Wrestling Observer 2013 Awards

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It is a fan vote by Wrestling Observer readers going back three decades.

I thought the TNA and New Japan results would promote discussion.

TNA winning worst promotion but best TV show is fairly funny. In reality WWE's many TV shows spilt the vote for WWE. Well that is what I am telling myself. :P

MMA being mixed in isn't my fault.

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI

2. C.M. Punk

3. Kazuchika Okada

Comment: Best Overall Wrestler - Wrestling to Promos to effect on Business

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE

1. ANDERSON SILVA

2. Jon Jones

3. Ronda Rousey

MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI

2. Kazuchika Okada

3. Daniel Bryan

Best in ring.

MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. ANDERSON SILVA

2. Jon Jones

3. Ronda Rousey

BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW

1. THE ROCK

2. John Cena

3. Brock Lesnar

FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA

2. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen

3. The Rock vs. John Cena

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & KAZARIAN

2. Kane & Daniel Bryan

3. Young Bucks

MOST IMPROVED

1. KAZUCHIKA OKADA

2. Michael Elgin

3. Rush

Top WWE: 4. Damien Sandow

Top TNA: 5. Bully Ray

BEST ON INTERVIEWS

1. C.M. PUNK

2. Chael Sonnen

3. The Rock

MOST CHARISMATIC

1. THE ROCK

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi

3. John Cena

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER

1. DANIEL BRYAN

2. Prince Devitt

3. Davey Richards

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)

1. KEVIN STEEN

2. Togi Makabe

3. Bully Ray

Top WWE: 4. Sheamus

BEST FLYING WRESTLER

1. KOTA IBUSHI

2. Ricochet

3. Pac

Top TNA: 11. AJ Styles

Top WWE: 12. Sin Cara

MOST OVERRATED

1. RYBACK

2. The Miz

3. Garett Bischoff

- Overrated means overpushed in reality

MOST UNDERRATED

1. TYSON KIDD

2. Dolph Ziggler

3. Daniel Bryan

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING

2. Ultimate Fighting Championships

3. World Wrestling Entertainment

6. Total Nonstop Action

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. TNA IMPACT

2. Ring of Honor

3. WWE NXT

4. WWE Monday Night Raw

TNA Impact previously won the past five worst weekly TV show awards.

PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. TANAHASHI VS. SUZUKI 10/8 TOKYO

2. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar 4/29 Chicago

3. Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin 3/31 Ft. Lauderdale

11. A.J. Styles & Kurt Angle vs. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian 6/10 Arlington, TX

MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. CHAN SUNG JUNG VS. DUSTIN POIRIER 5/15 FAIRFAX

2. Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar 2/26 Saitama

3. Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit 11/17 Montreal

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

1. DINASTIA

2. Mr. Touchdown

3. Eita Kobayashi

No WWE or TNA wrestlers listed.

BEST NON-WRESTLER

1. PAUL HEYMAN

2. Ricardo Rodriguez

3. Vickie Guerrero

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. JIM ROSS

2. Nigel McGuinness

3. William Regal

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. MICHAEL COLE

2. Taz

3. Booker T

BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. NEW JAPAN KINGS OF PRO WRESTLING 10/8 TOKYO

2. WWE Extreme Rules 4/29 Chicago

3. WWE WrestleMania 4/1 Miami

WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. UFC 149 7/21 CALGARY

2. Extreme Reunion 4/28 Philadelphia

3. WWE No Way Out 5/20 East Rutherford, NJ

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER

1. KAZUCHIKA OKADA RAINMAKER

2. Antonio Cesaro Neutralizer

3. Daniel Bryan Yes/No/LeBell lock

MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC

1. WWE’S PRESENTATION OF PAUL HEYMAN AND C.M. PUNK COMING IN DURING JERRY LAWLER’S RETURN, AIRING CLIPS OF HIM WHILE HE WAS DEAD AND BEING REVIVED, AND THE FAKE HEART ATTACK PROMO

2. Extreme Rising using Sabu’s overdose/passing out while advertising his return to the promotion

3. UFC’s handling of Jeremy Stephens’ arrest, trying to bail him out and still have him fight on the show while he was stuck in jail that afternoon

WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. WWE RAW

2. TNA Impact

3. Ultimate Fighter: Nelson vs. Carwin

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. JOHN CENA VS. JOHN LAURINAITIS 5/20 RALEIGH

2. Santino Marella vs. Ricardo Rodriguez 6/17 E Rutherford

3. Clay Guida vs. Gray Maynard 6/22 Atlantic City

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. JOHN CENA VS. KANE

2. TNA vs. Aces and 8s

3. John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis

NOTABLE PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2002 - HHH vs. Kane; 2003 - Shane McMahon vs. Kane; 2004 - Kane vs. Lita & Matt Hardy; 2007 - Kane vs. Big Daddy V; 2008 - Rey Mysterio vs. Kane; 2010 - Edge vs. Kane

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION

2. Ring of Honor

3. World Wrestling Entertainment

BEST BOOKER

1. GEDO & JADO (New Japan)

2. Joe Silva

3. Mike Quackenbush

4. Vince McMahon

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

1. DANA WHITE

2. Takaaki Kidani (New Japan)

3. Vince McMahon

BEST GIMMICK

1. JOSEPH PARK

2. Damien Sandow Savior of the Masses

3. Daniel Bryan Yes/No

WORST GIMMICK

1. ACES AND 8S

2. Tensai

3. Natalya farting

BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK

1. SHOOTERS BY JONATHAN SNOWDEN

2. Heroes and Icons by Oliver/Johnson/Mooneyham

3. From Prison to Promise by Booker T

BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD

1. C.M. PUNK BEST IN THE WORLD

2. Last of McGuinness

3. Such Great Heights: The Jon Fitch Story

Mr.Nice Guy

Is that Rush of CMLL fame? Been checking out CMLL the last few weeks and really like him. I reckon he has a WWE-worthy look.

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Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Is that Rush of CMLL fame? Been checking out CMLL the last few weeks and really like him. I reckon he has a WWE-worthy look.

Same person. He was a guffawing joke from his debut in 2009 to 2011. Yeah he has a great body and a presentable face.

starviewadams

Anyone read Booker T's book?any use?

GTR63

FINALLY Bad Influence get recognition, Team Hell No! not another skit ain't even close.
UFC 149 truly deserved worst show, dreadful and so bad even Dana White couldn't defend it.

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GTR63 wrote: »

FINALLY Bad Influence get recognition, Team Hell No! not another skit ain't even close.

Not made about either winning. To me the best tag team needs at least one strong match. Young Bucks were my #1.

The New Japan offical Twitter tweeted this pic of Tanahashi celebrating by eating a steak:

rovert

Sat down and read the actual issue earlier. I think Ryback winning Most Overrated (over pushed to me and you) is ridiculous especially given some of the other names on the list:

MOST OVERRATED

1. RYBACK

2. The Miz

3. Garett Bischoff

4. Randy Orton

5. Ken Anderson

6. Sheamus

7. Matt Morgan

8. Big Show`

9. Rob Van Dam

10. Brodus Clay

HONORABLE MENTION: Devon , Kevin Steen, C.M. Punk , John Cena , A.J.

Ryback did get over and his match with Punk at Hell in the Cell did strong business. I guess if you have muscles you aren't a good werker in some smarks eyes.

DM_7

Have to agree Rovert. Ryback is was pretty good all year. AJ Lee should probably have got the nod, on the basis she is not particulalry talented when compared to other divas but in a great spot all year and robbed all that was good about Maxine on NXT who ended up getting the pink slip.

?the wrestler of the year order was that the same one you had in our own vorting thread? Hard to argue with it.

i'm not sure D Bryan deserved best technical for the year he just had. Great to see Devitt up there but for what they did in the last year Ferg should be ahead of Bryan.

Mr.Nice Guy

Yeah I think maybe people forgot that Cena's injury woes played a big part in Ryback's elevation. Wasn't Ryback gearing up for a feud with Miz for the IC Title before that?

