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I am a fairly mma causal, don’t watch ever card, don’t know many guys outside top 5 in most division (and guys in top 5) but the fact Islam didn’t win is wild
pretty sure dave just says some points about mma and his audience laps it up or are just surface casuals. mma mvp was likely someone between sean strickland, alex pereira or islam makhachev.
It's really not a promotional tactic award. It's more like "the worst thing a promotion has done". I guess there wasn't a better name so they stuck the promotional thing onto it.
The mods should also learn a few tricks from that list, such as not splitting WWE in 3 different promotions like they did in the sub's internal voting round.
"average person rates tyrus 5/10" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person rates tyrus 0/10. Pumpkins Billy, who lives in cave & rates tyrus 50000/10, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
Truth is they are not watching
Even on this sub. As two weeks ago in the shows it was teased a million different ways that Cody was indeed main eventing Mania; but people here were still outraged, as they only watch the insufficient seconds-long clips posted here
Yeah KP was hands down the worst. Not to mention like at this point you know what you’re getting with Book and he’s just down in NXT
WWE tried KP as lead of Raw and SD and a lead of like four different combos. None worked. He sucked
It seems most voters don't watch much WWE, and are only familiar with a few names (seemingly, Roman, Cody, CM Punk, & Rhea). Even though Chad Gable is on there too, he only has 86 votes.
Gunther has been active all year long, yet there are names on the lists that only had a few matches or were out for the majority of the year.
Action Andretti being a rookie with 4 years of experience when Oba Femi should have been in the list with his 1 year of experience. I think a bunch of NXT talents could have easily been in that top 5 actually
>**MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC**
>
>**1. WWE ENABLING VINCE MCMAHON AND HIM BEING BACK IN POWER/TKO KEEPING HIM IN POSITION OF POWER 197**
I mean... was that a "promotional tactic", though? Also, didn't he force his way back into power since he still had a majority of the shares at that time and couldn't be stopped legally?
Yeah what is that? I mean it’s not like I supported him coming back, but it wasn’t a promotional tactic and nobody could influence or change the decision. Vince had all the power.
More importantly, how was WWE “enabling” him? They tried to get rid of him. They didn’t have the power to stop him until he sold the company. Then they did get rid of him.
The promotional tactic award hasn't been about promotional tactics in a years. It's just a polite way of saying "award for shitty thing that happened that isn't someone dying".
To be fair all he did was become the longest reigning IC champ of all time, the longest lasting Royal Rumble participant of all time, have consistently great match’s, and gave several wrestlers arguably the greatest matches of their career, all whilst being an impeccably safe worker.
Such an interesting set of results..that Roman can get fourth for wrestler of the year but also get second place for most overrated. How Triple H can get booker of the year despite Smackdown being behind two AEW shows and Raw not even placing on best weekly show.
I don't care about the results at all, it's just an interesting read is all.
Overrated is supposed to be what people consider "overpushed", and there are lots of people who think Roman has held the title for too long, while there are also lots of people who think Roman's charisma and gimmick and drawing power make the length of his title reign deserved, so the results being polarizing makes total sense with him.
Julia Hart has come a long way. But putting anyone other than Dominick as most improved for 2023 is batshit insane.
Dude became the top heel in the industry last year (in terms of generating crowd heat), and before his turn at Clash at the Castle in 2022, the consensus was he didn’t have “it” and WWE should release him. One of the biggest, and fastest 180’s in wrestling history.
Some of the things people vote for are insane here. Booker T is not the worst television announcer. Bray Vs LA Knight was not worse than Tyrus vs EC3. NXT is definitely not the 3rd worst wrestling show, and Ilja not having a single match voted in the top 5 is nuts.
Bryan Danielson winning the Bryan Danielson Award for Best Technical Wrestler is perfect tho no notes. I picture the Obama awarding himself meme.
I watched an absolutely hilarious video about Tyrus a few weeks ago. When the guy narrating it got to the EC3 part, he said: “when I realized that this match was 17 minutes long, I was close to tears” 😂
https://youtu.be/xMplb9drU1E?si=8-9arvaCf0AjtOZe&t=839
Samhain wasn't even NWA's worst show last year imo, just got the most negative press. Tyrus didn't wrestle on it, which automatically gives it some points.
It's because a lot of the WON subscribers are AEW fans so the results will naturally skew that way. We learned this last year when AEW won categories that clearly should've gone to WWE and even Dave was questioning what the voters were thinking.
That match deserves match of the year just for the moment where Cole said Shane’s still got it and then Shane immediately fucking gets injured.
I hate to laugh at another’s misfortune but Jesus Christ that was funny
I felt kinda bad for Shane. He got a nice pop when his music hit, and then before the match he got on the mic and genuinely sounded a bit choked up over it, then he gets hurt almost immediately lol
Right. Camera guy (out of frame) instructs Snoop to clock Miz and improvise a match and then they both make it work, the crowd eats it up and the segment becomes memorable for some positive reasons rather than just an embarrassment because of an injury. Doesn’t deserve to be in the category.
