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2018 Wrestling Nominations: Positive


HarmonicGenerator

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Best pro wrestler - Kenny Omega

Quite simply the best wrestler on the planet. Kazuchika Okada would be #2 if I could have 1 more choice - the 2 had the best match of all time in 2018

 

Best women's wrestler - Becky Lynch 

I've really switched off to WWE this year, having let my WWE Network subscription lapse post Wrestlemania. I was only using it for NXT and was just frustrated that they continued to use NXT as a feeder promotion, when its the best product they offer. That said, big fan of the 4 horsewomen and what they have achieved. Becky was the unsung hero for so long...I'm glad she is getting the success she deserves. 

 

Match of the Year - Kenny Omega v Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion

Best match of all time. Meltzer's 7 star extravaganza. I have this match on my phone and have watched it time and time again on the daily commute. Never grows old.

 

Best wrestling event - All In / Slammiversary

Slammiversary was great and signified that Impact had some fight in them....

All In was the start of something HUGE in my opinion, time will tell.....and was absolutely awesome!

 

Best wrestling show - Impact

I should probably say NXT, but I don't have the WWE Network anymore. I've given up on Raw and Smackdown.

 

Best feud or angle - Pentagon Jnr / Sami Callihan 

All kinds of awesomeness across this fued. The highlight being the Slammiversary match

 

Moment of the Year - Cody winning the NWA World Title at All In

The old school build, the entrances, the history. The match wasn't the greatest, but the finish was special.

 

Best babyface - AJ Styles

Been an AJ fan since the early days of NWA-TNA. All credit to him, I never thought Vince would allow him to have the success he has had in WWE, despite his matches being nowhere near the quality of the one's he had outside of WWE, but thats not his fault.

 

Best heel - Sami Callihan

The guy has been phenomenal. When he debuted for Impact, I thought he was just an indy worker who wouldn't amount to much. But he's great on the mic, his fueds with Pentagon Jr, Eddie Edwards and LAX have all been highlights and earned him lots of heat. I'm sure he will hold the Impact World Title soon enough. 

 

Funniest moment of the year - Bucks of Jericho, or is it Y2Jackson?

I struggled with this one. I also liked the "205 live" skit by Kazuchika Okada against Marty Scurll, which turned into a finger snap.

 

Best tag team - The Young Bucks

Easiest question. What the Bucks have achieved outside of WWE is incredible. 

 

Best wrestling podcast - Wrestling Inc's Two Faced podcast

I watch this from time to time, don't watch any others.

 

Few more categories that should exist:

 

Breakout star - Jay White

From 'young lion' to NJPW headliner. Great future....

Hardest Worker: Cody Rhodes

Whether it was masterminding All In, his social media presence, his schedule.....Cody has to be credited. He took a chance and its paid off massively. Cody isn't the best in ring performer, but he made up for it through his work ethic both in and out of the ring.  

Most Improved: Hangman Page

Just watching Hangman had some great performances in Tag League and his match with Jeff Cobb at Final Battle, that stole the show, reminded me of how awesome Page has become as a performer this year.

 

"Let's make myself look like a knob" Award: Austin Aries no selling the finish at Bound For Glory

None of us ever found out why he did it, but man, didn't he look like a twat!

 

Announce Team of The Year: Don Callis and Kevin Kelly for NJPW

No question. Both are fantastic and I hope NJPW retains both men next year.

 

Promotion of the Year: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Folks think I'm an ROH mark. But most of my 2018 highlights are from NJPW. 

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10 minutes ago, MPDTT said:

Austin Aries no selling the finish at Bound For Glory

None of us ever found out why he did it, but man, didn't he look like a twat!

Oh man, I forgot all about that! Will have to give that a nomination in the negative awards.

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Just now, Keith Houchen said:

Oh man, I forgot all about that! Will have to give that a nomination in the negative awards.

And I forgot to look at the negative awards - thank you Keith!

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Best pro wrestler -  a year into her pro career and already she's got a better  catalogue of matches behind her in 2018 than anyone else on the roster. Her matches might be heavily scripted/rehearsed but she constantly delivers and more importantly she's nailed the intangible aspects of prowres better than practically anyone. Surprised Ronda Rousey hasn't appeared on more lists, frankly.

Talk about grabbing the brass ring. Becky Lynch has built herself up to a level that even this old Rebecca Knox mark couldn't have imagined. There's not much left to say about her except that the way she's elevated those around her is the most impressive thing of all. Scary thing is if she does end up headlining Mania (singles match please) her 2019 will be even better.

Daniel Bryan is the gift that keeps on giving.

Best women's wrestler - Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair who has stepped the fuck up the last 2 months and been a revelation. She's not a Becky cosplay, she's a fucking Flair.

Match of the Year - Posh and Becks at Evolution. Men's rumble match. Rousey/Angle vs Steph/HHH

Best wrestling event - Evolution. Feel good show with good booking and the best U.S. wrestling crowd in years.

Best wrestling show Smackdown followed by NXT.

Best feud or angle - Lynch vs Flair, Ciampa vs Gargano.

