2018 Wrestling Examiner Awards
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. Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: Philadelphia/ Non-WWE: Golden Lovers vs. Young Bucks (I saw it live) & Jordan Devlin vs. WALTER at OTT WrestleRama 2
Favorite Wrestling Podcasts: Solomonster Sounds Off & Morgan Webster's Wrestling Friends
Favorite Wrestling Writers: Brandon Stroud & Larry Csonka
Favorite Wrestling Youtube Channels: Cultaholic & WhatCulture Wrestling
Favorite Promotions: New Japan & PROGRESS
Favorite Weekly Shows: NXT & 205 Live
Favorite PPVs: WWE- Royal Rumble & TakeOver: New Orleans/Non-WWE: Wrestle Kingdom 13 and WrestleRama 2
With that out of the way, let's get started.
NXT
Moment of the Year: Aleister Black's Rampage and Johnny Gargano's Heel Turn
From the moment he debuted at NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Black was a star. He had an incredible entrance, was charismatic as all hell, and had great matches with the likes of Hideo Itami and Kyle O'Reilly. He eventually rode that momentum to an NXT title reign that began at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans that began in April. It should have been an excellent reign that cemented his status as an NXT icon, but he was totally overshadowed by the Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano rivalry. That was escalated when Black was caught in the middle of the rivalry and dropped the title to Ciampa.
Black eventually suffered a groin injury at a live event and was written out on TV with an attack by a mystery assailant. The buildup to his return was handled really well, as it was revealed that Nikki Cross knew the assailant's identity. On the October 17th episode of NXT, Black returned to TV and demanded that Cross tell him who the attacker was. The episode ended with Cross obliging and Black seething with fury. The next week, Black stormed into the arena and was met with security guards, whom he cut down in seconds. I genuinely thought he had murdered one of them with a Black Mass. Black made it into the ring and repeatedly asked NXT GM William Regal "where is he?". It turned out "he" was ultra good-guy Gargano, who blasted Black with a superkick and said, "I'm right here". So to recap, Black regained all of his lost momentum in one awesome rampage and Gargano shocked the world by turning heel. What more could you want?
2017 Winner: Tommaso Ciampa turns on Johnny Gargano
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura Debuts
Move of the Year: Aleister Black's Black Mass
Black is a trained kickboxer, so it makes sense his kicks would be deadly. His Black Mass is especially lethal, as he (almost) always manages to deliver with ferocity and precision. Our runner-up here is Tommaso Ciampa's Project Ciampa, which is a powerbomb into a backbreaker. It's a great looking move, but we hardly ever see it.
2017 Winner: Ember Moon's Eclipse
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura's Kinshasa
Feud of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano
What else could it be? This feud started in May 2017 and extended all the way into 2019. Yes, fans did start to tire of it in the latter half of 2018, but that all changed with Gargano's shocking heel turn. At the time of writing in January, the two men are engaged in a sort of tenuous will they/won't they alliance that has the potential to explode at any time.
2017 Winner: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate
2016 Winner: The Revival vs. #DIY
2015 Winner: Sasha Bank vs. Bayley
2014 Winner: Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn
Match of the Year: Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas at TakeOver: Philadelphia
You could give this award to Gargano/Ciampa I and I would not disagree with you at all. Personally, however, I think the Philly match was just a tiny bit better. No one was expecting it to be as good as it was and the crowd was electric. The fans desperately wanted Gargano to win and were fully invested in the match, which meant any fan sitting at home was treated to some great audio stimuli.
2017 Winner: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate at TakeOver: Chicago
2016 Winner: Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at TakeOver: Dallas
2015 Winner: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Brooklyn
Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: Shayna Baszler
When Baszler reached the finals of the inaugural Mae Young Classic, many fans were upset. She was very green at this time and had gotten the nod over more popular women such as Candice LeRae, Abbey Laith, and Mia Yim. It seemed like she was given this success simply because of her status as one of the Four Horsewomen of MMA and one of Ronda Rousey's friends. That notion was completely dispelled in 2018 with great showings against more experienced women such as Dakota Kai, Ember Moon, and Kairi Sane. She also developed a great bully character that fits her brutal, technical style well.
2017 Winner: Andrade "Cien" Almas
Breakout Star of the Year: Bianca Belair
Belair sort of broke out in the 2017 Mae Young Classic, but it wasn't until 2018 that she was seen as a true star. Her blend of incredible athleticism, undeniable charisma, and unique hair-based offense made her feel like a genuine star. Of course, she was also booked really well and felt like a really big deal by the time the year was over. With women like Nikki Cross and Ember Moon moving up to the main roster in 2018, Belair was poised to move up the card.
2017 Winner: Velveteen Dream
2016 Winner: Johnny Gargano
Faction of the Year: The Undisputed Era
Though the main roster is largely devoid of factions, the yellow brand has seen more than its fair share over the years, including SAnitY, Forgotten Sons, and The Wyatt Family. But the best of the bunch (and certainly the best of 2018) might be The Undisputed Era. The group had two reigns as NXT Tag Team Champions, won the third (and admittedly worst ever) Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and leader Adam Cole won the first-ever NXT North American Championship. Think of the incredible matches we saw them put on across the year. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet, Kyle O'Reilly vs. Pete Dunne, O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Moustache Mountain, etc. This is an easy pick.
Champion of the Year: The Undisputed Era as Tag Team Champions
The rabble-rousing quarter may have had all four members wear the tag titles around their waists in 2018, but they were certainly NXT's best tag team in 2018. Besides a short reign by Moustache Mountain, the bad boys of NXT held the NXT Tag Team Championship for all of 2018 and put it up in classic matches against the likes of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch and Moustache Mountain. The group was a routine TakeOver highlight. Even their worst TakeOver match of 2018 (the triple threat tag match at New Orleans), was notable for Roderick Strong turning on partner Pete Dunne to join TUE.
2017 Winner: Asuka as NXT Women's Champion
2016 Winner: Asuka as NXT Women's Champion
Talker of the Year: Adam Cole
In Cole's pre-NXT life he was often lauded for his charisma and considerable mic skills. He has used both of them to stand out on the NXT scene and become arguably the brand's best talker. In a promotion where a lot of performers are struggling to find their voice, the polished Cole really stands out. His arrogant, demeaning promos do a great job of furthering feuds and he is great at drawing heat from the fans.
Women's Wrestler of the Year: Shayna Baszler
You could make a case for Kairi Sane here, but no other female wrestler in NXT was as consistent in 2018 than the Queen of Spades. We all know about her excellent TakeOver matches with Ember Moon and Sane but let's also show some love to her NXT TV matches with Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae.
2017 Winner: Asuka
2016 Winner: Asuka
2015 Winner: Sasha Banks
2014 Winner: Charlotte
Most Underrated Star of the Year: Marcel Barthel
The man formerly known as Axel Dieter Jr. has only recently begun to make waves in NXT and NXT UK. Until he began teaming with Fabian Aichner as the European Union, Barthel was a listless singles star and put over guys like EC3, Lars Sullivan, and Kassius Ohno. It seemed like a phenomenal waste of talent for a former wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion. Fortunately, we can see a brighter future for Barthel now that he's a part of Imperium. This has led to much more TV time, impressive wins, and some excellent matches.
2017 Winner: Kassius Ohno
Tag Team of the Year: The Undisputed Era
We've talked a lot about this group already, just know that they fully deserve this award.
Rising Star of the Year: Jordan Devlin
Forget NXT, Devlin might be one of the biggest rising stars in all of professional wrestling. He dazzled in PROGRESS and reigned in his home promotion of OTT as ace and top champion. Though he's largely been kept out of the title picture on NXT UK, he's been one of the brand's best heels. He's aggressive in the ring, sneering and dismissive on the mic, and incredibly easy to boo. If he doesn't hold the UK title in 2019, it'll be an absolute disgrace.
2017 Winner: Fabian Aichner
2016 Winner: Andrade "Cien" Almas
Wrestler of the Year: Johnny Gargano
Forget being NXT's best wrestler, Johnny Wrestling might have been the best wrestler in all of WWE. He started the year with WWE's first five-star match (at least according to Dave Meltzer) since 2011 and then followed it up with another five-star classic with Tommaso Ciampa in New Orleans. Though he never won the NXT Championship, Gargano was the undisputed face of NXT in 2018. He main-evented every single TakeOver and was the Full Sail crowd's easy favorite.
The only competitor Gargano has in this category is Ciampa. The former ROH Television Champion was the best wrestling heel in 2018 and even became NXT Champion.
2017 Winner: Johnny Gargano
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
2015 Winner: Finn Balor
2014 Winner: Sami Zayn
Ring of Honor
Tag Team of the Year: The Briscoes
For most of 2018, Jay & Mark were ROH Tag Team Champions. They tangled with teams such as the Young Bucks, So Cal Uncensored, & Motor City Machine Guns. While their match quality wasn't fantastic, they were fantastic heels and always made the titles feel important.
2017 Winner: Young Bucks
2016 Winner: Young Bucks
Rising Star of the Year: Coast to Coast
LSG & Shahim Ali had a bit of a breakout year in 2018 after threatening to do so in 2017. Even though they spent some time on the sidelines due to injury, Coast to Coast was getting consistently positive reactions on ROH TV. They built up a nice winning streak, including over an exiting War Machine, before falling to the Briscoes. With the exodus of the Young Bucks & SCU to All Elite Wrestling, Coast to Coast may be in line for a tag title run in 2019.
Most Underrated Star of the Year: Shane Taylor
Keith Lee's former tag team partner hasn't had much of a singles career but he's managed to put in some impressive hoss performances throughout his time in Ring of Honor. He's incredibly agile for a man of his size and his hitman-for-hire gimmick suited him well. If 2019 is fair, Shane Taylor will be a mainstay in the ROH TV title scene.
2017 Winner: Punishment Martinez
Breakout Star of the Year: Flip Gordon
When Flip Gordon was first introduced to ROH fans, they weren't too impressed. Here was an all-American, smiling kid who was botch-prone. It didn't help that ROH seemed intent on making him their next big star. For his part, Gordon continued to improve in the ring and developed the ability to sell and perform incredible aerial maneuvers. He soon became one of the promotion's hottest stars and rode that momentum to win the Sea of Honor tournament. His momentum was unfortunately halted by an injury, but he's since returned with a vengeance.
2017 Winner: Silas Young
2016 Winner: Dalton Castle
Debut of the Year: Jeff Cobb
The Top Prospect tournament has been a mainstay in ROH for years now and has been responsible for introducing stars such as Adam Cole, Dalton Castle, War Machine, Donovan Dijak, and Matt Taven. There was supposed to be one in 2018 but thanks to the actions of Jeff Cobb, it never really got started. During a match between Eli Isom and FR Josie, Cobb strolled down to the ring and dismantled both men. It was a simple statement that let everyone know that Cobb was the real top prospect.
2017 Winner: Bully Ray
Move of the Year: Young Bucks's Meltzer Driver
Go to any notable independent wrestling show (such as PWG, EVOLVE, or OTT) and you'll see a number of impressive aerial moves. You might see frog splashes, shooting star presses, and other jaw-dropping moves. Still, none of those are as awe-inspiring as the Meltzer Driver. What other move involves a springboard and a spike piledriver?
2017 Winner: Marty Scurll's Chickenwing
Most Improved Star of the Year: Kenny King
The former Bachelor contestant hasn't always had the easiest time getting over with the ROH crowd, especially as a face. The Las Vegas is charismatic but has had trouble standing out in a roster that includes stars such as Marty Scurll, Dalton Castle, and Jay Lethal. That all changed with King's recent heel turn. All of a sudden, the happy-go-lucky babyface was replaced with a cocky, sure-fire villain that was sure he was the best. With this turn, King became infinitely more interesting and was even booked appropriately. Though he continues to get overshadowed by other wrestlers, King deserves a lot of credit for reinventing himself so well.
2017 Winner: Adam Page
Women of Honor Star of the Year: Sumie Sakai
ROH's women's division, Women of Honor, has existed since 2002 but it didn't have a championship until 2018. To crown the first Women of Honor Champion, a 16 women tournament featuring both WOH and Stardom wrestlers was conducted. The winner: WOH veteran Sumie Sakai, who defeated Kelly Klein at Supercard of Honor XII in April. She would defend the title against women like Jenny Rose and Tenille Dashwood before dropping the title to Klein at Final Battle.
