Wrestler of the Year 2017

[Phil Schneider]

 

Low-KI is a under the radar candidate, he had the great Sami Callihan match in AAW and a series of absolute bangers in Impact wrestling. Not a ton of volume, but his per match average is super high

Did you watch the Rotweilers vs. WALTER and Thatcher from WXW? Think you would enjoy.

 

 

Those shows are in my to watch pile for sure

[Coffey]

Okada is a runaway #1 for me. I understand the argument against him if you're not high on the Omega matches. I am, which makes this as easy as any call in recent years. Especially when you add in the Tiger Mask W, Shibata, Suzuki & Evil title defenses as well as his work in various tag & six man matches at Korakuen on lesser shows. Those tags were almost never meaningful matches but he almost never mailed them in and always delivered sequences that helped build his next big main event. That can't be understated.

 

I agree with this. I think this is a runaway year for Okada & would be shocked if anyone else won it this year. For me, the real question is who is number two? I expect Kenny Omega to get a lot of votes & probably AJ Styles.

[C.S.]

I'm honestly surprised at all the love for Zack Sabre Jr. I thought he was the shits in the CWC but I confess that I haven't followed his work since then. Perhaps that was simply not the right platform for him?

Found this randomly:

 

[Boss Rock]

Sabre was inexplicably bad in CWC (outside of the Gulak and Metalik matches I'd argue) but he's been really good for a while now. This year in particular he's been tremendous, so it just seems like the tournament was a bad fit for him.

[Cap]

I have been a Sabre fan for a bit. I think he was one of the better Wrestlers last year and he is probably in my top 5-7 this year. He is an interesting case study every time this stuff comes up because i think I know lots of people really don't like him and don't get why anyone would. Conversely, I have trouble understanding why anyone would actively hate him because he is so self evidently good to me.

 

I will say he CAN get a little too cute with the grappling for my taste sometimes and I have seen that less this year.

[El-P]

Ok, so, seriously now. Finally watched those G1 finals and a few other hyped matches. Okay. Okada-Omega-Naito. In whichever order suits you.

[WingedEagle]

Okada-Omega-Naito.

 

This is the credited response. Though upon rewatching a bit this month, Naito is sneaking into consideration for #2 on my list after thinking of him as a top 10 contender all year.

[Boss Rock]

Number 10 is still up in the air for me, but my top 9 as of now is:

 

1. Omega

2. Okada

3. Ishii

4. Riddle

5. Naito

6. Sabre

7. Kento

8. WALTER

9. KUSHIDA

 

Contenders for number 10 are A.J, Hiromu, and Shuji.

[Tetsujin]

Okada for me. An incredible championship reign with different oponents and stories. When it comes to the WK main event, I'm not on the "MOTY" board but I love it and think Kazuchika's performance is out-of-this-world great, and same with the Shibata match (although Shibata's even better). He gave lesser oponents (Fale, Cody, EVIL) good-to-great matches.

 

But not only is title matches, his G1 is awesome too: the Elgin match, the Kojima match (heel Okada is best Okada), the EVIL match, the Omega match... Easily the mvp of the tournament (and I'm not even as high with the MiSu draw as others). And I totally agree with WingedEagle about the six-man matches.

 

Naito, Trevor Lee and BRAAAAUUUUUN are on the discussion fo #1, too.

[Maciej]

Three people who haven't been mentioned yet, who would be pretty close to the top for me:

 

- Konosuke Takeshita, who has had the DDT title all year and has big matches that I tend to enjoy as much or more than all the NJ guys and bringing fun and energy on house show tags. He is a tremendous athlete and he's still getting better at finding ways to show personality.

- Chihiro Hashimoto, who is in three of my fav 15 matches of the year (vs. Meiko, the second one vs. Aja Kong, and the Io Shirai 10th Anniversary tag).

- Pete Dunne. He was a great heel in Progress already, but the high end matches in WWE have been so fucking great.

[King Sabsabi]

I think overall, Tetsuya Naito or Kazuchika Okada would have to be my pic. It's just too broad of a category, though. It might be easier to break down the best wrestler from each major region.

 

United States: Keith Lee

Japan: Tetsuya Naito

United Kingdom, Europe: WALTER

Mexico: Volador Jr.

[superkix]

Three people who haven't been mentioned yet, who would be pretty close to the top for me:

 

- Konosuke Takeshita, who has had the DDT title all year and has big matches that I tend to enjoy as much or more than all the NJ guys and bringing fun and energy on house show tags. He is a tremendous athlete and he's still getting better at finding ways to show personality.

- Chihiro Hashimoto, who is in three of my fav 15 matches of the year (vs. Meiko, the second one vs. Aja Kong, and the Io Shirai 10th Anniversary tag).

- Pete Dunne. He was a great heel in Progress already, but the high end matches in WWE have been so fucking great.

 

Agreed. Both Takeshita and Daisuke Sasaki deserve to be mentioned when it comes to top performers of 2017.

[Grimmas]

I decided to go with Kairi Sane/Hojo. An incredibly great start of the year with Stardom and I loved her in the MYC. Wish the title match was slightly better, but she just edged out David Starr for me.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Samoa Joe has been clearly the best wrestler of the year. No one touches him as an all around performer who's gig is "Pro Wrestler."