Observer Year End Award Ballot 2011

[Dylan Waco]

This led to some fun discussion last year so here are my picks for this year

 

CATEGORY "A" AWARDS (PICK YOUR TOP 3)

 

1. LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD:

 

1. Mark Henry

2. CM Punk

3. Jerry Lawler

 

I could be convinced that someone from Mexico deserves to make the list (Averno?), but despite following the scene fairly closely, I'm pretty ignorant of who was or wasn't a big drawing card.

 

I can see an argument for Punk first and wouldn't argue against it. My argument for Henry is that he seemed to have a more positive effect on business when he was given the ball than Punk did. A lot of that has to do with booking of course, but I'm not sure you can really adjust an awards standards for something like that.

 

Lawler will be a controversial pick I guess, but when you consider how important the Miz/Lawler and Miz/Cole stuff was to the road to Mania, factor in the fact that last Dec. counts in these awards and that's when the sweet TLC match happened on RAW, consider the fact that Lawler was the guy the company went to to get over the walkout storyline, and look at the fact that he drew some really big crowds on the indies...well in a weak year I think he at least deserves a very serious look.

 

I could see an argument for Cena, but this was the first time since he's been the ace where it felt like him having the top spot without question was the WRONG move. The long term stuff with him and Rock actually seems like it has hurt him even though they will do massive business at Mania.

 

I also think you could make a long shot argument for Rey based on the fact that the shows really seemed to suffer in his absence given the fact that he plays four very important and distinct roles in the company.

 

3. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER:

 

1. Blue Panther

2. CM Punk

3. Virus

 

I have flipped and flopped between these three all year and could see arguments for Ishikawa, Mark Henry, Negro Navarro and Trauma I as well.

 

Panther to me seems like the most consistent guy. He combines volume of good matches against a variety of people with raw skill as good or better than the other two. Punk probably has more "epic" performances, but has more visible flaws and the booking at the end of the year turning him into a Cena clone in the ring hurt him some. Virus' best performances were probably my single favorite performances of the year, but he only had a couple (v. Stuka Jr, v. Guerrero Maya Jr.) and while the Demus match was good it was kind of disappointing also.

 

Anyhow the point is I could flip on any of those three at any given time.

 

5. BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW:

 

1. The Rock

2. John Cena

3. Mark Henry

 

Even with the SS buyrate I think it is hard to argue against the guy who popped house show figures just by having his name show up on tv and then turned around and had a first day ticket sale record for Mania later in the year. Cena sort of has to be two by virtue of piggybacking on Rock for the biggest couple of gates of the year. Henry improved ratings and attendance once he became SD champ.

 

6. FEUD OF THE YEAR:

 

1. CM Punk v. John Cena

2. Blue Panther v. Negro Casas

3. Miz v. Jerry Lawler

 

Cena v. Punk had the best moments of the year and truly classic matches. Casas v. Panther had one great brawl early and then a series of nasty fist fight exchanges for a couple of months that were among may favorite sequences in wrestling all year. Miz v. Lawler had some really fun promos and one really great singles match. Over all it was a fairly weak year.

 

7. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR:

 

1. Los Traumas

2. Black Terry/Negro Navarro

3. Air Boom

 

Traumas at their best are about as awesome a tag team as you are going to get at this point in wrestling history. Two total badasses that can brawl like crazy, hit great highspots, work the mat like beasts, sell a beating, et. Terry and Navarro had about a half dozen really awesome matches teaming together that really made you wish they were a full time tag team. Air Boom was awesome when I saw them live and had plenty of solid performances in a short run.

 

8. MOST IMPROVED:

 

1. Alberto Del Rio

2. David Otunga

3. Bully Ray

 

I'm sure a lot will disagree on Otunga, but he went from being the shittiest guy on the roster to being a pretty amusing character, who would bump his ass off in the ring and actually looked great live when I saw him. Bully Ray was the most interesting thing about an awful company, but was also pretty damn good which is saying something in TNA. Del Rio improved a lot in the ring from a guy who often seemed to make matches worse to a guy that really could add to a match with his lunatic bumps and offense.

