Annual Wrestling Awards

Tyler Durden

Just thought I'd post here Dave Melzer's (Observer) annual wrestling awards for 2005. There is a top ten in all categories, some of it makes interesting reading, though you do have to realise the guy probably doesn't think WWE is the coolest group to watch at the moment!! For those wanting a quicker look, I've put regular WWE guys in blue and regular TNA guys in red.

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award - Wrestler of the Year - based on in ring, interviews and box office.
1. Kenta Kobashi
2. Samoa Joe
3. Perro Aguayo Jr.
4. Mistico
5. Eddie Guerrero
6. Kid Yamamoto
7. Satoshi Kojima
8. Shawn Michaels
9. Chuck Liddell
10. AJ Styles

Most Outstanding Wrestler - based solely on in-ring.
1. Samoa Joe
2. Kenta Kobashi
3. AJ Styles
4. KENTA
5. Chris Benoit
6. Shawn Michaels
7. Perro Aguayo Jr.
8. Kurt Angle
9. Bryan Danielson
10. Eddie Guerrero

Best Box Office Draw
1. Kenta Kobashi
2. Mistico
3. Masato
4. Kid Yamamoto
5. Perro Aguayo Jr.
6. John Cena
7. Chuck Liddell
8. Batista
9. Dr. Wagner Jr.
10. HHH

Feud Of The Year
1. Batista v HHH
2. Eddie Guerrero v Rey Mysterio
3. Shawn Michaels v Kurt Angle
4. AJ Styles v Chris Daniels
5. Edge v Matt Hardy
6. Hulk Hogan v Shawn Michaels
7. AJ Styles v Chris Daniels v Samoa Joe
8. Kenta Kobashi v Kensuke Sasaki
9. Chris Leben v Josh Koscheck
10. Perros Del Mal v Los Capos

Tag Team Of The Year
1. Chris Harris & James Storm
2. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji
3. Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero
4. Johnny Nitro & Joey Mecury
5. Naomichi Marufuji & Minoru Suzuki
6. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita
7. Team 3-D
8. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
9. Jack Evans & Roderick Strong
10. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shinsuke Nakamura

Most Improved
1. Roderick Strong
2. Batista
3. Katsuhiko Nakajima
4. Go Shiozaki
5. Jimmy Rave
6. Colt Cabana
7. James Gibson (Jamie Noble)
8. Alex Shelley
9. Austin Aries
10. Carlito

Best On Interviews
1. Eddie Guerrero
2. CM Punk
3. Christian Cage
4. JBL
5. Chris Jericho
6. Shawn Michaels
7. Ric Flair
8. Kurt Angle
9. John Cena
10. Perro Aguayo Jr.

Most Charismatic
1. Eddie Guerrero
2. John Cena
3. Kenta Kobashi
4. Perro Aguayo Jr.
5. Shawn Michaels
6. Christian Cage
7. Kid Yamamoto
8. Hulk Hogan
9. Dr. Wagner Jr.
10. Ric Flair

Best Technical Wrestler
1. Bryan Danielson
2. Chris Benoit
3. Kurt Angle
4. James Gibson (Jamie Noble)
5. Kenta Kobashi
6. Samoa Joe
7. Chris Daniels
8. KENTA
9. Eddie Guerrero
10. Doug Williams

Bruiser Bordy Memorial Award (Best Brawler)
1. Samoa Joe
2. Chris Benoit
3. Abyss
4. Homicide
5. Necro Butcher
6. HHH
7. Kensuke Sasaki
8. JBL
9. Perro Aguayo Jr.
10. Kenta Kobashi

Best Flying Wrestler
1. AJ Styles
2. Mistico
3. Jack Evans
4. Rey Mysterio
5. Ricky Marvin
6. KENTA
7. Sonjay Dutt
8. Chris Daniels
9. Chris Sabin
10. Naomichi Marufuji

Most Overrated
1. Jeff Jarrett
2. HHH
3. Chris Masters
4. John Cena
5. JBL
6. Undertaker
7. Randy Orton
8. Takeshi Rikio
9. John Heidenreich
10. Carilto

Most Underrated
1. Shelton Benjamin
2. Christian Cage
3. Paul London
4. Matt Hardy
5. Chris Sabin
6. William Regal
7. CM Punk
8. Chris Jericho
9. Eric Young
10. Brian Kendrick

Promotion Of The Year
1. Pro Wrestling NOAH
2. CMLL
3. UFC
4. ROF
5. Pride
6. TNA
7. Hero's
8. WWE
9. OVW
10. PWG

Best Weekly TV Show
1. UFC Ultimate Fighter
2. CMLL
3. TNA Impact
4. Pro Wrestling NOAH
5. OVW
6. WWE - RAW
7. WWE - Smackdown
8. WWE - Velocity
9. Memphis Championship Wrestling
10. New Japan Pro Wrestling

Best Shootfighter Of The Year
1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Chuck Liddell
3. Shogun Roa
4. Takanori Gomi
5. Matt Hughes
6. Kid Yamamoto
7. Rich Franklin
8. Mirko Cro Cop
9. Wanderlei Silva
10. Andre Arlovsky

