2015 Pro Wrestling Year End Awards

2015 Pro Wrestling Year End Awards
January 7, 2016
By Ryan Porzl

With the year coming to an end, it's time I give my year end awards for what I considered both the best and worst in American and Japanese wrestling.



American Wrestling

Wrestler of the Year- EC3 (TNA)- In 2015, EC3 was the best wrestler of the year, hands down. Nobody else came close to him as far as having the whole package. Since his debut in 2013, he showed a lot of potential but he finally came into his own this year and proved he could be a main event superstar. As a wrestler, he put on one awesome match after another. As a talker, he can not only cut great promos but also is excellent at playing to the crowd which some would consider a lost art in the world of professional wrestling. He also has charisma and can easily catch your attention. He plays his character extremely well of a rich, arrogant, bully who feels he's entitled. From a match standpoint, EC3 had lots of great ones from talent ranging from Rockstar Spud to Kurt Angle to Bobby Lashley. He was also involved in many entertaining segments as well including his launching of the "EC3 For Champ" campaign where he made his intentions clear of pursing the World Title. From a storyline standpoint, EC3 won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship this year and left another year of never having been pinned or submitted.

Woman's Wrestler of the Year- Brooke (TNA)- After missing all of 2014, Brooke came back to TNA this year and had a great year. She was already a very good knockout for years but she stepped it up this year by having many solid matches with Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, and Taryn Terrell. She also had some good segments especially during her feud with Terrell. She also played the happy-go-lucky, plucky, underdog very well this year as she didn't have the size and power of Awesome Kong or the technique of Gail Kim or Madison Rayne. However, while she didn't have as much in those areas she more than made up for heart, someone willing to take chances, and even trade blows or holds. She also was good in the role of someone not to be underestimated. Even though she wasn't the bad ass or had the technical skills, she showed that she can be a handful and even pull out a surprise at times. While it sadly looks like she left TNA which is a loss, 2015 was a great way to go out on if it is it. From a storyline standpoint, Brooke won her third Knockouts Championship and ended Taryn Terrell's record setting 279 day reign as champ.

Tag Team of the Year- The Wolves (TNA)- Another year and another award for The Wolves but like before, it is deserved. The Wolves have been one of wrestling best tag teams for years as they have one classic after another with 2015 being no different. It was this year that The Wolves engaged in a best of series with Bobby Roode and Austin Aries over the vacant TNA World Tag Team Titles and then had several great matches with Brian Myers and Trevor Lee in the fall. Along with the amazing matches, They also seem to work well with just about anyone they're put with. From a storyline standpoint, The Wolves won the TNA World Tag Team Championships three times which makes them a record setting five time TNA World Tag Team Champions.

Best Fan Favorite- Drew Galloway (TNA)- Galloway not only bursted on the scenes in TNA this year but came in as a strong and likeable fan favorite. He did a great job in being able to rally fans behind him whether it be his love of professional wrestling or for his stable The Rising in their war with The Beatdown Clan or during the TNA/GFW feud. Many would compare him to fellow scotsman William Wallace as he is a warrior who fought for what he believed in to the bitter end and never gave up. He also showed during the feuds with The BDC and GFW that he wasn't afraid to go to the front lines of a battle.

Best Villain- EC3 (TNA)- This was an easy choice because there probably was no close second. Throughout 2015, EC3 just came off like a hateable jerk who would cheat or bully people or come off a sore loser. He knew how to play off a crowd who booed him or tried to heckle him with chants that he couldn't wrestle. He also stayed away from the cool heel like character as there was nothing likable or "cool" about him. He was a jerk through and through. He especially shined like when he shaved Rockstar Spud's hair following their match after coming off as someone who wasn't going to do it because he gained respect for Spud (the match was a hair match). Another example would be when he lost the World Title at Bound For Glory. In spite of the fact that he instigated Jeff Hardy (guest referee) though out the match that led to Hardy attacking him which cost him the title, he took it like a sore loser by filing a litigation where the World Title would not be able to be on TV which resulted in new champion Matt Hardy having to vacate the title to lift it.

Best Match of the Year- EC3 vs. Rockstar Spud (Impact Wrestling 3/13) (TNA)- This match was one of those matches that really solidified the wrestlers involved and told an excellent story. After having feuded for months, this was more or less the cap off the feud and a stipulation was added that the loser's hair would be shaved. The match saw amazing storytelling as the bloody underdog Spud gave everything he had and would fight till he couldn't anymore while EC3 was not afraid to take short cuts including using his bodyguard Tyrus to powerbomb Spud on the floor and using his metal arm brace twice. The fans were also hot as they cheered on their home country boy against the bully EC3. The ending was also great with EC3 supposedly having second thoughts as he said he didn't want to shave Spud's hair due to the respect he gained for him. Unfortunately, it was a ruse as EC3 held the ropes for Spud but then attacked him and shaved his head which made him an even bigger villain then before which saw him gain some more fuel to the top.