 

9. BEST ON INTERVIEWS:

 

1. CM Punk

2. Mark Henry

3. Jerry Lawler

 

People loved the Rock's promos - I mostly thought they were pretty boring, though his charisma shines through. Still I left him off the list. Punk had the single best promos of the year, but also had some really cringe worthy ones. If there were any other consistent homeruns he would have been lower. Henry was great when he was given chances to talk and projected his character perfectly. Lawler had the great promo setting up the walk out, and lots of good stuff early in the year as well. Some of his indy promos were solid too.

 

10. MOST CHARISMATIC:

 

1. The Rock

2. Santino Marella

3. Dolph Ziggler

 

I'll get shit from this one I'm sure, but I think Punk being Punk was really charismatic. Punk as a poor man's Cena? Not so much at all, so he drops out of my top three though I could see how people would disagree. Rock has to be the runaway winner. Santino seems like a crazy choice, but he consistently is one of the two or three most over guys on the roster and gets huge responses from EVERY casual fan I know. He definitely feels more magnetic than almost anyone else on the roster despite how he is booked. Ziggler I give extra points to after seeing just how douchey he came across live. He started the year piggybacking on Vicki's heat and ended the year a heat magnet on his own. Could have easily slipped Henry in here, but I think he has a weaker case then those three guys.

 

11. BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER:

 

1. Negro Navarro

2. Blue Panther

3. Virus

 

For the purposes of my sanity I'm assuming this means "mat worker." So there you have it. I think any of those guys could be flipped around, though Navarro seems to have the most depth on the mat so I went with him first. Solar could have easily appeared here.

 

12. BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD:

 

1. Luke Gallows

2. Jerry Lawler

3. Necro Butcher

 

I almost feel bad leaving Casas and Panther off of this but it would have been hard to pick between them. Gallows had some great wild brawls this year and actually had a real "Brody" feel in terms of being this big, touring, reckless big man - except unlike Brody he was actually good in the ring too. The Jake Davis matches are some of my favorite matches all year. Lawler still has the best punches in the business and during the time period had really good out of control brawls with Miz, Funk and Dreamer (plus we have glimpses of another really good one v. Doug Gilbert). Necro is a default top three in this category as he always has a couple of matches that make you cringe due to their brutality.

 

13. BEST FLYING WRESTLER:

 

1. Masacarita Dorada

2. Dragon Lee

3. Evan Bourne

 

Kind of a weak category this year. Dorada I only saw a few times this year but remains the most incredible highspot wrestler...ever? Dragon Lee is extremely hit or miss, but when he hits he is a true "holy shit!" highspot wrestler and has had some really good performances. Bourne has the most over single highspot in wrestling and it ALWAYS looks great.

 

14. MOST OVERRATED:

 

1. Christian

2. Randy Orton

3. Kane

 

I take this to mean a combination of "overpushed" and "overrated" by smart fans. Kane will appear on my list as long as he continues being employed. Orton and Christian are both tough because they have plusses - hell this is one of Orton's best years ever in terms of output in the ring. Still Randy has proven that he is not "the man" and never will be at the box office and yet he is still pushed largely as one of about three or four legit top tier stars in the WWE. Christian became a pretty boring, formulaic heel to me this year and also fell on his face when he was up top.

 

15. MOST UNDERRATED:

 

1. Drew McIntrye

2. Chris Masters

3. Shaun Tempers

 

Drew Mac is no worse than one of the 25 best wrestlers on Earth and he's treated like an after thought in the WWE at best. Masters got released after having a tremendous in ring year that was carrying over into 2011. Tempers is the best indy guy you've ever seen or heard of.

