Welcome to the results of the 2017 Theszies / Rec.sport.pro-wrestling Awards.
Anyway. Here, we present the “best” Awards – those Awards which celebrate the greatest things in wrestling during 2016. If you would rather be a Negative Nancy and go read the “worst” Awards, they’re over here.
This year we had 532 voters participating. As always, for next year we encourage all of you wrestling media people to nominate yourselves and your favorites, and try to get your fans out to vote for you. Fair is fair!
As always, thank yous to Justin Henry, Christopher Robin Zimmerman, Herb Kunze and all those who have previously run the Awards and contributed to their legacy; everybody who chipped in to promote the awards; all of you voters, of course; and finally and most importantly an extra-double-sized thanks to mgkdotcom’s Tech Guy, James Young, without whose invaluable assistance these Awards would almost certainly have failed to be anywhere near as successful and user-friendly as they in fact were.
And without further ado…
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJ STYLES | 160 | 90 | 65 | 1200 |
| Kenny Omega | 105 | 118 | 57 | 993 |
| Kazuchika Okada | 94 | 50 | 37 | 694 |
| Asuka | 19 | 36 | 28 | 259 |
| Braun Strowman | 22 | 26 | 34 | 256 |
SIMON WRIGHT: Now that he’s proven that he can make the crowd hate him, we have to accept Sami Zayn as the best overall talent in wrestling.
OBILLE NESS: Okada had, without doubt, the best in ring year in modern wrestling history, probably back to Flair in the late-80s if not further. He was on another level last year, and it’s not just the stars he racked up from Meltzer and the plaudits he pulled in from reviewers – he was telling a masterful storyline all year about a champion who it seemed, time and time again, should be on his last legs and yet somehow managed to pull out the victory. Look at his storytelling across the G1, where his neck injury started to wear on him to the point where he ended up losing to EVIL, drawing with Suzuki, and then losing to Omega in his last three matches. The guy is a master, and we are blessed to have him on the planet at the same time as us.
WAWA MAGIC: Dalton Castle: he good at everything!
DANIEL GRONSKY: I can’t take anything away from the year Okada had, so I won’t even try. But I will point out that Asuka was every bit as important to her brand as he was to his, and if NXT was on the same level as NJPW, this would be a much harder question to answer.
ROBERT RENCE: For my write-in, I’m nominating AR Fox for his brilliant work on Lucha Underground. It’s one thing to be an excellent and daring wrestler. It’s another to tell a story where two people damn near kill each other and to make the audience think the violence level is appropriate. The Hell of War match was so amazing that by its end, the Temple had fallen silent out of shock. And then, two days later, he was back in the ring, continuing to kill it. Well friggin’ done.
PSYCHO GOLDFISH: We live in a year in which AJ Styles wasn’t my favorite wrestler of the year and that some guy I’d never heard of until the United Kingdom Championship tourney was. I don’t think Pete Dunne had a single match under 4 stars this year.
PIPIGENBACH: The only way your answer isn’t Okada or Omega is if you’re not watching Okada and Omega. You should be watching Okada and Omega.
RHENCH: AJ Styles is fucking carrying Smackdown on his back… while he climbs up a mountain… in flip flops. They are throwing everyone they can at AJ, and he makes them all look great. He had Lesnar’s best match in over two years (Goldberg was an arguably bigger spectacle, but not a better match). He made Jinder Mahal look credible. That alone is an accomplishment. AJ is incredible, and for him to be getting the push that he is in WWE after being in TNA for so long is a testment to how amazingly good he is. He has improved his promo game tenfold since he started, and has no weaknesses that I’m aware of.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USOS: JIMMY AND JEY | 162 | 75 | 42 | 1123 |
| Young Bucks: Nick and Matt Jackson | 76 | 60 | 42 | 647 |
| The Bar: Sheamus and Cesaro | 44 | 56 | 61 | 515 |
| New Day: Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston and Big E | 29 | 50 | 54 | 403 |
| DIY: Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa | 27 | 39 | 35 | 322 |
CAP’N ANDY: One of the benefits from the WWE’s increasing attention paid to UpUpDownDown is that someone clearly noticed that the Usos are quick-witted and charismatic and thought to themselves “okay, what if we put THOSE guys out in front of a camera instead?”
TONY HUDSON: Bullet Club’s ‘good Christian boys’ are possibly the most divisive tag team in all of wrestling, but the Young Bucks have had a sensational year. Not only did they put on entertaining matches throughout 2017, they have changed what it means to be an indy wrestler. Turning the Bullet Club and The Elite into money-making juggernauts, they proved you do not need to belong to the House of McMahon to be a success.
MAGACID: The Young Bucks had another fantastic year. Were they #1? Maybe, maybe not, but holy fuck, they need to win this at least once, right? FTR, etc.
