March 5, 2019
By Ryan Porzl
Another year gone which makes it time my year end awards for what I considered both the best and worst in American and Japanese wrestling. As is usually the case, these are my opinions and mine alone.
American Wrestling
Wrestler of the Year: Austin Aries (Impact Wrestling, Ring Warriors)- There were plenty of wrestlers to choose this year but to me, Aries was the wrestler of the year and for many reasons. Aries turned 40 and despite that along with 20 years in the business, he still put on great matches with Eli Drake, The Lucha Bros., Moose, and Johnny Impact throughout the year and doesn't come off as someone slowing down. His return to Impact gave the promotion a nice spark and he was their top star for most of the year as he held the world championship for most of the year while main eventing all three Pay-Per-Views as the defending world champion. Along with his run in Impact, Aries was busy elsewhere, making a brief return to Ring of Honor, becoming a regular in the revived Ring Warriors, and becoming a huge success internationally for British promotion IPW: UK and Australian promotion WSW. From a storyline standpoint, Aries won the Impact World Heavyweight Championship two times and was the final Grand Champion. Internationally, he held the IPW: UK World Heavyweight Championship and the WSW World Heavyweight Championship twice.
Woman Wrestler of the Year: Allie (Impact Wrestling)- I know it's tempting to give the award to Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Asuka, or if it's someone in Impact, then Tessa Blanchard but Allie deserves this so much in so many ways. As a wrestler, Allie put on one great match after another against the likes of Laurel Van Ness and Sienna while having great feuds and matches with the likes of Su Yung and Tessa Blanchard. As a performer, she's capable of cutting good promos and has shown much growth with her character playing both a beloved, bubbly underdog to fallen, soulless villainess. His character was one of the most entertaining this year with some of the most evolution starting the year out as Impact Wrestling's sweetheart to someone who through her feud with Su Yung saw her life collapse and she lost everything as she slipped further and further to the darkside until, in something out of a tragic Shakespeare play, finally losing her soul and fallen under the control of the very knockout she swore to take out and the very knockout who took her title, her friends, and finally, her very soul. More importantly, Allie gets this award as she was the glue of the knockouts division. As much as Impact improved this year, the knockouts division saw another year of instability. Gail Kim retired at the end of 2017 which meant for the first time since 2011, Impact would have a knockouts division without Gail who had been the face of the division for most of it's 11 years. Meanwhile, Laurel Van Ness requested her release at the end of 2017 and left in January after losing the title. Sienna suffered blood clots in January and left in the summer upon recovering. Diamante entered the year hurt, came back in April, and got hurt again while Rosemary suffered a torn ACL in April and missed the rest of the year. Taya missed most of the year due to visa issues. With all this, Allie kept things going, not only in the ring but her storylines elevated newcomers with Su Yung and Tessa Blanchard quickly shooting to the top with their feuds with Allie while Kiera Hogan was elevated due to her friendship with Allie and occasional tag team partner. In a year of knockout instability, Allie carried the load and was a bit of much needed stability. From a storyline standpoint, Allie held the Knockouts Championship a second time.
Tag Team of the Year: LAX (Impact Wrestling)- For the second year in a row, LAX get the prize and it's obvious why. As a team, few are as good or better than them in the world today. Ortiz and Santana work like a perfect well oiled machine with everything running smooth and having great double team maneuvers. The team also has the whole package as they can fly, wrestle, and brawl with the best of them. I personally didn't see them have a bad or boring match this year as they had one great rivalry and match after another from oVe to The OGz to Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch to The Mack and Killshot with some being strong arguments for Match of the Year. From a storyline standpoint, LAX held the Impact Tag Team Championships for all but four days in 2018 as they entered the year as champs, lost them in April, and regained them four days later. Their third reign also earned them the records for longest combined days as champion and the longest reign in the history of the belts.
Best Fan Favorite: Allie (Impact Wrestling)- Even though Allie had fallen to the dark side towards the end of the year, she still spent most of the year a fan favorite and for the second year in a row gets this prize. Again, Allie was a great and likable character. She was lovable, she was sweet, and she was someone you couldn't help but get behind. You couldn't help but be happy when she regained the Knockouts Championship earlier in the year and felt sympathetic during her rivalry with Su Yung when she became a tragic heroine who lost everything.
Best Villain: Sami Callihan (Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and MLW)- I don't think there's a close second for this award. Callihan was awesome this year in terms of villain as he perfectly portrayed a disrespectful, psychotic scumbag. His antics in his feuds with Eddie Edwards and Pentagon Jr. really made him come off like a horrible person that you wanted to see get his comeuppance. He's so good as a villain that even in 2018, Callihan can still get on fans nerves and proves fans can still boo villains in this day and age. Best of all, Callihan has never been one of those "cool heels" who is trying to be liked by fans or is more focused on being cool, he's a jerk that doesn't care about being cool. He's a villain through and through as there's nothing cool about him. He's a piece of garbage who doesn't care who he hurts or how disrespectful he is. Nothing is sacred.