PPV of the Year: Supercard of Honor XII
As mentioned before, Supercard of Honor XII was where the first Women of Honor Champion was crowned, but that's not all. Cody and Kenny Omega continued their white-hot feud in one of the best ROH matches of the year, Adam Page & Kota Ibushi put on a legitimate four-star match, and in the main event, Dalton Castle and Marty Scurll had an underrated clash for Castle's World title. That being said, it was really the Cody/Omega match that made this PPV so special. Their feud was one of 2018's best and it helped put international attention on this show.
2017 Winner: Final Battle
2016 Winner: Final Battle
Champion of the Year: Jay Lethal as ROH World Champion
Lethal became the fourth man to hold the ROH title multiple times after capturing the title in June. The match he won it in was a four-way match with Cody, Matt Taven, and the defending champion Dalton Castle. It was an excellent match and concluded with an emotional win for Lethal. The franchise star of ROH had just concluded a storyline where he had avenged all of his previous losses.
The title reign that ensued was a stellar reign that cemented Lethal's place atop Ring of Honor. He had an excellent series of matches with Jonathan Gresham and his Death Before Dishonor defense against Will Ospreay was a MOTY contender. This reign was the shot in the arm the title needed after Dalton Castle's disappointing reign.
Match of the Year: Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham on ROH TV
As I mentioned above, Lethal & Gresham had an excellent series of matches, including single and tag matches. Their best one took place on the July 21st episode of ROH in a 30 minute Iron Man match. During that time, these two crafted an incredible, nuanced tale. We saw Gresham's feverish desire to reach the top, the friendship and respect the two men shared, and of course, phenomenal wrestling. ROH TV is skippable most weeks, but this was a match worth seeking out. Our runnerup is the Death Before Dishonor match between Lethal and Will Ospreay.
2017 Winner: The Hardys vs. Young Bucks at Supercard of Honor
2016 Winner: Ladder War VI
Moment of the Year: Jeff Cobb wins the ROH Television Championship
After his fantastic TV debut, Cobb made his PPV debut in equally impressive fashion. At Death Before Dishonor, Punishment Martinez retained his TV title against a game Chris Sabin. After the match, Cobb strolled down to ringside and stared Martinez down. At the TV taping the next day, Cobb demolished Martinez in brutal fashion to win the championship. This was smart, simple booking and made an instant star out of Cobb.
2017 Winner: Christopher Daniels wins the ROH World Championship
Feud of the Year: Bullet Club vs. The Kingdom
The best feuds are usually between individuals or tag teams, but this feud involved two factions and many men. Notable members include Cody, Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Vinny Marseglia, and Hangman Page. We saw these two factions war over both the ROH World and Six-Man titles and produce some stunning matches, including an eight-man tag at Manhattan Mayhem and a First Blood match between Taven and Cody.
2017 Winner: Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young
Six-Man Tag Team of the Year: The Kingdom
The Kingdom became the first team to win the Six-Man titles three times when they unseated Cody & the Young Bucks at Survival of the Fittest. On top of that, they became the first team to win the titles twice earlier in 2018 when they beat So Cal Uncensored. The Hung Bucks deserve some love for their exciting, mammoth title reign, but since that started in August of 2017, that pretty much takes them out of the running for this award.
Wrestler of the Year: Jay Lethal
Lethal is the first wrestler to win this award twice and does so after a year that saw him have incredible matches with guys like Dalton Castle and Will Ospreay while also winning the ROH Championship. If there is anything that Lethal proved this year, it's that he is the franchise player of Ring of Honor.
2017 Winner: Cody
2016 Winner: Adam Cole
2015 Winner: Jay Lethal
Impact
Knockout of the Year: Tessa Blanchard
WWE has a ton of talented female wrestlers on their books, including Becky Lynch, Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, and Asuka. That being said, Tessa Blanchard was one of the best female wrestlers in the world. She was the brightest light in an otherwise "meh" Knockouts division (though I did enjoy the campy Su Yung/Madison Rayne vignettes). Her shining moment came at the One Night Only event in July. There, she and Mercedes Martinez battled in a 30-minute ironwoman match for the vacant Phoenix of RISE Championship. It was one of the best women's matches of the year and made me a huge Blanchard fan. Seek this one out if you can.
2017 Winner: Sienna
2016 Winner: Gail Kim
2015 Winner: Gail Kim
Feud of the Year: oVe vs. Lucha Bros
oVe wins its second Feud of the Year award and it is once again with a tag team. While the Crist brothers and Fenix were an important part of this rivalry, this was really all about Pentagon Jr. & Sami Callihan. These two tore each other apart on multiple occasions, especially at Slammiversary (more on that later).
2017 Winner: LAX vs. oVe
Breakout Star of the Year: Killer Kross
Forget in Impact, Kross was one of the biggest breakout stars in all of 2018 thanks to his work in promotions such as AAA and Lucha Underground. Still, his work in Impact was easily the most notable. He debuted in a mystery assailant angle that saw him lay out numerous Impact wrestlers and officials, such as Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt. It gave him an incredible, menacing aura that has yet to dissipate.
To their credit, Impact has continued to book Kross well, although the partnership with Austin Aries got off to a tenuous start. He has constantly been in the main event or upper midcard and associated with top stars such as Moose, Johnny Impact, and Eddie Edwards. Some may ding Kross for the fact he hasn't had any classic matches during his time with Impact, but Kross's star power isn't based on mat talent (though he is a talented wrestler). His star power is conveyed through his imposing look, incredible facial expressions, and excellent mic work.
2017 Winner: Eli Drake
2016 Winner: Mike Bennett
2015 Winner: Rockstar Spud
2014 Winner: Ethan Carter III
Rising Star of the Year: KM
When KM first debuted in Impact in 2017, I immediately wrote him off. His "are you calling me a liar?" gimmick did absolutely nothing for me and he just seemed like a generic big man. It wasn't until mid-2018 where KM finally showed some personality and charisma. He has since gone on to form an exceptionally entertaining tag team with Fallah Bah.
2017 Winner: Dezmond Xavier
X Division Star of the Year: Brian Cage
Matt Sydal may have had a longer X Division Championship reign than Brian Cage, but the former Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Champion was the division's biggest star. He defeated Sydal for the belt in July at Slammiversary and held it until November, where he invoked Option C. For those unfamiliar with Option C, the X-Division vacates their title in order to get a shot at the World title. Although Cage was unsuccessful in winning the title, the move did firmly place him in the main event scene.
2017 Winner: Trevor Lee
Most Improved Star of the Year: Tessa Blanchard
As I mentioned before, I became a big Blanchard fan after her match with Mercedes Martinez. I'm of the firm opinion that Blanchard is one of the best female wrestlers in North America. In fact, I'd put her in the top five along with Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, Charlotte Flair, and Sasha Banks. That being said, Blanchard wasn't at this level prior to 2018. She showed a ton of promise in the past, especially in WhatCulture Pro Wrestling and the Mae Young Classic. However, she didn't put it all together until her time in Impact. She developed a dominating, sneering personality and instantly became the Knockouts division top star.
Tag Team of the Year: LAX
Ortiz & Santana announced their arrival to the world in 2017, but they truly established themselves as one of the best in the world in 2018. PWI named them the fourth-best tag team of 2018 and they are fully deserving of that spot. Not only did they dominate the Impact tag scene, but they also found time to compete on the Jericho Cruise and in notable indy promotions such as PROGRESS, PWG, and House of Glory.
2017 Winner: LAX
Most Underrated Star of the Year: Ethan Page
"All Ego" Ethan Page was a notable star of the indy scene before he signed with Impact in late 2017. He originally played the character of Chandler Park, nephew of Joseph Park, but that went nowhere fast. He was eventually put together with Matt Sydal in a fun pairing that gave him some good TV time. Page hasn't gotten much of a chance to shine yet, but he deserves a chance. The man is a great wrestler, charismatic, and has a great presence.
2017 Winner: Andrew Everett
Match of the Year: Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr at Slammiversary
Slammiversary 2018 was a fantastic show and full of hardcore moments, so it's impressive that Callihan and Pentagon were still able to steal the show. We can nitpick a bit and say Callihan's selling of the arm was a little inconsistent, but it shouldn't take away from the match as a whole.
2017 Winner: Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards at Slammiversary
Moment of the Year: Sami Callihan's baseball bat shot to Eddie Edwards
Even if you don't watch Impact, you heard about this. It all came about in a post-match assault in which Callihan attempted to use his trademark baseball bat in a new way. He positioned a chair over the face of a prone Edwards and swung downwards. Unfortunately, Callihan whiffed and smashed Edwards in the eye, legitimately breaking his orbital bone. The former Solomon Crowe received a ton of heat for his unsafe work and seemingly "meh" attitude about it, but at the very least it made sure wrestling fans across the world talked about him.
2017 Winner: Eli Drake wins the World title
PPV of the Year: Slammiversary
In case you haven't heard, Impact is once again in a new era. Now, they are under management by Scott D'Amore and Don Callis. The new regime started at the beginning of 2018 and needed a big show to announce their return. That came in July thanks to Slammiversary, a show many called one of the best PPVs of 2018. Personally, I thought it was the best Impact show I've ever watched (though I've only watched since 2016). Let's give a special shoutout to the opening Fatal 4-Way, the aforementioned Callihan/Penta match, and the main event.
2017 Winner: Slammiversary
Talker of the Year: Eli Drake
Eli Drake was easily the promotion's best mic worker of 2018. For two prime examples of his work, check out the 2nd annual Eli Drake's Gravy Train Turkey Trot and One Night Only: Night of the Dummies. Drake is so effortless on the mic
Move of the Year: LAX's Street Sweeper
I don't think my words could do this move justice, you should just find a clip of it online. Just know that it's one of the best tag team finishers in the game right now.
2017 Winner: Petey Williams's Canadian Destroyer
Champion of the Year: LAX as Tag Team Champions
It's time to look at Ortiz & Santana's place in Impact history. If 2018 told us anything, it's that LAX deserves to be in the conversation for best Impact Tag Team Champions ever. Their three reigns with the belt trail only Beer Money and The Wolves (two teams who are definitely in that conversation), their 594 cumulative days with the belt are the most all-time, and their most recent reign was the longest in the belt's history. It's that last reign that really wins them this award here. It lasted about eight months and saw them incredible matches with the likes of The OGz & the Lucha Bros.
Wrestler of the Year: Eddie Edwards
This was a really tough award to give out. Under normal circumstances, Austin Aries would have been the easy choice, but then he walked out on the company in November. Johnny Impact ended the year as champion but was M.I.A. for what seemed like months at a time. Sami Callihan had a great in-ring year, but he has to be disqualified after looking at his win-loss record in feuds. The man lost to LAX, Eddie Edwards, Pentagon, and Brian Cage. The only real option besides Edwards is Pentagon Jr., but he didn't show up until April. Thus, the award here goes to the former Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards.
Edwards's year really kicked off in February when he started feuding with oVe. That led to the aforementioned baseball bat incident, and that changed everything. Edwards slowly became unhinged and obsessed with getting revenge. His feud with Callihan morphed into a feud with hardcore icon Tommy Dreamer and turned Edwards into a vicious, maniacal heel. After defeating Dreamer at Slammiversary, Edwards became a face again and jumped back into the main event scene by attacking Impact Champion Austin Aries. Edwards was unsuccessful in gaining the title as he was betrayed by his former friend Moose. This sparked yet another great rivalry as the two battled in wild brawls all over the place. Throughout the course of the year, we also saw Edwards interact with his wife Alisha Edwards in a number of vignettes. Some were a little lame, but they were usually entertaining.
So to recap, Edwards had multiple fantastic feuds, competed in some great matches, took part in memorable angles, performed some of the company's best character work, and was almost always entertaining.
2017 Winner: Eli Drake
2016 Winner: Matt Hardy
2015 Winner: Ethan Carter III
New Japan
PPV of the Year: Dominion
It's rare that any New Japan show outshines Wrestle Kingdom, but that's exactly what Dominion did this year. Of course, we have to start by talking about the main event: a two-out-of-three falls match between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega for Okada's IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Dave Meltzer called it the greatest wrestling match he had ever seen, and while you may disagree with him, it's hard to argue that the match is an all-time classic. What often gets overshadowed by the main event and the shock of seeing Chris Jericho win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship is the excellent match Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi had for the Brit's Jr. Heavyweight belt. When a match of that caliber is the third-best remembered match of a show, you know it's a good show.