Best Brawler- Dean Ambrose (WWE)- Dean Ambrose is a special wrestler which is obvious but he really shined this year as wrestling's best brawler. While Ambrose is a jack of all trades, he makes his brawls and fighting segments fun and unpredictable coming off wild and chaotic in ways that remind you of someone like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in his prime. One special trait to his brawling is not only his fighting but even the way he sells attacks. The way he staggers and gets to his feet looks like someone that actually was in a fight. Overall, Ambrose is one of those guys that dispels the myth that the current generation doesn't know how to work as Ambrose would fit right in during The Attitude Era against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin or in the Dallas Sportatorium against Bruiser Brody.

Best Flyer- Prince Puma (Lucha Underground)- Puma is a special kind of flyer as well as an amazing one. The stuff he's able to pull off is incredible as he not only does a lot of the usual stuff but even pulls off 450 degree splashes and his finisher is a 630 degree senton. Not many wrestlers can successfully jump off the top turnbuckle and move their body in a 630 degree position before making contact.

Most Improved- Rockstar Spud (TNA)- My oh my, a lot can change in a single year. Spud grew so much this year after he spent late 2013 (his debut) and almost all of 2014 as the silly stooge of Dixie Carter then EC3. This year, Spud still had his moments of comedy but he also shined as the never say die underdog. His matches with EC3 and Kurt Angle saw him at his best where even in defeat, he showed that he's not someone to be underestimated and will fight to the bitter end. He also proved that he's more than just a silly comic relief as he proved he can wrestle and has some high flying moves. He also doesn't come off not believable against main event talent or in main events or even in World Title matches. He's almost like a less extreme Spike Dudley although he showed he could bleed as much.

Comeback of the Year- Awesome Kong (TNA)- After a five year absence, Kong made her return to TNA back in January and pretty much picked up where she left off. Though she never won the Knockouts Title, she still played a big part of the knockouts division this year with a short but sweet feud with Havok, then with The Dollhouse, and then reliving her big feud with Gail Kim. She also had plenty of solid matches with them as well as Brooke and is still a very good performer. Best of all, despite turning 38 and supposedly having back issues, she never lost a step.

Best Feud- TNA vs. GFW (TNA)- While some would argue this feud was short, I still pick it for a variety of reasons. One is the fact that it was written very well as TNA and Dixie Carter were willing to allow Jeff Jarrett in with open arms especially since he co-founded the company. They gave him a chance to main event Slammiversary, get a King of the Mountain title shot, and then an induction into the TNA Hall of Fame. However, Jeff and wife Karen would squander the relationship with their greed by wanting to take back the company that they believed belonged to Jeff. For two months, the companies went back and forth with several GFW wrestlers even getting their hands on TNA titles. The finale was also very good with TNA defeating GFW for Jarrett's shares in TNA with a Lethal Lockdown match. A second reason I pick this is because it was written very well. For example, when GFW wrestlers won titles or got title shots it was usually through something clever. PJ Black won the King of the Mountain title when GFW was still friendly with TNA while Brian Myers and Trevor Lee won the World Tag Team Championship thanks to Magnus' (who by this time signed with GFW) feast or fired briefcase which guaranteed them a title shot whenever they wanted it. They also got a rematch at Bound For Glory because they exercised their rematch clause. So what we got was actual logic as opposed to TNA foolishly giving GFW guys title shots for no reason while being these invaders as opposed to the WWF during the WCW/ECW invasion where WWF would give WCW/ECW guys title shots while WCW would give WWF guys title shots for no good reason. A third reason is that it was done very well with no egos involved. Sadly, in the past when many companies buy out another company or at least two try to work together, it ends in utter disaster. The NWA/UWF interpromotional feud was ruined due to ego while the WWF/WCW/ECW feud is the most ego filled botched feud in American Wrestling history. Then there was the AWA/World Class/CWA relationship which ended badly when the AWA Superclash III PPV bombed and AWA promoter Verne Gagne took most of the money for him and his wrestlers while the others got nothing which then resulted in Jerry Lawler refusing to give the AWA World Title belt back until he got payed which he never did. So just the fact this feud was done with no backstage bickering, no ego, and it ended smoothly is nothing more than not only proving miracles exist but that two companies can come together.

Debut/Return of the Year- Kevin Owens (WWE)- Owens entered the WWE main roster like a ball of fire this year and while he did cool off to some extent, he still had plenty of highlights. He entered the year with a big feud over top star John Cena and even scored a clean pinfall over him in their first match. The feud also saw the talent of Owens who carried Cena to some of Cena's best work which is by no means easy. He also ended the year feuding with Dean Ambrose and having far better matches. From a storyline standpoint, Owens also won the Intercontinental Title this year over Ryback thus giving him his first championship in less than a year.

