2021 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards

[jasontoddwhitt]

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

1. Kenny Omega (629) - 3,755pts
2. Roman Reigns (90) - 1,636pts
3. Shingo Takagi (46) - 1,604pts
4. Bryan Danielson (127) - 1,411pts
5. Utami Hayashi****a (134) - 1,310pts

Most Outstanding Wrestler

1. Shingo Takagi (366) - 2,767pts
2. Bryan Danielson (319) - 2,647pts
3. Kenny Omega (218) - 2,108pts
4. Will Ospreay (54) - 960pts
5. Syuri (66) - 615pts

Tag Team of the Year

1. Young Bucks (740) - 4,405pts
2. Penta & Rey Fenix (124) - 2,485pts
3. FTR (111) - 1,233pts
4. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi (23) - 649pts
5. Syuri & Giulia (4) - 283pts

Best on Interviews

1. MJF (329) - 2,641pts
2. Eddie Kingston (266) - 2,479pts
3. CM Punk (247) - 2,384pts
4. Jon Moxley (12) - 404pts
5. Dan Lambert (18) - 308pts

Promotion of the Year

1. All Elite Wrestling (817) - 4,298pts
2. Stardom (158) - 2,070pts
3. New Japan Pro Wrestling (17) - 1,722pts
4. Game Changer Wrestling (7) - 695pts
5. UFC (42) - 645pts
6. World Wrestling Entertainment (3) - 512pts
7. Pro Wrestling NOAH (10) - 272pts
8. Impact Wrestling (1) - 191pts

Match of the Year

1. Young Bucks vs Penta & Fenix 9/5 (288) - 2,126pts
2. Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi 5/4 (182) - 1,539pts
3. Kenny Omega vs Bryan Danielson 9/22 (103) - 1,117pts
4. Bryan Danielson vs Adam Page 12/15 (133) - 1,093pts
5. Utami Hayashi****a vs Syuri 6/12 (151) - 1,088pts

Regional MVPs

US/Canada MVP - Kenny Omega - 681pts
Japanese MVP - Shingo Takagi - 575pts
Mexico MVP - El Hijo Del Vikingo - 391pts
Europe MVP - Will Ospreay - 345pts

Women's Wrestling MVP

1. Utami Hayashi****a - 362pts
2. Britt Baker - 342pts
3. Syuri - 106pts
4. Bianca Belair - 79pts
5. Charlotte Flair - 33pts

Feud of the Year

1. Kenny Omega vs Adam Page - 503pts
2. Utami Hayashi****a vs Syuri - 207pts
3. MJF vs Chris Jericho - 71pts
4. Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier - 70pts
5. CM Punk vs Eddie Kingston - 55pts

Bryan Danielson Award (Best Technical Wrestler)

1. Bryan Danielson - 559pts
2. Zack Sabre Jr. - 380pts
3. Jonathan Gresham - 95pts
4. Syuri - 48pts
5. Kenny Omega - 18pts

Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler)

1. Jon Moxley - 303pts
2. Eddie Kingston - 284pts
3. Tomohiro Ishii - 243pts
4. Shingo Takagi - 111pts
5. Minoru Suzuki - 76pts

Most Overrated

1. EVIL - 194pts
2. Roman Reigns - 101pts
3. Omos - 85pts
4. The Miz - 65pts
5. Keiji Muto - 42pts

Most Underrated

1. Ricochet - 222pts
2. Chad Gable - 80pts
3. Mustafa Ali - 74pts
4. Ricky Starks - 33pts
5. Riddle - 27pts

Rookie of the Year

1. Jade Cargill - 290pts
2. Jack Cartwheel - 99pts
3. Lady C - 71pts
4. Nick Wayne - 49pts
5. Yuki Arai - 33pts

Worst Major Wrestling Show

1. WWE Survivor Series 11/21 - 218pts
t2. WWE Extreme Rules 9/26 - 116pts
t2. WWE Wrestlemania Backlash 5/16 - 116pts
4. WWE Summerslam 8/21 - 90pts
5. WWE Hell in a Cell 6/20 - 70pts

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic

1. WWE Firing Wrestlers During a Pandemic While Setting Profit Records - 517pts
2. WWE continued relationship with Saudi Arabia - 151pts
t3. WWE using releases in storylines - 25pts
t3. WWE handling of COVID - 25pts
5. Triller having Evander Holyfield box - 19pts

Promoter of the Year

1. Tony Khan - 748pts
2. Dana White - 144pts
3. Rossy Ogawa - 76pts
4. Brett Lauderdale - 56pts
5. Takaaki Kidani - 17pts

