Was watching the "Rivalries" series last night. Edge/Hardy and Hogan/Piper were on. Thought the Edge/Hardy one was reatively balanced and fair
GOT Wrestle Fest Fan Thread
- Thread starter ijjysmith
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Insane Fight Club 2 at 10:35 BBC Scotland. IPlayer after it's been on as well but it's easy to find BBC Scotland on ya tele.
Second ICW Documentary, going to have footage of the Liverpool show for anyone who was there like myself.
Should be good, first one was.
Second ICW Documentary, going to have footage of the Liverpool show for anyone who was there like myself.
Should be good, first one was.
andym78
Player Valuation: £30m
BoysInBlue
Player Valuation: £50m
Get Sky channel 951 BBC One Scotland on now!
Insane Fight Club 2 is on now!!!!
Insane Fight Club 2 is on now!!!!
2014 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER AWARDS
The following are the results of the 35th 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, 2013 through November 30, 2014. 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. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (323): 2,262
2. A.J. Styles (188): 1,739
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (145): 1,563
4. Kazuchika Okada (92): 1,268
5. Daniel Bryan (55): 481
6. Rush (37): 423
7. Ricochet (8): 261
8. John Cena (21): 206
9. Seth Rollins (13): 199
10. Brock Lesnar (17): 180
HONORABLE MENTION: Negro Casas 107, Atlantis 90
Shinsuke Nakamura, 34, who placed seventh last year, ended the three-year streak of Hiroshi Tanahashi in a four-way battle that had no obvious winner.
Daniel Bryan was the odds-on winner until getting hurt, putting him out of action from May through the rest of the year. This opened the door up. A.J. Styles seemed the favorite, combining being the champion in New Japan, being a top guy on the U.S. indie scene and having killer matches, but Tanahashi beat him for the IWGP title in October.
Tanahashi swept the three major awards in Japan (Weekly Pro, Tokyo Sports and Nikkan Sports), but still finished behind two New Japan-based stars in the attempt to win it for the fourth year in a row, something only Ric Flair has done.
Nakamura passed Styles with late voting. I think that had something to do with the star power he exuded at the Tokyo Dome, and being more familiar to American voters.
While G-1 was a killer tournament for all of the top four, Nakamura scored the highest in match quality, and dominated the IC title for most of the year. After regaining the title from Tanahashi, Nakamura elevated the title. Nakamura vs. Tanahashi for the IC title was the main event at the Tokyo Dome show as well as the Invasion Attack and New Beginning show. Nakamura’s as IC champion or challenging for the title main evented eight of the company’s 13 major PPV shows and he and Tanahashi’s program early in the year elevated the belt to being almost the equal to the IWGP belt. Nakamura also won the New Japan Cup, and further elevated the IC belt by issuing a challenge for that belt instead of the IWGP belt when he won the tournament. Nakamura also lost to Okada in the finals of the G-1 Climax tournament.
Okada and Styles also held the IWGP title during the year, with both having high match quality. Okada also won G-1 and defended the briefcase into the Tokyo Dome.
The top four finishes of New Japan stars set the pace in the voting across most categories this year.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE
1. RONDA ROUSEY (551): 3,503
2. Chris Weidman (75): 1,693
3. Jon Jones (49): 1,164
4. Conor McGregor (5): 323
5. Robbie Lawler (23): 265
6. Anderson Silva (4): 146
7. Daniel Cormier : 145
8. Johny Hendricks (6): 113
9. Donald Cerrone (3): : 85
10. Tito Ortiz (2): 73
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
Rousey, 27, became the first woman ever to win one of the big five awards in a year. During our awards period she went 3-0, with three finishes, two of which were in less than 66 seconds and the last two were via striking instead of an armbar.
Rousey’s business numbers blew away anything that any woman in combat sports has ever done. In her ten pro and three amateur MMA fights, 11 of them didn’t get past the 90 second mark. The overall depth and talent level isn’t at the level of the men, but it’s a level of division dominance that no fighter in UFC history has ever approached.
Weidman went 2-0 during the period, with his second knockout of Anderson Silva and a win over Lyoto Machida, and headlined over Rousey in two of her three fights.
Jones was generally considered the best male fighter in the game, but only fought once during the calender year, a decision win over Glover Teixeira, so he really couldn’t win the big categories this year.
McGregor was the fastest rising star, but went 2-0, with wins over Diego Brando and Dustin Poirier. He was valuable in the sense he put the featherweight division on the map, but he has yet to headline a PPV.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2007 - Randy Couture; 2008 - Brock Lesnar; 2009 - Brock Lesnar; 2010 - Brock Lesnar; 2011 - Georges St-Pierre; 2012 - Anderson Silva; 2013 - Georges St-Pierre
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1. A.J. STYLES (220): 1,819
2. Tomohiro Ishii (247): 1,671
3. Shinsuke Nakamura (190): 1,639
4. Kazuchika Okada (46): 697
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi (34): 604
6. Ricochet (54): 466
7. Sami Zayn (12): 289
8. Katsuyori Shibata (11): 182
9. Negro Casas (8): 179
10. Seth Rollins (4): 171
HONORABLE MENTION: Daniel Bryan 122, Kyle O’Reilly 96, Adam Cole 91, Kota Ibushi 72, Tetsuya Naito 71
A close top three race saw Styles (37-year-old Allan Jones) place second in first place votes, but win based on the most overall votes.
Once again this was a category of New Japan dominance, as the promotion had six of the top eight finishers, and a seventh, Ricochet, worked a number of big matches for the group during the year.
It’s all a matter of opinion here as any of the top five could have been deserving winners as all had the level of years that could win this thing. After having won in 2012 and 2013, Tanahashi fell to fifth this year.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
1. RONDA ROUSEY (259): 2,164
2. Chris Weidman (193): 1,486
3. Demetrious Johnson (63): 690
4. Robbie Lawler (89): 605
5. Donald Cerrone (51): 552
6. T.J. Dillashaw (13): 492
7. Jose Aldo (39): 404
8. Jon Jones (15): 287
9. Daniel Cormier (12): 134
10. Conor McGregor (3): 97
HONORABLE MENTION: Fabricio Werdum 63
Rousey performed a rare double here. In the past decade, the only other person to win Most Valuable and Most Outstanding in the same year was Anderson Silva in 2012.
Rousey’s three wins with three stoppages, two in the first round, beats out Weidman two wins, although Weidman’s two wins, were of the highest caliber of competition.
Johnson retained the flyweight title all year, with three wins, a knockout over top contender Joseph Benavidez, a dominant decision over Ali Bagautinov and a submission over Chris Cariaso.:
Lawler went 3-1 during the period, with a close loss to Johny Hendricks, which he avenged later in the year to win the welterweight title, plus he scored wins over Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown.
Cerrone went 4-0 during the year, with three finishes, and having already gone 2-0, he’s off to the strongest start of 2015. Dillashaw went 3-0, including winning the bantamweight title from Renan Barao in one of the biggest title win upsets in MMA history, as Barao came in with a nine-year unbeaten streak.
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; 2013 - Cain Velasquez
BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1. RONDA ROUSEY (286): 1,825
2. John Cena (129): 910
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (46): 838
4. Shinsuke Nakamura (63): 559
5. Brock Lesnar (53): 507
6. Daniel Bryan (13): 263
7. Chris Weidman (2): 261
8. Atlantis (13): 235
9. Anderson Silva (19): 166
10. Ultimo Guerrero : 145
HONORABLE MENTION: Jon Jones 118, Conor McGregor 109, Kazuchika Okada 99
Rousey had more than double the first place votes of John Cena in a year where nobody really stood out. The win here gave Rousey three of the big five awards, and all three that she was eligible for.
Rousey and Jon Jones were UFC’s biggest draws, but since Jones only fought once, he wasn’t going to win. Cena remained WWE’s biggest draw and pro wrestling’s biggest draw for the sixth straight year, including headlining 32 shows that drew more than 10,000 fans, his best numbers since 2011.
Really, there was no great standout this year. UFC’s biggest draws, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre, were out of action. Jon Jones only fought once, against a non-draw, although to be fair, two of Rousey’s opponents had even less name value than Glover Teixeira.
The WWE drawing power lessens as time goes by because of the network model taking away from PPV’s interest level and the company’s pressure to put on shows that will draw.
New Japan had a successful year, and Tanahashi and Nakamura were its stars, but New Japan is still not at the level of any number of hot promotions of the past, or even New Japan during most of its existence. Almost everyone’s placing here comes more by default than anything.
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; 2013 - Georges St-Pierre
FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. JON JONES VS. DANIEL CORMIER (256): 1,792
2. Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority (199): 1,424
3. Rush vs. Negro Casas (97): 738
4. Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero (35): 648
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (70): 527
6. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn (54): 523
7. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (51): 449
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (26): 423
9. The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family (27): 390
10. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito (44): 349
HONORABLE MENTION: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins 298, Evolution vs. The Shield 240, Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena 159, A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada 150, Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole 128, Luke Rockhold vs. Michael Bisping 73
This is also a first, as Jones vs. Cormier won without having one match during the calendar year. Their match in January drew the most interest, topping 750,000 North American PPV buys while going head-to-head with the NFL playoffs. A press conference brawl followed by some of the year’s best promos by Cormier, and some of the best footage during media appearances after the brawl, saw it win without a match.
