Don’t these usually come out earlier? These are Meltzer and Company’s awards (yes I’m aware his readers vote on them and if you believe that he doesn’t influence voting, you’re really missing the obvious) and I’ve jotted down a few thoughts on each. These aren’t meant to be any kind of in depth analysis and are really more along the lines of if I agree or not.

Category A Awards

Wrestler of the Year – AJ Styles

Yep. There really wasn’t another option here, save for maybe Omega or Naito.

MMA Most Valuable – Conor McGregor

If there’s a bigger layup this year, I have no idea what it could be.

Most Outstanding Wrestler – AJ Styles

For the life of me I still don’t get the difference between this and Wrestler of the Year. I’ve had it explained to me more than once and I still have no idea why both of them need to exist. No one else in WWE was even in the top ten.

Most Outstanding Fighter – Conor McGregor

Enough MMA in the wrestling awards.

Best Box Office Draw – Conor McGregor

I didn’t even scroll down before I wrote who won. Again: it’s not fair to compare WWE and MMA but that’s never stopped Meltzer.

Feud of the Year – Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz.

Erg here we go again. The top wrestling feud was AJ Styles vs. John Cena, which was nearly quadrupled in points.

Tag Team of the Year – Young Bucks

Nope, and I’m sure their finishing move being the MELTZER DRIVER had nothing to do with this.

Most Improved – Matt Riddle

I’ve heard nothing but great things about him so I don’t have any issue here. I would have gone with Miz and the scoring was Riddle – 1026 and Miz – 1020.

Best on Interviews – Conor McGregor

Again, didn’t even have to scroll down. Miz was the top wrestler and got blown out again.

Most Charismatic – Conor McGregor

Nakamura was second.

Bryan Danielson Award (Best Technical Wrestler) – Zack Sabre Jr

Hard to argue that one, especially with some of the stuff he did in the Cruiserweight Classic.

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler) – Tomohiro Ishii

I’m not a fan of the guy but this makes sense.

Best Flying Wrestler – Will Ospreay

As I’ve said many times so far: hard to argue. Ospreay does some insanely cool looking flips.

Most Overrated – Roman Reigns

I can’t go with this as Reigns is certainly good, if not very good, in the ring. He’s just presented horribly and far too strong. I’d actually go with the #5 option: Cody Rhodes. Name one great match he’s had and tell me why he’s one of the hottest free agents in wrestling. Rhodes is good but highly overrated. Reigns is good but horribly mismanaged.

Most Underrated – Cesaro

He’s won it three years running now and I tend to disagree more every year. At what point is it on him and not WWE?

Promotion of the Year – New Japan

Yeah pretty much. TNA didn’t even crack the top ten and didn’t make the Honorable Mentions.

Best Weekly TV Show – New Japan

It’s not clear if that’s the Japanese show (if one exists) or the AXS show. NXT was all the way in sixth here after winning four years straight and Raw was after Impact. It’s not THAT bad.

Match of the Year – Tanahashi vs. Okada (January 4)

It’s a runaway and Nakamura vs. Zayn was fifth. I disagree but the January 4 match was very good.

MMA Match of the Year – Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit – January 2

If this can have it’s own exclusive award, why can’t the rest of them? That doesn’t make sense.

Rookie of the Year – Matt Riddle

Again, fine. I think I voted for him on the WrestleZone Awards. The only WWE name on the list: Daria Berenato. That makes sense given how WWE doesn’t really hire rookies. Speaking of rookies, he’s a rookie and most improved? That’s kind of odd.

Best Non-Wrestler – Dario Cueto

Even in a down year for Lucha Underground, this is no surprise and shouldn’t be.

Best TV Announcer – Mauro Ranallo

Was this ever in doubt? Corey Graves was a close second.

Worst TV Announcer – David Otunga

Why does he have a job? Aside from being married to Jennifer Hudson that is.

