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2004-05-25
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IT'S HERE AGAIN!
For those of you just tuning in, these are the rec.sport.pro-wrestling.*
Year-End Achievement Awards. They celebrate the excellence, as well as
the....opposite thereof, of the past year in professional wrestling.
The Awards are decided by the readers of r.s.p-w, voting for a 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd place in nearly fifty categories. Believe it or not, this is our
THIRTEENTH year for the Awards. The first six years were run by Herb Kunze
(hkunze@uoguelph.ca) - and by God, I've FINALLY passed him up!
Due to a lower-key hype job (no website hype this year, for you purists -
and thanks to Rick Scaia for not tainting the voting pool ;-) ) as well as
the fact that interest in pro wrestling is much lower than it's been in
recent years, we received just under 100 ballots - we'll call that figure
"lowish" but it sure made tallying go a lot quicker.
Thanks to my employer, XO Communications, for giving me so little to do
that I could tally votes.
Thanks to ViNNY for pretty much singlehandedly moderating RSPWM while I
worked on this.
Oh, and thanks to Kim for saying "yes" once again. ;-)
Finally, I thank the readers of rec.sport.pro-wrestling.* who are always at
the heart of these awards and make them what they are. Thanks for
representing the community, and see you next year!
The following pages provided invaluable assistance with research.
Bookmark them ALL right now:
<http://slashwrestling.com/>
[slash] wrestling - my own repository of the past year's events, even if
it currently is on hiatus and/or defunct
<http://prowrestlinghistory.com/>
The Wrestling Supercards & Tournaments Web Page
<http://www.puroresu.com/>
The Great Hisa's Puroresu Dojo
<http://deathvalleydriver.com/bbbowm/>
Rev. Ray's Page of 1,000 Holds
<http://rspw.org/>
rspw.org - for all sorts of links, including links the 1990-2001 awards
as well as many versions of the r.s.p-w FAQ - a textfile version of these
awards will be linked here very soon
I can be reached by emailing crz@rspw.org.
Without further ado, HEEEEEEEEEEEERE WE GO!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This entire document copyright 2002 by Christopher Robin Zimmerman. Portions
of this document are copyright 1990-1995 by Herb Kunze and used with his kind
permission.
Visit the r.s.p-w Awards links page at <http://rspw.org/awards.html>.
First, some general comments...
NEIL CURRY: Yes, I am a Raven mark. Yes, Jackie Gayda sucks now, but
things can only get better down the line (I hope...) I only am able to
watch WWE shows so I can't comment on the other feds. *sniff sniff*
RINGMISTRESS: This is my first time doing the RSPW awards, and I never
thought it would be this tough just to pick out from the Worst lists!
It's an honor to be a part of this poll, and my votes reflect my general
feeling on the year, with hope that it will eventually get better when
certain promoters get their heads out of their asses (looking at a Vince
McMahon action figure)...
ALBERT LOPEZ: Great, Great year for Guerrero. Overcame personal problems
en route to some of the finest work of his career. MVP of WWE would go to
Angle.
DIVAKIND: Heat shows up on both my Best & Worst lists because while it
does have the big plus of Raven going for it, it took a kamikaze nose-dive
in quality when Lita was hired to do color commentary!!
JASON MEAD: Thank goodness for the Smackdown six (Chris Benoit, Kurt
Angle, Eddy Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, and Edge) for saving
this year from complete combustion. They produced so many **** matches
that I felt like it was ok to watch WWE even through the complete garbage
surrounding it (especially on Raw).
THE DANCING JOHN: Some of the nominations... just horrible. Like the
Spiral not being nominated for the best wrestling move but instead being
nominated for *worst* wrestling move? What the hell? Same thing with the
DDP/Christian angle. Nominated for the wrong category, if you catch my
drift. Well whichever.