Bryan vs. The Authority was the obvious pro wrestling winner, a storyline that wasn’t even planned at the start of the year. The Bryan program as far as being a top guys was considered a cult run in late 2013 and they were going to move on. But a combination of the crowd rejecting Dave Bautista as a top babyface and C.M. Punk’s departure pretty well forced the company’s hand.
Bryan’s quest saved what otherwise could have been a lackluster WrestleMania with two Match of the Year candidates and a storyline people sunk their teeth into. But its abrupt ending, and the program was getting worse after WrestleMania, left it in second place.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1. YOUNG BUCKS (509): 3,374
2. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (159): 2,042
3. T-Hawk & Eita (158): 1,344
4. Usos (36): 731
5. Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura (56): 561
6. Alex Shelley & Kushida (8): 479
7. Goldust & Stardust (3): 101
8. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan (2): 99
9. Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards (14): 92
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (10): 92
HONORABLE MENTION: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows 89, Matt & Jeff Hardy 66, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata 63, Mark & Jay Briscoe 61
Matt Massie, 29, and brother Nick, 25, better known at Matt & Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, ran away with the award with a combination of non-stop wrestling action and clever marketing.
The duo held the IWGP jr. heavyweight tag team titles and the ROH tag team titles during the year, and had a series of matches in ROH and Japan with second place finishers Redragon, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, who ended the year with both sets of belts.
T-Hawk & Eita, who held the Open the Twin Gate titles on three occasions during the awards period, and had some of the year’s best tag team matches, placed third. They had far less exposure worldwide than the other two teams.
The Usos, who held the WWE tag titles twice during the year, and Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura, holding the tag titles in Pro Wrestling NOAH and Zero-One at the same time, en route to winning the big three awards in Japan, rounded out the top five.
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; 2013 - Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns
MOST IMPROVED
1. RUSEV (181): 1,372
2. Charlotte (152): 1,281
3. Sasha Banks (2): 383
4. Erick Rowan (41): 313
5. Luke Harper (15): 241
6. Bobby Lashley (19): 205
7. Tomoaki Honma (19): 182
8. Cedric Alexander (22): 172
9. Ethan Carter III (19): 154
10. Tomohiro Ishii (18): 137
HONORABLE MENTION: Seth Rollins 127, Kyle O’Reilly 125, T-Hawk 199, Tyler Breeze 114, Daisuke Harada 99, Joe Doering 92, Ricochet 90, Nikki Bella 89, Jay Lethal 78, Hanson 74, Roman Reigns 70, Adam Cole 63
The WWE had the top five finishers in one of the closest awards race of all. Rusev (29-year-old Miroslav Barnyashev, who really was born in Bulgaria) went from a very limited performer to one of the company’s hottest heel acts in combination with real-life girlfriend Catherine Jo Perry (Lana).
Charlotte (28-year-old Ashley Fliehr-Latimer, the daughter of Ric Flair and husband of TNA’s Thomas “Bram” Latimer) took a close second. The most accomplished athlete in the WWE’s women’s division, as a volleyball and gymnastics star growing up, Charlotte has the potential to bring women’s wrestling up a notch in both popularity and respectability if handle correctly.
Her leading rival right now in NXT, Sasha Banks, 22-year-old Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado, has the poise right now to where, like Charlotte, she should be a main roster star right now.
Some of the other picks are a little more questionable. Tomoaki Honma and Tomohiro Ishii are in more of a spotlight role, but both have been great workers for years. Ditto Luke Harper, who has gotten more a chance to show his wares, but he’s not significantly better than he’s been for a long time. Similarly, Bobby Lashley has been pushed smarter than in the past with a long and dominant TNA title run, but it’s more improved booking than an improved wrestler.
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; 2013 - Roman Reigns
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1. PAUL HEYMAN (411): 4,395
2. Conor McGregor (169): 1,675
3. Jay Briscoe (44): 582
4. Michael Bisping (20): 452
5. Stephanie McMahon (25): 417
6. Daniel Cormier (3): 387
7. Adam Cole (21): 277
8. Dean Ambrose (11): 193
9. Bray Wyatt (7): 139
10. Lana (7): 131
HONORABLE MENTION: Bruce Tharpe 116, Sami Zayn 90, Daniel Bryan 74, Rush 71
Paul Heyman, 48, ran away with the category for the second straight year, after winning a close race last year over C.M. Punk
With Punk out, the strong No. 2 was Conor McGregor and nobody else was even strong in the running. Most notable here is John Cena, who has won the award in the past and finished 6th last year, got almost no votes. Cena, at his best, is right at the top in pro wrestling. He thinks well on his feet, but his scripted material got a lot worse as the year went on, particularly after Vince McMahon took over more complete control of Raw.
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; 2013 - Paul Heyman
MOST CHARISMATIC
1. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (421): 2,527
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (71): 1,015
3. Conor McGregor (136): 993
4. Daniel Bryan (73): 638
5. John Cena (37): 532
6. Sami Zayn (16): 437
7. Dean Ambrose (17): 391
8. Ronda Rousey (29): 363
9. Brock Lesnar (28): 255
10. Rush (19): 232
HONORABLE MENTION: Kazuchika Okada 217, Akira Tozawa 115, Negro Casas 91, Jay Briscoe 99, Tomoaki Honma 82
This was both one-sided and expected. Shinsuke Nakamura came from fifth place last year, behind Hiroshi Tanahashi, The Rock, John Cena and Daniel Bryan, to running away with things this year.
Once again, this was a category Bryan had a shot at winning if he wasn’t out of action for more than half the year. Even with Bryan back full-time and McGregor being higher profile, Nakamura is probably a big favorite to repeat here because it feels right now like he’s that far ahead of the field.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
1. ZACK SABRE JR. (145): 1,221
2. Kyle O’Reilly (78): 841
3. A.J. Styles (58): 610
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi (61): 588
5. Daniel Bryan (62): 517
6. Shinsuke Nakamura (75): 506
7. Cesaro (34): 461
8. Kazuchika Okada (55): 460
9. Timothy Thatcher (64): 407
10. Minoru Suzuki (46): 401
HONORABLE MENTION: Virus 350, Drew Gulak 289, Sami Zayn 203, Kushida 155, Katsuyori Shibata 117, Yuji Nagata 92, Cima 90
Daniel Bryan’s neck injury ended his streak of taking this award at nine straight years. He may have won some on reputation, but it’s one of the most dominant runs of any award in history.
This was one of the most spread-out voting of any award, with the U.K. based Sabre, 27, moving up from 5th place last year, even though he was mostly a lower card wrestler with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Sabre finished well ahead of ROH and New Japan’s Kyle O’Reilly, whose style is based on using legitimate moves in Jiu Jitsu and figuring out a way to make them work in a dramatic wrestling contest.
The big names, Styles, Tanahashi, Bryan and Nakamura took the next four spots. Timothy Thatcher, a West Coast based independent wrestler, cracked the top ten.
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; 2013 - Daniel Bryan
BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)
1. TOMOHIRO ISHII (424): 2,785
2. Katsuyori Shibata (181): 1,834
3. Dean Ambrose (42): 781
4. Kevin Steen (30): 532
5. Jay Briscoe (48): 367
6. Togi Makabe (28): 316
7. Brock Lesnar (32): 278
8. Luke Harper (8): 194
9. Hirooki Goto (1): 154
10. Minoru Suzuki (2): 128
HONORABLE MENTION: Takashi Sugiura 99, Bray Wyatt 75, Bully Ray 63
Ishii, 39, won the first major Observer award of his career after a year where he had some of the best matches, battling for match of the night in the world’s deepest promotion.
Ishii took second last year to this year’s second place finisher, Katsuyori Shibata. Ishii is the ultimate example of a guy who was destined to just be a decent worker on the undercard, who garnered a cult following in Tokyo, which spread to the rest of the country and resulted in him getting a push.
Still, as much as he seems to have a superhuman ability to take punishment, his knee and shoulder were both banged up this year, and he didn’t a miss a beat, being in the best brawls of the year virtually working with one arm. Of course, the lessons of Shinya Hashimoto in not taking time off for shoulder problems and not getting them taken care of is not a long-term wise decision. With his age and injuries, combined with his style, longevity is not likely to be his friend.
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; 2013 - Katsuyori Shibata
BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1. RICOCHET (543): 3,365
2. Kota Ibushi (142): 1,907
3. Flamita (104): 1,182
4. Adrian Neville (42): 909
5. ACH (18): 371
6. Fenix (9): 309
7. Aero Star (2): 287
8. Titan (35): 273
9. Sami Zayn (19): 270
10. Mascara Dorada (17): 199
HONORABLE MENTION: Kushida 100, Kalisto 72, T-Hawk 70
Ricochet, 26-year-old Trevor Mann, capped off his biggest career year to date, which got him in the top ten for Wrestler of the Year. He was the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the Open the Dream Gate title, the leading belt in Dragon Gate, as well as taking the Open the Freedom Gate title, the leading belt in Dragon Gate USA/Evolve, and winning Lucha Underground’s title under a mask as Prince Puma and being one of that television show’s most -pushed commodities. He also won this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament in New Japan, leading to an excellent junior heavyweight title challenge to second place finisher Kota Ibushi.