Most Underrated- Donovan Dijak (ROH)- Dijak is a classic example of ROH's incompetence in 2015. A very talented wrestler who has size and agility, Dijak entered the year by taking part and winning ROH's yearly Top Prospect Tournament. From there, his year went downhill as he went from being an amazing prospect on the rise and to look out for to being a stooge for Jay Lethal and Truth Martini which resulted in him even forfeiting a TV Title match in the process (Lethal was champion at the time). From there, Dijak was wasted time and time again as he was never put in his own rivalries, he wasn't used that much outside of interfering in Lethal's matches, he barely received any title shots, and the times when he did wrestle, it was mostly him putting over Lethal's future opponents to continue Lethal's feuds. He only appeared once on PPV which was a loss to Mark Briscoe at Best in the World in June. Finally, after having his year wasted in the House of Truth, Dijak lost some matches, was considered the "weak link" and kicked out of the group. All in all, it's absolutely amazing how ROH can find someone of great potential and proceeded to flush it down the toilet.

Best Announcer- The Pope (TNA)- With the departure of Taz this year, TNA was in need of a new color commentator. Among the people that tried out was the returning Pope who proved to be a good addition. It didn't take him long to develop chemistry with new announcer Josh Matthews. He has brought a good wrestler's point of view that you expect from wrestlers turned commentators. He's also good at calling moves and the action as well. Finally, Pope gets this because he's one of the few announcers who doesn't get on my nerves and/or actually comes off good as opposed to most of WWE's announcers or ROH's.

Best Non Wrestler- Truth Martini (ROH)- Martini gets this award but he doesn't have much competition this year. The WWE had no one good with either lame acts like The Authority and Zeb Colter to Paul Heyman sleepwalking his way to another check. TNA didn't really have any non wrestlers. Lucha Underground either had Konnan who did nothing important or Caterina who didn't come off special. Martini can come off extremely cheesy, he still can get the job done as he's a good talker and is believable in his role as the charismatic manipulator.

Best Gimmick- Drago (Dragon Luchador) (Lucha Underground)- He's a dragon luchador. There's not much that needs to be said. Dragons are cool, luchadors are cool, which means it's two great tastes that taste great together.

Best Promotion- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling- Though 2015 wasn't TNA's greatest year and not everything went according to plan, it still had plenty of amazing moments and was still light years better than the competition. For one thing, TNA gave us plenty of great moments and storylines this year. Among them included The Best-of series for the vacant Tag Team Titles between the Wolves & Aries and Roode, the TNA/GFW feud, and the Tag Title tournament to name some. We saw Kurt Angle get a last run as champion, Eric Young reinvent himself as a crazy heel, and Matt Hardy go through a career resurgence. New blood shined heavily as TNA appeared to continue moving forward especially with many familiar faces leaving throughout the year. EC3 won the World Title, Rockstar Spud won two X Division Titles and received opportunities to challenge for the World Title, Drew Galloway came in and challenged for the World Title at Bound For Glory, Bram had many big matches, and Tigre Uno dominated the X Division. The Knockouts Division lost Brittany and Havok but gained a familiar face in the returning Awesome Kong and new blood in Jade & Marti Belle of The Dollhouse. The X Division featured many tried and true talents like Tigre Uno, Rockstar Spud, DJ Z, and Manik while also seeing new faces in Andrew Everett and Mandrews. Chris Melendez and Mahabali Shera did well in feuds with TNA legends like Eric Young and James Storm. The Bromans broke up with both having solid runs to date and bright futures. New talent arrived on the scene like Eli Drake, Trevor Lee, and Micah would gave us glimpses of their talents and will hopefully find big success in TNA in the new year. Then there has been the case where they've done so much with so little. While the TNA tag scene wasn't as stacked as WWE or ROH, they did far more in making it their belts more prestigious with the tag team championship tournament, the best of series, and The Wolves/Myers&Lee title matches. Like 2014, I also pick TNA because they seemed to be the only company moving forward that year as opposed to WWE and ROH who desperately brought in aging names or kept pushing stale talent while TNA was at least willing to take chances.

Worst Wrestler- Rusev (WWE)- Rusev get my choice for worst wrestler because he's not only terrible but never grew as a talent. In spite of the fact Rusev has been in the WWE all year, he never grew or evolved. He wasn't in one match that was even good despite being put with good wrestlers like Dolph Ziggler or matches that had tons of smoke and mirrors like his ones with John Cena. His matches are also very forgettable and he didn't have a performance that you will remember in a year or even six months from now. Granted, Rusev was bogged down this year by being another Cena sacrifice to injuries to horrible storylines but still. His moves are dull and nothing good that's eye catching or cool looking or powerful looking that makes you cringe. His delivery is also weak as his stomps to back before applying his accolade camel clutch look as bad as Ronnie Garvin's awful garvin stomp. He's also built up as this amazing athletic specimen but he doesn't really do anything athletic outside of perhaps his spinning heel kick. He doesn't move around the ring or transition to moves very fluently like a British wrestler doing technical wrestling holds. He doesn't show amazing power or do these incredible moves like Cesaro can do. He doesn't show a lot of agility for a "big man" like Bam Bam Bigelow or The Undertaker did in their primes. Finally, he doesn't show any cool martial arts or submission skills.