Best Match of the Year: LAX vs. The Mack and Killshot (Impact Wrestling/Lucha Underground, 4/6)- This was a great match that sadly didn't probably get enough eyes due to it being one of the first Twitch specials. Going in, you knew this would be great given the talent of these four men but they went above and beyond. This match had everything in good wrestling moves, insane speed, and great double team moves. The crowd was good and the timing was good as it was given time but didn't go too long so it left you wanting more which is important because some matches sometimes go way to long because of the myth that a long match automatically makes it a classic. Like any great movie or performance, you want to get it, do your thing, and get out without overstaying your welcome as you want to leave the fans wanting more instead of looking at their watch. LAX had their usual fluent double team moves but Mack and Killshot showed great chemistry as well along with good double team maneuvers. I would definitely love to see a rematch down the road and if you haven't seen it then you should seek it on Impact's Twitch channel as you shouldn't be disappointed.
Best Brawler: Brody King (MLW and ROH)- King had been one of wrestling's more promising prospects in 2018 and definitely comes off well as a big tough dude who can hang and trade with anyone. He especially showed this in his matches with PCO in MLW which had their shares of craziness with the two taking it to each other while also showing it in matches against Shane Strickland and Tommy Dreamer.
Best Flyer: Fenix (Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and MLW) and Ricochet (NXT) (tie)- Not surprising here as these two are on another level being able to pull off all sorts of insane high flying moves and are so smooth. They are capable of pulling off insane moves with ease but at the same time aren't spot monkeys who have car crash matches. As is usually the case with the yearly winner to this award, they don't come off like a bunch of amateurs who just fly around for no reason other than they don't know anything else. Instead, they do insane stuff but it has a purpose.
Best Talker: King (Impact Wrestling)- Anybody who's known Eddie Kingston from his time in the indies knew he's a great talker and he showed that this year. King was a great mouthpiece especially for the OGz who aren't well known for their mic skills and he had some nice back and forths with Konnan this year. Even though King isn't a manager, he shined in the role and was also able to get some good heat from the crowd.
Most Improved: Jake Strong/Jake Hager (Lucha Underground and MLW)- After being wasted for years in WWE, the former Jack Swagger has finally shown the world what he's capable of due his exploits in Lucha Underground and MLW putting on good matches and really shining as a vicious intense Kurt Angle like wrestler who is a great athlete with great amateur wrestling and a desire to breaks ankles with the ankle lock. One benefit Hager got was the fact that he is around 6'5 and 240 pounds. In the WWE, his size wasn't anything special since they had many other wrestlers either the same size or bigger but in Lucha Underground and MLW, he looks like a monster compared to most of the other talents. Hager also comes off like a star and carries himself extremely well like a main event level threat to anyone while holding his own against faster wrestlers like the ones in LU. With Lucha Underground's status up in the air and Hager focused on MMA, it's unknown what we'll see of him in 2019 but hopefully we'll see more now that he's in places that see his use and he has put it together.
Comeback of the Year: Daniel Bryan (WWE), Kaitlyn (freelance), and PCO (ROH and MLW) (tie)- This one is another obvious but I had to pick all three for various reasons. Bryan was one of the easiest choices given he returned after a two year retirement and was able to return to form. Like his old mentor Shawn Michaels, he still can go like he used to and doesn't come off like he missed a beat not to mention that he remained healthy all year long which was something he couldn't do in 2014 or 2015. If anything, the time off looked like it did him a world of good.
I was a fan of Kaitlyn for years and thought she had a lot of potential while being a face in WWE's women's division along with AJ as their generation's Trish and Lita but just as she was shining and coming into her own, she left the business. After a few years away, she returned to the ring at several indy shows before participating in the Mae Young Classic where she made it to the quarterfinals. While I don't know if she'll plan to wrestle anytime soon, it was nice to see this return even if it was brief.
PCO is another impressive story as the former Quebecer seemed like his career was done years ago only to prove he can still go in the ring. Despite turning 52 in December, PCO is still a good talent in the ring and capable of putting on great matches while also reinventing himself and his gimmick as he's no longer your mom and dad's PCO who was a Quebecer dressed as a mountie or a jacket stealing pirate but now the French-Canadian Frankenstein. For a guy to still be able to keep up in his 50s while reinventing himself as opposed to riding nostalgia like many aging names, you have to award him here.
Best Feud of the Year: Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan (Impact Wrestling)- A simple but great storyline between someone who is great as a likable babyface in Pentagon and someone who is great as a hatable heel in Callihan. This feud had just about everything including intense and great matches as well as promos. You got the point these two despised each other and were willing to go to any lengths to top the other. The way it began was perfect with Callihan trying to rip off Pentagon's mask as most fans by now know how much a mask means to a luchador and it immediately showed Callihan had no respect and went to the lowest of lows. There was no feeling out as it became personal as soon as it began. The matches including the hair vs. mask match at Slammiversary were among some of the best of the year. Even after Slammiversary, they still were able to keep things hot as things accelerated with Callihan becoming even more crazed and unhinged after losing his hair to the point where it may have done Pentagon more harm than good to beat him and take his hair. The only weakness to the rivalry was the blow off at Bound For Glory didn't have a conclusion as Callihan (teaming with oVe) pinned Brian Cage (teaming with Pentagon and Fenix) which segued to a brief Callihan/Cage feud but it does keep the door open for the rivalry to restart in the future.