Ricochet, who previously won the award in 2011, finished ahead of four-time previous winner Ibushi of DDT and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The two flip-flopped their top two positions last year, with Ibushi, now 32, winning by a wide margin last year.
New to the top ten are Fenix and Titan, who were both Honorable Mentions in 2014, and newcomers Aero Star and Flamita.
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; 2013 - Kota Ibushi
MOST OVERRATED
1. KANE (143): 1,117
2. Roman Reigns (145): 1,113
3. Randy Orton (5): 397
4. Big Show (23): 357
5. Ryback (18): 331
6. Michael Elgin(49): 326
7. Bray Wyatt (26): 225
8. Yujiro Takahashi (27): 218
9. John Cena (25): 197
10. Batista (15): 166
HONORABLE MENTION: The Miz 105, HHH 99, Brock Lesnar 97, The Ascension 72, Bad Luck Fale 63
Glen Jacobs, a 47-year old veteran of 23 years after playing college football and basketball, won the only category that came down to the final ballot.
Kane won the award in 2010. Second place Roman Reigns, 29-year-old Leati Joe Anoa’i, who WWE has been grooming to be its future flagship star made the list because he’s probably not fully ready for the level he’s being pushed.
Randy Orton, last year’s winner, placed a very distant third.
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; 2013 - Randy Orton
MOST UNDERRATED
1. CESARO (377): 2,275
2. Tomoaki Honma (99): 1,189
3. Tyson Kidd (29): 585
4. Dolph Ziggler (35): 422
5. Sami Zayn (16): 252
6. Dean Ambrose (18): 175
7. Yuji Nagata (1): 102
8. Chris Hero (8): 70
9. Katsuyori Shibata (10): 63
10. Austin Aries (1): 58
Claudio Castagnoli, 34, won this by a wide margin for the second straight year. This year was more frustrating because he was on the verge of big things with fans getting behind what they expected would be a babyface turn. Before WrestleMania, WWE told people it did business with that Cesaro would be one of the top babyfaces for later in the year.
Then it fell apart. They did a heel turn to put him with Paul Heyman, and apparently figured that enabled them to not give him wins at all since Heyman was with him. The idea that they’d beat him like a drum, but he’d stay over before his big babyface turn fell completely apart and the turn was forgotten about. Now there’s a question if he’ll ever get the green light, particularly since Vince McMahon openly stated he was missing a connection with the audience. Tomoaki Honma, 38, who was top ten last year, lucked into Kota Ibushi’s injury spot in the G-1 Climax tournament. He lost every match, but had some of the best matches of the tournament and came off as a bigger star. In fact, he lost every major singles match he was in, and was always there to provide action and be the guy who gets the top guys over. Honma will probably never be pushed as a major star in New Japan, but looks like he’ll retain his cult favorite level and have some of the better matches going forward. At best he can hope for is to go from a late replacement and sneaking into G-1, to being someone expected to be a key part of it this year.
Tyson Kidd, who was sixth last year, moved up to third this year. A previous winner in 2012, his combination of being such a top level worker and someone who has a character but a cat-lover gimmick that gets him on the field but won’t get him pushed past a certain level, and with his size, makes him someone who will be a career place winner here.
Dolph Ziggler, the 2011 winner, is another. Ziggler has been the victim of as many stop-and-start pushes of anyone in history. The crowds always get behind him for the start, no matter how many false teases there are, and then a few weeks later, the company always takes him back down.
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; 2013- Antonio Cesaro
PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (779): 4,064
2. Ring of Honor (16): 1,038
3. Dragon Gate (36): 884
4. Ultimate Fighting Championships (23): 835
5. CMLL (8): 504
6. World Wrestling Entertainment (4): 392
7. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (8): 348
8. AAA (3): 279
9. Bellator MMA (3): 238
10. DDT (1): 91
HONORABLE MENTION: Lucha Underground 64
This was as dominant a year as voting in this category has ever been. New Japan’s big shows were at a different level, and they increased business at a major level during the year, being well over double the level they were just two years ago. But they followed WWE’s lead in creating New Japan World, and early numbers indicate that isn’t knocking them dead at all. The difference is they went in with far lower expectations so they aren’t going to be having to do the cuts WWE did this year.
The two major groups had problems this past year, UFC with injuries devastating its main event picture, particularly on PPV, and running so many events that only a couple of shows seemed special. Still, their show quality was high as a general rule.
WWE also produced some of the best PPV shows in its history over the past year and the work quality was better than most years. But their television was not good.
ROH improved its business, with regular dates from A.J. Styles and Matt Hardy, until Hardy went with TNA, and the emergence of teams like Redragon, The Young Bucks and Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian after they were part of TNA’s budget purging. Adam Cole and Jay Briscoe both improved their games as singles headliners and the company slowly has expanded its domestic TV distribution. But while their TV audiences in 2015 will be at the same level as TNA, and they are in the house show and PPV businesses that TNA seems out of, they are still well behind in international distribution.
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; 2013 - New Japan Pro Wrestling
BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
1. WWE NXT (416): 2,961
2. Ring of Honor (175): 1,744
3. Lucha Underground (106): 1,369
4. Dragon Gate Infinity (100): 838
5. Ultimate Fighter Season 20 (76): 796
6. WWE Raw (2): 234
7. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (28): 226
8. TNA Impact (2): 110
9. WWE Smackdown (9): 88
10. WWE Main Event (2): 84
HONORABLE MENTION: CMLL 72
This is a funny one to me. There was no television show that to me was a winner, and perhaps Dragon Gate Infinity is really the best at serving all masters.
NXT is a solid show. It’s a throwback to a better than average old school territorial pro wrestling show where the job is to build up the big show and constantly create new characters, with a roster combining green guys on the way up and some very good working stars. The plus is they had some very good wrestlers this year, most notably Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville, to build around, the huge success with the women’s division built around Charlotte. So it was like a small territory that had better wrestlers than usual and was hotter than usual, but was definitely not a major territory.
ROH is similar in the sense it comes across as a different concept of old school. ROH has more emphasis on longer matches, but the goal is the same, to build the quarterly major shows. They have better overall talent, and far more depth, but have a much smaller production budget so the NXT show has a far better look.
Lucha Underground is a different concept, as it feels like a television drama that happens to center around a wrestling promotion. Still, their in-ring as a general rule blows away NXT, as does its acting, and the production is different. They also have introduced new concepts to wrestling, some of which have been good, others haven’t worked as well. But it lacks the destination. Having to do with distribution on a weak channel, its growth has been limited. But in comparing the top three shows on this list week-to-week, Lucha Underground has been the better show most weeks.
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; 2013 WWE NXT
PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. A.J. STYLES VS. MINORU SUZUKI 8/1 TOKYO (298): 1,855
2. Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 8/10 Tokorozawa (143): 1,310
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 9/21 Kobe (74): 524
4. Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero 9/19 Mexico City (49): 522
5. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto 11/8 Osaka (47): 471
6. The Shield vs. The Wyatts 2/23 Minneapolis (37): 417
7. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 8/3 Osaka (10): 330
8. Daniel Bryan vs. HHH 4/6 New Orleans (25): 287
9. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito 2/11 Osaka (20): 226
10. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 7/26 Akita (19): 181
HONORABLE MENTION: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi 3/6 Tokyo 166, Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena 8/17 Los Angeles 136, Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton 4/6 New Orleans 132, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/1 Tokyo 108, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 7/26 Akita 102, El Texano Jr. vs. Psycho Clown 8/18 Mexico City 75, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi 5/25 Yokohama 72, Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn 2/27 Winter Park, FL 72, Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata 8/1 Tokyo 64, Ricochet vs. Kushida 6/8 Tokyo 63, Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo 10/29 Boyle Heights, CA 62
The dominance of New Japan is evident here, with eight of the top 11 coming from the promotion. And if anything, that’s been a hindrance to New Japan, not a help. There were multiple matches in the G-1, and throughout the year on big shows that were better than the non-New Japan matches that placed or got honorable mention, but when you have a G-1 like this past year, great matches became so commonplace they were forgotten.
Styles vs. Suzuki wasn’t even the main event on the 8/1 Korakuen Hall show. Where it stood out was it was different from any of the others. The funny part is that both wrestlers, when it was over, knew they had done a good match, but it wasn’t until they read feedback the next day, which surprised both, that they had any inclination it was a match of the year candidate, let alone a potential winner.