FLIPDAWG: The Authors of Pain, by my count, wrestled three match of the year candidates (the triple threat at Orlando, the ladder match in Chicago, and WarGames) and do not get nearly enough credit. They aren’t being carried out there, and for all the hype the Bar and War Machine and Heavy Machinery and the Guerrilas of Destiny and every other “hoss” tag team gets, the Authors are the best hosses in the business right now.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE MIZ | 172 | 68 | 34 | 1132 |
| Kevin Owens | 54 | 62 | 43 | 542 |
| Samoa Joe | 21 | 31 | 29 | 256 |
| Pete Dunne | 25 | 27 | 22 | 250 |
| Minoru Suzuki | 29 | 22 | 14 | 239 |
TOKYO MAGNUM: #1: Juan Francisco de Coronado, presently doing a top-three old-school “heel champ looks like they’re on the verge of losing the belt only to pull out some fuckery and retain” run of the present decade (alongside AJ Lee’s endless Divas Title run and The Revival’s NXT tag title runs).
AULAYAN: Ciampa gets the only vote in this category because this is an fuck Ciampa party and an fuck Ciampa party don’t stop.
RHENCH: Despite a good chunk of the smark crowd cheering for everything he does, the Miz has the most, and has had at times the ONLY heel reaction from the crowd in all of WWE. He consistently cuts great promos, weaves real life into storylines, and has good matches with everyone he faces. He makes the guys who eventually beat him look great for doing so, and is capable of being the most hateable person in the world on the microphone. He tries to make the Intercontinental Championship relevant, he tries to get the fans to react, and he just seems like he’s always doing what he can to make everyone involved look better.
ETRIGANZOLA: Coach Flexo (Championship Wrestling From Hollywood): I swear, if CWFH called me and said “Coach Flexo FINALLY gets his ass kicked at our tapings tomorrow”, I would fly from Detroit to L.A.
TONY HUDSON: There were so many fantastic wrestlers who played heels in 2017. So good, in fact, that they often ended up being cheered (such as Marty Scurll, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Pete Dunne, Tetsuya Naito, Rusev and Samoa Joe) but one man managed to put on great content and still be derided by the fans: Johnny Mundo. As leader of his own faction in Lucha Underground, he played a smarmy, entitled prick so well that even his efforts in the ring couldn’t turn him face.
A BOY NAMED ART: Zack may be an out-of-the-box pick in some regards but nobody this side of The Miz can draw more hatred just by opening his mouth. His promos make him as close to bulletproof as any wrestler over the past decade.
CHRISTOPHER BIRD: Minoru Suzuki scares the shit out of me. Legitimately. He is terrifying. The fact that he is a huge bubblegum pop and anime fan just makes him somehow scarier, like Mister Blonde explaining how much he likes Seventies bands before cutting off the cop’s ear.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JOHNNY GARGANO | 128 | 68 | 28 | 900 |
| AJ Styles | 101 | 52 | 28 | 717 |
| Becky Lynch | 35 | 31 | 31 | 330 |
| Shinsuke Nakamura | 22 | 24 | 29 | 240 |
| Kairi Sane (Kairi Hojo) | 21 | 16 | 24 | 201 |
ERIC LINGENFELTER: Even though he’s a disrespectful little shit and he does underhanded things, I don’t think it’s fair to call Tetsuya Naito a heel anymore. He’s undoubtedly the most beloved wrestler in NJPW right now. Go back and listen to that crowd when he comes out at Wrestle Kingdom 12. What a pop! What deafening chants! When was the last time you heard a crowd get behind anyone like that? He’s the biggest babyface in the company right now, even if he’s not of the Polly Pureheart white meat variety. He’s more like Stone Cold Steve Austin if he was a Japanese delinquent instead of a beer swilling redneck. The people love him. He’s a star, baby.
SIMON WRIGHT: Mustafa Ali is a good sweet wrestle boy and I only want good things for him.
KEVINLEEC: Kairi is one of the most sympathetic babyfaces I’ve ever seen. I just want to see her succeed in all her hopes and dreams.
FLIPDAWG: People say that Johnny Gargano is one of the last true babyfaces left in wrestling like it’s a booking thing, and it’s not, because I’ve seen Gargano play weasel heel and he’s extremely good at that too. He’s just brilliant at evoking audience reactions on either side of the coin, in a way that many wrestlers simply are not.
C. GUND: The fact that Dalton Castle is the beloved champion of America’s smarkiest indie at the end of 2017 is a testament to what a strange place we are in culturally, and what an amazing place we are in wrestling-wise.
NICKMAN: SAMI ZAYN IS STILL A BABYFACE AND HAS NOT SAID A SINGLE UNTRUE THING ABOUT SHANE MCMAHON EVER IN HIS LIFE
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJ STYLES | 198 | 66 | 57 | 1302 |
| Kenny Omega | 92 | 92 | 45 | 826 |
| Kazuchika Okada | 60 | 57 | 32 | 535 |
| Cesaro | 19 | 41 | 39 | 296 |
| Pete Dunne | 9 | 22 | 22 | 155 |
DANIEL GRONSKY: I vote Neville first place in this category every year, and he never wins. What’s wrong with you people?
ETRIGANZOLA: How good is Johnny Gargano? Let me put it thus way: I had seen the spoilers for that four-way #1 contender’s match, and I STILL didn’t think he’d win it while I was watching.
TOBY SNEDECOR: Remember that sequence when Cesaro blasted in and out of the ring, took out four dudes in perfect sequence, and turned what was already a hot tag into the burning heart of a thousand suns? Now, keeping that moment in mind, how many stars could Okada vs Cesaro get? Eight?