 

16. PROMOTION OF THE YEAR:

 

1. Chikara

2. CMLL

3. WWE

 

If you judge a promotion purely on how much money it makes it's obviously always going to be the WWE. But this was a year where the WWE seemed to be in panic mode more than ever. CMLL had a really strong year in the ring, but as far as I know business has not been very strong. I don't even watch much Chikara and what I do watch I don't like very much. But this was a year where they really solidified themselves as the ultimate niche promotion. There marketing is by far the best of the "super indies," with only PWG being close and they exist in a market with far less serious competition. King of Trios is now the most identifiable "name brand" indy event every year. There first ippv appears to have done far better than expected. They have the most devout fans and that base appears to be expanding. They understand the internet age better than other promotions and despite having fly ins and special events that would seem to cost a shitload of money, they always appear to make it back. In a year where the big dogs feel weak, Chikara felt like it was growing and emerging from a pack.

 

17. BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW:

 

1. SAW

2. Smackdown

3. Superstars

 

I've only seen about 4 months worth of SAW tv but it is truly episodic, has had some really fun angles, has had some really good matches and is never boring. SD gave us Mark Henry as World Champion. Superstars still gives you one good match a show at minimum.

 

18. PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR:

 

1. CM Punk v. John Cena - Money In The Bank

2. Yuki Ishikawa v. Daisuke Ikeda - BattleArts 5/11

3. Virus v. Guerrero Mayo Jr. - CMLL 6/7

 

Covered a lot of this on the last Wrestling Culture Podcast. Punk v. Cena combined the best elements of in ring work with modern day spectacle and feels like it had to be number one as a result. Ikeda v. Ishikawa was a nasty war with both guys being awesome. Virus v. Guerrero Maya Jr. was a hell of a match that built and built to a great climax. Lots of matches I would have as honorable mentions.

 

20. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

 

1. Dr. McCarver

2. Dragon Lee

3. ?

 

McCarver was fucking awesome in the Dr.'s tag with Dundee v. Lawler and friend. Dragon Lee was hit or miss, but as said before when he was on he was great. No clue who else would even qualify or be good enough to consider.

 

21. BEST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER:

 

1. Dr. McCarver

2. Ricardo Rodriguez

3. Vicki Guerrero

 

Yeah McCarver only showed up that once but he was the best combination of Jimmy Hart and Andy Kauffman ever. I still think Vicki is more of a heat magnet than Ricardo, but Ricardo's bumps were great when he had to take them.

 

22. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER:

 

1. Jim Ross

2. William Regal

3. Whoever the SAW guy is

 

Say what you want about JR but at least the matches seem like big deals when he is calling them. Also "by god they've got bolt cutters!" Regal is fun in the booth. SAW guy is a decent delivery man for a good show.

 

23. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER:

 

1. Mike Tenay

2. Tazz

3. Michael Cole

 

I actually like Cole and find him entertaining more often than not (yes I know I'm in the minority) but I also think he hurts the product. Still Tazz and Tenay make TNA unwatchable.

 

24. BEST MAJOR SHOW:

 

1. Money In The Bank

2. Elimination Chamber

3. Summerslam

 

MITB might be the best WWE ppv of all time. Off hand I can't think of anything better. Elimination Chamber was a great show, with three legitimately awesome matches. Summerslam was a strong top to bottom show, with a great main event.

 

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"CATEGORY B" AWARDS. ONLY PICK ONE

 

1. WORST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR:

 

TNA Turning Point maybe?

 

2. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER:

 

Trauma I's super fast leg lock thing

 

3. MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC:

 

Anyone continuing to pay degenerate criminal Ric Flair

 

4. WORST TELEVISION SHOW:

 

Ring of Honor

 

5. WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR:

 

Kyle O'reilly v. Davey Richards from ROH TV

 

6. WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR:

 

Davey Richards v. Eddie Edwards

 

7. WORST PROMOTION:

 

TNA

 

8. BEST BOOKER:

 

Mike Quackenbush (assuming he books Chikara)

 

9. PROMOTER OF THE YEAR:

 

Mike Quackenbush (for the record I don't even LIKE Quack)

 

10. BEST GIMMICK:

 

Mark Henry as underachieving, dangerous big man who snaps and finally realizes potential.

 

11. WORST GIMMICK:

 

The happy, go lucky Viper Randy Orton

 

12. BEST WRESTLING BOOK:

 

I still need to get the Hansen book. The Jerry Jarrett book was really flawed and in parts disappointing but the good aspects of it were really good. So that is my pick here I guess.