Atlantis vs. Guerrero, which finished fourth, was a very good match, but it was more the post-match that made it. If you include the post-match, it was the best overall match presentation in many years. Perhaps Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania win was the only thing close in that realm. And I’m not even sure that was close.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 4/7 Tokyo
The following are the results of the 35th 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, 2013 through November 30, 2014. 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. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (323): 2,262
2. A.J. Styles (188): 1,739
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (145): 1,563
4. Kazuchika Okada (92): 1,268
5. Daniel Bryan (55): 481
6. Rush (37): 423
7. Ricochet (8): 261
8. John Cena (21): 206
9. Seth Rollins (13): 199
10. Brock Lesnar (17): 180
HONORABLE MENTION: Negro Casas 107, Atlantis 90
Shinsuke Nakamura, 34, who placed seventh last year, ended the three-year streak of Hiroshi Tanahashi in a four-way battle that had no obvious winner.
Daniel Bryan was the odds-on winner until getting hurt, putting him out of action from May through the rest of the year. This opened the door up. A.J. Styles seemed the favorite, combining being the champion in New Japan, being a top guy on the U.S. indie scene and having killer matches, but Tanahashi beat him for the IWGP title in October.
Tanahashi swept the three major awards in Japan (Weekly Pro, Tokyo Sports and Nikkan Sports), but still finished behind two New Japan-based stars in the attempt to win it for the fourth year in a row, something only Ric Flair has done.
Nakamura passed Styles with late voting. I think that had something to do with the star power he exuded at the Tokyo Dome, and being more familiar to American voters.
While G-1 was a killer tournament for all of the top four, Nakamura scored the highest in match quality, and dominated the IC title for most of the year. After regaining the title from Tanahashi, Nakamura elevated the title. Nakamura vs. Tanahashi for the IC title was the main event at the Tokyo Dome show as well as the Invasion Attack and New Beginning show. Nakamura’s as IC champion or challenging for the title main evented eight of the company’s 13 major PPV shows and he and Tanahashi’s program early in the year elevated the belt to being almost the equal to the IWGP belt. Nakamura also won the New Japan Cup, and further elevated the IC belt by issuing a challenge for that belt instead of the IWGP belt when he won the tournament. Nakamura also lost to Okada in the finals of the G-1 Climax tournament.
Okada and Styles also held the IWGP title during the year, with both having high match quality. Okada also won G-1 and defended the briefcase into the Tokyo Dome.
The top four finishes of New Japan stars set the pace in the voting across most categories this year.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE
1. RONDA ROUSEY (551): 3,503
2. Chris Weidman (75): 1,693
3. Jon Jones (49): 1,164
4. Conor McGregor (5): 323
5. Robbie Lawler (23): 265
6. Anderson Silva (4): 146
7. Daniel Cormier : 145
8. Johny Hendricks (6): 113
9. Donald Cerrone (3): : 85
10. Tito Ortiz (2): 73
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
Rousey, 27, became the first woman ever to win one of the big five awards in a year. During our awards period she went 3-0, with three finishes, two of which were in less than 66 seconds and the last two were via striking instead of an armbar.
Rousey’s business numbers blew away anything that any woman in combat sports has ever done. In her ten pro and three amateur MMA fights, 11 of them didn’t get past the 90 second mark. The overall depth and talent level isn’t at the level of the men, but it’s a level of division dominance that no fighter in UFC history has ever approached.
Weidman went 2-0 during the period, with his second knockout of Anderson Silva and a win over Lyoto Machida, and headlined over Rousey in two of her three fights.
Jones was generally considered the best male fighter in the game, but only fought once during the calender year, a decision win over Glover Teixeira, so he really couldn’t win the big categories this year.
McGregor was the fastest rising star, but went 2-0, with wins over Diego Brando and Dustin Poirier. He was valuable in the sense he put the featherweight division on the map, but he has yet to headline a PPV.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2007 - Randy Couture; 2008 - Brock Lesnar; 2009 - Brock Lesnar; 2010 - Brock Lesnar; 2011 - Georges St-Pierre; 2012 - Anderson Silva; 2013 - Georges St-Pierre
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1. A.J. STYLES (220): 1,819
2. Tomohiro Ishii (247): 1,671
3. Shinsuke Nakamura (190): 1,639
4. Kazuchika Okada (46): 697
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi (34): 604
6. Ricochet (54): 466
7. Sami Zayn (12): 289
8. Katsuyori Shibata (11): 182
9. Negro Casas (8): 179
10. Seth Rollins (4): 171
HONORABLE MENTION: Daniel Bryan 122, Kyle O’Reilly 96, Adam Cole 91, Kota Ibushi 72, Tetsuya Naito 71
A close top three race saw Styles (37-year-old Allan Jones) place second in first place votes, but win based on the most overall votes.
Once again this was a category of New Japan dominance, as the promotion had six of the top eight finishers, and a seventh, Ricochet, worked a number of big matches for the group during the year.
It’s all a matter of opinion here as any of the top five could have been deserving winners as all had the level of years that could win this thing. After having won in 2012 and 2013, Tanahashi fell to fifth this year.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
1. RONDA ROUSEY (259): 2,164
2. Chris Weidman (193): 1,486
3. Demetrious Johnson (63): 690
4. Robbie Lawler (89): 605
5. Donald Cerrone (51): 552
6. T.J. Dillashaw (13): 492
7. Jose Aldo (39): 404
8. Jon Jones (15): 287
9. Daniel Cormier (12): 134
10. Conor McGregor (3): 97
HONORABLE MENTION: Fabricio Werdum 63
Rousey performed a rare double here. In the past decade, the only other person to win Most Valuable and Most Outstanding in the same year was Anderson Silva in 2012.
Rousey’s three wins with three stoppages, two in the first round, beats out Weidman two wins, although Weidman’s two wins, were of the highest caliber of competition.
Johnson retained the flyweight title all year, with three wins, a knockout over top contender Joseph Benavidez, a dominant decision over Ali Bagautinov and a submission over Chris Cariaso.:
Lawler went 3-1 during the period, with a close loss to Johny Hendricks, which he avenged later in the year to win the welterweight title, plus he scored wins over Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown.
Cerrone went 4-0 during the year, with three finishes, and having already gone 2-0, he’s off to the strongest start of 2015. Dillashaw went 3-0, including winning the bantamweight title from Renan Barao in one of the biggest title win upsets in MMA history, as Barao came in with a nine-year unbeaten streak.
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; 2013 - Cain Velasquez
BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1. RONDA ROUSEY (286): 1,825
2. John Cena (129): 910
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (46): 838
4. Shinsuke Nakamura (63): 559
5. Brock Lesnar (53): 507
6. Daniel Bryan (13): 263
7. Chris Weidman (2): 261
8. Atlantis (13): 235
9. Anderson Silva (19): 166
10. Ultimo Guerrero : 145
HONORABLE MENTION: Jon Jones 118, Conor McGregor 109, Kazuchika Okada 99
Rousey had more than double the first place votes of John Cena in a year where nobody really stood out. The win here gave Rousey three of the big five awards, and all three that she was eligible for.
Rousey and Jon Jones were UFC’s biggest draws, but since Jones only fought once, he wasn’t going to win. Cena remained WWE’s biggest draw and pro wrestling’s biggest draw for the sixth straight year, including headlining 32 shows that drew more than 10,000 fans, his best numbers since 2011.
Really, there was no great standout this year. UFC’s biggest draws, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre, were out of action. Jon Jones only fought once, against a non-draw, although to be fair, two of Rousey’s opponents had even less name value than Glover Teixeira.
The WWE drawing power lessens as time goes by because of the network model taking away from PPV’s interest level and the company’s pressure to put on shows that will draw.
New Japan had a successful year, and Tanahashi and Nakamura were its stars, but New Japan is still not at the level of any number of hot promotions of the past, or even New Japan during most of its existence. Almost everyone’s placing here comes more by default than anything.
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; 2013 - Georges St-Pierre
FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. JON JONES VS. DANIEL CORMIER (256): 1,792
2. Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority (199): 1,424
3. Rush vs. Negro Casas (97): 738
4. Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero (35): 648
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (70): 527
6. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn (54): 523
7. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (51): 449
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (26): 423
9. The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family (27): 390
10. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito (44): 349
HONORABLE MENTION: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins 298, Evolution vs. The Shield 240, Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena 159, A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada 150, Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole 128, Luke Rockhold vs. Michael Bisping 73
This is also a first, as Jones vs. Cormier won without having one match during the calendar year. Their match in January drew the most interest, topping 750,000 North American PPV buys while going head-to-head with the NFL playoffs. A press conference brawl followed by some of the year’s best promos by Cormier, and some of the best footage during media appearances after the brawl, saw it win without a match.
Bryan vs. The Authority was the obvious pro wrestling winner, a storyline that wasn’t even planned at the start of the year. The Bryan program as far as being a top guys was considered a cult run in late 2013 and they were going to move on. But a combination of the crowd rejecting Dave Bautista as a top babyface and C.M. Punk’s departure pretty well forced the company’s hand.