DAVID E. POWELL: 03/17/02 Rock v. Hulk Hogan should be the runaway winner
on markout points. Imagine if Vince had kept Hulk around and feuded with
him, or had a Hogan vs. Austin match? Rock vs. Hulk is one for the ages,
though, because both are good workers, great individuals, and masters of
charisma and crowd connection personality. PS - The funny thing is that a
lot of the wrestling moves nomeinated as "Worst wrestling move" actually
look quite impressive! PPS - It su><ors that there is now WWE IC belt
anymore! Also, Ed Ferrera needs to be far, far away from any building with
a wretling ring (or promotion) inside. Also, a new belf for HHH is silly.
Just keep the IC belt. Making a new "World title" and calling it equal to
the unified WWF/WCW belt is silly.
STUART: 2002 was the year that I finally swore off American wrestling, as
I got tired of the WWE, and found most of the highly rated indy groups
overrated. I watched mostly Japanese promotions, and although it was still
obviously better for workrate than America, Japan had it's own problems,
with the recession and general downswing prompting some bad moments. All
Japan was particularly terrible, worse than the WWE probably, with some of
the worst shows I have ever seen from a Japanese major league. They were
also notoriously anti-elevation, with Muto (nearing 40) and Tenryu (early
50's) sharing the spoils, while Kojima, their best prospect, got a steady
push, but lost twice to Muto, twice to Tenryu, and was squashed by
Goldberg in a horrid company move. Other good young wrestlers such as
Araya, Okumura and Honma were squashed weekly by over the hill foreigners
such as Steve Williams and Mike Rotundo. New Japan was the most consistent
promotion in the world for top to bottom wrestling, with Nagata,
Nishimura, Tenzan, Nakanishi, the juniors, and others all working hard and
producing some tremendous matches. They had some major booking problems
though, such as Tadao Yasuda's brief IWGP Heavyweight Title reign. After
that, they devoted to Yuji Nagata as leader, and he showed what a great
worker he is, with some tremendous performances. The annual G1 Climax was
also very strong, with a HOT final between Chono and Yoshihiro Takayama.
NOAH was very consistent too, with good shows after a really bad early
year period when Misawa outdid New Japan with Yasuda by having Yoshinari
Ogawa beat Jun Akiyama in 4:20 to win the GHC Heavyweight Title, making
Ogawa (who weighs around 198lbs) in my opinion the worst major singles
heavyweight champion in Japanese history. The indies varied, but Osaka Pro
and it's charming, lighthearted nature won my heart with some wonderful
shows. It resembles a 1993 Michinoku Pro in many ways, with bright
gimmicks, high-flying wrestling, a product that makes you smile. The 2002
match of the year, at least of time of writing, was Chono & Tenzan vs.
Nakanishi & Nishimura from New Japan's 6/5 show, a 60 minute draw with the
prestigious IWGP Tag Team Title at stake. This was a wonderful, feel-good
exhibition of pro wrestling as art, a ****1/2 match. New Japan has some
great young prospects (Suzuki, Tanahashi, Blue Wolf, Nakamura, Inoue,
etc.), as does NOAH (KENTA, Kotaro Suzuki, problem is they're juniors, who
don't draw), while All Japan has only brought one guy (Kazushi Miyamoto)
through the dojo, and he isn't progressing well. Hopefully 2003 can begin
another upswing in the wonderful world of Japanese wrestling.
LIEUWE: I was a big fan of the Bulldog, DBS, RIP.
DON L: What a real bad year, looking at the worst nomination lists so much
bad happened this year, it looked like they took 2002 and just stalled
everything to get one guy over (HHH) and it didn't work, here's hoping the
WWE can get there act together and have a better 2003 because I don't know
how it can be worse then 2002. Well there were some positives in 2002,
like the return of Mysterio & Eddie Guerrero, a pretty decent women
division, and the pushes of Edge and Brock but like I said too much
garbage on top that ruins a lot of the good things.
OLIVER DAVIES: I had to go with the HBK v HHH match as match of the year
because it had everything, good action, drama, a great back story, and a
sense of event that blew everything else this year away (unless you were a
Hulkamaniac at Wrestlemania). Kurt Angle was the wrestler of the year
this year, I'll be really surprised if he doesn't win, ringwork,
personality, mic work, and a good attitude to boot. If I were to pick an
MVP for this year, it would be Paul Heyman, he's given wrestling fans
something to enjoy when, after the first half of the year, things were
looking pretty bleak.