 

13. BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD:

 

Memphis Heat

[Matt D]

That is super harsh on Christian. Yeah, he didn't draw, but each of the Orton matches were different and in my mind each was worth watching.

[Dylan Waco]

I thought Christian was boring as piss and thought this year was hands down the worst year in the ring since he's come back to the WWE

[Kostka]

Dylan you need the Bill Dundee book. I just started reading it after getting it for Xmas and so far, so good.

[EricR]

Daichi Hashimoto would be another good rookie choice, if you're looking for one.

 

And I cannot believe you didn't have Henry as #1 on interviews. The man didn't misspeak all year. Punk had some great promos during the summer, and then a month later they became soooo embarrassing and I couldn't listen to them. All pipebombs and ice cream bars. Henry said something sig worthy every single week, whether on the mic or during the match itself.

[Tim Evans]

Dylan I'm surprised IWRG isn't your promotion of the year?

 

I'll try this out I guess:

 

CATEGORY "A" AWARDS (PICK YOUR TOP 3)

 

1. LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD:

1. CM Punk

2. The Rock

3. Averno

 

3. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER:

1. Blue Panther

2. Virus

3. Damien Sandow

 

5. BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW:

1. The Rock

2. CM Punk

3. Konnan Big

 

6. FEUD OF THE YEAR:

1. CM Punk vs Cena

2. Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose

3. La Mascara vs Averno

 

7. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR:

1. Hunico Y epico

2. Los Traumas

3. Kings of Wrestling

 

8. MOST IMPROVED:

1. Alberto Del Rio

2. Mascara Dorada

3. BJ (WWC)

 

9. BEST ON INTERVIEWS:

1. CM Punk

2. Dr. Wagner Jr

3. Shane the Glamour Boy

 

10. MOST CHARISMATIC:

1. Rock

2. Konnan Big

3. Cm Punk

 

11. BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER:

1. Blue Panther

2. Virus

3. Negro Navarro

 

12. BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD:

1. LA Park

2. Black Terry

3. Luke Gallows

 

13. BEST FLYING WRESTLER:

1. Fenix

2. Aerostar

3. Dragon Lee

 

14. MOST OVERRATED:

1. Sami Callihan

2. Generico

3. Trauma II

 

15. MOST UNDERRATED:

1. William Regal

2. Mascara Purpura

3. Tyson Kidd

 

16. PROMOTION OF THE YEAR:

1. FCW

2. WWE

3. IWRG

 

17. BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW:

1. FCW TV

2. Smackdown

3. ACM tv

 

18. PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR:

1. CM Punk vs John Cena Money in the bank

2. Seth Rollins vs Justin Gabriel FCW house show

3. Virus vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. CMLL 6/7

 

20. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

1.Estrella Del Oriente

2. Dark Dragon

3. Chabelo Jimenez

 

21. BEST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER:

1. Ricardo Rodriguez

2. Zacharias

3. Dr. Mccarver

 

22. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER:

1. Scott Stanford

2. William Regal

3. Byron Saxton

 

23. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER:

1. Mike Tenay

2. Michael Cole

3. El Wizard

 

24. BEST MAJOR SHOW:

1. Money in the Bank

2. SummerSlam

3. Royal Rumble

 

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"CATEGORY B" AWARDS. ONLY PICK ONE

 

1. WORST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR:

Wrestlemania

 

2. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER:

The Cobra

 

3. MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC:

Perro Aguayo Jr's Fake Cancer. Although ACM putting out a 60+ year old Herodes who can't bump to wrestle a 13 year old was pretty disgusting too. or WWC bringing back murderer Invader 1 in 2011.