Bryan’s quest saved what otherwise could have been a lackluster WrestleMania with two Match of the Year candidates and a storyline people sunk their teeth into. But its abrupt ending, and the program was getting worse after WrestleMania, left it in second place.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1. YOUNG BUCKS (509): 3,374
2. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (159): 2,042
3. T-Hawk & Eita (158): 1,344
4. Usos (36): 731
5. Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura (56): 561
6. Alex Shelley & Kushida (8): 479
7. Goldust & Stardust (3): 101
8. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan (2): 99
9. Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards (14): 92
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (10): 92
HONORABLE MENTION: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows 89, Matt & Jeff Hardy 66, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata 63, Mark & Jay Briscoe 61
Matt Massie, 29, and brother Nick, 25, better known at Matt & Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, ran away with the award with a combination of non-stop wrestling action and clever marketing.
The duo held the IWGP jr. heavyweight tag team titles and the ROH tag team titles during the year, and had a series of matches in ROH and Japan with second place finishers Redragon, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, who ended the year with both sets of belts.
T-Hawk & Eita, who held the Open the Twin Gate titles on three occasions during the awards period, and had some of the year’s best tag team matches, placed third. They had far less exposure worldwide than the other two teams.
The Usos, who held the WWE tag titles twice during the year, and Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura, holding the tag titles in Pro Wrestling NOAH and Zero-One at the same time, en route to winning the big three awards in Japan, rounded out the top five.
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; 2013 - Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns
MOST IMPROVED
1. RUSEV (181): 1,372
2. Charlotte (152): 1,281
3. Sasha Banks (2): 383
4. Erick Rowan (41): 313
5. Luke Harper (15): 241
6. Bobby Lashley (19): 205
7. Tomoaki Honma (19): 182
8. Cedric Alexander (22): 172
9. Ethan Carter III (19): 154
10. Tomohiro Ishii (18): 137
HONORABLE MENTION: Seth Rollins 127, Kyle O’Reilly 125, T-Hawk 199, Tyler Breeze 114, Daisuke Harada 99, Joe Doering 92, Ricochet 90, Nikki Bella 89, Jay Lethal 78, Hanson 74, Roman Reigns 70, Adam Cole 63
The WWE had the top five finishers in one of the closest awards race of all. Rusev (29-year-old Miroslav Barnyashev, who really was born in Bulgaria) went from a very limited performer to one of the company’s hottest heel acts in combination with real-life girlfriend Catherine Jo Perry (Lana).
Charlotte (28-year-old Ashley Fliehr-Latimer, the daughter of Ric Flair and husband of TNA’s Thomas “Bram” Latimer) took a close second. The most accomplished athlete in the WWE’s women’s division, as a volleyball and gymnastics star growing up, Charlotte has the potential to bring women’s wrestling up a notch in both popularity and respectability if handle correctly.
Her leading rival right now in NXT, Sasha Banks, 22-year-old Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado, has the poise right now to where, like Charlotte, she should be a main roster star right now.
Some of the other picks are a little more questionable. Tomoaki Honma and Tomohiro Ishii are in more of a spotlight role, but both have been great workers for years. Ditto Luke Harper, who has gotten more a chance to show his wares, but he’s not significantly better than he’s been for a long time. Similarly, Bobby Lashley has been pushed smarter than in the past with a long and dominant TNA title run, but it’s more improved booking than an improved wrestler.
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; 2013 - Roman Reigns
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1. PAUL HEYMAN (411): 4,395
2. Conor McGregor (169): 1,675
3. Jay Briscoe (44): 582
4. Michael Bisping (20): 452
5. Stephanie McMahon (25): 417
6. Daniel Cormier (3): 387
7. Adam Cole (21): 277
8. Dean Ambrose (11): 193
9. Bray Wyatt (7): 139
10. Lana (7): 131
HONORABLE MENTION: Bruce Tharpe 116, Sami Zayn 90, Daniel Bryan 74, Rush 71
Paul Heyman, 48, ran away with the category for the second straight year, after winning a close race last year over C.M. Punk
With Punk out, the strong No. 2 was Conor McGregor and nobody else was even strong in the running. Most notable here is John Cena, who has won the award in the past and finished 6th last year, got almost no votes. Cena, at his best, is right at the top in pro wrestling. He thinks well on his feet, but his scripted material got a lot worse as the year went on, particularly after Vince McMahon took over more complete control of Raw.
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; 2013 - Paul Heyman
MOST CHARISMATIC
1. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (421): 2,527
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (71): 1,015
3. Conor McGregor (136): 993
4. Daniel Bryan (73): 638
5. John Cena (37): 532
6. Sami Zayn (16): 437
7. Dean Ambrose (17): 391
8. Ronda Rousey (29): 363
9. Brock Lesnar (28): 255
10. Rush (19): 232
HONORABLE MENTION: Kazuchika Okada 217, Akira Tozawa 115, Negro Casas 91, Jay Briscoe 99, Tomoaki Honma 82
This was both one-sided and expected. Shinsuke Nakamura came from fifth place last year, behind Hiroshi Tanahashi, The Rock, John Cena and Daniel Bryan, to running away with things this year.
Once again, this was a category Bryan had a shot at winning if he wasn’t out of action for more than half the year. Even with Bryan back full-time and McGregor being higher profile, Nakamura is probably a big favorite to repeat here because it feels right now like he’s that far ahead of the field.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
1. ZACK SABRE JR. (145): 1,221
2. Kyle O’Reilly (78): 841
3. A.J. Styles (58): 610
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi (61): 588
5. Daniel Bryan (62): 517
6. Shinsuke Nakamura (75): 506
7. Cesaro (34): 461
8. Kazuchika Okada (55): 460
9. Timothy Thatcher (64): 407
10. Minoru Suzuki (46): 401
HONORABLE MENTION: Virus 350, Drew Gulak 289, Sami Zayn 203, Kushida 155, Katsuyori Shibata 117, Yuji Nagata 92, Cima 90
Daniel Bryan’s neck injury ended his streak of taking this award at nine straight years. He may have won some on reputation, but it’s one of the most dominant runs of any award in history.
This was one of the most spread-out voting of any award, with the U.K. based Sabre, 27, moving up from 5th place last year, even though he was mostly a lower card wrestler with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Sabre finished well ahead of ROH and New Japan’s Kyle O’Reilly, whose style is based on using legitimate moves in Jiu Jitsu and figuring out a way to make them work in a dramatic wrestling contest.
The big names, Styles, Tanahashi, Bryan and Nakamura took the next four spots. Timothy Thatcher, a West Coast based independent wrestler, cracked the top ten.
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; 2013 - Daniel Bryan
BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)
1. TOMOHIRO ISHII (424): 2,785
2. Katsuyori Shibata (181): 1,834
3. Dean Ambrose (42): 781
4. Kevin Steen (30): 532
5. Jay Briscoe (48): 367
6. Togi Makabe (28): 316
7. Brock Lesnar (32): 278
8. Luke Harper (8): 194
9. Hirooki Goto (1): 154
10. Minoru Suzuki (2): 128
HONORABLE MENTION: Takashi Sugiura 99, Bray Wyatt 75, Bully Ray 63
Ishii, 39, won the first major Observer award of his career after a year where he had some of the best matches, battling for match of the night in the world’s deepest promotion.
Ishii took second last year to this year’s second place finisher, Katsuyori Shibata. Ishii is the ultimate example of a guy who was destined to just be a decent worker on the undercard, who garnered a cult following in Tokyo, which spread to the rest of the country and resulted in him getting a push.
Still, as much as he seems to have a superhuman ability to take punishment, his knee and shoulder were both banged up this year, and he didn’t a miss a beat, being in the best brawls of the year virtually working with one arm. Of course, the lessons of Shinya Hashimoto in not taking time off for shoulder problems and not getting them taken care of is not a long-term wise decision. With his age and injuries, combined with his style, longevity is not likely to be his friend.
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; 2013 - Katsuyori Shibata
BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1. RICOCHET (543): 3,365
2. Kota Ibushi (142): 1,907
3. Flamita (104): 1,182
4. Adrian Neville (42): 909
5. ACH (18): 371
6. Fenix (9): 309
7. Aero Star (2): 287
8. Titan (35): 273
9. Sami Zayn (19): 270
10. Mascara Dorada (17): 199
HONORABLE MENTION: Kushida 100, Kalisto 72, T-Hawk 70
Ricochet, 26-year-old Trevor Mann, capped off his biggest career year to date, which got him in the top ten for Wrestler of the Year. He was the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the Open the Dream Gate title, the leading belt in Dragon Gate, as well as taking the Open the Freedom Gate title, the leading belt in Dragon Gate USA/Evolve, and winning Lucha Underground’s title under a mask as Prince Puma and being one of that television show’s most -pushed commodities. He also won this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament in New Japan, leading to an excellent junior heavyweight title challenge to second place finisher Kota Ibushi.
Ricochet, who previously won the award in 2011, finished ahead of four-time previous winner Ibushi of DDT and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The two flip-flopped their top two positions last year, with Ibushi, now 32, winning by a wide margin last year.
New to the top ten are Fenix and Titan, who were both Honorable Mentions in 2014, and newcomers Aero Star and Flamita.
