross; 1990 - Jim Ross; 1991 - Jim Ross; 1992 - Jim Ross; 1993 - Jim Ross; 1994 - Joey Styles; 1995 - Joey Styles; 1996 - Joey Styles; 1997 - Mike Tenay; 1998 - Jim Ross; 1999 - Jim Ross; 2000 - Jim Ross; 2001 - Jim Ross; 2002 - Mike Tenay; 2003 - Mike Tenay; 2004 - Mike Tenay; 2005 - Mike Tenay; 2006 - Jim Ross; 2007 - Jim Ross; 2008 - Matt Striker; 2009 - Jim Ross; 2010 - Joe Rogan; 2011 - Joe Rogan; 2012 - Jim Ross
WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. TAZ (124) 1,334
2. Jerry Lawler (137) 1,315
3. Michael Cole (121) 992
4. The Miz (98) 725
5. John Layfield (93) 716
6. Tony Dawson (29) 274
7. Alex Riley (3) 118
8. Mike Tenay (8) 117
9. Michael Schiavello (6) 109
10. Kevin Kelly (4) 80
HONORABLE MENTION: Caleb Seltzer 67, Todd Keneley 61
One of the closest races of the year saw Taz (Peter Senerchia, 46) of TNA wrestling top Jerry Lawler to break the four-year first place streak of Michael Cole.
What’s notable here is that five of the top ten, Cole, Mike Tenay, Michael Schiavello, John Layfield and Kevin Kelly, placed in the top ten in both the best and the worst category.
PREVIOUS WINNERS - 1984 - Angelo Mosca; 1985 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1986 - David Crockett; 1987 - David Crockett; 1988 - David Crockett; 1989 - Ed Whalen; 1990 - Herb Abrams; 1991 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1992 - Gorilla Monsoon 1993 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1994 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1995 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1996 - Steve McMichael 1997 - Dusty Rhodes; 1998 - Lee Marshall; 1999 - Tony Schiavone; 2000 - Tony Schiavone; 2001 - Michael Cole; 2002 - Jerry Lawler; 2003 - Jonathan Coachman; 2004 - Todd Grisham; 2005 - Jonathan Coachman; 2006 - Todd Grisham; 2007 - Don West; 2008 - Mike Adamle; 2009 - Michael Cole; 2010 - Michael Cole; 2011 - Michael Cole; 2012 - Michael Cole
BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. NEW JAPAN G-1 8/4 OSAKA (334) 2,517
2. New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 1/4 Tokyo Dome (286) 2,251
3. WWE SummerSlam 8/18 Los Angeles (88) 799
4. New Japan Invasion Attack 4/7 Tokyo (36) 438
5. UFC 166 10/19 Houston (37) 422
6. New Japan Dominion 6/22 Osaka (27) 315
7. WWE WrestleMania 4/7 East Rutherford (22) 186
8. Dragon Gate Kobe Festival 7/21 Kobe (25) 178
9. New Japan King of Pro Wrestling 10/14 Tokyo (2) 169
10. New Japan G-1 Climax finals 8/11 Tokyo (1) 135
HONORABLE MENTION: New Japan G-1 Climax 8/2 Tokyo 132, New Japan G-1 Climax 8/10 Tokyo 123, WWE Money in the Bank 7/14 Philadelphia 115, UFC 165 9/21 Toronto 99, PWG Battle of Los Angeles 8/31 Reseda 95, ROH Supercard of Honor 4/5 New York 73, CMLL 80th anniversary show 9/13 Mexico City 71, WWE Payback 6/16 Chicago 70, Kenta Kobashi retirement show 5/11 Tokyo 65, UFC on FOX 4/20 San Jose 64, UFC 167 11/16 Las Vegas, Glory 12 11/23 New York 60
It was a close race between two New Japan events, the August 4 show in Osaka from the G-1 Climax tour, and the traditional January 4 show at the Tokyo Dome.