 

4. WORST TELEVISION SHOW:

1. TNA

 

5. WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR:

Aksana and Caylee Turner vs Audrey Marie and Kaitlyn

 

6. WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR:

1. John Cena vs the Nexus

 

7. WORST PROMOTION:

1. ROH

 

8. BEST BOOKER:

. Dusty Rhodes

 

9. PROMOTER OF THE YEAR:

1. Steve Keirn

 

10. BEST GIMMICK:

2012 Adrian Adonis Damien Sandow

 

11. WORST GIMMICK:

Fake Mistico

 

13. BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD:

Memphis Heat

[Dylan Waco]

Daichi Hashimoto would be another good rookie choice, if you're looking for one.

 

And I cannot believe you didn't have Henry as #1 on interviews. The man didn't misspeak all year. Punk had some great promos during the summer, and then a month later they became soooo embarrassing and I couldn't listen to them. All pipebombs and ice cream bars. Henry said something sig worthy every single week, whether on the mic or during the match itself.

I was really torn on interviews. It was actually one of the toughest categories for me. With Punk v. Henry it really comes down to peak v. longevity. Punk had some terrible stuff on the front end with the New Nexus and on the back end with "Punk as poor man's Cena." But his best stuff was really good stuff. The kind of stuff you will talk about in ten years. Henry was great - for the four or five months he got to talk. I actually had a debate with my brother tonight about whether or not his "on the way to the ring"/"mid-match" shit talking should count in this category. If you are counting that I'd have him above Punk.

[Dylan Waco]

I honestly thought IWRG was really sparse this year. Not saying they didn't have good matches - they clearly did. But I thought CMLL had more good stuff that made tape. I picked the promotion of the year category a little differently this year in large part because there was no logical favorite for me like last years IWRG.

 

I have just started catching up on FCW and FCW TV probably should have made my ballot.

[NintendoLogic]

I think the Best Technical Wrestler award should simply be retired. One, that style of wrestling is basically dead in the US, and not too many WON subscribers seem to pay much attention to Mexico or whatever shoot-style promotions are still in business. Two, the term has been debased to the point where a lot of the voters apparently see it as a synonym for "good worker," as evidenced by Shawn Michaels ending up in the top ten a couple of years ago. Three, the award is given out as much for reputation as anything else. Witness Chris Benoit winning it even long after the point where he had become another WWE Main Event Style wrestler.

[rovert]

Dylan I know that there has been a fair amount of contention over on DVDR both directly and indirectly towards you on a similar basis. Let it be said I greatly enjoy your podcast and I always make the time to read your thoughts on WWE TV. But Henry as Wrestler of the Year I dont completely buy. Yes his heel turn was a much needed post Draft triumph ratings wise, excellent promos and genuinely believable menacing heel but I simply dont give him high marks on the wrestling end. I get the whole great in his role/efficiency viewpoint but still I think he was pretty meh in ring to the degree it drags him down to runner up status.

[Dylan Waco]

What do you dislike about him in the ring?

 

I am sort of strange on Henry. I think he was great in 06 and 08. In 07, 09, 10 I thought he was varying degrees of good. Often times this gets inflated into "Dylan is the biggest cheerleader for Henry around!" I'm a huge fan, especially of this run, but I don't think I'm near the fan some other people are if you look at the entire scope of his career.

 

In the ring this year I thought he was pretty great. I like the Orton, Show, Sheamus and Danielson series an awful lot and also enjoyed what he did with Morrison, Christian, and Rey early in the year. It's not a "one size fits all style" in the sense that I can see why certain sorts of fans would not be a fan of it. But Henry is the guy I most looked forward to seeing wrestle each week starting with his heel turn forward. I literally planned an entire trip to see my family around a house show Henry was going to appear on - something I can't conceive of doing for any other wrestler on Earth at this point. I am a big fan of the way Henry utilizes psych and timing in his matches, a big fan of the way he integrates near falls, thinks he carries himself in the ring better than anyone in wrestling at this point, think he is an extremely underrated bumper, and think he sells as well as any monster I've ever seen. Henry will finish in my top ten when WKO ballots go in in a couple of months. In fact if I were casting my ballot right now he would be in my top five.

