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WON awards front-runners for the first half of the year


Bix

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Eh, why not.

 

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Pretty easily Cena and then Mistico right now. I don't think you can blame any of talent for the buyrates being down. There are too many and they're too expensive. Cena is delivering in-ring, on promos, and is drawing people to house shows. Mistico isn't as good in-ring, but he makes a scary difference in attendance.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler

There's a really strong argument for Cena, but I don't see him garnering support from voters. If Matt Hardy stays on a tear for the next 6 months, he could get it. Maybe Nigel McGuinness, but ROH's buzz is decreasing.

 

Best Box Office Draw

Cena and Mistico again.

 

Feud of the Year

With WWE booking being so odd right now, I don't see anything I'd pick or that the voters would pick. For me, Apaches vs Billy Boy in AAA is pretty easily FOTY, but it won't get votes. An MMA feud (probably Shamrock-Baroni or Penn-Pulver) has the best shot of winning depending on how Vince's killer vs whoever goes.

 

Tag Team of the Year

The Hardys are probably (really this time) splitting after the PPV tomorrow, and while they're a pretty clear pick for the first half, they may be a non-entity as of Monday. London & Kendrick are getting buried and their main opponents (Deuce & Domino) lowered the quality of their matches. MNM started the year as good as or better than the Hardys, but then Mercury relapsed and got released. If they keep having a good run, Cade & Murdoch should run away with it.

 

Most Improved

Cena, MVP, and the re-motivated Batista all seem like the easy picks, but it's the WON awards and I could see some "great technician" like Davey Richards doing well.

 

Best on Interviews

Flair's great when he's given a shot, but that's not often. Konnan has great delivery but the content is often babyfaces LAX when they're the heels. Cornette is pretty generic as a figurehead now. Cena is my pick, partially by default, partially by actual merit for acting above the level of the script.

 

Most Charismatic

Cena won last year and he upped the rest of his game this year, so I see no reason why he wouldn't win.

 

Best Technical Wrestler

Danielson's downtime being at the start of the year will help his case, and he's a solid pick. Benoit had a good spotlight with the MVP feud and will for the rest of the year atop ECW, so he's my pick and he should place well anyway.

 

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award - Best Brawler

Cena again, for obvious reasons. Can't see picking anyone else other than maybe Gran Apache.

 

Best Flying Wrestler

Mistico is a safe choice and a good flyer anyway. Personally, I'd pick Jack Evans or a random member of Fuerza Aerea.

 

For overrated/underrated, remember that the WON definition is talent vs push, not hardcore fan consensus...

 

Most Overrated

Shawn Michaels is pretty loathsome in-ring and as a character, plus the crowd was turning on him (LAUGHING at his collapse to sell the concussion) in the Orton match before his injury hiatus. Kurt Angle is pretty terrible and has not had any drawing power past the 1st Joe match in TNA.

 

Most Underrated

If Shelton Benjamin wins again, I will hurt people.

 

Umm...CM Punk is in this weird spot where he's over and pushed as the #2 guy in ECW, but it's ECW and it's sort of by default.

 

Cade & Murdoch have a push now, so they're not really picks for this. I dunno.

 

Promotion of the Year

UFC will probably win. WWE (they haven't won since the brand split so I have no idea how to vote there) or AAA should win.

 

Best Weekly Television Show

If TUF wins again, I will hurt people.

 

Should be Smackdown pretty easily, followed by AAA.

 

Worked Match of the Year

For me, it's pretty easily MNM vs Hardys from Royal Rumble. There are a ton of good picks, though, and I'm not really sure what will come out on top.

 

Rookie of the Year

The rules on this one are pretty wonky. MVP? Is he not eligible for Most Improved, then?

 

Best Non-Wrestler

Vince McMahon, though if he doesn't come back it could hurt his chances of winning.

 

Best Television Announce

Pretty easily JBL at this point. He gets everything over while also being tremendously entertaining.

 

Worst Television Announcer

Todd Grisham is bad but I get the impression that nobody watches Heat and everybody is voting for him based on the Benoit DVD. It really should be Mike Tenay, but since Dave never criticizes him, I can't see him taking the top spot.

 

Best Major Show

Wrestlemania was transcendently good and the oddly lukewarm reception to the show made me angry.