OBILLE NESS: This feels like it should be Okada’s award, but Styles has taken every opponent he’s worked with this year and made them and himself look a million dollars, something which Okada has done too but less often. I wonder whether Okada could get something approaching what Styles got out of Shane McMahon at WrestleMania?
PIPIPGENBACH: Seriously though, Okada and Omega. If you’ve seen them work, there’s no one else you put in this space.
FLIPDAWG: If Io Shirai were a dude, you’d all be saying “AJ who? Okada wha?”
CHRISTOPHER BIRD: Styles is going to walk away with this one, I’m pretty sure, because he consistently put on clinics with far lesser opponents, but he was like the third-best wrestler WWE employs this past year at best, because Johnny Wrestling has surpassed him and Pete Dunne is on a whole other level now. Seriously, Dunne just wrestled banger after banger this year, and not just his smattering of always-superb WWE matches; dude didn’t have anything less than great matches in Progress, Rev Pro, every indie he main-evented (which was a lot). He’s only twenty-three and I’ll tell you something: right now, he is so, so much better at twenty-three than AJ Styles was at twenty-three, when Styles was wrestling spotfests on Nitro for indifferent rednecks. We’re seeing the birth of greatness here.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RICOCHET (PRINCE PUMA) | 125 | 81 | 46 | 960 |
| Will Ospreay | 101 | 63 | 35 | 763 |
| Neville | 50 | 42 | 35 | 446 |
| AJ Styles | 39 | 23 | 24 | 312 |
| Kota Ibushi | 17 | 36 | 30 | 253 |
RHENCH: Rey Horus is super talented for a guy I’ve only seen on Lucha Underground. Dude can hang with Prince Puma, who is only not on my list because he’s got such an arsenal of power moves I consider him more complete than most flyers, and because I don’t remember a match of his this year. But Horus’ agility is legit, and I really hope to see more of him in coming years. Ospreay should still win, though.
CHRIS HEIDE: Will Ospreay and Ricochet are the Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa of baseball in the late 90’s. They will be back and forth on top of this award for a long time.
TOBY SNEDECOR: I didn’t realize how much I wanted to see Neville vs. Ibushi until I saw their names next to each other. And now my soul burns for something that can never be. THANKS A LOT, INTERNET.
RED HORSES: We’ve all gotten so used to Ember Moon just being predictably great week-in and week-out that we’ve all forgotten that practically nobody in the world, male or female, flies quite as well as she does.
MAGACID: On one hand, it seems insane to pick someone like Kairi Sane, because she only really goes to the top at the end. On the other hand, OMG DID YOU SEE THAT?
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRAUN STROWMAN | 154 | 55 | 38 | 1011 |
| Samoa Joe | 72 | 72 | 59 | 694 |
| Aleister Black | 32 | 34 | 20 | 302 |
| Brock Lesnar | 27 | 23 | 36 | 276 |
| Tomohiro Ishii | 30 | 24 | 23 | 268 |
VANDAMDAZ: T-Bone works a realistic and brutal looking style whilst also being incredibly safe in the ring. His bull rope match with Ashton Smith this year was something to behold.
R. MANNING: This remains the Brock Lesnar Award For Being Brock Lesnar, and will do so until he retires.
I still want to see Lesnar vs. Ishii. I know it would likely end with the destruction of the entire planet. I DON’T CARE!
DANIEL GRONSKY: I don’t think Oney Lorcan understands that wrestling is fake. I don’t think anyone’s had the guts to tell him.
RHENCH: I absolutely love the ‘Braun Strowman beats people up’ segments. He does ridiculous feats of strength, shouts things that make people cheer (I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU) and generally looks like a Monster of a Man. He’s everything I want out of a big man in wrestling. And somehow, he’s more or less a good guy because he beats up people we all want to see beat up. Hell yeah I want to see a dude tear down the stage and hit people with it. Hell yeah I want to see a dude overturn an ambulance. Hell yeah I want to see Braun win the Universal Title.
TONY HUDSON: Samoa Joe is terrifying. Everything he did in 2017 built an aura of legitimacy and danger around the former NXT Champion. A man who can believably take Brock Lesnar to the limit in a brawl is someone who cannot be ignored.
CAP’N ANDY: I’M NOT FINISHED VOTING YET! *flips survey*
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJ STYLES | 72 | 41 | 23 | 529 |
| Kenny Omega | 37 | 36 | 22 | 337 |
| Braun Strowman | 38 | 19 | 17 | 281 |
| Asuka | 18 | 27 | 15 | 201 |
| Chris Jericho | 18 | 21 | 18 | 189 |
MAGACID: I hope WALTER gets enough eyes this year (or any year) to win this category. Dude leaves more caverns in chests than water on limestone over thousands of years of gradual erosion due to changing tides leaves in flyover states.
JODORISO: A year where Chris Jericho is eligible is a year where Chris Jericho gets my #1 vote. He’ll be my #1 choice next year too, thanks to New Japan.
DESINMAN: Kota Ibushi. Stupid, sexy Kota Ibushi. He is my man crush.