Debut/Return of the Year: The Lucha Underground additions (Impact Wrestling)- There were a lot of great things for Impact in 2018 and one of them was the influx of talent from Lucha Underground namely Brian Cage, The Lucha Brothers, and Willie Mack which definitely was a shot in the arm for the Impact roster with Cage not only enjoying a run with the X Divison Championship and has since become one of the top stars while The Lucha Brothers have become a top team, Pentagon enjoyed a run as World Champion, and his feud with Sami Callihan was the best of the year. Mack came in at the end of the year and wasn't able to make much of a splash but he's still a great addition with tons of potential. All four have done good to great work while giving Impact new rivalries and storylines as well as four guys who could fit in any men's division.
Most Underrated: The Revival (WWE)- As is usually the case with WWE and their incredible knack of wasting talent, I was given a treasure trove of choices to choose from. A lot of the picks are with their women as Mickie James is still a great competitor despite pushing 40 but did almost nothing of note this year while The Riott Squad feature three talented wrestlers including Ruby Riott who would be great as a heel champion but they were mostly wasted putting over part time deadweight in the Bellas. Ultimately, I chose The Revival because they are one of the best tag teams in wrestling today and could go down as one of the best of all time but the WWE has done nothing with them all year. To be fair, both suffered injuries in 2017 and it makes sense to wait and see if it will be a common occurrence but we're past that. To make things ugly, the WWE has instead put their RAW Tag Titles on bad and/or joke teams like The Bar, a ten year old kid, Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt, and The B-Team which is insulting to a team like The Revival which is a team just about any other promotion would love to have. If rumors are true then The Revival are apparently so miserable that they want out going into 2019 and hopefully they will because they're lowering themselves at this point.
Best Announcer: Don Callis (Impact Wrestling)- Anybody who heard Callis when he announced for ECW as Cyrus and sometimes for WWF as The Jackyl knows he's a very good commentator and he continued to prove it this year. His commentary has a bit of everything as he's knowledgable, he can be witty and funny, and can describe things well like how certain moves feel being he's a former wrestler. Best of all, he's never annoying and doesn't make you want to mute the TV or computer which is always appreciated.
Best Non-Wrestler: Salina de la Renta (MLW)- There wasn't much to choose from here in 2018 as there weren't many non wrestlers and some of the ones that were around weren't good but even with all that, Salina still stood above the pack. Despite only being 21 years old and still fairly new to wrestling, Salina has shined in her role as a manager or "promoter" in MLW of the Promociones Dorado faction as she's solid on the mic and can hold her own even when going back and forth with veterans like Konnan. She also passes herself off well as she comes to ring exuding confidence and comes off as someone you don't want to mess with despite not being physically imposing. She also knows her moments and her place in a match as she's low key outside of interfering and never tries to chew up the scenery or make it about herself which is what a manager is supposed to do.
Best Gimmick: Pentagon Jr./Ninja Luchador (Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and MLW)- I don't know how I missed this one. Like Drago a few years ago, this one is simple as he combines two great things. He's a combination of a ninja and a luchador. I don't think I should have to go into detail about the obvious cool factor of a ninja luchador.
Best Promotion: Impact Wrestling and MLW (tie)- Once again, Impact gets the prize but this year shares it with MLW. I've always been a fan of Impact but even their biggest critics have to admit 2018 was one of their best years in years. For the first time since 2012, they were more stable backstage and had a vision on where they want to go after so many years of uncertainty thanks to Anthem owning and Scott D'Amore, Don Callis, and Ed Norholm running things. Despite the departures of big names like Lashley, EC3, Laurel Van Ness, and Sienna to name some, the promotion scored some massive coups in new names such as Brian Cage, The Lucha Bros, Tessa Blanchard, Kiera Hogan, Killer Kross, Willie Mack, Scarlett Bordeaux, Rich Swann, Su Yung, The Desi Hit Squad, Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel of The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier was already part of Impact), and Ethan Page while also seeing the returns of familiar faces like Austin Aries, The OGz, and Katarina. The promotion had some of the best matches this year from Pentagon/Callihan at Slammiversary to LAX/Killshot and Mack at the Impact/Lucha Underground Twitch exclusive event and some of the best feuds including Callihan's with Eddie Edwards and Pentagon to Allie/Su Yung to LAX/OGz. The promotion was also able to show growth with their wrestlers personas with Allie being one of the most evolved and changed characters this year to Eddie Edwards and Moose changing theirs and added much needed breaths of fresh air after having been playing the same characters for years. Impact also continued enjoying success in the United States and Canada while returning to the UK for the first time in two years and debuting in Mexico thus expanding their reach. They've rebuilt their image by forming alliances with local American and International promotions which has led to interesting Twitch specials that showcase co-promoted shows with Impact's regular wrestlers as well as local talent which freshens things up and allows new talent to appear in front of a bigger audience. Not everything was perfect as the Knockouts division continued to be unstable with departures and injuries which hurt it and has been a problem for years while Austin Aries' abrupt departure overshadowed the biggest event of the year. Nevertheless, 2018 was a great year that saw great moments and steady growth.