Worst Women's Wrestler of the Year- Naomi (WWE)- I'll admit, I was one of those who thought a few years ago that maybe Naomi had potential and was athletic but any good I thought she may have had is long gone after her pitiful 2015. No matter what you look at, Naomi failed miserably. As a personality, she's has none and doesn't have any charisma. She's not a good talker and is not able to cut a promo. Her wrestling is terrible and sloppy. She wasn't good to begin with but she's even worse now. Unquestionably, the lowlight of her wrestling was her botched reverse rana on Paige at Elimination Chamber which looked so bad that it looked like she damn near came close to crippling Paige.

Worst Tag Team of the Year- The New Day (WWE)- Despite having gotten some praise over the year, The New Day is a huge fail for many reasons. First is that what they do requires no skill to pull off. As heels, they don't get booed because they play off the crowd very well whether it be in the ring or on a microphone. Instead, they use the cheapest ways imaginable to get heat including long introductions where they never shut up to stupid dancing to Xavier Woods yelling constantly or blowing on a trombone to claiming to be unicorns to mocking the local sports teams. Speaking of the latter case, mocking a sports team is the second most desperate way for a wrestler to get boos with the first being telling the audience they're fat. Second reason is that Xavier Woods is wasted here. He rarely wrestles despite having the most potential and spends more times yelling and screaming or playing an instrument. He reminds me of Roger Ebert's description of Chris Tucker from Rush Hour 2 which is he never shuts up, comes off like a mad man on speed, and an egomaniacal motormouth. Third is the way the team is booked. The team is a three man unit who could take advantage of the freebird rule by having any two of the three defend the belts at any given match. This would give them a psychological advantage as their opponents wouldn't know which two would be defending the titles or wrestling if it's non title. Instead, the WWE constantly books the same exact line up in Kofi Kingston and Big E. Compare this to Demolition who WWE booked correctly in 1990. When Crush joined, Demolition would make it a point that their opponents wouldn't know which two they would be facing until they came out. Sure, most of the time it was Smash and Crush but that was cause Ax was suffering from an allergic reaction to shellfish and slowing down as a wrestler anyway. What's the WWE's excuse this time? Another problem is they're not a good team. Kofi and Big E don't have great chemistry and aren't the type of team that can carry a match whether it be ring skills or charisma. Sure, the fans occasional clap and say "New Day Sucks" but not enough and at times, they're dead. They also haven't had one great match this year despite being the top team. Finally, I pick them because they were constantly pushed and given two tag title reigns despite better teams like The Ascension and The Lucha Dragon being right there.

Worst Match of the Year- Charlotte vs. Nikki Bella (WWE Hell in a Cell) (WWE)- I select this match for many reasons. One, because it's a complete train wreck. While, it's not horrible at first, it deteriorates as it goes on. Nikki (who doesn't get my worst women's wrestler of the year award but still makes sure to walk away with one worst award) comes off pathetic. For someone who has been wrestling for nearly ten years (even though it's all been bad wrestling), she still comes off like someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Every time she tried a submission hold, it looked awful. There was one where she drove her knee into Charlotte back but instead of pulling back on Charlotte's head with both hands, she only pulls back with one while using the other for a chickenwing and sometimes looked like she wanted to do a dragon sleeper. It looked awful as it looked like she was trying to pull off three submissions at the same time but couldn't get one to look good or painful. Another time is when she tries to apply a half crab but can't decide whether to sit on the lower back (which is the right way to do it) or to stand and apply. How hard is it to do a half crab? How hard is it to sit on someone's back and pull back on one of their legs? Then there's the embarrassing lack of psychology on Nikki's part as she's put in a figure four leglock only to reverse it but then hastily crawls to grab the ropes for the rope break which makes no sense whatsoever. When you turn over and reverse a figure four leglock, you reverse the pressure so you are the one putting pressure instead of the person who applied it. So if Nikki reverses where she's putting pressure to Charlotte then why go for a rope break especially when the reversal usually lasts a few seconds anyway? Then there's the reverse belly-to-back superplex spot as that was botched. When wrestlers do that, the person trying the move will remain on the second rope while the other backflips out of it and then hits their own suplex or move. Instead, Nikki botched when she lost her balanced and took a bad looking bump as Charlotte was escaping the move. Watching that botch makes me see why Nikki has since suffered with neck problems. However, in defense of Nikki, it wasn't just her as Charlotte wasn't much better. A lot of her chops and punches, especially the mounted ones, looked very, very weak and not convincing. She also blew it once with psychology as she has her back worked on during the first part of the match then does a neckbreaker later on but doesn't sell the back work despite landing back first when doing the neckbreaker. The finish was also bad as Nikki was turning as Charlotte applied the figure eight so it looked awkward like Charlotte couldn't apply pressure and then she lost her balance as Nikki tapped out. A second reason I pick this match is because of the praise these two have gotten. The way the internet wrestling community has gone on and on about Charlotte, you would've thought she was a top five woman's wrestler but she's really more like the first cast of Saturday Night Live: a "Not Ready For Prime Time Player". As for Nikki, the same fans keep saying how much she's improved when she's barely got any better and is still atrocious. Even if she has improved, it's not much. On a scale of 1-10, Nikki has essentially gone from a 1 to a 1.5.