RAGNAROK: What can I say, besides being a huge fan of Pentagon Jr.’s hybrid “lucha libre meets Best Of Super Juniors puroresu” style – how am I NOT going to always love a pissed off skeleton ninja who breaks arms?
D. GLIDE: Watching Kris Wolf’s profile rise this year has been really cool, as she went from rookie Stardom wrestler to beginning to break out internationally. In ring, she’s a solid mix of good striking, entertaining spots, and super solid commitment to her wolf-girl character. Outside of the ring, she comes across as an enthusiastic and very genuine person. In a year or so, look for her to be a much more serious contender for more people’s favorite wrestler.
CAP’N ANDY: Braun Strowman’s Year of Attempted Murders has been the most consistently entertaining thing in professional wrestling, and he gets my vote here.
TIME OUT: Toru Yano, because he’s the Japanese Ric Flair, and I dig the fact how he’d punch ya in the balls then sell ya his DVD.
S. FELDMAN: Goldberg. I’ve been a Goldberg fan since I was like 12. It was my first exposure to a Jewish celebrity who was a straight up badass and not some weaselly cheapskate. If he’s ever remotely active, he gets my vote haters be damned.
FLIPDAWG: Tyler Bate is TWENTY. TWENTY. He is TWENTY. What the fuck. I need more whiskey.
NOMINEE,1st,2nd,3rd,TOTAL
BRAUN STROWMAN,174,63,34,1127
Velveteen Dream,97,51,53,747
Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas,34,56,39,416
Elias Samson,24,43,43,335
Juice Robinson,21,28,31,251
[/table]
DANIEL GRONSKY: Shame on me for not adding him officially to the ballot, but Neville was easily the most improved wrestler of the year. Not in terms of ringwork, obviously, but 2017 saw him go from a complete non-entity on the mic to one of the very best promos in the company.
OJMEGA: As the mouthpiece of a three-man tandem act, Xavier Woods could have settled into the manager role just fine, but he made a concerted effort to get better and it showed throughout the year. His work at Hell in a Cell was incredible.
A BOY NAMED ART: From WWE also-ran to promoting what could be the biggest independent show of the decade, Cody is the easy pick here.
ETRIGANZOLA: Last year, I broke my rule of voting for three in every category to give Elias Samson my only vote in Worst Wrestler, “because fuck Elias Samson.” This year, I’m breaking my rule of voting for three in every category to give Elias (Samson) my only vote in Most Improved, because holy shit Elias.
CAP’N ANDY: First place goes, of course, to Braun Strowman. If 2016 was the year when he moved from being the least interesting Wyatt into a fun hoss worth keeping your eye on, 2017 was when he achieved his final form as an all-time great monster with a single cry of “I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!” and a frigging flipped ambulance. He deserves this.
C. GUND: Happy to be voting for Juice Robinson for Most Improved for the second year in a row. If my current projections based on his last two year’s improvement hold, Juice should be world champion by 2021, the greatest wrestler to have ever lived by 2025, and by 2030 he’ll have evolved himself into a being of pure babyface spirit, where even thinking about him will give you that feeling like the one I had watching the end of the Jeff Hardy vs. Undertaker Ladder match live. You know, the part where Jim Ross is shouting for Jeff to “make himself famous”. That’s just statistics.
MAGACID: It isn’t so much “most improved” for Velveteen Dream as it is “most ahead of his time, but then he graciously waited for us to catch up and realize how great he is.” Thanks for your patience, Velvie!
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUSEV | 78 | 52 | 33 | 612 |
| Cesaro | 70 | 38 | 32 | 528 |
| Chad Gable | 32 | 29 | 33 | 313 |
| Becky Lynch | 34 | 30 | 21 | 302 |
| Luke Harper | 23 | 28 | 23 | 245 |
MZAK: Rusev should be winning world titles in the main event. He always manages to get himself over despite what they keep giving him.
DANIEL GRONSKY: Luke Harper started 2017 showing us all what he could do in that amazing singles match against AJ Styles. He ended 2017 in a worse version of the same tag team he’s been stuck in for five years.
RHENCH: Rusev is so freaking popular. Why is it that he cannot get any kind of push when the crowd loves him so much? I mean, even Aiden English is getting popular because of the association with Rusev. It is baffling how they have not turned him face and made him the people’s champion yet. The U.S. title isn’t doing anything important, why isn’t Rusev even in the tournament? The best comedy timing in years and the best reaction on Smackdown getting no love from management. Why?
CAP’N ANDY: Everyone’s gonna vote Cesaro again, and they’re wrong. Cesaro is in a popular tag team that’s booked strong and won the tag championships no less than three times last year. He gets plenty of mic time. He’s doing fine. Sami Zayn, on the other hand, spent nearly the entire year invisible and ignored and only came into prominence at the very end of the year as Kevin Owens’ sidekick, using Kevin Owens’ music, letting Kevin Owens do most of the talking. This man should have held every championship in the dang WWE at least once by now, and he spends another year criminally underused. Let Sami be great, WWE! Why do you hate money?
WAA1: Back in NXT, Tyler Breeze showed that he could be anything he wanted to be: a goofy comedy heel, a legit main eventer, a scrappy babyface. Breezango is great, but he’s ready for more.