GENERAL CALZONE: Not much comments here, but isn't it weird how I feature
HHH and Steph on my lists of worst face AND worst heel for a one year
period? Amazing that two people could suck so noticably at opposit things
in the same year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the athlete who was the best overall wrestler of the year.
This includes all facets of wrestling: workrate, technical ability,
interviews, charisma, value to his/her promotion, etc. In 1994, this award
was split into three: North American, Non-North American, and overall. In
1998, it was recombined into one.
Previous Winners:
1990: Curt Hennig
1991: Ric Flair
1992: Ric Flair
1993: Big Van Vader
1994: Bret Hart
1994: (NA) Sabu
1994: (non-NA) Chris Benoit
1995: (overall/NA) Shawn Michaels
1995: (non-NA) Chris Benoit
1996: (overall/NA) Shawn Michaels
1996: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
1997: (overall/NA) Shawn Michaels
1997: (non-NA) Taka Michinoku
1998: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1999: Chris Benoit
2000: Triple H
2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin
**2002**: Kurt Angle
92 first place votes
92 second place votes
92 third place votes
55 15 3 326 Kurt Angle
6 20 11 112 Chris Benoit
7 15 13 106 Eddie Guerrero
4 7 8 57 Chris Jericho
5 4 9 55 Rob van Dam
1 5 7 34 Edge
2 3 6 31 Booker T
0 5 8 31 Brock Lesnar
1 6 3 29 Rey Mysterio
3 3 1 26 Rock
1 2 0 11 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 2 2 10 Yuji Nagata
1 0 2 9 Shocker
0 0 4 8 Jerry Lynn
1 0 0 5 Ultimo Guerrero
1 0 0 5 Satoshi Kojima
1 0 0 5 Ran Yuyu
1 0 0 5 Osamu Nishimura
1 0 0 5 Molly Holly
1 0 0 5 Kintaro Kanemura
0 0 2 4 Trish Stratus
0 0 2 4 Tajiri
0 1 0 3 Undertaker
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke
0 1 0 3 Mariko Yoshida
0 1 0 3 Kane
0 1 0 3 AJ Styles
0 0 1 2 Triple H
0 0 1 2 Toshiaki Kawada
0 0 1 2 Tetsuhiro Kuroda
0 0 1 2 Steve Austin
0 0 1 2 Meiko Satomura
0 0 1 2 Koji Kanemoto
0 0 1 2 Jeff Jarrett
0 0 1 2 Jeff Hardy
0 0 1 2 Hurricane
0 0 1 2 El Hijo Del Santo
0 0 1 2 D'Lo Brown
DEADBEATER: Molly went through all of that and not only didn't quit, but
thrived. For that reason alone she is the best outthere.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Wrestler: This was Kurt Angle's year -- it's true,
it's true. He consistently put on the best matches, cut the best promos,
and made his opponents look like a million bucks in the process. Eddy
Guerrero has been a massively old-school dickish heel since his return.
Brock Lesnar is still green, but he's made incredible strides since
gettign the title. In a couple of years he'll truly be a monster.
KING OF KEITH: Wrestler of the Year: Kurt Angle This man is God. He is
the future. He will own this category for years to come. My favorite
Kurt moment from the year was when he made Hogan tap out. Don't get me
wrong, I love Hogan. But Kurt being the first one ever to make the
Hulkster tap was beautiful.
CHRIS BIRD: Kurt Angle is over, is a draw, has consistently been the best
wrestler for this entire year, has successfully elevated Edge and Rey
Mysterio in the roster, is continually funny, and if he doesn't win this
year there's no justice.
GREG PIZZO: Kurt Angle is the best I have seen in a long time. Eddie is
pretty damn good too. Shocker makes my CMLL watching exciting!
DONNIE VOMIT: Go pound sand, Lex Luger - Kurt Angle is the total
wolfpackage.