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; 2013 - Kota Ibushi
MOST OVERRATED
1. KANE (143): 1,117
2. Roman Reigns (145): 1,113
3. Randy Orton (5): 397
4. Big Show (23): 357
5. Ryback (18): 331
6. Michael Elgin(49): 326
7. Bray Wyatt (26): 225
8. Yujiro Takahashi (27): 218
9. John Cena (25): 197
10. Batista (15): 166
HONORABLE MENTION: The Miz 105, HHH 99, Brock Lesnar 97, The Ascension 72, Bad Luck Fale 63
Glen Jacobs, a 47-year old veteran of 23 years after playing college football and basketball, won the only category that came down to the final ballot.
Kane won the award in 2010. Second place Roman Reigns, 29-year-old Leati Joe Anoa’i, who WWE has been grooming to be its future flagship star made the list because he’s probably not fully ready for the level he’s being pushed.
Randy Orton, last year’s winner, placed a very distant third.
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; 2013 - Randy Orton
MOST UNDERRATED
1. CESARO (377): 2,275
2. Tomoaki Honma (99): 1,189
3. Tyson Kidd (29): 585
4. Dolph Ziggler (35): 422
5. Sami Zayn (16): 252
6. Dean Ambrose (18): 175
7. Yuji Nagata (1): 102
8. Chris Hero (8): 70
9. Katsuyori Shibata (10): 63
10. Austin Aries (1): 58
Claudio Castagnoli, 34, won this by a wide margin for the second straight year. This year was more frustrating because he was on the verge of big things with fans getting behind what they expected would be a babyface turn. Before WrestleMania, WWE told people it did business with that Cesaro would be one of the top babyfaces for later in the year.
Then it fell apart. They did a heel turn to put him with Paul Heyman, and apparently figured that enabled them to not give him wins at all since Heyman was with him. The idea that they’d beat him like a drum, but he’d stay over before his big babyface turn fell completely apart and the turn was forgotten about. Now there’s a question if he’ll ever get the green light, particularly since Vince McMahon openly stated he was missing a connection with the audience. Tomoaki Honma, 38, who was top ten last year, lucked into Kota Ibushi’s injury spot in the G-1 Climax tournament. He lost every match, but had some of the best matches of the tournament and came off as a bigger star. In fact, he lost every major singles match he was in, and was always there to provide action and be the guy who gets the top guys over. Honma will probably never be pushed as a major star in New Japan, but looks like he’ll retain his cult favorite level and have some of the better matches going forward. At best he can hope for is to go from a late replacement and sneaking into G-1, to being someone expected to be a key part of it this year.
Tyson Kidd, who was sixth last year, moved up to third this year. A previous winner in 2012, his combination of being such a top level worker and someone who has a character but a cat-lover gimmick that gets him on the field but won’t get him pushed past a certain level, and with his size, makes him someone who will be a career place winner here.
Dolph Ziggler, the 2011 winner, is another. Ziggler has been the victim of as many stop-and-start pushes of anyone in history. The crowds always get behind him for the start, no matter how many false teases there are, and then a few weeks later, the company always takes him back down.
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; 2013- Antonio Cesaro
PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (779): 4,064
2. Ring of Honor (16): 1,038
3. Dragon Gate (36): 884
4. Ultimate Fighting Championships (23): 835
5. CMLL (8): 504
6. World Wrestling Entertainment (4): 392
7. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (8): 348
8. AAA (3): 279
9. Bellator MMA (3): 238
10. DDT (1): 91
HONORABLE MENTION: Lucha Underground 64
This was as dominant a year as voting in this category has ever been. New Japan’s big shows were at a different level, and they increased business at a major level during the year, being well over double the level they were just two years ago. But they followed WWE’s lead in creating New Japan World, and early numbers indicate that isn’t knocking them dead at all. The difference is they went in with far lower expectations so they aren’t going to be having to do the cuts WWE did this year.
The two major groups had problems this past year, UFC with injuries devastating its main event picture, particularly on PPV, and running so many events that only a couple of shows seemed special. Still, their show quality was high as a general rule.
WWE also produced some of the best PPV shows in its history over the past year and the work quality was better than most years. But their television was not good.
ROH improved its business, with regular dates from A.J. Styles and Matt Hardy, until Hardy went with TNA, and the emergence of teams like Redragon, The Young Bucks and Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian after they were part of TNA’s budget purging. Adam Cole and Jay Briscoe both improved their games as singles headliners and the company slowly has expanded its domestic TV distribution. But while their TV audiences in 2015 will be at the same level as TNA, and they are in the house show and PPV businesses that TNA seems out of, they are still well behind in international distribution.
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; 2013 - New Japan Pro Wrestling
BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
1. WWE NXT (416): 2,961
2. Ring of Honor (175): 1,744
3. Lucha Underground (106): 1,369
4. Dragon Gate Infinity (100): 838
5. Ultimate Fighter Season 20 (76): 796
6. WWE Raw (2): 234
7. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (28): 226
8. TNA Impact (2): 110
9. WWE Smackdown (9): 88
10. WWE Main Event (2): 84
HONORABLE MENTION: CMLL 72
This is a funny one to me. There was no television show that to me was a winner, and perhaps Dragon Gate Infinity is really the best at serving all masters.
NXT is a solid show. It’s a throwback to a better than average old school territorial pro wrestling show where the job is to build up the big show and constantly create new characters, with a roster combining green guys on the way up and some very good working stars. The plus is they had some very good wrestlers this year, most notably Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville, to build around, the huge success with the women’s division built around Charlotte. So it was like a small territory that had better wrestlers than usual and was hotter than usual, but was definitely not a major territory.
ROH is similar in the sense it comes across as a different concept of old school. ROH has more emphasis on longer matches, but the goal is the same, to build the quarterly major shows. They have better overall talent, and far more depth, but have a much smaller production budget so the NXT show has a far better look.
Lucha Underground is a different concept, as it feels like a television drama that happens to center around a wrestling promotion. Still, their in-ring as a general rule blows away NXT, as does its acting, and the production is different. They also have introduced new concepts to wrestling, some of which have been good, others haven’t worked as well. But it lacks the destination. Having to do with distribution on a weak channel, its growth has been limited. But in comparing the top three shows on this list week-to-week, Lucha Underground has been the better show most weeks.
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; 2013 WWE NXT
PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. A.J. STYLES VS. MINORU SUZUKI 8/1 TOKYO (298): 1,855
2. Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 8/10 Tokorozawa (143): 1,310
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 9/21 Kobe (74): 524
4. Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero 9/19 Mexico City (49): 522
5. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto 11/8 Osaka (47): 471
6. The Shield vs. The Wyatts 2/23 Minneapolis (37): 417
7. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 8/3 Osaka (10): 330
8. Daniel Bryan vs. HHH 4/6 New Orleans (25): 287
9. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito 2/11 Osaka (20): 226
10. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 7/26 Akita (19): 181
HONORABLE MENTION: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi 3/6 Tokyo 166, Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena 8/17 Los Angeles 136, Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton 4/6 New Orleans 132, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/1 Tokyo 108, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 7/26 Akita 102, El Texano Jr. vs. Psycho Clown 8/18 Mexico City 75, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi 5/25 Yokohama 72, Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn 2/27 Winter Park, FL 72, Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata 8/1 Tokyo 64, Ricochet vs. Kushida 6/8 Tokyo 63, Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo 10/29 Boyle Heights, CA 62
The dominance of New Japan is evident here, with eight of the top 11 coming from the promotion. And if anything, that’s been a hindrance to New Japan, not a help. There were multiple matches in the G-1, and throughout the year on big shows that were better than the non-New Japan matches that placed or got honorable mention, but when you have a G-1 like this past year, great matches became so commonplace they were forgotten.
Styles vs. Suzuki wasn’t even the main event on the 8/1 Korakuen Hall show. Where it stood out was it was different from any of the others. The funny part is that both wrestlers, when it was over, knew they had done a good match, but it wasn’t until they read feedback the next day, which surprised both, that they had any inclination it was a match of the year candidate, let alone a potential winner.
Atlantis vs. Guerrero, which finished fourth, was a very good match, but it was more the post-match that made it. If you include the post-match, it was the best overall match presentation in many years. Perhaps Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania win was the only thing close in that realm. And I’m not even sure that was close.
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; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 4/7 Tokyo
MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. ROBBIE LAWLER VS. JOHNY HENDRICKS 3/15 DALLAS (225): 1,724
2. Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva 5/10 Cincinnati (113): 1,371
3. Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva 12/8/13 Sydney (217): 1,353
4. Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida 7/5 Las Vegas (86): 982
5. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate 12/28/13 Las Vegas (97): 656
6. Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes 10/25 Rio de Janeiro (61): 569
7. Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua 3/23 Natal (2): 205
8. Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Brown 7/26 San Jose : 122
9. Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks 5/17 Memphis (21): 121
10. Jamie Varner vs. Abel Trujillo 2/1 Newark (2): 108
HONORABLE MENTION: T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao 5/24 Las Vegas 95
This was a list with UFC domination, as only one match, the Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks PPV match from Bellator, cracked the top 11.
