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Wrestler of the year


tiger_rick

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It's AJ isn't it. So I won't go on about him.

 

Honourable mention to Sami Zayn. People forget that he's done some scintillating stuff this year when given the opportunity.

 

THAT Nakamura match. The episode long 2/3 falls match with Joe. Had some absolute corkers with Owens. The match with Rollins where he sold the leg so legit that people genuinely thought he was injured. Part of a dazzling IC title fatal four way.

 

Even the stuff with Strowman now is pretty epic.

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All about Rohit! Angaar TV is the best wrestling based thing I've discovered all year. All thanks to this place.

 

UK wise, it's been Mark Haskins for me. Both times I saw him at 4FW this year, he stole the show for. January, he faced Kenny Omega for the 4FW Junior Heavyweight Title and that was crazy. One of the best matches I've ever seen live. He eventually won it a while after that. And in May, he had another with Kotaro Suzuki for the Wrestle-1 Cruiser-Division belt. They do have an On Demand service, and they are on there. Great shows as well. Certainly done well wherever he's been. Also won the Smash Wrestling Title and the Progress Title in September although that would be short lived due to niggling injuries and currently needing to take time out. But that certainly doesn't draw it back for me. And I hope he gets better soon.

 

AJ Styles has had the best first year in WWE for a long time. Becoming the only man to win the NWA, TNA, IWGP and WWE Titles. Great feuds with John Cena, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. And certainly in the best shape he's been.

 

Matt Hardy's Broken Brilliance gave us the stupidly amazing Final Deletion. In the process, producing a good idea of what it would look like if The Asylum ran a promotion.

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There isn't anyone else other than AJ Styles. He's been a revelation and has carried what appears to be badly written segments to a passable standard. Add to that the 4* matches he's had there's no competition.

 

If I'd seen more of Miz, I'd perhaps lean towards him a bit but I've only really caught his stuff in the last 8 weeks or so.

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Jericho's had something of a career renaissance since his return. AJ Styles has been in a league of his own. Kenny Omega for having to step up following AJ, Anderson & Gallows' departure and keep The Bullet Club relevant in spite of those losses? They can't have given him the G1 win for nothing. He & Okada could have a barn burner at Wrestle Kingdom next year.

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It's AJ Styles, of course it is. It's been a good year for a few of them, though. As the poster above said, Jericho and Miz have been great this year. Real return to form for Jericho, and Miz has found new life as well. He's been intermittently great during the years he meant nothing, but he's put all the pieces together now. Bringing Maryse in, giving him the Intercontinental, the feud with Daniel Bryan, and the right opponents for him to have a few genuine classic matches this year have been a treat.

 

Other than that, Roman Reigns had a cracking first half of 2016 but the Rusev feud has been a letdown. Kevin Owens has had a good 'un also, but his title run has been helped a lot by Jericho.

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Kenny Omega, a great move up to the heavyweight division, scoring clean wins over big names. He has established himself as a big name and the crowd have obviously taken it in and the G1 win was tremendous. At WK 10 he was defending the Juniour title, at 11 he will be fighting for the Heavyweight title.

Naito, the LIJ stable have gotten stronger, he has won the New Japan Cup, IC title and Heavyweight title in 1 year. Has had fantastic matches with a variety of people and looks like he will be facing Tanahashi at WK11. A match I anticipate more than the main event.

Kushida, amazing matches constantly with everybody he faces such as Bushi, Liger and Ospreay. Although it has been his 3rd reign as Jr champ it was a strong one and he held on to it for a long time. He has also won the J Cup.

 

I'll give a shout to Will Ospreay. I'm not a massive fan but he has achieved a vast amount such as winning the BOSJ and the Japanese crowd have taken to him. While the match with Vader was not a classic I enjoyed watching it and it was an internet feud that many followed. I do look forward to his match with Liger at Global Wars.

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Best Heel of The Year could be the most competitive category in this years end of year Awards.

 

With Styles, Jericho, & Miz already been mentioned in line for Wrestler of The Year along with consistently good performances from Owens, Rusev, Charlotte, Samoa Joe & more - there are plenty of suitable candidates.

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AJ Styles for all the reasons already mentioned. And what of the future? Anything could happen but the most exciting thing about AJ is that he's almost the final part of some weird indie trinity that started with Punk and carried on through with Bryan. Whilst both arguably peaked anyway both were also cut short before a real run of legacy years could be built on their massive breakthroughs. Punk took himself out with his psychological make up whilst Bryan got sniped by his physical.

 

AJ's the promise. He's the wonder kid delivered older and wiser. Barring unforseen concequences he will now most likely have a short few years of awesome promos, PPV thrillers and unbelievably fresh matches and angles and will get to slow down, do the part time thing and retire with his head held high on his own terms.

 

Wrestler of the year, story of the year, breakout of the year. Because yes he broke out again.

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I can't disagree with anything said about AJ Styles, but Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Matt Hardy have to be in the running too, for the way they have taken their acts in decidedly lower leagues and been able to make them, even just briefly sometimes, the talk of all wrestling. AJ deserves the plaudits for being so ace on the big stage definitely, but those three for me have found themselves at times the talk of the industry despite much smaller platforms.

 

Nakamura's a personal one, because I'd never so much as seen a picture of him, and he melted my screen, heart and balls the second he walked out on stage in Dallas and never looked back. It's subjective too, but in an extremely competitive year for it, I think that match is still the best thing out of the entire WWE/NXT system in 2016 too.

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It has to be AJ as previously stated, but I'd put Charlotte in second place. To me she is the best female wrestler on the planet right now and is having some great matches. She also has a real knack of making all of her PPV matches seem important. I couldn't stand her in NXT and even when she first debuted on the main roster, but she has gradually won me over through her character work and in ring work constantly improving.

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