LEWITT: How do you let Ayliah on NXT TV, but not Abbey Laith? Why are they hiding her?
FLIPDAWG: I am convinced that the reason Abbey Laith is not getting NXT TV time is because she is thicc and Vince hates thicc.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT'S RUSEV DAY! | 54 | 46 | 57 | 522 |
| Chris Jericho is obsessed with his List/hates Stupid Idiots | 58 | 39 | 25 | 457 |
| Braun Strowman as the Monster Among Men | 45 | 34 | 15 | 357 |
| Drew Gulak For A Better 205 Live / loves Powerpoint presentations | 29 | 38 | 36 | 331 |
| Breezango as the Fashion Police | 33 | 31 | 30 | 318 |
OJMEGA: Rusev Day not only made Rusev one of the most over acts on Smackdown, but it single-handedly saved Aiden English in the process.
RHENCH: Drew Gulak is the best thing about 205 Live, and has really used Enzo showing up to make himself a bigger part of the show. He’s got a great storyline, a great character that he plays up every week, and is fun to root for or against, depending on how you feel about it. I really think he has done a stellar job of making the ‘Zo train thing seem legitimate by how much he wants to help it, and he, more than anyone else on that show, has a clear character and a clear story to tell.
TONY HUDSON: Could anyone but Chris Jericho make the act of writing a name on a clipboard the most over thing in wrestling? Highly doubtful. Even in his late 40s, the Alpha of the wrestling business continues to prove he’s one of the all-time greats.
J. ZACZYK: Cody is the villain from any 80’s movie.
CHRISTOPHER BIRD: The Fashion Files are a bit played at this point, because WWE, but man, remember when they were the only reason to watch Smackdown for like a period of three months straight?
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAIRI SANE'S INSANE ELBOW FLYING ELBOWDROP | 80 | 35 | 34 | 573 |
| Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel one-handed electric chair driver | 51 | 37 | 27 | 420 |
| Cedric Alexander's Lumbar Check back suplex into double knee backbreaker | 40 | 44 | 27 | 386 |
| Athena/Ember Moon's O-Face/Eclipse top rope corkscrew stunner | 45 | 34 | 29 | 385 |
| Aleister Black's Black Mass spinning kick | 33 | 21 | 25 | 278 |
NOTE: A lot of write-in votes for Seth Rollins’ Blackout curb stomp this year, but he didn’t start using it again until January so it isn’t eligible. Sorry, guys.
LEWITT: Kairi Sane’s elbow drop is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I’ve been to art museums.
RHENCH: I didn’t think I would vote Cedric Alexander for Best Anything, but this move always makes me cheer. It looks great, the guys he hits it on all sell it a little different, and it’s also pretty safe. Seeing Nese fly out of the ring or Gulak just crumple or whoever takes it, I always love the move. It looks deadly without hurting wrestlers for real, and that’s what I want in a finisher.
TONY HUDSON: A combination of how good it looks and how well it has been protected has made Kenny Omega’s One-Winged Angel something all too rare in modern day pro-wrestling: a true finisher.
DIQUAN DANIEL: The Rainmaker. The fact that a short-arm clothesline is this over still in 2017-2018… man.
FLIPDAWG: The Black Mass shouldn’t be as awesome as it is. I mean, it’s just a spin kick. Except that Aleister Black’s speed on the kick, combined with everybody selling it like they’ve just been shot execution-style, makes it awesome.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/04: KAZUCHIKA OKADA v. KENNY OMEGA (IWGP TITLE) | 128 | 58 | 29 | 872 |
| 05/20: Tyler Bate v. Pete Dunne (WWE UK title) | 69 | 53 | 30 | 564 |
| 06/11: Kazuchika Okada v. Kenny Omega (IWGP title) | 52 | 37 | 15 | 401 |
| 01/29: AJ Styles v. John Cena (WWE title) | 29 | 26 | 26 | 275 |
| 11/18: Aleister Black v. Velveteen Dream | 23 | 32 | 31 | 273 |
ETRIGANZOLA: “Siri, how do I get two guys massively over at the same time in the same match without a title on the line or overbooking the hell out of it?” “Okay, I’m playing the Aleister Black/Velveteen Dream match from NXT Takeover: WarGames.”
TONY HUDSON: The first time Okada and Omega clashed, they rewrote the book on pro-wrestling match quality. Nothing could possibly top it, right? Wrong. The pair managed just that in their spectacular one hour draw, which had one of the best visuals of the last decade: Omega avoiding the Rainmaker by simply collapsing through exhaustion.
D. GLIDE: Going into Psycho Clown vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. at TripleMania, I had this really jaded certainty that this was the end of Dr. Wagner Jr.’s masked gimmick. Here’s an older guy, against AAA’s most profitable babyface- there’s no way they’re unmasking Psycho Clown at this point, right? After everything they went through, however, when Wagner took the loss, I was shocked. They managed to make me forget all of the booking decisions, all of the stuff about age and gimmicks, and just get lost in watching the match. On top of that, they sold the hell out of Dr. Wagner Jr passing the grudge down to his son, building to the future. Which is exactly what you want out of a high stakes match, right?