2017 Winner: Wrestle Kingdom 11
2016 Winner: Wrestle Kingdom 10
Most Underrated Star of the Year: YOSHI-HASHI
CHAOS goes back-to-back here as YOSHI-HASHI finally gets some love. The man has constantly been overshadowed by his more popular stablemates such as Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ishii, Hirooki Goto, and even Toru Yano. He's constantly derided by fans and has often struggled to find his footing in the promotion. Because of that, people often forget about his in-ring talent. YOSHI-HASHI had a stellar G1 Climax, including a show-stealing match against Kazuchika Okada. He also excelled in his supporting role in the Jay White/CHAOS saga.
2017 Winner: Tomohiro Ishii
Breakout Star of the Year: Juice Robinson
The man formerly known as CJ Parker has undergone a complete career resurgence in New Japan. He became a Young Lion and toiled for months before getting a few opportunities. Prior to 2018, he scored some big wins over wrestlers such as Kenny Omega & Michael Elgin, but his time in the spotlight was brief. During this time, Robinson continued to improve in the ring and became more popular with the fans. Robinson finally broke through when he defeated Jay White at the G1 Special to become just the third ever IWGP United States Champions. Though he lost the title to Cody a couple of months later, it indicated that Gedo had a lot of faith in Robinson as a major face in the company.
2017 Winner: EVIL
Match of the Year: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
Dave Meltzer infamously broke his five-star scale when he gave Okada/Omega 1 six stars. He then smashed the scale by giving this match seven stars. And yes, that is just one man's opinion, but you'll find very few fans who thought this was not one of the best matches they'd ever seen. These two men put on an absolute wrestling clinic and told an incredible story. The fact that we finally got to see Omega complete his story of redemption and win the championship was just the icing on the cake.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
2016 Winner: Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito at G-1 Climax Day 18
Junior Heavyweight of the Year: Will Ospreay
In a story that began in the fall of 2017, Ospreay began his quest to became the top star of the Junior Heavyweight division. Fast forward to 2018, and we saw Ospreay win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at WK 13. His opponents that night: KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi, and Marty Scurll, the only other men who could lay claim to the top spot. Over the next few months, Ospreay defeated all three of those men in singles matches. All three of the matches were great, especially the Scurll one. Ospreay also defeated Jyushin Liger at Long Beach during this title reign. Ospreay would eventually lose the title to Takahashi in June, but Ospreay used this as an opportunity to try and move up to the heavyweight division. The end of 2018 saw Ospreay positioned as the #1 contender to the NEVER Openweight Division as he tried to become the first Jr. Heavyweight to win the title.
Side note: Ospreay teamed up with Hiroshi Tanahashi to have a MOTY contender tag match against the Golden Lovers in December. It's crazy to think that we forgot a match like this, but that just speaks to the great work Ospreay did in 2018.
2017 Winner: KUSHIDA
2016 Winner: KUSHIDA
Rising Star of the Year: Toa Henare
Henare signed with New Japan and 2016 and it became clear early on in his Young Lion days that he was something special. While he has yet to experience any real success, he has continued to develop in the ring and has an outside shot at receiving some title shots in 2019.
2017 Winner: Beretta
2016 Winner: SANADA
Heavyweight Tag Team of the Year: Young Bucks
Matt & Nick Jackson actually started the year as junior heavyweights, but officially became heavyweights in February. This was a huge deal, as these two were arguably the greatest IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions ever. The bulked-up Bucks had their first heavyweight match against the Golden Lovers at Strong Style Evolved. I saw that match in person and it's definitely the best match I've ever seen live. Though the Bucks lost to Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi, they went on to team up with Bullet Club teammate Marty Scurll and win the NEVER Openweight 6-man tag belts. At Dominion, they unseated EVIL & SANADA to became the new heavyweight tag team champions. In doing so, they became just the second team ever to win both the heavyweight and junior heavyweight tag team titles and the first team to ever win all three tag titles.
2017 Winner: Guerrillas of Destiny
2016 Winner: Guerrillas of Destiny
Champion of the Year: Kazuchika Okada as IWGP Heavyweight Champion
Who else could it be? This was Okada's fourth reign with the top belt and though it ended in June, it was one for the record books. The reign spanned 720 days and 12 successful defenses, both New Japan records. In 2018, Okada successfully defended the title against Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Zack Sabre Jr., & Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Move of the Year: Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel
A lot of credit goes to Gedo for continuing to protect this move and keep its mystique. Even if it wasn't this well-protected, the One-Winged Angel is a sensational move that looks absolutely devastating.
2017 Winner: Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel
Junior Heavyweight Tag Team of the Year: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
The Suzuki-gun duo held the IWJP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles for almost all of 2018. They beat Roppongi 3K at the Anniversary Show in March in what has to be considered an upset. After all, the upstart duo of SHO & YOH had just won the title about five weeks earlier and had yet to successfully defend the belts. Still, Kanemaru & Desperado held the title for the rest of the year while racking up four successful title defenses and reaching the finals of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament.
2017 Winner: Young Bucks
2016 Winner: Young Bucks
Most Improved Star of the Year: Jay White
Forget about improving over the course of a year, White had a massive improvement over the course of just one day. At Wrestle Kingdom 12, White fell to Hiroshi Tanashahi and frankly, looked out of his league. The Ace thoroughly outclassed White, who looked unsure of his character and gimmick. The very next day at New Year Dash!!, White demolished Katsuya Kitamura in what was pretty much a squash match. It felt a little like White was free from the pressure of having to match up with Tana. Later in the night, he teased joining Bullet Club but laid out leader Kenny Omega with a Blade Runner. A few weeks later, White would unseat Omega to become the second-ever United States Champion in an excellent and frankly underrated match.
After losing the US title to Juice Robinson, White entered the G1 Climax ready to prove himself. In his first two block matches, he beat both Kazuchika Okada and Tanahashi and declared himself the new leader of CHAOS. That turned out to be a ruse, as White would betray CHAOS and become the new leader of a reborn Bullet Club. Thus, White started the year as someone who was clearly not ready for the spotlight and someone who did not totally understand his gimmick, but he ended the year as one of the promotion's best talkers and a true main event heel.
2017 Winner: Juice Robinson
Feud of the Year: Kenny Omega vs. Cody
I was tempted to go Omega/Okada again, but in terms of pure storytelling, this is the clear winner. It all stemmed from Cody's desire to unseat Omega as the leader of Bullet Club. This caused a massive rift in the faction and forced a number of the members to pick sides. The feud also helped reunite Omega with Golden Lovers teammate Kota Ibushi. Thanks to Ibushi's support, Omega was able to finally defeat Kazuchika Okada and win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Naturally, his first title defense was against Cody in San Francisco. While it was a great match, it didn't reach the emotional highs of the earlier encounter in New Orleans. At the end of the night, after yet another BC rift opened up, the two men finally patched things up and wrapped up one of 2018's best wrestling feuds.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
Moment of the Year: The Golden Lovers Reunite
As mentioned above, Omega and Ibushi used to team as the Golden Lovers but had not teamed together since 2014. Since that time, Ibushi had competed across the world while Omega joined and eventually became the leader of Bullet Club. The two reunited in January of 2018 when Cody turned on Omega in the aftermath of Omega's title loss to Jay White. The reunion was incredibly touching as both men were clearly emotional to be together once again.
2017 Winner: Katsuyori Shibata Appears at the G-1 Climax
Wrestler of the Year: Kenny Omega
You could argue for both Omega and Okada here, but I'm going to give the slight edge to The Cleaner. His Wrestle Kingdom 13 match with Chris Jericho was an instant classic and stole the show over the main event match between Okada and Tetsuya Naito. The Canadian followed that up with one of the most underrated matches of the year when he faced Jay White at the New Beginning. That match launched his epic feud with Cody while reuniting him with Kota Ibushi. Alongside Ibushi, Omega had one of the best tag matches of the year at Strong Style Evolved against the Young Bucks. From there, he defeated Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a match that wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer awarded seven stars. A stellar G1 Climax run with great matches against the likes of Tomohiro Ishii & Ibushi boosted Omega's stock even higher, as did his two successful title defenses at the end of the year.
In fact, as the New Japan calendar turned to 2018, we saw Kenny Omega stand tall as the top champion as his tag team partner held the NEVER Openweight Championship. Who would have predicted this a year ago?
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada
2016 Winner: Kazuchika Okada
WWE
PPV of the Year: Evolution
There are people who are immediately going to say "oh, you're only saying this because of the women and it's progressive" and so on. But let's be honest here, the women deserve it. Yes, this was a historic show (though nowhere near as historic as WWE would have you believe) and it pretty much delivered on all fronts. Both tag matches exceeded expectations (Alicia Fox botch and all), the battle royal was the best of its kind since All In (even though the winner was disappointing), and Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair had one of the best women's matches in company history. Hate if you want, but this was a great show from top to bottom.
2017 Winner: Royal Rumble
2016 Winner: Survivor Series
2015 Winner: WrestleMania 31
Women's Wrestler of the Year: Becky Lynch
Before we start gushing all over The Man, let's give some love to a few honorable mentions. Alexa Bliss had another cracking year on the mic and had two reigns as Raw Women's Champion, Ronda Rousey continually improved in the ring and had one of the best rookie years in WWE history, and Charlotte Flair had cracking matches with the likes of Asuka and Ruby Riott while reigning twice as Smackdown Women's Champion.
Still, no female wrestler (and very few male wrestlers) could touch Becky Lynch in 2018. After spending the first half of the year doing absolute squat, she delivered a standout performance at Money in the Bank that had fans desperate for her to win. Thanks to that goodwill and a lengthy winning streak, Lynch became the #1 Contender for Carmella's Smackdown Women's title. Things got testy after Charlotte was added into the match and ended up winning the belt. It was that win that triggered a massive character shift in Lynch, who became more outspoken, more confident, and an incredible mic worker. Fans joked she was now "Stone Cold" Becky Lynch and The Man quickly became one of the industry's biggest stars.
2017 Winner: Charlotte Flair
2016 Winner: Charlotte Flair
2015 Winner: Nikki Bella
2014 Winner: Paige
Faction of the Year: New Day
In today's faction-scarce WWE, New Day pretty much has this award locked up. Their 2018 was relatively quiet by their own lofty standards, but they still won the Smackdown tag titles and feuded with the likes of Rusev Day, The Usos, and The Bludgeon Brothers.
2017 Winner: New Day
2016 Winner: New Day
2015 Winner: New Day
2014 Winner: The Shield
Champion of the Year: AJ Styles as WWE Champion
Though Styles won the WWE Championship in 2017, the bulk of his reign took place in 2018. It was a reign for the record books, as it was the eight-longest WWE title in history and featured a number of high-profile defenses and feuds. The six-pack challenge at Fastlane was a sleeper hit, the feud with Shinsuke Nakamura featured incredible character work by the two men (even if the matches were a little disappointing), and the feud with Samoa Joe was one of the year's best. By the time he lost the belt to Daniel Bryan, Styles had already cemented his place as one of the great WWE Champions of this era.
2017 Winner: Neville as Cruiserweight Champion
2016 Winner: New Day as WWE Tag Team Champions
2015 Winner: The Usos as WWE Tag Team Champions
Match of the Year: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair at Evolution
It seems only fitting that WWE's best PPV of the year would have its best match. While I do have slight gripes about the character alignment of the two women, both Lynch and Flair portrayed their characters perfectly. Lynch was the consummate doing everything she could to retain her title while Flair was the heroic babyface who refused to quit. It also helped that this match had a clean finish which put an end to this chapter of their feud.
Honorable mentions go to the mixed tag match at 'Mania, the gauntlet match on Raw in February, and Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.
2017 Winner: New Day vs. The Usos at Hell in a Cell
2016 Winner: AJ Styles vs. John Cena at Summerslam
2015 Winner: Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble
2014 Winner: Team Cena vs. Team Authority at Survivor Series
Cruiserweight of the Year: Mustafa Ali
With all due respect to Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy, Ali was the defining cruiserweight of 2018. He had some excellent feuds and matches with the likes of Alexander, Murphy, and Hideo Itami. This was a big year for 205 Live, thanks to Triple H taking over the show, and Ali was a big reason why it succeeded.
Breakout Star of the Year: Buddy Murphy
Unless you went to NXT live events, the only time WWE fans saw Buddy Murphy was on NXT in January 2017. By the time 2018 rolled around, a lot of fans had forgotten about the former NXT Tag Team Champion. That all changed when Murphy became a member of the Cruiserweight division. The Aussie was immediately positioned as one of 205 Live's top heels and spent most of the year at or near the top of the card. Television matches with Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander were among WWE's best in 2018 and raised Murphy's stock through the roof.