Moment of the Year- Daniel Bryan returns, because actual tears. Lynch invades raw. It's a cliche of a comparison but the bit when a blood soaked Becky stands tall in the bleachers and mouths with a shit eating grin, "I'll see you next Sunday", well it gave me the same chills that "Austin 3:16 just whipped you're ass" did 22 years ago. The feeling of every thing falling in its right place and a rising star just OWNING the moment.

Best babyface - Lynch again. Even before she was The Man she made a refreshingly likeable white meat babyface. AJ Styles managed to stay popular and non annoying despite the bad angles he worked with. Rousey spent the year being the badass monster face with craved for years. Her work's been so good I'm willing to overlook some of her dodgier moments on the stick. 

Best heel - Daniel Bryan playing himself turned up to 11 crossed with his "I've got til five ref!" ROH wrestle God persona is the most fun thing to watch in the world right now. Shayna Baszler is a stud and killer of girls dreams. Liverpool's #1 Zack Gibson  couldn't give a shit about ya cool and is cutting better promos than anyone not on the main roster not named Velveteen. Joe deserves an honourable, a no brainer if he didn't get cheese material and lose all the time.

Best tag team - Undisputed Era keep the bangers coming . As a group they're like a better version of HHH/Outlaws/Pac era DX. In particular, Roddy and my man Kyle O Reilly have looked cracking. The Bar are two of the most underrated workers on the roster and a regular delight. The Shield were dynamite whenever they're on screen.

 

 

 

Edited by Mr Butternut Squash
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Best pro wrestler

You can’t deny BECKY LYNCH. She’s delivered the two best main-roster women’s matches of all time at Evolution and TLC, her blood-soaked Raw invasion was arguably the best moment of the year, she’s single-handedly made the Women’s division as hot as they’ve pretended it’s been for the past few years and not a day goes by without her coming up with something clever or witty on Twitter that makes her vs. Ronda my most anticipated match in years. This Stone Cold meets Conor McGregor character is tremendous and only gets better with time.

More than anything else though, she deserves all the credit in the world for doing what no-one else on the main roster had the balls to do; refusing to accept her shit storyline and inconsistent character, going into business for herself online and in media interviews. Pushing a completely different deal away from TV, she ended up getting so over that they had no choice but to change course and incorporate "The Man" into their plans. Fair play. At a time when everyone else is just happy to be there, they should all take note of what a success she’s made of herself doing the complete opposite. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, in particular, should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

JOHNNY GARGANO is an amazing professional wrestler. Every Takeover match he’s had has been incredible, his feud with Ciampa is still feud of the year despite how badly they screwed it up and allowed it to fizzle out, he’s been the purest babyface they’ve had in years and even when they stupidly turned him heel he still did a phenomenal job at being a right little prick. He’s brilliant. And to think, they brought up EC3!

Between the ropes, KOTA IBUSHI is the most talented man on the planet. It’s beyond comprehension how good he is. Some of the best wrestlers in the world don’t have as many top quality matches in a year as Ibushi had in the G1 alone. Add to that all the amazing Golden Lovers matches, as well as the more recent teases of the Ospreay match. Ibushi vs. Will is easily my most anticipated match at Wrestle Kingdom. It’s not even close.

 

Best women's wrestler

RONDA ROUSEY has been wrestling less than a year and she’s already one of the best promos and in-ring performers in the whole company. Match of the year candidates at Wrestlemania and Survivor Series, she also managed to give Nia Jax the two best matches of her career. Women less than a year in shouldn’t be giving someone better matches than women who’ve done this for over a decade. She’s an absolute freak how quickly she’s not only picked this up, but practically mastered it. There was every chance that the first Wrestlemania main event that featured women could’ve been a gimmick that wasn’t truly the most anticipated match on the card. Well, fuck that. Ronda vs. Becky is the biggest thing they’ve got by far. I can’t wait.

Much like Ronda, it’s crazy how good SHAYNA BASZLER is with such little experience. Great character work, always improving in the ring, she’s awesome.

And of course, BECKY LYNCH deserves another shout for the reasons previously mentioned. Plus, those leather trousers. Jesus.

 

Match of the Year

Nothing comes close to RONDA ROUSEY & KURT ANGLE VS. STEPHANIE MCMAHON & TRIPLE H at Wrestlemania. Pure pro-wrestling from start to finish. Easily the greatest debut match of all time for Ronda, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had such a huge grin on my face as I did when Ronda started battering Hunter.

