2017 Year End Awards

Another year is at it end. WWE had its usual ups and downs. Impact Wrestling became GFW than turned back to Impact. Lucha Underground did nothing except air matches filmed over a year ago. ROH kept turning in New Japan USA lite. So lets look back at the good and the bad.

Wrestler of the Year Johnny Mundo/Impact- A number of guys had strong years this year. Johnny however had strong years for two companies. In AAA he held three championships at once really becoming the focus of the promotion. Having strong matches with many of the best Luchadors out there. He also was seen at the Lucha Underground champion even with pre-tapped match during this year. Even with the goofy stuff that company runs you always can count on him to deliver a great match. Finally he ended the year debuting for Impact Wrestling and having several good matches including two very strong ones with Eli Drake.

Also in the running- Eli Drake, Bobby Lashley, Cody, and Kenny Omega

Tag Team of Year The Latin American Xchange Ortiz and Santana- Already having teamed up before joining the Impact/GFW roster in march these two showed great chemistry. Perfectly playing off each other with an amazing serious of double teams. Since joining the roster they have taken the LAX name back to the top. Working with pretty much every team but having real thrillers with Decay, OVE and VOW really let these two shine. They are a high action team that come of like I think people pretend the Briscoes can do. In the ring they are amazing but over and over again they have shown they are fine on the microphone able to hold there own with there veteran manager Konnan.

Also in the running- OVE and DIY

Women’s Wrestler of The Year Alexa Bliss- My god does she not get enough respect. She’s a great athlete who is able to pull off some great moves like her twisted bliss finisher and insult to injury double moonsault. Bliss though could win this award alone on her ability to pull up some of the worse women in wrestling to decent matches. We have seen how good she is when working with talent like Becky Lynch and Mickie James. But she’s manged to salvage matches with Bayle, Sasha Banks and even Nia Jax. Than you add in her character and microphone work and she’s amazing. She’s one of the best heels in wrestling. She’s is able to make you hate her in five seconds.

Also in the running- Gail Kim, Sienna, and Allie

Match of the Year Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards Last Man Standing- Its very hard for TV matches to live up the ones on PPV. To Impact’s credit they presented it with no breaks. Now matches like this can easily turn into weapon fests or only hitting big finisher type moves and or just over booked messes. This match avoided all those traps. The weapon use made sense were extensions of the story being told of two former best friends wanting to destroy each other. The outside interference was done well used to push the larger story of the wives of both men being involved in the feud and actually led to good break at key time to set for the finish. Each strike felt like it was both men trying to KO each other. It was thing of brutal beauty. And the finish was a thing of beauty Davey with a chain wrapped his boot landing a kick to Eddie’s head. Don’t take my word for it it IMPACT haters who want me name a WWE or ROH or New Japan match go check this out.

Also in the Running Lashley vs. El Patron Slammiversary, Styles vs. Balor WWE TLC, Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Psycho Clown AAA TripleMania

Best in Ring Worker Kenny Omega-Omega got the biggest push of his career this year. And match after match he delivered. Omega pulls off some amazingly complicated moves but always makes them look fluid. Like any truly great worker he can do it all. We can see him work an intense battle with Okada and turn around to do a comedy match.

Also in the running Eli Drake, Johnny Impact/Morrison, Finn Balor, Bobby Roode, Drew Galloway

Best Microphone Work Eli Drake- Few men are as magical with the stick in there hands as the Current Impact Wrestling Champion. He has a style all his own. He shows its and pieces of Ric Flair but never goes so over the top like Flair does. Drake’s promos never drag they simply entertain.

Also in the Running EC3, James Storm, Kevin Owens, Cody

Best Gimmick- Cody American Nightmare- It would be so easy for Cody Rhodes to just slip into the kind of blue collar champion of the people gimmick his father made famous. Instead he in many way rejects everything his father was about. He wears fine suits, he talks about buy rates and gates numbers, and doing big business. But at the same time he carries on that family legacy by rebelling against the machine. He’s not some smiling goof like Cena or some attempt to be cool and bad ass like Reigns. He’s not made by the machine instead he’s forged through hard work and old school craftsmanship.