Worked Match Of The Year
1. Kenta Kobashi v Samoa Joe 10/1 (ROF)
2. Kurt Angle v Shawn Michaels 4/3 (WWE)
3. Kenta Kobashi v Kensuke Sasaki 7/18 (NOAH)
4. Samoa Joe v Chris Daniels v AJ Styles 9/11 (TNA)
5. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki v Kensuke Sasaki & Katushiko Nakajima 11/5
6. Chris Harris & James Storm v Chris Daniels & Elix Skipper 12/5/04
7. Satoshi Kojima v Toshiaki Kawada 2/16
8. Mistico v Ultimo Guerrero 2/15
9. AJ Styles v Chris Daniels 2/13
10. KENTA v SUWA 9/18

Shoot Match Of The Year
1. Forrest Griffin v Stephan Bonnar
2. Fedor Emelianenko v Mirko Cro Cop
3. Takanori Gomi v Tatsuya Kawajiri
4. Wanderlei Silva v Mark Hunt

Rookie Of The Year
1. Shingo Takagi
2. Kohei Suwama
3. Christy Hemme
4. Daniel Puder
5. Bobby Lashley

Best Non-Wrestler
1. Eric Bischoff
2. Jim Mitchell
3. Prince Nana
4. Jim Cornette
5. Paul Heyman
6. Scott D'Amore
7. Teddy Long
8. Melina
9. Julius Smokes
10. Vince McMahon

Best Television Announcer
1. Mike Tenay
2. Jim Ross
3. Joey Styles
4. Baz Ruten
5. Tazz

Worst Television Announcer
1. Jonathan Coachman
2. Todd Grisham
3. Michael Cole
4. Jerry Lawler
5. Jimmy Bower

Best Major Wrestling Show
1. Pro Wrestling NOAH - Destiny 7/18
2. ECW One Night Stand - 6/12
3. WWE Wrestlemania XXI - 4/3
4. Pride Bushido: The Tournament - 9/25
5. UFC: Ultimate Fighter 2 Finals 11/5
6. WWE Vengeance 6/26
7. ROH - Manhattan 5/7
8. TNA Unbreakable 9/11
9. TNA Turning Point
10. Pride Final Elimination 8/28

Tyler Durden

I always think the contradictions in these kind of awards are quite amusing. Carlito is the 10th most over rated performer and yet he is also the 10th most improved. Quite strange.

I like these kind of lists, but they shouldn't be taken too seriously!!

Blitzkrieg

Actually, this list shouldn't be taken seriously at all. I was interested until he named HHH as the 2nd most overrated wrestler in the world..

Umm.. I'd like to see him give me a few reasons on what that's based off of.

You see.. A wrestler from the U.S. will sellout arenas across Japan, but would the same happen here vice versa? Fuck no.. Nobody would give a shit, so I'm just going to rip the whole box office draw away from him right now.. It's laughable.

Oh, and not to be a dick because I like the guy, but it must have ben awful hard for Samoa Joe to sellout those bingo halls this year huh? He must have stayed up all night in the pooring rain the get what?.. A hundred people in the stands. Jesus Christ.

Again, he had me until he started bashing Triple H. Now he just sounds like a regualr jackass fan that don't know what he's talking about!:cool12:

thirty7

Co-signed!

I wish my sex life was like ECW, first you get a One Night Stand followed by 2 months of nostalgic orgasms and then 6 months of constant sucking.

Tyler Durden

Joe didn't get put up for any awards based on his "Box Office" draw, just awards for his wrestling ability which I, for one, am perfectly happy to see him up for.

For me, it's always been about performance and never about how many bums you could put on seats. If this were the criteria for how wrestling awards were dished out then Hogan would win them all every year. Even now. And I don't think even you would want that!!

Blitzkrieg

read the criteria again to be eligible for the Ric Flir award. Joe came in 2nd.. That, I didn't understand. I know he's a talented in-ring performer.

P.S.

Fuck Hogan!

Tyler Durden

That just means they put huge store by the in ring and not so much by the box office for that award. Fine by me!!

P.S

Co-Signed

Blitzkrieg

Well, Joe doesn't do much in the interviews section either, so I guess the in-ring part counts triple of the other two? I dunno..

I can't hate on WWE though for how they run things. It's a business and they try to appeal to the masses. Sure they have good-great matches here and there but the box office appeal, storylines creative, and interviews will proabably always come first.

Tyler Durden

There are a few controversial choices there, but on the whole I concur with most of it.

If he didn't put the controversial bits in though, nobody would talk about it.

Blitzkrieg

Obviously I haven't seen all the Japanese wrestlers so they may very well be awesome in the ring and/or on the mic. I'm just sick of people trying to bring Triple H down. They try to trat him like he's no more talented or valuble than JBL or somebody, which to me, is laughable.

The guy is a draw plain and simple. He's awesome on the mic. And he's still decent in the ring. What is there to hate? This guy is picking the wrong year to be hating on Triple H. The guy put over Batista Huge, Huge.. basically created a star in that feud, because lets be honest, Batista wouldn't be half as big as he is now without the help of Triple H. Then he takes some time off, people think he's gonna come back at SS and win the title again, which never happend..

He's stayed out of the main event picture like everyone wanted to see him do for a while. Hell, there's even a new heel champion.

What more does HHH need to do to be appreciated? I said this a 1000 times and I'll say it again.. His value WILL be noticed when he's gone.. and then these haters will miss the guy.