2020 Awards

LineOfBeauty

I don't know if the Board ever does this but everywhere else under the sun does so hey, why not give it a go! I'm willing to tempt fate and say we're reasonably safe for people to give their picks before TLC but if you want to wait until after then that's fine too. I've some spare time and I'm a lunatic so if everybody nominates each category come early January I'll add it all up and we'll get a definitive Boards 2020 awards thing going.

So I'll ask for 5 nominations for each category. Your 1st pick is worth 10 points, 2nd pick 8 points, 3rd pick 6 points, 4th pick 4 points and 5th pick 2 points. So I'm looking for the following categories:

Overall Wrestler of the Year:
This category is based on a combination of, in equal measure, in ring output, drawing success, kayfabe success and importance to company (or companies)

Match of the Year:
Self explanatory, what are your 5 highest rated matches of the year.

Show of the Year:
What were the 5 best shows you watched this year, a combination of quality wrestling, big angles and personal enjoyment watching a show.

Worst match of the year
The possibilities for this category in this year are endless

Worst wrestler of the year
Again, you've your pick of the bunch here

Most improved wrestler
Not underrated but most improved, a wrestler who perhaps you previously thought trash or average who you now think is good, maybe even great.

Promotion of the Year
Best wrestling company this year

JP Liz V1

Our own PW Slammys

LineOfBeauty

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Our own PW Slammys

Haha yes! Let's see how it goes! I've more or less got mine, just wanna think it over a bit and post it tomorrow.

JP Liz V1

Do we pm our choices and post here?

LineOfBeauty

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Do we pm our choices and post here?

Nah post them here! If you wanna write a bit about your choices work away too!

CastorTroy

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Haha yes! Let's see how it goes! I've more or less got mine, just wanna think it over a bit and post it tomorrow.

I'm gonna take a guess and say WWE doesn't get mentioned much in your bests.

Will have a think and then likely forget like with my 2021 predictions

JP Liz V1

Overall Wrestler of the Year

1. Jey Uso
2. Drew McIntyre
3. Roman Reigns
4. Adam Cole
5. R Truth

Overall Wrestler of the Year
Jacob Fatu

Match of the Year
WALTER vs. Dragunov

Worst Match of the Year
AEW Stadium Stampede

Worst Wrestler of the Year
Orange Cassidy

Most Improved
Jey Uso

Promotion of the Year
MLW

LineOfBeauty

CastorTroy wrote: »

I'm gonna take a guess and say WWE doesn't get mentioned much in your bests.

Will have a think and then likely forget like with my 2021 predictions

There won't! I've been watching live since 1999, and I've seen most of the 90s stuff, and I can safely say this has been their worst year ever in terms of churning out a decent product. No exaggeration, it's been every bit as bad as WCW 2000.

RollieFingers

Wrestler of the Year

1 - Kenny Omega
2 - Utami Hayashisita
3 - Kota Ibushi
4 - Hangman
5 - GO Shiozaki

Match of the Year

1 - Hangman & Omega vs The Young Bucks - AEW Revolution
2 - GO Shiozaki vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 20th Anniversary Show
3 - El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi - Best of the Super Juniors Final
4 - Hangman vs Kenny Omega - Full Gear
5 - Mayu Iwatani vs Takumi Iroha -
STARDOM Tag League

Worst Match of the Year

1- Bray Wyatt vs Goldberg - Super Showdown
2 - Bray Wyatt vs Strowman - Extreme Rules
3 - Bray Wyatt vs Strowman - MITB
4- Edge vs Orton - Wrestlemania

Worst Wrestler

1 - Nia Jax
2 - Bray Wyatt
3 - 5 - Any or all of Retribution

Most Improved

1 - SB Kento
2 - Giulia
3 - El Desperado
4 - Kaito Ishida
5 - John Silver

Did those off the top of my head on way into work so probably missed loads. I know there's no category but promotion of the year for me is, without any doubt, Dragon Gate.

LineOfBeauty

RollieFingers wrote: »

Wrestler of the Year

1 - Kenny Omega
2 - Utami Hayashisita
3 - Kota Ibushi
4 - Hangman
5 - GO Shiozaki

Match of the Year

1 - Hangman & Omega vs The Young Bucks - AEW Revolution
2 - GO Shiozaki vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 20th Anniversary Show
3 - El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi - Best of the Super Juniors Final
4 - Hangman vs Kenny Omega - Full Gear
5 - Mayu Iwatani vs Takumi Iroha -
STARDOM Tag League

Worst Match of the Year

1- Bray Wyatt vs Goldberg - Super Showdown
2 - Bray Wyatt vs Strowman - Extreme Rules
3 - Bray Wyatt vs Strowman - MITB
4- Edge vs Orton - Wrestlemania

Worst Wrestler

1 - Nia Jax
2 - Bray Wyatt
3 - 5 - Any or all of Retribution

Most Improved

1 - SB Kento
2 - Giulia
3 - El Desperado
4 - Kaito Ishida
5 - John Silver

Did those off the top of my head on way into work so probably missed loads. I know there's no category but promotion of the year for me is, without any doubt, Dragon Gate.

Hahaha I forgot promotion of the year! I'll throw in an edit now.

Omackeral

Overall Wrestler of the Year
1 Kenny Omega
2 Jon Moxley
3 Hangman Adam Page
4 Drew McIntyre
5 Ricky Starks

Match of the Year
1 Hangman & Omega vs The Young Bucks (AEW Revolution)
2 Rey Fenix vs Penta El Zero M (AEW Dynamite)
3 WALTER vs Ilya Dragunov (NXT UK)
4 FTR vs The Young Bucks (AEW Full Gear)
5 Undertaker vs AJ Styles (WWE Wrestlemania)

Show of the Year
1 AEW Full Gear
2 NXT Takeover Portland
3 NXT UK Takeover Blackpool II
4 WWE Wrestlemania
5 AEW Revolution

Worst Match of the Year
1 The Fiend Bray Wyatt vs Goldberg (WWE Super Showdown)

Worst Wrestler of the Year
1 Otis
2 Braun Strowman
3 Goldberg

Most Improved Wrestler
1 Evil Uno
2 The Butcher

Promotion of the Year
1 All Elite Wrestling
2 NXT UK
3 NXT

JP Liz V1

Can we nominate most overrated and underrated too?

LineOfBeauty

OK so I'm still working on this. It's turned out longer than I expected. So here's what I've got so far.

Overall Wrestler of the Year:

1. Kenny Omega- I swear there were people saying AEW had botched Kenny Omega, that Omega either wasn’t a star or that they’d bungled him so badly that he could no longer be a star. How very wrong they were. A stellar year for the best North American wrestler of the last 20 years, again the standout pro wrestler on the planet. Won the AEW Tag titles in January in a long running angle, serving the dual purpose of keeping Omega fresh in the audience’s mind in profile bouts as he stepped aside from the World Title picture, whilst at the same time serving as the foil to Adam Page in the company’s long term play of getting Page over as their top face. Had probably the best tag team match ever on American soil in February with Page against the Young Bucks (*****). Scored the fall in the well received Stadium Stampede match. Lost the Tag Titles to FTR in a fine match, more importantly though continued to play to tease dissension with Page. Declared himself a singles guy, changed up the presentation as he brought back “The Cleaner” name, had an overly elaborate entrance and then finally went full heel, beating Mox on Dynamite. Subsequent episodes of Dynamite and Impact have shown the angle to be hot, Omega is now positioned as the company’s top heel, he is World Champion and 2021 could be even better than 2020 with fresh challenges and challenges aplenty. Found time to have bangers in AAA against Fenix and Laredo Kid in the semi main of the biggest Lucha show of the year Triplemania (****1/2). Was set to have a dream singles bout with the wonderful Tetsuya Endo which, unfortunately, did not happen due to Covid. Great matches, a huge year ending angle, championship belts in 2 companies (maybe soon to be 3), 2020 was the year of Kenny Omega (again).

2. Go Shiozaki- The defining year in the career of Go Shiozaki, when fans look back on the career of Go Shiozaki, 2020 and this GHC Title run is what they will remember most. Beat future Ace Kaito Kiyomiya for the Title in January in an excellent match, which at the time was considered a big shock. Also held the World Tag Title simultaneously for a short time. Big epic 60 minute draw with Kenoh (****1/4). Grand defences against Saito and Marafuji. Had THAT match with Fujita that involved a lot of staring, some walk and brawl and some wrestling too (I didn’t hate it!), magnificent N1 tournament where he sold his arm as though his life depended on it, and carried that through the rest of the year turning it into a long running story. Great defence against Katsuhiko Nakajima (****1/4) in a super stiff main event. Topped off the year in style in his 50+ minute epic against 50 year old Takashi Sugiura, my pick for Match of the Year (*****). His next challenger is Mutoh (good luck with that), he leads Pro Wrestling NOAH back to Budokan Hall, the champion held together by some combination of athletic tape and spirit, he is NOAH.

3. Jon Moxley- A pick for different reasons. In ring he was solid, but he does not peak as high as the others on this list, but his reign as champion to carry AEW, in its first full year, through a pandemic was fantastic stuff. Along the way cut the best promos of his life, had engaging feuds and did everything you’d want from your top guy. Had a really good match with Archer at Wrestle Kingdom at the start of the year (***3/4), then had an over the top but immensely fun and watchable bout with Minoru Suzuki in February (****). Remains IWGP US Champion. In AEW has had solid to very good matches with Jericho, Swagger, PAC, MJF, Archer again, Brodie Lee (in particular excellent, ****) and his feud with Eddie Kingston, culminating in a brutal I Quit Match (****1/4) was fantastic pro wrestling.

4. Kota Ibushi- Strange year for the Golden Star. Really, this spot should be Tetsuya Naito’s. I want to give it to Naito, Tokyo Sports gave their Wrestler of the Year award to Naito afterall, but I just couldn’t do it. Naito triumphed in an epic against Okada, he’s currently in the midst of his keynote IWGP World Heavyweight Title reign and yet, he spent the Summer slumming it up with EVIL in some of the worst main events NJPW has had this decade, the glue of the B Block in the G1 Climax for sure, but not enough to get 4th spot on my list that’s Kota Ibushi. And that’s why Ibushi’s year has been so weird, even when he’s the chosen one, he’s the afterthought. Entered Wrestle Kingdom as G1 Climax winner, left the two night event with 2 L’s, that’s Kota stuff in 2020. January 4th masterclass against Okada (*****), followed up by defeat against White the next night. Wins the IWGP Tag Titles with Hiroshi Tanahashi (where Ibushi is clearly positioned as the star), unfortunately a reign that produces no memorable matches. Wins the G1 Climax again (back to back winner) having stellar matches along the way with Suzuki (****1/2), Ishii (****1/2), Shingo Takagi (****1/2), Taichi (leg kick central, ****1/4), and an underwhelming final by the standards set against Sanada (****1/4). Then goes and loses the G1 briefcase to Jay White in a dodgy fashion, will headline January 4th against Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Title, winner defending against White the next night. 2020, the year where Kota Ibushi played bridesmaid for everybody under the sun, but 2021 is his year and he should emerge from the 2 night tournament with 2 W’s and 2 belts over his shoulder.

5. Shingo Takagi- I was torn between a few different people from a different companies on this, but based on him actually winning a title this year I’ve gone with Shingo. Had a nonevent Wrestle Kingdom, but did defeat Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Title in February (****), upon NJPW’s return had one of the best empty arena matches anywhere in his New Japan Cup battle with SHO (****1/2). Retained the title in another strong match with SHO at Dominion (****) lost the title to Suzuki in Jingu (****1/4). Although I don’t think his G1 Climax was necessarily the strongest, to be honest, my other strong consideration Tomohiro Ishii had an undeniably stronger G1 Climax, it was his performance in the match with Kazuchika Okada that pushed him over the edge for me. A first time match full of story, but at the core of this match was a performance of overwhelming skill and heart given by The Dragon, legitimately one of the finest individual pro wrestling performances you’ll find anywhere this year, maybe any year in an epic, and that sell for Okada’s Money Clip hits you right in the feels (*****). Defeated Suzuki for the NEVER title later in the year (***3/4). I accept this may have been a vanity pick on my behalf, but honestly purely for the Okada match I feel justified in it.

Match of the Year:

1. Go Shiozaki vs Takashi Sugiura- 06.12.2020 NOAH
Sometimes when matches from November or December win MOTY polls you think there’s a recency bias. Not in this case, this is a big, brutal, bruising epic GHC World Title match made more poignant by the announcement at the start of the show that NOAH would return to Nippon Budokan in February. Also watch the pre match video promo for this, it’s in Japanese but you’ll fully understand the story behind it and the emotional heft the match carried. This felt big, this was distinctly in the style that NOAH have carved out for themselves in the last couple of years: super stiff, long, epic title matches, but at 50+ minutes this flies by. Meltzer went ***** and so did I.

2. Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito – 05.01.2020 NJPW
A match at the opposite end of the year. The culmination of, in my opinion, the most brilliant story I’ve seen play out in pro wrestling in real time, the redemption and triumph of Tetsuya Naito. A match full of call backs, wrestled in the shadow of that Wrestle Kingdom main event from a couple of years prior, wherein the neighbor and his dog expected Naito to defeat Okada in the Tokyo Dome only to be upset and sent packing by The Rainmaker. Watched as a Part 2 to that match, this is pro wrestling storytelling at its glorious best, Naito’s Stardust Press spot near the conclusion of this will take your breath away. An easy *****

3. Kenny Omega/Adam Page vs The Young Bucks 29.02.2020 AEW
The best match in the history of AEW, and, as said previously, the best tag match to ever take place in North America. This was pro wrestling at a level rarely seen. Intertwining different narrative threads, all at absolute breakneck speed, this had the big epic drama of an Omega main event match mixed with the pitch perfect smooth layout of a big Bucks match, combined it was very special. Adam Page more than holds up his end, being in the ring with 3 bonafide pro wrestling legends in a match like this only helped to elevate him further. Tag wrestling, or wrestling in general, is rarely this good. *****

4. Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi – 04.01.2020 NJPW
Okada in the main event on January 4th, Psycho Ibushi, this could never be anything other than great. The sheer brutality of it, the visceral nature of it, when I think back to matches that took place this year, this was certainly one of the most memorable. A career best performance from Ibushi, and one of many career great performances from Okada, this was a worthy show closing IWGP World Title January 4th show closing match. *****

5. Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi – 10.10.2020 NJPW
For a man whose not in my top 5 WOTY list, he sure does appear a lot in this list. But Okada, as great as he undoubtedly is, was rarely the story of those big matches in 2020. In the Ibushi match, he’s the necessary foil for the following night’s match with Naito, in the Naito match he’s the villain to be overcome, however in this match, the story is squarely on Kazuchika Okada. Okada stumbles through the summer, having mostly uninspiring matches, trying to make his new submission finish, the Money Clip work, he starts the GI poorly, soundly defeated by Ibushi. This is a man in a slump, he’s out there going 50/50 with Yujiro for God’s sakes. Enter The Dragon. Okada must step it up. Still no Rainmaker, but Okada, toying with different match structures, hits a sweet spot here against a rarely better Shingo Takagi. As said already, go out of your way to watch this if, for nothing else, the performance of Takagi, it’s a tour de force from one of this generation’s greatest wrestlers. *****

LineOfBeauty

Show of the Year:

1. Wrestle Kingdom Night 1 04.01.2020
Almost always at the top of these lists, the best show of the year is usually one of the first major shows of the year. Must see: Hiromu Takahashi vs Ospreay (****3/4), Tetsuya Naito vs Jay White (****1/4) Kota Ibushi vs Kazuchika Okada (*****)

2. NJPW G1 Climax Night 13 10.10.2020
The undisputed best night of the G1 Climax, bangers galore. Must see: Cobb vs Ishii (****1/2), Ospreay vs Taichi (****1/2), Ibushi vs Suzuki (****1/2), Okada vs Shingo (*****)

3. Dragon Gate Kobe Festival 15.11.2020
There’s been better Dragon Gate shows this year, and from an in ring perspective there’s been better shows than this one too. But, it was the significance of the show that has shot it to 3rd on my list. This was an event which has launched a hard reset of the company, a firm move away from the Big 6 of the previous generation and now a company firmly in the hands of a much younger generation, this was the crowning of Shun Skywalker, he and Ben K lead Dragon Gate into the future. Must see: Shun Skywalker vs Eita (****), Kaito Ishida vs Keisuke Okuda (****1/4)

4. AEW Revolution 29.02.2020
A red hot crowd (remember those?), and a feeling cemented that this company had arrived with the Tag Title match and the crowning of new AEW World Champion Jox Moxley. An excellent show, exciting, major US wrestling back to it’s best. Must see: Adam Page/Omega vs The Young Bucks (*****), Pac vs Orange Cassidy (****), Jon Moxley vs Jericho (****)

5. DDT Ultimate Party 03.11.2020
Tetsuya Endo defeats DAMNATION stablemate Daisuke Sasaki in a thrilling main event to retain the K-OD Title (features a heartwarming cameo at the end from former DDT regular Shuji Ishikawa performing his karaoke). Must see: Endo vs Sasaki (****3/4), Akiyama vs Take****a (****1/4), Ueno vs Brookes (****1/4).

Worst match of the year

1. Braun Strowman vs Bray Wyatt WWE Extreme Rules 19.07.2020
In a year where pro wrestling seemed to go out of it’s way to be awful (though, some very high notes too) this was the on screen dirt worst of it. Cinematic matches plagued wrestling throughout 2020 as they were seen as both a favourable alternate to working in front of an empty arena and also to hide the in ring shortcomings of certain wrestlers. None reveled in this quite as much as Bray Wyatt. Pure wrestlecrap but with none of the kitsch fun you’d find in the early 90’s WCW wrestlecrap output, nobody is looking back at this in the future fondly. This had a swamp, it had awful acting (Alexa Bliss with an all time bad cameo). Braun being eaten by an alligator. Universe destroying stuff between a guy who WWE missed the boat with years ago, and another guy who induces nothing but groans and cringe.

2. Braun Strowman vs Bray Wyatt WWE Money in the Bank 10.05.2020
I wanted to put this first, but that Bliss cameo tipped it for me. They put these two in a ring, and got rid of the smoke and mirrors for the first half of the match, and what you were left with was two genuinely bad mainstream pro wrestlers having a bad wrestling match. The finish involved puppets. This was a World Title match on ppv, and if you’re wondering how this company has driven away million of viewers (and why the audience they’ve retained is so skewed against younger viewers than what you'd expect a pro wrestling audience to be) then this match was the embodiment of everything wrong with WWE in 2020 as they took a dive off the deep end. A disasterclass in every way.

3. Johnny Gargano vs Tomasso Ciampa WWE NXT 08.04.2020
Parodies in wrestling walk a fine line. The trouble with parodies in this medium is that the medium itself is so open to parody, particularly when it’s under the glare of the mainstream, that often it can feel like you’re treading on uneven ground. Here Gargano and Ciampa parody themselves and the NXT style as a whole (which no 2 wrestlers have shaped more than these 2). Featuring the low hum that is the soundtrack to these cinematic offerings, some toe curlingly cringe dialogue from referee/Proud Boy Drake Wuertz and everything that has come to bog down and plague major NXT matches but turned up to 11, this was performance art where the targets of their scorn was both themselves and the brand they represent at large. Thick in content, a tone that would not be out of place at an assembly to discuss the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, a narrative driven by dialogue because they think you’re too dumb to follow the “intricate” story they are crafting, shocked face on kick outs, it seemed to last forever and the finish will have you in tears. Tears, not because it’s a devastatingly sad moment, not because you’re laughing with them, tears because you will laugh at yourself for having sat through this entire thing.