2017 Winner: Braun Strowman
2016 Winner: Alexa Bliss
2015 Winner: Kevin Owens
Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: Carmella
When Carmella (last year's winner for Rising Star of the Year) cashed in her Money in the Bank contract, she began a now-infamous reign as Smackdown Women's Champion. The Staten Island Princess couldn't buy a clean win and her in-ring output was severely lacking. By the time Summerslam rolled around, she had taken a back seat to her two challengers, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch. Thus, a lot of fans missed 'Mella's notable performance in that match and the great work she would do throughout the rest of the year. Now that she was no longer plagued by bad booking, Carmella was able to express more personality in her promos and delivered some great in-ring performances.
Tag Team of the Year: New Day
2017 was an incredible year for tag team wrestling. 2018 was... not so great. Authors of Pain disappeared for months with no explanation, B Team somehow picked up the Raw Tag Team Championship, the Bludgeon Brothers were out with injury the last four months, etc. Thus, we're left with the New Day, who had great tag matches throughout the year and had one reign as Smackdown Tag Team champs.
2017 Winner: The Usos
2016 Winner: The New Day
2015 Winner: The New Day
2014 Winner: The Usos
Moment of the Year: Roman Reigns Announces he has Leukemia
When Roman Reigns came out on the October 22nd episode of Raw, no one was ready for the emotion that was to follow. Reigns revealed to the world his leukemia had returned and that he was being forced out of the ring. This was one of those moments where reality trumped wrestling. Suddenly, no one cared about how much they disliked the wrestler Roman Reigns, they just wanted the man behind him to get better. In terms of raw emotional impact, this was definitely the year's biggest. Honorable mentions go to a bloody Becky Lynch standing among the fans at Raw and Shinsuke Nakamura winning the men's Royal Rumble.
2017 Winner: Kevin Owens turns on Chris Jericho at the Festival of Friendship
2016 Winner: Goldberg beats Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series
2015 Winner: Seth Rollins Cashes in at WrestleMania
2014 Winner: Brock Lesnar Breaks the Streak
Talker of the Year: Samoa Joe
Though Joe spoke well all year, he really won this award during his feud with AJ Styles. He delivered his promos with such intensity and believability that he was able to sell the fans on everything. That is truly a lost art in today's WWE.
2017 Winner: Kevin Owens
2016 Winner: Paul Heyman
2015 Winner: Paul Heyman
2014 Winner: Paul Heyman
Feud of the Year: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
This feud kicked off in earnest when Flair was inserted into Becky's title challenge at Summerslam. Lynch had been winning matches for weeks and was the easy top contender, but Flair had simply been handed her opportunity. This simple storytelling set the basis for the year's best feud. Becky Lynch had never been handed anything while Charlotte Flair was given everything on a silver platter. The two clashed multiple times throughout the rest of the year, including the aforementioned banger at Evolution and an instant classic at TLC, which also included Asuka.
2017 Winner: New Day vs. The Usos
2016 Winner: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
2015 Winner: Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
2014 Winner: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
One Night Performance of the Year: Seth Rollins on February 19th Episode of Raw
The concept was simple: all seven men competing in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match would compete in a gauntlet match to gain momentum. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns started the match and before the crowd even knew what was happening, put on a great match. Rollins won and advanced to face John Cena. While this second match wasn't as good as the first one, it was still a very good match and saw Rollins pick up another win. Unfortunately, by the time Elias came out for match #3, Rollins was exhausted and made for easy pickings. Still, Rollins had wrestled incredibly well and had done so for 65 minutes, a Raw record.
2017 Winner: Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble
2016 Winner: Dean Ambrose at Royal Rumble
2015 Winner: Seth Rollins at Night of Champions
2014 Winner: Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30
Move of the Year: Ronda Rousey's Armbar
When Rousey was in the UFC, the armbar was her signature move. She used it to successfully retain the Women's Bantamweight Championship many times, often in a matter of seconds. When she came to WWE, the armbar was an obvious choice for a finisher. Not only did Rousey win her debut match at Wrestlemania with it, but she also used it to win the Raw Women's Championship and put away opponents such as Nikki Bella, Alexa Bliss, and Nia Jax. While many griped about her inconsistent application of the move, no other move in WWE carried as much legitimacy as this one.
2017 Winner: Neville's Red Arrow
2016 Winner: Baron Corbin's End of Days
2015 Winner: Neville's Red Arrow
2014 Winner: Neville's Red Arrow
Rising Star of the Year: Ruby Riott
Riott was pretty low on the pecking order of women in WWE in 2018, but that didn't stop her from quietly putting on great matches. For proof of this, look back at her work with Charlotte Flair at Fastlane and against Bayley on Backlash. She may not win a lot of matches, but her time will come eventually.
2017 Winner: Carmella
2016 Winner: Enzo Amore & Big Cass
Wrestler of the Year: Seth Rollins
This came down to Rollins and AJ Styles, the only two men to ever win this award. Let's break down the case for both men. Styles held the WWE Championship for most of the year and feuded with guys such as Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev, and Daniel Bryan. His best matches include against Samoa Joe at Hell in a Cell, against Bryan at TLC, and against Nakamura at Money in the Bank. Rollins held the Intercontinental Championship twice and the Raw Tag Team titles with Dean Ambrose. His rivals in 2018 included The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, and Elias. His best matches include the triple threat at against Miz and Finn Balor at Wrestlemania, against Miz at Backlash, and against Elias at Money in the Bank.
I would understand if you give the edge to Styles, but Rollins is the pick here. The biggest point of Styles's candidacy is that he held the WWE Championship for 11 months out of the year. However, fans were hoping he would lose it to both Nakamura and Joe. And though Rollins never held Raw's top prize, he had fans wishing he did. Plus, this was the year that Rollins finally broke through and became a true megastar. Go back and listen to some of those reactions if you want proof. Taking all of this into account, Seth Rollins is our 2018 WWE Wrestler of the year.
2017 Winner: AJ Styles
2016 Winner: AJ Styles
2015 Winner: Seth Rollins
2014 Winner: Seth Rollins
General
Weekly Show of the Year: NXT
As much as I wanted to give this award to the second Mae Young Classic, no regular weekly show came close to NXT's quality. Cast your mind back to matches such as Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era, Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O'Reilly, Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole, and Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne. What other show was able to deliver this level content consistently? Special shoutout to 205 Live from recovering from the god-awful Enzo Amore debacle and secretly becoming a great show.
2017 Winner: NXT
2016 Winner: Lucha Underground
2015 Winner: Lucha Underground
2014 Winner: NXT
Commentator of the Year: Kevin Kelly
The most common reason you hear American fans not watching New Japan is the language barrier. While not all of their shows have English commentary, the majority now do and feature Kevin Kelly as the lead announcer. Last year's runner-up for this award bridges that gap completely and does an incredible job of conveying storylines to fans and explaining why the crowd is cheering for a certain superstar. If you want an example of Kelly's work, watch any of Jay White's matches from the G-1 Climax. With Kelly narrating White's downward spiral, it felt like we were watching a star being born.
2017 Winner: Corey Graves
Legend of the Year: Bruno Sammartino
Sammartino passed away on April 28, 2018, at the age of 82. He left behind an incredible legacy that includes being WWE's first-ever megastar and arguably the greatest WWE Champion of all-time. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 and holds the record for longest WWE Championship reign. Upon his passing, the wrestling world was full of tributes from names such as Chris Jericho, Triple H, Vince McMahon, Ted DiBiase, Bret Hart, AJ Styles, Dustin Rhodes, and Kurt Angle. The wrestling business is exponentially better off thanks to the Living Legend.
2017 Winner: Bobby Heenan
2016 Winner: Chyna
2015 Winner: Dusty Rhodes
2014 Winner: Ultimate Warrior
Tag Team of the Year: Young Bucks
When you think of the Young Bucks, you usually think of them covered in gold. At one point recently, they held three titles concurrently. In 2018 however, the only tag team championship they won was the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (though they did win the ROH Six-Man tag titles and NEVER Openweight Six-Man titles). Still, they were one of ROH's best tag teams and delivered in both of New Japan's tag divisions.
2017 Winner: The Usos
PPV of the Year: NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Forget the best show of 2018, this was one of WWE's best shows ever. It opened up with an incredible ladder match to crown the inaugural NXT North American Championship. Then we saw Shayna Baszler dethrone Ember Moon in an underrated clash and a triple threat tag match for both the NXT Tag Team Championship and Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. While the tag match was the weakest match of the show, it was still very good and had a classic turn from Roderick Strong. In the penultimate match, we saw Aleister Black capture the NXT Championship from Andrade "Cien" Almas. Oh, and the main event was just one of the best NXT matches ever, no big deal.
2017 Winner: Wrestle Kingdom 11
Match of the Year: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
On June 9th at Osaka-jo Hall, Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega had the fourth match in one of the best wrestling series of all-time. While I personally think match #2 was the best out of the bunch (and the greatest match of all-time), #4 was definitely 2019's best match. The two men made excellent use of the stipulation and managed to generate intense drama with every single move. While some complained about the match length, it can not be argued that the match ever really lagged or felt boring. That is an incredible thing to say about a match that went for more than 60 minutes.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
Feud of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano
There were a number of great feuds this year, including Kazuchika Okada & Jay White, Cody & Kenny Omega, Kairi Sane & Shayna Baszler, AJ Styles & Samoa Joe, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair, etc. Yet, Ciampa/Gargano stands above all. No other feud felt this personal or real. No other high-level feud produced such incredible in-ring work. Their three TakeOver matches were among the year's best, especially their first match in New Orleans.
What made this feud so compelling was the change in narrative. Although Gargano got the upper hand by defeating Ciampa in their first match, the former ROH Television Champion gained a measure of revenge by winning the sequel and then defeating Aleister Black for the NXT Championship. Seeing Ciampa with the title destroyed Gargano. That title had always managed to elude him, yet now his sworn enemy held it. Then, we saw Gargano turn heel on Black, which was completely shocking and added a whole new layer to the feud.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
Promotion of the Year: New Japan Pro Wrestling
If you're a fan that believes the wrestling world revolves around WWE, you're sorely mistaken. In my opinion, and I know many others share this opinion as well, that New Japan was leaps and bounds better than WWE in 2018. New Japan's best shows, such as Wrestle Kingdom and Dominion, were better than WWE's top shows like Evolution and Survivor Series. NJPW's best matches, including Okada/Omega IV and Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, were better than WWE's top matches, such as Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair & Seth Rollins vs. The Miz.
We must also applaud New Japan for growing in the western hemisphere. While WWE struck a morally dubious deal with Saudi Arabia, New Japan held two successful shows in the U.S. They also managed to book MSG alongside partner Ring of Honor.
2017 Winner: New Japan Pro Wrestling
2016 Winner: New Japan Pro Wrestling
2015 Winner: NXT
Comeback Wrestler of the Year: Daniel Bryan
In February of 2016, Daniel Bryan announced his retirement. Though it was not completely unexpected, it was sobering and utterly heartbreaking. One of the best wrestlers of all-time had had his career shortened due to injuries.
That was, until March 2018. Out of seemingly nowhere, Bryan announced he had been medically cleared and was coming out of retirement. It was one of the best stories of 2018 and everyone was genuinely overjoyed to see Bryan return. Furthermore, it seems like Bryan didn't even lose a step. Within months of returning, Bryan was putting on fantastic matches and performing some of the best work of his career.
Wrestler of the Year: Kenny Omega
This was incredibly close, but Omega edges out his rival Okada for this award. Let's take a look at his 2018 to see why he won this award. It started in January at the Tokyo Dome, where Omega and Jericho had an instant classic over Omega's United States Championship. Omega lost that title a month later to Jay White in one of the year's hidden gems. This loss kicked off two great storylines: the Bullet Club Civil War and the Golden Lovers reunion. Both of these stories led to an incredible match between the Lovers and Young Bucks in March in Long Beach. From there, Omega finally won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in what is Dave Meltzer's highest-rated match ever. The Cleaner had a stellar first defense against Cody inside the Cow Palace before having a remarkable G-1 Climax run. He defended the title twice more before being 1/4 of an incredible tag match in December. Any questions?
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada
Thanks for reading everyone.