GIG GAB: Broke my heart that I only had room to include one each of Okada vs. Omega and Bate vs. Dunne, because I actually lost my mind during the King of Trios final and the crowd energy was second only to Bayley beating Sasha in Brooklyn. This year had some incredible wrestling.
M. ZAK: AJ vs Brock had me out of my seat multiple times. I bought the comeback, I prayed for the false finish of the elbow, and I sobbed at the inevitable ending when Brock caught him.
RED HORSES: There were technically superior matches, but I don’t think any match left me giggling like a lunatic as much as Brock/Roman/Braun/Joe at SummerSlam did. Just insanely violent spot after insanely violent spot for twenty minutes, four hosses all going at full tilt (even Brock) until they had to stop.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAZUCHIKA OKADA v. KENNY OMEGA | 116 | 46 | 24 | 766 |
| Aleister Black v. Velveteen Dream | 97 | 58 | 45 | 749 |
| New Day v. Usos | 48 | 55 | 48 | 501 |
| Kevin Owens v. Chris Jericho | 46 | 40 | 39 | 428 |
| Kenny Omega v. Chris Jericho | 29 | 42 | 35 | 341 |
DANIEL GRONSKY: New Day and the Usos had the kind of feud, and the kind of matches, that ensured they would never be placed on the pre-show ever again.
TONY HUDSON: Death. Taxes. Scurll beats Ospreay. Every time these two clashed, in any promotion, it was a treat to watch. They developed a relationship that is defined by their opposition.
LOESCHMAN: Sometimes it’s not about the best match. That’s why nothing approached the level of Miz/Cena for Feud of the Year. Great back-and-forth mic work. Fantastic mocking video packages by Miz/Maryse. And a shoot marriage proposal at the end. Sure, you knew it was coming, but it was great promotion. This would have worked in the 70s, 80s, 90’s or 2000s.
ERIC SHEPPERD: Even though it was short, Aleister Black/Velveteen Dream was the perfect feud to further enhance one superstar, and to absolutely make another. Say his name!
THE IMP ALERT: While I voted for Okada vs. Omega as the best feud, I think it is more appropriate to consider it a three-way feud for dominance over New Japan, between Okada, Omega, and Naito – the true feud of the year.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COREY GRAVES | 258 | 80 | 37 | 1604 |
| Mauro Ranallo | 85 | 113 | 74 | 912 |
| Nigel McGuinness | 10 | 64 | 72 | 386 |
| Jim Ross | 30 | 26 | 44 | 316 |
| Don Callis | 25 | 26 | 24 | 251 |
A BOY NAMED ART: With Corey Graves succumbing to WWE Lingo Disease, the path was already clear for a new top announcer. Callis edged out McGuinness for me solely because he had more opportunities to inject his own wit into his New Japan work and solidify his “Bobby Heenan with an MBA” persona. That Excalibur brought up the rear is more because he only works for PWG; he almost. single-handedly made Joey Janela’s Spring Break show tolerable from an announcing standpoint, proving he’s more than a one-promotion pony.
LEWITT: Corey Graves may have been the hardest working person all year. There were a few weeks where I think he was announcing on 4 or 5 different shows. How he does that, and still sounds so good on commentary is beyond me. The man is some sort of announcing superhero.
TONY HUDSON: An announcer’s job is to tell the story of a match and its participants in a way that gets everyone over. Right now, nobody is better at that than Kevin Kelly for NJPW.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE MIZ | 128 | 58 | 38 | 890 |
| Chris Jericho | 70 | 56 | 45 | 608 |
| Paul Heyman | 46 | 35 | 36 | 407 |
| Kevin Owens | 33 | 45 | 34 | 368 |
| Samoa Joe | 32 | 33 | 37 | 333 |
NICKMAN: Anyone who thinks Hiromu did nyan-t have the best promos of the year needs to take things a bit less seriously and/or watch more New Japan
WAA1: Roman Reigns’ twenty-minute five word post-WrestleMania promo should go down in history as one of the most monumental promos of all time.
CAP’N ANDY: Nobody is better on the mic than the Miz right now, full stop.
Also, groups should really be eligible for this; asking me to pick between New Day members and Usos is some Sophie’s Choice bullshit.
W. BROWN: Alexa Bliss in a walk. She’s one of the rare performers who can break through the bizarre restraints WWE puts on their main-roster performers and sounds like a human being.
ETRIGANZOLA: Even if half of Miz’ promos this year consisted entirely of “Don’t vote for me for Best Promo”, he’d still be at the top of the list.