It also wasn't that bad. I'm not arguing it was an all time classic or what he'd want to be remembered for, but aside from the goofy Mountain Dew branding it was fine.
It was about what I expected the results to be. TK not getting promoter and booker of the year will hurt his ego, but he didn't deserve those awards in 2023. It does seem that there were less voters overall this year.
Those 11.99 voters surely hate NXT lol. It's the best WWE show imo and HBK produces some of the best TV and PLEs. He really has an eye for each talent and what will fit him. He made Corbin over again FFS
Michael Cole still getting worst announcer votes. At least the readers still have their trash tastes.
Also glad to see they still don’t know what a promotional tactic is (and I know people are going to try to jump me, it’s always fuck Vince, but that’s not what those words mean)
Absolutely. Vince bullied his way back in because he could hold the company hostage for a sale. It was in the shareholder’s best interest for him to be there, because it got everyone paid.
it stems from people still hating cole during that late 00s/early 10s raw period and him/vince burying jr during that draft. people need to get over themselves. cole has been okay since like 2014, good since like 2018, great since 2020.
It's one of the most nonsensical. I'm annoyed by Excalibur winning because I don't like his style of announcing, and Christian not winning best gimmick is a fucking robbery but I can at least understand that people have different tastes. But Callis? Sheesh, at least go with Prince Nana or Renee if you're going to lean AEW.
It's funny, he complained that WWE released him because he was getting himself over at the expense of the wrestlers he was managing, and now, 25 years later, he's doing exactly this.
Its like all the problems with the JAS but much worse because at least Jericho was holding back guys who arguably weren't ready to fly solo anyway in Garcia and Guevarra.
While Callis is an anchor to Takeshita and Hobbs.
nick aldis was the best non wrestler of the year by a mile. maybe the best straight laced authority figure ever. didnt get bullied around, just looked like a chad all the time.
I'm still team Adam Pearce because he embodies "middle manager just trying to keep his job and doesn't want to deal with bullshit". A real man of my own heart.
I legitimately encourage the kind of people voting NXT one of the worst shows, to just give it a shot. It's such a well formatted and booked show. Super easy to shit on because it's a bunch of twenty-somethings who can't really act, but the hunger of the young stars to make it big is palpable. It's a show full of exciting young prospects led by some of the most logical and well paced booking.
HBK utilizes the time and the wrestlers available to their fullest. Even the thrown together match between Lyra/Lash was used to further Roxanne's story.
Where the fuck is Gunther on the Best Wrestler? Where the fuck is RAW on the Best Weekly TV Show? And how is Dominik behind Julia Hart on Most Improved?
>\*\*PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
>
>NICK KHAN 371\*\*
>
>Tony Khan 239
Mr Khan has defeated Mr. Khan. This loss is gonna hurt TK more, I think. Nick respects Shad more than Tony.
Sadly, think bro is just ignore it and booker of the year and go on a victory lap cause Dynamite and Collision were #1 and #2 in weekly shows. Would be entertaining to see him mald over losing promoter and booker though.
On the website they show the top 10, not just 5. LA Knight was #9 for Charismatic, and #9 for Interviews.
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1. EDDIE KINGSTON (199) 1,483
2. MJF (140) 1,441
3. Christian Cage (148) 921
4. Jon Moxley (50) 705
5. Cody Rhodes (51) 626
6. Bryan Danielson (24) 362
7. Will Ospreay (32) 258
8. CM Punk (22) 233
9. LA Knight (16) 170
10. Don Callis (14) 129
MOST CHARISMATIC
1. MJF 162
2. Roman Reigns 88
3. Kento Miyahara 81
4. Giulia 57
5. Cody Rhodes 49
6. Eddie Kingston 48
7. Orange Cassidy 44
CM Punk 44
8. Swerve Strickland 43
9. LA Knight 36
10. Dominik Mysterio 35
I like that Rhea got hella votes for women’s wrestler (I hate these awards but whatever), that being said it’s ridiculous that Becky is 5th considering how great of a year she had.
WON awards are voted by paid WON subscibers. If you think "wrestling twitter" is a small niché, remember the entire WON community being around 1,500 people. Their taste, Twitter's taste and the casual audiences' taste can be three totally different things.
WWE promotion of the year with Raw being one of the worst TV shows and AEW having the two best TV shows? Weird. Not that I disagree, WWE was super hot last year, but the voting in this doesn't make sense.
Julia is chilling for sure but the most improved?
Edit: When you have people like Stratton, Trick or even Dominik. They improved on mic, character work and in-ring work. What is so great about Hart?
Julia and sending chills down the spine has to be a meme at this point. She looks like my neighbors 15 year old cosplaying in holoween. I will leave this here for anyone to downvote. It's hilarious how people keep saying chillint.