Other Best Gimmick Eli Drake Old School Heel- That’s right my awards 2 best gimmick. Much like with Cody we get a nice taste of old school Pretty much since The Rock and the nWo we have been dealing with the cool heel. What’s that’s done is damage the basic story telling of wrestling where you need a good guy and a bad guy to make it work. Drake rejects the notion of being cool to be hated. He’s really turned it up since wining the Global Championship. Dressing in fine suits ala the Ric Flair’s and Gino Hernandez's of years gone by. And in many way’s he’s cooler for his willingness to be hated than someone one hoping to be cool by faking being bad ass and quick witted.

Also in the running Rose Mary Demon, Taya Valkyrie Viking Warrior Queen, Finn Balor The Demon

Event of the Year AAA TripleMania XXV- Now sadly one really awful person tainted part of this event by breaking ever code wrestling has but that alone should not darken an amazing night of wrestling. Feauting a beyond loaded show with not great talent form Mexico but all over the world this was a fans dream event. It was so key not only did push stories in AAA but Impact Wrestling as well. However what really makes this show was the end and main event. A mask vs. mask match that saw emerging star Psycho Clown take the mask of the legendary Dr. Wagner Jr. Now a lot has been said and written over the years about how much masks mean in Mexico. But it can’t undersold how big a deal it was to see Wagner Jr. lose his. The Original Dr. Wagner was one of the great legends in Lucha history he never lost his mask during his career. Wagner Jr. has became a legend in his own right his career has seem him take many roles. When his father died in 2004 it changed Wagner into the believed legend so much beloved was he at one point AAA actually had to change booking bland for him to lose his mask because people simply dint’ want it to happen right after his had died. Wagner Jr could been like the Undertaker “not feeling it” instead he gave his mask and truly passed the torch. And it put this show over the top for me

Also in the Running Impact Wrestling Tour of India, Slammiversary

Worst Wrestler of the Year Enzo Amore- What is there to even like about this guy? His matches are awful. He can’t even do the most basic moves he messes up his own finisher almost every time he does it. He screws up so super basic moves. And to cover his lack of talent he just get loud and makes noise and does some stupid little dance. He doesn’t sell well at all thus further undercutting his own crappy matches. His gimmick is awful hell its not even a gimmick it just be loud and say dumb things. Often his defenders talk about this charisma I ask what charisma? He just rambles on. And no his heel turn didn't’ solve his problems it was just the WWE having to admit he was that hated.

Also in the running Nia Jax, Jinder Mahal, Sexy Star, Carmella, Namoi, Jason Jordan, Braun Strowman, Nakamura.

Worst Tag Team of the Year The Bar- What happens when you take former main eventer who clearly has stopped trying and a long time internet darling that’s accepted he will never get the main event push he should have gotten years ago so he’s stopped trying you get the bar. This team is just so lazy. It really feels like both guys just don’t ever try. Hell the name the Bar is lazy given the WWE stole the catchphrase that gave them the name from a freaking Ford Truck commercial. Not helping that every single feud has been driven into the ground going on well past any good ending spot to drag it out a few more weeks. Both guys can do more but they won’t even dare put there foot on the gas on this point.

Also in the running New Day, The Usos, The Briscoes

Worst Women’s Wrestler Of The Year Nia Jax- She at best has three moves none of which she does well. Her whole gimmick that is about being bigger and more dangerous than anyone dies on the vine during her entrance. As I always say this she just looks around like she want to see where he friends are sitting in the stands. I just never buy her as a threat of any kind. Even though she towers over Alexa Bliss I buy Bliss’ as an actual wrestler. She has moves that have impact and looks like she is trying to damage. Bliss comes off as dangerous. Jax is just big and that’s it.