Every match on the list was very good and it’s all personal preference. In my opinion, timing of being last December greatly hurt Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva, which I think would have won or at least challenged for the top spot had it taken place a few months later. When I look at this list, to me the two best were Hunt vs. Silva and Aldo vs. Mendes. The surprise was Lawler vs. Brown, which I was at live and thought was a disappointment because Brown really never got his game going. Henderson vs. Rua had the great come-from-behind finish and was good, but I thought many bouts were better. Lawler vs. Hendricks was a fight I saw as a strong match of the year candidate. Brown vs. Erick Silva was more a blow-away fight with the Brown comeback from death and savage beating, but with Lawler-Hendricks it was a title fight with two guys putting on a great performance and the outcome was in doubt until late in the fifth round.
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; 2013 - Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez 10/19 Houston
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. DRAGON LEE (190): 1,476
2. Moose (142): 1,092
3. Yuga Hayashi (145): 982
4. Alexa Bliss (55): 927
5. Cachorro (81): 910
6. Australian Suicide (56): 550
7. Ashley Remington (47): 396
8. Black Panther (3): 378
9. Chris Melendez (15): 152
10. Naoya Nomura (2): 72
There were more good candidates, mostly out of Mexico, than most years. The second Dragon Lee was a solid winner, but Cachorro placing fifth was a complete miscarriage. At worst he should have been in the second spot. With his ability and being the son of Blue Panther, his future with his new name, The Panther, I see him as an almost sure-fire superstar for decades unless his ring style leads to early injuries that take him down.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 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; 2013 - Yohei Komatsu
BEST NON-WRESTLER
1. PAUL HEYMAN (377): 2,336
2. Stephanie McMahon (129): 1,103
3. Lana (28): 987
4. Bruce Tharpe (41): 524
5. Dario Cueto (21): 334
6. Konnan (9): 239
7. Gedo (2): 163
8. William Regal (1): 108
9. Rockstar Spud (3): 105
10. Maria Kanellis (2): 102
HONORABLE MENTION: Truth Martini 99, Zeb Colter 82,Veda Scott 70
Paul Heyman captured this category for the third straight year, and sixth time overall, although he probably won’t be around long enough to tie Jim Cornette’s 13 years winning between this and its previous manager of the year version.
It was strong year for the category, with Stephanie McMahon and Lana being two of the best characters on WWE television, and the acting of Dario Cueto and Konnan on Lucha Underground being the best in the industry.
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; 2013 - 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 (192): 1,273
2. Shimpei Nogami (170): 1,189
3. Joe Rogan (109): 1,053
4. Steve Corino (69): 745
5. Brian Stann (127): 689
6. Kevin Kelly (45): 608
7. Mike Tenay (28): 316
8. Matt Striker (8): 307
9. Jimmy Smith (34): 261
10. Mike Goldberg (7): 190
HONORABLE MENTION: Nigel McGuinness 161, Tom Phillips 145, Michael Schiavello 142, Jose Manuel Guillen 136, John Layfield 115, Renee Young 107, Hugo Savinovich 92, Michael Cole 86, Sean Wheelock 72, Jon Anik 71
This category is notable because there was no clear-cut winner, and the winner was someone taken off as an announcer months ago, and the guy who placed a close second was Japanese.
Regal, born Darren Matthews, 46, was moved from the commentary booth to the figurehead commissioner role since the decision was made that NXT should be about grooming announcers for the future in WWE, and they simply don’t think of Regal for that role. Given the state of WWE announcing, that’s quite the debatable decision making, but it was the decision made.
The other note is that if New Japan on AXS lasts more than 13 weeks, Mauro Ranallo, who got almost no votes here (he did some MMA, mostly Invicta, but his main work on television was boxing and kickboxing), may be the favorite for next year. And if Jim Ross continues to do New Japan big shows, he may also be a favorite.
My own thought is Brian Stann should have finished higher, and Dan Hardy, due to a lack of television exposure, is underrated and the entire Fight Pass European team comes across like two guys you’d just like to sit and watch cool fights with, like they are your two buddies who know the sport, speak well, and you all learn together watching.
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; 2013 - William Regal
WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. JOHN LAYFIELD (165): 1,378
2. Jerry Lawler (125): 1,287
3. Michael Cole (146): 1,252
4. Taz (36): 655
5. Alex Riley (49): 399
6. Vampiro (9): 288
7. Matt Striker (33): 264
8. Mike Tenay (4): 93
9. Tom Phillips (8): 78
10. Byron Saxton (4): 61
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; 2013 - Taz
The theme here is that the three voices of Raw battled in a close race for worst, with John Layfield, 48, winning. This is more an indictment of the decision making as to what Raw announcing is supposed to be as much as the guys themselves. Lawler and Cole finished second and third last year behind Taz, who fell to a distant fourth, while Layfield moved from fifth to first. Layfield also placed third last year for best announcer, while falling out of the top ten this year. The problem was a combination of overexposure of himself for five hours a week, the job description from up top, and a very repetitive feeling product.
BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. NEW JAPAN G-1 8/1 TOKYO (313): 2,227
2. New Japan G-1 8/3 Osaka (166): 1,297
3. WWE WrestleMania 4/6 New Orleans (115): 920
4. CMLL Anniversary show 9/19 Mexico City (49): 502
5. New Japan G-1 7/26 Akita (8): 406
6. New Japan G-1 finals 8/10 Tokorozawa (35): 402
7. Dragon Gate Dead or Alive 5/5 Nagoya (23): 388
8. UFC 168 12/28/13 Las Vegas (60): 347
9. ROH 5/10 Toronto (16): 190
10. WWE SummerSlam 8/17 Los Angeles (8): 166
HONORABLE MENTION: ROH 5/17 New York 150, UFC Fight Night 7/19 Dublin 145, NXT Takeover 5/29 Winter Park, FL 117, New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 8 1/4 Tokyo Dome 106, UFC 175 7/5 Las Vegas 91, New Japan King of Pro Wrestling 10/13 Tokyo 85, New Japan G-1 Climax 7/21 Sapporo 82, UFC 178 9/27 Las Vegas 74
Like with Match of the Year, the dominance of New Japan almost worked against itself, as there were several PPV shows his year, as well as G-1 shows, that could have won this in other years, but got forgotten because of the number of great events. For all the negativity about wrestling, the number of great big shows, whether it be New Japan, WWE, NXT, AAA, CMLL, ROH or UFC is probably as much as anything ever.
While wrestling styles change and differ, the production of shows as a general rule improves. While nothing touches the old Pride promotion in that regard, wrestling has evolved worldwide in presentation for the most part. Still, the G-1 shows that finished in four of the top six spots were just house shows with one phenomenal match after another.
The 8/1 Korakuen Hall show was so great that four matches on the show would have had a shot at placing in match of the year if they had not been on such a loaded show. In all, there were five four-star or better matches with Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hirooki Goto (****½), Tetsuya Naito vs. Togi Makabe (****1/4), A.J. Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki (****3/4 and the match of the year winner), Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata (****½) and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii (****3/4).
Osaka was its closest competitor two days later, a show that included Ishii vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (****1/4), Goto vs. Naito (****14/), Suzuki vs. Makabe (****), Shibata vs. Honma (****3/4) and Tanahashi vs. Nakamura (****½).
WrestleMania was the big show of the year which paid off with the Daniel Bryan storyline and his two matches were in the match of the year discussion. The CMLL anniversary show may have been better, because even though there were better matches in the ring, the start-to-finish presentation of Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero was the pro wrestling highlight of 2014.
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; 2013 - New Japan G-1 Climax tournament 8/4 Osaka
"CATEGORY B" AWARDS - WINNER
DETERMINED BY FIRST PLACE VOTES
WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. WWE BATTLEGROUND 7/20 TAMPA : 275
2. TNA Lockdown 3/9 Miami: 69
3. WWE Royal Rumble 1/26 Pittsburgh: 42
4. WWE Survivor Series 11/23 St. Louis: 40
5. TNA Sacrifice 4/27 Orlando: 33
6. WWE TLC 12/15/13 Houston: 26
7. WWE Hell in a Cell 10/26 Dallas: 23
8. UFC 177 8/30 Sacramento: 17
9. WWE Night of Champions 9/21 Nashville: 12
10. UFC 4/16 Quebec City: 9
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; 2013 - WWE Battleground 10/6 Buffalo
1. ROBBIE LAWLER VS. JOHNY HENDRICKS 3/15 DALLAS (225): 1,724
2. Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva 5/10 Cincinnati (113): 1,371
3. Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva 12/8/13 Sydney (217): 1,353
4. Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida 7/5 Las Vegas (86): 982
5. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate 12/28/13 Las Vegas (97): 656
6. Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes 10/25 Rio de Janeiro (61): 569
7. Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua 3/23 Natal (2): 205
8. Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Brown 7/26 San Jose : 122
9. Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks 5/17 Memphis (21): 121
10. Jamie Varner vs. Abel Trujillo 2/1 Newark (2): 108
HONORABLE MENTION: T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao 5/24 Las Vegas 95
This was a list with UFC domination, as only one match, the Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks PPV match from Bellator, cracked the top 11.
