RDTWorldofSport 2017 Wrestling Awards
I don’t have a real basis for this to be perfectly honest. It’s mostly my opinion with some searching around to see what some respected wrestling forums and writers think. Also this will mostly be WWE (but not all), basically because that’s what I watched 99% of the time. But if something else catches my eye, it could make the awards. With that being said, here goes. (Yes, I wrote the same thing last year).
Moment of the Year
Winner: The Undertaker Loses to Roman Reigns and Gets a Standing Ovation
Can’t say he retired, because we don’t know that yet, but it was one heck of a moment after he lost to Reigns. He sure looked like he was retiring, that’s for sure.
Second Place: The Festival of Friendship – Kevin Owens Turns on Chris Jericho
Third Place: Kurt Angle returns as RAW GM
Fourth Place: Chris Jericho challenges Kenny Omega for Wrestle Kingdom 12
Fifth Place: The Hardy Boyz return at Wrestlemania 33
Debut of the Year
Winner: Samoa Joe in WWE
WWE has already seemingly screwed up some NXT talent debuts, but one they haven’t messed up at all has been Samoa Joe. He came in as Triple H’s heavy to take out Seth Rollins, and has been near the top of the card ever since. He could be that big match killer that Brock Lesnar is sooner than later.
Second Place: Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE
Third Place: Tye Dillinger in WWE
Fourth Place: Aleister Black in NXT
Fifth Place: Asuka in WWE
Return of the Year
Winner: Kurt Angle on RAW
It feels so right to see Kurt Angle back in WWE. He got an insane reaction when announced as Raw GM. His in-ring return was I guess a bit underwhelming, but it was also refreshing to see him come back in the flow as opposed to a massive big built match. He also was pretty good in the TLC match. It’s great to see Kurt home.
Second Place: Chris Jericho to NJPW to challenge Kenny Omega
Third Place: The Hardyz at Wrestlemania
Fourth Place: Paige in WWE
Fifth Place: Drew McIntyre in NXT
Match of the Year
Winner: WWE Championship: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena – WWE Royal Rumble 2017
I didn’t watch any NJPW, so I can’t speak on anything Okada and Omega did, but there still was a strong WWE selection. It may have been weaker than the Summerslam 2016 match, but AJ and Cena delivered once again it what seemed to almost be a greatest hits version of their match. Those were some pretty great hits.
Second Place: Brock Lesnar vs. A.J. Styles – Survivor Series 2017
Third Place: WWE U.K. Championship: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate – NXT Takeover Chicago
Fourth Place: War Games: Undisputed Era vs. Sanity vs. Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong – NXT Takeover War Games
Fifth Place: WWE Championship – Elimination Chamber: John Cena vs. A.J. Styles vs. Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz vs. Baron Corbin
Feud of the Year
Winner: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
Say what you want about Roman, him and Strowman had some great matches and this feud elevated Strowman into a top guy. The Last Man Standing match at Great Balls of Fire almost made my top five. It also gave us an edge to Roman’s character that’s been missing since he was elevated to top guy status. Great stuff all around.
Second Place: Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens
Third Place: The Usos vs. The New Day
Fourth Place: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens
Fifth Place: Asuka vs. Ember Moon
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
Winner: Former NXT Talents Get Buried
Man where to start. Finn Balor went from the first ever Universal Champion to doing a whole lot of nothing. After his feud with Bray Wyatt eroded into a joke, he was saved with a great match with A.J. Styles at TLC only to just get jobbed out the next night to Kane. Word is Vince doesn’t see what’s so special about him. I mean come on. He even has a marketable Demon gimmick and everything! We had fans booing Bayley at one point, which is incredible really. Talk about a lost year. Shinsuke Nakamura debuted on Smackdown during a Miz promo and that ended up being the highlight of his entire run in 2017. Too bad he couldn’t just feud with Miz. Feud with Ziggler was okay at best. Wrestling Jinder for the WWE Championship and not winning it only hurt him. Bobby Roode has also done a whole lot of nothing since debuting on Smackdown and also had an okay feud with Ziggler. There’s already worry about Asuka’s booking. At least Samoa Joe looked great I suppose.
Second Place: Bray Wyatt
Third Place: Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion
Fourth Place: Survivor Series 2017 Main Event
Fifth Place: Jason Jordan as Kurt Angle’s son
Best Show of the Year
Winner: NXT Takeover: War Games
Everything ranged from good to great here. Lars Sullivan vs. Kassius Ohno? Good start for Sullivan. Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream told a great story in their match and could be near the top of some match of the year lists. The four way for the vacant NXT Women’s title was solid. Drew McIntyre and Andrade Almas had a surprisingly good match with a shocking outcome. War Games is 4th on my match of the year and really put over the Undisputed Era as an up and coming great faction.
Second Place: NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III
Third Place: NXT Takeover: Orlando
Fourth Place: NXT Takeover: Chicago
Fifth Place: WWE Royal Rumble 2017
Non-Wrestler of the Year
Winner: Paul Heyman, Manager
Got to give it to Heyman. He made every match against Lesnar this year a really special feel. From the Goldberg match to the Samoa Joe match to even the A.J. Styles match, he put over everyone. He even put over Finn Balor. All while Brock ran through all of them.
Second Place: Daniel Bryan, Smackdown GM
Third Place: Kurt Angle, RAW GM
Fourth Place: Shane McMahon, Smackdown Commissioner
Fifth Place: William Regal, NXT Commissioner
Best Surprisingly Good Angle
Winner: The Festival of Friendship
Sometimes those type angle miss (see “This is Your Life” for Bayley this year) and sometimes they hit. I guess when Chris Jericho is doing it, it hits. There was a painting, a Gillberg, a new list…and a truly great heel turn. I think Owens vs. Jericho should have been the Universal title match at Mania, to be honest.
Second Place: Enzo Amore becomes the face of 205 Live
Third Place: Aliester Black vs. Velveteen Dream
Woman of the Year
Winner: Asuka (NXT/WWE)
Asuka carried the NXT Women’s division in the post Charlotte-Becky-Bayley-Sasha world. She had great matches with Ember Moon, and has yet to be screwed up in WWE yet, although the start hasn’t been all great either. After the “women’s revolution”, it hasn’t been a super strong year for women. Asuka at least had a strong year.
Second Place: Alexa Bliss (WWE)
Third Place: Sasha Banks (WWE)
Fourth Place: Charlotte (WWE)
Fifth Place: Ember Moon (NXT)
Tag Team of the Year
Winner: The Bar (WWE)
What amazing chemistry Cesaro and Sheamus have! What began as a best of 7 series between two guys who had nothing to do turned into an amazing tag team that complement one another well. They had good matches with the Hardyz this year and also were a good team to put together with the Miz in the feud with the Shield.
Second Place: The Usos (WWE)
Third Place: Authors of Pain (NXT)
Fourth Place: The New Day (WWE)
Fifth Place: The Hardy Boyz (IMPACT/ROH/WWE)
Wrestler of the Year
Winner: A.J. Styles (WWE)
How can it not be Styles? I asked that last year. He came in as WWE Champ. Participated in my 2017 Match of the Year at the Royal Rumble and another contender for it at Elimination Chamber. Carried Shane McMahon to the best or second best match at Wrestlemania. Had a good, if not too long feud with Kevin Owens over the US Title in the summer. Surprisingly won the US Title at a MSG house show. Had to save the TLC show and Finn Balor’s early career by replacing Bray Wyatt and having a great match. Even Vince realized he was too good to not be WWE Champ, so the Jinder experiment ended with AJ winning another WWE Title. As a result he saved Survivor Series and had a Match of the Year contender with Brock Lesnar. Pretty good year for AJ. That’s 2/2 when it comes to WWE years too. Hope he main events Wrestlemania.
Second Place: Brock Lesnar (WWE)
Third Place: The Miz (WWE)
Fourth Place: Samoa Joe (WWE)
Fifth Place: Kevin Owens (WWE)