Also in the Running- Sasha Banks, Carmella, Bayle, Naomi, Natalaya

Worst Match Of the Year House of Horrors Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt WWE Payback- A sad attempt by the WWE to try and capture the magic of the Delete matches from Impact Wrestling. It was poorly shot. There was no drama to it at all. Each moved lacked any type of impact. It just dragged and dragged. Really killing this was the idea of to than have the match end live in the ring at the arena. So we had this long pointless fight in some random house than a break and finally a basic wrestling match in the arena. It was a failure on every level. You can’t even say it was fun at anyone point or so bad it was fun.

Also in the running- Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar Wrestlmania, Kevin Owens vs. Goldberg Fastlane, Orton vs. Wyatt Wrestlemania, Any Jinder vs. Orton Match. Any Namoi vs. Natalya match

Worst in Ring Worker Enzo Amore- Do I even have to explain this one? Even people that defend Enzo for having “charisma” admit he’s not that good in the ring. He struggles to do even the most basic moves hell his finisher is he’s yet to hit right. When he hits Eat Defeat (I refuse to call it that stupid name they use) his feet never even come close to the jaw. He refuses to sell worth a damn instead worrying more about yelling to make for any type of physical reaction. Hell he mostly worries about doing his air hump dance. You never never believe this guy is in the of actual fight.

Also in the running- Nia Jax, Jay Briscoe, Mark Brisceo. Namoi, Jinder Mahal, Nakamura,

Worst On the Microphone Enzo Amore- Oh I don’t want to hear about how much charisma this guy has because by charisma you people just mean he’s loud. A great face promo makes you want to cheer that person and pay to see them win every match. A great heel promo makes you want to boo that person and see them lose every match. Enzo just makes you want to change the channel. As a face Enzo tries to be funny but forces every joke. As a heel I don’t know what’s doing as he just drastice from betting things going on. Hell half the time I can’t even understand what he is saying.

Also in the running, Jinder, Nakamura, Randy Orton, Dalton Castle,

Worst Gimmick Jinder Mahal Anti USA Foreign Heel- Its 2017 people and this gimmick is out of the 1980’s and badly out of date. Jinder hates the USA calls us all racist for not cheering him. It just doesn’t work in this era. People get that Jinder isn’t some evil man from the middle east bashing the USA. They get he is a Canadian of Middle Eastern decent playing a role. As a result this doesn’t even get heat. It just makes the WWE look out of touch. And Jinder doesn’t even do it that well. Combined with his lack of in ring skill its no wonder his title run flopped

Also in The Running Usos Fake Street Tough, Namomi The Glow, Dalton Castle “Flamboyant” Kevin Steen Face of America

Worst Event of the Year WrestleMania 33- WrestleMania is supposed to be wrestling Christmas. Well this Christmas was like finding out you parents were getting divorced all you gifts were stolen except for those crappy socks that one aunt your even like that much gives you and than top it all off the ham was under cooked and you got sick. This was awful card for starters. Think about Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin pre show, Aries vs. Neville pre show, Samoa Joe wasn’t even on the show. Yet we got Shane McMahon and Triple H on this show. Than every match was worse than you thought it could be. For some insane reason Shane McMahon and AJ Styles went 20 minutes even with Shane being awful his striking looking weak and the simple fact AJ is badly washed up and unable to carry him. Chris Jericho phoned in another one vs. Kevin Owens. Two crappy women’s title matches and the Smackdown had the awful Namoi’s ass of doom win. The disaster that was Wyatt vs. Orton and the stupid over head projector shit. An injured Seth Rollins was forced to carry Triple H and Stephanie in a 25 minute match. Goldberg vs. Lesnar was a awful shit match because both guys are all about being the monster so neither one can sell worth a damn. And everyone knew what was going to happen as Brock would finally get his payback. And the main event was just painful to watch a clearly past his prime Undertaker vs. Roman the whole world hates him Regins.

Also in the running WWE SummerSlam WWE Survivor Series, WWE Royal Rumble