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. Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: Philadelphia/ Non-WWE: Golden Lovers vs. Young Bucks (I saw it live) & Jordan Devlin vs. WALTER at OTT WrestleRama 2
Favorite Wrestling Podcasts: Solomonster Sounds Off & Morgan Webster's Wrestling Friends
Favorite Wrestling Writers: Brandon Stroud & Larry Csonka
Favorite Wrestling Youtube Channels: Cultaholic & WhatCulture Wrestling
Favorite Promotions: New Japan & PROGRESS
Favorite Weekly Shows: NXT & 205 Live
Favorite PPVs: WWE- Royal Rumble & TakeOver: New Orleans/Non-WWE: Wrestle Kingdom 13 and WrestleRama 2
With that out of the way, let's get started.
NXT
Moment of the Year: Aleister Black's Rampage and Johnny Gargano's Heel Turn
From the moment he debuted at NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Black was a star. He had an incredible entrance, was charismatic as all hell, and had great matches with the likes of Hideo Itami and Kyle O'Reilly. He eventually rode that momentum to an NXT title reign that began at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans that began in April. It should have been an excellent reign that cemented his status as an NXT icon, but he was totally overshadowed by the Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano rivalry. That was escalated when Black was caught in the middle of the rivalry and dropped the title to Ciampa.
Black eventually suffered a groin injury at a live event and was written out on TV with an attack by a mystery assailant. The buildup to his return was handled really well, as it was revealed that Nikki Cross knew the assailant's identity. On the October 17th episode of NXT, Black returned to TV and demanded that Cross tell him who the attacker was. The episode ended with Cross obliging and Black seething with fury. The next week, Black stormed into the arena and was met with security guards, whom he cut down in seconds. I genuinely thought he had murdered one of them with a Black Mass. Black made it into the ring and repeatedly asked NXT GM William Regal "where is he?". It turned out "he" was ultra good-guy Gargano, who blasted Black with a superkick and said, "I'm right here". So to recap, Black regained all of his lost momentum in one awesome rampage and Gargano shocked the world by turning heel. What more could you want?
2017 Winner: Tommaso Ciampa turns on Johnny Gargano
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura Debuts
Move of the Year: Aleister Black's Black Mass
Black is a trained kickboxer, so it makes sense his kicks would be deadly. His Black Mass is especially lethal, as he (almost) always manages to deliver with ferocity and precision. Our runner-up here is Tommaso Ciampa's Project Ciampa, which is a powerbomb into a backbreaker. It's a great looking move, but we hardly ever see it.
2017 Winner: Ember Moon's Eclipse
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura's Kinshasa
Feud of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano
What else could it be? This feud started in May 2017 and extended all the way into 2019. Yes, fans did start to tire of it in the latter half of 2018, but that all changed with Gargano's shocking heel turn. At the time of writing in January, the two men are engaged in a sort of tenuous will they/won't they alliance that has the potential to explode at any time.
2017 Winner: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate
2016 Winner: The Revival vs. #DIY
2015 Winner: Sasha Bank vs. Bayley
2014 Winner: Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn
Match of the Year: Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas at TakeOver: Philadelphia
You could give this award to Gargano/Ciampa I and I would not disagree with you at all. Personally, however, I think the Philly match was just a tiny bit better. No one was expecting it to be as good as it was and the crowd was electric. The fans desperately wanted Gargano to win and were fully invested in the match, which meant any fan sitting at home was treated to some great audio stimuli.
2017 Winner: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate at TakeOver: Chicago
2016 Winner: Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at TakeOver: Dallas
2015 Winner: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Brooklyn
Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: Shayna Baszler
When Baszler reached the finals of the inaugural Mae Young Classic, many fans were upset. She was very green at this time and had gotten the nod over more popular women such as Candice LeRae, Abbey Laith, and Mia Yim. It seemed like she was given this success simply because of her status as one of the Four Horsewomen of MMA and one of Ronda Rousey's friends. That notion was completely dispelled in 2018 with great showings against more experienced women such as Dakota Kai, Ember Moon, and Kairi Sane. She also developed a great bully character that fits her brutal, technical style well.
2017 Winner: Andrade "Cien" Almas
Breakout Star of the Year: Bianca Belair
Belair sort of broke out in the 2017 Mae Young Classic, but it wasn't until 2018 that she was seen as a true star. Her blend of incredible athleticism, undeniable charisma, and unique hair-based offense made her feel like a genuine star. Of course, she was also booked really well and felt like a really big deal by the time the year was over. With women like Nikki Cross and Ember Moon moving up to the main roster in 2018, Belair was poised to move up the card.
2017 Winner: Velveteen Dream
2016 Winner: Johnny Gargano
Faction of the Year: The Undisputed Era
Though the main roster is largely devoid of factions, the yellow brand has seen more than its fair share over the years, including SAnitY, Forgotten Sons, and The Wyatt Family. But the best of the bunch (and certainly the best of 2018) might be The Undisputed Era. The group had two reigns as NXT Tag Team Champions, won the third (and admittedly worst ever) Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and leader Adam Cole won the first-ever NXT North American Championship. Think of the incredible matches we saw them put on across the year. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet, Kyle O'Reilly vs. Pete Dunne, O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Moustache Mountain, etc. This is an easy pick.
Champion of the Year: The Undisputed Era as Tag Team Champions
The rabble-rousing quarter may have had all four members wear the tag titles around their waists in 2018, but they were certainly NXT's best tag team in 2018. Besides a short reign by Moustache Mountain, the bad boys of NXT held the NXT Tag Team Championship for all of 2018 and put it up in classic matches against the likes of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch and Moustache Mountain. The group was a routine TakeOver highlight. Even their worst TakeOver match of 2018 (the triple threat tag match at New Orleans), was notable for Roderick Strong turning on partner Pete Dunne to join TUE.
2017 Winner: Asuka as NXT Women's Champion
2016 Winner: Asuka as NXT Women's Champion
Talker of the Year: Adam Cole
In Cole's pre-NXT life he was often lauded for his charisma and considerable mic skills. He has used both of them to stand out on the NXT scene and become arguably the brand's best talker. In a promotion where a lot of performers are struggling to find their voice, the polished Cole really stands out. His arrogant, demeaning promos do a great job of furthering feuds and he is great at drawing heat from the fans.
Women's Wrestler of the Year: Shayna Baszler
You could make a case for Kairi Sane here, but no other female wrestler in NXT was as consistent in 2018 than the Queen of Spades. We all know about her excellent TakeOver matches with Ember Moon and Sane but let's also show some love to her NXT TV matches with Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae.
2017 Winner: Asuka
2016 Winner: Asuka
2015 Winner: Sasha Banks
2014 Winner: Charlotte
Most Underrated Star of the Year: Marcel Barthel
The man formerly known as Axel Dieter Jr. has only recently begun to make waves in NXT and NXT UK. Until he began teaming with Fabian Aichner as the European Union, Barthel was a listless singles star and put over guys like EC3, Lars Sullivan, and Kassius Ohno. It seemed like a phenomenal waste of talent for a former wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion. Fortunately, we can see a brighter future for Barthel now that he's a part of Imperium. This has led to much more TV time, impressive wins, and some excellent matches.
2017 Winner: Kassius Ohno
Tag Team of the Year: The Undisputed Era
We've talked a lot about this group already, just know that they fully deserve this award.
Rising Star of the Year: Jordan Devlin
Forget NXT, Devlin might be one of the biggest rising stars in all of professional wrestling. He dazzled in PROGRESS and reigned in his home promotion of OTT as ace and top champion. Though he's largely been kept out of the title picture on NXT UK, he's been one of the brand's best heels. He's aggressive in the ring, sneering and dismissive on the mic, and incredibly easy to boo. If he doesn't hold the UK title in 2019, it'll be an absolute disgrace.
2017 Winner: Fabian Aichner
2016 Winner: Andrade "Cien" Almas
Wrestler of the Year: Johnny Gargano
Forget being NXT's best wrestler, Johnny Wrestling might have been the best wrestler in all of WWE. He started the year with WWE's first five-star match (at least according to Dave Meltzer) since 2011 and then followed it up with another five-star classic with Tommaso Ciampa in New Orleans. Though he never won the NXT Championship, Gargano was the undisputed face of NXT in 2018. He main-evented every single TakeOver and was the Full Sail crowd's easy favorite.
The only competitor Gargano has in this category is Ciampa. The former ROH Television Champion was the best wrestling heel in 2018 and even became NXT Champion.
2017 Winner: Johnny Gargano
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
2015 Winner: Finn Balor
2014 Winner: Sami Zayn
Ring of Honor
Tag Team of the Year: The Briscoes
For most of 2018, Jay & Mark were ROH Tag Team Champions. They tangled with teams such as the Young Bucks, So Cal Uncensored, & Motor City Machine Guns. While their match quality wasn't fantastic, they were fantastic heels and always made the titles feel important.
2017 Winner: Young Bucks
2016 Winner: Young Bucks
Rising Star of the Year: Coast to Coast
LSG & Shahim Ali had a bit of a breakout year in 2018 after threatening to do so in 2017. Even though they spent some time on the sidelines due to injury, Coast to Coast was getting consistently positive reactions on ROH TV. They built up a nice winning streak, including over an exiting War Machine, before falling to the Briscoes. With the exodus of the Young Bucks & SCU to All Elite Wrestling, Coast to Coast may be in line for a tag title run in 2019.
Most Underrated Star of the Year: Shane Taylor
Keith Lee's former tag team partner hasn't had much of a singles career but he's managed to put in some impressive hoss performances throughout his time in Ring of Honor. He's incredibly agile for a man of his size and his hitman-for-hire gimmick suited him well. If 2019 is fair, Shane Taylor will be a mainstay in the ROH TV title scene.
2017 Winner: Punishment Martinez
Breakout Star of the Year: Flip Gordon
When Flip Gordon was first introduced to ROH fans, they weren't too impressed. Here was an all-American, smiling kid who was botch-prone. It didn't help that ROH seemed intent on making him their next big star. For his part, Gordon continued to improve in the ring and developed the ability to sell and perform incredible aerial maneuvers. He soon became one of the promotion's hottest stars and rode that momentum to win the Sea of Honor tournament. His momentum was unfortunately halted by an injury, but he's since returned with a vengeance.
2017 Winner: Silas Young
2016 Winner: Dalton Castle
Debut of the Year: Jeff Cobb
The Top Prospect tournament has been a mainstay in ROH for years now and has been responsible for introducing stars such as Adam Cole, Dalton Castle, War Machine, Donovan Dijak, and Matt Taven. There was supposed to be one in 2018 but thanks to the actions of Jeff Cobb, it never really got started. During a match between Eli Isom and FR Josie, Cobb strolled down to the ring and dismantled both men. It was a simple statement that let everyone know that Cobb was the real top prospect.
2017 Winner: Bully Ray
Move of the Year: Young Bucks's Meltzer Driver
Go to any notable independent wrestling show (such as PWG, EVOLVE, or OTT) and you'll see a number of impressive aerial moves. You might see frog splashes, shooting star presses, and other jaw-dropping moves. Still, none of those are as awe-inspiring as the Meltzer Driver. What other move involves a springboard and a spike piledriver?
2017 Winner: Marty Scurll's Chickenwing
Most Improved Star of the Year: Kenny King
The former Bachelor contestant hasn't always had the easiest time getting over with the ROH crowd, especially as a face. The Las Vegas is charismatic but has had trouble standing out in a roster that includes stars such as Marty Scurll, Dalton Castle, and Jay Lethal. That all changed with King's recent heel turn. All of a sudden, the happy-go-lucky babyface was replaced with a cocky, sure-fire villain that was sure he was the best. With this turn, King became infinitely more interesting and was even booked appropriately. Though he continues to get overshadowed by other wrestlers, King deserves a lot of credit for reinventing himself so well.
2017 Winner: Adam Page
Women of Honor Star of the Year: Sumie Sakai
ROH's women's division, Women of Honor, has existed since 2002 but it didn't have a championship until 2018. To crown the first Women of Honor Champion, a 16 women tournament featuring both WOH and Stardom wrestlers was conducted. The winner: WOH veteran Sumie Sakai, who defeated Kelly Klein at Supercard of Honor XII in April. She would defend the title against women like Jenny Rose and Tenille Dashwood before dropping the title to Klein at Final Battle.