The G-1 show was loaded with great matches including Karl Anderson vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (***½), Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Satoshi Kojima (***3/4), Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii (***** - 2nd place for match of the year), Hirooki Goto vs. Lance Archer (***½), Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki (****0, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt (****), Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe (****1/4) and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi (****3/4 - 7TH place match of the year).
The Tokyo Dome show beat it for atmosphere and big show feel, particularly Ayumi Nakahara singing Suzuki’s “Kaze Ni Nare” entrance theme, as well as the appearance of The Breakerz and one of the stars of the immensely popular in Japan girls group AKB48. As far as top matches, that show had Archer & Smith Jr. vs. Goto & Anderson (***½), Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata (****), Devitt vs. Low Ki vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (****½), Tenzan vs. Shibata (****), Nakamura vs. Sakuraba (****½ - honorable mention match of the year) and Tanahashi vs. Okada (****3/4 - 8th place match of the year).
SummerSlam couldn’t touch those shows for depth, but Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk (****½ - 4th place match of the year) and John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan (****½ - 5th place match of the year) were voted WWE’s two best matches of 2013 and were on the same show. It only had three strong matches, with the other being Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio (***½).
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1989 - WCW Great American Bash 7/23 Baltimore; 1990 - WWF/New Japan/All Japan U.S. and Japan Wrestling Summit 4/11 Tokyo; 1991 - WCW Wrestle War 2/24 Phoenix; 1992 - All Japan Women Wrestlemarinpiad 4/25 Yokohama; 1993 - All Japan Women Dream Slam I 4/2 Yokohama; 1994 - New Japan Super J Cup 4/16 Tokyo; 1995 - Weekly Pro Wrestling Multi-Promotional show 4/2 Tokyo; 1996 - WAR Super J Cup Second Stage 12/13/95 Tokyo; 1997 - WWF Canadian Stampede 7/16 Calgary; 1998 - ECW Heat Wave 8/2 Dayton; 1999 - ECW Anarchy Rulz 9/19 Chicago; 2000 - EMLL first PPV 3/17 Arena Mexico; 2001 - WWF WrestleMania X-7 4/1 Houston Astrodome; 2002 - WWE SummerSlam 8/25 New York Nassau Coliseum; 2003 - Pride Final Elimination 11/9 Tokyo Dome; 2004 - Pro Wrestling NOAH 7/10 Tokyo Dome; 2005 - Pro Wrestling NOAH Destiny 7/18 Tokyo Dome; 2006 - Ring of Honor Glory By Honor V 9/16 Manhattan Center; 2007 - ROH Man Up 9/15 Chicago; 2008 - WWE WrestleMania 25 3/30 Orlando; 2009 - Dragon Gate USA Open the Historical Gate 7/25 Philadelphia; 2010 - UFC 116 7/3 Las Vegas; 2011 - WWE Money in the Bank 7/17 Chicago; 2012 - New Japan Kings of Pro Wrestling 10/8 Tokyo
"CATEGORY B" AWARDS - WINNER DETERMINED BY FIRST PLACE VOTES
WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. WWE BATTLEGROUND 10/6 BUFFALO 532
2. WWE Survivor Series 11/24 Boston 134
3. WWE Night of Champions 9/15 Detroit 31
