YOUR 2020 Pro Wrestling Awards

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

I was gonna continue my "Free Will and blah blah blah" thread today, but what the hell, I would genuinely like to see what everyone thinks, so here are:

YOUR 2020 (DVDVR Message Board) Pro Wrestling Awards

Emphasis on your because hopefully everyone feels OK with just making and posting their own lists, and nobody needs to compile totals (unless someone really really wants to).

Emphasis on your because of the one suggested ground rule, which of course nobody has to honour: To avoid this degenerating into anger and arguments, let's avoid criticising other people's choices. Please. Let's let everyone have the right to their personal opinions. Let's not drive @RIPPA to do something that will make us all sad.

I'd encourage, however, quoting people to agree with them or say "I didn't think of that one!" or "I'll check that out!" or whatever.

I'd also encourage people to come up with their own categories.

El Gran Gordi's 2020 Pro Wrestling Awards:

Wrestlers of the Year (Combining kayfabe and in-ring work): 

Naito because of how insane the reaction was for him at New Beginning last year and how many people were wearing LIJ gear, and how he pushed himself every time he stepped in the ring.

Mox because of how he represents so much of what was best about pro wrestling in 2020, working on top for both AEW and NJPW, obviously enjoying being free to be himself, etc etc

Cody at least in part to see if anyone really wants to break the suggested ground rule.

Go had a pretty great year, too.

Wrestlers of the Year (Purely in-ring version):

Hiromu: Takes #1 because I saw him vs Lee live and it was amazing. Literally had me on the edge of my seat, watching through my fingers, at certain points.

Fenix: Amazing. Hope he doesn't also end up on the shelf for six months, like Hiromu.

Ishii: Clubbering! 

Wrestlers of the Year (personal favourites):

Zeus, Lulu Pencil, and Freshly Squeezed Orange Cassidy all made me mark out with pure joy this year.It was a great moment for me seeing someone I consider a friend win the CC. I can't believe that Lulu and Cassidy's gimmicks haven't worn thin on me yet. I smile every time I see them in the ring. Or, you know, on the mat in that little room. Both are proving to be more than just their gimmicks, particularly in Cassidy's case.

Matches of the Year:

Ishii vs MiSu, G1 Night 1: Clubbering!

Dragunov vs. WALTER: Oh Dear Lord, the clubbering!

Stadium Stampede: The other side of the pro wrestling coin in 2020. 

Talkers of the Year:

Eddie Kingston: pretty clearly, I'd say.

Excalibur: just outstanding all year.

ZSJ: I actually prefer his mic work to his wrestling.

Wrestlers I most miss watching:

Bryan, Banks, Cesaro. Maybe I need to look on YouTube more often. Following AEW week to week, NJPW's big shows and matches, recommended matches from other promotions, and the Clubbering, Wrestling Machines, Secret Santo, and other threads. It's enough. I love all of that stuff. I hate the way WWE film and edit matches so very very much. Can't even be arsed to watch some of the all time greats, recently. My loss, I know.

What I'm most looking forward to in 2021:

Going back to live shows. Kuuga, who has been my drinking buddy for over a decade now, runs Doutonbori Pro Wrestling. Another guy I consider a friend, Bodyguard, has started up Colega Pro and it looks great. New Japan are on fire right now. Members of my Osaka Pro second family are working on top in AJPW and NOAH... and I haven't been to a show since New Beginning last year. Even when herd immunity is achieved, I won't be able to afford to go and see everyone right away. I'll sure as hell appreciate it when I can, though.

Whatever's next for NJPW and AEW. My two favourite (non local indie) promotions, working together. Just the fantasy booking is tremendous fun. Can hardly wait to see where it all goes.

Discussion on the DVDVR boards: all of our lives are going to be going through changes in 2021, and the wrestling landscape could end up drastically altered as well. Looking forward to going through all of that with all of you here.

Faction of the Year: 

The Dark Order! Who could have seen that coming, back in the "Dork Odour" days?

My #2 is Purple Haze, because of the Osaka Pro connections

Most Improved:

Jeff Cobb's in-ring work, Britt Baker's character, Hangman Page's character and in-ring work. Really enjoyed watching all three of them grow this year.

Most Regrettable Tattoo in Pro Wrestling:

Sorry, Cody, it's still Brock's Chest Sword

Best Music:

Judas: Love the sing-along. Love it. Goosebumps, for me, first time it happened.

Kingdom (Cody's theme - Snoop Dog version) Just get a huge kick out of Snoop rapping "holey moley" to a Downstait song about Cody Rhodes. Honestly never thought I'd hear that. 

Joker by Shonan Kaze (Kuuga's theme) All three of these entrance themes are staples of my workout mix. Objectively, Kuuga's theme is only the second-best theme with the word "Kaze" in the title... but it's a f'n banger:

OK. That's enough from me for now, I think.

Please list your own awards if you are so inclined!

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by El Gran Gordi

[Spontaneous]

Matches I liked last year the most:

Go Shiozaki vs Katsuhiko Nakajima 

Kento Miyahara vs Jake Lee 

Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi 

Kenny Omega/Adam Page vs Young Bucks 

Tomohiro Ishii vs Minoru Suzuki 

Shingo vs Kazuchika Okada 

El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi 

Go Shiozaki vs Kazuyuki Fujita 

Minoru Suzuki vs Shingo

And my favorite: Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki!