Does anyone go to Meltzer for first reaction to UFC news ever? Why does he keep pretending like his personal interest in that sport has any connection to his role as a pro wrestling historian and commentator cosplaying as a journalist.
It was a perfectly average B-PPV in a year that didn't really have any. The only other "traditional" B-PPV was Payback, and its card was uncharacteristically stacked too (the street fight is a contender for most entertaining WWE match of the year, and the main event was great too).
WWE has done a fantastic job cleaning out pure filler out of their PPV schedule (they're going international for non-big 5 events whenever they have the chance), so the few remnants of it stick out.
The NXT hate is criminal honestly. HBK is a logical booker, great characters, doesn’t just “give up” on something if it doesn’t workout right away, consistently good. Yes, the in-ring work can be hit or miss because at its core it’s developmental but its put on great matches and created great superstars for the future like Bron, Trick, Carmelo, Tiffany, Roxann etc. best weekly show imo.
The thing is who’s really “rating” Jericho anymore? He’s not someone people think is good these days and hasn’t won anything of note in AEW in a long time. The only thing he’s really rated in is TV time but even that’s been lessened this year
That time again, folks. This is what you need to know about the more confusing categories and voting.
Wrestler of the year: Promo, workrate, drawing ability, charisma, everything that makes for an impactful pro wrestler
Most Outstanding: In-ring performance, only for the best workers.
Overrated: Most overpushed.
Underrated: Most underpushed/underappreciated when considering their qualities as a wrestlers
Rookie of the year: Anyone who debuted after September 1st is not eligible for this award.
Worst Promotional Tactic: "What's the worst thing a wrestling promotion did this year?”
Box Office Draw: Not voted on by readers, just Dave's picks.
They really have to change the name of Worst Promotional Tactic. Because like 2-3 of the nominees are actually promotional tactics and the rest are just bad business decisions.
Most of this I expected, but there's one thing on this list that blows my mind:
* Signing Ric Flair is a more disgusting promotional tactic than the MJF/Juice Robinson "Quarters" promo that happened days after a war broke out between Israel and Palestine.
I don't care that they immediately pivoted, how on earth did that not make top 5?
Ehh. Ric Flair was a legitimate promotional tactic by a company, it had to get vetted, contracts signed and notarized etc. A million people were involved in this.
The quarters thing is a further continuation of things MJF has alluded to on and off for his babyface career, and really only was just a decision that probably went through MJF and Juice. If it was done at any other time, I think folks would be talking about it differently. It was a tone deaf move by realistically ONE guy (I can't imagine it was Juice's idea). Not a tone deaf move by a gigantic corporation.
I think they went away from it quickly enough that most people just forgot. I had until I read your comment, but you’re right that deserves to be up there.
Don't get me wrong fuck Vince McMahon and his attempt to come back but in what universe did it constitute a 'promotional tactic'? It was all on the DL and never really acknowledged by anyone, not to mention the fact that he was literally WWE's god emperor at the time and didn't need anyone's permission to get back in.
Once again looking through the worst highlights just how good this year has been.
Does WON cover MMA as well? Wrestling and mma feel so different to me so seeing them in the same awards is weird.
Looks like people are satisfied with some and dissatisfied with some. Important thing to remember is it looks like on any given award, fewer than a thousand people voted on it. These are card-carrying $15/month-paying forum regulars.
People voting for Bray's last match is a disgusting tactic all it's own.
Also, "Ringmaster" is one of the worst wrestling books I've ever read. There is a really solid piece about McMahon's childhood that probably could have been an article and then the remaining 85% is fact regurgitation that an early AI could have written.
Way to shit on Bray Wyatt. Sure, bad match but you’d think they’d give him a pass this year.
It will always be crazy to me how AJ Styles and Nakamura get zero mention, presumably due to their employer.
It’s funny. When I was first getting into wrestling, these awards were an introduction to a wider world of the medium. But this year, the selections feel wildly out of touch with anything outside AEW.
1. CYN had 17 votes for worst promotion of the year, but never ran a single show.
2. Action Andretti is a four-year veteran, but runner-up for rookie of the year.
3. Rocky Romero got 68 votes for being Mexico’s Most Valuable. He did a lot in CMLL this year, but the man works for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The awards trend overwhelmingly towards AEW, with only a vague awareness of events outside of it.
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>**BRYAN DANIELSON AWARD (BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER)** >**BRYAN DANIELSON 549** https://preview.redd.it/vmyhbwy6uckc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e72c1c890b670cb607c02044c327b5c860d8966
https://preview.redd.it/a0xv3rpoedkc1.jpeg?width=1764&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7000a77881fa57a78a4cd240ee4bfed664abe06
Tremendous work
Shit this is so much better than mine.
https://preview.redd.it/o78benkbxckc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db6f615f8a3d26bd31ebf92eebc609f9e72559e4
I did not do a good job. https://preview.redd.it/961nie4n5dkc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e8eecca756ad64110c32c4846bc2aef6b536c4b
Yeah you did
That makes it better 10/10
Chad Gable most underrated AHHTHANKKK-YOUUUU
They should rename that award to Most Underutilized by Their Promotion.
