The Wrestling Observer Awards for 2014

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The awards are kind of quirky in terms of the terminology used - overrated is really most over pushed and MMA being mixed in for some awards (boo!). However it does provide a decent overview of the business/year based on the votes of fans.

The number in the bracket is the the number of #1 votes readers gave someone.

First the Category A awards:

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (323): 2,262
A.J. Styles (188): 1,739
Hiroshi Tanahashi (145): 1,563
Kazuchika Okada (92): 1,268
Daniel Bryan (55): 481
Rush (37): 423
Ricochet (8): 261
John Cena (21): 206
Seth Rollins (13): 199
Brock Lesnar (17): 180
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
A.J. STYLES (220): 1,819
Tomohiro Ishii (247): 1,671
Shinsuke Nakamura (190): 1,639
Kazuchika Okada (46): 697
Hiroshi Tanahashi (34): 604
Ricochet (54): 466
Sami Zayn (12): 289
Katsuyori Shibata (11): 182
Negro Casas (8): 179
Seth Rollins (4): 171

BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
RONDA ROUSEY (286): 1,825
John Cena (129): 910
Hiroshi Tanahashi (46): 838
Shinsuke Nakamura (63): 559
Brock Lesnar (53): 507
Daniel Bryan (13): 263
Chris Weidman (2): 261
Atlantis (13): 235
Anderson Silva (19): 166
Ultimo Guerrero : 145

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
YOUNG BUCKS (509): 3,374
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (159): 2,042
T-Hawk & Eita (158): 1,344
Usos (36): 731
Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura (56): 561
Alex Shelley & Kushida (8): 479
Goldust & Stardust (3): 101
Luke Harper & Erick Rowan (2): 99
Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards (14): 92
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (10): 92

MOST IMPROVED
RUSEV (181): 1,372
Charlotte (152): 1,281
Sasha Banks (2): 383
Erick Rowan (41): 313
Luke Harper (15): 241
Bobby Lashley (19): 205
Tomoaki Honma (19): 182
Cedric Alexander (22): 172
Ethan Carter III (19): 154
Tomohiro Ishii (18): 137

BEST ON INTERVIEWS
PAUL HEYMAN (411): 4,395
Conor McGregor (169): 1,675
Jay Briscoe (44): 582
Michael Bisping (20): 452
Stephanie McMahon (25): 417
Daniel Cormier (3): 387
Adam Cole (21): 277
Dean Ambrose (11): 193
Bray Wyatt (7): 139
Lana (7): 131

MOST CHARISMATIC
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (421): 2,527
Hiroshi Tanahashi (71): 1,015
Conor McGregor (136): 993
Daniel Bryan (73): 638
John Cena (37): 532
Sami Zayn (16): 437
Dean Ambrose (17): 391
Ronda Rousey (29): 363
Brock Lesnar (28): 255
Rush (19): 232

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
ZACK SABRE JR. (145): 1,221
Kyle O’Reilly (78): 841
A.J. Styles (58): 610
Hiroshi Tanahashi (61): 588
Daniel Bryan (62): 517
Shinsuke Nakamura (75): 506
Cesaro (34): 461
Kazuchika Okada (55): 460
Timothy Thatcher (64): 407
Minoru Suzuki (46): 401

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)
TOMOHIRO ISHII (424): 2,785
Katsuyori Shibata (181): 1,834
Dean Ambrose (42): 781
Kevin Steen (30): 532
Jay Briscoe (48): 367
Togi Makabe (28): 316
Brock Lesnar (32): 278
Luke Harper (8): 194
Hirooki Goto (1): 154
Minoru Suzuki (2): 128

BEST FLYING WRESTLER
RICOCHET (543): 3,365
Kota Ibushi (142): 1,907
Flamita (104): 1,182
Adrian Neville (42): 909
ACH (18): 371
Fenix (9): 309
Aero Star (2): 287
Titan (35): 273
Sami Zayn (19): 270
Mascara Dorada (17): 199

MOST OVERRATED
KANE (143): 1,117
Roman Reigns (145): 1,113
Randy Orton (5): 397
Big Show (23): 357
Ryback (18): 331
Michael Elgin(49): 326
Bray Wyatt (26): 225
Yujiro Takahashi (27): 218
John Cena (25): 197
Batista (15): 166