2018 was MLW's first full year since 2003 after returning in 2017 following a 14 year hiatus and it was a fun year for them. MLW is small and taking their time but they still provide a fun product to get into and have something that can appeal to current and old school fans. For the current fans, it features some of the best wrestlers in the world today including Low Ki, Shane Strickland, The Lucha Bros., The Hart Foundation, MJF, and Sami Callihan while also featuring names old school fans would know including LA Park (WCW's La Parka), PCO, Samu, Tommy Dreamer, Konnan and Colonel Robert Parker as managers, and Tony Schiavone as the announcer. The action is good, the storylines are solid, and they've brought in some fun matches like WarGames and Battle Riot which is their twist on the Royal Rumble. They have a one hour show which is good right now for their size as they don't need a big two hour show or multiple shows, at least not yet. Speaking of that, they've also got the right length as it's not too much and it gets the job done as you have enough matches and time for angles while also wanting more and looking forward to the following week.
Worst Wrestler of the Year: Randy Orton (WWE)- The best way to describe Orton over the years is as "The Sleeperhold of Wrestling" and the embodiment of boring. Ever since he's been doing the Viper act over the years, Orton has been boring every way possible with slow and dull promos and matches. Even him coming out makes you want to go to sleep. He tries to come off cerebral and in a methodical way like he plans every word before he says it and every move before doing it but he just comes off lagging and mind numbingly dull. At no point this year has Orton had a decent promo or a decent match even against great competitors like Bobby Roode and his angles were weak including his one note feud with Jeff Hardy which became about how many times Orton can stick his finger through Hardy's ear piecing and one with Rey Mysterio over Mysterio's mask. Orton, like a lot of top WWE stars, also wrestles the same repetitive style as every match has to see him do all his signature moves and he always has to hit the RKO "from outta nowhere" to the point where just standing in front of the opponent and doing it would be more unpredictable. Because of this, he's extremely predictable as you know barring rare occasions that an Orton match won't end until he does his snap powerslam, elevated DDT, and RKO win, lose, or draw. From May to July, Orton also took time off and to show how lackluster he is, I personally forgot all about him and didn't even notice he was gone.
Worst Woman Wrestler of the Year: Nia Jax (WWE)- At one point, this was a toss up between Carmella and Nia for similar reasons with both being pretty talentless in the ring, awful on the mic, sometimes having to resort to cheap heat, and getting almost no reaction all the while getting pushes they didn't deserve. However, Nia barely beats out Carmella because as bad and annoying as Carmella is, at least she's not hurting wrestlers. It's been known for some time that Nia is a pretty careless wrestler who doesn't seem to try and protect her opponent like a wrestler is supposed to do and has earned a reputation for being unsafe to work with. In 2018, Nia injured a number of wrestlers including three in one month. She may have injured Alexa Bliss during their feud and her issues with concussions seemed to have crept up during their matches. In November alone, she gave Zelina Vega a concussion and busted open Tamina at the Evolution pay-per-view by carelessly throwing Vega out of the ring and onto Tamina and shortly after, injured Becky Lynch after throwing a stiff punch. Even worse is Becky was forced out of her match with Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series resulting in another match for a major pay-per-view being cancelled with the first being a year before when she injured Bayley forcing her out of Summerslam. While I understand Nia was brought up too soon, she's been there two years and has made no improvement. The more you watch her, hear her, and see all her limitations and there's quite a lot, you see she's really only getting opportunities because she's cousins with one of the biggest stars in wrestling history.
Worst Tag Team of the Year: The Bar (WWE)- Another year and WWE left me with plenty of choices for this category. I did consider The New Day again but I decided to go with The Bar. The Bar is truly a sad case because Cesaro and Sheamus were both capable and talented wrestlers so this shouldn't be a bad team but this team is a miserable failure. For one, the team just doesn't gel as Cesaro and Sheamus don't click as a team, their double team moves are pretty weak, and their interaction and promo work isn't good nor do they bounce off each other well. Their matches are also bad and boring as they haven't had a single great match this year in my opinion regardless of who they're wrestling. I also feel that both aren't motivated anymore and Sheamus has not only been mediocre since his return from injury in 2015 but he's also struggled with a neck injury. Sadly, their lack of chemistry and lackluster matches were just a few of the problems with them. Their look is also a hodge podge as they look like Scottish Air Force Pilots with bomber jackets, sunglasses, and kilts which is something I don't get other than it looks bad. Their pose is reminiscent of the Saiyan fusion pose from Dragon Ball Z and their name is supposed to be cause they don't set the bar but are the bar. The team also frustrates me because WWE has Kassius Ohno being wasted in NXT and he and Cesaro were The Kings of Wrestling many years ago and even though they're older and Ohno is overweight, they're a way better team then The Bar and I always think about KOW whenever The Bar shows up.