That mania match with gunther is gonna hit like fuckin crack
Jon Jones winning MMA ‘MVP’ for one win in March and then getting injured is a choice.
I don’t think the observer’s opinion on MMA holds any real weight. Half the people voting probably don’t really watch
It's like the Heavy Metal category in the Grammys. The voters just pick the name they recognize without actually knowing what the hell they did.
So who is the Jethro Tull of MMA?
Conor
I was more referring to recent years when Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, and Megadeth have all won Grammys after 2010.
This is an absolute perfect analogy.
I am a fairly mma causal, don’t watch ever card, don’t know many guys outside top 5 in most division (and guys in top 5) but the fact Islam didn’t win is wild
pretty sure dave just says some points about mma and his audience laps it up or are just surface casuals. mma mvp was likely someone between sean strickland, alex pereira or islam makhachev.
14 people voted WWE hiring CM Punk at 9 for most disgusting promotional tactic🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hey, at least you could say that is an actual promotion tactic unlike the winner.
They need to rename the award for what it is. It's more about a terrible business decision or corporate move.
Even more honestly, just call it “Most Hated WWE Occurrence of the Year”
I don't understand that award, who picked the "tactics" and what is it actually for lol.
It's really not a promotional tactic award. It's more like "the worst thing a promotion has done". I guess there wasn't a better name so they stuck the promotional thing onto it.
Yeah Vince forced his way in. Not like they enabled him to rejoin the company
No he literally forced his way in using his shares as a wedge.
Those guys are marks
I’m surprised CYN got nominated for worst promotion, they didn’t run any shows last year.
Mods please keep this one up, it's the only one well formatted and with the source included.
The mods should also learn a few tricks from that list, such as not splitting WWE in 3 different promotions like they did in the sub's internal voting round.
Most overrated has most range of names Roman and punk? Then you got Tyrus and Sanda? Like wtf
To be overrated one must first be rated, and I don't think *anybody* aside from Billy Pumpkins rated Tyrus.
"Billy Pumpkins" Oh my god I will never call him anything else ever again. That is so good.
I guess since there was no "worst wrestler of the year" i guess people are channeling their hatred for Tyrus through this
"average person rates tyrus 5/10" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person rates tyrus 0/10. Pumpkins Billy, who lives in cave & rates tyrus 50000/10, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
Surprised Jericho didn't win it That Adam Cole feud alone makes him worthy of it
I've never had a wrestler go from one of my favorites of all time to one I never want to see again so quickly. It's actually impressive.
Booker T played a part in Trick Williams getting over. That alone should disqualify him from being the worst
Also Kevin Patrick was genuinely just not good at the commentary thing.
Yeah, he got let go because his commentary just didn't fit.
Booker T is the **most** wrestling announcer.
KP shoulda won that one
I love Booker T, NO BREAD, NO WATER, JUST MEAT!
BATISTA IS DOWN!
Bro michael cole is on that list. Idk what stuff these guys were watching
Truth is they are not watching Even on this sub. As two weeks ago in the shows it was teased a million different ways that Cody was indeed main eventing Mania; but people here were still outraged, as they only watch the insufficient seconds-long clips posted here
Yeah KP was hands down the worst. Not to mention like at this point you know what you’re getting with Book and he’s just down in NXT WWE tried KP as lead of Raw and SD and a lead of like four different combos. None worked. He sucked
The lack of gunther is troubling
It seems most voters don't watch much WWE, and are only familiar with a few names (seemingly, Roman, Cody, CM Punk, & Rhea). Even though Chad Gable is on there too, he only has 86 votes. Gunther has been active all year long, yet there are names on the lists that only had a few matches or were out for the majority of the year.
It's kind of weird that WWE won best promotion but most of the awards were swept by the other companies and their wrestlers.
Even AEW die-hards can't deny the sheer success of WWE.
>PROMOTER OF THE YEAR >1. NICK KHAN 371 >2. Tony Khan 239 The name on the award does say "Khan", however it reads "Nick Khan"!
WWE won booker, promoter, and promotion of the year. Someone check in on Tony make sure he's ok lol
I think it is hilarious they won promotion of the year but didnt even have a top 2 weekly show on here... people are weird
The promotion of the year award includes business success. That WWE also won promoter and booker of the year makes it logical.
But what does Cagematch say?