DON L: One man totally stood out for me this year and that is Kurt Angle,
great on the mic, the best in the ring and the ability to get other people
around him over. I wasn't sold on Brock but over time I saw the talent he
has and gets #2. There's a handful of guys that could end up 3rd but I
ended up giving it to RVD
GUERRERO RULES: Eddie Guerrero had great matches all over the world. And
that includes WWE, New Japan, U.S. indies and the U.K. Chris Jericho
delivered high quality in-ring performances at WWE (semi-)main event level
combined with great interviews. Jeff Hardy had an excellent year in WWE.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Tag Team
Award Description:
To be given to the tag team who were the best overall team of the year.
This
includes all facets of wrestling: workrate, technical ability, interviews,
charisma, hot team moves, value to their promotion, etc. In 1994, this
award
was split into three: North American, Non-North American, and overall. In
1998, it was recombined into one.
Previous Winners:
1990: The Steiners: Rick & Scott
1991: The Steiners: Rick & Scott
1992: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
1993: The Hollywood Blonds: Brian Pillman & Steve Austin
1994: (overall/non-NA) The Steiners: Rick & Scott
1994: (NA) Eddy Guerrero & Love Machine
1995: (overall/NA) Public Enemy: Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge
1995: (non-NA) Mitsuhara Misawa & Kenta Kobashi
1996: (overall/NA) Harlem Heat: Booker T & Stevie Ray
1996: (non-NA) Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
1997: (overall/NA) The Eliminators: John Kronus & Perry Saturn
1997: (non-NA) NWO: Masahiro Chono & Great Muta
1998: New Age Outlaws: Road Dogg Jesse James & Badd Ass Billy Gunn
1999: Hardy Boyz: Matt & Jeff
2000: Edge & Christian
2001: Edge & Christian
**2002**: Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit
92 first place votes
92 second place votes
90 third place votes
33 14 15 237 Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit
13 15 11 132 Eddie & Chavo Guerrero
10 17 11 113 Booker T & Goldust
6 8 14 82 Edge & Rey Mysterio
4 5 6 47 Billy & Chuck
6 2 1 38 Dudley Boyz - Bubba Ray & D-Von
5 1 0 28 Guerreros Del Infierno - Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero
0 6 3 24 Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero
2 3 2 23 Un-Americans - Lance Storm & Christian
2 2 1 18 America's Most Wanted - Chris Harris & James Storm
1 0 4 13 Edge & Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 3 2 13 Spanish Announce Team - Joel & Jose Maximo & Amazing Red
1 0 3 11 Kane & Hurricane
2 0 0 10 Hardy Boyz - Matt & Jeff
1 1 1 10 La Familia De Tijuana - Halloween & Damien 666
1 1 0 8 Flying Elvises - Sonny Siaki & Jimmy Yang & Jorge Estrada
0 2 1 8 Edge & Christian
1 0 0 5 No Fear - Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
1 0 0 5 Manabu Nakanishi & Osamu Nishimura
1 0 0 5 Kurt Angle & Chris Jericho
1 0 0 5 Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda
1 0 0 5 Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda
0 1 1 5 Takeshi Rikio & Takeshi Morishima
0 1 1 5 Big Boss Ma-G-Ma & Daio Quallt
0 0 2 4 Jamie Noble & Tajiri
0 0 2 4 Chris Jericho & Christian
0 0 2 4 Bubba Ray Dudley & Trish Stratus
0 1 0 3 Shane Twins - Mike & Todd
0 1 0 3 Ofune & Psycho
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke & Jinsei Shinzaki
0 1 0 3 Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
0 1 0 3 Lost Boys - Azrael & Gabriel
0 1 0 3 Jerry Lynn & AJ Styles
0 1 0 3 Jado & Gedo
0 1 0 3 Hurricane & Shannon Moore
0 1 0 3 Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit
0 1 0 3 Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley
0 0 1 2 Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
0 0 1 2 Spike Dudley & Tazz
0 0 1 2 Shinjiro Ohtani & Masato Tanaka
0 0 1 2 Ran Yuyu & Azumi Hyuga
0 0 1 2 GENTARO & Takashi Sasaki
0 0 1 2 Disciples of the New Church - Slash & Brian Lee
0 0 1 2 Chris Jericho & Rock
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Tag Team: Eddy, Chavo, Benoit, Angle -- any
combination of these four is magic, baby.