 

Worst Major Show

December to Dismember will win. I don't see it being close.

 

Best Wrestling Maneuver

Johnny Nitro's new finisher is pretty cool. I dunno.

 

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic

Vince's death will take it. Jeff Jarrett using his dying/dead wife to sustain his babyface turn is probably a better choice.

 

Worst Television Show

TNA should finally take it this year.

 

Worst Worked Match of the Year

"Rosie" vs "Trump" will run away with it.

 

Worst Feud of the Year

Eric Young vs Robert Roode.

 

Worst Promotion

TNA should take it, but the Vince death angle could sway people.

 

Best Booker

Blah blah Sapolsky hurt people.

 

Should be Dorian Roldan or Michael Hayes.

 

Promoter of the Year

If you're including MMA, then it has to be Dana White again. Otherwise I'd go with Paco Alonso, Dorian Roldan, or Vince McMahon.

 

Best Gimmick

MVP after an iffy start.

 

Worst Gimmick

Whatever Shawn Michaels is supposed to be. Him or Robert Roode.

 

Best Pro Wrestling Book

Didn't finish the NWA book yet, plus it's pretty wide open depending on what else is released. I could see it winning, though. Was J.J. Dillon's book eligible last year?

 

Best Pro Wrestling DVD

I forget what the eligibility period is and I haven't watched the families DVD yet. WWE's WCCW DVD could end up being a contender.

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Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

 

Cena no doubt about it. I would put Mistico up there but he's way too injured right now. I think you can put Benoit up there too.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler

 

Cena. Ultimo Guerrero too.

 

Best Box Office Draw

 

Vince Mcmahon and Cena

 

Feud of the Year

 

Apaches vs Billy Boy and Sexy Starr. I'll add Benoit/MVP too.

 

Tag Team of the Year

 

Briscoes. It's a close race between them and Hardyz.

 

Most Improved

 

MVP and Marco Corleone. I"m probably the only fan of his but whatever.

 

Best on Interviews

 

Edge with Eddie Kingston as second

 

Most Charismatic

 

Cena and MVP

 

Best Technical Wrestler

 

Nigel or Benoit

 

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award - Best Brawler

 

Vince Mcmahon or Gran Apache

 

Best Flying Wrestler

 

Should be either Laredo Kid, Super Fly or Nemsis. Will probably be Mistico cause that's the main one Meltzer knows.

 

Most Overrated

 

Batista or Mr. Kennedy

 

Most Underrated

 

Val Venis or James Storm

 

Promotion of the Year

 

With Meltzer thinking MMA=Pro Wrestling, I'll say UFC.

 

Best Weekly Television Show

 

Thinking like Meltzer here, It's TUF or Bodog. I pick Smackdown.

 

Worked Match of the Year

 

Cena vs Umaga from the Rumble. Other mentions include Apache/Billy Boy street fight and Hero/Kingston Loser leaves CZW.

 

Rookie of the Year

 

How long has Laredo Kid been wrestling?

 

Best Non-Wrestler

 

Vince or Burt Ward

 

Best Television Announce

 

JBL or Dr. Morales

 

Worst Television Announcer

 

Don West or the new guy in CMLL. His name escapes me right now.

 

Best Major Show

 

Rumble or Backlash.

 

Worst Major Show

 

December to Dismember

 

Best Wrestling Maneuver

 

Melina's new finisher.

 

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic

 

Was the Savio/Invader angle this year? If not, I'll say Abyss's over blading or Vince's death.

 

Worst Television Show

 

TNA by far. But it will probably be ECW.

 

Worst Worked Match of the Year

 

Rosie vs Trump

 

Worst Feud of the Year

 

Angle vs Sting or Mcmahon vs Lashley

 

Worst Promotion

 

Shimmer

 

Best Gimmick

 

MVP or Grandpa Apache

 

Worst Gimmick

 

Kevin Thorne

 

Best Pro Wrestling Book

 

Probably will be the ECW book written by Meltzer's other butt buddy.

 

Best Pro Wrestling DVD

 

The Dusty Rhodes DVD.

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I'll chime in where I can.

 

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Mistico may win again, but Cena really stands a strong choice and should be considered. I don't really see a convincing argument against it.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Matt Hardy has had more good matches at this point than anyone I've seen this year, and may end up getting pushed harder by year's end, which will help him here. His match is consistently the best thing to watch on weekly TV, and has been for months now, no matter who he's facing.