 

For the record I don't think ANYONE is an obvious Wrestler of The Year this year. I wouldn't fault anyone for choosing Punk or Cena though I think when you look at their time as "ace" relative to Henry's time as "ace" it is evident that Henry held more value to his respective brand. To me Henry's biggest weakness is that for the first four months he was totally irrelevant, but on scale I would take irrelevant and inoffensive to disappointing which is how I felt about Cena's overall direction for most of the year (though he had a great year in the ring) and Punk's direction for the last three or four months of the year.

[Sean Liska]

Austin should get some "Best Interview" votes based on his Tough Enough elimination sessions.

[rovert]

Dylan as almost always you make a strong and convincing case. Maybe I am too much conditioned to like the workratey smaller heavyweights but Henry is more a peak One Man Gang than a Ric Flair type to me. Call it a mental block if you want. Feel free to hate me but I think Tanashi is the clear winner in the Wrestler of the Year category in my opinion.

 

As a semi relevant point Mark has been a tremendous human interest story this year if you track back to his post draft/pre heel turn internet promo:

so I do feel a bit of meany having him as my (current) runner up.

[Dylan Waco]

What has Tanashi done of note this year? I mean I think he is dogshit as a worker, but I would be willing to review my general thoughts on the matter if he was a massive, successful draw and I somehow missed it (which admittedly is possible).

 

With Henry I think you have a rare case of a guy who:

 

Was a top five worker (I know you disagree rovert, but I do think it's worth noting that even many of his long standing critics found him to be "good" this year if nothing else).

 

Was a top five draw

 

Was a top five character

 

Was a top five promo

 

You could perhaps make the same argument for Punk (though the bad aspects of his post-HHH return character were REALLLY awful) HOWEVER...

 

Perhaps most importantly to me, he made the most out of his push, which is a huge deal to me in a year where a lot of things I had high hopes for fell far short (Christian finally getting the title, "Summer of Punk," Lawler v. Cole at Mania, et.).

 

Anyway, I concede that their may be a Japanese candidate I'm airballing on (Nakamura had a hell of an in ring year in my view ftr) and it may be Tanahashi. Averno may be a better candidate than I assume on the surface in Mexico. But in a year with no obvious candidate, Henry seems like he is at minimum an extremely strong contender.

[Bix]

Peak One Man Gang was pretty awesome, though, even if he was the world champion of a dying company.

[Victator]

Yeah at his best Gang was great. Hell even coasting he was pretty good. A few years ago, I saw him have a decent match with ancient Sweet Brown Sugar.

[tomk]

Watched less wrestling this year than I have in ages, so lots of this is being left blank

 

 

 

CATEGORY "A" AWARDS (PICK YOUR TOP 3)

 

1. LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD: John Cena, LA Park, Henry

 

Last year I wrote that "L.A. Park is only guy I can think of where the combination of draw and match quality would justify. Cena and Dr Wagner really haven't had the matches this year.". This year Cena had the matches.

 

2. MMA MOST VALUABLE FIGHTER: Manny Pacquiao

 

3. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER: Virus, Santito, Finlay

 

4. MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER: Andre Ward, Lamont Peterson,Vinny Magalhaes

 

5. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR: Derrick King/ "Mr Teen Excitement" Drew Haskins

 

6. FEUD OF THE YEAR: I really don't understand CM Punk vs Cena getting votes here. It was a neat program leading to a match and a great match...after that it fell apart. I think a feud requires a program prolonged loner than that. Fuck Orton v Cm Punk lasted longer than Cena v Punk. Henry v Show or Lawler v Miz/Cole feel like they lasted long enough to be feuds. The failure of Punk v Cena is that the bookers didn't allow it to become a rivary or feud.

 

9. BEST ON INTERVIEWS: Mark Henry

 

10. MOST CHARISMATIC: Rock, "Mr Teen Excitement" Drew Haskins, Kenny "Deuce" Garner

 

13. BEST FLYING WRESTLER: Rey Mysterio, Ellis Coleman

 

14. MOST OVERRATED: Helmsley, Nash,I could see spmepne arguing for Kane or Sin Cara for third spot. But distance between top two and third is so much, not worth listing a third.