A Primal Nut

Yeah Ryback does his role well; he's not the most talented in the world but he's good at what he does. He overdoes his simplicity on the mic to give him an "Incredible Hulk" feel - not much talk, all action. I enjoy seeing him coming out on Raw because you know something is going to happen, rather than just talk a little bit then leave.

gnfnrhead

To be fair, Ryback is pretty crap considering how hard they pushed him.

rossie1977

gnfnrhead wrote: »

To be fair, Ryback is pretty crap considering how hard they pushed him.

define crap, the guy is never going to be the second coming of eddie guerrero, he got over, had decent matches (2 tlcs matches), made the company money

look how hard wwe pushed koslov and he didn't manage even 1 of the 3 things ryback did if you compare both mens first 6 months, look at how hard tna pushed crimson last year and the same thing

ryback winning is laughable

takamichinoku

Wouldn't part of the issue there be that at the point everyone was voting, Ryback was still in the main event position because of Cena's injury? Fresh on peoples minds and being pushed more than he should have been at the time coupled with a bit of bitterness over how his chant was getting over (at least, I thought the chant was silly and over, but also misleading in regards to how over Ryback was himself). Shouldn't be overrated though.

Devon, surely? Like, people were going on about how much Devon had quietly improved on the lower card since the Dudleys split, to the point where plenty were actually annoyed about TNA releasing him, but what on earth has he done since? Why on earth is he the top heel?

Don't get why Big Show was on that list at all considering it was coming off the back of a few great months as heel champ and those matches with Sheamus that were far better than they had any right to be.

DM_7

Can someone explain why he is deemed pushed more than he should have been?

One of the hardest things to do in Wrestling is to get over as a babyface. Over so kids and adults alike believe in the babyface. He managed to do it. People may look at his size and go he wouldn't be there if it wasn't for his size but I don't see what is wrong with using his attributes to his advantage.

Agree on Big Show comment, for a long time I really disliked the sight of the man but the last two years (excluding his Cena feud) I have really enjoyed his feuds. Arguably his feuds with Mark Henry (eventually including D Bryan), Sheamus and now Del Rio are the best WWE have put together in that time.

Reebrock

Ryback is believable, therefore he gets the nod from me.

GTR63

Its probably cause he's a Goldberg tribute act who said he was a seperior athlete to Goldberg.
No need to get your knickers in a twist about awards or polls no matter what the site or publication is.

DM_7

GTR63 wrote: »

Its probably cause he's a Goldberg tribute act who said he was a seperior athlete to Goldberg.
No need to get your knickers in a twist about awards or polls no matter what the site or publication is.

May as well close my account since discussion is frowned upon:P

Jaysus its only a few wrestling fans sharing opinions I don't think anyone around here got knicker twisted since 2009.

GTR63

DM-ICE wrote: »

May as well close my account since discussion is frowned upon:P

Jaysus its only a few wrestling fans sharing opinions I don't think anyone around here got knicker twisted since 2009.

The list is a bit dumb tbh I hardly remember 1 thing Mr.Anderson or Matt Morgan did in the last year yet they seems to be Overrated? By who fans nope,the office erm no.

DM_7

GTR63 wrote: »

The list is a bit dumb tbh I hardly remember 1 thing Mr.Anderson or Matt Morgan did in the last year yet they seems to be Overrated? By who fans nope,the office erm no.

Exactly, some awards make a lot of sense and others are WTF, so promotes discussion.

I would add Orton at 4 to the list of how is he there. Injured, suspended, not in the title picture, mainly put in a good match each week on Smackdown. Not really worthy of overrated tag.

Machismo Fan

Most of the awards are pretty spot on reflecting TNA making some strides last year, WWE running in place and New Japan being awesome.

Handsome Bob

I'm confused. How can TNA Impact get best weekly TV show, yet arguably it's headline feud over the past year (TNA -v- Aces and Eights) came 2nd in the worst feud category?

When they say best TV show, do they mean in terms of production or what?

Machismo Fan

S. De Sousa wrote: »

I'm confused. How can TNA Impact get best weekly TV show, yet arguably it's headline feud over the past year (TNA -v- Aces and Eights) came 2nd in the worst feud category?