 

Best Box Office Draw

Mistico will probably win because people can't seem to shut up about WWE's dwindling buyrates. Not that it isn't worth discussing, but there seems to be more discussion arguing that it proves Cena isn't a draw than there is discussion about overexposure and tri-branded PPVs driving the numbers down. Rey's comeback could make this a little more competitive.

 

Feud of the Year

Say what you will about Michaels, but Cena/Michaels was pretty well put together and featured two really strong singles matches. The build to Mania was really well done.

 

Tag Team of the Year

Cade and Murdoch will probably get it. It's a shame that they are breaking up Matt and Jeff when the big angle with Cade and Murdoch turning should have been the beginning of the feud proper, not the end. That would help their chances quite a bit.

 

Most Improved

Montel Vontavious Porter takes this in a walk.

 

Best on Interviews

A lot of this will depend on how the main event scene is booked the second half of the year on Smackdown. Edge and Flair in a long feud would likely produce some really good interviews. Most likely, someone cutesy like Christian Cage will win. I like him, but I think his interviews have actually lost a step since leaving WWE. If Jericho comes back and is pushed hard, he will likely take this category.

 

Most Charismatic

John Cena

 

Best Technical Wrestler

It's still Chris Benoit.

 

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award - Best Brawler

John Cena has got this in the bag, although Umaga could make it competitive if he has one more really strong match at some point this year. Considering the way he's booked, that isn't too likely to happen.

 

Best Flying Wrestler

Mistico has this.

 

Most Overrated

Michaels or Angle should take this, but neither would ever get this. This will go to John Cena for shitty reasons.

 

Most Underrated

Bix should prepare to hurt people. Shelton Benjamin is going to win this again.

 

Promotion of the Year

Agreed that UFC probably takes this.

 

Best Weekly Television Show

Bix will be hurting quite a few people. Agreed that Smackdown should own it.

 

Worked Match of the Year

At the halfway point, I have no idea, but if you made a list of the top 10 candidates, would Matt Hardy be in over half of them? Probably.

 

Rookie of the Year

Probably someone like Daniel Rodimer will take this for lack of someone else to give the award to.

 

Best Non-Wrestler

DEFINITELY Vince McMahon's to take, but people are turned off by this brilliant storyline for some reason.

 

Best Television Announcer

I don't see how anyone but JBL can take this, although some of the backlash against Jim Ross in recent years has started to die off, so he's a possibility.

 

Worst Television Announcer

Mike Tenay should win and won't.

 

Best Major Show

Wrestlemania

 

Worst Major Show

December to Dismember I don't think will win. Voters have a tendency to forget things that happened in December of the previous year.

 

Best Wrestling Maneuver

I don't really care about this category.

 

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic

Vince's death will take it. Jeff Jarrett using his dying/dead wife to sustain his babyface turn is probably a better choice. Bix is spot on.

 

Worst Television Show

TNA for sure, although if Vince Russo gets fired, they'll start building up good will again by voting time.

 

Worst Worked Match of the Year

"Rosie" vs "Trump" has this won. Depending on what type of matches result from the McMahon angle, there could be some competition.

 

Worst Feud of the Year

I have no idea.

 

Worst Promotion

TNA

 

Best Booker

Bix needs weapons.

 

Promoter of the Year

Dana White will win this.

 

Best Gimmick

Montel Vontavious Porter

 

Worst Gimmick

John Cena sadly stands a chance of taking this one.

 

Best Pro Wrestling Book

The NWA book will win this.

 

Best Pro Wrestling DVD

The Four Horsemen DVD has this sealed.

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Feud of the Year

Say what you will about Michaels, but Cena/Michaels was pretty well put together and featured two really strong singles matches. The build to Mania was really well done.

I agree for the most part, but the build wasn't really heated enough for me. And you need to watch AAA.

 

Most Underrated

Bix should prepare to hurt people. Shelton Benjamin is going to win this again.

Also, Tim is right and I should've said Val Venis is the rightful winner.

 

Best Weekly Television Show

Bix will be hurting quite a few people. Agreed that Smackdown should own it.

Y'know, there are enough MMA shows now that he should consider splitting them like he does MOTY.