Worst Feud- Steve Corino vs. BJ Whitmer (ROH)- Where do I even begin with this putrid excuse of a feud? I guess the first is the fact that both are far past their prime as wrestlers while Corino is a color commentator these days who just had neck surgery. Another problem was it dragged all year long with Whitmer constantly provoking Corino and Corino largely doing nothing in fear of losing his announcing job. Third problem is that they basically ripped of the Raven/Sandman feud by having Corino's son Colby join up with Whitmer but there's no drama as everyone is terrible and Colby joined more or less cause daddy wasn't there for him. Fourth of all, Colby came off like a complete moron as anyone with a fraction of a brain knows that Whitmer was purposely putting Colby is tough matches wasn't to give him a chance to advance his career but rather for him to get a beating in front of his father yet he always jumps at the opportunity to do these matches. A fifth problem is Whitmer is miscast here. The type of character that Whitmer is trying to be is a charismatic mantipulator and instigator. Unfortunately, Whitmer has never been a charismatic individual or a good talker as he's always been more of a workhorse. This character requires someone like a Raven, Bray Wyatt, James Storm, or Truth Martini and Whitmer lacks the charisma and mic skills to pull it off. Finally, there was never even a blow off after the two have been feuding for a year. Instead, Corino lost his announcers job due to attacking Whitmer and then came back under his Mr. Wrestling 3 gimmick heading into 2016 which means this feud will be dragging even further.

Most Overrated- Roderick Strong (ROH/PWG/EVOLVE/FIP)- Make no mistake about it. 2015 was a year where there were many overrated wrestlers. From John Cena to Brock Lesnar to Charlotte to Nikki Bella to Sasha Banks. Hell, even in TNA, which is a company I'm a big fan of, they had their share as you could make arguments that Mahabali Shera got a lot this year for someone new and green. I would even throw Gail Kim to some extent as she's a great talent but I didn't think she should've got another title reign and be continually put in the title picture. However, as much as I or others may think these or other wrestlers are overrated, at least I can take comfort in that most of the wrestlers I find overrated are at least in only one organization. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for one Roderick Strong which is why I award him this prize. Strong is the very definition of a vanilla midget as mean as that might sound. Forget a picture, if you looked up overrated or vanilla midget in a dictionary, Strong's career is a definition. If anything, you don't need to look up a dictionary as you can look up his wikipedia profile for the definition. Ultimately, Strong is a decent to solid wrestler but he's really nothing extraordinary as he's nowhere near Chris Benoit or Dean Malenko were in their primes as they lacked almost everywhere but were such great wrestlers that it made up for everything else they didn't have. Speaking of that, Strong has nothing else. He's not a good or even decent talker that could cut good promos. He's not charismatic and doesn't catch your eye or is exciting. His look is terrible as he looks like someone that's 12 years old or as others put best, the base look to the Create-A-Wrestler in wrestling video games. As a wrestler, he's extremely repetitive as he does nothing but variations of the backbreaker, chops, and his sick kick. At his best, Strong is good enough for opening matches to work with new comers, maybe win the midcard belts, and be a tag wrestler. Yet, all these indy companies still continue to have him work as a main eventer despite his laundry list of limitations. PWG not only gave him their World Title but have given him a year plus long reign as champion. FIP also gave him their World Title for a brief period while ROH and EVOLVE gave him title shots at their top belts. In the end, Strong doesn't have what it takes to be a main eventer and companies would be better off admitting it especially since they can invest their time with talent who truly have it. To me, 2015 regarding Roderick Strong is the ten year anniversary of when he last showed potential.

Worst Announcer- Steve Corino (ROH)- Corino gets the double whammy this year as this was unquestionably one of the easiest picks and there is no close second no matter how bad certain announcers may be. I've heard bad announcers especially this year but Steve Corino is on a whole other level of bad. He's easily the most annoying announcer in the business today. He doesn't have a good voice for commentary. Despite being a very good wrestler in his time, he doesn't offer any good points of view from a wrestler's perspective. Even worse, he spends most of the time not even calling the action but telling awful jokes and they're not only bad but he seems more focused on trying to be funny then, you know, calling the action. If commentators want to tell jokes, they usually have to time it and have to be witty but Corino is neither as he just tells joke after joke hoping at least one will be funny. Then there's the fact he repeats awful stuff ad nauseum including his stupid joke when he think throwing an opponent over the top rope is a disqualification which is stupid as it's both unfunny and most fans probably don't know what he's talking about since that rule ended about 20 years ago. Then he does one of the most annoying things I've ever heard an announcer do. Every time a wrestler (specifically The Young Bucks) do a superkick, he yells "SUPERKICK!" and he does it over and over again. It's even worse when you have The Young Bucks wrestle as he yells "SUPERKICK!" literally 15-30 times. To paraphrase Jim Cornette, I don't know what ROH got from putting a head set on Steve Corino but it should've been 3-5 years in the state penitentiary.