LOESCHMAN: In a world of snarky characters and inside jokes, sometimes you just need a guy who can be a badass and can absolutely convince the audience that he wants to destroy everyone in the locker room. Samoa Joe is that guy.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KEVIN OWENS DESTROYS CHRIS JERICHO AT THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDSHIP | 116 | 59 | 50 | 857 |
| Braun Strowman attacks Roman Reigns' ambulance because they aren't finished yet | 56 | 57 | 38 | 527 |
| Chris Jericho attacks Kenny Omega because he is 'the Alpha' | 52 | 45 | 33 | 461 |
| Velveteen Dream demands that Aleister Black say his name | 31 | 33 | 55 | 364 |
| Breezango investigate mysteries in The Fashion Files | 30 | 35 | 35 | 325 |
ERIC LINGENFELTER: Even though it didn’t end the way many of us wanted, the best, most exciting angle of the year was Tetsuya Naito winning his second G1 Climax and finally getting that main spot at the Tokyo Dome that he’s been dreaming about since he was 15. It’s the perfect interplay of wrestling reality and real reality. The fans voted him out of the main event at Wrestle Kingdom 8, and he’s been salty about it ever since. So he turned his back on them and accidentally made them love him more than anyone else on the roster. And then, after 4 long years, he got his second chance at the big one. It’s a story that plays on his entire career. Amazing work.
TONY HUDSON: In an age of hyperbole, not many things have the power to “shock the wrestling world” as much as announcers claim. This, however, was the exception: when Chris Jericho appeared on screen in NJPW it felt like the biggest event in the world. A true game changer.
CAP’N ANDY: The Festival of Friendship is one of the greatest segments in WWE history. I hate to only vote it for second place, but… *gestures to rest of Braun Strowman votes*
MAGACID: I voted for Chuckie winning the PWG title first, because it felt so right. I voted for Fashion Files second because it had way more excellent jokes written in than any sports entertainment has the right to. But if I were a smarter man, my number one vote (now #3) would have gone to Velveteen Dream’s demand to be recognized by Aleister Black. It felt like it was about more than wrestling. It felt like the story of a young black man refusing to be invisible, and it was powerful. What the fuck, wrestling? When did you get so fucking good?
DANIEL GRONSKY: I think sometimes we watch the 1000 hours of (at best) mediocre WWE programming because we’re terrified of missing the one really good segment they’ll produce. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d missed the Festival of Friendship, an all-time great wrestling moment.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NJPW | 212 | 122 | 41 | 1508 |
| WWE (incl. NXT) | 171 | 120 | 58 | 1331 |
| Lucha Underground | 39 | 49 | 63 | 468 |
| RoH | 4 | 33 | 62 | 243 |
| PWG | 9 | 30 | 40 | 215 |
ERIC LINGENFELTER: NXT, not WWE – We’re going to keep writing this in until you stop ignoring it. It makes perfect sense to judge NXT separately from WWE. Even though it’s under the WWE umbrella and presented on the WWE network, the booking and feel of NXT is completely different from that of main roster WWE. You know it, I know it, and everyone else in the wrestling world knows it. Even WWE knows it. The fact that you don’t offer this as an option is just stubbornness on your part. (NOTE FROM THE ADMINS: this was the only write-in vote for NXT.)
CAP’N ANDY: WWE: The Wrestling Promotion That is on Television and also Has All the Money and Will Buy Your Love
D. GLIDE: The Crash Lucha Libre. In 2017, The Crash managed to come out of almost nowhere, to become a solid number three in lucha libre, behind AAA (with all its international deals) and CMLL (with its historical context). Taking full advantage of Konnan’s rolodex of “basically everyone in lucha” and the huge mistakes that AAA has made in alienating talent over the last couple of years, The Crash has managed to put on some fantastic supercards that made them a huge draw and drew a lot of attention for a fledgling promotion, giving them a huge year.
KEVINLEEC: Going to give a vote for Melbourne City Wrestling for the work they’ve done in bringing the Australian scene into the wider wrestling world over 2017.
FLIPDAWG: New Japan doesn’t have WWE’s money and they don’t have WWE’s roster size and they don’t have WWE’s editing room (oh, man, imagine vignette packages for NJPW edited with that level of talent) and they don’t have WWE’s exposure. They’re still a better company, achieving more with less.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WWE NXT | 134 | 116 | 68 | 1156 |
| NJPW G1 Climax 24 | 81 | 25 | 20 | 505 |
| Lucha Underground Weekly TV | 58 | 44 | 34 | 490 |
| WWE Southpaw Regional Wrestling | 44 | 34 | 54 | 430 |
| Being The Elite | 35 | 23 | 23 | 290 |
LEWITT: 205 is the best wrestling show that no one is watching. I know, I know, there are like 50 hours of wrestling people already watch, but you have to check out 205. Every show has at least one good and one great match, feuds go to their natural conclusion and aren’t based around PPVs, everyone of the cruiserweights gets a chanc to shine, it’s only an hour, WWE brass doesn’t pay to much attention to it so it’s fun.
MAGACID: When I sit down to engage in the intellectual journey of observing sports entertainment, I demand excellence. I demand athleticism, storytelling, psychology, sacrifice, and who am I kidding it’s Southpaw.
TONY HUDSON: Being The Elite was an instrumental part of changing how indy wrestlers can operate. Not to mention, it made megastars out of its cast.