 

Best Television Announcer

I don't see how anyone but JBL can take this, although some of the backlash against Jim Ross in recent years has started to die off, so he's a possibility.

I don't mind recent JR, he doesn't care in a good way (random Gordon Solie/Pak Song during the pudding match at ONS, etc) as opposed to a bad way.

 

Worst Major Show

December to Dismember I don't think will win. Voters have a tendency to forget things that happened in December of the previous year.

Usually, yes, but D2D was rejected in pretty spectacular fashion with all of the refund requests.

 

Best Booker

Bix needs weapons.

I could see Hayes and Roldan gaining steam for 2nd & 3rd after Juan Manuel Mar came in 2nd last year.

 

Worst Gimmick

John Cena sadly stands a chance of taking this one.

He doesn't even HAVE a gimmick now.

 

Best Pro Wrestling DVD

The Four Horsemen DVD has this sealed.

I totally blanked on that.
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Personally, regardless of Dave's bizarro insistence that MMA = wrestling, I wouldn't include any shootfighty stuff.

 

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Cena

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Cena

Best Box Office Draw

Cena

Most Improved

Cena

Best on Interviews

Cena

Most Charismatic

Cena

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award - Best Brawler

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

John Cena

John Cena

You're all off my christmas card list.

 

Worst Promotion

 

Shimmer

Muthafucka say WHAT?

 

 

As to the Worst Announcer award, as long as he's still working and has not improved 1004%, Todd Grisham should have a permanent lock on that one. Also, why the Tenay hate? Yeah, he ain't exactly a psychology-explaining machine, WCW will do that to ya, but imo he's still better than Cole.

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Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Cena

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Cena

Best Box Office Draw

Cena

Most Improved

Cena

Best on Interviews

Cena

Most Charismatic

Cena

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award - Best Brawler

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

Cena

John Cena

John Cena

You're all off my christmas card list.
I'm open to hearing any reasonable & well-thought-out arguments against Cena, but they have to be reasonable & well-thought-out.

 

As to the Worst Announcer award, as long as he's still working and has not improved 1004%, Todd Grisham should have a permanent lock on that one. Also, why the Tenay hate? Yeah, he ain't exactly a psychology-explaining machine, WCW will do that to ya, but imo he's still better than Cole.

Tenay is a horrible, horrible caricature who makes constipated Sam The Eagle faces while yelling out EXACTLY WHAT EVERYONE JUST SAID. Cole is fine, especially with JBL. He's still a little robotic but he's improved a lot from working with JBL over the last year.
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I'm open to hearing any reasonable & well-thought-out arguments against Cena, but they have to be reasonable & well-thought-out.

I think he's mostly a godawful wrestler who represents everything I think is wrong with the business today. Yeah, he's kind of a draw and many other people love him, great for them, but I can't stand the bastard. That's pretty much my whole reason, I just viscerally hate watching him wrestle.

 

Tenay is a horrible, horrible caricature who makes constipated Sam The Eagle faces while yelling out EXACTLY WHAT EVERYONE JUST SAID. Cole is fine, especially with JBL. He's still a little robotic but he's improved a lot from working with JBL over the last year.

Personally, I find Cole to be absolutely worthless, Create An Announcer. At least Tenay knows the history of wrestling, does his homework on indy guys and foreigners, actually knows the names of all the moves, etc.
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I will chime in with more later, but one thing I really want to comment on while I'm thinking about it..if Hornbackers NWA book does not win book of the year there really is no need for the category. This is exactly the sort of book that fans have been calling for for years and it is really sad that it has gotten so little coverage on the message board circuit or even in the WON from what I can tell through second hand info. Sure the writing style is jumpy and all over the place, but the book is the most accurate non-bullshit history of the business we are ever going to get. It is funny that wrestling fans that constantly try and pretend they aren't being conned, seem to prefer obvious cons even in there choices of "factual histories" of the business.

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Michael Cole is a terrible announcer. I haven't watched Smackdown for years because of him referring to every match as 'this thing', and telling us that Wrestler A 'stole one'. Seriously, the guy is just a bunch of terrible cliches, and has an annoying voice to boot.

 

As for Cena, I'm not on the bandwagon yet, though I've only seen a handful of his recent matches. His promos though, continue to make me cringe, and his matches just seem a bit too similar, in that he gets his ass kicked until he's almost dead and makes a superhuman comeback to win. They should book him as decisively stronger than someone once in a while, and Orton should take the belt for a bit.