DOUG CORTI: After being lucha-less since Telelatino stopped airing the
shows in September of 1997, I was finally inspired to get my hands on some
shows during the past 12 months. The development of Rey Bucanero and
Ultimo Guerrero is off the charts. They haven't just gotten _good_. They
have gotten great. Any match they were in during the past year was at the
very least watchable, and at their best, a legitimate candidate for MOTY.
JOE GAGNE: Guerreros de Infierno are having one of the best tag runs I've
ever seen. Excellent title matches, red hot feuds, and their tag belts
are arguably the most valuable belts in CMLL. 'Nuff said. Big Boss
Ma-G-Ma & Daio Quallt are great at playing the bad ass rudo team in Osaka
Pro. And I groaned when the Double Takeshis won the NOAH GHC tag titles,
but they've really run with the ball and impressed me.
DON L: The tag division seemed to be on and off all year, and the end of
the voting period it picked up a bit. BookDust was entertaining for the
majority of the year. The pure talent of Angle/Benoit gives then 2nd. I
might be alone here the I really liked the chemistry with Trish/Bubba I
gave the the last spot
THE CUBS FAN: Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit are nice people and all, but for
all the good tag team matches they had in a two-three month span, they
were together for a two-three month span. Not only did Ultimo Guerrero and
Rey Bucanero have many good matches, but they were good for the whole
year, and you've got to give them credit for that.
RICK SCAIA: So Benoit and Angle only worked together for about 2 or 3
months at the very end of the voting year... in a tag division that
suffered a plague of makeshift teams in 2002, Benoit and Angle manage to
stand tall as the cream of the crop. On their own, each is fantastic, and
because of those singles agendas, their work together includes an
engrossing element of tension lacking from other teams. Booker T and
Goldust were my favorites on the RAW roster, providing some genuine laughs
while performing solidly in the ring. Edge and Rey are also in the
just-started-teaming-three-months-ago category with Benoit/Angle, but
they're also in the kick-so-much-ass-that-they-get-votes-anyway category
with 'em, too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Heel
Award Description:
To be given to the person who was the best villain this past year. This
person should bring out the fans' wrath. Match quality is not paramount
here; this award should be based primarily on how over the wrestler was in
the past year.
Previous Winners:
1990: Ted DiBiase
1991: Cactus Jack Manson
1992: Jake Roberts
1993: Big Van Vader
1994: Bob Backlund
1995: Big Van Vader
1996: Steve Austin (Ring Master)
1997: Shawn Michaels
1998: Mr. McMahon (Vince McMahon)
1999: Triple H
2000: Triple H
2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin
**2002**: Kurt Angle
92 first place votes
92 second place votes
92 third place votes
24 23 5 199 Kurt Angle
14 18 7 138 Eddie Guerrero
15 9 8 118 Chris Jericho
7 10 9 83 Paul Heyman
7 4 6 59 Triple H
3 4 7 41 Brock Lesnar
3 3 6 36 Matt Hardy
2 3 7 33 Undertaker
2 2 5 26 Eric Bischoff
3 0 1 17 Ron Killings
0 2 5 16 William Regal
2 1 1 15 Chris Benoit
1 0 5 15 Lance Storm
0 1 6 15 Christopher Nowinski
2 1 0 13 Ultimo Guerrero
2 0 0 10 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
1 1 0 8 Tarzan Boy
0 2 1 8 Christian
0 0 3 6 Jamie Noble
1 0 0 5 Molly Holly
1 0 0 5 Mima Shimoda
1 0 0 5 Koji Kanemoto
1 0 0 5 Kintaro Kanemura
0 0 2 4 Christopher Daniels
0 1 0 3 Tadao Yasuda
0 1 0 3 Stephanie McMahon
0 1 0 3 Satanico
0 1 0 3 Rico
0 1 0 3 Raven
0 1 0 3 Kodo Fuyuki
0 1 0 3 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 1 0 3 Akira Hokuto
0 0 1 2 Yoshinobu Kanemaru
0 0 1 2 Tatsuhito Takaiwa
0 0 1 2 Rey Buccanero
0 0 1 2 Kendo KaShin
0 0 1 2 Jazz
0 0 1 2 Chavo Guerrero
0 0 1 2 Biomonster DNA
0 0 1 2 Aja Kong
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Heel: Angle & Eddy again. Heyman plays the asshole
so well, doesn't he? One might think he wasn't acting...