Worst Match of the Year: The Undertaker and Kane vs. Shawn Michaels and Triple H (WWE, Crown Jewel 11/2)- I don't know where to start with this one. I guess I'll start with the fact these guys had a combined age of 206. Now, I know this isn't the first time WWE has been hypocritical and it's been a long time, but it's still amazing how WWE relies on a bunch of 50 year olds two decades after mocking WCW for relying on "old" wrestlers who were in their 40s. I can say the words that come to mind watching this which is sad, depressing, and pathetic. The first problem was this match went too long as there is no excuse for these four to be wrestling a 27 minute match in 2018 given their ages and mileage. Most of the match either was slow, boring, plodding "action" with everyone short of Michaels moving at half speed or them doing the typical WWE main event style of finisher spamming, table bumps, and constant pinfalls. Most of the guys looked real old and sad with Taker looking old in the face and having a receding hairline, Michaels looked like he aged several decades with his bald look, and Triple H looked sad with his bald head, mountain man beard, and a deteriorated physique that's a far cry from what he looked like ten years ago. Speaking of Triple H, The Game tore his pec early on in the match so he was very limited in what he could do for 90% of the match. The match was also so dull that it started with a red hot crowd but they got more quiet as it went on. Michaels was the only one who looked decent in this match which is pathetic given he's the second oldest in this match and coming off an 8 1/2 year retirement but even he had his moment as he missed his moonsault to floor as he only connected with Taker and Kane's arms and went splat. It also had some embarrssing moments of Michaels accidentally knocking Kane's mask and wig off at one point which reminded me of Heroes of Wrestling with Jim Neidhart trying to prevent Jake "The Snake" Roberts from tagging by grabbing his boot only for the boot to come off. Then there was Undertaker and Triple H stumbling and fumbling over an irish whip which is something each of them had done and taken tens of thousands of times in their careers. Overall, it was a putrid match and sad to see as Taker and Michaels had few equals in their primes while Kane and HHH were capable of great matches in their primes but seeing them here was bad and proved they all need to retire. While I personally thought the Taker/Michaels matches at Wrestlemania 25 and 26 were greatly overrated and nowhere near as great as their 1997/1998 matches, it's still sad how Michaels retired with a match many loved and he probably was proud of only to come back to this.
Worst Feud of the Year: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE)- I wasn't high on either guy in 2018 so I wasn't excited when this feud began and didn't have heartwarming memories of their time in New Japan like many others as both have been broken down for awhile and Nakamura has been awful for years. Safe to say, my expectations were in China when this began and it still was more bad then I thought possible. The first issue was this feud was supposed to be the top one on Smackdown so you think it be serious but it was too silly and became a parody after awhile with Nakamura cutting promos pretending he didn't speak English. Meanwhile, most of Nakamura's attacks on Styles began with lowblows to point where he seemed obsessed with hitting men in the nuts. Even worse, Styles joined in on the fun and the feud resembled something out of the iconic South Park episode MechaStriesand where they were playing roshambo as they took turns upper cutting and field goaling each other's junk. The promos were stupid and not one match was good or great as neither guy are in their prime and the matches also had laughable moments from them lowblowing each other simultaneously to Styles lowblowing Nakamura while Nakamura was doing his "come on!" taunt. With the lousy promos and matches, that would be enough for this award but the laughable elements including trying to top themselves in a game of roshambo put this not only over the top but makes this one of the most laughable feuds for the WWE Championship in the championship's near 56 year history.
Most Overrated: Brock Lesnar (WWE)- Congrats are in order for the man who is really more a pampered primadonna than a beast incarnate as Lesnar threepeats this award. Like 2014 and 2017, Lesnar gets this for the same reasons: overpaid, lazy, barely shows up, and doesn't give a damn but continues to get pay-per-view main events including Wrestlemania, he barely loses, and continues to be one of the most pushed wrestlers on the roster despite WWE not gaining anything for it and Lesnar not having done anything to earn it other than being gifted with god given genetics. As long as this continues Lesnar will keep getting this award for years to come barring someone more undeserving showing up which is hard to believe but never say never.
Worst Announcer: Percy Watson (WWE and NXT)- I didn't have an issue with many of the announcers in wrestling this year so the choice was ridiculously easy. I do think Mauro Rinallo is up there given he can be too annoying and over the top. However, I pick Watson cause I find him both annoying and useless. Seriously, why is he there? What does he offer in terms of commentary? He's not the play-by-play and he offers nothing on commentary as he's not witty or funny and not only does he not offer that wrestler point of view but Nigel McGuinness would do that better. He doesn't talk a lot and when he does, it's nothing of significance. If anything, it's like he needs to remind us he's still here. Even worse is he's annoying as he shows biaseness loudly cheering fan favorites or shouting "no!" whenever a villain could win. I don't why WWE plucked Watson from obscurity and why he continues to be an announcer other than WWE for some reason insists on having three announcers at every show.