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I'm open to hearing any reasonable & well-thought-out arguments against Cena, but they have to be reasonable & well-thought-out.

I think he's mostly a godawful wrestler who represents everything I think is wrong with the business today. Yeah, he's kind of a draw and many other people love him, great for them, but I can't stand the bastard. That's pretty much my whole reason, I just viscerally hate watching him wrestle.
Ok, WHY?

 

Personally, I find Cole to be absolutely worthless, Create An Announcer. At least Tenay knows the history of wrestling, does his homework on indy guys and foreigners, actually knows the names of all the moves, etc.

Tenay is awful though. I don't care if he know shit, he's seriously the most loathsome personality on wrestling TV right now.
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...ummm...yeah...

Yeah, but I watched him call the Armageddon PPV, and saw a few Finlay matches last year, and he was just as shit.

 

How so? He's pretty clearly improved. Even if you wouldn't say he's good, he's worlds better than he was when he was being piled on in '99 and is clearly better than Tenay, Lawler, Styles, Tazz, and Grisham.
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Yeal, well I wasn't saying any of the others are any good. Lawler was good from about 93-98, but he's crap now, he's cut down on the insulting comments. The rest are utter crap, I agree.

 

And yes, Cole is better than in 1999, but that's hardly a reccomendation. Still the pseudo-indignation, still the tired old cliched about people 'stealing one', and his voice is really fucking annoying to boot.

 

He's improved, but he could hardly have gotten worse.

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I'm open to hearing any reasonable & well-thought-out arguments against Cena, but they have to be reasonable & well-thought-out.

I think he's mostly a godawful wrestler who represents everything I think is wrong with the business today. Yeah, he's kind of a draw and many other people love him, great for them, but I can't stand the bastard. That's pretty much my whole reason, I just viscerally hate watching him wrestle.
Ok, WHY?
Very limited moveset, he mostly just punches. Absolute dogshit garbage execution of his moves, I've never seen him do the FU the same way twice. Overrated promos, he rarely says much that really entertains me. Gimmick, or lack thereof: he's no longer a rapper, not a "soldier", what the hell is he and why does he dress like Justin Credible? Annoying Superman booking which has him going over everything on two legs regardless if it makes sense or not. Plus, he's the most blatant example in recent years of the WWE not listening to its fanbase, what with half the crowds across the country booing him out of the building and yet Vince keeps determined to market him as a whitebread babyface.

 

Please don't come back with "FU is established finisha~!" and "he draws at the house shows" and stuff like that. That just means other people like him. Other people, not me.

 

Even if you wouldn't say he's good, he's worlds better than he was when he was being piled on in '99 and is clearly better than Tenay, Lawler, Styles, Tazz, and Grisham.

And subjectivity rears its ugly head, as I think Cole is clearly worse than everyone mentioned except Grisham.
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I'll have to stick with what I've seen. I haven't watched much WWE this year, and what I have seen, I haven't enjoyed all that much more than I've enjoyed any recent Corporate wrestling. I think the Cena vs. Umaga brawl is WAAAAAY over-hyped , I watched it on PPV with friends as it was happening, and while I enjoyed it, I hardly found it to be a match of the year candidate. There were some good spots, but the ending felt contrived and I didn't get the same sense of firey hatred that most other people seem to have found there.

 

Anyway:

 

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Takeshi Morishima. Screw the haters. Morishima's the closest thing we have to a young Terry Gordy on the scene today. Yeah, he isn't great on top just yet, and yeah, he's better in tags... but he's getting it done in NOAH and ROH, and I've seen more that I've liked out of him than out of any other top-name world-champion-level wrestler this year.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Mark and Jay Brisco.