When they say best TV show, do they mean in terms of production or what?

In general iMPACT! got a lot more right last year than previous years (particularly the quality of the wrestling on the show), Raw was never going to win once it went three hours and generally Smackdown is too uneventful to considered all that good (bar it's occasional very good match).

takamichinoku

DM-ICE wrote: »

Can someone explain why he is deemed pushed more than he should have been?

Well, by my reckoning, it was to do with how his push was unnaturally boosted up several levels when Cena got injured. It may have boosted the buyrate a little, but a lot of that was the novelty of something new(plus it was six weeks since the last one). The most likely outcome, and it still may happen, is that that sudden push there to fill in a gap could have just ruined something much better had he stayed the course of gradually moving up ranks.

Think he's benefited as a worker from the experience a lot though, his promos lately have been noticeably less awful and I think he's definitely carrying himself like a star a lot more now too, getting whatever that raw energy he has honed in on a little better.
I've no interest in seeing him become a top guy whatsoever myself, but I get it.

A Primal Nut

There are two ways of looking at how successful a wrestler he is - how popular he is generally, and how popular he is with the smarks. Generally, Ryback is very popular. Among some smarks he's not popular because he's seen as a boring big muscle guy. If he was half his size, they'd probably love him!

Lord TSC

For the record, I'd consider myself a smark but I mark for Ryback

That said, it could be because he's being booked alongside Punk and The Shield....

A Primal Nut

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

For the record, I'd consider myself a smark but I mark for Ryback

That said, it could be because he's being booked alongside Punk and The Shield....

Haha well I didn't mean all smarks. Just the ones who only seem to like technical submission wrestlers.

GTR63

S. De Sousa wrote: »

I'm confused. How can TNA Impact get best weekly TV show, yet arguably it's headline feud over the past year (TNA -v- Aces and Eights) came 2nd in the worst feud category?

When they say best TV show, do they mean in terms of production or what?

It had a lot going for it bar the tedious aces and 8s you had the great BFG series, Bad Influence, the knockouts and Joseph Park esq.

rovert

Speaking of smarks:

From Fin Martin's Powerslam magazine:

Powerslam Reader Awards:
Wrestler of the Year: CM Punk (43% of the vote)
Match of the Year: The Undertaker vs. Triple H (48%)
Feud of the Year: CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan (48%)
Babyface of the Year: Jeff hardy (34%)
Heel of the Year: CM Punk (33%)
Tag Team of the Year: Christopher Daniels and Kazarian (58%)
Wrestling Show of the Year: WWE Extreme Rules (35%) (Wrestlemania 28 came 2nd despite having 4 matches nominated for worst match of the year )
Character/Personality of the Year: Daniel Bryan (73%)
Worst Wrestler of the Year: The Great Khali 31% (Cena normally wins this award and lost by 1% this year)
Worst Match of the Year: John Cena vs John Laurinatis (40%)
Commentator of the Year: John Bradshaw Layfield (46%)
Wrestling Company of the Year: WWE (63%)

Angron

Cena not getting worst wrestler from Powerslam? What is the world coming to?!


I find their hatred of Cena pretty funny to be honest.

GTR63

Denny M wrote: »

Cena not getting worst wrestler from Powerslam? What is the world coming to?!


I find their hatred of Cena pretty funny to be honest.

It was a reader poll. I agreed with most winners but always scratch my head when people voted BFG ahead of Destination-X or Hardcore Justice, kinda shows a few didn't watch many tna ppv's.

JP Liz V1

How can anyone overrate Garett Bischoff he deserves no rating at all useless product of nepotism imo

Bounty Hunter

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

How can anyone overrate Garett Bischoff he deserves no rating at all useless product of nepotism imo

maybe overated by their promotions?

rovert

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

maybe overated by their promotions?

You are correct, BH.

I explained it in the OP. To me and you it is most over pushed.

JP Liz V1

rovert wrote: »

You are correct, BH.

I explained it in the OP. To me and you it is most over pushed.

Didnt see that