2020 Pro Wrestling Year End Awards

2020 Pro Wrestling Year End Awards
March 19, 2021
By Ryan Porzl

After a crazy 2020, it's time for me to do my year end awards for pro wrestling, at least as best as I can. As is usually the case, these are my opinions and mine alone. Keep in mind, my Japanese awards are based off what I saw and I wasn't able to find much New Japan or many companies.

American Wrestling

Wrestler of the Year: Jon Moxley (AEW)- This came down to Moxley and Drew McIntyre but with WWE run by incompetents and a senile out of touch old man, I went with Moxley who got booked better. Honestly, Moxley shined every way you could this year. He had some great matches including against the likes of Mr. Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston, Jake Hager, and Kenny Omega but also showed he can hang as a wrestler as shown in his match against Robert Anthony on Dark proving he's more than some brawler who fights outside the ring. Moxley has also shined as a talker. He's proven for years he's a great talker especially going back to his days in The Shield but he really was on point this year cutting great promo after great promo. He also has an air of coolness coming from the crowd like some lone wolf who lives and dies and plays by his own rules. Moxley also did a great job carrying AEW during most of their first full year as their champion for most of the year. From a storyline standpoint, Moxley won the AEW World Heavyweight Championship and held it for nearly nine months.  

Woman Wrestler of the Year: Deonna Purrazzo (Impact)- Amazing how much can change in a year. Deonna Purrazzo always had tremendous potential and after originally spending the first quarter of 2020 being wasted in NXT, she was released along with many due to the COVID-19 cutbacks. After sitting out her non-compete, Deonna signed with Impact and her run has been a big win for both Deonna and Impact in Deonna showing her true potential and Impact getting a great talent while Deonna can be the face of the division. She has also shined every way you can as she's had some great matches this year with the likes of Jordynne Grace and Su Yung while also cutting good promos and showing a good personality as a heel who no longer is a meek girl but a confident woman who will take what she wants. From a storyline standpoint, Deonna won the Impact Knockout Championship two times.

Tag Team of the Year: The North (Impact)- Pretty hard to pick a better option in my opinion. Once again, The North were a well-oiled machine with great chemistry, great double team moves, and who had great match after great match from the handicap match with Willie Mack to the series of matches with The Motor City Machine Guns to The Good Brothers. The two also had a good thing going as well when it came to personality as Page would sometimes come off silly while Alexander was more serious and did his talking in the ring but these opposites clicked. Regardless of whether it was match or segment, The North were usually a highlight in all of wrestling. From a storyline standpoint, The North entered the year as Impact World Tag Team Champions, held the titles for a record 380 days, and regained the championship for the second time.

Best Fan Favorite: Drew McIntyre (WWE)- There were some good fan favorites this year but I decided to give it to McIntyre for a variety of reasons. Unlike other awards where WWE's bad booking can hurt someone, here, it helped McIntyre. Anybody thats followed WWE for years knows how they can butcher a babyface by making them obnoxious, annoying, and someone who's face you want to punch like John Cena or Roman Reigns. Surprisingly, McIntyre hasn't been affected the same way. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of McIntyre but I don't find him the typical annoying, cheesy fan favorite. He actually comes off cool and likable and the fact he can do that despite WWE's atrocious booking is what puts him over the top.

Best Villain: Eric Young (Impact)- At first, I considered giving the award to MJF for the second year in a row but I felt EY did much better work towards the second half of the year. Young has shown for years that he can play a great psychotic heel but he really shined upon returning to Impact this year. Since coming back, he's really nailed the manipulative but insane heel to a "t" and his stuff with Rich Swann was great as he came off like an absolute hateful jerk to the point where you definitely looked forward to watching Swann return for revenge. He came off dangerous and someone not to be messed with but also very intelligent and that there was a method to his madness as he knew when to break the rules to his benefit during matches to him unleashing Joe Doering into Impact to manipulating Cody Deaner to betray his cousin.