 

I don't see any problem in granting the Wrestle of the Year award to a team if the team was truly dominant over a twelve-month period. It's the most prestigious award, and we shouldn't let semantics keep it from going to the most deserving recipient. If the Briscoes can keep it up, then they will be the obvious choice to take the Wrestler of the Year award in 2007, much as Brian Danielson was the clear #1 in 2006. I don't see any sign that the Briscoes will be slowing down, either. I might have given my personal WOTY prize to the Bulldogs in 1986. That year, they made the leap from Stampede to the WWF, had the tea party with Mr. Fuji and Moondog Spot, beat the Dream Team at WrestleMania 2 to take the straps, and feuded with the Hart Foundation. Ric Flair, who was a perpetual WOTY candidate throughout the decade, was tied up in feuds with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff though most of '86, so it was one of his weaker years in terms of match quality. I also like the Midnight Express as WOTY in 1988. Flair had some great matches against Sting and Luger that year, but I'd personally take Lane & Eaton's matches against The Fantastics, Arn & Tully, the Road Warriors, and the "Original" Midnight Express. This year, I've enjoyed more matches featuring the Briscoes, by quite a wide margin, than I have from any one singles wrestler.

 

Best Box Office Draw

Cena and Mistico again...? Sure, whatever. I've never really seen why this is something to be voted on, it's not really a subjective category. If you're talking about drawing ME to the arena, it's Brian Danielson.

 

Feud of the Year

Chris Benoit vs. MVP? At least we got some good matches out of their run... not really much of an out-of-the-ring build for it that I'm aware of, though...

 

Tag Team of the Year

The Briscoes definitely run away with this for the first half of 2007.

 

Most Improved

Probably Yuji Nagata. He's more or less come back from the dead in terms of wrestling in entertaining matches again.

 

Best on Interviews

Jimmy Jacobs has been damn entertaining so far this year.

 

Most Charismatic

Sorry, did you say CIMA? Oh. Sorry. Cena. Yeah, let's talk about that when he can either win the WHOLE crowd over or get everyone to hate him. I'll stick with CIMA, I don't even need to understand him to get behind hating his character 100 per cent.

 

Best Technical Wrestler

Danielson. He just keeps getting better and better.

 

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award - Best Brawler

Abdullah Kobayashi Jr. and Yoshihiro Takayama have both been in brawls that I enjoyed WAY more than Cena vs. Umaga or Cena vs. Khali.

 

Best Flying Wrestler

Dragon Kid.

 

For overrated/underrated, remember that the WON definition is talent vs push, not hardcore fan consensus...

 

Most Overrated

*cough* On this board?... nah, just kidding... Cena is pretty good now. I might vote for Edge, he always seems a little out of place among the real Main Eventers whenever I catch a WWE show. That could very well be due to me just not watching enough WWE, though. I've probably missed something there. Maybe Khali, if we're purely talking talent:push ratio.

 

Most Underrated

Benoit.

 

 

Promotion of the Year

UFC

 

Best Weekly Television Show

TUF (Sorry, but it's true. There's no other weekly show that Meltzer would accept that I actually go out of my way to watch... and they are Meltzer's awards, so I don't really care if anyone else feels that MMA should be included or not).

 

 

Worked Match of the Year

Either Nigel McGuinness vs. Takeshi Morishima - 4/14/07 ROH or Briscoes vs. Doi and Shingo - ROH Fifth Year Liverpool

 

Rookie of the Year

Beats me.

 

Best Non-Wrestler

Vince McMahon.

 

Best Television Announce

JBL

 

Worst Television Announcer

Tenay. And West is Worst Color Guy.

 

Best Major Show

I enjoyed WrestleMania way more than I had expected to... but I enjoyed ROH's Fifth Year Finale even more.

 

Worst Major Show

December to Dismember? OK. I'll take your word for it.

 

Best Wrestling Maneuver

GO. TO. SLEEEEEP!!

 

I'lll try to finish this off later...

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I'm open to hearing any reasonable & well-thought-out arguments against Cena, but they have to be reasonable & well-thought-out.

I think he's mostly a godawful wrestler who represents everything I think is wrong with the business today. Yeah, he's kind of a draw and many other people love him, great for them, but I can't stand the bastard. That's pretty much my whole reason, I just viscerally hate watching him wrestle.
Ok, WHY?
Very limited moveset, he mostly just punches.
Jerry Lawler, Steve Austin, The Rock, Bill Dundee, Ric Flair, Nick Bockwinkel...

 

Absolute dogshit garbage execution of his moves, I've never seen him do the FU the same way twice.

His execution has been fine for awhile. The FU is exactly what it's supposed to be and his punches/clotheslines are actively good now when they were his biggest weakness 2 years ago.