MOST UNDERRATED
CESARO (377): 2,275
Tomoaki Honma (99): 1,189
Tyson Kidd (29): 585
Dolph Ziggler (35): 422
Sami Zayn (16): 252
Dean Ambrose (18): 175
Yuji Nagata (1): 102
Chris Hero (8): 70
Katsuyori Shibata (10): 63
Austin Aries (1): 58

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (779): 4,064
Ring of Honor (16): 1,038
Dragon Gate (36): 884
Ultimate Fighting Championships (23): 835
CMLL (8): 504
World Wrestling Entertainment (4): 392
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (8): 348
AAA (3): 279
Bellator MMA (3): 238
DDT (1): 91

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
WWE NXT (416): 2,961
Ring of Honor (175): 1,744
Lucha Underground (106): 1,369
Dragon Gate Infinity (100): 838
Ultimate Fighter Season 20 (76): 796
WWE Raw (2): 234
New Japan World Pro Wrestling (28): 226
TNA Impact (2): 110
WWE Smackdown (9): 88
WWE Main Event (2): 84

PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
A.J. STYLES VS. MINORU SUZUKI 8/1 TOKYO (298): 1,855
Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 8/10 Tokorozawa (143): 1,310
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 9/21 Kobe (74): 524
Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero 9/19 Mexico City (49): 522
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto 11/8 Osaka (47): 471
The Shield vs. The Wyatts 2/23 Minneapolis (37): 417
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 8/3 Osaka (10): 330
Daniel Bryan vs. HHH 4/6 New Orleans (25): 287
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito 2/11 Osaka (20): 226
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 7/26 Akita (19): 181

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
DRAGON LEE (190): 1,476
Moose (142): 1,092
Yuga Hayashi (145): 982
Alexa Bliss (55): 927
Cachorro (81): 910
Australian Suicide (56): 550
Ashley Remington (47): 396
Black Panther (3): 378
Chris Melendez (15): 152
Naoya Nomura (2): 72

BEST NON-WRESTLER
PAUL HEYMAN (377): 2,336
Stephanie McMahon (129): 1,103
Lana (28): 987
Bruce Tharpe (41): 524
Dario Cueto (21): 334
Konnan (9): 239
Gedo (2): 163
William Regal (1): 108
Rockstar Spud (3): 105
Maria Kanellis (2): 102

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
WILLIAM REGAL (192): 1,273
Shimpei Nogami (170): 1,189
Joe Rogan (109): 1,053
Steve Corino (69): 745
Brian Stann (127): 689
Kevin Kelly (45): 608
Mike Tenay (28): 316
Matt Striker (8): 307
Jimmy Smith (34): 261
Mike Goldberg (7): 190

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
JOHN LAYFIELD (165): 1,378
Jerry Lawler (125): 1,287
Michael Cole (146): 1,252
Taz (36): 655
Alex Riley (49): 399
Vampiro (9): 288
Matt Striker (33): 264
Mike Tenay (4): 93
Tom Phillips (8): 78
Byron Saxton (4): 61

BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
NEW JAPAN G-1 8/1 TOKYO (313): 2,227
New Japan G-1 8/3 Osaka (166): 1,297
WWE WrestleMania 4/6 New Orleans (115): 920
CMLL Anniversary show 9/19 Mexico City (49): 502
New Japan G-1 7/26 Akita (8): 406
New Japan G-1 finals 8/10 Tokorozawa (35): 402
Dragon Gate Dead or Alive 5/5 Nagoya (23): 388
UFC 168 12/28/13 Las Vegas (60): 347
ROH 5/10 Toronto (16): 190
WWE SummerSlam 8/17 Los Angeles (8): 166

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Category B Awards

WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
WWE BATTLEGROUND 7/20 TAMPA : 275
TNA Lockdown 3/9 Miami: 69
WWE Royal Rumble 1/26 Pittsburgh: 42
WWE Survivor Series 11/23 St. Louis: 40
TNA Sacrifice 4/27 Orlando: 33
WWE TLC 12/15/13 Houston: 26
WWE Hell in a Cell 10/26 Dallas: 23
UFC 177 8/30 Sacramento: 17
WWE Night of Champions 9/21 Nashville: 12
UFC 4/16 Quebec City: 9