Every match on the list was very good and it’s all personal preference. In my opinion, timing of being last December greatly hurt Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva, which I think would have won or at least challenged for the top spot had it taken place a few months later. When I look at this list, to me the two best were Hunt vs. Silva and Aldo vs. Mendes. The surprise was Lawler vs. Brown, which I was at live and thought was a disappointment because Brown really never got his game going. Henderson vs. Rua had the great come-from-behind finish and was good, but I thought many bouts were better. Lawler vs. Hendricks was a fight I saw as a strong match of the year candidate. Brown vs. Erick Silva was more a blow-away fight with the Brown comeback from death and savage beating, but with Lawler-Hendricks it was a title fight with two guys putting on a great performance and the outcome was in doubt until late in the fifth round.
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; 2013 - Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez 10/19 Houston
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. DRAGON LEE (190): 1,476
2. Moose (142): 1,092
3. Yuga Hayashi (145): 982
4. Alexa Bliss (55): 927
5. Cachorro (81): 910
6. Australian Suicide (56): 550
7. Ashley Remington (47): 396
8. Black Panther (3): 378
9. Chris Melendez (15): 152
10. Naoya Nomura (2): 72
There were more good candidates, mostly out of Mexico, than most years. The second Dragon Lee was a solid winner, but Cachorro placing fifth was a complete miscarriage. At worst he should have been in the second spot. With his ability and being the son of Blue Panther, his future with his new name, The Panther, I see him as an almost sure-fire superstar for decades unless his ring style leads to early injuries that take him down.
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 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; 2013 - Yohei Komatsu
BEST NON-WRESTLER
1. PAUL HEYMAN (377): 2,336
2. Stephanie McMahon (129): 1,103
3. Lana (28): 987
4. Bruce Tharpe (41): 524
5. Dario Cueto (21): 334
6. Konnan (9): 239
7. Gedo (2): 163
8. William Regal (1): 108
9. Rockstar Spud (3): 105
10. Maria Kanellis (2): 102
HONORABLE MENTION: Truth Martini 99, Zeb Colter 82,Veda Scott 70
Paul Heyman captured this category for the third straight year, and sixth time overall, although he probably won’t be around long enough to tie Jim Cornette’s 13 years winning between this and its previous manager of the year version.
It was strong year for the category, with Stephanie McMahon and Lana being two of the best characters on WWE television, and the acting of Dario Cueto and Konnan on Lucha Underground being the best in the industry.
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; 2013 - 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 (192): 1,273
2. Shimpei Nogami (170): 1,189
3. Joe Rogan (109): 1,053
4. Steve Corino (69): 745
5. Brian Stann (127): 689
6. Kevin Kelly (45): 608
7. Mike Tenay (28): 316
8. Matt Striker (8): 307
9. Jimmy Smith (34): 261
10. Mike Goldberg (7): 190
HONORABLE MENTION: Nigel McGuinness 161, Tom Phillips 145, Michael Schiavello 142, Jose Manuel Guillen 136, John Layfield 115, Renee Young 107, Hugo Savinovich 92, Michael Cole 86, Sean Wheelock 72, Jon Anik 71
This category is notable because there was no clear-cut winner, and the winner was someone taken off as an announcer months ago, and the guy who placed a close second was Japanese.
Regal, born Darren Matthews, 46, was moved from the commentary booth to the figurehead commissioner role since the decision was made that NXT should be about grooming announcers for the future in WWE, and they simply don’t think of Regal for that role. Given the state of WWE announcing, that’s quite the debatable decision making, but it was the decision made.
The other note is that if New Japan on AXS lasts more than 13 weeks, Mauro Ranallo, who got almost no votes here (he did some MMA, mostly Invicta, but his main work on television was boxing and kickboxing), may be the favorite for next year. And if Jim Ross continues to do New Japan big shows, he may also be a favorite.
My own thought is Brian Stann should have finished higher, and Dan Hardy, due to a lack of television exposure, is underrated and the entire Fight Pass European team comes across like two guys you’d just like to sit and watch cool fights with, like they are your two buddies who know the sport, speak well, and you all learn together watching.
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; 2013 - William Regal
WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. JOHN LAYFIELD (165): 1,378
2. Jerry Lawler (125): 1,287
3. Michael Cole (146): 1,252
4. Taz (36): 655
5. Alex Riley (49): 399
6. Vampiro (9): 288
7. Matt Striker (33): 264
8. Mike Tenay (4): 93
9. Tom Phillips (8): 78
10. Byron Saxton (4): 61
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; 2013 - Taz
The theme here is that the three voices of Raw battled in a close race for worst, with John Layfield, 48, winning. This is more an indictment of the decision making as to what Raw announcing is supposed to be as much as the guys themselves. Lawler and Cole finished second and third last year behind Taz, who fell to a distant fourth, while Layfield moved from fifth to first. Layfield also placed third last year for best announcer, while falling out of the top ten this year. The problem was a combination of overexposure of himself for five hours a week, the job description from up top, and a very repetitive feeling product.
BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. NEW JAPAN G-1 8/1 TOKYO (313): 2,227
2. New Japan G-1 8/3 Osaka (166): 1,297
3. WWE WrestleMania 4/6 New Orleans (115): 920
4. CMLL Anniversary show 9/19 Mexico City (49): 502
5. New Japan G-1 7/26 Akita (8): 406
6. New Japan G-1 finals 8/10 Tokorozawa (35): 402
7. Dragon Gate Dead or Alive 5/5 Nagoya (23): 388
8. UFC 168 12/28/13 Las Vegas (60): 347
9. ROH 5/10 Toronto (16): 190
10. WWE SummerSlam 8/17 Los Angeles (8): 166
HONORABLE MENTION: ROH 5/17 New York 150, UFC Fight Night 7/19 Dublin 145, NXT Takeover 5/29 Winter Park, FL 117, New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 8 1/4 Tokyo Dome 106, UFC 175 7/5 Las Vegas 91, New Japan King of Pro Wrestling 10/13 Tokyo 85, New Japan G-1 Climax 7/21 Sapporo 82, UFC 178 9/27 Las Vegas 74
Like with Match of the Year, the dominance of New Japan almost worked against itself, as there were several PPV shows his year, as well as G-1 shows, that could have won this in other years, but got forgotten because of the number of great events. For all the negativity about wrestling, the number of great big shows, whether it be New Japan, WWE, NXT, AAA, CMLL, ROH or UFC is probably as much as anything ever.
While wrestling styles change and differ, the production of shows as a general rule improves. While nothing touches the old Pride promotion in that regard, wrestling has evolved worldwide in presentation for the most part. Still, the G-1 shows that finished in four of the top six spots were just house shows with one phenomenal match after another.
The 8/1 Korakuen Hall show was so great that four matches on the show would have had a shot at placing in match of the year if they had not been on such a loaded show. In all, there were five four-star or better matches with Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hirooki Goto (****½), Tetsuya Naito vs. Togi Makabe (****1/4), A.J. Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki (****3/4 and the match of the year winner), Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata (****½) and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii (****3/4).
Osaka was its closest competitor two days later, a show that included Ishii vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (****1/4), Goto vs. Naito (****14/), Suzuki vs. Makabe (****), Shibata vs. Honma (****3/4) and Tanahashi vs. Nakamura (****½).
WrestleMania was the big show of the year which paid off with the Daniel Bryan storyline and his two matches were in the match of the year discussion. The CMLL anniversary show may have been better, because even though there were better matches in the ring, the start-to-finish presentation of Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero was the pro wrestling highlight of 2014.
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; 2013 - New Japan G-1 Climax tournament 8/4 Osaka
"CATEGORY B" AWARDS - WINNER
DETERMINED BY FIRST PLACE VOTES
WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. WWE BATTLEGROUND 7/20 TAMPA : 275
2. TNA Lockdown 3/9 Miami: 69
3. WWE Royal Rumble 1/26 Pittsburgh: 42
4. WWE Survivor Series 11/23 St. Louis: 40
5. TNA Sacrifice 4/27 Orlando: 33
6. WWE TLC 12/15/13 Houston: 26
7. WWE Hell in a Cell 10/26 Dallas: 23
8. UFC 177 8/30 Sacramento: 17
9. WWE Night of Champions 9/21 Nashville: 12
10. UFC 4/16 Quebec City: 9
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; 2013 - WWE Battleground 10/6 Buffalo
Adam_EFC
Player Valuation: £750k
Nah in all honesty I don't want him anywhere near the main roster until Vince Mcmahon doesn't make every last decision or they change the writing team. He would be completely wasted on the main roster like everyone else that isn't John Cena.
ijjysmith
Calm
In all honesty I stopped reading the lists as soon as I saw that.
One of the best lines of commentary ever
Jim Ross on Jim Cornette
"Cornette carrying around that tennis raquet. He was a mixed doubles champion in High School. His partner was called Steve......."
Jim Ross on Jim Cornette
"Cornette carrying around that tennis raquet. He was a mixed doubles champion in High School. His partner was called Steve......."
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I should point out that it's the readers who decide the WON Awards, not Meltz himself (Yeah, I can him Meltz, big whoop, wanna fight about it?)
Ashtonian
Banned on request
I dont get it?
I've since edited it