 

Overrated promos, he rarely says much that really entertains me.

The content isn't his fault. His delivery is excellent.

 

Gimmick, or lack thereof: he's no longer a rapper, not a "soldier", what the hell is he and why does he dress like Justin Credible?

He's a dude who fights back against the odds and crap.

 

Annoying Superman booking which has him going over everything on two legs regardless if it makes sense or not.

Why doesn't it make sense? He sells, makes a comeback, and slays the giant. How is this different from the last several decades of pro wrestling?

 

Plus, he's the most blatant example in recent years of the WWE not listening to its fanbase, what with half the crowds across the country booing him out of the building and yet Vince keeps determined to market him as a whitebread babyface.

The thing is, he was still drawing. People were either paying to cheer him or paying to boo him, not hating him so much they wouldn't go to shows. They straddled the line and he's cheered 90% of the time now.
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Cont'd...

 

 

Please don't come back with "FU is established finisha~!" and "he draws at the house shows" and stuff like that. That just means other people like him. Other people, not me.

The FU is what it's supposed to be.

 

His drawing is directly relevant to some of your arguments.

 

You don't have to like him, but that doesn't mean your arguments aren't full of holes.

 

Even if you wouldn't say he's good, he's worlds better than he was when he was being piled on in '99 and is clearly better than Tenay, Lawler, Styles, Tazz, and Grisham.

And subjectivity rears its ugly head, as I think Cole is clearly worse than everyone mentioned except Grisham.
Opinions and blah blah, but I have no idea who somebody can think Tenay is better than anyone in 2007.

 

 

I'll have to stick with what I've seen. I haven't watched much WWE this year, and what I have seen, I haven't enjoyed all that much more than I've enjoyed any recent Corporate wrestling. I think the Cena vs. Umaga brawl is WAAAAAY over-hyped , I watched it on PPV with friends as it was happening, and while I enjoyed it, I hardly found it to be a match of the year candidate. There were some good spots, but the ending felt contrived and I didn't get the same sense of firey hatred that most other people seem to have found there.

 

Anyway:

 

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Takeshi Morishima. Screw the haters. Morishima's the closest thing we have to a young Terry Gordy on the scene today. Yeah, he isn't great on top just yet, and yeah, he's better in tags... but he's getting it done in NOAH and ROH, and I've seen more that I've liked out of him than out of any other top-name world-champion-level wrestler this year.

WOTY is output + drawing, so Morishima doesn't really fit.

 

Most Charismatic

Sorry, did you say CIMA? Oh. Sorry. Cena. Yeah, let's talk about that when he can either win the WHOLE crowd over or get everyone to hate him. I'll stick with CIMA, I don't even need to understand him to get behind hating his character 100 per cent.

Most charismatic /= best babyface/best heel. Cena gets a reaction either way.

 

Most Underrated

Benoit.

What?!?! He's one of the most protected guys in WWE.

 

Best Weekly Television Show

TUF (Sorry, but it's true. There's no other weekly show that Meltzer would accept that I actually go out of my way to watch... and they are Meltzer's awards, so I don't really care if anyone else feels that MMA should be included or not).

"There's no other weekly show that Meltzer would accept"

 

???

 

Worst Television Announcer

Tenay. And West is Worst Color Guy.

I really don't mind West as the 2007 version of David Crockett. He certainly does a better job than Tazz at this point.
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Anyway:

 

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Takeshi Morishima. Screw the haters. Morishima's the closest thing we have to a young Terry Gordy on the scene today. Yeah, he isn't great on top just yet, and yeah, he's better in tags... but he's getting it done in NOAH and ROH, and I've seen more that I've liked out of him than out of any other top-name world-champion-level wrestler this year.

WOTY is output + drawing, so Morishima doesn't really fit.

 

I might argue that he is drawing people to ROH shows when he comes over here. I'd certainly argue that ROH is drawing people in '07 who never came to an ROH show in '05 or '06... I don't know how many promotions can claim that... and I'd say that the presence of Japanese names on the bigger cards may be a factor in some people finally taking the plunge... I guess it depends if "drawing" is all about who has the max numbers, or if it's also about who is pulling new people in.

 

 

Most Charismatic

Sorry, did you say CIMA? Oh. Sorry. Cena. Yeah, let's talk about that when he can either win the WHOLE crowd over or get everyone to hate him. I'll stick with CIMA, I don't even need to understand him to get behind hating his character 100 per cent.