Best Major Wrestling Show – Wrestle Kingdom

You knew this was going to be #1 and it’s no surprise. It’s a very good show but too long for my taste.

Category B Awards

Worst Major Wrestling Show – Wrestlemania XXXII

I was there and I got bored.

Best Wrestling Maneuver – Kenny Omega’s One Winged Angel

It certainly looks good. You know what doesn’t look good? The #2 choice: the Rainmaker. I’ve said it for years now but IT’S STILL JUST A FREAKING CLOTHESLINE!

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – Bellator Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 500 Fight

That was indeed embarrassing. The #1 wrestling pick was Lesnar cutting Orton open at Summerslam. This one is very opinion based and I can’t think of anything that jumps ahead of everything else.

Worst TV Show – Raw

Am I really the only person who still watches Impact?

Worst Match of the Year – Shelley Martinez vs. Rebel – TNA One Night Only

I actually watched this due to the horror stories and it really is this bad. I’d go with HHH vs. Reigns due to where it took place but this is fine.

Worst Feud of the Year – Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young

Makes sense. It also makes my head hurt.

Worst Promotion of the Year – TNA

Can we get the award named after them? That’s TEN YEARS in a row.

Best Booker – Gedo

Of course. He scored 851 points, or nearly ten times second place.

Promoter of the Year – Dana White

Real promotion/sport. Fake promotion/sport. Totally the same thing.

Best Gimmick – Broken Matt Hardy

If this was ANYTHING else, they were kidding themselves.

Worst Gimmick – Bone Soldier

I only saw him in a battle royal so I’ll take the word for it. The Cabinet was #2 and probably who I would have gone with.

Best Pro Wrestling Book – Ali vs. Inoki

I haven’t read it but Pat Patterson’s Accepted (#2) was good.

Best Pro Wrestling DVD – Seth Rollins: Redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim

People still watch DVDs in the Network Era?

Overall, I don’t have many complaints about the wrestling stuff. As usual, I do have a problem with comparing MMA and wrestling for reasons that should be obvious. These are mostly fine but PLEASE stop mixing MMA and wrestling. It’s just not a fair comparison and comes off as more of a way to put MMA over WWE for whatever reason. On a less annoyed note, Meltzer and company love them some New Japan and while I rarely agree on that front, it’s hardly a bunch of ridiculous choices. These aren’t as fun without something to get mad over and that’s really not here this time around.

They’re out for the year and as usual I’ll be taking a look at each one and giving my take on whether or not I think Meltzer (yes I know the fans vote on them and if you think most of them aren’t just repeating what he says, you’re missing the point) got it right. I’ll just be listing the winners and any other names in the top three that merit a vote. Also keep in mind that I don’t watch a ton of puro so my knowledge is limited. Also, this is a wrestling site, not an MMA site, even though some people seem to think they’re the same thing. There are a lot of these so I’m just going to give a quick response to each.

Wrestler of the Year – AJ Styles

Uh……yeah I can go with that I guess. I’d have taken Cena due to how great the US Open Challenge was but Styles didn’t get a bad review all year and wrestled almost EVERYWHERE.

Most Outstanding Wrestler – AJ Styles

It’s another year and again I ask: what’s the difference between this and Wrestler of the Year?

Feud of the Year – Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo

Well at least they’re not wasting time this year, though can you imagine a wrestling match that ended in 13 seconds being considered a great blowoff to a feud? The top wrestling feud was Bayley vs. Sasha Banks, which is either my first or second pick as well.

Tag Team of the Year – Young Bucks

Of course. Next.

Most Improved – Bayley

This isn’t the easiest year to argue against. I don’t think anyone can argue that Bayley isn’t better than she was last year as she’s now the biggest star in NXT. I can go with this one again, even though it’s not one I would have thought of.

Best on Interviews – Conor McGregor

Heyman was second and again that’s fine, though I would have given it to Owens, who came in third.

Most Charismatic – Shinsuke Nakamura

Yep. No argument on that actually. The dude is a machine.