Action Andretti https://preview.redd.it/0n88kozurckc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7a5170aa59ef46d1c515884cede755462e8912f
Action Andretti being a rookie with 4 years of experience when Oba Femi should have been in the list with his 1 year of experience. I think a bunch of NXT talents could have easily been in that top 5 actually
lol 17 people voting for CYN, which held 0 shows last year
>**MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC** > >**1. WWE ENABLING VINCE MCMAHON AND HIM BEING BACK IN POWER/TKO KEEPING HIM IN POSITION OF POWER 197** I mean... was that a "promotional tactic", though? Also, didn't he force his way back into power since he still had a majority of the shares at that time and couldn't be stopped legally?
Tbf, that award has basically just become “Shittiest thing a wrestling company did in the last year.” Been that way for a while now.
How is Vince forcing himself back in power a promotional tactic?
Yeah what is that? I mean it’s not like I supported him coming back, but it wasn’t a promotional tactic and nobody could influence or change the decision. Vince had all the power.
More importantly, how was WWE “enabling” him? They tried to get rid of him. They didn’t have the power to stop him until he sold the company. Then they did get rid of him.
There’s been multiple times wwe gets first place in this award for something that isn’t a promotional tactic
The way they phrased that is damn near journalistic malpractice. They were literally powerless to stop him.
As I remember it, the board voted against it and he just fired and replaced board members until he had the numbers he needed.
The promotional tactic award hasn't been about promotional tactics in a years. It's just a polite way of saying "award for shitty thing that happened that isn't someone dying".
Maybe in term of his stock market appearances but the winners of “worst promotional tactic” are rarely actually promotional tactics anyway.
It's not, these people are dumb
Amazed they haven't renamed this category, most of the results each year don't fit it
Does the observer board dislike Gunther or something?
To be fair all he did was become the longest reigning IC champ of all time, the longest lasting Royal Rumble participant of all time, have consistently great match’s, and gave several wrestlers arguably the greatest matches of their career, all whilst being an impeccably safe worker.
That’s it? What a fucking scrub.
Yeah but he needs something to put him over the top. Has he tried putting his hands in pockets?
Such an interesting set of results..that Roman can get fourth for wrestler of the year but also get second place for most overrated. How Triple H can get booker of the year despite Smackdown being behind two AEW shows and Raw not even placing on best weekly show. I don't care about the results at all, it's just an interesting read is all.
Overrated is supposed to be what people consider "overpushed", and there are lots of people who think Roman has held the title for too long, while there are also lots of people who think Roman's charisma and gimmick and drawing power make the length of his title reign deserved, so the results being polarizing makes total sense with him.
Did people forget about GUNTER? Not in the top 5 for anything?
Julia Hart has come a long way. But putting anyone other than Dominick as most improved for 2023 is batshit insane. Dude became the top heel in the industry last year (in terms of generating crowd heat), and before his turn at Clash at the Castle in 2022, the consensus was he didn’t have “it” and WWE should release him. One of the biggest, and fastest 180’s in wrestling history.
Some of the things people vote for are insane here. Booker T is not the worst television announcer. Bray Vs LA Knight was not worse than Tyrus vs EC3. NXT is definitely not the 3rd worst wrestling show, and Ilja not having a single match voted in the top 5 is nuts. Bryan Danielson winning the Bryan Danielson Award for Best Technical Wrestler is perfect tho no notes. I picture the Obama awarding himself meme.
How many people do you think actually watched Tyrus vs. EC3!?
That is actually a very fair point lmao
I watched an absolutely hilarious video about Tyrus a few weeks ago. When the guy narrating it got to the EC3 part, he said: “when I realized that this match was 17 minutes long, I was close to tears” 😂 https://youtu.be/xMplb9drU1E?si=8-9arvaCf0AjtOZe&t=839
All you had to do was watch the one clip to know it was the worst televised match in 2023.
Crown Jewel also isn’t a worse PPV than Samhain.
Samhain wasn't even NWA's worst show last year imo, just got the most negative press. Tyrus didn't wrestle on it, which automatically gives it some points.
It’s funny cuz Dave constantly praises NXT so you’d think voters would have favored it more.
The fact that Shawn Michaels didn’t even make the top 5 in Booker of the Year was a crock of shit.
It's because a lot of the WON subscribers are AEW fans so the results will naturally skew that way. We learned this last year when AEW won categories that clearly should've gone to WWE and even Dave was questioning what the voters were thinking.
I Need to have a talk with ya'll about voting Snoop/Shane vs Miz as a worst match of the year because that match was straight up magic.
That match deserves match of the year just for the moment where Cole said Shane’s still got it and then Shane immediately fucking gets injured. I hate to laugh at another’s misfortune but Jesus Christ that was funny
I felt kinda bad for Shane. He got a nice pop when his music hit, and then before the match he got on the mic and genuinely sounded a bit choked up over it, then he gets hurt almost immediately lol
Yeah, it really did suck for him. He looked very excited to be there. And then he had a freak injury.