 

15. MOST UNDERRATED: Tamon Honda, Finlay, Luke Gallows, Rene Dupree, Trevor Murdoch, Chris Masters, Teen Excitement Drew Haskins and Derrick King are all freelance guys without contracts.

 

16. PROMOTION OF THE YEAR: EMLL, M-1, Todo x Todo

 

18. PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR: Parka v Mesias by Meltz calendar, Punk v Cena from MIB

 

19. MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR: Lamont Peterson v Amir Khan

 

20. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Bugambia del Norte

 

21. BEST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER: John Laurinitis, Beaker

 

22. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER: Henry "Discombobulating" Jones

 

23. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER: Michael Cole

 

24: BEST MAJOR SHOW: Money in the Bank

 

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"CATEGORY B" AWARDS. ONLY PICK ONE

 

2. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER: Ellis Coleman's takedown:

 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?go...&gid=340977

 

8. BEST BOOKER: Either Paul Domenich or whoever books EMLL currently (despite hating what he has done to primera caidas and actual match structure, I'm guessing that Ultimo Guerrero deserves a bunch of credit).

 

9. PROMOTER OF THE YEAR: Vadim Finkelstein or The Lutheroths

 

12. BEST WRESTLING BOOK: Does Yohe's Ed Strangler Lewis project count as a book?

 

There is a bunch of stuff on wrestling in "Venus With Biceps", a coffee table book I read at friends house.

 

Those two are closest to wrestling books I read this year. I haven't read Stan Hansen, Bill Dundee, Destroyer, or Kanyon's autobiographies.

 

This may be worth a seperate threaf bt I think that in internet discussions, people rarely discuss the importance of cover art to wrestling books. Is wrestling book content overrated?

 

The IWC seems to ignore how important advertising/ballyhoo is to books. Books are really not about actual content (in the end they all are essentially just letters and pictures on paper organized in different ways). This is especially obvious in the case of wrestling books which are filled with careless misspellings, odd grammar, haphazard organization, and self contradicting statements. A wrestling book's value should be understood to be truly less about the words used in them or how those words are organized. The wrestling books value is really about what it takes to get you to purchase them off the shelf (the covers).

 

A good example of the IWC's myopia is that last year Mick Foley's "Countdown to Lockdown" got the observer wrestling book of the year award. It's cover design is just fucking awful, colors are obnoxious, photo is poorly developed and shoddy looking, and the shape of the book is dull. There is no way the casual customer would want to pick it up. OTOH, Kartinka Herbert's "Slam" cover is beautifully

designed is larger and has a fucking elaborate die cut slip case.

 

There is a whole long discussion to be had about die cuts and how a book cover with a hole in it is far more sophisticated than one that insists on the books closedness, not letting you peer into multiple layers.

 

Might be worth us having separate discussion threads on back covers, book spine and binding, typography and paper stock as well. But I think those are topics that could be introduced later.

 

Still based on covers, I think Venus with Biceps should be the winner.

 

13. BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD: Goodhelmet/DVDVR Best of All Japan 80s set.

[Cox]

Really? Tanahashi was Wrestler of the Year?

[sek69]

Some of the B awards were even more ridiculous than usual... Mike fucking Quackenbush getting more votes for Promoter of the Year than Vince? GTFO.

 

I don't know what's funnier about that: Quack getting votes despite the WON more or less ignoring indy wrestling these days, or that hipsterism seems to have enveloped the voting process for the awards now.

[FLIK]

Some of the B awards were even more ridiculous than usual... Mike fucking Quackenbush getting more votes for Promoter of the Year than Vince? GTFO.

Why not?

I mean, if you want to judge it purely as a popularity contest then yeah ofcourse WWE crushes Chikara but really WWE wins that comparison by default. They have a built in mega audiance of which a large portion is pretty loyal and constantly watches no matter what but WWE hasn't really grown this year in any major way. Hasn't drawn in lots of new fans, minus the bump they got with Mark Henry on Smackdown ratings are constatnly either droping or remaing stagnant in the high 2's to low 3 range, minus the Rock shows & MITB PPV #s are down, Wrestlemania isn't even sold out yet, their stock is down significantly from whear it was this time last year.