Best Match of the Year: Cody Rhodes vs. Wardlow (AEW Dynamite, 2/19)- This match is a bit sad as I thought it was the best this year but it probably has been forgotten as it was early in the year and it was in the shadow of the Cody/MJF rivalry. Shame too because I thought this had MOTY material all over it. The story was well done as Cody Rhodes had to not only win to get his match with MJF after having already gone through several hoops to do it but he has to face a big, strong, athletic bodyguard that he didn't know much about. The action was great as Rhodes is always been a great talent but Wardlow showed he was no slouch showing great strength and speed including a nice swanton. It was easy to get as Rhodes plays a great babyface while Wardlow did a great job as a dangerous monster who has the whole package and little weakness to exploit. There was blood which added to this match as Rhodes, again, looked like he was going through hell and it showed how dangerous Wardlow can be. Finally, I think the booking was perfect which is needed to be. Going into the match, the thought would be that they booked themselves into a corner as Rhodes couldn't lose because he needed to win to face MJF and Wardlow was making his in-ring debut and in theory couldn't afford a loss as a monster like him should go on a win streak to begin. Yet, despite this, the match was pulled off so well that both looked great and while Wardlow lost, he still came off excellent and someone you can take seriously while Rhodes may have won but he came off more like a guy who didn't win but survived.

Best Brawler: Sami Callihan (Impact)

Best Flyer: Fenix (AEW)

Best Talker: Jake Roberts (AEW)- This one was one of the easier ones for me, though it could be cause I do have a soft spot for Roberts. As far as I'm concerned, Jake "The Snake" Roberts is the greatest talker in wrestling history and I don't know if there's a close second. I can listen to Roberts cut promos all day. While he turned 65 this year and his voice is raspy, the guy can still go on the mic and I think has proven to be a great mouthpiece for Lance Archer. He's had some great segments including his confrontation with Cody Rhodes, the face off with Arn Anderson, and the Archer vignette. Overall, it's nice to see one of the greatest talkers in history showcase his skill and assist the next generation.

Most Improved: Ace Austin (Impact)- This year had some great talent but I feel Austin was the most improved. Austin showed potential in 2019 but 2020 saw him emerge as a star and guaranteed future world champion as he came off a star in the ring and on the mic. He looked great as X Division Champion and he more than held his own during his trips to the main event including the main event at Slammiversary as well as his tag team with Madman Fulton. No matter what position he was in be it main event, tag team, or X division, he shined. For most of 2020, Austin reminded me of a young 1992/1993 Shawn Michaels in ring, his potential, and his personality. He's got all the making to explode in 2021 and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he became Impact World Champion before 2021 is up.

Comeback of the Year: Mr. Brodie Lee (AEW)- Sadly, we all know Lee passed away days before the year ended but that doesn't stop me for picking him. This isn't being given to Lee as a sympathetic choice but I really believe this. I did consider giving this to Eric Young who went from the doldrums to a career resurgence this year. In 2019, Lee was going nowhere in WWE and was in a dead end. In 2020, Lee went to AEW and had a great year and it was night and day. He not only became the Exhaulted One of the Dark Order but as mentioned by Voice of Wrestling, he gave The Dark Order credibility. Before Lee came in, The Dark Order were a pet project that was failing to get over but when Lee came in, a lot changed and they became a hot and popular act. A true testament to Lee's talent. Along with this, Lee captured gold for the last time in the AEW TNT Championship and had several big matches including his World Championship match with Jon Moxley at Double or Nothing to his big two TNT Championship matches with Cody Rhodes that showed he can hang with anyone. While it's sad and unfortunate we lost Lee at such a young age, at least he was able to prove himself and have this year of redemption.

Best Feud of the Year: Cody vs. MJF (AEW)- I don't know if 2020 had a ton of great options but this one stood out the most for me. Sadly, I can see that I think some may have forgotten this feud since it began in late 2019 and ended in February so it kind of faded into memory by the time the year was up. Still, this feud had a great story with two great talents with one playing a great fan favorite that you can easily get behind and the other playing a scumbag villain you want to see get his. The story was well put as you had MJF forcing Cody to go through hell and back in order for him to agree to face him since Cody wanted revenge but MJF held all the cards. The ten lashing segment was awesome and powerful. Definitely one of the best segments in all of wrestling in 2020. Finally, the blow off match delivered and while MJF got the last laugh scoring the win, it made sense in the long term giving the plans AEW had with MJF and eventually led him to being a world title contender. Overall, a great hero and villain in a well told story that had a satisfying conclusion.