Right. Camera guy (out of frame) instructs Snoop to clock Miz and improvise a match and then they both make it work, the crowd eats it up and the segment becomes memorable for some positive reasons rather than just an embarrassment because of an injury. Doesn’t deserve to be in the category.
https://preview.redd.it/igkfmg059dkc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f878d7a52b5b412046bc9906a2ad94955e2a6f52
Yeah, Miz, Snoop and Jessika Carr deserve all the credit in the world for improvising everything.
How is “WWE enabling Vince McMahon” a promotional tactic?
NXT in worst show is genuinely insane
It came 5th in best weekly show with 309 votes and 3rd in worst weekly show simultaneously somehow
>BEST NON-WRESTLER >1. DON CALLIS 266 The fuck are we doing here
WORST GIMMICK THE DEVIL 76 QTV 72 Toni Storm 49 House of Torture 40 Outcasts 39 It’s nice knowing I’m not alone in not caring for Toni’s new gimmick.
Giving Bray Wyatt worst match of the year after his passing is fucking rude
It also wasn't that bad. I'm not arguing it was an all time classic or what he'd want to be remembered for, but aside from the goofy Mountain Dew branding it was fine.
Giving it over Tyrus is just insulting.
damn, WON doesn't like NXT much huh?
It was about what I expected the results to be. TK not getting promoter and booker of the year will hurt his ego, but he didn't deserve those awards in 2023. It does seem that there were less voters overall this year.
Is this the first year since AEW started he hasn't won?
Seems a lot of subscribers would rather just abstain than vote anything WWE.
Yea he didn't deserve them for 22 or 23 tbh
Those 11.99 voters surely hate NXT lol. It's the best WWE show imo and HBK produces some of the best TV and PLEs. He really has an eye for each talent and what will fit him. He made Corbin over again FFS
Michael Cole still getting worst announcer votes. At least the readers still have their trash tastes. Also glad to see they still don’t know what a promotional tactic is (and I know people are going to try to jump me, it’s always fuck Vince, but that’s not what those words mean)
They should rename that category to something like 'Worst Thing That Happened' beacuse that's what the award always was pretty much.
Absolutely. Vince bullied his way back in because he could hold the company hostage for a sale. It was in the shareholder’s best interest for him to be there, because it got everyone paid.
And they also didn't promote him coming back like, at all. Quite the opposite.
michael cole was robbed
That’s what stood out to me. Who’s voting Michael Cole worst commentator in 2024, I mean really
it stems from people still hating cole during that late 00s/early 10s raw period and him/vince burying jr during that draft. people need to get over themselves. cole has been okay since like 2014, good since like 2018, great since 2020.
People who voted Excalibur as best commentator
Callis winning that is criminal
yeah either prince nana or paul heyman were my picks
Heymann kept Roman over. Nana got Swerve Strickland over. Don Callis was Kenny Omegas Appendix
Both were far ahead and more instrumental with getting people over. Who did Callis get over?
Heel Takeshita was cool for a bit but that has more to do with him being a fucking freak of nature in the ring and Kenny putting him over twice
Himself? Although, that's also debatable.
It's one of the most nonsensical. I'm annoyed by Excalibur winning because I don't like his style of announcing, and Christian not winning best gimmick is a fucking robbery but I can at least understand that people have different tastes. But Callis? Sheesh, at least go with Prince Nana or Renee if you're going to lean AEW.
Excalibur commentates like someone watching VHS tapes from Japan in their basement yelling out the names of moves.
Callis doesn’t get anyone ever, but himself. Really poor that he won it.
It's funny, he complained that WWE released him because he was getting himself over at the expense of the wrestlers he was managing, and now, 25 years later, he's doing exactly this.
Funny enough one of his ideas was to steal a planned feud between Owen Hart & Shawn Michaels.
The Callis family is a joke. It's just him cutting promos every week and his guys rarely wrestle.
Its like all the problems with the JAS but much worse because at least Jericho was holding back guys who arguably weren't ready to fly solo anyway in Garcia and Guevarra. While Callis is an anchor to Takeshita and Hobbs.
nick aldis was the best non wrestler of the year by a mile. maybe the best straight laced authority figure ever. didnt get bullied around, just looked like a chad all the time.
Lack of time probably hurt him. He has only been on screen since October. You’re right though, he’s absolutely money in that role.
He’s my pick for the best onscreen authority figure I’ve seen since I started watching wrestling.
I'm still team Adam Pearce because he embodies "middle manager just trying to keep his job and doesn't want to deal with bullshit". A real man of my own heart.
I legitimately encourage the kind of people voting NXT one of the worst shows, to just give it a shot. It's such a well formatted and booked show. Super easy to shit on because it's a bunch of twenty-somethings who can't really act, but the hunger of the young stars to make it big is palpable. It's a show full of exciting young prospects led by some of the most logical and well paced booking.