Worst Non Wrestler: Paige (WWE)- I know people have praised Paige but I don't see it. As much as I don't care for WWE, I give them credit for trying to find Paige a job after she was forced into retirement due to injury but the problem is that this reminds me of "Superstar" Billy Graham in 1988/1989 when he was forced into retirement and the WWE tried to find something for him like manager and commentator but it didn't work. Like Graham, Paige was in the same position as she was put in the general manager position but it didn't work. The only difference between the two was the WWE tried to play off Graham's strengths, in his case, talking but while Paige was a good wrestler, she was never the best talker and the way WWE booked her, she came off lame and terrible. She seemed to want to come off goofy or maybe friendly but it comes off bad. To be fair, it isn't just her weaknesses but the concept of authority figures is the stalest thing in WWE and no matter who is playing it or how good they are, it's old and needs to be retired after 20+ years. I'm sure there's a place for Paige somewhere be it as an agent backstage helping other wrestlers by giving advice and putting together matches or as a trainer in the Performance Center but a non wrestling personality/authority figure isn't one of them.
Worst Gimmick: No Way Jose/Conga line dancer (WWE)- No Way Jose not only has the worst gimmick but has one the most one note gimmicks of all time. His gimmick is that of a guy who wants to have fiestas and leads conga lines. That's it. The gimmick is not only bad but it's not really a gimmick, more like an entrance. Take the conga line entrance away and it's nothing. It's a variation of the awful Adam Rose gimmick from years ago, a partying moron with a bunch of jackasses in costumes following him.
Worst Promotion: WWE- Another year and WWE earns this award again due to the fine folks at Titan Tower in Stanford unleashing another year of garbage content for us. A lot of the reasons are the same as they've been for years namely continuing to live and die off washed up talent and part timers to oversaturation with too many shows while RAW and Pay-Per-Views are too long. Very rarely, if ever, do you crave more WWE after these shows as they go so long, you're exhausted. The title scenes were jokes with the tag divisions biggest names mostly being stale, annoying acts or laughable jobbers. The Universal Title was around Brock Lesnar for most of the year despite his piss poor attendance record while the WWE Championship was with the washed up and broken down AJ Styles who was part of one bad story after another. The Women's division featured some good talent in Alexa and Becky but also featured talentless deadweight like Carmella and Nia Jax or overpushed darlings like Charlotte Flair or green rookies like Ronda while some of the best on the roster like Mickie James and The Riott Squad continued to be wasted. The midcard titles mean nothing as the Intercontinental Title was around the waist of the stalest men to hold the title specifically The Miz and Dolph Ziggler while the United States Title was held by aging and dull names like Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy to lousy acts like Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev and they give us practically no reason to care about the dead end Cruiserweight Division which seems to only exist to give WWE main events for their Pay-Per-View pre-shows. The promotion also continued to exploit their half assed Women's Evolution which outside of a women's only PPV has mostly been talk and little real advancement all the while earning horrible publicity by running shows in Saudi Arabia which is one of the most sexist countries on God's green Earth. By the end of the year, we're been treated to more McMahon trash and their insufferable egos.
Japanese Wrestling
Wrestler of the Year: Kento Miyahara (All Japan)- Miyahara continued to shine in 2019 as he put on one great match after another including his Triple Crown Championship win over Joe Doering, his two matches with Naomichi Marufuji, and title defense against Dylan James to name some while also forming a very good tag team with Yoshitatsu having great tag team matches against The Violent Giants (Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa) and The Big Guns (Zeus and Bodyguard). Miyahara is one of those guys who excels in just about everything from singles to tag team and can show power, speed, and toughness while being able to mix it up with any style. His strikes including his jump knees, yakuza kicks, forearms, and headbutts are all great while his somersault followed by a dropkick to the knee and to the head shows good speed. He's All Japan's ace and he's the perfect guy to be that in 2019. His only real weakness is he does spam the jump knee at times but other than that, great talent. From a storyline standpoint, Miyahara won the Triple Crown Championship two times, the World Tag Team Championship once, and the 2018 Royal Road Tournament.
Junior Heavyweight Wrestler of the Year: SUGI (ZERO1)- This guy is awesome. Plain and simple. If you haven't seen SUGI, you're missing out especially if you're into great high flying action. This guy is right up there with guys like Will Osperay, Ricochet, and Fenix in being able to pull off some insane maneuvers and do it with such fluidity. SUGI can not only do stuff like asai moonsaults and swanton bombs but phoenix splashes and reverse 630s. He's capable of cartwheeling on the top rope as well as walk half way across the ropes and hit a dropkick. From a storyline standpoint, SUGI won ZERO1's vacant NWA (New Wrestling Alliance) World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the vacant International Junior Heavyweight Championship, and NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship while also winning ZERO1's Tenkaichi Jr tournament. Outside of junior heavyweight, he won the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship.
Best Gaijin (Foreigner): Jay White (New Japan)- Got to give it to Jay White. After being on a learning excursion for a few years, White returned to New Japan early this year and quickly made a splash despite only turning 26 years old. He quickly showed solid and great performances and holding his own against New Japan's top stars despite only having five years experience. New Japan also noticed his growth, giving him the IWGP United States Championship, making him the new leader of top villainous faction in Bullet Club, and placing third in his block of the G1 Climax including scoring a win over Kazuchika Okada and the only one to beat eventual winner Hiroshi Tanahashi. 2018 was a career making year for the Mr. Zsasz of wrestling and giving how 2019 has already gone for him, it will be interesting to see his career progress.