Debut/Return of the Year: The Impact debuts/returns (Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Eric Young, Deonna Purrazzo, Heath, Brian Myers, and EC3) (Impact)- Obviously, one of the biggest stories of wrestling in 2020 was WWE's "Black Wednesday" when they released more than a dozen names as cutbacks due to the pandemic. What was a setback for many wrestlers and WWE letting go talent they had no use for, proved to benefit Impact greatly. Impact gained a lot from the acquistions with the first being a lot of buzz especially for their yearly Slammiversary pay-per-view. Second was these wrestlers didn't stick out like sore thumbs but for the most part added a lot to Impact. Anderson and Gallows quickly ascended to become the promotion's top tag team and tag team champions. Deonna Purrazzo has become the top knockout in the Knockouts Division and enjoyed two reigns as Knockouts Champion. Eric Young has been a great addition to the upper midcard/main event first holding the Impact World Championship to being the leader of the stable Violent By Design. Brian Myers hasn't done too much right now but he's been a good hand in the midcard. Heath and EC3 are the only disappointments so far but Heath was saddled with a lame story and then got injured so things will probably pick up when he comes back. EC3 didn't last long but his angle with Moose did bring Moose to the next level so some good came of it. All in all, Impact was able to add more great talent this year and slotted them in smoothly while also adding depth to the divisions and/or getting others over.

Most Underrated: The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan) (WWE)- I'm hard on WWE for many reasons and one of the biggest reasons is the booking of their women's division as I feel they push the wrong talent and do nothing with the right talent. Case in point: The Riott Squad. Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan have a lot to offer in either RAW or Smackdown's women's division as both are talented wrestlers, they can cut a good promo, and are clearly hard workers. They would be great either as competitors of either singles womens championship or the women's tag team championship and they would be a breath of fresh air to the divisions which, like it or not, has become stale and stagnant over the years with endless Charlotte, Bayley, Asuka, and Sasha reigns. The two also make this award because it's just frustrating watching two talented hard workers constantly being wasted and given the shaft while WWE gives a million titles to Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha while also pushing boring acts like Shayna Baszler or careless, talentless lugs like Nia Jax. It would be nice to see The Riotts get some gold and opportunity in 2021 but I'm not holding my breath. 

Best Announcer: Excalibur (AEW)- For the second year in a row, Excalibur gets the prize. There were some good announcers this year but I feel Excalibur was head and shoulders. Say what you will about his gimmick but the guy is a great announcer as he clearly knows his stuff be it history or wrestling moves and at times can not only carry an announce team but also has shown on Dark episode that he can occasionally do a show by himself. In a way, he reminds me of 1996/1997 Mike Tenay in WCW who would do guest commentary on Pay-Per-Views whenever there was cruiserweight matches or international talent as he was the only one who knew the moves and the history of the wrestlers involved. I think Excalibur especially shines on Dynamite as he adds a more current touch to the announcing. While Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are still entertaining, they may sometimes be behind the times in terms of certain moves and knowledge of the wrestler's backgrounds and Excalibur fills that void. Another plus is I enjoy listening to his commentary and he's not obnoxious or bombastic or anything.

Best Non-Wrestler: Jake Roberts (AEW)- Again, part of this is I am a Jake Roberts mark but I did enjoy his work this year. Like any good manager, I feel Roberts adds something to his client as he's shown good chemistry with Lance Archer. He's shown he can still be a great mouthpiece. He's not afraid to get physical despite his age of 65 and physical limitations. He can emotionally get involved in the matches but doesn't go over the top that he's makes it all about him. Best of all, he feels like the guy who could take Archer to that next level because Archer is already a dangerous big man but you can believe that he'll get better and more dangerous having someone as dark, cerberal, and sick as Jake Roberts in his corner to give him advice. Almost reminds me of Mr. Fuji managing Demolition or Yokozuna and you got the sense they put people out not to make a statement or make money like other managers would want but because Fuji was a devious, sick individual who got pleasure in watching good guys suffer.

Best Gimmick: Johnny Swinger/Out of touch 80s wrestler (Impact)- Originally, I was going to give this award to Luchasaurus for the second year but and while the gimmick is still great, I thought about it and decided to go with Johnny Swinger. I'll admit, I was like many who questioned Swinger being brought back to Impact at this stage in his career but he's been an entertaining addition to the product. Swinger's gimmick is hilarious and he plays it to perfection as this out of touch wrestler from the 80s who throws outdated references out there. He'll never be Impact World Champion but he's still a fun addition to the roster in his bits and pieces.

