Every year, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter holds its annual end-of-year awards, with fans emailing in their picks for categories such as Match of the Year, Show of the Year, and all of that good stuff. As we’re now in July, we’re going to take a look at what we’d be picking if we had to place our votes now.
Unfortunately, Dave Meltzer still works off of a weird December-December calendar, rather than the Gregorian calendar we all know and love, but for these awards I’ll largely be sticking to the traditional calendar. By the way, as the Observer covers the MMA scene, there are some awards in here that I’m not going to include for the obvious reasons!
CATEGORY A (picking 1st/2nd/3rd places):
1. LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
Tetsuya Naito
Chris Hero
Mark Haskins
A pretty straightforward one this; in WWE there’s been no break-out star – for me, AJ Styles just misses the cut – whilst New Japan’s long-term storylines has restricted a lot of guys to multi-man matches. Chris Hero has set a high bar this year, and whilst this is going to be a controversial pick, I’ve got him as #2, behind Tetsuya Naito and just ahead of Mark Haskins, a hidden gem from the UK that’ll be rediscovered during PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles weekend later this year.
3. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER:
AJ Styles
Mark Haskins
Tetsuya Naito
I’m swapping Hero for AJ Styles here, based on their in-ring work alone.
5. BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW:
I’m going to abstain from this one until the end of the year, at least until we have a full year’s data to hand. Nobody in wrestling has really stood out as a draw, unfortunately…
6. FEUD OF THE YEAR:
Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Jinny vs. Elizabeth/Laura di Matteo
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada (Los Ingobernales de Japon vs CHAOS)
The Shibata/Nagata-and-the-rest-of-the-old-guys feud has been the most entertaining thing in New Japan, helped by the ability to swap out Nagata for other proxies such as Kojima and Tenzan. PROGRESS’ slow-burn feud between Jinny and the artist now known as Laura di Matteo has been another hidden gem in the UK, and a storyline that has delivered in angles and in their sole match to date.
Naito vs. Okada (and the background LIdJ/CHAOS feud) has been entertaining, but given that this has mostly taken place in multi-man matches, I can’t in all honesty put this as a #1.
7. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR:
American Alpha (Chad Gable/Jason Jordan)
The Revival (Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder)
New Day
It’s been a bit of a weird year for tag-team wrestling; the New Day has continued to dominate the WWE scene, knocking off most every challenger in their way. American Alpha have performed well in NXT, despite what their brief run with the tag titles would show you, and whilst I’d be tempted to have thrown in a UK tag team like The Origin, I’m rounding off this list with AA’s main NXT opponents in the Revival. A real throwback to tag team wrestling from years gone by, they’re a welcome change from the spotty mess that the tag scene has been in the past.
8. MOST IMPROVED:
I’m going to sit out this one, since we’re only halfway through the year.
9. BEST ON INTERVIEWS:
Enzo Amore
Paul Heyman
Kevin Owens
If you’ve heard any of these guys, this is a no-brainer. My only issue has been placing them.
10. MOST CHARISMATIC:
Shinsuke Nakamura
Enzo Amore
Tetsuya Naito
Likewise!
11. BRYAN DANIELSON AWARD (BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER):
Zack Sabre Jr.
Katsuyori Shibata
Yuji Nagata
12. BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD:
Tomohiro Ishii
Kevin Owens
Samoa Joe
13. BEST FLYING WRESTLER:
Will Ospreay
Ricochet
Kamaitachi
These last three choices are all, for me, down to gut feeling. Particularly in “best flying wrestler”, I know I’m probably omitting some obvious picks, but since I’ve not seen enough Lucha Underground to make a choice, it is what it is.
14. MOST OVERRATED:
Charlotte
Young Bucks
Roman Reigns
I’m sure it’s not because of the family connection, but Charlotte’s run as Women’s champion hasn’t exactly lived up to the standards we saw when she was in NXT. Whether it be due to poor booking, average matches or average promos, something really isn’t clicking with Charlotte, yet WWE’s trying their best with her – whereas with others, you’d get the sense they’d abandon the experiment and move on. Ditto Roman Reigns, although his matches have been better than you’d expect, this is the result of him being badly mis-cast.
As for the Young Bucks, I have two words: personal preference. I’m not a fan of their matches, particularly when they go overboard on superkicks, and even though it was an accident, part of me struggles to understand how they’ve not gotten more heat for injuring Cody Hall in what was a needless dive during a show earlier this year.
15. MOST UNDERRATED:
Cesaro
Tye Dillinger
David Finlay
Cesaro is the perennial pick, right? Sure, he had a flirtation with the Intercontinental title picture, but on this side of the brand split, he’s going nowhere fast. Tye Dillinger’s shown repeatedly that he deserves to be more than NXT jobber fodder, whilst David Finlay’s performances – usually in defeat this year – should have him pushed up the ladder sooner rather than later in New Japan. His proverbial apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, shall we say…
16. PROMOTION OF THE YEAR:
New Japan
PROGRESS
WWE
This is a tough one, as it’s hard to find a promotion that’s set the world on fire this year. PROGRESS have put on solid shows in front of “the usual” audiences in Camden and Manchester – it’ll be their September show in Brixton before we get a better idea of the upper ceiling right now. New Japan’s done extraordinarily well to keep going after their talent losses, whilst WWE gets in by virtue of drawing 100,000 to AT&T Stadium for a WrestleMania with a good chunk of the roster injured!
17. BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW:
WWE NXT
This was a “vote by default”, and I’m struggling to fill out the 2nd and 3rd choices, since Raw and SmackDown have been so hit-and-miss they’re nowhere near this list, whilst Lucha Underground isn’t available in the UK, so that disqualifies that. ROH may have had a chance, but they’ve had too many weeks of filler programming it’s not even funny.
18. PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR:
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn (NXT Takeover – April 1)
Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (Jan 24, 2016)
Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet (May 27, 2016)
Two of these matches came before I started putting snowflakes next to match reviews, and yes, we’re missing some matches that I rated highly (Ospreay vs. Taguchi, for instance), but I’ll probably end up shuffling these come the end of the year.
20. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
I’m also stepping back from this, since there’s been no obvious candidate from the stuff I’ve seen so far this year.
21. BEST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER:
Lana
William Regal
Dario Cueto
22. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER:
Mauro Ranallo
Corey Graves
Steve Corino
23. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
John “Bradshaw” Layfield
Michael Cole
Andy Boy Simmonz
24. BEST MAJOR SHOW:
WrestleKingdom 10
Payback
PROGRESS Chapter 32: 5000 to 1
CATEGORY B (one pick only):
1. WORST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR:
TNA One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
2. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER:
Essex Destroyer (Will Ospreay)
3. MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC:
Matt Hardy trying to capitalise off Orlando shootings (close second: Adam/Aldo Rose, using police mugshot on a t-shirt)
4. WORST TELEVISION SHOW:
Raw
5. WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR:
Shelly Martinez vs. Rebel (TNA One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown)
6. WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR:
Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler
7. WORST PROMOTION:
ROH
8. BEST BOOKER:
I’m going to sit on this until the end of the year, since so much can change…
9. PROMOTER OF THE YEAR:
Ditto
10. BEST GIMMICK:
“Extraordinary Gentleman” Jack Gallagher
11. WORST GIMMICK:
“Drifter” Elias Samson
12. BEST WRESTLING BOOK:
Going to abstain on this for now, since I’ve not read anything that’s come out in 2016.
13. BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD:
Believe it or not, I’ve not seen a single wrestling DVD that’s been released this year – although I have rented the Eric Bischoff set, I’ve yet to watch it. “Abstain”