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TopicAll Purpose Wrestling Awards Show - PRESENTING THE BEST AND WORST
NBIceman
01/17/20 8:13:06 PM
#125:


Guess I'll post my ballot since I do every year...

Wrestler
5 Will Ospreay
3 Kento Miyahara
1 Shingo Takagi

Nothing can be said about Ospreay that hasn't already. Shingo had a very similar year but wasn't quite as consistently great. Miyahara was right behind them as a worker and carried AJPW on his back for another year, so he was an easy pick too.

Match
5 Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay @ G1 Climax Night 7
3 Kenny Omega vs Hiroshi Tanahashi @ Wrestle Kingdom 13
1 Shingo Takagi vs Will Ospreay @ Best of the Super Juniors Finals

Picking three was easy. Ordering them was tough, especially 1 vs 2. Ultimately, I think the WK match may have been "better," but when I really think about it, I remember Okada/Ospreay better and will remember it for longer. That was quite simply the two best wrestlers in the world putting on a masterpiece of a match.

Event
5 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13
3 AEW Double or Nothing
1 Dragon Gate Kobe World

Never bet against WK. I had a tough time ranking DoN because of my displeasure with how AEW's proceeded since, but ultimately, looking at them side by side, WK was just a better show anyway. Kobe World didn't quite hit the highs of either, but it did see the crowning of Dragon Gate's heir apparent and there were very few weak points on the whole card. As I sort of mentioned, I have a hard time voting for tournaments and such in this category because they just feel so different.

Promotion
5 New Japan Pro Wrestling
3 Dragon Gate
1 All Elite Wrestling

In retrospect, STARDOM should've been my third place.

Show
5 ABSTAIN

I don't like any of the weekly shows in the wrestling world.

Woman
5 Maya Yukihi
3 Arisa Hoshiki
1 Jungle Kyona

I agonized over this for way too long considering I knew very well none of them were getting support from elsewhere. Kyona is probably the one who had the actual "best" year - she's the Ishii of the joshi world in that she's consistently great and ultra-reliable but never pushed. Hoshiki's Wonder of Stardom title reign, meanwhile, may have arguably been the best individual title reign in the world in 2019. Plus, she has my favorite move in wrestling right now: https://i.imgur.com/ZYE3lMO.mp4

Ultimately gave the edge to Yukihi for her role as the newly anointed ace of Ice Ribbon (held all three titles in the promotion for a little while) while still delivering in-ring. She also did this: https://gfycat.com/loneglisteningborzoi-maya-yukihi-ice-ribbon-giulia which was enough to make Giulia say "the hell with this" and jump to STARDOM later in the year.

Tag Team
5 Aussie Open
3 Birds of Prey
1 The Rascalz

Not a lot of top-end tag team stuff this year. Ended up just going with the teams I thought were most consistent, but I don't feel great about any of it.

Non Wrestler
5 Excalibur
3 Shinji Yoshino
1 Red Shoes

Always a tough category for me because my favorite promotions don't use traditional non-wrestler roles much. Think these three are plenty deserving when I think about how they enhance my viewing, though.

Personality
5 David Starr
3 Jay White
1 El Phantasmo

I find Starr very annoying on social media but it's a great gimmick. Jay White plays his role, however frustrating it is sometimes, to perfection. ELP is a natural in his new gimmick and it's made him a legitimate star in NJPW.

New Character
5 Jon Moxley
3 Bullet Club El Phantasmo
1 Shooter Umino

Mox is obvious. Ditto ELP for how it catapulted him from a boring midcarder in RevPro to a deservedly pushed commodity in New Japan. Didn't care at all about any other new characters last year so I went with one that just amused me somewhat for third place.

Most Improved
5 Ben-K
3 Lance Archer
1 El Phantasmo

ELP for reasons I stated previously. Archer probably deserves the #1 but I always felt he was underrated to begin with, so my winner was the guy who finally managed to channel his overwhelming charisma into great work and claim his rightful place as the next big Dragon Gate star.

Best Theme Song
5 Will Ospreay - Elevated
3 SHO - 100% Voltage
1 Chris Jericho - Judas

I never know where to go with this category. If it was just the wrestling theme I heard the most, Gimme Back My Bullets would win my vote every year despite not even being in use for many years. Ultimately I just picked the one that got me most hyped for matches, my favorite new theme, and one that I felt best "defined" the year in whatever abstract way I could figure and ordered them by how much I like them.

Worst Match
5 ABSTAIN

Worst Angle
5 ABSTAIN

I have a pretty strict rule where I don't intentionally consume bad media. I don't even have enough time for all the good media I want to consume. That said, I obviously saw plenty of bad stuff this year, but I knew all the WORST stuff came from promotions I don't watch and thus I decided to let everyone else take care of that.

Worst Wrestler
5 Brandi Rhodes
3 Bad Luck Fale
1 Leva Bates

These three deserved recognition, though.

Least Improved
5 Seth Rollins
3 SANADA
1 Baron Corbin

Despite not watching WWE, the fact that we have actual objective attendance/ratings/etc. data (not to mention social media) allows me to vote for the WWE guys with confidence. SANADA is a mainstay on my ballot for this category and will remain so for as long as he's treated as a star.

Most Embarassing Fiasco
5 WWE plane stuck in Saudi Arabia under strange circumstances
3 Jim Cornette and the NWA commentary disaster
1 Blackcraft Wrestling: No Apologies

I imagine the first two don't need explanation, but for those unfamiliar with Blackcraft, I highly recommend reading this blow-by-blow account of what should go down in history as a legendarily bad show, featuring crucifixions, murders, and the promotion being kicked out of the building before the show even ends: https://www.bodyslam.net/2019/04/07/blackcraft-wrestling-no-apologies/

Feud
5 David Starr vs Jordan Devlin
3 Ben-K vs R.E.D.
1 Young Bucks vs
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