Best Of 2022 Awards

Just like last year, I’ll be trying to do this over three days.  I have 18 awards this year and I’ll be doing six a day, with the top five in each category.

Major Show Of The Year

5. Wrestlemania XXXVIII Night One
4. Death Before Dishonor
3. Survivor Series
2. Revolution
1. Forbidden Door

It might be a cliché, but there is something special about having all of these dream matches leading up to a big time title match main event. This is the kind of show that you only get to see every so often and that made for some of the best action of the year. It isn’t something I would want to see every week, but for a one off special event, it was good enough to make for the best show of the year.

Non-Wrestler Of The Year

5. Shawn Michaels
4. Ian Riccaboni
3. MVP
2. Stokely Hathaway
1. Paul Heyman

Can we just name it after Heyman at this point? The guy has dominated so many similar awards for so long and it’s not fair to see how much better he is than almost anyone else. Heyman doesn’t do as much as he used to, but he can get more out of a look than almost anyone else in wrestling. He has done so much for the Bloodline and that isn’t even counting the time he jumped back to Brock Lesnar for a bit. Heyman is incredible in this role and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

Group/Tag Team Of The Year

5. Briscoes
4. Young Bucks
3. RKBro
2. Usos
1. FTR

While they somehow didn’t win the AEW Tag Team Titles this year, FTR became one of the most respected and popular teams in recent memory. The reactions they were getting were off the charts and it was one classic after another almost every time they were in the ring. Things have started to turn the other way a bit near the end of the year, but sweet goodness they did some incredible stuff for most of the time.

7. Worst Major Show Of The Year

5. In Your House
4. Summerslam
3. Wrestlemania Night Two
2. Elimination Chamber
1. Royal Rumble

This show was bad. The fact that I was in the stadium for the show and had to spend four hours holding my hand over my eyes because the spotlights caused approximately 37 TURN THE LIGHTS OFF chants has nothing to do with this. The Royal Rumbles were next to worthless as they had few interesting returns or good surprises. Throw in a few other fairly meh matches and this show just did not work.

Most Improved Of The Year

5. Matt Menard/Angelo Parker
4. Carmelo Hayes
3. Ricky Starks
2. Jamie Hayter
1. Andre Chase

This might not be a common pick but Chase has turned what should be an absolutely nothing, one note idea into one of the funniest, most entertaining and complete characters in NXT. The Chase U segments have become a highlight for me with Chase being handed something and running with it as far as he can. I know he probably won’t get many votes but Chase has gone from nothing to something very fun and that is a big improvement.

Promo Of The Year

5. Kevin Owens vs. Steve Austin – Wrestlemania XXXVIII
4. CM Punk’s All Out Rant
3. “No filter, I ain’t Instagram. We make the A** Boys retire like Vince McMahon.” – Max Caster – Dynamite – August 3

I can’t pick a #1 so here’s a tie:

1. William Regal vs. MJF – Dynamite – August 16

I was in the arena for this one and it is one of the only times I can remember being hooked on every word. This is the kind of promo that makes you realize just how incredible MJF can be and he sold the heck out of the whole thing. I wanted to see these two fight, but Regal no selling the whole thing and ruining MJF’s moment that he had built up in his head for years made the segment. MJF was good, but he was in over his head and Regal knew it.

1. Jey Uso Hasn’t Been Very Ucey – Smackdown – October 28

I don’t watch a lot of stuff back again but I’ve probably seen this ten times now. There is SO MUCH in this and it goes in so many great directions.

• Jey Uso yelling at Sami Zayn and saying he doesn’t care what Roman Reigns thinks, causing Reigns’ head to snap up and everyone to realize that Jey is about to die.
• Sami trying to calm Reigns down by saying Jey hasn’t been very Ucey, causing Jey to give Sami a double take that says “you did not just say that on national TV” and Reigns to realize he has Jey dead to rites.
• Reigns saying “you’re not feeling very……ucey?” and Jey having to be held in place (Reigns: “No stay right here, stay right here.”) because he knows he’s about to crack on live TV. Then Reigns gets them again by saying Jey needs to find his “inner Ucey” (you can see the huge smile under his hands and Jimmy trying to hide his grin in the background).
• Then to top it off, Reigns gets it back on track by saying if Jey can’t figure this out, Sami Zayn is going to become Sami Uso, leaving Sami looking like a three year old on Christmas morning.

This was serious, hilarious, serious again and then sold thousands of shirts. You don’t get that kind of a segment often and it beats anything (save for one) all year.

I can’t pick. Flip a coin.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

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