Best Promotion: AEW- Well, the streak is over. After picking Impact as Best Promotion for the past decade, AEW broke the streak and they deserved it. Don't get me wrong, I still love Impact and thought they don't get enough love but I thought AEW did more in 2020. For the first full year, AEW made a lot of strides as they continually held solid ratings and constantly beat NXT in the Wednesday Night Wars. The matches have been really strong and some of the best of the year like the mentioned Cody/Wardlow match while the tag title match at Revolution spellbound many fans. The champions were good for the most part with a combination of first choices as champions (Jericho, Cody, and Riho) to name wrestlers (Moxley, Lee, FTR, Omega, and The Bucks) to up and comers (Darby, Nyla, Shida, and Page). Along with signing big names, the company also has plenty of young up and comers that they can groom for the future while the divisions are pretty strong and have potential. AEW wasn't perfect though as I did question Omega and Page's tag title reign being as long as it was, some talents weren't booked to their best like Allie or it took awhile for others like Lance Archer, and the women's division took some time to get into it's groove. With the momentum they got, strong roster, a multi-year TNT deal, new working relationships with Impact and New Japan, and soon to have Wednesday nights to themselves, the sky's the limit for AEW in 2021.

Worst Wrestler of the Year: Goldberg (WWE)- I suppose you could consider this a cheap pick because Goldberg didn't wrestle much this year but he deserves it. Let's face it, we all know Goldberg was never anywhere near one of the best wrestlers in the world during his prime as he only excelled doing squashes and struggled with more longer, competitive matches but as he's gotten older, he's become an embarrassment. As mentioned, Goldberg was never a well-rounded wrestler as he had a limited number of moves but in 2020, he's now to the point where he does almost nothing but his signature spear and his finisher the jackhammer (the latter he can barely do anymore) all the while spamming the moves like some video gamer. He was also not known for good long matches but while he struggled to put on good ten minute matches in his prime, he struggles to even go three minutes these days. Watching Goldberg gas in no time, nearly botching his finisher, and spamming moves is just sad and it's even sadder he was pushed to the Universal Championship this year. Since returning a few years ago, it's obvious Goldberg has no business in the ring anymore and hopefully 2021 will be the last year he wrestles.

Worst Woman Wrestler of the Year: Nia Jax (WWE)- I did consider Asuka at one point (bring on the pitchforks and torches) largely due to her being overrated in the ring, having an obnoxious personality, and her title reigns fallen flat but then I realized only one person deserved this award and it's The Rock's cousin. Everybody knows it by now but Nia is an untalented, clumsy, reckless, and dangerous hack of a wrestler who is only getting by because she won the family lottery by being related to one of the biggest stars in wrestling history. It's been well documented for years but in the ring, she either so talentless or careless or both but she's earned a reputation of injuring other wrestlers and she continued that trend this year with her run ins with Kairi Sane. What's even worse is she doesn't make any attempt to improve for the good of the other women and seems content with being dangerous. Along with her lack of talent in the ring, Nia is a failure every where as she has absolutely zero charisma and doesn't connect with an audience. She has no mic skills and can't cut a promo to save her life. Even outside of her being talentless, in the ring, she's slow as molasses and is not athletic in the least. I've seen athletic super heavyweight men and women but Nia is a lumbering oaf who looks like she can't jump or even bend her knees. The Rock's cousin needs to find another profession cause wrestling isn't it and she would be doing a lot of women wrestlers a favor by no longer shorten their careers.

Worst Tag Team of the Year: The New Day (WWE)- I've lost count how many times I've given these idiots this award but it's always warranted. What can I say that I haven't said all these years? Another year and they're still annoying, their matches are lackluster, and the promos are awful. They didn't have a memorable moment this year or anything fondly to look back on. Worst of all, they're a very stale act and it's been running on fumes for a long time. If WWE insists on keeping them around then they should at least be used to put over new teams as there's nothing left for them as a top team.

Worst Match of the Year: Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman (WWE Wrestlemania 36 Night 1, 4/4)- Talk about embarrassing amateur hour. In this day and age, you hear the old timers talk about how the current generation doesn't know how to work or they do nothing but spots every now and then. Well, this match gave current wrestling a bad name and that continued stigma. To say this match was terrible and pathetic would be an insult to good words known as terrible and pathetic. You got two guys who are incredibly limited who don't have ten or even five moves between them and it's a classic case of the blind leading the blind. Goldberg was always a limited guy in his prime but he now can't seem to even go three minutes without gassing and his moveset is limited to his spear and jackhammer (the latter he can barely do anymore). Strowman isn't much better and is a guy who needs to be carried in his own right. The match itself went less than five minutes and was just these two spamming their signature and finishing moves like some video game. It's been obvious for years that Goldberg needs to call it a career and Strowman needs to be put in there with better talent if he insists on continuing to wrestle.