PPV of the Year: Supercard of Honor XII
As mentioned before, Supercard of Honor XII was where the first Women of Honor Champion was crowned, but that's not all. Cody and Kenny Omega continued their white-hot feud in one of the best ROH matches of the year, Adam Page & Kota Ibushi put on a legitimate four-star match, and in the main event, Dalton Castle and Marty Scurll had an underrated clash for Castle's World title. That being said, it was really the Cody/Omega match that made this PPV so special. Their feud was one of 2018's best and it helped put international attention on this show.
2017 Winner: Final Battle
2016 Winner: Final Battle
Champion of the Year: Jay Lethal as ROH World Champion
Lethal became the fourth man to hold the ROH title multiple times after capturing the title in June. The match he won it in was a four-way match with Cody, Matt Taven, and the defending champion Dalton Castle. It was an excellent match and concluded with an emotional win for Lethal. The franchise star of ROH had just concluded a storyline where he had avenged all of his previous losses.
The title reign that ensued was a stellar reign that cemented Lethal's place atop Ring of Honor. He had an excellent series of matches with Jonathan Gresham and his Death Before Dishonor defense against Will Ospreay was a MOTY contender. This reign was the shot in the arm the title needed after Dalton Castle's disappointing reign.
Match of the Year: Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham on ROH TV
As I mentioned above, Lethal & Gresham had an excellent series of matches, including single and tag matches. Their best one took place on the July 21st episode of ROH in a 30 minute Iron Man match. During that time, these two crafted an incredible, nuanced tale. We saw Gresham's feverish desire to reach the top, the friendship and respect the two men shared, and of course, phenomenal wrestling. ROH TV is skippable most weeks, but this was a match worth seeking out. Our runnerup is the Death Before Dishonor match between Lethal and Will Ospreay.
2017 Winner: The Hardys vs. Young Bucks at Supercard of Honor
2016 Winner: Ladder War VI
Moment of the Year: Jeff Cobb wins the ROH Television Championship
After his fantastic TV debut, Cobb made his PPV debut in equally impressive fashion. At Death Before Dishonor, Punishment Martinez retained his TV title against a game Chris Sabin. After the match, Cobb strolled down to ringside and stared Martinez down. At the TV taping the next day, Cobb demolished Martinez in brutal fashion to win the championship. This was smart, simple booking and made an instant star out of Cobb.
2017 Winner: Christopher Daniels wins the ROH World Championship
Feud of the Year: Bullet Club vs. The Kingdom
The best feuds are usually between individuals or tag teams, but this feud involved two factions and many men. Notable members include Cody, Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Vinny Marseglia, and Hangman Page. We saw these two factions war over both the ROH World and Six-Man titles and produce some stunning matches, including an eight-man tag at Manhattan Mayhem and a First Blood match between Taven and Cody.
2017 Winner: Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young
Six-Man Tag Team of the Year: The Kingdom
The Kingdom became the first team to win the Six-Man titles three times when they unseated Cody & the Young Bucks at Survival of the Fittest. On top of that, they became the first team to win the titles twice earlier in 2018 when they beat So Cal Uncensored. The Hung Bucks deserve some love for their exciting, mammoth title reign, but since that started in August of 2017, that pretty much takes them out of the running for this award.
Wrestler of the Year: Jay Lethal
Lethal is the first wrestler to win this award twice and does so after a year that saw him have incredible matches with guys like Dalton Castle and Will Ospreay while also winning the ROH Championship. If there is anything that Lethal proved this year, it's that he is the franchise player of Ring of Honor.
2017 Winner: Cody
2016 Winner: Adam Cole
2015 Winner: Jay Lethal
Impact
Knockout of the Year: Tessa Blanchard
WWE has a ton of talented female wrestlers on their books, including Becky Lynch, Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, and Asuka. That being said, Tessa Blanchard was one of the best female wrestlers in the world. She was the brightest light in an otherwise "meh" Knockouts division (though I did enjoy the campy Su Yung/Madison Rayne vignettes). Her shining moment came at the One Night Only event in July. There, she and Mercedes Martinez battled in a 30-minute ironwoman match for the vacant Phoenix of RISE Championship. It was one of the best women's matches of the year and made me a huge Blanchard fan. Seek this one out if you can.
2017 Winner: Sienna
2016 Winner: Gail Kim
2015 Winner: Gail Kim
Feud of the Year: oVe vs. Lucha Bros
oVe wins its second Feud of the Year award and it is once again with a tag team. While the Crist brothers and Fenix were an important part of this rivalry, this was really all about Pentagon Jr. & Sami Callihan. These two tore each other apart on multiple occasions, especially at Slammiversary (more on that later).
2017 Winner: LAX vs. oVe
Breakout Star of the Year: Killer Kross
Forget in Impact, Kross was one of the biggest breakout stars in all of 2018 thanks to his work in promotions such as AAA and Lucha Underground. Still, his work in Impact was easily the most notable. He debuted in a mystery assailant angle that saw him lay out numerous Impact wrestlers and officials, such as Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt. It gave him an incredible, menacing aura that has yet to dissipate.
To their credit, Impact has continued to book Kross well, although the partnership with Austin Aries got off to a tenuous start. He has constantly been in the main event or upper midcard and associated with top stars such as Moose, Johnny Impact, and Eddie Edwards. Some may ding Kross for the fact he hasn't had any classic matches during his time with Impact, but Kross's star power isn't based on mat talent (though he is a talented wrestler). His star power is conveyed through his imposing look, incredible facial expressions, and excellent mic work.
2017 Winner: Eli Drake
2016 Winner: Mike Bennett
2015 Winner: Rockstar Spud
2014 Winner: Ethan Carter III
Rising Star of the Year: KM
When KM first debuted in Impact in 2017, I immediately wrote him off. His "are you calling me a liar?" gimmick did absolutely nothing for me and he just seemed like a generic big man. It wasn't until mid-2018 where KM finally showed some personality and charisma. He has since gone on to form an exceptionally entertaining tag team with Fallah Bah.
2017 Winner: Dezmond Xavier
X Division Star of the Year: Brian Cage
Matt Sydal may have had a longer X Division Championship reign than Brian Cage, but the former Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Champion was the division's biggest star. He defeated Sydal for the belt in July at Slammiversary and held it until November, where he invoked Option C. For those unfamiliar with Option C, the X-Division vacates their title in order to get a shot at the World title. Although Cage was unsuccessful in winning the title, the move did firmly place him in the main event scene.
2017 Winner: Trevor Lee
Most Improved Star of the Year: Tessa Blanchard
As I mentioned before, I became a big Blanchard fan after her match with Mercedes Martinez. I'm of the firm opinion that Blanchard is one of the best female wrestlers in North America. In fact, I'd put her in the top five along with Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, Charlotte Flair, and Sasha Banks. That being said, Blanchard wasn't at this level prior to 2018. She showed a ton of promise in the past, especially in WhatCulture Pro Wrestling and the Mae Young Classic. However, she didn't put it all together until her time in Impact. She developed a dominating, sneering personality and instantly became the Knockouts division top star.
Tag Team of the Year: LAX
Ortiz & Santana announced their arrival to the world in 2017, but they truly established themselves as one of the best in the world in 2018. PWI named them the fourth-best tag team of 2018 and they are fully deserving of that spot. Not only did they dominate the Impact tag scene, but they also found time to compete on the Jericho Cruise and in notable indy promotions such as PROGRESS, PWG, and House of Glory.
2017 Winner: LAX
Most Underrated Star of the Year: Ethan Page
"All Ego" Ethan Page was a notable star of the indy scene before he signed with Impact in late 2017. He originally played the character of Chandler Park, nephew of Joseph Park, but that went nowhere fast. He was eventually put together with Matt Sydal in a fun pairing that gave him some good TV time. Page hasn't gotten much of a chance to shine yet, but he deserves a chance. The man is a great wrestler, charismatic, and has a great presence.
2017 Winner: Andrew Everett
Match of the Year: Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr at Slammiversary
Slammiversary 2018 was a fantastic show and full of hardcore moments, so it's impressive that Callihan and Pentagon were still able to steal the show. We can nitpick a bit and say Callihan's selling of the arm was a little inconsistent, but it shouldn't take away from the match as a whole.
2017 Winner: Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards at Slammiversary
Moment of the Year: Sami Callihan's baseball bat shot to Eddie Edwards
Even if you don't watch Impact, you heard about this. It all came about in a post-match assault in which Callihan attempted to use his trademark baseball bat in a new way. He positioned a chair over the face of a prone Edwards and swung downwards. Unfortunately, Callihan whiffed and smashed Edwards in the eye, legitimately breaking his orbital bone. The former Solomon Crowe received a ton of heat for his unsafe work and seemingly "meh" attitude about it, but at the very least it made sure wrestling fans across the world talked about him.
2017 Winner: Eli Drake wins the World title
PPV of the Year: Slammiversary
In case you haven't heard, Impact is once again in a new era. Now, they are under management by Scott D'Amore and Don Callis. The new regime started at the beginning of 2018 and needed a big show to announce their return. That came in July thanks to Slammiversary, a show many called one of the best PPVs of 2018. Personally, I thought it was the best Impact show I've ever watched (though I've only watched since 2016). Let's give a special shoutout to the opening Fatal 4-Way, the aforementioned Callihan/Penta match, and the main event.
2017 Winner: Slammiversary
Talker of the Year: Eli Drake
Eli Drake was easily the promotion's best mic worker of 2018. For two prime examples of his work, check out the 2nd annual Eli Drake's Gravy Train Turkey Trot and One Night Only: Night of the Dummies. Drake is so effortless on the mic
Move of the Year: LAX's Street Sweeper
I don't think my words could do this move justice, you should just find a clip of it online. Just know that it's one of the best tag team finishers in the game right now.
2017 Winner: Petey Williams's Canadian Destroyer
Champion of the Year: LAX as Tag Team Champions
It's time to look at Ortiz & Santana's place in Impact history. If 2018 told us anything, it's that LAX deserves to be in the conversation for best Impact Tag Team Champions ever. Their three reigns with the belt trail only Beer Money and The Wolves (two teams who are definitely in that conversation), their 594 cumulative days with the belt are the most all-time, and their most recent reign was the longest in the belt's history. It's that last reign that really wins them this award here. It lasted about eight months and saw them incredible matches with the likes of The OGz & the Lucha Bros.
Wrestler of the Year: Eddie Edwards
This was a really tough award to give out. Under normal circumstances, Austin Aries would have been the easy choice, but then he walked out on the company in November. Johnny Impact ended the year as champion but was M.I.A. for what seemed like months at a time. Sami Callihan had a great in-ring year, but he has to be disqualified after looking at his win-loss record in feuds. The man lost to LAX, Eddie Edwards, Pentagon, and Brian Cage. The only real option besides Edwards is Pentagon Jr., but he didn't show up until April. Thus, the award here goes to the former Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards.
Edwards's year really kicked off in February when he started feuding with oVe. That led to the aforementioned baseball bat incident, and that changed everything. Edwards slowly became unhinged and obsessed with getting revenge. His feud with Callihan morphed into a feud with hardcore icon Tommy Dreamer and turned Edwards into a vicious, maniacal heel. After defeating Dreamer at Slammiversary, Edwards became a face again and jumped back into the main event scene by attacking Impact Champion Austin Aries. Edwards was unsuccessful in gaining the title as he was betrayed by his former friend Moose. This sparked yet another great rivalry as the two battled in wild brawls all over the place. Throughout the course of the year, we also saw Edwards interact with his wife Alisha Edwards in a number of vignettes. Some were a little lame, but they were usually entertaining.
So to recap, Edwards had multiple fantastic feuds, competed in some great matches, took part in memorable angles, performed some of the company's best character work, and was almost always entertaining.
2017 Winner: Eli Drake
2016 Winner: Matt Hardy
2015 Winner: Ethan Carter III
New Japan
PPV of the Year: Dominion
It's rare that any New Japan show outshines Wrestle Kingdom, but that's exactly what Dominion did this year. Of course, we have to start by talking about the main event: a two-out-of-three falls match between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega for Okada's IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Dave Meltzer called it the greatest wrestling match he had ever seen, and while you may disagree with him, it's hard to argue that the match is an all-time classic. What often gets overshadowed by the main event and the shock of seeing Chris Jericho win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship is the excellent match Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi had for the Brit's Jr. Heavyweight belt. When a match of that caliber is the third-best remembered match of a show, you know it's a good show.