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1989 - WrestleMania V 4/2 Atlantic City; 1990 - WCW Clash XII 11/20 Jacksonville; 1991 - WCW Great American Bash 7/14 Baltimore; 1992 - WCW Halloween Havoc 10/25 Philadelphia; 1993 - WCW Fall Brawl 9/19 Houston; 1994 - UWF Blackjack Brawl 9/25 Las Vegas; 1995 - WCW Uncensored 3/29 Tupelo; 1996 - WCW Uncensored 3/24 Tupelo; 1997 - WCW/NWO Souled Out 1/25 Cedar Rapids; 1998 - WCW Fall Brawl 9/13 Winston-Salem; 1999 - Heroes of Wrestling 10/10 Bay St. Louis; 2000 - WCW Halloween Havoc 10/29 Las Vegas; 2001 - WCW Unleashed 2/14 Los Angeles; 2002 - WWE King of the Ring 6/23 Columbus, OH; 2003 - WWE Backlash 4/27 Worcester; 2004 - WWE Great American Bash 7/27 Norfolk; 2005 - WWE Great American Bash 7/24 Buffalo; 2006 - UFC 61 7/8 Las Vegas; 2007 - WWE ECW December to Dismember 12/3/06 Augusta; 2008 - WWE Survivor Series 11/23 Boston; 2009 - TNA Victory Road 7/19 Orlando; 2010 - TNA Hardcore Justice 8/8 Orlando; 2011 - TNA Victory Road 3/13 Orlando; 2012 - UFC 149 7/21 Calgary
BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1. KAZUCHIKA OKADA RAINMAKER 329
2. Antonio Cesaro Giant Swing 273
3. Daniel Bryan Busaiku Knee 64
4. Adrian Neville Red Arrow (sky twister) 31
5. Shinsuke Nakamura Bom a ye 25
6. Katsuyori Shibata Corner Dropkick 22
7. Daisuke Sekimoto Dead Lift German suplex 18
8. Yujiro Takahashi Tokyo Pimps 17
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi High Fly Flow 13
10. Tommaso Ciampa Project Ciampa 12
Roman Reigns Spear 12
HONORABLE MENTION: Kota Ibushi Phoenix splash 11, Samuray del Sol reverse rana 9
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Jimmy Snuka Superfly splash; 1982 - Super Destroyer (Scott Irwin) superplex; 1983 - Jimmy Snuka Superfly splash; 1984 - Davey Boy Smith power clean in combination with Dynamite Kid dropkick off the top rope; 1985 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa) tope con giro; 1986 - Chavo Guerrero Sr. moonsault block; 1987 - Jushin Liger shooting star press; 1988 - Jushin Liger shooting star press; 1989 - Scott Steiner Frankensteiner; 1990 - Scott Steiner Frankensteiner; 1991 - Masao Orihara moonsault off top rope to floor; 1992 - Too Cold Scorpio 450 splash; 1993 - Vader moonsault; 1994 - Great Sasuke Sasuke special; 1995 - Rey Misterio Jr. flip dive into Frankensteiner on floor; 1996 - Ultimo Dragon running Liger bomb; 1997 - Diamond Dallas Page diamond cutter; 1998 - Kenta Kobashi burning hammer; 1999 - Dragon Kid dragonrana; 2000 - Dragon Kid dragonrana; 2001 - Keiji Muto shining wizard; 2002 - Brock Lesnar F-5; 2003 - A.J. Styles clash; 2004 - Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer; 2005 - Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer; 2006 - KENTA Go 2 Sleep; 2007 - KENTA Go 2 Sleep; 2008 - Evan Bourne shooting star press; 2009 - Young Bucks More Bang for Your Buck; 2010 - Ricochet double rotation moonsault; 2011- Ricochet double rotation moonsault; 2012 - Kazuchika Okada rainmaker
MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1. WWE EXPLOITING DEATH OF BILL MOODY 183
2. TNA treatment of Jesse Sorensen 180
3. CMLL not delivering Atlantis vs. Guerrero mask match 35
4. WWE false advertising talent 34
5. HHH burying the roster in promos 28
6. Daniel Bryan/HHH/Randy Orton storyline 27
7. Dana White criticizing GSP after his fight 26
8. El Hijo del Santo blaming hurricane for canceling the Wagner vs. Park vs. Santo mask match that was never going to happen 25
9. WWE firing Jim Ross 22