CHRISTOPHER BIRD: NXT achieves so much with one hour of TV per week that it is almost ridiculous. You can have entire weeks where the champion and/or the top face or heel don’t even make an appearance, and the show just keeps chugging along, knowing that you watch it because you pay attention to what they’re doing, so two minutes of recap footage is all you need to be reminded that awesome wrestlers will be on TV again soon. It’s old-school and it’s genius.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 11 | 178 | 64 | 33 | 1148 |
| WWE NXT Takeover: Wargames | 59 | 60 | 41 | 557 |
| WWE NXT Takeover: Chicago | 42 | 48 | 44 | 442 |
| Lucha Underground Ultima Lucha Tres | 37 | 31 | 17 | 312 |
| WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III | 16 | 35 | 38 | 261 |
R. MANNING: Takeover: Wargames was a case where the *worst* match of the night was still in the **-1/2 to *** range, and there were two that were genuinely ****-1/2 or better. That’s the kind of quality you hardly ever get.
OJMEGA: The NXT Takeover shows have a good problem, in that they’re so consistently great, they inevitably start to blend into each other to create one giant ball of greatness.
C. GUND: A year removed, its almost easy to forgot how amazing the final four matches of WK11 are. Four singles matches. Each telling a spectacular story. Each with a different character. I didn’t end up watching New Year’s dash (or any wrestling really) for nearly two weeks after WK11. I was just too satisfied.
KEVINLEEC: Dominion is the best wrestling PPV I have ever seen. The run of KUSHIDA/Hiromu, Tanahashi/Naito and Okada/Omega was the best run of three matches to close a show. Out of the top matches, comparing Wrestle Kingdom and Dominion, the only one I prefer is Shibata/Goto over Suzuki/Goto.
RED HORSES: For sheer excellence across the board, nothing beat this year’s Battle of Los Angeles, just like nobody beat last year’s Battle of Los Angeles. Wrestle Kingdom? Oh, you gotta sit through the mediocre tag clusterfuck matches and the kitsch-value-only New Japan Rumble to get through to your Okada/Omega matches and what have you. NXT Takeovers? Pretty good, but you only get six of them a year, and half of them are fine while they’re live but unmemorable six months later (*cough* Brooklyn, San Antonio *cough*). But BOLA always delivers, with three full days of nothing worse than three and a half stars, all killer no filler.
| NOMINEE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WITH SPANDEX (UPROXX) | 166 | 56 | 24 | 1046 |
| Botchamania | 33 | 48 | 38 | 385 |
| The Wrestling Observer/Figure 4 Online (incl. Dave Meltzer/The Bryan and Vinny Show) | 34 | 24 | 21 | 284 |
| Scott Keith's Blog of Doom! | 25 | 13 | 12 | 188 |
| r/squaredcircle (Wreddit) | 12 | 26 | 24 | 186 |
NOTE: More than a few votes for the WrestleSplainia podcast this year, but they only started airing in January 2018 so they aren’t eligible. Sorry.
MZAK: Brandon Stroud is legit most of my wrestling fandom today. I don’t know if I would watch weekly WWE if I didn’t know I’d get his recaps after.
KEVINLEEC: E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness took what is a pretty tired genre (the wrestler hosted podcast), and made the best one of them all. Edge and Christian have a great natural chemistry together and get the best out of their guests. It feels like you’re listening in on a conversation between friends. The Daniel Bryan episode is one of the my favourite podcast episodes.
SZOUGH: McMahonsplaining, the WithSpandex podcast. Don’t know if it counts as Part of WithSpandex but it’s great. (NOTE FROM THE ADMINS: We rolled McMahonsplaining votes into WS’s total so long as the voter didn’t vote for both of them.)
RHENCH: I’ve got no idea how many people know about Bad News Llama. It’s a Facebook group for wrestling fans to talk about wrestling. And because of the community and the moderation team, it’s been a place where my love of wrestling has grown and maintained more than in a long time. I have fallen out of love with wrestling in the past, especially when I was disenchanted with the WWE, but Bad News Llama keeps me engaged, and the people there always have other options to suggest when the mainstream isn’t cutting it for me. From intense discussion about current storylines, to the pure nonsense of trying to outdo Chris Jericho’s list of 1,004 holds, it always feels like a community and it makes me love wrestling even more. If you want to join a group that wants nothing more than to have fun celebrating, bitching about, and talking about everything wrestling-related, Bad News Llama is the place for it. And I love it.
D. GLIDE: Rudo Can’t Fail: A zine focusing on all aspects of lucha culture. The regular features are there, with show reviews for promotions like The Crash and CMLL, and talent interviews featuring stars such as Lucha Britannia’s Diablesa Rosa . Other feature articles, however, include things like retrospectives on the late, great Fishman, interviews with artists that produce lucha-themed work, and photographers that cover lucha shows and help promote talent. With slick production and a 90’s-style zine ethos, Rudo Can’t Fail gives a great, hands-on approach to lucha libre.
A BOY NAMED ART: Killing the Town rose to the top of the podcast class for me in its first year just because it’s one of the few shows out there that is willing to be critical of the big promotions while also featuring two equal co-hosts (as opposed to a Host Wrestler and his Sidekick). It made for actual, well thought-out debates between Storm and Callis that didn’t come off as manufactured. That Storm slid so adroitly into the role of directing traffic for the program should be commended.
RED HORSES: McMahonsplaining – because not only is Brandon Stroud one of the best wrestling writers I’ve ever read, but he’s ALSO got a radio voice like you would not believe.