Worst Non Wrestler- The Authority (WWE)- Sadly, this is one of those awards where there was lots to choose from this year as we had Zeb Colter come back with his boring and lame act to Paul Heyman half assing his way through one performance after another. On the plus side, the WWE kept them to a minimum but the same can't be said for The Authority. All year long, The Authority were on TV and all year long, they brought absolutely nothing to the table. There was no need to have them other than to stroke the egos of Triple H and Stephanie. Neither were entertaining at all as they cut boring, terrible promos and neither can act even for wrestling standards. Stephanie especially was absolutely abysmal again as she continues to act tough despite all the male wrestlers are far bigger and stronger while she's a near 40 year old woman, gives horrible facial reactions, and does nothing but the same slap across the face we've seen for the last 15 years on and off. Again, they barely put anyone over this year with Triple H getting an unnecessary win over Sting at Wrestlemania which killed Sting right out of the gate, Stephanie comes out to start the diva's revolution which is clearly done so the credit went to her, and they belittled their chosen champion Seth Rollins like Randy Orton as they made it to the point where he's beneath them. While Triple H did get beat up by Roman Reigns at the end of the year, it still doesn't make up for the rest of the year. They took part in the worst segment in Wrestlemania history this year at least in my opinion when they had their 30 minute bit with Rock and Ronda Rousey which got really old, really fast. There's also no logic to them either as it's become clear that they can do whatever they want. Vince or the board of directors aren't going to stop them so why don't they do more of what they want? Why do they give title shots to wrestlers they don't like? Who's stopping them from giving the champions they like easy defenses? There's no logic. Just when I thought they were bad in 2013 and 2014, they got even worse this year because I couldn't tell what they're alignment was. On paper, they're supposed to be power hungry villains but then there would be times when they would act like babyfaces. For example, they constantly made things tough for their champion Seth Rollins as he either had to face Brock Lesnar or John Cena & Sting in the same night. Then there was Stephanie who started the diva's revolution and brought Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch in despite the fact she's supposed to be a heel and the champion at the time Nikki Bella was one too. Then there was Nikki getting herself disqualified to retain her title against Charlotte on an episode of RAW only for Stephanie to book an immediate rematch at Night of Champions where Nikki would lose the title if she got disqualified again. Why? Why were they helping babyfaces or the fan favorites? Aren't they supposed to be villains? Then there's the case where the evil boss storyline is so stale especially in WWE. In fact, you would have to go all the way back to 1997 to find the WWE going a full year with no heel or villain boss. It's another case that the company is out of touch.

Worst Gimmick- Stardust (Goldust Ripoff) (WWE)- Poor Cody Rhodes. What is it I ask you? What is it about this guy where he can't get a good gimmick to work with? I already hated this gimmick last year and it's not changed. In fact, it's worse this year because it seemed like there were periods where it was time to shed the gimmick but they didn't. He had his feud with Goldust and you would think that would be it but it wasn't. Then his father Dusty Rhodes' passes away and you would think this would be the time but he still has it. Another problem is that this is one of those gimmicks where the wrestler is shackled by it. It's clear that Cody Rhodes can't perform to the best of his abilities as Stardust as he's only able to do certain moves, cut certain types of promos, and always act spazzed out. It's just embarrassing and stupid to limit a talented guy like Rhodes with a ridiculous persona. Another problem is the fact that he's been reduced to ridiculous things like a stable with The Ascension that has the name that a villainous comic book group would have all the while feuding with actor Stephen Amell cause he stars on Arrow.

Worst Promotion- Ring of Honor- Sadly, 2015 had it's share of promotions that deserved this prize. The WWE deserved it for it stuck in a time warp mentality and ego. Lucha Underground deserved it for it awful B-movie like behind the scenes segments with laughable special effects. However, Ring of Honor ultimately gets it because they pretty much did nothing right. A lot of the wrestlers with the best potential were wasted for most of the year like Michael Elgin, Donovan Dijak, Cedric Alexander, and Silas Young to name some. Bland and lousy talent like Jay Briscoe, Roderick Strong, and War Machine were given undeserved pushes while talent that were green like Moose got more than they should given the level of experience. The company resigned the ultra stale Briscoes and Strong despite neither having anything left to do and the fact they've been in the company for more than a decade. They made their Top Prospect Tournament look horrible by having the winner Donovan Dijak do nothing all year except work as a sidekick and henchmen for Lethal and Martini. The TV show looks bad as the setting looks terrible, the format is bad as there is little to no backstage segments, the announcing is terrible as Kelly is decent while Corino is the worst today. There's also little to no matches on the show as they insist on usually having two with the second lasting nearly 30 minutes which gets old on a weekly basis. The shows are sometimes outdated as well as the shows will have bits before commercials hyping upcoming events but by the time the show airs, the events came and went buy ROH never bothered to update it before airing it. They also let Tommaso Ciampa slip through their fingers. They wasted the Knights of the Red Dawn as the story turned out to be nothing more than Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Chris Sabin wearing red masks and doing nothing with it beside beat reDRagon for the tag team championship.

