Wrestling Observer Year End Awards

[Matt D]

I think people aren't saying much because the results this year just aren't very interesting.

[Ricky Jackson]

I guess Kane now being involved in the worst feud of the year 7 times is impressive if not interesting.

[Dylan Waco]

I still don't know how ACH got ROTY votes when he wasn't a rookie. He works the local Austin Indy here and usually has the best or 2nd best match on the show. That's been the case since 2011. I know he was working before that too. I'm glad he's getting notoriety, but don't think his past should be ignored because fan boys want to be on the ground floor on a new Indy sensation.

ROTY is an obsolete award that has no value in today's landscape. Virtually no one who gets votes is a true rookie.

[jdw]

Promotion of the year probably isn't surprising, but a year or two ago would be. NJPW and AJPW won 12 of the first 15 awards, but haven won since 1998. MMA promotions have dominated recently, with Pride and UFC winning 9 of 11 from 2001-2011 (and only the Kobashi Dynasty able to break through). UFC's six in a row was a record. Who would have thought in 2009 or 2010 that it would be NJPW to break that streak?

 

John

[jdw]

Good lord... do non-wrestlers suck that much that Heyman won the damn thing again?

 

John

[tomk]

Dinastia has been around for at least four years probably.

The award for rookie is for first year in major promotion.

 

Rey had been wrestling for at least four years before he showed up in AAA and got rookie award, I have a hard time believing Windham didn't work some small Texas stuff before his debut too.

 

What exactly counts as a major promotion is a different issue.

The question isn't did ACH work anywhere before, but rather are ROH, EVolve and CZW actually major promotions?

Of course last year when Tanahashi won the Thesz/Flair award, Meltzer refered to New Japan as non-major promotion.

 

From stuff that has been posted around the web it looks like IWRG did surprisingly well for promotion of year and Negro Casas and the Negro Casas v Blue Panther feud did better than I expected. Somewhat dissapointed that Isis (the Guerreros Tuareg's valet didn't place at all on the best non-wrestler). And well Linda Mcmahon vs. the intelligence of the Connecticut voters was my favorite feud of the year, as it had a real old school WWF feel to me as it was less about the face's offense and instead all about the heel's endless stooging and bumping. It even felt like they did a heel and manager conference on the apron and bump heads leading to finish run finish. It was an entertaining old school feud, sad to see it relegated to the bad promotional tactic category.

 

Also the links don't include all the categories and miss Shooters winning the best pro wrestling book award.

[Dylan Waco]

Casas v. Panther finishing reasonably high in feud of the year was my favorite result.

 

Well that and TNA getting best weekly tv show AND worst promotion....

[Ricky Jackson]

In case anybody hasn't seen this elsewhere, here are the awards not included in the original links

 

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION 269

2. Ring of Honor 202

3. World Wrestling Entertainment 80

4. Pro Wrestling NOAH 72

5. Extreme Rising 65

6. Strikeforce 56

7. Bellator 44

8. Inoki Genome Federation 32

9. Championship Wrestling from Hollywood 18

 

BEST BOOKER

1. GEDO & JADO 592

2. Joe Silva 154

3. Mike Quackenbush 58

4. Vince McMahon 20

 

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

1. DANA WHITE 379

2. Takaaki Kidani 289

3. Vince McMahon 171

4. Mike Quackenbush 59

 

BEST GIMMICK

1. JOSEPH PARK 154

2. Damien Sandow Savior of the Masses 147

3. Daniel Bryan Yes/No 111

4. Kazuchika Okada Rainmaker 97

5. C.M. Punk all year as champion 58

5. Ryback 53

6. Team Hell No 26

7. Antonio Cesaro 21

8. Bray Wyatt 19

9. Bully Ray 17

 

WORST GIMMICK

1. ACES AND 8S 163

2. Tensai 148

3. Natalya farting 92

4. Claire Lynch 90

5. Brodus Clay 48

6. The Miz 27

7. A.J. as General Manager 21

8. Joseph Park 18

 

BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK

1. SHOOTERS BY JONATHAN SNOWDEN 137

2. Heroes and Icons by Oliver/Johnson/Mooneyham 72

3. From Prison to Promise by Booker T 49

4. Storm Front by Lance Storm 23

 

BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD

1. C.M. PUNK BEST IN THE WORLD 548

2. Last of McGuinness 21

3. Such Great Heights: The Jon Fitch Story 19

 

Congrats evilclown!

[Cox]

Casas v. Panther finishing reasonably high in feud of the year was my favorite result.

 

Well that and TNA getting best weekly tv show AND worst promotion....

This boggles my mind. I mean, all TNA does is produce television!

[Loss]

I will demonstrate my knowledge of wrestling in 2012!

 

I have never heard of these promotions:

 

5. Extreme Rising 65

8. Inoki Genome Federation 32

9. Championship Wrestling from Hollywood 18

I have no idea what promotions these guys booked:

 

BEST BOOKER

1. GEDO & JADO 592

2. Joe Silva 154

3. Mike Quackenbush 58

I have no idea which promotion these guys promoted:

 

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

2. Takaaki Kidani 289

4. Mike Quackenbush 59

I have never heard of:

 

BEST GIMMICK

1. JOSEPH PARK 154

8. Bray Wyatt 19

And I don't know who Jon Fitch is.

[Dylan Waco]

Fitch is MMA fighter.

 

I don't like Chikara, but I think when you consider what he has at his disposal Quackenbush is the best promoter in wrestling

[KrisZ]

Casas v. Panther finishing reasonably high in feud of the year was my favorite result.

