The Wrestling Examiner

By the time you read this post, the 2018 Wrestling Examiner awards should finally be out. Now, we can fully focus on these power rankings. Raw 11:  10. Elias (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 8) 9. Samoan Slaughterhouse (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 9)- As much as I detest this duo, I can't deny the upward momentum they were gaining at this time.  8. Finn Balor (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 2) 7. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 23, Peak: 6) 6. Dean Ambrose 2 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 15, Peak: 5) 5. Seth Rollins 3 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 84, Peak: 1)- The Rollins/ Nakamura match at Survivor Series got overshadowed by bigger matches but was still one of the night's best.  4. Dolph Ziggler 1 & Drew McIntyre 2 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 25, Peak: 3) 3. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 16, Peak: 1)- Rousey took a...

Welcome everyone for the fifth annual Wrestling Examiner awards, where we take a look at the best wrestling across the globe in 2018. We'll give special focus to the big promotions: WWE, NXT (which includes NXT UK), ROH, Impact, and New Japan. We've changed up the awards slightly this year, as we put more focus on the overall category and try to streamline the awards for each promotion. Before we hand out some virtual hardware, I wanted to do something different this year and highlight some of my favorites from the past year. I don't really get to talk about my favorite things in wrestling, so this seems like the perfect place to do it. Favorite Male Wrestlers: WWE- Shinsuke Nakamura & Seth Rollins/ Non-WWE: Zack Sabre Jr. & WALTER Favorite Female Wrestlers: WWE- Becky Lynch & Jinny (though mainly for her non-WWE work)/Non-WWE: Tessa Blanchard & Tenille Dashwood Favorite Matches: WWE- 2018 Men's Royal Rumble & Andrade "Cien" Almas vs...

I appreciate everyone's patience as we do our best to catch up with everything. I swear, one day we will get there. Let's get started. Raw 10: I absolutely loved the Chronicle episode featuring Dean Ambrose. It did an excellent job of blending real life and kayfabe. After watching that, I feel like I know more about Dean Ambrose, but less about what really makes him tick. 10. Riott Squad (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 10) 9. Elias (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 8)- Elias was utterly brilliant on this episode of Raw. Looking back on it, I wish we had gotten a longer face run from him.  8. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 22, Peak: 6) 7. Finn Balor (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 69, Peak: 2) 6. Seth Rollins 3 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 83, Peak: 1) 5. Dean Ambrose 2 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 14, Peak: 5) 4. Dolph Ziggler 1 & Drew McIntyre 2 (Last Week:...

You have no idea how long the Wrestling Examiner awards have been taking me. It's going to take me absolutely forever to catch up with everything, but here we go. Raw 9:  10. Nia Jax & Tamina (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 10) 9. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 21, Peak: 6) 8. Elias (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 3, Peak: 8) 7. Finn Balor (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 68, Peak: 2) 6. Dean Ambrose 2 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 13, Peak: 6) 5. Seth Rollins 3 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 82, Peak: 1) 4. Braun Strowman (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 71, Peak: 1) 3. Dolph Ziggler 1 &  Drew McIntyre  2 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 23, Peak: 3)- McIntyre's match with Kurt Angle wasn't necessarily great, but it was a huge win for McIntyre. THIS is how you make a new star. Kudos to Angle for putting over McIntyre so strongly.  2. Brock Lesnar (...