Tag Team of the Year: RATALS (HAYATA and YO-HEY) (NOAH)- HAYATA and YO-HEY were not only Japanese Wrestling's best tag team but have been one of the most fun to watch. They work well together, have great moves, and are easy to get into even if you're not familiar to them due to their exciting style. They had several really good matches this year including against The Back Breakers (Hijime Ohara and Hitoshi Kumano) and Minoru Tanaka and Hi69. They also were a consistant top act in NOAH's junior tag team division be it as champions, challengers, and tournament winners throughout 2018. From a storyline standpoint, HAYATA and YO-HEY entered the year as GHC Junior Tag Team Champions and won the Global Junior Tag League for the second year in a row.
Best Match of the Year: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kento Miyahara (All Japan, 4/30)- A classic worthy that you expect in the finals of a prestigous tournament such as the Champion Carnival. Not only a good atmosphere with a hot sold out Korakuen Hall but the participants being interested as Miyahara is the current ace of All Japan while Marufuji not only trained in the dojo but was the last pupil of founder Giant Baba and the final dojo graduate to debut in All Japan during Baba's lifetime. The match itself had good wrestling, nice counters, and great strikes. Both men love using the jumping knee and used it against the other many times. Miyahara has great yakuza kicks and brutal headbutts while Marufuji had his sneaky hook side kick which he nailed. We got some nice moments including Marufuji hits his sidekick across the ring post, catching Miyahara coming sliding back in with a springboard basement dropkick, and Miyahara dodging a running knee to follow up with a german suplex. I also like Marufuji winning with the pole shift-style emerald flowsion which is a variation of the emerald flowsion which was the move of his mentor Mitsuharu Misawa who dominated All Japan over 20 years ago.
Comeback of the Year: Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan)- In 2018, it had been three years since Tanahashi had either held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and won the G1 Climax tournament. After failing to regain the title from Kazuchika Okada at the January 4th Tokyo Dome event in 2016, it looked as though the days of Tanahashi as New Japan's top star were over and over the next two years he settled into the role of an upper midcarder mostly going for the Intercontinental Championship while Okada succeeded him as New Japan's ace. Then in 2018, Tanahashi showed he was far from being done in the main event. Not only still capable of putting on great matches but he returned to the main event by winning his third G1 Climax, tying with Hiroyoshi Tenzan for second most and second only to Masahiro Chono's five. With that win, it allowed him to return to the main event of the January 4th Tokyo Dome show in 2019 and earn another opportunity at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Most Improved: Yoshitatsu (Freelance)- It's amazing what a change of scenery and a year can do. Yoshitatsu was always a solid wrestler and seemed to have potential when he returned to New Japan in 2014 but then went down with a bad neck injury and upon his return, he trended water with a lousy Bullet Club Hunter gimmick that saw him impersonate Triple H and many fans trashed his performances believing he was a waste of space that needed to be cut. Then in 2017, Yoshitatsu moved to All Japan as a freelancer and shed the Hunter Club gimmick. Since arriving, he's seen good improvements as a talent without the comedy gimmick while being given good direction for his career and opportunities. He's formed a very good team with ace Kento Miyahara and had some very good matches with teams like Violent Giants and The Big Guns while having good singles matches with KAI and Suwama. Perhaps as a testament to his improvement, Yoshitatsu enjoyed a brief run with the World Tag Team Championships and during the Champion Carnival scored a win over former ace Suwama. While I wouldn't put Yoshitatsu as a top 20 wrestler, he's a good hand and has rebuilt himself well to the point where he has won some of his critics over slowly and All Japan seems to have confidence in him giving him opportunities to compete and team with top stars and be giving titles. Not bad for a guy most wanted gone from New Japan and was considered a waste of space a year ago.
Debut/Return of the Year: Dylan James (Freelance)- The former James Raideen made a good splash in 2018 when he jumped to All Japan Pro Wrestling and began competing under his real name. As a talent, he had several good matches this year including his Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match against Kento Miyahara while also forming successful tag teams with Ryoji Sai and Joe Doering. He was also pushed quickly getting the World Tag Team Championship with Sai and the 2018 World's Strongest Tag Determination Tournament with Doering. James is also a great pick up as All Japan doesn't have many foreigners and he brings something different and a little variety but most of all, with Joe Doering turning 36 in 2018 and having battled a brain tumor years ago, the time might be coming to start grooming someone as Doering's successor as the gaijin ace and James can definitely be that wrestler.
Most Underrated: Yujiro Takahashi (New Japan)- Like last year, Yujiro is once again most underrated for the same reasons. Like I wrote a year ago, I don't know or think Yujiro is meant to be a main eventer but he can be a good hand as Intercontinental, NEVER, or Tag Team Champion but New Japan just does nothing with him. He wasn't given a title shot and was again left off the G1 Climax while deadweight like Tama Tonga dropped it down a notch. Yujiro is also someone that can hold his own and can be counted on to put on a solid match and he seems to gel easily with people in tag teams going from Hangman Page to Chase Owens with not much trouble. Hopefully 2019 will see The Tokyo Pimp get some chance to move up the ladder.