Best Technical Wrestler – Zack Sabre Jr.

I haven’t seen him actually but I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews for him so this isn’t surprising.

Best Brawler – Tomohiro Ishii

I saw his match at Wrestle Kingdom and it really wasn’t brawling. Then again it was barely professional wrestling either so I’ll go with a headscratch here. Brawling isn’t really a thing these days in mainstream wrestling so this is a hard one to pick.

Best Flyer – Riccochet

Neville didn’t even make the top three. Seriously?

Most Overrated – Kane

Who rates Kane highly in the first place? Reigns is second. This should of course be the Young Bucks.

Most Underrated – Cesaro

For years I’ve thought underrated and overrated should be changed to under/over utilized as it always seems like what they’re going for. Cesaro is considered awesome but he’s never pushed. That’s not the same as being underrated, which would also seem to be the case with Kane being overrated.

Promotion of the Year – New Japan

If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t been paying close enough attention. NXT isn’t in the top three, though that could be considered part of WWE (also not in the top three).

Best Weekly TV Show – NXT

Yep, with Lucha Underground second. Dang it Meltzer give me something to get mad at you over!

Match of the Year – Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi

You knew it would be something from New Japan, though to be fair I gave this an A. Bayley vs. Sasha from Brooklyn was third.

Rookie of the Year – Chad Gable

That’s fine.

Best Non-Wrestler – Dario Cueto

Second is Paul Heyman and third is Xavier Woods. As in the guy that has already wrestled multiple times this year alone and is a Tag Team Champion. I get what they’re going for here though.

Best Announcer – Mauro Ranallo

Again, no surprise here.

Worst Announcer – John Layfield

Second is Cole and third is Lawler. I’m fine with this…..again.

Best Major Wrestling Show – Wrestle Kingdom IX

I didn’t even have to look at the results. Wrestlemania was third, after UFC 189.

Worst Major Wrestling Show – TripleMania XXIII

This has been the running answer all year and I’m not surprised. Third though was TLC, which really took me by surprise. If nothing else the three way ladder match alone would have carried it higher than third worst of the year.

Best Wrestling Maneuver – Styles Clash

Second was the Rainmaker (IT’S A FREAKING CLOTHESLINE!) and third is the Meltzer Driver, which has to be a joke instead of a real pick. The Clash is good but move of the year? As in the move that broke Yoshi Tatsu’s neck? That’s the best there is? Really?

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE Using Reid Flair’s Death in An Angle

Yeah this isn’t surprising again. What is surprising is the Divas Revolution in second. Yeah it was stupid but disgusting?

Worst Match of the Year – Psycho Clowns vs. Villanos

Yep. Second is the Royal Rumble (which I rewatched a few days ago and yep) but third is Erick Rowan vs. Big Show in a stairs match…..from 2014. Come on now man that’s my thing.

Worst Feud of the Year – Team PCB vs. Team Bella vs. Team BAD

Yeah I think I can go with this. It’s not so much that it was bad but more that it kept going for months and never went anywhere.

Worst Promotion of the Year – TNA

Can we just rename this the TNA Award? You would think after a nine year run it might be time.

Best Booker – Paul Levesque/Ryan Ward

As in the NXT bookers. I’m so glad that that promotion is getting the credit it deserves this year.

Promoter of the Year – Dana White

The first wrestling promoter is Takaaki Kidani of New Japan.

Worst Gimmick – Stardust

Well yeah, though I’m not sure how to define his gimmick. I’d have gone with Mex-America, which came in second.

This is more proof that this is a really weak year for awards. Everything has been pretty easy and there really isn’t a lot that jumps off the page at me. It’s really just been one predictable category after another and that can make for a lame awards season. At least NXT got the respect it deserves here which had me a bit worried coming in.