Worst Feud of the Year: Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE)- I don't know who this feud was supposed to cater to. First problem with this match is the matches weren't anything special as Mysterio is clearly past his prime and Rollins quality has declined while both are also stale and boring at this point. Second problem was the attempts at popping each others eyes out of their sockets. Why? Did WWE want to make their audience physically sick? Did they want to come up with the most stomach churning and grossiest angle they could think of? Also, they couldn't pay off the eye for an eye stip since no one's eye was really going to come out. Then there's the lousy soap opera crap mostly involving Mysterio's daughter Aaliyah and Rollins' sidekick Buddy Murphy which I didn't care about and I don't think most did. Finally, the feud just went on and on while dragging for nearly half a year where you just wanted it to end.

Most Overrated: The Golden Role Models (Bayley and Sasha Banks) (tie) (both WWE)- I know this is one of the choices that would get me a lot of criticism but I stand by it. The Golden Role Models are overrated in many ways. One is the fact people seemed to think they carried Smackdown during the spring and summer despite putting on lousy matches and promos. Another is the fact they won several tag team of the year awards despite better options like The North or FTR deserving them more and if you want better female teams well, there's Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, Fire n' Flava, Havok and Nevaeh, Ragnorok, Diamante and Ivelisse, and Anna Jay and Tay Conti were better choices. Third is these two were shoved down our throats all year long as Bayley got a record year long reign as Smackdown Women's Champion, both got to be double champions, they held the women's tag team titles, and Sasha held every women's title on the main roster. Seriously, you got talented women like Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Dana Brooke couldn't win anything yet these two got multiple titles, record long reigns, and got to be double champions. Another factor is for all the praise they got, they didn't do anything special and were still lackluster. Sasha was the same character she's been for years only now with blue hair. Bayley was more disappointing as she showed maybe some potential when she turned heel in 2019 and changed her look and attitude but by 2020, she was back to portraying the same obnoxious goof she's been for years only now we're supposed to boo her. Neither cut a memorable promo this year and their matches were mediocre to bad as their match at Hell in a Cell was overrated, Sasha's matches with Asuka and Carmella were nothing special, and despite being champion for a year, Bayley didn't have a memorable or good title defense as everything felt like a blur all the while her reign became predictable after Wrestlemania as you knew she wasn't losing the title until she faced Sasha. I never saw what people see in Bayley and Sasha and the praise and awards they got in 2020 was more insufferable.

Worst Announcer: Corey Graves (WWE)- To be fair, this year was a pretty good year for announcers and I didn't have a problem with most but Corey Graves was an exception. Graves can be good at times but there are times when he still can come off annoying. At times, especially whenever he calls a Miz or Carmella match, you want to go for the mute button. There's times where you wish Michael Cole would tell him to shut the hell up.

Worst Non Wrestler: Paul Heyman (WWE)- Got to give Heyman credit. Even in 2020, his kool-aid is still quite potent. Like I said in my year end awards years ago, Heyman was a great personality from the 80s-00s but I just haven't been into his stuff since his return in 2012. Sometimes, I feel Heyman is lazy these days and isn't motivated and when he shows personality, he's too over the top. The guy needs to learn subtlety. In 2020, I feel Heyman doesn't offer much anymore. He doesn't take bumps anymore and his promos are mediocre. His stuff with Roman Reigns isn't working as the two have no chemistry and Heyman adds nothing to Reigns outside of holding Reigns' Universal Championship like a security blanket. It's like his time with CM Punk where he didn't have any chemistry with him either but he was available and Lesnar was not. Heyman has had a hall of fame worthy career but I feel his days as an on-air personality need to be over.

Worst Gimmick: Retribution/Antifa type stable (WWE)- Retribution will likely go down as one of the lamest and one of the most laughable stables in WWE history. From the moment they showed up, they were not believable as they tried to come off intimidating but instead looked like a joke. They look goofy, they have goofy names, and just come off like a bunch of rejects. Even WWE seems to know this as they have them lose more times than not. I just can't take them seriously even when they're wielding a chainsaw. 