Best Promotion: All Japan Pro Wrestling- All Japan had another solid year quietly chuging along. The year had it's share of many great matches and moments. Miyahara continued to shine as ace having one great match after another. The vets in Suwama, Jun Akiyama, Atsushi Aoki, and Takao Omori can still be relied on to put on great matches. The young up and comers began to grow slowly but surely with Yuma Aoyagi and Naoya Nomura forming a good tag team, Jake Lee returned from injury halfway through the year and shows potential, Yusuke Okada took that step forward in his career no longer a rookie, and Koji Iwamoto more or less established himself as the promotion's new junior ace. They also added to their gaijins in Dylan James and Gianni Valetta which adds a bit variety. All Japan increased the number of dates for their biggest tours such as the Champion Carnival and the World's Strongest Tag Determination League. They also had some of the best matches this year including many of Miyahara's big matches and the Doering/KAI Triple Crown match to name some. The promotion did have some setbacks as they didn't go to Sumo Hall like the last two years and their booking at times was questionable including Zeus' short Triple Crown title reign to Koji Iwamoto's brief first reign as Junior Heavyweight Champion. Nevertheless, there was definitely far more good in a promotion that doesn't have enough people watching.
Worst Gaijin (Foreigner) of the Year: Tama Tonga (New Japan)- I've never been a fan of Tonga and I've always found him to be disappointing but this year, he was awful. After years as a tag team wrestler, New Japan pretty much tried to advance Tonga to the next level and make a top gaijin but it never worked. Tonga just doesn't have anything as his matches are boring and he completely failed to take it to the next level and had mediocre matches with guys who are great talent and those who people should have an easy time having a great match like Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega, Zack Sabre Jr., Tatsuya Naito, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto. Worst of all, Tonga's matches are basically the same chaotic mess with constant interference and cheating which gets very old very fast. Along with his lackluster matches, Tonga along with his brother have felt for a long time that profanity or pointing to their crotch makes them cool or edgy but it comes off lame and forced. No matter how you look at it, Tonga is mostly deadweight and has failed to reach the next level.
Worst Tag Team of the Year: Guerrillas of Destiny (New Japan)- Worst Gaijin isn't the only award Tonga gets this year as he and brother Tonga Loa also earned the Worst Tag Team award. Pretty much the issues with the team are the same as Tonga being a singles wrestler in that their matches are mostly boring, they can't rise to the occasion no matter how talented their opponents are, and they try too hard to portray bad asses. Also, like Tonga, they're tag matches are booked to resemble The Attitude Era WWF or ECW at their worst where you would think Vince Russo and Paul Heyman booked their matches after an all night binge on coke and speed. Even worst is this joke of a team has been pushed throughout 2018 as a top tag team possibly because New Japan's tag division are almost barren. We had to sit through them getting one run with the IWGP Tag Team Championship, two runs with the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship, and made it to the finals of the 2018 World Tag League.
Most Overrated: Kazuchika Okada (New Japan)- I don't hate Okada but in recent years, he's been shoved down our throats which makes him at times annoying. While things scaled back during the second half of the year, it's not enough to make up for the first half where his run as IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign dragged way longer than it should've and it can be argued he should've lost it back at Wrestle Kingdom in January to Naito. Okada has also been overrated based on his skill. Yes, he's a talented wrestler but he isn't anywhere near good enough to be considered the best in the world as his matches can get repetitive and constantly spams his moves to the point where you can make it into a dangerous drinking game. Not to mention, New Japan had his IWGP Title reign break Shinya Hashimoto's longevity record and while records break all the time, Okada is no Hashimoto, at least in my opinion.
Worst Promotion: Pro Wrestling NOAH- I love Pro Wrestling NOAH but this wasn't the best year for them. They entered the year with some momentum with Kenoh as champion but his reign didn't amount to much as he quickly lost the title to Takashi Sugiura and while that had to do with Kenoh not immediately signing a contract extention, it didn't help NOAH. Sugiura is normally very good but I didn't think his 2018 stuff was entertaining as his title defenses were ok but not great. The heavyweight tag titles felt like a hot potato at times with teams like Nakajima/Kitamiya and Shiozaki/Kiyomiya were short and felt half assed while I was never into 50 Funky Powers though the crowds seemed to be. The whole "old vs. young" storyline seemed very "eh" like almost everytime a promotion tries it. The junior division for the most part were great and NOAH's is arguably the best but I do question Daisuke Harada having a year long plus Junior Heavyweight Championship reign only to lose it to Kotaro Suzuki and then got it back less than two months later. Harada is great but seems too soon to have the belt back after such a long reign. By the end of the year, the promotion now is pushing 22 year old Kaito Kiyomiya who has lots of potential but may be too young and inexperienced to be given the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Like I said, the Junior Heavyweight Division was good, they churned out more rookies, and tried to add more character development or layers with wrestlers like Katsuhiko Nakajima and Atsushi Kotoge so there was some positive but the year still felt like a disappointment. Hopefully, 2019 will be a better and more entertaining year.
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