[The Natural]

I'll do more later but want to start like @Spontaneous has, with Match of the Year. My top five:

5. AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan. WWE Smackdown Live, 6th June 2020.

4. #FTR vs. Young Bucks. AEW Full Gear 2020. *****.

3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14. *****.

2. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14. *****.

1. Kenny Omega/Hangman Page vs. Young Bucks. AEW Revolution 2020. *****.

[Spontaneous]

I voted Shingo for wrestler of the Year. I thought his matches were a bright spot last year on some rough NJPW shows. His G1 was stellar and I thought his Never Openweight matches were all bangers.

I thought Moxley's title run was weak in ring aside the Kingston feud. I'm not a huge AEW fan though, I have never even seen a single episode of BTE. I find them to be irritating.

Most improved has to be Reigns. His heel turn is must see stuff and I think anyone who dreamed how great a Roman turn could go are just as impressed.

Show of the year, I thought Revolution was a good pick. I only watched the Dynamite before it so this was a big introduction to AEW for me. I think Wrestle Kingdom Night 1 and 2 were great too. Double or Nothing was fun. I only watched Bucks-FTR and Moxley-Kingston from Full Gear. Summer Struggle in Jingu was fun minus the KOPW match, wwe was rough most of the year.

Worst match of the year, The Fiend has had so many. The knockouts rumble at Slammiversary was rough. That said, Edge-Orton from Mania was the worst to me. They had the benefit of recording that and be able to see it and realize how meaningless their match felt. They both had a much better edited match at Backlash.

[Matt D]

I'd be curious what peopled might have for

Wrestler who Best Adapted to Not Having Crowds

I don't have a good answer. I just haven't seen enough. Bryan got away with some mat-heavy stuff vs Gulak in spring that he wouldn't have been able to do so easily in front of a crowd.

[NikoBaltimore]

10 hours ago, Matt D said:

I'd be curious what peopled might have for

Wrestler who Best Adapted to Not Having Crowds

I don't have a good answer. I just haven't seen enough. Bryan got away with some mat-heavy stuff vs Gulak in spring that he wouldn't have been able to do so easily in front of a crowd.

I would say Orton had some killer promos when they were at the PC as it let him be quieter yet still get his point across.  Edge had some good ones too and I think Drew's been doing his damndest to make things work despite raitings saying otherwise.

As far those who have been hurt by lack of crowds Otis is way up there.  He's entertaining and stuff but without the reaction from the crowd his value went down big-time.  I wouldn't turn him heel but might as well experiment with it now until they come back.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

10 hours ago, Matt D said:

I'd be curious what peopled might have for

Wrestler who Best Adapted to Not Having Crowds

I don't have a good answer. I just haven't seen enough. Bryan got away with some mat-heavy stuff vs Gulak in spring that he wouldn't have been able to do so easily in front of a crowd.

Great idea for a category!

I am probably among the low voters when it comes to Jay White but I have to give him a ton of credit here. He has been pretty damned creative, clever, and funny taunting the limited and silenced crowds in Japan about them not being able to boo him or chant for his opponents. 

[Matt D]

1 minute ago, El Gran Gordi said:

Great idea for a category!

I am probably among the low voters when it comes to Jay White but I have to give him a ton of credit here. He has been pretty damned creative, clever, and funny taunting the limited and silenced crowds in Japan about them not being able to boo him or chant for his opponents. 

When we were doing GWE back in 2016 (and with 2026 ahead of us), one of the things I loved to examine was what a wrestler did facing certain limitations. There are a ton of fascinating matches to think about along those lines, be it bloodless WWE cage matches or the weird constraints on Luger vs Windham in GAB 91 (also a cage match), or what I just saw the other night in Tenryu vs Onita (also a cage match) where they had to sort of hug the center of the ring to start a match, or a scaffold match, or a prince of darkness match, or a "punches not allowed" match or a match with someone in a cast, or a match in Sturgis in front of a hostile, unaware crowd, or basically whatever, and the no-crowd situation is a HUGE limitation. I've seen matches where people do exactly what they would have if there was a crowd, the same taunts, the same canned spots that almost 100% rely upon a crowd, and those aren't bad spots to do in general, but they make zero sense right now.

Crowd interaction is so much of what wrestling is about and is built into the DNA of the "why" of so many things that are done that are just taken for granted. So people who have found ways to be creative and imaginative and use this to their advantage, or that have just found ways to survive it without being diminished should be rewarded here too.

[Spontaneous]

I think that can be both for promotion and for an individual. Some companies seemed to handle it better than others, whether it was good use of fake crowd noise or putting people in a position to succeed.

Are we using the clap only shows in Japan or just the shows with no crowds?

[Curt McGirt]

On 2/28/2021 at 9:48 PM, Matt D said:

Bryan got away with some mat-heavy stuff vs Gulak in spring

I don't even think I can do a top ten but Bryan vs. Gulak at I believe Fastlane was probably my favorite match of the year. 

The rest of them probably took place in under tents in Mexico

EDIT: Nope, Elimination Chamber. Match is in spoiler tags for the screencap giving away the end of the goddamn match.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Curt McGirt