RINGMISTRESS: Kurt proved to us all, that bald prodigies don't suck.
CHRIS BIRD: Matt Hardy's favorite flavor of ice cream is Rocky Road.
DOUG CORTI: Due to the wretched sound quality that continues to pervade
EMLL broadcasts, you know someone is getting monster heat if you can hear
a consistent reaction from the crowd. Congrats, Tarzan Boy!
DONNIE VOMIT: Kurt Angle seems to be the only wrestler with complete
control of the audience. His heel heat is off the charts, yet, he's so
funny and charismatic that he could have the crowd on his side in a
heartbeat. "Well... I'm ten times better than you!" God bless this man!
JOE GAGNE: Clean sweep for the GdI.
DON L: Angle was the pure heel this year, making everyone around him more
liked and interesting. Eddie G gets 2nd for playing the great slimy heel
which works really well for him. And newcomer Christopher Nowinski get's
3rd for the great Harvard snob character.
RICK SCAIA: You can sense the general respect fans have for Kurt Angle;
that he can still motivate them to boo him and sing "You Suck" along to
his theme song is a testament to his work. Paul Heyman had the tough task
of keeping fans firmly against the imposing Brock Lesnar as long as he
could, and did it quite nicely. Jericho is simply one of the best talkers
in the business, and this year, he used those skills on the heel side to
great effect.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Babyface
Award Description:
To be given to the person who best portrayed the hero this past year. This
person should get lots of fan support. Match quality is not paramount
here;
this award should be based primarily on how over the wrestler was in the
past year.
Previous Winners:
1990: Hulk Hogan
1991: Brian Pillman
1992: Sting
1993: Bret Hart
1994: Bret Hart
1995: Shawn Michaels
1996: Shawn Michaels
1997: Steve Austin
1998: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1999: The Rock
2000: The Rock
2001: The Rock
**2002**: Booker T
91 first place votes
91 second place votes
91 third place votes
26 19 9 205 Booker T
12 25 8 151 Rob van Dam
16 8 12 128 Rock
12 7 15 111 Edge
7 7 9 74 Rey Mysterio
6 8 9 72 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 2 7 20 Hurricane
1 1 2 12 Goldust
0 2 3 12 Jeff Hardy
1 1 1 10 Shocker
0 2 2 10 Trish Stratus
0 2 2 10 Maven
1 1 0 8 Hijo del Santo
1 0 1 7 Tomoko Watanabe
1 0 1 7 Tommy Dreamer
1 0 1 7 Spike Dudley
0 0 3 6 Steve Austin
1 0 0 5 Shawn Michaels
1 0 0 5 Osamu Nishimura
1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke
1 0 0 5 Momoe Nakanishi
1 0 0 5 CM Punk
1 0 0 5 Atlantis
0 1 1 5 Kurt Angle
0 1 0 3 Meiko Satomura
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki
0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 Jerry Lynn
0 1 0 3 Funaki
0 0 1 2 Ricky Fuji
0 0 1 2 KENTA
0 0 1 2 D'Lo Brown
0 0 1 2 Chikayo Nagashima
0 0 1 2 Bubba Ray Dudley
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Babyface: Not too many good face characters this
year, so it's the Rock's by default.
RINGMISTRESS: The BOOK should've been the Scorpion King!