 

Chikara on the other hand, while appealing to a much smaller amount of ppl has actually shown positive growth in every way possible. They're drawing bigger crowds then they ever have, selling more dvds then ever, by the standards of internet Pay Per Views their's did really well, etc...

 

I can easily see Quack > Vince

 

I don't know what's funnier about that: Quack getting votes despite the WON more or less ignoring indy wrestling these days

Eh, I really think Meltzer's influence is greatly overrated these days in the sense that just because he isn't pushing something doesn't mean it's not popular or that just because he is it will be. There's a huge amount of alternate sources of info & coverage these days as well so him ignoring indy stuff doesn't matter like it once did.

[Sean Liska]

Some of the B awards were even more ridiculous than usual... Mike fucking Quackenbush getting more votes for Promoter of the Year than Vince? GTFO.

Why not?

I mean, if you want to judge it purely as a popularity contest then yeah ofcourse WWE crushes Chikara but really WWE wins that comparison by default. They have a built in mega audiance of which a large portion is pretty loyal and constantly watches no matter what but WWE hasn't really grown this year in any positive way.

 

This under-sells how difficult it is to maintain an audience. WCW had a huge built-in audience in the late 90's and they lost almost all of them because they put on a product that people didn't want to see. Same with 80's JCP, modern CMLL, early 2000's New Japan, etc. The fact that WWE can put on something as big as Mania should give Vince an easy edge.

[FLIK]

In the grand scheme of things WWE isn't even maintaining their audiance though, they're just declining at a much slower rate then others so it's not as noticable. 2011 #s aren't as good as 2010, 2010 wasn't as good as 2009, etc..

 

They have their base and will always do really well but it's largely because of coasting on past acomplishments rather then anything thye're doing currently to make the product great.

 

WCW had a huge built-in audience in the late 90's and they lost almost all of them because they put on a product that people didn't want to see. Same with 80's JCP, modern CMLL, early 2000's New Japan, etc.

Not that I don't think Vince is a genius but I always take examples like those as proof that the ppl in charge of other companies were just really dumb more so then Vince was really smart. WWE likes to spin the tale that they crushed all their competition to reign supreme but really they were just lucky the other groups imploded from within due to incompetence.

[Sean Liska]

In the grand scheme of things WWE isn't even maintaining their audiance though, they're just declining at a much slower rate then others so it's not as noticable. 2011 #s aren't as good as 2010, 2010 wasn't as good as 2009, etc..

 

They have their base and will always do really well but it's largely because of coasting on past acomplishments rather then anything thye're doing currently to make the product great.

 

WCW had a huge built-in audience in the late 90's and they lost almost all of them because they put on a product that people didn't want to see. Same with 80's JCP, modern CMLL, early 2000's New Japan, etc.

Not that I don't think Vince is a genius but I always take examples like those as proof that the ppl in charge of other companies were just really dumb more so then Vince was really smart. WWE likes to spin the tale that they crushed all their competition to reign supreme but really they were just lucky the other groups imploded from within due to incompetence.

 

My point is that there is no such things as a base audience that will always watch. Wrestling died in many territories before national promotions revived the areas. WCW had a huge audience and they all stopped watching. People always under-sell WWE's accomplishments by saying that they have a big captive audience that will watch no matter what based on old accomplishments, but there is no such thing. So when they do well, they deserve credit. Having small declines over the course of several years isn't that big of an indictment. Business could completely collapse at any time if they put on a show that people don't want to watch, and they've avoided that for a long time.

[FLIK]

My point is that there is no such things as a base audience that will always watch.

I counter your point with TNA

[kjh]

TNA aren't making tens of millions of dollars in profits a year though! I don't think Vince gets enough credit for bringing back The Rock this year. It's probably the best promotional move by anyone this year. It injected some much needed life and energy into a stale product. A lot of people within the promotion were against it. The Observer crew focuses Vince's indecisiveness on minutiae, but big picture wise he's still got some great instincts.