2017 Winner: Wrestle Kingdom 11
2016 Winner: Wrestle Kingdom 10
Most Underrated Star of the Year: YOSHI-HASHI
CHAOS goes back-to-back here as YOSHI-HASHI finally gets some love. The man has constantly been overshadowed by his more popular stablemates such as Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ishii, Hirooki Goto, and even Toru Yano. He's constantly derided by fans and has often struggled to find his footing in the promotion. Because of that, people often forget about his in-ring talent. YOSHI-HASHI had a stellar G1 Climax, including a show-stealing match against Kazuchika Okada. He also excelled in his supporting role in the Jay White/CHAOS saga.
2017 Winner: Tomohiro Ishii
Breakout Star of the Year: Juice Robinson
The man formerly known as CJ Parker has undergone a complete career resurgence in New Japan. He became a Young Lion and toiled for months before getting a few opportunities. Prior to 2018, he scored some big wins over wrestlers such as Kenny Omega & Michael Elgin, but his time in the spotlight was brief. During this time, Robinson continued to improve in the ring and became more popular with the fans. Robinson finally broke through when he defeated Jay White at the G1 Special to become just the third ever IWGP United States Champions. Though he lost the title to Cody a couple of months later, it indicated that Gedo had a lot of faith in Robinson as a major face in the company.
2017 Winner: EVIL
Match of the Year: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
Dave Meltzer infamously broke his five-star scale when he gave Okada/Omega 1 six stars. He then smashed the scale by giving this match seven stars. And yes, that is just one man's opinion, but you'll find very few fans who thought this was not one of the best matches they'd ever seen. These two men put on an absolute wrestling clinic and told an incredible story. The fact that we finally got to see Omega complete his story of redemption and win the championship was just the icing on the cake.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
2016 Winner: Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito at G-1 Climax Day 18
Junior Heavyweight of the Year: Will Ospreay
In a story that began in the fall of 2017, Ospreay began his quest to became the top star of the Junior Heavyweight division. Fast forward to 2018, and we saw Ospreay win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at WK 13. His opponents that night: KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi, and Marty Scurll, the only other men who could lay claim to the top spot. Over the next few months, Ospreay defeated all three of those men in singles matches. All three of the matches were great, especially the Scurll one. Ospreay also defeated Jyushin Liger at Long Beach during this title reign. Ospreay would eventually lose the title to Takahashi in June, but Ospreay used this as an opportunity to try and move up to the heavyweight division. The end of 2018 saw Ospreay positioned as the #1 contender to the NEVER Openweight Division as he tried to become the first Jr. Heavyweight to win the title.
Side note: Ospreay teamed up with Hiroshi Tanahashi to have a MOTY contender tag match against the Golden Lovers in December. It's crazy to think that we forgot a match like this, but that just speaks to the great work Ospreay did in 2018.
2017 Winner: KUSHIDA
2016 Winner: KUSHIDA
Rising Star of the Year: Toa Henare
Henare signed with New Japan and 2016 and it became clear early on in his Young Lion days that he was something special. While he has yet to experience any real success, he has continued to develop in the ring and has an outside shot at receiving some title shots in 2019.
2017 Winner: Beretta
2016 Winner: SANADA
Heavyweight Tag Team of the Year: Young Bucks
Matt & Nick Jackson actually started the year as junior heavyweights, but officially became heavyweights in February. This was a huge deal, as these two were arguably the greatest IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions ever. The bulked-up Bucks had their first heavyweight match against the Golden Lovers at Strong Style Evolved. I saw that match in person and it's definitely the best match I've ever seen live. Though the Bucks lost to Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi, they went on to team up with Bullet Club teammate Marty Scurll and win the NEVER Openweight 6-man tag belts. At Dominion, they unseated EVIL & SANADA to became the new heavyweight tag team champions. In doing so, they became just the second team ever to win both the heavyweight and junior heavyweight tag team titles and the first team to ever win all three tag titles.
2017 Winner: Guerrillas of Destiny
2016 Winner: Guerrillas of Destiny
Champion of the Year: Kazuchika Okada as IWGP Heavyweight Champion
Who else could it be? This was Okada's fourth reign with the top belt and though it ended in June, it was one for the record books. The reign spanned 720 days and 12 successful defenses, both New Japan records. In 2018, Okada successfully defended the title against Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Zack Sabre Jr., & Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Move of the Year: Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel
A lot of credit goes to Gedo for continuing to protect this move and keep its mystique. Even if it wasn't this well-protected, the One-Winged Angel is a sensational move that looks absolutely devastating.
2017 Winner: Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel
Junior Heavyweight Tag Team of the Year: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
The Suzuki-gun duo held the IWJP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles for almost all of 2018. They beat Roppongi 3K at the Anniversary Show in March in what has to be considered an upset. After all, the upstart duo of SHO & YOH had just won the title about five weeks earlier and had yet to successfully defend the belts. Still, Kanemaru & Desperado held the title for the rest of the year while racking up four successful title defenses and reaching the finals of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament.
2017 Winner: Young Bucks
2016 Winner: Young Bucks
Most Improved Star of the Year: Jay White
Forget about improving over the course of a year, White had a massive improvement over the course of just one day. At Wrestle Kingdom 12, White fell to Hiroshi Tanashahi and frankly, looked out of his league. The Ace thoroughly outclassed White, who looked unsure of his character and gimmick. The very next day at New Year Dash!!, White demolished Katsuya Kitamura in what was pretty much a squash match. It felt a little like White was free from the pressure of having to match up with Tana. Later in the night, he teased joining Bullet Club but laid out leader Kenny Omega with a Blade Runner. A few weeks later, White would unseat Omega to become the second-ever United States Champion in an excellent and frankly underrated match.
After losing the US title to Juice Robinson, White entered the G1 Climax ready to prove himself. In his first two block matches, he beat both Kazuchika Okada and Tanahashi and declared himself the new leader of CHAOS. That turned out to be a ruse, as White would betray CHAOS and become the new leader of a reborn Bullet Club. Thus, White started the year as someone who was clearly not ready for the spotlight and someone who did not totally understand his gimmick, but he ended the year as one of the promotion's best talkers and a true main event heel.
2017 Winner: Juice Robinson
Feud of the Year: Kenny Omega vs. Cody
I was tempted to go Omega/Okada again, but in terms of pure storytelling, this is the clear winner. It all stemmed from Cody's desire to unseat Omega as the leader of Bullet Club. This caused a massive rift in the faction and forced a number of the members to pick sides. The feud also helped reunite Omega with Golden Lovers teammate Kota Ibushi. Thanks to Ibushi's support, Omega was able to finally defeat Kazuchika Okada and win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Naturally, his first title defense was against Cody in San Francisco. While it was a great match, it didn't reach the emotional highs of the earlier encounter in New Orleans. At the end of the night, after yet another BC rift opened up, the two men finally patched things up and wrapped up one of 2018's best wrestling feuds.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
Moment of the Year: The Golden Lovers Reunite
As mentioned above, Omega and Ibushi used to team as the Golden Lovers but had not teamed together since 2014. Since that time, Ibushi had competed across the world while Omega joined and eventually became the leader of Bullet Club. The two reunited in January of 2018 when Cody turned on Omega in the aftermath of Omega's title loss to Jay White. The reunion was incredibly touching as both men were clearly emotional to be together once again.
2017 Winner: Katsuyori Shibata Appears at the G-1 Climax
Wrestler of the Year: Kenny Omega
You could argue for both Omega and Okada here, but I'm going to give the slight edge to The Cleaner. His Wrestle Kingdom 13 match with Chris Jericho was an instant classic and stole the show over the main event match between Okada and Tetsuya Naito. The Canadian followed that up with one of the most underrated matches of the year when he faced Jay White at the New Beginning. That match launched his epic feud with Cody while reuniting him with Kota Ibushi. Alongside Ibushi, Omega had one of the best tag matches of the year at Strong Style Evolved against the Young Bucks. From there, he defeated Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a match that wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer awarded seven stars. A stellar G1 Climax run with great matches against the likes of Tomohiro Ishii & Ibushi boosted Omega's stock even higher, as did his two successful title defenses at the end of the year.
In fact, as the New Japan calendar turned to 2018, we saw Kenny Omega stand tall as the top champion as his tag team partner held the NEVER Openweight Championship. Who would have predicted this a year ago?
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada
2016 Winner: Kazuchika Okada
WWE
PPV of the Year: Evolution
There are people who are immediately going to say "oh, you're only saying this because of the women and it's progressive" and so on. But let's be honest here, the women deserve it. Yes, this was a historic show (though nowhere near as historic as WWE would have you believe) and it pretty much delivered on all fronts. Both tag matches exceeded expectations (Alicia Fox botch and all), the battle royal was the best of its kind since All In (even though the winner was disappointing), and Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair had one of the best women's matches in company history. Hate if you want, but this was a great show from top to bottom.
2017 Winner: Royal Rumble
2016 Winner: Survivor Series
2015 Winner: WrestleMania 31
Women's Wrestler of the Year: Becky Lynch
Before we start gushing all over The Man, let's give some love to a few honorable mentions. Alexa Bliss had another cracking year on the mic and had two reigns as Raw Women's Champion, Ronda Rousey continually improved in the ring and had one of the best rookie years in WWE history, and Charlotte Flair had cracking matches with the likes of Asuka and Ruby Riott while reigning twice as Smackdown Women's Champion.
Still, no female wrestler (and very few male wrestlers) could touch Becky Lynch in 2018. After spending the first half of the year doing absolute squat, she delivered a standout performance at Money in the Bank that had fans desperate for her to win. Thanks to that goodwill and a lengthy winning streak, Lynch became the #1 Contender for Carmella's Smackdown Women's title. Things got testy after Charlotte was added into the match and ended up winning the belt. It was that win that triggered a massive character shift in Lynch, who became more outspoken, more confident, and an incredible mic worker. Fans joked she was now "Stone Cold" Becky Lynch and The Man quickly became one of the industry's biggest stars.
2017 Winner: Charlotte Flair
2016 Winner: Charlotte Flair
2015 Winner: Nikki Bella
2014 Winner: Paige
Faction of the Year: New Day
In today's faction-scarce WWE, New Day pretty much has this award locked up. Their 2018 was relatively quiet by their own lofty standards, but they still won the Smackdown tag titles and feuded with the likes of Rusev Day, The Usos, and The Bludgeon Brothers.
2017 Winner: New Day
2016 Winner: New Day
2015 Winner: New Day
2014 Winner: The Shield
Champion of the Year: AJ Styles as WWE Champion
Though Styles won the WWE Championship in 2017, the bulk of his reign took place in 2018. It was a reign for the record books, as it was the eight-longest WWE title in history and featured a number of high-profile defenses and feuds. The six-pack challenge at Fastlane was a sleeper hit, the feud with Shinsuke Nakamura featured incredible character work by the two men (even if the matches were a little disappointing), and the feud with Samoa Joe was one of the year's best. By the time he lost the belt to Daniel Bryan, Styles had already cemented his place as one of the great WWE Champions of this era.
2017 Winner: Neville as Cruiserweight Champion
2016 Winner: New Day as WWE Tag Team Champions
2015 Winner: The Usos as WWE Tag Team Champions
Match of the Year: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair at Evolution
It seems only fitting that WWE's best PPV of the year would have its best match. While I do have slight gripes about the character alignment of the two women, both Lynch and Flair portrayed their characters perfectly. Lynch was the consummate doing everything she could to retain her title while Flair was the heroic babyface who refused to quit. It also helped that this match had a clean finish which put an end to this chapter of their feud.
Honorable mentions go to the mixed tag match at 'Mania, the gauntlet match on Raw in February, and Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.
2017 Winner: New Day vs. The Usos at Hell in a Cell
2016 Winner: AJ Styles vs. John Cena at Summerslam
2015 Winner: Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble
2014 Winner: Team Cena vs. Team Authority at Survivor Series
Cruiserweight of the Year: Mustafa Ali
With all due respect to Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy, Ali was the defining cruiserweight of 2018. He had some excellent feuds and matches with the likes of Alexander, Murphy, and Hideo Itami. This was a big year for 205 Live, thanks to Triple H taking over the show, and Ali was a big reason why it succeeded.
Breakout Star of the Year: Buddy Murphy
Unless you went to NXT live events, the only time WWE fans saw Buddy Murphy was on NXT in January 2017. By the time 2018 rolled around, a lot of fans had forgotten about the former NXT Tag Team Champion. That all changed when Murphy became a member of the Cruiserweight division. The Aussie was immediately positioned as one of 205 Live's top heels and spent most of the year at or near the top of the card. Television matches with Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander were among WWE's best in 2018 and raised Murphy's stock through the roof.