Japanese Wrestling

Wrestler of the Year- Kohei Sato (ZERO1)- Sato is not only the wrestler of the year but easily one of the most underappreciated talents of 2015. As a wrestler, Sato can be repetitive with offense but he shows he can do just about anything. He can trade stiff shots with anyone as he's good with chops, kicks, and forearms. He's good with submissions as he does a very good cross armbreaker. He's good with power moves including piledrivers, german suplexes with bridges, and falcon arrows that are both on the ground and on the turnbuckles. He did a great job representing ZERO1 as their ace this year as he had one great match after another including his run in the fire festival tournament with his semifinal match against James Raideen and finals with Daisuke Sekimoto. The finals with Sekimoto was a testiment to his talent as the match was not only great but they told a good story and the aftermath was amazing storytelling as Sato won but neither could get up and after the referee raised his arm, all he could do was lay there with only his arms up as if he gave everything he had to gain that hard fought victory. From a storyline standpoint, Sato achieved tremendous success as he entered the year as ZERO1 World Heavyweight Champion and continued to hold the championship until losing it to Hideki Suzuki on November 1st which resulted in him holding it for 408 days which gives him the longest title reign in the history of the championship. He also held ZERO1's NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship, the 2015 ZERO1 Fire Festival Tournament, and Big Japan's Tag Team Titles.

Junior Heavyweight Wrestler of the Year- Taiji Ishimori (NOAH)- Again, Ishimori gets this prize because he's an exciting junior heavyweight who does the great high flying moves and dives to the outside. He's one of those guys who is always fun to watch and is rarely boring. The stuff he pulls off includes 450 degree splashes and dives from the corner to the outside. At the same time, he's not just some spot monkey who can't tell stories as he can wrestle and not just mindless high flying.

Best Gaijin (Foreigner)- Joe Doering (All Japan)- While Doering missed most of the second half of 2015, I still give him this award because he had a very good first year. As a wrestler, he's a talented and athletic big man who is not only strong but moves around the ring very well and can keep up with smaller wrestlers. He also took part in great matches this year including his Triple Crown title loss to Go Shiozaki.

Tag Team of the Year- Killer Elite Squad (NOAH)- KES has been one of wrestlings best teams for years and they are again the best team in Japan. Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. have shown to have great chemistry as a team and have great double team moves. This year, they've put on many good matches against teams like TMDK and Big in USA. From a storyline standpoint, KES won the GHC Tag Team Championship in February and held them for the rest of the year all the while making five successful title defenses. They also held the NWA World Tag Team Titles this year as well and made it to the finals of NOAH's Global Tag League.

Best Match of the Year- Go Shiozaki vs. Kento Miyahara (3/27 Dream Power Series 2015) (All Japan)- Sadly, I haven't watched this match in months and the video was taken down so I can't go into detail but I do remember it being action packed and getting better as it went on. Not to mention that both were red hot match wise all year long.

Comeback of the Year- Hirooki Goto (New Japan)- After being directionless and not getting any belts for years, 2015 finally saw Goto get some direction. He was booked far better as he did better in tournaments and won belts for the first time in three years by winning the Heavyweight Tag Team Titles with Katsuyori Shibata and then the Intercontinental Title for the second time. After years of seemingly losing his way, Goto appears to have gotten back on track somewhat and could have a good 2016.

Most Improved- Maybach Taniguchi (NOAH)- I've been a fan of Taniguchi for years but in 2015, he really seemed to take that next level and prove he could hang with the major players. As a wrestler, Taniguchi is fun to watch with his mixture of brawling & hardcore style combined with power moves and good selling. He shined the most back in the spring following the retirement of his Choukibou-gun leader Takeshi Morishima and when he was being booked as a game changer in NOAH's war with Suzukigun especially in their elimination matches. He also put on fun matches against Takashi Iizuka and their hardcore matches as well as with the returning Go Shiozaki. While, he sadly didn't get NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Championship this year, he still look solid in the ring and could make a run for it in 2016.