Best Booker

1. Tony Khan - 722pts
2. Rossy Ogawa - 232pts
3. Sean Shelby - 37pts
4. Gedo - 33pts
5. Brett Lauderdale - 26pts

Best Non-Wrestler

1. Paul Heyman - 369pts
2. Don Callis - 364pts
3. Dan Lambert - 158pts
4. Taz - 140pts
5. Malcom Bivens - 17pts

Best Flying Wrestler

1. Rey Fenix - 619pts
2. El Hijo del Vikingo - 151pts
3. Dante Martin - 98pts
4. Will Ospreay - 78pts
5. Nick Jackson - 25pts

Hodge Award (Non-Heavyweight MVP)

1. Darby Allin - 366pts
2. Rey Fenix - 191pts
3. Hiromu Takahashi - 152pts
4. Desperado - 136pts
5. Shun Skywalker - 34pts

Most Improved

1. Tay Conti - 187pts
2. Dante martin - 150pts
3. Saya Kamitani - 57pts
4. Jeff Cobb - 54pts
5. Jungle Boy - 48pts

Worst Television Show

1. WWE Raw - 669pts
2. WWE NXT 2.0 - 170pts
3. Impact Wrestling - 25pts
4. WWE 205 Live - 18pts
5. WWE Smackdow - 17pts

Best Weekly TV Show

1. AEW Dynamite (908) - 4,716pts
2. AEW Rampage (35) - 2,240pts
3. New Japan Strong (47) - 1,230pts
4. WWE Smackdown (4) - 704pts
5. Impact Wrestling (2) - 305pts

Worst Promotion of the Year

1. WWE - 706pts
2. CMLL - 83pts
3. Ring of Honor - 64pts
4. Impact Wrestling - 44pts
5. NWA - 15pts

Best Gimmick

1. Roman Reigns - 116pts
2. Orange Cassidy - 106pts
3. Adam Page - 86pts
4. Malakai Black - 85pts
5. Danhausen - 84pts

Worst Gimmick

1. Alexa Bliss - 523pts
2. Nikki ASH - 54pts
3. House of Torture - 48pts
4. Happy Corbin - 43pts
5. The Fiend Bray Wyatt - 32pts

Worst Match of the Year

1. Damian Priest vs The Miz 5/16 - 270pts
2. Randy Orton vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt 4/11 - 186pts
3. Randy Orton vs Alexa Bliss 5/21 - 87pts
4. Britt Baker & Rebel vs Nyla Rose & Vickie Guerrero 6/30 - 53pts
5. Alexa Bliss vs Shayna Baszler 6/21 - 50pts

Worst Feud of the Year

1. Randy Orton vs The Fiend & Alexa Bliss - 356pts
2. Alexa Bliss vs Shayna Baszler - 50pts
3. Cody Rhodes vs Anthony Ogogo - 38pts
4. Shane McMahon vs Braun Strowman - 37pts
5. Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair - 35pts

[SmashMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by jasontoddwhitt

Bryan Danielson Award (Best Technical Wrestler) 1. Bryan Danielson - 559pts

That's great.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Quote: Originally Posted by SmashMan

That's great.

Zach Sabre Jr had won the voting the past seven years.

But yeah…win the award named after you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dubcity]

There has to be someone better than Jade Cargill for rookie of the year.

Most of the rest feels spot on.

[J_Posse]

If you're a complete mark for AEW.....

I understand that Meltzer's audience is very, very specific but my God.......

Tony Khan the two - time booker of the year......

(I will give them getting Bryan Danielson's award right, but that's as easy as expecting the Lions to lose on Sunday.)

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

[jvalverde88]

Quote: Originally Posted by jasontoddwhitt

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic 1. WWE Firing Wrestlers During a Pandemic While Setting Profit Records - 517pts 2. WWE continued relationship with Saudi Arabia - 151pts t3. WWE using releases in storylines - 25pts t3. WWE handling of COVID - 25pts 5. Triller having Evander Holyfield box - 19pts

If you're not going use the category for what it was originally intended for get rid of it.

[dubcity]

Quote: Originally Posted by J_Posse

If you're a complete mark for AEW..... I understand that Meltzer's audience is very, very specific but my God....... Tony Khan the two - time booker of the year...... (I will give them getting Bryan Danielson's award right, but that's as easy as expecting the Lions to lose on Sunday.) Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

I'd say it's less about being specifically pro AEW, as it is feeling WWE is a miserable product. Which I definitely fall into that category. I mean, who should have beat out Khan for that award, honestly? NJPW had a particularly weak year, for reasons out of their control.

[J_Posse]

Quote: Originally Posted by dubcity

I'd say it's less about being specifically pro AEW, as it is feeling WWE is a miserable product. Which I definitely fall into that category. I mean, who should have beat out Khan for that award, honestly? NJPW had a particularly weak year, for reasons out of their control.

Nah, it's a smarky, niché audience that hates everything WWE and loves everything AEW.

Just calling a spade a spade and the Wrestling Observer audience for what they are.

The fact that almost all the categories were dominated by either AEW or NJPW (except the bad ones) tells you all you need to know.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation