2014 Year End Awards

2014 is almost over. So it is time to look back and remember those that really stood out. Who was best of the best. What became a classic and event we will be talking about years from now. New readers let me make something clear I am going to try and be fair here. But don’t expect the usual IWC listing of awards.

 

Wrestler of the year Bobby Roode TNA- I don’t think there was any wrestler how had a better year and showed off how diverse his skill set is than Bobby Roode. Roode started the year off as one of the most hated heels in all of wrestling. By years end he was one of the most loved faces. Roode is money on the microphone he carries himself well and make you believe everything he is saying. He connects with the fans making them hate him and then turning around to make them him. He doesn’t relie on catch phrases or cheap jokes he cuts true promos. But no where does Roode look better than in the ring wrestling. I often say young wrestlers should be watching Roode to get a view of the finer points of in ring wrestling. The guy simply doesn’t botch moves. However Roode has one advantage Roode has over many young wrestlers is the fact Roode is willing to sell. Often I see to many wrestlers not sell enough thinking it will make them look weak. But by selling Roode make his opponents look stronger leading to better matches. Roode’s matches this year with Bobby Lashley were among the very best matches of the year. Add into that some great matches with Eric Young, Kurt Angle, and MVP. As I have often said Roode is the time less kind of wrestler that easily works today but could have made it any other era of wrestling. TNA is in a great place with Roode leading the way into 2015.

 

Feel Good Moment of The Year The Ultimate Warrior Returns to the WWE- For many years the man born Jim Hellwing was in a strange spot in the world of wrestling. He had been a huge star in the 80’s and was still remembered by many fans. However many fans of in the IWC as just a body everything. His relationship with the WWE wasn’t any better he was documented in the infamous Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD essentially just everyone going “He was only over because we made him popular and he was a real asshole.” But finally in 2014 he was able to come back. Warrior was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend. Finally he was given the credit he truly deserved. While The Ultimate Warrior wasn’t the greatest hold for hold wrestler he actually was very good at what he did. And there is no denying he was one of the most popular wrestlers ever. And there have been plenty of guys that has been heavily pushed and never got were poplar. Warrior made one more appearance the night after WrestleMania live on Raw he managed to turn back the block and channel the same spirt he had called on so often in his career. The promo he cut that night talking about how the fans are the legend makers and putting over the new generation of talent really touched me. Far too often I think the vets come in and the cut down the younger generation sometimes on purpose sometimes by mistake. Sadly Warrior would pass away that same week. But we got see him one final time and celebrate him at long last.

 

Female Wrestler of the Year Madison Rayne- I know a lot people will by default want to give this award to AJ Lee or Paige but well Paige was very once she got to the main roster. AJ has talent but she didn’t have a lot of great matches and her matches with Paige would among the most disappointing I have seen in years. Madison Rayne had missed 2013 after getting pregnant and giving birth. She returned in 2014 and hadn’t missed a beat. I think her face turn really allowed her to show how good she is in the ring. She got to show off a number of moves and just really wrestle. She had awesome matches with Gail Kim in a variety of different rule sets a simple one on one, a NO DQ match, a cage match. I also recommend checking out her matches with Brittany, Angelina Love and recent matches with Havok and Taryn Terrell. While she didn’t get a lot of chances to cut promos she did make the most of every chance she got. It will be interesting to see what she does in the new year and if she once again is Queen Bee of the Knockouts.

 

Tag Team of the Year The Wolves Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards- All I can say is thank god these guys didn’t sign with WWE. They very well could have wound up like the Kings of Wrestling Split up one fired the other a jobber on the main roster. Instead they went to TNA and the hunt was on. Right away they showed off good could be teaming up with MVP to battle for control of TNA. Once that was settled it was time to after the tag team titles. Feuding with the Bro Mans. You want a real sleeper hit check out there ladder match with Robbie and Jessie. During the NYC tapings they had one of the best matches of the year facing off the reunited Hardy Boys. Things only got better with Team 3D was added to the mix. That series of tag title matches was just amazing it was PPV quality each and every time out. I think it was best series of tag title matches in wrestling since the Beer Money vs Motor City Machine Guns series. While it would have been real easy to get lost and just have be fill in Edge and Christian they showed they were Davey and Eddie. They have their own way of cutting promos. It won’t work for everyone but it works for them and it really fit as they were talking about trying to leave a legacy. Few times work as well together as Eddie and Davey they just gel. They can both fly, they can both brawl, they strike, and they can get on the ground and wrestle and pull of submissions. Having dropped the tag titles the hunt can be on again.

 

Biggest News Story of the Year WWE’s Business Woes- For better or in this case for worse when people talk about wrestling in this country there are talking about WWE. Just like people are talking about pro football they are talking about the NFL or how Ultimate Fighting it what some people call MMA. This year wasn’t good for the WWE business wise. First and foremost was the WWE Network. They spent a lot of money but really hadn’t planned it out well. The subscription numbers haven’t been good. They didn’t hit a high level of sales when it launched and since while they add people they lose more. They network has expanded into other countries which has helped but it isn’t growing at the rate they need. It also didn’t help they have had issues with keeping it on the air there have been major lags or blackouts. They blew it in the UK pulling it at the last second and pissing off all the fans that would have bought. It doesn’t help a lot of the content is poor on their yes there a great library but there is also crap like Legends House. That wasn’t the only problem while most of the attention was on TNA’s TV deal WWE got a really disappointing that caused a drop in there stock. The stock price became a roller coaster. On top of that numerous lawsuits have been launched against the WWE saying it mislead investors. WWE made several moves to cut its budget but still by all reports they will lose money not just this year but also in 2015.

 

Event of the Year TNA’s New York City TV Tapings- I admit I’m cheating on this one a bit. Yes these taping were broken up over the course of several nights and weeks. But in a lot of ways I view this as something like the old Great American Bash. The last few years had been rough for TNA. Even a diehard like me admit there various flaws it didn’t help the company got away from a lot of things that made fans love it less X-Division action less knockouts, and even getting rid of the six sided ring. Toping it off fans were upset about the departure of several long time stars most notably AJ Styles. These taping got back to the basics of TNA. We did see more X-Division action we saw more from the Knockouts. We saw the return of Low Ki.  And the return of the six sided ring. There were so many amazing matches during those tapings, Aries vs Lashley, The Hardy vs The Wolves, Lashley vs Roode 1. We saw the end of Dixie Carter as an on screen performer. And talk about a pop listen to when Bully Ray put her through the table. To top it off many of these events sold out and gave TNA some of its highest attended events ever.

 

Best Talker Dean Ambrose This was actually a really hard award for me to pick. A number of guys had a really good year on the microphone but Ambrose got major points for being able to still be able to cut the style of promos that earned him a fans base on the Indies and in FCW while on the main roster. While both WWE and TNA do script promos WWE’s promos usually feel more scripted and often guys struggle with and everyone winds up sounding the same. Ambrose though doesn’t. He got that little spark that makes him different. You buy that he is really the Lunatic Fringe. Even when the WWE tried to make him into the overly comedy face the often use he managed to still be cool. Ambrose just has that something that he can say more in a one minute promo than most guys can in a ten minute one. Hopefully 2015 will Ambrose getting an even more prominent role in the main event and hopefully WWE will let more guys break from the usual formula.

 

Match of the Year Full Metal Mayhem The Wolves vs The Hardys vs Team 3D-TNA put major focus back on the tag team division this year and it really paid off. This match was the final match in the tag team series between these three teams. The Hardys and Team 3D have a long history together having feuded back in the WWE. But The Wolves are not Edge and Christian they are very different in seveal ways. The story for this was simple the tag titles meant everything. The two legendary teams wanted them to further cement there claim While The Wolves were looking to show it was there time and they belonged among the list of all-time greats. The set up was perfect each team had one win a piece the final match was winner take all. Just before this match Davey Richards suffered an injury to his leg. But due to the time between TV tapings Davey was able to heal up just enough. Often matches like this are nothing more than high spot after high spot and moments that should have big Impact wind up having none. But these three teams managed to pace this just right. They didn’t go over bored. Guys sold everything. And don’t take that to mean there were a lack of high spots because we saw two truly insane one ones. Devon power bombing Davey Richards to the floor and Richards knocking Jeff Hardy off a ladder causing him to splash Bully Ray through a table on the floor. Even more amazing Davey Richards entered this match with a leg injury but still pulled off his trademark moves. I was asked if I thought it lived up to the TLC’s of the early 2000’s? My Answer is it was its own match it wasn’t an attempt to recreate history it made its own.

 

Best in Ring Worker of the Year Bobby Roode- Yeah I know it seems redundant that I already gave Roode Wrestler of Wrestler of the Year. But to me that award goes to the guy that mixed all the things you need to be a great pro wrestler. This purely about ring work and there are no better right than the IT Factor. As I said earlier Roode doesn’t botch moves. He has a great wide variety of moves he can pull off and again he sells moves for other guys. He bumps in a way good enough to buy the moves hurt but not that they ever look fake.

 

Most Misused Damien Sandow/Mizdow- In 2013 when Sandow won the MITB case so many hoped he was finally in for in big things. The guy is very talented in the ring, he plays a great heel. Instead this guy spent his entire year as a jobber losing pretty much every match he was in on either Raw or Smackdown. Even worse his whole year was about being a comedy jobber he would come out in some outfit like Bret Hart or as a lumberjack. Now the guy is funny and pull off comedy which made the segments better than they would have been with some like Curtis Axel who has no charisma. But this was that last year many though was on the verge of being a world champion. Hell I could even be fine with the guy as a mid-card heel about the same level they put Mark Henry in. But Sandow is sadly treated so poorly. This is a guy that has potential to be a top level guy at the very least let him back up some wins. It’s not like WWE doesn’t push comedy guys remember how many time Santino was a champion.

 

Comeback Wrestler of The Year Bobby Lashley- I know a while back I said I would give this to Matt Hardy but why I feel Matt closed the year pretty strong close to the year a good portion of the year his work sucked. Lashley had largely out wrestling since leaving TNA in 2010. And I had never been a big fan of Lashley’s work. So when he showed up at Lockdown this year I rolled my eyes why after a number of good roster pickups TNA would waste time on him. Turning heel was a perfect move. Most of his career Lashley was pushed as a face he clearly works better as a heel. Given his huge build he’s perfect as a monster. Giving him MVP as a mouth piece covered up his poor microphone work. He would win the world title and his in ring work was upped He looked great vs Eric Young, Roode, Aries, and Jeff Hardy just to name a few. It seemed he really got into being a heel. He interacted with the crowd more as a heel. And now he does talk he comes off much better.

 

Best Gimmick of The Year Ethan Carter The Third Arrogant Rich Boy- “You can’t Wrestle!” “I disagree I’m very good.” Only very good? EC3 should be telling people he is great. He just fits that gimmick like a glove. You really do think this is some guy that grew up super rich got it all handed to him. He comes off like such a bully when he interacts with Spud or JB. He can do it different ways we have seen calm and cocky, we have seen pissed off and now we are seeing this more dangerous version of him. I think TNA found a real gem and gave him the right gimmick that could take him to the very top of the company.

Worst Event of the Year WWE SummerSlam- This one barley edges out WrestleMania but Mania had a few redeeming things about it. SummerSlam has nothing redeeming about. SummerSlam showed everything that is wrong with the WWE in 2014. Let’s start with the dumbass move to have Brock Lesnar and John Cena main event. WWE tried to hype up Cena had never faced a force like Brock before ignoring the fact Brock had already lost to Cena in Brock’s first match back. Than Brock wins the title and well pretty much hasn’t been seen since. Than you have the trash that was Brie Bella vs Stephanie McMahon. The match was awful it was nothing more than them trying to leech off of Daniel Bryan’s popularity. They baited and switched on the Ambrose and Rollins match (for the second straight month). Even matches like AJ Lee vs Paige or Miz vs Ziggler weren’t as good as you would hope. SummerSlam is supposed to be one of the biggest shows of the year but this one felt like they didn’t even try.

 

Worst Wrestler of the Year Jay Briscoe- Jay Briscoe is the kind of man that should be main event a backyard wrestling show much less being world champion of the number three company in the US. Time and again this guy fails to pull off even the most basic moves. He not only looks dangerous but everything looks fake. A lot of time people look at his brawling and flying and think that covers up his lack of talent. The problem with that is Briscoe sucks at brawling and flying. Somehow his promos are even worse. If they are garbled gibberish it’s him saying stupid lines about how tough he is supposed to be or just repeating dumb lines. His look is awful. For all my criticism about guys like Orton or Cena at least they look like pro wrestlers Briscoe looks like he belongs in the Wrong Turn movie series as one of the inbreed killers. But what really puts things over the top is how ROH books this guy. ROH has a great roster but this is the guy they pick as the top name? This is the guy don’t have do a job in two years? And I must not be the only won that doesn’t’ think Jay as good as the IWC claims notice how Jay and Mark have never been hired by WWE or TNA? How they don’t’ work major tours of Japan or Mexico? Hopefully 2015 will see ROH wake up and have Jay drop the title quick.

 

Worst Tag Team of The Year Ryback and Curtis Axel-A lot of people like to hype how good Curtis Axel is because of his father and grandfather are. The truth he’s just not that good. He’s not awful in the ring but he’s not that good in ring either he’s at best average. And charisma wise he is a freaking black hole. He just can’t connect with people it’s like he just can’t get comfortable with a microphone in his hand. Yet somehow Axel is the more talented member of the team. Ryback is a guy that is has been wresting for many year yet still is stuck doing only the most basic moves and can’t do them well. I don’t even get what his gimmick is supposed to be. And the guy just sounds dumb whenever he speaks. Thankfully we were spared a title reign but they were still regularly featured on TV. There matches were just so bad every single time. In a bad tag team division these two were the worst.

 

Biggest Bust of The Year Batistia Returns- Batista was a pretty big star for the WWE during his first run with the company. After he left the company he made it clear he wasn’t a fan of the PG direction the company had taken. After landing a role in the Blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy he signed to return to the WWE. It was pretty clear what the plan was have Batista return win the Royal Rumble and go on to the WWE title from Randy Orton at WrestleMania. Things were already off to a bad start the fans didn’t want Bastia back much less as top face. The fans wanted Daniel Bryan and when Bryan didn’t even get to enter the Rumble the fans crapped all over the match. It didn’t help Batista seemed to not give a damn. He showed up in strange clothes like Skinny jeans, smurf blue boots and trunks once. The fans further rejected him and WWE really had no other option but to turn him heel. He was gone by summer and due to the success he’s now found in Hollywood there is a good chance he won’t ever come back.

 

Worse Talker of the Year Stephanie McMahon- I can’t stand Stephanie McMahon’s attempts to cut promos or act. Her primary mode seems to be either sound bored or just yell really loud. Numerous times I had no idea what emotion she was going for. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to mock people, trying to sound like she really cared she just sounded the same monotone voice she uses whenever she doesn’t yell. And let’s not forget how bad she is when she tries. Just look at the end of Survivor Series she went so over the top it became a parody of what people think bad acting is. She doesn’t add to the show. For the people out there ripping Dixie Carter at least Dixie used her heat to get Magnus more over and the same with EC3. People got behind MVP, the Wolves, and Bull Ray when they went against her. I think people just changed the channel whenever Stephanie comes on. She doesn’t get heat and she doesn’t get other people over. Thank god she is off TV again and hopefully she will stay that way.

 

Biggest Missed Chance ROH’s Return to PPV- Being able to return to PPV should have been a big deal for ROH. Instead they blew it. They have a major PPV coming up and in the weeks leading up to it they didn’t run a single angle on the TV to hype it. What I find really strange was the fact they did this thing a house show where Adam Cole beat Elgin and Elgin’s wife which could have been a great segment for the TV show. They put Christopher Daniels and Kazarian in the tag title match even though they couldn’t appear until the night of the PPV. With PPV you are not trying to win over the fans that already have ROH Ringside Membership you are trying win over the casuel fans. Even if you do have the best wrestling in the world (Which ROH actually doesn’t) you need entice to get hooked. There is enough real fighting in the world and on TV. Wrestling needs storylines. To make it worse they barely mentioned the PPV on the TV show and I think there was like one preview video. They did better hyping up final battle but it’s like a kid who got an F on a test getting a D on the make up.

Worse Match of the Year Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella WWE SummerSlam- This match sucked on every level. These two are awful so putting them against each other is going too led to pure shit. Even worse the WWE gave this way too much time while matches with actual wrestlers got cut short. You have two highly limited wrestlers and you give them like a half an hour on the second biggest show of the year. Even worse they sole reason for feud was Brie is married to Daniel Bryan and Stephanie wants to be the top heel. It was pretty much everything I hate about WWE all at once. And oh the finish made zero sense Nikki Bella turns on her sister because and sides with Stephanie who in storyline had been torturing her for months.