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - LeBelle promotions usage of The Monster claiming he was built in a laboratory; 1982 - Bob Backlund as WWF champion; 1983 - WWF pretending Eddie Gilbert had re-broken his neck after original legit injury in an auto accident; 1984 - Blackjack Mulligan fake heart attack by Championship Wrestling from Florida; 1985 - Usage of Mike Von Erich's near fatal illness to sell Cotton Bowl tickets by World Class; 1986 - Equating an angle of Chris Adams' blindness with the real death of Gino Hernandez; 1987 - World Class' handling of the death of Mike Von Erich; 1988 - Fritz Von Erich's fake brush with death; 1989 - Jose Gonzalez's babyface push by WWC; 1990 - Atsushi Onita stabbing angle with Jose Gonzalez; 1991 - WWF exploiting the Persian Gulf war; 1992 - WCW push of Erik Watts; 1993 - WCW Cactus Jack amnesia angle; 1994 - WCW retiring Ric Flair; 1995 - WCW Gene Okerlund 900 line come-ons and lies; 1996 - WWF teases and usage of fake Razor Ramon, Diesel and Double J; 1997 - WWF Melanie Pillman interview on Raw the day after Brian's death; 1998 - WCW exploiting Scott Hall's drinking problems for angles; 1999 - WWF continuing Over the Edge PPV after the death of Owen Hart; 2000 - WCW making David Arquette world champion; 2001 - Stephanie McMahon interview on 9/13 TV equating the bombing of the World Trade Center to her father's steroid trial; 2002 - WWE Katie Vick necrophilia angle; 2003 - McMahon family all over television; 2004 - Kane/Lita pregnancy/wedding/miscarriage angle; 2005 - WWE not editing off the show its terrorists angle the day of bombing in England; 2006 - WWE exploiting the death of Eddy Guerrero; 2007 - TNA signing Pacman Jones and having him do the Making it Rain on television when his doing that at a strip club led to the paralysis of a wrestler; 2008 - WWE teasing a Jeff Hardy drug overdose on the Internet to try and garner late interest in a PPV show; 2009 - WWE Piggy James angle making fun of Mickie James’ weight; 2010 - Stand up for WWE campaign; 2011 - WWE Anti-bullying message when they preach on television exactly what they don’t practice on television; 2012 - WWE presentation of C.M. Punk and Paul Heyman exploiting Jerry Lawler’s heart attack, as well as airing clips of him being worked on and playing up footage of him near death
READERS' FAVORITE WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Ric Flair; 1985 - Ric Flair; 1986 - Ric Flair; 1987 - Ric Flair; 1988 - Ric Flair; 1989 - Ric Flair; 1990 - Ric Flair; 1991 - Ric Flair; 1992 - Ric Flair; 1993 - Ric Flair; 1994 - Sabu; 1995 - Manami Toyota; 1996 - Ric Flair; 1997 - Chris Benoit; 1998 - Mick Foley; 1999 - Chris Jericho; 2000 - Chris Benoit; 2001 - Keiji Muto; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Kurt Angle
READERS LEAST FAVORITE WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Ivan Putski; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Dusty Rhodes; 1988 - Dusty Rhodes; 1989 - Ultimate Warrior; 1990 - Ultimate Warrior; 1991 - Hulk Hogan; 1992 - Erik Watts; 1993 - Sid Vicious; 1994 - Hulk Hogan; 1995 - Hulk Hogan; 1996 - Hulk Hogan; 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Hulk Hogan; 1999 - Hulk Hogan; 2000 - Kevin Nash; 2001 - Undertaker; 2002 - HHH; 2003 - HHH