Debut/Return of the Year- James Raideen (ZERO1)- After taking a year and half away from Japan, Raideen returned to ZERO1 back in the summer and hasn't missed a beat. He continues to put on many good matches with the likes of Kohei Sato and Shinjiro Otani all the while being a welcome addition to ZERO1's shallow roster. He's a big strong kid but moves around very well and can be fast for someone his size. Also, like I said years ago, he never looks out of place in the ring despite being less than 25 years old (he's 24 as of writing) especially in Japan where they like to hit hard and he's facing wrestlers in their late 30s or early 40s with decades of experience. It's also been nice to see him back in the ring as he's been great as the foreign ace of the company.

Most Underrated- Captain New Japan (New Japan)- Once again, I give Captain New Japan this gimmick simply because New Japan wasted another year of his career with this ridiculous Captain America comedy gimmick. Now, I'm not saying Mitsuhide Hirasawa is a great wrestler but he deserves a chance to sink and swim instead of wasting the prime years of his career as a comedy jobber.

Best Promotion- Pro Wrestling NOAH- After struggling for so many years, 2015 saw NOAH finally show promise again. The company benefited heavily with the addition of the Suzukigun stable and the invasion storyline that came from it. They had many good matches and moments this year. They replenished their roster by debuting some rookies this year as well as signing Kenoh, Hajime Ohara, and Katushiko Nakajima to contracts all the while seeing Go Shiozaki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru return as freelancers. Meanwhile, Naomichi Marufuji was successful in staying healthy, Maybach Taniguchi looked like he took that step up, and Takashi Sugiura is still a solid wrestler at 45. Along with native talent, the company was fortunate to bring in talented foreigners like veterans including Chris Hero & Colt Cabana to Harley Race pupils like Jack Gamble, Jon Webb, and Brian Breaker. In my opinion, the company also host perhaps the best junior heavyweight division in Japanese Wrestling with talent like Taiji Ishimori, Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Kenoh, Hajime Ohara, and the returning Yoshinobu Kanemaru. I also have no complaints as to who they pushed as they were all talented and deserved they're positions. Granted, no one is perfect as NOAH did suffer some setbacks with the departures of Takeshi Morishima (who also retired), The Mighty Don't Kneel (Mikey Nichols & Shane Haste), and Zack Sabre Jr. as well as me preferring that Taniguchi being the one to unseat Minoru Suzuki as GHC Heavyweight Champion instead of Marufuji regaining the title but the pros easily outweigh the cons.

Worst Wrestler of the Year- Akebono (All Japan)- I've never really been into Akebono as a wrestler and 2015 didn't convince me otherwise. Akebono just has way too many flaws as he's very slow and not very athletic. Sure, he is a former sumo wrestler but even big men have shown some agility but Akebono doesn't. His mov eset is not very exciting and his selling isn't the best. He's also very boring to watch. The only thing I'll give him credit for is that he has no problem taking bumps where he's given power moves.

Worst Gaijin (Foreigner) of the Year- None

Worst Tag Team of the Year- None

Most Overrated- Shinsuke Nakamura (New Japan)- I don't get it. I used to be a Nakamura fan but I just don't see it in recent years. As a wrestler, he's really repetitive doing mostly knee attacks and his character is basically an annoying drunk who looks like he's having a seizure. Sometimes, the moves he does look sloppy and he overuses his own finishing maneuver: the Boma Ye (running knee). Another issue is the fact that he's constantly booked to hold the IWGP (International Wrestling Grand Prix) Intercontinental Championship and the few times he doesn't, he's literally the only one to get title shots. Again, there's guys New Japan have that deserve runs as opposed to never ending Nakamura reigns. Yet another reason is the fact that he constantly gets praise as one of the best in the world yet I don't see it. Like I wrote, his character is ridiculous and he's extremely limited. Yet, he continues to get praised and his matches get high ratings despite the majority of it is him either being sloppy or doing knee attacks.

Worst Promotion- New Japan Pro Wrestling- This company get the award again because of it's lazy booking. 2015 was pretty much the same year that New Japan has had for years. Nobody really moves up and nobody really moves down. The company doesn't take any chances and is a trendmill. The Heavyweight Title was the usual Tanahashi/Okada/Styles show with literally no one else getting a run and that has been the case since 2011. The Intercontinental Title was mostly held by Shinsuke Nakamura and when he lost it to Hirooki Goto, he was literally the only wrestler Goto defended against. The Heavyweight Tag Titles was mostly around Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows' waists despite the fact they held the tag title all year in 2014. The NEVER Openweight Title was only held by Togi Makabe and Tomohiro Ishii. The Junior Tag Division was mostly the same four teams we've seen for a long time in the Time Splitters, The Young Bucks, Roppongi Vice (which was a spin off of Forever Hooligans), and reDRagon. The Bullet Club is a very stale product that's been overexposed. So, I'm not taken anything away from the matches, I'm not been the biggest fan of the booking. That's why New Japan is the worst because they have a loaded roster and more guys than they know what to do with and they're wasting a lot of them as some don't get opportunities while others are stuck doing the same thing and winning the same championship over and over again.