I agree. Not the biggest WWE fan, but considering how current NXT is set up Shawn Michaels should've been booker of the year instead of being 7th.
WOOF didnt see that he was that low, I definitely disagree with that.
HBK utilizes the time and the wrestlers available to their fullest. Even the thrown together match between Lyra/Lash was used to further Roxanne's story.
I like how Ric Flair is the fifth most disgusting thing this year while also having the most important award named after him.
>1. **DON CALLIS 266** Don Callis for best talker?
There’s no world or timeline that exists in which Callis is a better talker than Paul Heyman.
Where the fuck is Gunther on the Best Wrestler? Where the fuck is RAW on the Best Weekly TV Show? And how is Dominik behind Julia Hart on Most Improved? >\*\*PROMOTER OF THE YEAR > >NICK KHAN 371\*\* > >Tony Khan 239 Mr Khan has defeated Mr. Khan. This loss is gonna hurt TK more, I think. Nick respects Shad more than Tony.
Khan on Khan violence
"While the the best promoter of the year award does say Khan, the name on the award reads, 'Nick Khan!'"
https://preview.redd.it/qztlp0vdpckc1.jpeg?width=250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5bcfdad58ed3f7e5d60496f9d630cb4ce0f72df
Sadly, think bro is just ignore it and booker of the year and go on a victory lap cause Dynamite and Collision were #1 and #2 in weekly shows. Would be entertaining to see him mald over losing promoter and booker though.
I don’t think Mr. Khan is going to be too happy. Mr. Khan on the other hand should be over the moon.
If Gunther was in AEW he'd get number 1 in so many categories
No LA Knight for most charismatic or best interviews?
On the website they show the top 10, not just 5. LA Knight was #9 for Charismatic, and #9 for Interviews. BEST ON INTERVIEWS 1. EDDIE KINGSTON (199) 1,483 2. MJF (140) 1,441 3. Christian Cage (148) 921 4. Jon Moxley (50) 705 5. Cody Rhodes (51) 626 6. Bryan Danielson (24) 362 7. Will Ospreay (32) 258 8. CM Punk (22) 233 9. LA Knight (16) 170 10. Don Callis (14) 129 MOST CHARISMATIC 1. MJF 162 2. Roman Reigns 88 3. Kento Miyahara 81 4. Giulia 57 5. Cody Rhodes 49 6. Eddie Kingston 48 7. Orange Cassidy 44 CM Punk 44 8. Swerve Strickland 43 9. LA Knight 36 10. Dominik Mysterio 35
There is no way LA knight vs Bray Wyatt is worse than Tyrus vs EC3. What a joke.
I like that Rhea got hella votes for women’s wrestler (I hate these awards but whatever), that being said it’s ridiculous that Becky is 5th considering how great of a year she had.
Don Callis winning best non-wrestler at this point is deeply confusing. I thought no one cared for him anymore?
WON awards are voted by paid WON subscibers. If you think "wrestling twitter" is a small niché, remember the entire WON community being around 1,500 people. Their taste, Twitter's taste and the casual audiences' taste can be three totally different things.
WWE promotion of the year with Raw being one of the worst TV shows and AEW having the two best TV shows? Weird. Not that I disagree, WWE was super hot last year, but the voting in this doesn't make sense.
It never does
Bryan Danielson be like: https://preview.redd.it/fz4s6eh0wckc1.jpeg?width=286&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5eefe5b17da20ef6494c953e7e623b239dec74d7
I'm wouldn't call Vince strong-arming his way back onto the board a "promotional tactic."
Bray winning worse match is something else given the circumstances. But winning it over Tyrus vs EC3.... come on.
Julia is chilling for sure but the most improved? Edit: When you have people like Stratton, Trick or even Dominik. They improved on mic, character work and in-ring work. What is so great about Hart?
Julia and sending chills down the spine has to be a meme at this point. She looks like my neighbors 15 year old cosplaying in holoween. I will leave this here for anyone to downvote. It's hilarious how people keep saying chillint.
Does anyone go to Meltzer for first reaction to UFC news ever? Why does he keep pretending like his personal interest in that sport has any connection to his role as a pro wrestling historian and commentator cosplaying as a journalist.
Was Fastlane really that bad?
It was mid enough that it stood out among other WWE PPV's, which were overall better this year than the year before.
There were no legitimate awful ppvs this year, as even the worst ppvs had redeeming qualities
It was a perfectly average B-PPV in a year that didn't really have any. The only other "traditional" B-PPV was Payback, and its card was uncharacteristically stacked too (the street fight is a contender for most entertaining WWE match of the year, and the main event was great too). WWE has done a fantastic job cleaning out pure filler out of their PPV schedule (they're going international for non-big 5 events whenever they have the chance), so the few remnants of it stick out.
Fastlane gave us the Cody/Jey vs Judgment Day tag title change and even more importantly it gave us the Cody/Jey press conference.