WORST WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Ivan Putski; 1985 - Uncle Elmer (Stan Frazier); 1986 - Mike Von Erich; 1987 - Junkyard Dog; 1988 - Ultimate Warrior; 1989 - Andre the Giant; 1990 - Junkyard Dog; 1991 - Andre the Giant; 1992 - Andre the Giant; 1993 - Equalizer (Dave Sullivan); 1994 - Dave Sullivan; 1995 - Renegade (Rick Wilson); 1996 - Loch Ness (Giant Haystacks); 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Warrior; 1999 - Kevin Nash; 2000 - Kevin Nash; 2001 - Big Show; 2002 - Big Show ; 2003 - Nathan Jones
WORST TAG TEAM PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke; 1985 - Uncle Elmer (Stan Frazier) & Cousin Junior (Lanny Kean); 1986 - Junkyard Dog & George Steele; 1987 - Jimmy Valiant & Bugsy McGraw; 1988 - Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov; 1989 - Warlord & Barbarian; 1990 - Giant Baba & Andre the Giant; 1991 - Giant Baba & Andre the Giant; 1992 - Bushwhackers; 1993 - Colossal Kongs; 1994 - Bushwhackers; 1995 - Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck (Jimmy Golden); 1996 - Godwinns; 1997 - Godwinns; 1998 - Kurrgan & Golga (John Tenta); 1999 - Mideon & Viscera; 2000 - Kronik; 2001 - Kronik; 2002 - Rosey & Jamal; 2003 - Rene Dupree & Sylvan Grenier
WORST TELEVISION SHOW
1. TNA IMPACT 449
2. WWE Raw 113
3. WWE Smackdown 61
4. WWE Total Divas 29
5. WWE Main Event 18
6. Bellator Rampage 4 Real 10
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - WWF All-Star Wrestling; 1985 - Championship Wrestling from Florida; 1986 - California Championship Wrestling; 1987 - World Class Championship Wrestling; 1988 - AWA on ESPN; 1989 - ICW Wrestling; 1990 - AWA on ESPN; 1991 - Herb Abrams' UWF; 1992 - Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN; 1993 - Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN; 1994 - WCW Saturday Night; 1995 - WCW Saturday Night; 1996 - AWF Warriors of Wrestling; 1997 - USWA; 1998 - WCW Nitro; 1999 - WCW Thunder; 2000 - WCW Thunder; 2001 - WWF Excess; 2002 - WWE Raw; 2003 - WWE Raw; 2004 - WWE Smackdown; 2005 - WWE Smackdown; 2006 - WWE Raw; 2007 - TNA Impact; 2008 - TNA Impact; 2009 - TNA Impact; 2010 - TNA Impact; 2011 - TNA Impact; 2012 - WWE Raw
WORST NON-WRESTLING PERSONALITY PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2000 - Vince Russo; 2001 - Stephanie McMahon; 2002 - Stephanie McMahon; 2003 - Stephanie McMahon
WORST MANAGER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Mr. Fuji; 1985 - Mr. Fuji; 1986 - Paul Jones; 1987 - Mr. Fuji; 1988 - Mr. Fuji; 1989 - Mr. Fuji; 1990 - Mr. Fuji; 1991 - Mr. Fuji; 1992 - Mr. Fuji; 1993 - Mr. Fuji; 1994 - Mr. Fuji; 1995 - Mr. Fuji; 1996 - Sonny Onoo; 1997 - Sonny Onoo; 1998 - Sonny Onoo; 1999 - Sonny Onoo
WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. NATALYA & NAOMI & CAMERON & BELLA TWINS & JO JO & EVA MARIE VS. FOX & AKSANA & LEE & SNUKA & MENDES & KAITLYN & SUMMER RAE 11/24 BOSTON 142
2. Randy Orton vs. Big Show 11/24 Boston 126
3. Kane vs. Bray Wyatt 8/18 Los Angeles 118
4. Eva Marie & Jo Jo & Natalya vs. Aksana & Mendes & Fox 10/7 Pittsburgh 19
5. Mark Henry vs. Ryback 11/24 Boston 19
6. Natalya & Naomi & Cameron & Bella Twins & Jo Jo & Eva Marie vs. Fox & Aksana & Lee & Snuka & Mendes & Kaitlyn & Summer Rae 11/25 Uniondale, NY 13
7. Naoya Ogawa vs. Kazuyuki Fujita 12/31 Tokyo 12
8. Tyron Woodley vs. Jake Shields 6/15 Winnipeg 9