Most charismatic /= best babyface/best heel. Cena gets a reaction either way.

 

I think that the best babyface gets almost everyone to cheer him, and the best heel gets everyone to boo him (...or her). I don't think the award is for "Best performance in splitting audience loyalties down the middle...

 

Most Underrated

Benoit.

What?!?! He's one of the most protected guys in WWE.

If he isn't in the championship/main event picture, he's not being pushed at the level his talents justify. (Keep in mind: I am another stereotypical Benoit mark).

 

Best Weekly Television Show

TUF (Sorry, but it's true. There's no other weekly show that Meltzer would accept that I actually go out of my way to watch... and they are Meltzer's awards, so I don't really care if anyone else feels that MMA should be included or not).

"There's no other weekly show that Meltzer would accept"

 

???

I wrote "There is no other weekly show that I go out of my way to watch..." but that's not true. I go out of my way to watch Heroes So... I changed it to: "There's no other weekly show that Meltzer would accept..."

 

Worst Television Announcer

Tenay. And West is Worst Color Guy.

I really don't mind West as the 2007 version of David Crockett. He certainly does a better job than Tazz at this point.

 

I really do mind West. I find him worse than Tenay. It's the constant exaggeration that irks me. As I've written elsewhere on these boards, when someone in TNA hits a big suplex, and I'm about to start thinking "Hey, great suplex..." West can generally be counted on to come in with "THAT'S THE BIGGEST SUPLEX THAT ANYONE HAS EVER HIT!!!!! I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!!!!!" and it ruins the moment for me, and I start to think, "I've seen bigger suplexes..."

 

The two of them together make TNA borderline unwatchable half the time.

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Most Charismatic

Sorry, did you say CIMA? Oh. Sorry. Cena. Yeah, let's talk about that when he can either win the WHOLE crowd over or get everyone to hate him. I'll stick with CIMA, I don't even need to understand him to get behind hating his character 100 per cent.

Most charismatic /= best babyface/best heel. Cena gets a reaction either way.

 

I think that the best babyface gets almost everyone to cheer him, and the best heel gets everyone to boo him (...or her). I don't think the award is for "Best performance in splitting audience loyalties down the middle...

Right. He's still extremely charismatic.
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Very limited moveset, he mostly just punches. Absolute dogshit garbage execution of his moves, I've never seen him do the FU the same way twice. Overrated promos, he rarely says much that really entertains me. Gimmick, or lack thereof: he's no longer a rapper, not a "soldier", what the hell is he and why does he dress like Justin Credible? Annoying Superman booking which has him going over everything on two legs regardless if it makes sense or not. Plus, he's the most blatant example in recent years of the WWE not listening to its fanbase, what with half the crowds across the country booing him out of the building and yet Vince keeps determined to market him as a whitebread babyface.

 

Please don't come back with "FU is established finisha~!" and "he draws at the house shows" and stuff like that. That just means other people like him. Other people, not me.

Ummmm......

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Gordi, while it probably won't change your opinion on West, it is important to remember that dude probably reallybelieves that Scott Steiners top rope frankensteiner was the greatest thing ever.

 

That is the appeal of West. He's an insane person in a good way. He's like that redneck everyone knows who insist that parts of the matches are "real" and spends all of his time talking about how someone like Chris Benoit or Bill Goldberg could win a shoot with Matt Hughes or Randy Couture, cept he has a live mic in front of him for his musings.

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Gordi, while it probably won't change your opinion on West, it is important to remember that dude probably reallybelieves that Scott Steiners top rope frankensteiner was the greatest thing ever.

 

That is the appeal of West. He's an insane person in a good way. He's like that redneck everyone knows who insist that parts of the matches are "real" and spends all of his time talking about how someone like Chris Benoit or Bill Goldberg could win a shoot with Matt Hughes or Randy Couture, cept he has a live mic in front of him for his musings.

That's an interesting take on it, DW. Sitting next to a ranting redneck at a live show can be fun, in a way... but week in week out on TV that just totally fails to appeal to me. Maybe I need to lighten up. I find it easier to just not watch TNA, though, unless there's a match that is truly compelling (and, more than likel, on one of gh's Best of... comps).

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