Worst Promotion: WWE- No surprise, WWE gets this turkey of an award once again. I'm not trying to be a WWE hater. I don't want to hate WWE. I miss when WWE was fun and exciting to watch. That said, WWE went through another year of ugliness. A lot of the same problems I've had with them for years were here. The promotion feels bloated with seven hours of main TV a week (ten counting Main Event, 205 Live, and NXT UK) and RAW being three is just too long. Wrestlemania being two nights was a terrible move as WWE doesn't have the hot streak or the angles to pull it off and even if it was 1987 or 1998, it probably would still not be a good idea. I wish WWE would realize quality over quantity. It doesn't matter how big the show is or how many hours you have or how much talent, what matters is what you do with it. Once again, the company relied on aging and/or stale talent as top acts like Goldberg and Brock Lesnar or The New Day in the tag team division or Bayley and Sasha in the women's division. The divisions were a mess as the Universal Title was mostly either around the washed up Goldberg or the limited Braun Strowman or Roman Reigns who, contrary to what some on the internet say, has not become riveting despite turning heel, taking his shirt off, and calling himself "The Head of the Table". Both tag divisions are a wasteland with little to no interesting teams. The women's division is terrible as WWE pushes, I feel, are the wrong talent while wasting some of their best. They've had some of the worst storylines this year including the mentioned Mysterio/Rollins as well as Wyatt/Orton. The only good to come out of WWE this year was the push of Drew McIntyre which they did get right.

Japanese Wrestling

Wrestler of the Year: Go Shiozaki (NOAH)- There were some others I considered or wanted to consider like Suwama or Tetsuya Naito but I thought Shiozaki had a slightly better year than Suwama and I couldn't get access to much New Japan stuff since I don't have NJPW World so I went with Shiozaki. Shiozaki has always been a great talent but 2020 was definitely one of his best years as he carried the torch of NOAH very well and had many good to great matches this year including against Kazuyuki Fujita, Naomichi Marufuji, and Katsuhiko Nakajima to name some. Another reason I went with Shiozaki is he was still able to put on strong performances despite a growing list of injuries as his upper body was pretty beat up including taped up shoulders and elbows. I'm sure it wasn't easy but he pulled it off. From a storyline standpoint, Shiozaki won the GHC Heavyweight Championship in January and held it for the remainder of the year.

Junior Heavyweight Wrestler of the Year: Kotaro Suzuki (Freelance)- Originally, I wanted to also consider Hiromu Takahashi but again, I couldn't find a lot of his stuff and I don't have NJPW World. Out of all the juniors I've seen this year, Suzuki was the best. This isn't surprising as anyone who's seen him knows he's been one of the best junior heavyweights in the past 15 years. He's got the whole package as he's pretty strong for a junior heavyweight, he's very fast, and can do just about any style you want be it high flying, technical, and brawling. He's great with counters and pins while his elbows look brutal. He also had some strong matches this year as he was on top of NOAH's junior mountain for most of the year. What's even more impressive is he's still going good despite turning 42 this year. If he is past his prime, he doesn't look it. From a storyline standpoint, he held NOAH's GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Best Gaijin (Foreigner): Chris Vice (ZERO1)- I have to admit in that I wasn't able to find any ZERO1 stuff this year but I picked Vice by default given he was in Japan all year long and was the most pushed so I give it to him. Don't get me wrong, Vice is a good wrestler and from a storyline standpoint, he did win the ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championship but I have to say this is a default pick with all due respect.

Tag Team of the Year: Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba (NOAH/Freelance)- Despite both men being in their 50s and having their share of wear and tear (especially Sakuraba), Sugiura and Sakuraba shined as the best tag team in Japan. As a team, they work well together as Sugiura is largely a jack of all trades in style while Sakuraba has been able to make his MMA/catch wrestling style work in pro wrestling which isn't easy. As mentioned, another testiment is neither guy is anywhere near their primes as both are in their 50s and have their share of wear and tear but despite that, have put on one good match after another as their title win against Shiozaki and Nakajima as well as their title defenses have all been fun and entertaining matches. From a storyline standpoint, the two held the GHC Tag Team Championship.

Most Improved: Yuma Aoyagi (All Japan)- Since his debut in 2014, Aoyagi has shown good potential but seemed to take that next step in 2020 whether it be main event matches against Kento Miyahara and Shotaro Ashino or in a top team with Miyahara. Aoyagi showed he can hang with the top stars and not look out of place. All Japan also sees this not only rewarding him with Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship shot and a number one contenders matches but pairing him with Miyahara is another boost in his career. Aoyagi turned 25 in 2020 and while he's not quite at his prime yet, he's shown he's probably a year or two away. 

Comeback of the Year: Hiromu Takahashi and Suwama (tie) (New Japan/All Japan)- I couldn't pick one for this award, I had to pick both for various reasons. In the case of Hiromu, He made his return from a brutal neck injury in December 2019 after being on the shelf for a year and a half. By all accounts, he came back as good as ever before and didn't seem to miss a step despite such a serious injury. He also returned to the top of the junior heavyweight division as he was booked to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship quickly into his return as well as the 2020 Best of the Super Jrs. Tournament and even got a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Evil.

As for Suwama, going into 2020, Suwama had just turned 44, hadn't been Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion in three years, and mostly a tag guy. With this along with Kento Miyahara as All Japan's ace, it looked like Suwama's days as a top star was over. Then in March, Suwama became a record setting seven time All Japan Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and returned to the main event while still showing he can still hang in the main event. 2020 showed Suwama was far from over and still had mileage.

Debut/Return of the Year: Enfant Terribles (Shotaro Ashino, Kuma Arashi, Yusuke Kodama, and Koji Doi) (Freelance)- With the end of Wrestle-1 back in April, it left it's talent scattered throughout the Japanese wrestling scene. Among them were the stable of Enfant Terribles who, despite being freelancers, began competing for All Japan Pro Wrestling by May and have been great assets with Ashino being another main event talent while Arashi and Doi have been good for the midcard and Kodama as another talented junior heavyweight. They've also proven to be good title contenders as they've challenged for titles and have been in tournament. The stable has also been good for All Japan as their up and coming rookie Hokuto Omori has also been put with them and he's been a good fit. All Japan doesn't have to most stacked roster so anytime they can bring in the talent calibur of Enfant Terribles, it's a win for them.

Most Underrated: Shuhei Taniguchi (NOAH)- While I enjoyed NOAH in 2020, there was one thing I didn't and that's the booking of Shuhei Taniguchi. There's probably more to it then I know but I just don't get the booking of Taniguchi as he is easily the most "hot & cold" wrestler out there as he'll get a push one minute and then do nothing the next just as he's taken that next step. We saw in again as he did very good in 2019 and showed promise but then was wasted throughout 2020. It's definitely frustrating to watch. While he is getting older, I still hold out hope he'll take that next step but giving his current booking in 2021, I'm not holding my breath.

Best Promotion: Pro Wrestling NOAH- Despite the hardship the world had to deal with in 2020, you almost wouldn't know that watching NOAH. While they, like everyone, had their hard moments, NOAH had a pretty year all things considered. The wrestling was really good, the champions were strong, and the shows were entertaining. The heavyweights are great while the juniors are still the best in Japan. They were also able to add various talent to the mix be it aging names like Keiji Mutoh or those with MMA backgrounds like Masakatsu Funaki, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Kashin, Kazunari Murakami, and Kazushi Sakuraba but still made it work. When you also compare NOAH to other companies, they're the only one who didn't seem to hit many speed bumps and were actually able to show some growth to the point where they returned home to the Nippon Budokan in 2021. Obviously, I didn't agree with everything NOAH did in 2020, specifically I thought they wasted Taniguchi but overall, in the ring and out of it, they were the best in Japan in 2020.

Most Overrated: Evil (New Japan)- This one is a bit hard because anybody that's read my awards knows I can be hard on New Japan for being stale and to their credit, they did try to shuffle things up this year which was great. While it was nice to see them try new guys out, I feel Evil didn't work out. I like Evil and I think he's a good talent but from what I've seen and what I've heard, he didn't seem to rise to the occasion. Maybe it was the timing, but Evil just never seemed to be a believable main event talent. He's good in the midcard and tag teams but didn't show he can take that next level. Unfortunately, it feels like Evil was the biggest flop New Japan had in the main event in forever. Usually since 2006, most, if not, all IWGP Heavyweight Champions were well received and did well but Evil came off as the first failed IWGP Champion since the days of Inokism of the early to mid 2000s. Who knows, sometimes first time world title reigns don't always work. Maybe he'll develop but for now, he's not showing it.