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
YOUNG BUCKS MELTZER DRIVER: 323
Kazuchika Okada Rainmaker: 153
Adrian Neville Red Arrow: 54
Young Bucks More Bang for Your Buck: 46
Sami Zayn tope into DDT: 19
Cavernario Barbaro splash off top to floor: 18
Seth Rollins curb stomp: 18
Fish & O’Reilly Chasing the Dagon: 13

MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
WWE INSULTING FANS WHO PURCHASED PPVS: 65
Dixie Carter tweeting a Storm is coming to Japan during a typhoon: 62
TNA building TV for months around Dixie Carter table spot: 49
WWE having Lana playoff off plane going down in The Ukraine and then acting like they didn’t: 42
WWE firing C.M. Punk on his wedding day: 33
UFC hiring Thiago Silva and then having to fire him: 32
WWE false advertising Rollins vs. Ambrose on PPV: 31
CZW saying if Havok loses she has to give a blowjob to DJ Hyde: 28
WWE botched U.K. network launch: 26
WWE using Warrior’s last Raw speech to promote network: 22

WORST TELEVISION SHOW
WWE RAW: 283
TNA Impact: 168
WWE Smackdown: 77
Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: 8

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
JOHN CENA VS. BRAY WYATT 5/4 EXTREME RULES EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ: 122
Sakuraba & Nagata vs. Gracies 1/4 Tokyo: 89
Naomi vs. Cameron 9/15 Lafayette: 39
Divas Survivor Series match 11/23 St. Louis: 34
Eva Marie vs. Bayley 7/17 Winter Park, FL: 25
Samuel Shaw vs. Ken Anderson 4/27 Orlando: 22
A.J. Lee vs. Cameron 2/23 Minneapolis: 20
Aksana vs. Naomi 2/3 Omaha: 19
A.J. Lee vs. Nikki Bella 11/23 St. Louis: 16
Layla vs. Summer Rae 6/29 Boston: 14

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
NIKKI BELLA VS. BRIE BELLA: 299
Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano: 50
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt: 42
Samuel Shaw vs. Ken Anderson: 38
Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: 37
Bully Ray vs. Dixie Carter: 26
Fandango vs. Summer Rae & Layla: 13
Adam Rose vs. The Bunny: 13
Mark Henry vs. Big Show: 12
Samuel Shaw vs. Gunner: 12

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION: 438
World Wrestling Entertainment: 125
3 CHIKARA Pro: 17
BEST BOOKER
GEDO & JADO (NJPW): 611
Genki Horiguchi (Dragon Gate): 55
Paul Levesque/Ryan Ward (NXT): 54
Joe Silva (UFC): 53
Hunter Johnston (ROH): 51

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
TAKAAKI KIDANI (NJPW): 602
Dana White (UFC): 190
Scott Coker (Bellator): 47
Vince McMahon (WWE): 21
Joe Koff (ROH): 12
Sanshiro Takagi (DDT): 11

BEST GIMMICK
RUSEV & LANA: 131
The Bullet Club: 88
Yosuke Santa Maria: 78
Damien Mizdow: 72
Shinsuke Nakamura: 68
Dean Ambrose: 37
Tyson Kidd: 33
Rockstar Spud: 14
Brock Lesnar: 13

WORST GIMMICK
ADAM ROSE: 140
Samuel Shaw: 82
The Bunny: 58
Corporate Kane: 49
Bray Wyatt: 40
The Menagerie: 36
The Authority: 33
Dixie Carter as heel owner: 25
C.J. Parker: 20
New Day: 17

thebostoncrab

Wow, I know he was gone for most of the year, but not seeing Bryan win best technical wrestler for the first time in years is a strange sight!

BohsJohnny

thebostoncrab wrote: »

Wow, I know he was gone for most of the year, but not seeing Bryan win best technical wrestler for the first time in years is a strange sight!

Hasn't deserved it since at least 2010 I love the guy but he's been winning only on reputation since at least then,the guy stopped doing technical wrestling when he started with WWE just watch any of his matches now he's much more of a strike based wrestler.