2017 Winner: Braun Strowman
2016 Winner: Alexa Bliss
2015 Winner: Kevin Owens
Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: Carmella
When Carmella (last year's winner for Rising Star of the Year) cashed in her Money in the Bank contract, she began a now-infamous reign as Smackdown Women's Champion. The Staten Island Princess couldn't buy a clean win and her in-ring output was severely lacking. By the time Summerslam rolled around, she had taken a back seat to her two challengers, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch. Thus, a lot of fans missed 'Mella's notable performance in that match and the great work she would do throughout the rest of the year. Now that she was no longer plagued by bad booking, Carmella was able to express more personality in her promos and delivered some great in-ring performances.
Tag Team of the Year: New Day
2017 was an incredible year for tag team wrestling. 2018 was... not so great. Authors of Pain disappeared for months with no explanation, B Team somehow picked up the Raw Tag Team Championship, the Bludgeon Brothers were out with injury the last four months, etc. Thus, we're left with the New Day, who had great tag matches throughout the year and had one reign as Smackdown Tag Team champs.
2017 Winner: The Usos
2016 Winner: The New Day
2015 Winner: The New Day
2014 Winner: The Usos
Moment of the Year: Roman Reigns Announces he has Leukemia
When Roman Reigns came out on the October 22nd episode of Raw, no one was ready for the emotion that was to follow. Reigns revealed to the world his leukemia had returned and that he was being forced out of the ring. This was one of those moments where reality trumped wrestling. Suddenly, no one cared about how much they disliked the wrestler Roman Reigns, they just wanted the man behind him to get better. In terms of raw emotional impact, this was definitely the year's biggest. Honorable mentions go to a bloody Becky Lynch standing among the fans at Raw and Shinsuke Nakamura winning the men's Royal Rumble.
2017 Winner: Kevin Owens turns on Chris Jericho at the Festival of Friendship
2016 Winner: Goldberg beats Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series
2015 Winner: Seth Rollins Cashes in at WrestleMania
2014 Winner: Brock Lesnar Breaks the Streak
Talker of the Year: Samoa Joe
Though Joe spoke well all year, he really won this award during his feud with AJ Styles. He delivered his promos with such intensity and believability that he was able to sell the fans on everything. That is truly a lost art in today's WWE.
2017 Winner: Kevin Owens
2016 Winner: Paul Heyman
2015 Winner: Paul Heyman
2014 Winner: Paul Heyman
Feud of the Year: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
This feud kicked off in earnest when Flair was inserted into Becky's title challenge at Summerslam. Lynch had been winning matches for weeks and was the easy top contender, but Flair had simply been handed her opportunity. This simple storytelling set the basis for the year's best feud. Becky Lynch had never been handed anything while Charlotte Flair was given everything on a silver platter. The two clashed multiple times throughout the rest of the year, including the aforementioned banger at Evolution and an instant classic at TLC, which also included Asuka.
2017 Winner: New Day vs. The Usos
2016 Winner: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
2015 Winner: Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
2014 Winner: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
One Night Performance of the Year: Seth Rollins on February 19th Episode of Raw
The concept was simple: all seven men competing in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match would compete in a gauntlet match to gain momentum. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns started the match and before the crowd even knew what was happening, put on a great match. Rollins won and advanced to face John Cena. While this second match wasn't as good as the first one, it was still a very good match and saw Rollins pick up another win. Unfortunately, by the time Elias came out for match #3, Rollins was exhausted and made for easy pickings. Still, Rollins had wrestled incredibly well and had done so for 65 minutes, a Raw record.
2017 Winner: Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble
2016 Winner: Dean Ambrose at Royal Rumble
2015 Winner: Seth Rollins at Night of Champions
2014 Winner: Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30
Move of the Year: Ronda Rousey's Armbar
When Rousey was in the UFC, the armbar was her signature move. She used it to successfully retain the Women's Bantamweight Championship many times, often in a matter of seconds. When she came to WWE, the armbar was an obvious choice for a finisher. Not only did Rousey win her debut match at Wrestlemania with it, but she also used it to win the Raw Women's Championship and put away opponents such as Nikki Bella, Alexa Bliss, and Nia Jax. While many griped about her inconsistent application of the move, no other move in WWE carried as much legitimacy as this one.
2017 Winner: Neville's Red Arrow
2016 Winner: Baron Corbin's End of Days
2015 Winner: Neville's Red Arrow
2014 Winner: Neville's Red Arrow
Rising Star of the Year: Ruby Riott
Riott was pretty low on the pecking order of women in WWE in 2018, but that didn't stop her from quietly putting on great matches. For proof of this, look back at her work with Charlotte Flair at Fastlane and against Bayley on Backlash. She may not win a lot of matches, but her time will come eventually.
2017 Winner: Carmella
2016 Winner: Enzo Amore & Big Cass
Wrestler of the Year: Seth Rollins
This came down to Rollins and AJ Styles, the only two men to ever win this award. Let's break down the case for both men. Styles held the WWE Championship for most of the year and feuded with guys such as Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev, and Daniel Bryan. His best matches include against Samoa Joe at Hell in a Cell, against Bryan at TLC, and against Nakamura at Money in the Bank. Rollins held the Intercontinental Championship twice and the Raw Tag Team titles with Dean Ambrose. His rivals in 2018 included The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, and Elias. His best matches include the triple threat at against Miz and Finn Balor at Wrestlemania, against Miz at Backlash, and against Elias at Money in the Bank.
I would understand if you give the edge to Styles, but Rollins is the pick here. The biggest point of Styles's candidacy is that he held the WWE Championship for 11 months out of the year. However, fans were hoping he would lose it to both Nakamura and Joe. And though Rollins never held Raw's top prize, he had fans wishing he did. Plus, this was the year that Rollins finally broke through and became a true megastar. Go back and listen to some of those reactions if you want proof. Taking all of this into account, Seth Rollins is our 2018 WWE Wrestler of the year.
2017 Winner: AJ Styles
2016 Winner: AJ Styles
2015 Winner: Seth Rollins
2014 Winner: Seth Rollins
General
Weekly Show of the Year: NXT
As much as I wanted to give this award to the second Mae Young Classic, no regular weekly show came close to NXT's quality. Cast your mind back to matches such as Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era, Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O'Reilly, Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole, and Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne. What other show was able to deliver this level content consistently? Special shoutout to 205 Live from recovering from the god-awful Enzo Amore debacle and secretly becoming a great show.
2017 Winner: NXT
2016 Winner: Lucha Underground
2015 Winner: Lucha Underground
2014 Winner: NXT
Commentator of the Year: Kevin Kelly
The most common reason you hear American fans not watching New Japan is the language barrier. While not all of their shows have English commentary, the majority now do and feature Kevin Kelly as the lead announcer. Last year's runner-up for this award bridges that gap completely and does an incredible job of conveying storylines to fans and explaining why the crowd is cheering for a certain superstar. If you want an example of Kelly's work, watch any of Jay White's matches from the G-1 Climax. With Kelly narrating White's downward spiral, it felt like we were watching a star being born.
2017 Winner: Corey Graves
Legend of the Year: Bruno Sammartino
Sammartino passed away on April 28, 2018, at the age of 82. He left behind an incredible legacy that includes being WWE's first-ever megastar and arguably the greatest WWE Champion of all-time. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 and holds the record for longest WWE Championship reign. Upon his passing, the wrestling world was full of tributes from names such as Chris Jericho, Triple H, Vince McMahon, Ted DiBiase, Bret Hart, AJ Styles, Dustin Rhodes, and Kurt Angle. The wrestling business is exponentially better off thanks to the Living Legend.
2017 Winner: Bobby Heenan
2016 Winner: Chyna
2015 Winner: Dusty Rhodes
2014 Winner: Ultimate Warrior
Tag Team of the Year: Young Bucks
When you think of the Young Bucks, you usually think of them covered in gold. At one point recently, they held three titles concurrently. In 2018 however, the only tag team championship they won was the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (though they did win the ROH Six-Man tag titles and NEVER Openweight Six-Man titles). Still, they were one of ROH's best tag teams and delivered in both of New Japan's tag divisions.
2017 Winner: The Usos
PPV of the Year: NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Forget the best show of 2018, this was one of WWE's best shows ever. It opened up with an incredible ladder match to crown the inaugural NXT North American Championship. Then we saw Shayna Baszler dethrone Ember Moon in an underrated clash and a triple threat tag match for both the NXT Tag Team Championship and Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. While the tag match was the weakest match of the show, it was still very good and had a classic turn from Roderick Strong. In the penultimate match, we saw Aleister Black capture the NXT Championship from Andrade "Cien" Almas. Oh, and the main event was just one of the best NXT matches ever, no big deal.
2017 Winner: Wrestle Kingdom 11
Match of the Year: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
On June 9th at Osaka-jo Hall, Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega had the fourth match in one of the best wrestling series of all-time. While I personally think match #2 was the best out of the bunch (and the greatest match of all-time), #4 was definitely 2019's best match. The two men made excellent use of the stipulation and managed to generate intense drama with every single move. While some complained about the match length, it can not be argued that the match ever really lagged or felt boring. That is an incredible thing to say about a match that went for more than 60 minutes.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega at Dominion
Feud of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano
There were a number of great feuds this year, including Kazuchika Okada & Jay White, Cody & Kenny Omega, Kairi Sane & Shayna Baszler, AJ Styles & Samoa Joe, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair, etc. Yet, Ciampa/Gargano stands above all. No other feud felt this personal or real. No other high-level feud produced such incredible in-ring work. Their three TakeOver matches were among the year's best, especially their first match in New Orleans.
What made this feud so compelling was the change in narrative. Although Gargano got the upper hand by defeating Ciampa in their first match, the former ROH Television Champion gained a measure of revenge by winning the sequel and then defeating Aleister Black for the NXT Championship. Seeing Ciampa with the title destroyed Gargano. That title had always managed to elude him, yet now his sworn enemy held it. Then, we saw Gargano turn heel on Black, which was completely shocking and added a whole new layer to the feud.
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
Promotion of the Year: New Japan Pro Wrestling
If you're a fan that believes the wrestling world revolves around WWE, you're sorely mistaken. In my opinion, and I know many others share this opinion as well, that New Japan was leaps and bounds better than WWE in 2018. New Japan's best shows, such as Wrestle Kingdom and Dominion, were better than WWE's top shows like Evolution and Survivor Series. NJPW's best matches, including Okada/Omega IV and Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, were better than WWE's top matches, such as Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair & Seth Rollins vs. The Miz.
We must also applaud New Japan for growing in the western hemisphere. While WWE struck a morally dubious deal with Saudi Arabia, New Japan held two successful shows in the U.S. They also managed to book MSG alongside partner Ring of Honor.
2017 Winner: New Japan Pro Wrestling
2016 Winner: New Japan Pro Wrestling
2015 Winner: NXT
Comeback Wrestler of the Year: Daniel Bryan
In February of 2016, Daniel Bryan announced his retirement. Though it was not completely unexpected, it was sobering and utterly heartbreaking. One of the best wrestlers of all-time had had his career shortened due to injuries.
That was, until March 2018. Out of seemingly nowhere, Bryan announced he had been medically cleared and was coming out of retirement. It was one of the best stories of 2018 and everyone was genuinely overjoyed to see Bryan return. Furthermore, it seems like Bryan didn't even lose a step. Within months of returning, Bryan was putting on fantastic matches and performing some of the best work of his career.
Wrestler of the Year: Kenny Omega
This was incredibly close, but Omega edges out his rival Okada for this award. Let's take a look at his 2018 to see why he won this award. It started in January at the Tokyo Dome, where Omega and Jericho had an instant classic over Omega's United States Championship. Omega lost that title a month later to Jay White in one of the year's hidden gems. This loss kicked off two great storylines: the Bullet Club Civil War and the Golden Lovers reunion. Both of these stories led to an incredible match between the Lovers and Young Bucks in March in Long Beach. From there, Omega finally won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in what is Dave Meltzer's highest-rated match ever. The Cleaner had a stellar first defense against Cody inside the Cow Palace before having a remarkable G-1 Climax run. He defended the title twice more before being 1/4 of an incredible tag match in December. Any questions?
2017 Winner: Kazuchika Okada
Thanks for reading everyone.
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