 

Well that and TNA getting best weekly tv show AND worst promotion....

That is the most amazing thing to me and speaks volumes about the awards. TNA really.

[jdw]

Well that and TNA getting best weekly tv show AND worst promotion....

It's even better:

 

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. TNA Impact (122) 1,043

 

WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. WWE RAW 319

2. TNA Impact 199

 

Same show is not only the Best TV Show, but also the 2nd Worst.

 

I'm also surprised that TUF didn't even finish in the Top 10. Season 16 was mediocre, but Season 15 with Cruz and Faber was pretty decent. The coaches clearly didn't like each other, but the bullshit wasn't over the top. They actually were among the more interesting to watch in terms of coaching, which I like more than the bullshit. Chiesa was compelling without being "jackass compelling", which I also don't care for. Death of his father, Dana handling the shit well, him coming back rather than leaving, him needing to get his head back together, and being a general underdog who won in the end... good stuff.

 

Not pimping it as that it should have won, but surprised that it didn't even get into the Top 10.

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

How on earth did TNA Impact win? I have never watched a second of TNA. I thought everyone hated TNA.

[goodhelmet]

Well that and TNA getting best weekly tv show AND worst promotion....

It's even better:

 

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. TNA Impact (122) 1,043

 

WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. WWE RAW 319

2. TNA Impact 199

 

Same show is not only the Best TV Show, but also the 2nd Worst.

 

I'm also surprised that TUF didn't even finish in the Top 10. Season 16 was mediocre, but Season 15 with Cruz and Faber was pretty decent. The coaches clearly didn't like each other, but the bullshit wasn't over the top. They actually were among the more interesting to watch in terms of coaching, which I like more than the bullshit. Chiesa was compelling without being "jackass compelling", which I also don't care for. Death of his father, Dana handling the shit well, him coming back rather than leaving, him needing to get his head back together, and being a general underdog who won in the end... good stuff.

 

Not pimping it as that it should have won, but surprised that it didn't even get into the Top 10.

 

John

 

Nobody watched it

[blueminister]

How on earth did TNA Impact win? I have never watched a second of TNA. I thought everyone hated TNA.

That is probably true but RAW is like very terrible.

[Ricky Jackson]

Is TNA really better since Russo was canned or are people just pretending it's better in order to maintain their "Russo is Satan" narrative?

[Grimmas]

Is TNA really better since Russo was canned or are people just pretending it's better in order to maintain their "Russo is Satan" narrative?

I heard it was better and Russo was gone, so I gave it a chance. The Main Event had Kurt Angle unmask one of the Aces & 8's to reveal... MIKE KNOX! Tenay went on about how Taz knows this guy and how we know who it is. I didn't, until they mentioned his name in a bit.

 

Also, Sting slowly walked from the back with a bat to slowly destroy the Aces & 8's.

 

So, yeah, one episode was enough.

[Badlittlekitten]

Is TNA really better since Russo was canned or are people just pretending it's better in order to maintain their "Russo is Satan" narrative?

For a while during the summer it was, when it was centred around Bobby Roode and Aries. Seemed like it was going in a fresh direction and carving out its own personality rather than being WWE-lite. Then the Aces and 8's happened.

[Ricky Jackson]

Yeah, the whole Aces and 8s gimmick sounds very Russo-like. Are we sure his firing wasn't just a work and he's going to be unmasked as the mastermind and we get "It was me Austin Sting, it was me all along!!!"

[Dylan Waco]

Some people pretend Daniels/Kazarian is a great team and Aries has been great so there is that

[goodhelmet]

I think people are forgetting how horrible Russo really was.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

I have never heard of:

 

BEST GIMMICK

1. JOSEPH PARK 154

8. Bray Wyatt 19

And I don't know who Jon Fitch is.

 

Joseph Park is Abyss, playing the role of Abyss's goofy attorney brother. They introduced him in an angle where Abyss went missing and Joseph sought to find him, but the gimmick got over and now Abyss is pretty much gone and I hope he stays that way. Bray Wyatt is Windham Rotunda (the former Husky Harris) doing the Waylon Mercy gimmick in NXT.

[Ricky Jackson]

I wish I could forget WWF in 99 or WCW in 2000.

[Badlittlekitten]

Yeah, the whole Aces and 8s gimmick sounds very Russo-like. Are we sure his firing wasn't just a work and he's going to be unmasked as the mastermind and we get "It was me Austin Sting, it was me all along!!!"

I wouldn't mind that cos it's at least something. The problem with the angle is that there's been so little progress in so long a time. There's long term booking and there's taking the piss. Plus we still don't really know what their manifesto is or what they're there for and almost all their members are still in masks, making it hard to care about these anonymous Sons of Anarchy knock-offs that will turn out to be a crew of jobbers anyway. And they lose EVERY MATCH and shit themselves during every confrontation even if they outnumber the babyfaces 10 -1, which wouldn't be such a huge problem if they weren't the focal point of every show and still presented as a 'threat'. Now they've started talking about a 'higher power' which I imagine is going to be Jarret/Bischoff. Fucks sake. Surely the worst faction in wrestling history. Great entrance music mind.

 

Some people pretend Daniels/Kazarian is a great team and Aries has been great so there is that

Pretend? Kaz and Daniels have been the must amusing/hilarious thing in wrestling for several months now and Aries is exceptional at everything he does. I don't want to sound like I'm humping Tna's leg but there was a period when Impact was a quality show, certainly better than the three hour slog of Raw. Everyone agrees that Main Event is the best wrestling show in the world at the moment right?