Promotion of the Year 2017

[concrete1992]

Sorry if I'm ruining the plans of someone who was going to post an actual award process for PWO.

 

Going to come back to this later but I think AAW and wXw would be my front runners for this. Good business. Good wrestling. Expanded their efforts in 2017. Both have big finales coming up.

[SmartMark15]

I don't have the most nuanced and broad view on this but I think New Japan deserve a nod here. Made a huge splash critically, and their end year build to WK 12 has done a lot to really pique people's interest in their product.

[Loss]

What is FREEDOMS and why does it have an S on the end?

[Laz]

FREEDOMS is a deathmatch company most well known for being Jun Kasai's home base for a few years. Stuff that makes BJW look tamer by comparison.

 

My vote is ICW (Scotland) because they're the only company I regularly follow whose shows feel like actual pro wrestling programming and not tongue in cheek comic books.

[Grimmas]

I don't know, Stardom? It's been enjoyable all year. CWF Mid-Atl.

 

Does NXT count by itself or do you have to include WWE?

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I probably have to go with PWG, followed closely by AAW and wXw. I thought NJPW had a really good year but I didn't watch it as much as the others for me to rate it higher.

[Matt D]

Not CMLL.

[El-P]

Lucha Underground.

[concrete1992]

Lucha Underground.

They didn't run a show in 2017.

[El-P]

S3 was released in 2017. So there.

[El-P]

And GLOW, of course.

[Sean Liska]

FREEDOMS is a deathmatch company most well known for being Jun Kasai's home base for a few years. Stuff that makes BJW look tamer by comparison.

 

My vote is ICW (Scotland) because they're the only company I regularly follow whose shows feel like actual pro wrestling programming and not tongue in cheek comic books.

Yes! Someone else voting ICW, usually I'm alone. 100% agree, they have a serious, hard-edged, non-ironic or meta approach to indy wrestling that is so refreshing.

 

CMLL provides me consistent solid weekly entertainment, something to be said for that. I've gotten into OTT, very fun. I've enjoyed SD and NXT quite a bit this year. I don't like NJPW main events enough to vote them.

[Laz]

 

FREEDOMS is a deathmatch company most well known for being Jun Kasai's home base for a few years. Stuff that makes BJW look tamer by comparison.

 

My vote is ICW (Scotland) because they're the only company I regularly follow whose shows feel like actual pro wrestling programming and not tongue in cheek comic books.

Yes! Someone else voting ICW, usually I'm alone. 100% agree, they have a serious, hard-edged, non-ironic or meta approach to indy wrestling that is so refreshing.

I wouldn't say it's not ironic or meta, this is the company that made Grado famous after all, but there's always a feeling that something relevant is occurring thanks to Mark Dallas booking with the future in mind. That's what makes it easy to sit through any of the various lousy matches on an ICW card because even a disappointing match will lead into the next chapter of the story.

[soup23]

My top 3:

 

1. DDT

2. CWF Mid Atlantic

3. NJPW

 

 

DDT as my #1 is pretty easy. The comedy stuff with Dino landed for me more this year than in the past. I really appreciate that for a singular universe, their streaming service really gives a shit load of content with all of the DDT proper house shows being uploaded in addition to DNA, BASARA, Tokyo Joshi Pro etc. Takeshita took a step up from being exciting prospect to legitimate ace and I would put his 2017 up against the year Okada had in 2012-2013. A young group of exciting prospects as well.

 

 

CWF carried over most of the good things that made 2016 such a great year for the company but I do think they started seeping in a few tendencies that knocked it down a peg. I understand the idea of getting the Hardys to come in but I didn't think they fit into the narrative of promotion. Chip Day and Logan Easton Leroux both had good/great matches within the promotion but they felt more like outsiders both in the Weaver Cup and getting the prominent spot in the Lee title defense on the Kernodle Cup show. In addition, some minor artistic choices like the CWF that was made in pop up video style didn't work for me. All of these a pretty minor points but the reasoning from why I think 2016 was an all time great year for a promotion for CWF and 2017 was just merely a really damn good year.

 

My #3 spot was a toss up between NJPW and wXw. Both have some flaws. NJPW had a wide array of high end matches that even if I dont think 2/3 of the Omega vs Okada matches are some of the best matches I have ever seen, tons of people do and they are replaced for me by stuff like Tanahashi vs Naito which I do think was an amazing series. The reason NJPW falters a bit is three fold. 1. The BOSJ tournament wasn't near as good this year as 2016. 2. G1 was worst in 2017. 3 King of Pro Wrestling was a non factor show and came off the heels of a maligned Destruction September tour.

 

wXw creates amazing weekend experiences with the tag league and 16 carat and beyond that they have a large output of quality stuff with their tour shows featuring generally something good with WALTER and Shotgun having a good episodic format. Really the emphasis of Rise and the insistence on shoving them down the viewers throat is why I ultimately give the nod to NJPW for the #3 spot. Shows like Broken Rules were just derailed by Rise as a unit and the main event was extremely unsatisfactory in a turn off the promotion kind of way.

[Boss Rock]

NJPW

 

Arguably the best in-ring company this year and for the most part, really good booking focusing on popular and younger talent.

[superkix]

DDT

NJPW

BJW

[Sean Liska]

ICW. OTT. CMLL. SD and NXT. Just my tastes. Really not a fan of most NJPW big shows although I enjoy the Korakuen shows more than most of their fans.