Cody's first title win since returning!
Not at all, it was one of the two B level PLE’s WWE had and it still was a shit ton of fun
I'll agree it was mid, but I wouldn't say one of the worst of the year
The NXT hate is criminal honestly. HBK is a logical booker, great characters, doesn’t just “give up” on something if it doesn’t workout right away, consistently good. Yes, the in-ring work can be hit or miss because at its core it’s developmental but its put on great matches and created great superstars for the future like Bron, Trick, Carmelo, Tiffany, Roxann etc. best weekly show imo.
Mike Bailey should've won most underrated imo Dude was putting in work last year and was the most consistent performer
The truly most underrated wrestler can't win the award. Cause you know...
The Meltzies. This should provide sufficient debate content for today.
>**BEST NON WRESTLER** >**1. DON CALLIS** Roman Reigns got robbed
THE STREAK...is over. https://preview.redd.it/if3zmn2e7dkc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9eda7018de68630674821441aff4a24153293734
It's ridiculous, when Sanada is named most overrated
Meanwhile Adam Cole was centre of 2 of the 5 worst storylines but apparently isn't overrated...
Bingo which is why I had him as my pick
How Jericho hasn't won that award yet is beyond me.
The thing is who’s really “rating” Jericho anymore? He’s not someone people think is good these days and hasn’t won anything of note in AEW in a long time. The only thing he’s really rated in is TV time but even that’s been lessened this year
COLLISION BEING 2nd BEST WEEKLY SHOW LOL WAT
That time again, folks. This is what you need to know about the more confusing categories and voting. Wrestler of the year: Promo, workrate, drawing ability, charisma, everything that makes for an impactful pro wrestler Most Outstanding: In-ring performance, only for the best workers. Overrated: Most overpushed. Underrated: Most underpushed/underappreciated when considering their qualities as a wrestlers Rookie of the year: Anyone who debuted after September 1st is not eligible for this award. Worst Promotional Tactic: "What's the worst thing a wrestling promotion did this year?” Box Office Draw: Not voted on by readers, just Dave's picks.
They really have to change the name of Worst Promotional Tactic. Because like 2-3 of the nominees are actually promotional tactics and the rest are just bad business decisions.
Most of this I expected, but there's one thing on this list that blows my mind: * Signing Ric Flair is a more disgusting promotional tactic than the MJF/Juice Robinson "Quarters" promo that happened days after a war broke out between Israel and Palestine. I don't care that they immediately pivoted, how on earth did that not make top 5?
Ehh. Ric Flair was a legitimate promotional tactic by a company, it had to get vetted, contracts signed and notarized etc. A million people were involved in this. The quarters thing is a further continuation of things MJF has alluded to on and off for his babyface career, and really only was just a decision that probably went through MJF and Juice. If it was done at any other time, I think folks would be talking about it differently. It was a tone deaf move by realistically ONE guy (I can't imagine it was Juice's idea). Not a tone deaf move by a gigantic corporation.
I think they went away from it quickly enough that most people just forgot. I had until I read your comment, but you’re right that deserves to be up there.
Personally I still like FD more than Tokyo
Don't get me wrong fuck Vince McMahon and his attempt to come back but in what universe did it constitute a 'promotional tactic'? It was all on the DL and never really acknowledged by anyone, not to mention the fact that he was literally WWE's god emperor at the time and didn't need anyone's permission to get back in.
MJF vs The Devil had highs and lows. Outcasts vs Orignials was shit from start to finish. And they didn't even call them the Outside-hers.
Once again looking through the worst highlights just how good this year has been. Does WON cover MMA as well? Wrestling and mma feel so different to me so seeing them in the same awards is weird.
Looks like people are satisfied with some and dissatisfied with some. Important thing to remember is it looks like on any given award, fewer than a thousand people voted on it. These are card-carrying $15/month-paying forum regulars.
People voting for Bray's last match is a disgusting tactic all it's own. Also, "Ringmaster" is one of the worst wrestling books I've ever read. There is a really solid piece about McMahon's childhood that probably could have been an article and then the remaining 85% is fact regurgitation that an early AI could have written.
Way to shit on Bray Wyatt. Sure, bad match but you’d think they’d give him a pass this year. It will always be crazy to me how AJ Styles and Nakamura get zero mention, presumably due to their employer.
Yall forget about Gunther or something?
It’s funny. When I was first getting into wrestling, these awards were an introduction to a wider world of the medium. But this year, the selections feel wildly out of touch with anything outside AEW. 1. CYN had 17 votes for worst promotion of the year, but never ran a single show. 2. Action Andretti is a four-year veteran, but runner-up for rookie of the year. 3. Rocky Romero got 68 votes for being Mexico’s Most Valuable. He did a lot in CMLL this year, but the man works for New Japan Pro Wrestling. The awards trend overwhelmingly towards AEW, with only a vague awareness of events outside of it.