Wrestling Observer Awards 2016
By Scott Keith on March 2, 2017
(Pasted from CRZ’s board: http://the-w.com/threadx.php/id=52119)
My thoughts to follow after the break.
FIRST PLACE VOTES IN PARENTHESIS
LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD
(WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
1. A.J. STYLES (462) 2.920
2. Kazuchika Okada (285) 2,637
3. Tetsuya Naito (190) 2,610
(No argument here. AJ probably deserves to go into the WON Hall of Fame this year as well.)
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE
1. CONOR MCGREGOR (904) 4,878
2. Nate Diaz (1) 1,879
3. Michael Bisping (2) 648
(Saved the company’s PPV business last year and allowed them to sell for $4 billion. That’s pretty damn valuable)
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1. A.J. STYLES (341) 2,436
2. Kenny Omega (249) 2,352
3. Kazuchika Okada (172) 1,735
(No argument here again.)
MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
1. CONOR MCGREGOR (396) 2,574
2. Stipe Miocic (158) 1,322
3. Michael Bisping (101) 1,017
(No Mickey Gall?)
BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1. CONOR MCGREGOR (1,005) 5,206
2. Brock Lesnar (9) 1,302
3. Nate Diaz (1) 1,006
(No question. Whatever he was doing, I was watching it.)
FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. CONOR MCGREGOR VS. NATE DIAZ (677) 3,582
2. John Cena vs. A.J. Styles (38) 940
3. Los Ingobernables en Japon vs. Chaos (47) 848
(I know everyone is like “wah wah wah MMA” but those matches outdrew everything WWE did on PPV all year, COMBINED. They threw a fucking water bottle and did 1.6 million buys.)
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1. YOUNG BUCKS (599) 3,801
2. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder (323) 2,456
3. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano (21) 1,059
(Rather telling that New Day set the all-time record and didn’t even place in the top three. They’re pretty irrelevant already, only a few weeks after losing the belts.)
MOST IMPROVED
1. MATT RIDDLE (190) 1,026
2. The Miz (127) 1,020
3. Juice Robinson (83) 991
(Haven’t seen Riddle yet, but everyone gushes over him. Too bad he couldn’t have gotten into it at a younger age.)
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1. CONOR MCGREGOR (627) 3,468
2. The Miz (106) 924
3. Chris Jericho (32) 909
(Again, no question. Conor puts every wrestler in the business to shame and managed to troll the supposed carnies on Twitter earlier this year. This man would have FLOURISHED during the territorial days.)
MOST CHARISMATIC
1. CONOR MCGREGOR (381) 2,715
2. Shinsuke Nakamura (270) 2,116
3. Tetsuya Naito (121) 1,227
(Again, no question.)
BRYAN DANIELSON AWARD
(BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER)
1. ZACK SABRE JR. (453) 3,273
2. Kyle O’Reilly (282) 2,568
3. Kushida (67) 594
4. Jack Gallagher (25) 422
BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD
(BEST BRAWLER)
1. TOMOHIRO ISHII (410) 3,044
2. Katsuyori Shibata (337) 2,873
3. Chris Hero (186) 1,545
4. Kevin Owens (42) 646
(Ishii is great but I worry about his health long-term.)
BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1. WILL OSPREAY (741) 4,467
2. Ricochet (199) 3,276
3, Volador Jr.(70) 870
(No argument there.)
MOST OVERRATED
1. ROMAN REIGNS (242) 1,516
2. Braun Strowman (72) 719
3. Baron Corbin (57) 564
(Beating Undertaker isn’t gonna help poor Roman’s case any next year.)
MOST UNDERRATED
1. CESARO (217) 1,571
2. Neville (124) 1,106
3. Sami Zayn (108) 865
(Might as well just call this one the Cesaro Award at this point.)
PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (618) 4,215
2. Ultimate Fighting Championship (346) 2,878
3. World Wrestling Entertainment (69) 988
(Yup. Consistently great month after month.)
BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
1. NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING (198) 2,070
2. WWE Smackdown Live (200) 1,626
3. WWE Talking Smack (165) 1,191
(I don’t get the channel, but Smackdown is a show that I would probably watch if I did.)
PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 1/4 TOKYO (363)
2,568
2. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito 8/13 Tokyo (286) 2,451
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/6 Osaka (74) 854
4. A.J. Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 1/4 Tokyo (82) 799
5. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn 4/1 Dallas (55) 721
(Personally I would have voted for DIY v.Revival, but obviously this is more of a NJ fanbase.)
MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. ROBBIE LAWLER VS. CARLOS CONDIT 1/02 LAS VEGAS (361)
2,529
2. Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 8/20 Las Vegas (331) 2,468
3. Dong Hyun Kim vs. Polo Reyes 6/4 Los Angeles (2) 629
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. MATT RIDDLE (924) 4,773
2. Lio Rush (47) 2,142
3. Fred Yehi (9) 919
BEST NON-WRESTLER
1. DARIO CUETO (231) 1,656
2. Daniel Bryan (202) 1,561
3. Paul Heyman (124) 1,107
(Dario is of course amazing in his role, although less so in season three.)
BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. MAURO RANALLO (279) 2,199
2. Corey Graves (172) 1,910
3. Shimpei Nogami (117) 888
(Mauro is great and all, but I think Corey deserved the win for elevating his game so much.)
WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. DAVID OTUNGA (260) 2,018
2. Matt Striker (119) 1,651
3. Byron Saxton (103) 1,138
(I feel like Otunga and Saxton are so bad that they actually make Striker seem tolerable by comparison. I’d have gone with the clean sweep of Otunga, Saxton and JBL at this point.)
BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM 9 1/4 TOKYO (709) 4,001
2. PWG Battle of Los Angeles 9/3 Reseda (125) 1,409
3. WWE NXT Takeover Dallas 4/1 Dallas (64) 907
(It was great, no doubt.)
WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. WRESTLEMANIA 32 4/3 DALLAS 274
2. TNA Bound for Glory 10/2 Orlando 92
3. Bellator: Gracie vs. Shamrock 2/19 Houston 69
(Some of the Smackdown PPV shows have been weaker in a sense, but Wrestlemania was grinding down my will to live by the end. And then ROCK CAME OUT and somehow took down another notch and I was like “Holy fuck, my laptop battery is literally going to die before this show ends” and then Roman Reigns was still to come. That was one of the worst booked shows I’ve ever seen.)
BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1. KENNY OMEGA ONE WINGED ANGEL 189
2. Kazuchika Okada rainmaker 123
3. Young Bucks Meltzer driver 95
(I dunno, AJ Styles still gets MONSTER reactions for the Styles Clash, even though he never pins anyone with it.)
MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1. BELLATOR KIMBO VS. DADA 500 FIGHT 198
2. WWE Brock Lesnar doing hardway to Randy Orton 176
3. Aldo Ross (Adam Rose) mug shot T-shirt 46
(Not familiar with the Rose t-shirt, but I would have voted for Randy Orton getting concussed in a heartbeat.)
WORST TELEVISION SHOW
1. WWE RAW 308
2. TNA Impact 165
3. Lucha Underground 107
(That’s sad for Lucha Underground.)
WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
1. SHELLY MARTINEZ VS. REBEL 3/17 ORLANDO 436
2. Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose 5/22 Newark, NJ 87
3. Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000 2/19 Houston 71
(MY VAG! And I’m kind of surprised Jericho v. Ambrose finished THAT high. It was a disaster but I didn’t think it was a memorable one.)
WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. TITUS O’NEIL VS. DARREN YOUNG 322
2. Yoshitatsu vs. Bone Soldier 70
3. Roman Reigns vs. HHH 48
(I paid no attention to that feud.)
WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. TNA IMPACT WRESTLING 412
2. AAA 181
3. WWE 68
(Yup.)
BEST BOOKER
1. GEDO 851
2. Joe Silva 93
3. Ryan Ward 63 (NXT/Smackdown)
(What, no HHH this year?)
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1. DANA WHITE 610
2. Takaaki Kidani 244
3. Paul Levesque 66
(Oh, he’s a promoter now, never mind.)
BEST GIMMICK
1. BROKEN MATT HARDY 483
2. Los Ingobernables en Japon 226
3, Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens 32
(I know lots of people hate it, but I really think Matt could make some serious merch money with one last run in WWE with that gimmick and I hope he can make it happen.)
WORST GIMMICK
1. BONE SOLDIER 105
2. The Cabinet 86
3. Make Darren Young Great Again 77
(These are all awful, indeed.)
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