4. Edge vs Randy Orton WWE 14.06.2020
“The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.” There were technically worse matches, stupider matches, but this takes the spot because I hated what this match represented more than anything. Because they’ve nothing better to do, because they don’t have to sell ppv’s anymore and because they’ve all but given up on ever reaching the stated WWE Network goal of 3 million subscribers, what we saw this year is that WWE can put anything on ppv because it doesn’t matter because they are not ppv’s anymore. So we get this, Vince McMahon’s match equivalent to a middle finger salute. Again we veer into parody, this time the target is pro wrestling. The thing Vince hates the most. McMahon crafts a match made to resemble a pro wrestling classic, a match that is supposed to resemble modern epics (think Omega/Okada) but with the goal of poking fun at it. Everything from the tag line, the silly production, the ghost Finkel, the exorbitant run time (45 minutes), the long intricate spots, the big kick outs, all of it to say “hah this is dumb, this is you” as McMahon points the finger at the Meltzer’s of the world. God knows how long this took to put together. Vince McMahon’s disdain for pro wrestling outside of WWE manifests itself into 45 minutes of superficial trash.

5. Copa Triplemania Femenil match 12.12.2020
Right this is recency bias and I can’t have 5 WWE matches on this list. So I’m going with this. I don’t know how long it went, I don’t want to know, it felt like hours. Hours and hours of mundane boredom. I looked at my phone, I walked around the house, I made some food, I came back, this thing was still going. It might still be going on as we speak, I don’t know. It’s not often I shout “why aren’t you over” at the television, but this broke me.


I'll save the other categories for a different day for now. Looking forward to Promotion of the Year in particular.

Sirsok

Had lots typed out and it has since vanished so ill leave it with one pick

Overall Wrestler of the Year:
Kenny Omega
Involved in some of the most interesting fueds and is able to deliver in the big moments. I feel alot of the time Omega matches are over hyped and alot of hyperbole is used (Page and Omega at full gear) but had some great bangers.

I tried racking my brain about someone from WWE that I could pit against him for top spot and there was no one.

Match of the Year:
Walter v Dragunov.
Just absolutely sublime from start to finish. Everything I want from wrestling, which is logic. Everything made sense and the vicious nature added to it. Not every match can be as hard hitting but every match could sincerely use logic. Its where alot of wrestling falls down fpr me AEW included

Show of the Year:
I am going to go with the recent NXT Wargames. It was the first show in a long long time where my focus was kept throughout. Loved Thatcher v Ciampa, loved both Wargames matches also. Brilliant

Worst match of the year
Alot of the Wyatt stuff can be included but I almost expect that from him. So i am going to go with my biggest disappointment and thats Lesnar v Ricochet. What an absolute wasted chance

Worst wrestler of the year
Wyatt - Just a ****ing joke at this stage

Most improved wrestler
I feel like Darby Allin is constantly improving, great to watch on a consistant basis.

Promotion of the Year
AEW
Best consistent show that I watch

The White Wolf

Overall Wrestler of the Year
Thunder Rosa - started the year on NWA Power, ending it taking AEW's Women's Roster by the balls. Fantastic.

Match of the Year
Hangman Page vs Kenny - perfect build and fantastic storytelling to place both wrestlers on their tranjectory for the next year. There are probably better pure bouts, but this was Pro Wrestling to me.

Worst Match of the Year
Jericho vs Cassidy - hurt both wrestlers and that says everything.

Worst Wrestler of the Year
Big Swole - I just don't get it; given a prominent position yet absolutely brutal and annoying behaviour in the front row during the pandemic.

Most Improved
Jey Uso - can't argue with Jey, started the year as an after thought and ending it as a possible Rumble winner.

Promotion of the Year
AEW - less than ideal situation trying to launch a legitimate alternative in the US given the pandemic hit the world, but I've purchased multiple PPVs and they were worth every penny. Brilliant effort.

LineOfBeauty

Rip it all up, Dragon Gate's Final Gate 2020 is the best pro wrestling show of the year and I think it was by a bit of a distance too.