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Fabulous Moolah vs. Wendi Richter 7/23 New York Madison Square Garden; 1985 - Fred Blassie vs. Lou Albano Nassau Coliseum; 1986 - Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T 4/2 Nassau Coliseum; 1987 - Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant 3/29 Pontiac; 1988 - Hiroshi Wajima vs. Tom Magee 4/21 Kawasaki; 1989 - Andre the Giant vs. Ultimate Warrior 10/31 Topeka; 1990 - Sid Vicious vs. Night Stalker (Bryan Clark) 11/20 Jacksonville; 1991 - P.N. News & Bobby Eaton vs. Terry Taylor & Steve Austin scaffold match 7/14 - Baltimore; 1992 - Rick Rude vs. Masahiro Chono 10/25 Philadelphia; 1993 - Four Doinks (Bushwhackers & Men on a Mission) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Head Shrinkers & Bastion Booger (Mike Shaw); 1994 - Jerry Lawler & Queasy & Sleazy & Cheesy vs. Doink the Clown & Dink & Wink & Pink 11/23 San Antonio; 1995 - Sting vs. Tony Palmore 1/4 Tokyo Dome; 1996 - Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson & Meng & Barbarian & Kevin Sullivan & Ze Gangsta (Tiny Lister) & Ultimate Solution (Jeep Swenson) & Lex Luger 3/24 Tupelo; 1997 - Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper 10/26 Las Vegas; 1998 - Hulk Hogan vs. Warrior 10/24 Las Vegas; 1999 - Al Snow vs. Big Bossman Kennel from Hell 9/26 Charlotte; 2000 - Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco evening gown match 6/25 Boston; 2001 - Undertaker & Kane vs. Kronik (Brian Adams & Bryan Clark) 9/23 Pittsburgh; 2002 - Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs. Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda 7/8 Philadelphia; 2003 - HHH vs. Scott Steiner 1/19 Boston; 2004 - Steven Richards vs. Tyson Tomko 9/12 Portland; 2005 - Eric Bischoff vs. Teddy Long 11/27 Detroit; 2006 - TNA Reverse Battle Royal 10/24 Orlando; 2007 - Chris Harris vs. James Storm 4/15 St. Charles, MO blindfold match; 2008 - HHH vs. Edge vs. Vladimir Kozlov 11/23 Boston; 2009 - Sharmell vs. Jenna Morasca 7/19 Orlando; 2010 - Kaitlyn vs. Maxine 10/19 Edmonton; 2011 - Sting vs. Jeff Hardy 3/13 Orlando; 2012 - John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis 5/20 Raleigh
WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. BIG SHOW VS. AUTHORITY 145
2. TNA vs. Aces and 8s 98
3. Total Divas vs. WWE Divas 77
4. A.J. Styles vs. Dixie Carter 74
5. Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority 70
6. Brock Lesnar vs. HHH 44
7. The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston 37
8. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton 34
9. Hulk Hogan vs. Bully Ray 23
10. Kane vs. Bray Wyatt 18
HONORABLE MENTION: Randy Orton vs. Big Show 15, John Cena vs. Ryback 12
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Andre the Giant vs. John Studd; 1985 - Sgt. Slaughter vs. Boris Zhukov; 1986 - Machines (Andre the Giant & Bill Eadie) vs. King Kong Bundy & John Studd; 1987 - George Steele vs. Danny Davis; 1988 - Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes) vs. Tully Blanchard; 1989 - Andre the Giant vs. Ultimate Warrior; 1990 - Ric Flair vs. Junkyard Dog; 1991 - Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter; 1992 - Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango; 1993 - Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez; 1994 - Jerry Lawler vs. Doink the Clown; 1995 - Hulk Hogan vs. Dungeon of Doom; 1996 - Big Bossman vs. John Tenta; 1997 - DOA vs. Los Boricuas; 1998 - Hulk Hogan vs. Warrior; 1999 - Big Bossman vs. Big Show; 2000 - Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman; 2001 - WWF vs. The Alliance; 2002 - HHH vs. Kane; 2003 - Shane McMahon vs. Kane; 2004 - Kane vs. Lita & Matt Hardy; 2005 - McMahon Family vs. Jim Ross; 2006 - DX vs. McMahons; 2007 - Kane vs. Big Daddy V; 2008 - Rey Mysterio vs. Kane; 2009 - Chavo Guerrero vs. Hornswoggle; 2010 - Edge vs. Kane; 2011 - HHH vs. Kevin Nash; 2012 - John Cena vs. Kane
WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION 485
2. All Japan Pro Wrestling 158
3. CHIKARA Pro 110
4. Ring of Honor 30
5. World Wrestling Entertainment 29
6. Bellator MMA 11
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - AWA; 1987 - World Class Championship Wrestling; 1988 - AWA; 1989 - AWA; 1990 - AWA; 1991 - Herb Abrams UWF; 1992 - Global Wrestling Federation; 1993 - WCW; 1994 - WCW; 1995 - WCW; 1996 - AWF; 1997 - USWA; 1998 - WCW; 1999 - WCW; 2000 - WCW; 2001 - WCW; 2002 - XPW; 2003 - World Japan; 2004 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2005 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2006 - World Wrestling Entertainment; 2007 - Total Nonstop Action; 2008 - Total Nonstop Action; 2009 - Total Nonstop Action; 2010 - Total Nonstop Action; 2011 - Total Nonstop Action; 2012 - Total Nonstop Action
BEST BOOKER
1. GEDO & JADO 643
2. Joe Silva 142
3. Hunter Johnston 43
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Dusty Rhodes; 1987 - Vince McMahon; 1988 - Eddie Gilbert; 1989 - Shohei Baba; 1990 - Shohei Baba; 1991 - Shohei Baba; 1992 - Riki Choshu; 1993 - Jim Cornette; 1994 - Paul Heyman; 1995 - Paul Heyman; 1996 - Paul Heyman; 1997 - Paul Heyman; 1998 - Vince McMahon; 1999 - Vince McMahon; 2000 - Vince McMahon; 2001 - Jim Cornette; 2002 - Paul Heyman; 2003 - Jim Cornette; 2004 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2005 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2006 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2007 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2008 - Joe Silva; 2009 - Joe Silva; 2010 - Joe Silva; 2011 - Gedo & Jado; 2012 - Gedo & Jado
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1. DANA WHITE 449
2. Takaaki Kidani 315
3. Vince McMahon 98
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1988 - Vince McMahon; 1989 - Akira Maeda; 1990 - Shohei Baba; 1991 - Shohei Baba; 1992 - Shohei Baba; 1993 - Shohei Baba; 1994 - Shohei Baba; 1995 - Riki Choshu; 1996 - Riki Choshu; 1997 - Riki Choshu; 1998 - Vince McMahon; 1999 - Vince McMahon; 2000 - Vince McMahon; 2001 - Antonio Inoki; 2002 - Kazuyoshi Ishii; 2003 - Nobuyuki Sakakibara; 2004 - Nobuyuki Sakakibara; 2005 - Dana White; 2006 - Dana White; 2007 - Dana White; 2008 - Dana White; 2009 - Dana White; 2010 - Dana White; 2011 - Dana White; 2012 - Dana White
BEST GIMMICK
1. THE WYATT FAMILY 307
2. The Bullet Club 141
3. The Shield 139
4. Daniel Bryan 62
5. Shinsuke Nakamura 32
6. Bad Influence 18
7. Aiden English 12
8. Fandango 10
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Exotic Adrian Street; 1987 - Ted DiBiase Million Dollar Man; 1988 - Rick Steiner Varsity Club; 1989 - Jushin Liger; 1990 - The Undertaker; 1991 - The Undertaker; 1992 - The Undertaker; 1993 - The Undertaker; 1994 - The Undertaker; 1995 - Disco Inferno; 1996 - NWO; 1997 - Stone Cold Steve Austin; 1998 - Stone Cold Steve Austin; 1999 - The Rock; 2000 - Kurt Angle; 2001 - Hurricane; 2002 - Mattitude; 2003 - John Cena as a rapper; 2004 - JBL; 2005 - Mr. Kennedy; 2006 - Latin American Exchange; 2007 - Santino Marella; 2008 - Santino Marella; 2009 - C.M. Punk Straight Edge Society; 2010 - Alberto Del Rio; 2011 - C.M. Punk; 2012 - Joseph Park
WORST GIMMICK
1. ACES & 8S 129
2. Heel owner Dixie Carter 99
3. Los Matadores 69
4. The Miz as babyface 64
5. The Authority 46
6. C.J. Parker 38
7. Fandango 36
8. Antonio Cesaro yodeling 34
9. Joseph Park 22
10. Bad News Barrett 20
HONORABLE MENTION: A.J. Styles loner 19, 3MB 18, Ethan Carter III 17, Big Show crying 10, Wyatt Family 10
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Adorable Adrian Adonis; 1987 - Adorable Adrian Adonis; 1988 - Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes); 1989 - Ding Dongs; 1990 - Gobbledy Gooker; 1991 - Oz (Kevin Nash); 1992 - Papa Shango; 1993 - Shock Master (Fred Ottman); 1994 - Dave Sullivan; 1995 - Goldust; 1996 - New Razor Ramon, New Diesel and New Double J; 1997 - New Goldust; 1998 - Oddities; 1999 - Powers that Be; 2000 - Mike Awesome That 70s Guy; 2001 - Diamond Dallas Page Bob Patterson gimmick; 2002 - Richard & Rod Johnson as giant penises; 2003 - Rico; 2004 - Mordecai; 2005 - Jillian Hall as Mole Girl; 2006 - Vito as the toughest guy in a dress; 2007 - Black Reign; 2008 - Great Khali kiss cam; 2009 - Hornswoggle; 2010 - Orlando Jordan; 2011 - Michael Cole heel announcer; 2012 - Aces and 8s
MOST EMBARRASSING WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Adrian Adonis; 1987 - George Steele; 1988 - George Steele; 1989 - Andre the Giant; 1990 - Dusty Rhodes; 1991 - Van Hammer; 1992 - Papa Shango; 1993 - Bastion Booger; 1994 - Doink the Clown; 1995 - Hulk Hogan; 1996 - Hulk Hogan; 1997 - New Goldust; 1998 - Hulk Hogan; 1999 - Hulk Hogan; 2000 - Hulk Hogan; 2001 - Buff Bagwell; 2002 - Big Show; 2003 - Nathan Jones
BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK
1. MAD DOGS, MIDGETS AND SCREWJOBS BY PATRIC LAPRADE & BERTRAND HEBERT 444
2. The Hardcore Truth by Bob Holly & Ross Williams 203
3. The Squared Circle by David Shoemaker 50
4. The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All-Time by Larry Matysik 41
5. Three Count by Jimmy Korderas 34
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2005 - Death of WCW by Bryan Alvarez and R.D. Reynolds; 2006 - Tangled Ropes by Superstar Billy Graham and Keith Greenberg; 2007 - Hitman by Bret Hart and Marcy Engelstein; 2008 - Gorgeous George by John Capouya; 2009 - Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook by Jim Cornette; 2010 - Countdown to Lockdown by Mick Foley; 2011 - Undisputed by Chris Jericho; 2012 - Shooters by Jonathan Snowden
BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD
1. JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS: THE GOOD OLD DAYS 227
2. Legends of Mid South Wrestling 215
3. Barbed Wire City 115
4. For All Mankind 85
5. War Games 38
6. HHH: Thy Kingdom Come 32
7. Best of In Your House 25
8. History of the WWE 19
9. Fake It So Real 13
Money in the Bank Anthology 13
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2005 - Rise and Fall of ECW; 2006 - The Bret Hart Story; 2007 - Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen; 2008 - Ric Flair Definitive Collection; 2009 - Macho Madness; 2010 - Chris Jericho Breaking the Code; 2011 - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels; 2012 C.M. Punk Best in the World