Delighted for Zack I gave Timothy Thatcher my No1 vote but Zack got my second place great exposure for him hope more people check him out he's great.

jaykhunter

Thoughts on the awards:

• Really weird to see the 6th best promotion of the year (WWE) put on the best weekly TV show (NXT)
• Surely "box office draw" isn't up for debate, it's hard numbers based on position on the card?
• Congrats to TNA not winning worst major wrestling show.
• Hilarious that Meltzer Driver won Meltzer's award.
• "MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC" is a great award, makes sure this stuff isn't forgotten!
• RAW might be the worst TV show but it's also the most watched TV show (at least stuff happens on RAW, as opposed to Smackdown) so RAW's more prominent.
• C'mon, Cena/Wyatt was worse than Naomi Cameron? Maybe Diva's awful wrestling is a given. Belly on the mat? COUNT IT REF!
• Rusev & Lana winning best gimmick proves a hokey stereotype can still be very effective.
• Surely the bunny/Crazy Steve is far more annoying than Rose! Poor guy.

Stereomaniac

What does Leggo think of A.J Styles' high placing?

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Zack Sabre Jr. is the biggest "win" for me. BohJohnny said the main things about Zack. ZSJ reminds me of Prince Devitt in a million different ways. Zack had the same trainer as Becky Lynch and Prince Devitt by the name of Andre Baker. Zack was a young teen at the Wrestling School when Devitt was there. Zack grew up idolising Devitt kind of a big brother, little brother thing. The past few years he is in the same spot as Devitt was a few years ago. Fairly well known in Japan but pretty unknown to US fans although that is changing. I think the difference maker was Zack's debut the high profile PWG Battle of Los Angeles tournament where he legitimately stole the weekend. Also when Zack is home from Japan he works on UK indies most of which have a lot of buzz. One of the promotions Progress Wrestling put out a full show for free. Has nearly 31,000 viewers. Zack's match on the show is his first match with Devitt that made film:

Check out the 1:33:30

Glad New Japan did such a strong showing in the results. They have kind of broken away perception wise from voting for it is an act of snobbery/"oh people are just being different". Fewer and fewer are clinging on to the idea that WWE it is the singular promotion/vision. There used to be types of voter those who only watch WWE and those who watch most of everything. A bridge has seem to be build. I think it is a trend that will continue if WWE keeps driving people away, New Japan presents a strong product and if things like Lucha Underground continue.

BohsJohnny

jaykhunter wrote: »

• C'mon, Cena/Wyatt was worse than Naomi Cameron? Maybe Diva's awful wrestling is a given. Belly on the mat? COUNT IT REF!

Bray/Cena got my vote to me it sumed up everything wrong with WWE cage matches with Cena demanding the match only to then spent the whole thing trying to run away from him and you can throw a god awful finish in there too.

Moneymaker

Mizdow should have won best gimmick.

ShagNastii

Quite funny to see McGregor nearly snagging a few awards.

Great showing by ROH. I haven't seen it in an absolute age. May revisit it if they are producing such good stuff.

gerrybbadd

Some nice wins for Shinsuke Nakamura, and NJPW in general.

Motion118

Would have gone with Okada or Ishii for Most Outstanding Wrestler, but I'm fine with Styles getting it. It's been a good few years since he was that good.

I also would have gone with Rainmaker for Best Finisher and Okada/Nakamura for Best Match... I'm a bit of an Okada fan.

Machismo Fan

I'm a BIG AJ fan but poor Ishii was robbed for Most Outstanding Wrestler.

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More on Zack Sabre Jr. Meltzer chided himself over not writing more about him he wrote **** all:

https://twitter.com/mookieghana/status/558317036900974592

PWG, EVOLVE and NOAH in Japan and UK indies are all Dave's blind spots. Although he did cover NOAH at one time but they fell from a major, major promotion to a dying a slow death indie with attendances that hurt your heart.

Was announced today that Sabre vs Devitt won Fighting Spirit Magazine's UK Pro Wrestling Match of the Year. So Zack's profile is on the rise.

Griever931

What was it that WWE did that insulted their fans who buy ppvs?

Machismo Fan

Griever931 wrote: »

What was it that WWE did that insulted their fans who buy ppvs?

Essentially mocked them for being stupid because they paid full price for the PPV (~$55) instead of getting the network.

CSF

Lads I was telling you all this about Bray Wyatt yonks ago ;-)