The first JOHNNY GARGANO VS. TOMMASO CIAMPA match was everything I love about this daft sport. Great storyline going into it, the best babyface going against the best heel. A match where you’re able to completely suspend your disbelief and root for the baddie to get the shit kicked out of him by the hero. Magic. When was the last time a heel came down to the ring with that level of heat? No music, just deafening, “FUCK YOU CIAMPA!’ chants. Incredible. An amazing match that was genuinely cathartic to watch. I wanted Johnny to fucking KILL him. The brutal finish was perfect and the hero left victorious. Drama at its finest. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Technically, there have been far better matches this year than RICOCHET VS. VELVETEEN DREAM at Takeover Chicago. Okada v. Omega at Dominion and Ospreay vs. Scurll at Sakura Genesis are prime examples. Both blew my mind. But when I think back to which matches I loved the most, it’d be criminal if I didn’t list this. Two guys in developmental having such an aura about them that you can imagine them headlining Wrestlemania one day. It was similar to watching those Shield vs. Wyatt 6-Man Tags, like you’re watching the future in front of your eyes. The Prince Puma gear, the staredown, the crowd. This was so, so great. Pure fun from bell to bell, totally living up to the fantastic angle that built it. The Dream is the future of this business and Ricochet is a fucking superstar in waiting.

 

Best wrestling event

It was about an hour too long, definitely could’ve had a couple of matches shortened or binned off entirely (MJF, I’m looking at you), and it was a huge shame that the main event ended up being such a rush job, but I still loved ALL IN. The hits on that show were as big as anywhere in the business all year. Jericho unmasking, the Flip Gordon angle, everything about the NWA Title match. It remains one of the most exciting shows of the year and I truly hope they manage to succeed with AEW. With the right money mark, this show suggested these guys could really change the business.

NXT TAKEOVER CHICAGO 2 had it all. A blistering opener for the Tag Titles, Ricochet and The Dream stealing the show, Shayna continuing her reign of dominance, Aleister Black giving Lars his best match ever and another incredible match between Gargano and Ciampa. All finished in just over two and a half hours. Perfect.

Top to bottom, DOMINION was fantastic. The last four matches, in particular, were incredible, proving once and for all that, “ the buffer match,’ is a shit, unnecessary concept. Why not just have awesome matches that get better and better and peak with the main event?

 

Best wrestling show 

SMACKERS, NXT and BEING THE ELITE.

 

Best feud or angle

GARGANO VS. CIAMPA fizzled out into a shit E-fed storyline, but even so. For the first half of the year that was masterful. Three tremendous matches, too. Such a shame we didn’t get the natural conclusion of Johnny winning the Title in a Hell in a Cell or something.

SAMOA JOE VS. AJ STYLES was brilliant fun if you ignore all the daft finishes, as well as the fact that they never pulled the trigger on Joe. What a waste. That cliff-hanger when Joe rocked up at AJ’s house was awesome.

BECKY LYNCH and RONDA ROUSEY haven’t even had a match yet, but it’s still light years ahead of most feuds. One incredible segment on Raw, loads of fantastic Twitter exchanges and a genuinely exciting cliff-hanger at TLC. I can’t fucking wait for this match.

 

Moment of the Year

DANIEL BRYAN’S RETURN PROMO. Something in my eye.

CODY VS. ALDIS AT ALL IN. Everything about that match was amazing. The music videos leading up to it, the inspired, “weigh ins,” the awesome “fight camp,” entrances. That was the most I’ve cared about someone winning a fake fight for a fake belt in as long as I can remember.

STONE COLD BECKY LYNCH INVADES. Strutting down the ring like a boss. Mouthing, “See You Sunday,” covered in blood. Just fucking look at her.

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What an iconic visual. Incredible.

 

Best babyface

JOHNNY GARGANO, SETH ROLLINS, BECKY LYNCH.

 

Best heel

TOMMASO CIAMPA, SHAYNA BAZSLER, DANIEL BRYAN.

 

Funniest moment of the year

TITUS.

 

Best tag team

THE UNDISPUTED ERA lads have mastered the four-star fast-paced opener. It’s no wonder Triple H doesn’t want them going to the main roster. They should defend those Tag Belts on the start of every Takeover event until the end of time.

THE YOUNG BUCKS, GOLDEN LOVERS.

That there are tonnes of guys, matches and moments that I haven't been able to squeeze in suggests it's been a pretty great year overall. 

 

 

Edited by Supremo
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Best pro wrestler of the year 

Seth rollins

best womens wrestler 

Becky Lynch 

match of the year 

raw gauntlet match 

best event 

nxt takeover (all of them)

best show

nxt 

best angle 

cena calls out undertaker 

Moment of the year 

Becky invades raw 

best face 

Becky lynch

best heel 

shayna bazler 

best podcast

scg radio

 

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Best pro wrestler 

Johnny Gargano

 

Best women's wrestler 

Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair

 

Match of the Year

Gargano vs Almas (Takeover in January)

Gargano vs Ciampa (Takeover New Orleans)

Moustache Mountain vs Undisputed Era (NXT TV)

Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks (NJPW San Francisco)

Charlotte vs Asuka (WrestleMania)

 

Best wrestling event

NXT Takeover: New Orleans

Evolution

 

Best wrestling show

GLOW

Ride Along

 

Best babyface

Johnny Gargano

Charlotte

 

Best heel

Shayna Bayzler

 

Best wrestling podcast

E & C’s Pod of Awesomeness

Something To Wrestle

Edited by dopper
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12 hours ago, Supremo said:

she’s single-handedly made the Women’s division as hot as they’ve pretended it’s been

Line of the year right there. 

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