Dave Meltzer’s WON Awards are out so it’s time to see how much he loves Japan this year. I’ll include my winners as well and my thoughts on his, though keep in mind I don’t watch puro and I’m only a casual MMA fan at best. Also before I start, I’m well aware that Meltzer’s readers vote on this, but if you believe the majority of them do anything but repeat what he says, you’re more delusional than I can help.

Wrestler of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi (John Cena/Daniel Bryan)

Everyone says it’s Bryan or Cena, Meltzer picks the top Japanese guy. Is anyone surprised by this?

Most Valuable MMA Fighter – Georges St. Pierre

I’ll take his word for it.

Most Outstanding Wrestler – Hiroshi Tanahashi

I’m still not sure how this is different from Wrestler of the Year

Best Box Office Draw – Georges St. Pierre

Next.

Feud of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (Rhodes Family vs. Authority)

I’ve heard good things about this feud but I saw their match from the January 4 show and wasn’t blown away.

Tag Team of the Year – Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns (Shield)

I lump tag teams and groups together so no arguments here.

Most Improved – Roman Reigns (Bo Dallas)

Reigns was a popular pick but he was more along the lines of “guy who gets more focus”. I get the pick though.

Best Interviews – Paul Heyman

Why don’t I do one of these? Heyman is fine.

Most Charismatic – Hiroshi Tanahashi

Just name the awards after him already.

Best Technical Wrestler – Daniel Bryan

Even though he mainly uses strikes now?

Best Brawler – Katsuyori Shibata

Yeah whatever.

Best Flying Wrestler – Kota Ibushi

I was impressed by what I saw of him so why not.

Most Underrated – Antonio Cesaro

I’m fine with that as he deserves a far bigger push.

Promotion of the Year – New Japan

I’m as shocked as you are.

Best Weekly TV Show – NXT

Amen.

Most Outstanding Fighter – Cain Velasquez

No argument there I suppose.

Match of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, April 7 (CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar)

Again, bow down to Japan.

Fight of the Year – Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez

I heard good things so sure.

Rookie of the Year – Yohei Komatsu (Big E. Langston)

I’d love to know how many voters have seen more than one match from most of these guys. It would be an interesting result.

Non-Wrestler of the Year – Paul Heyman (Paul Heyman)

Yeah.

TV Announcer of the Year – William Regal

Fine again.

Major Wrestling Show of the Year – New Japan G-1 Day 4

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Best Maneuver of the Year – Okada’s Rainmaker

It’s a clothesline. Seriously, it’s a clothesline.

Best Booker – Jedo/Gedo, New Japan

Next.

Promoter of the Year – Dana White, UFC

Be careful. New Japan might not want to spoon after.

Gimmick of the Year – Wyatt Family

For the sheep mask alone.

Best Book – Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screwjobs – Pat LaParade and Bertrand Herbert

Never heard of it but it sounds interesting.

Best DVD – Jim Crocket Promotions: The Good Old Days

Heard of it, looks interesting.

Most Overrated – Randy Orton

So not only does Japan win, but it’s time to rip America.

Worst TV Announcer – Taz

Ok I’ll give him that one.

Worst Major Show – Battleground (Battleground)

Two in a row.

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – Exploiting Paul Bearer’s Death

I can get why people wouldn’t like it.

Worst TV Show – Impact

I’d go with Smackdown due to it not needing to exist but Impact was awful.

Worst match of the Year – 10 Diva tag, November 24 (Same)

No argument there.

Worst Feud – Big Show vs. Authority

No arguments there unless you want to go with the Divas, which I think I would have.

Worst Promotion – TNA

Again no arguments.

Worst Gimmick – Aces and 8’s

They were a gimmick still?

Interestingly enough, no ROH wins at all. As usual, New Japan is the amazing company that about 18 people in America actually while thousands claim they do and Meltzer continues to ignore WWE, which I’m sure has nothing to do with them firing him back in 1987. I mean, clearly Savage vs. Steamboat was only 4.25 stars, right Dave?

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