DON L: RVD just screams out babyface, he plays to the crowd well and the
crowd just loves his spots. Mysterio is a real crowd pleasure, the
undersized guy always gets a nice pop he gets 2nd place
RICK SCAIA: The Rock, even if he only worked for part of the year, still
gets the most response by doing the least; I won't hold the SummerSlam
anomaly (the fans booed him in favor of Brock) against him. Rob Van Dam,
with a "Holy Shit"-laden arsenal and easy-to-chant initials, definitely
seems like the closest thing RAW's got to a main event fan favorite.
Hulk Hogan sneaks into third place, whether you like it or not; any guy
who can have a sloppy-ass match (referencing WM18 against the Rock) and
still steal the show is doing something right.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Worker
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler with, on average, the best workrate. In 1994,
this award was split into three: North American, Non-North American, and
overall. In 1998, it was recombined into one.
Previous Winners:
1990: Ric Flair / Randy Savage (tie)
1991: Jushin Liger
1992: Jushin Liger
1993: Bret Hart
1994: (overall/NA) Sabu
1994: (non-NA) Chris Benoit
1995: (overall/NA) Shawn Michaels
1995: (non-NA) Chris Benoit
1996: (overall/NA) Rey Mysterio, Jr.
1996: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
1997: (overall/NA) Shawn Michaels
1997: (non-NA) Taka Michinoku
1998: Mankind (Cactus Jack / Dude Love / Mick Foley)
1999: Chris Benoit
2000: Chris Benoit
2001: Chris Benoit
**2002**: Kurt Angle
91 first place votes
91 second place votes
89 third place votes
46 18 10 304 Kurt Angle
19 31 14 216 Chris Benoit
8 14 21 124 Eddie Guerrero
2 3 2 23 Jerry Lynn
1 2 5 21 Edge
2 2 2 20 Booker T
2 0 5 20 Rey Mysterio
0 4 2 16 Chris Jericho
0 2 5 16 Lance Storm
1 2 0 11 Rob van Dam
2 0 0 10 Ultimo Guerrero
1 0 2 9 AJ Styles
1 1 0 8 Satoshi Kojima
0 2 1 8 Brock Lesnar
1 0 1 7 Molly Holly
1 0 0 5 Triple H
1 0 0 5 Osamu Nishimura
1 0 0 5 Onryo
1 0 0 5 Meiko Satomura
1 0 0 5 Manami Toyota
0 1 1 5 Rock
0 1 1 5 Jeff Hardy
0 1 1 5 Amazing Red
0 0 2 4 Tajiri
0 0 2 4 Low-Ki
0 1 0 3 Yuji Nagata
0 1 0 3 Toshiaki Kawada
0 1 0 3 Rey Bucanero
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke
0 1 0 3 Mariko Yoshida
0 1 0 3 Hijo del Santo
0 1 0 3 Big Show
0 0 1 2 Trish Stratus
0 0 1 2 Shocker
0 0 1 2 Ric Flair
0 0 1 2 Raven
0 0 1 2 Ran Yuyu
0 0 1 2 Mammoth Sasaki
0 0 1 2 Kenta Kobashi
0 0 1 2 Jushin Liger
0 0 1 2 Jeff Jarrett
0 0 1 2 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 0 1 2 Christian
0 0 1 2 American Dragon
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Best Worker. This was the first category that was
hard to narrow down to just three. Though it pained me to leave out all
the great workers in NWA Wildside, I had to go with Eddie Guerrero, Jerry
Lynn, and AJ Styles.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Worker: Angle, Eddy, Benoit again. Sheesh, this is
getting boring.
DOUG CORTI: The toughest thing here was deciding which of Guerreros Del
Infierno would take the first position.
DON L: Kurt Angle, week in week out his stuff is golden and he's the best
worker. Benoit second and Trish 3rd just for her crazy bumping all year
round for her opponents.
GUERRERO RULES: Eddie Guerrero has consistently been the best worker in
the world throughout this year. Jeff Hardy delivered great performances as
usual. Chris Jericho never had a better year as a worker.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Jobber
Award Description:
To be given to the Professional Loser that does an incredible job of putting
his name opponent over. Maybe the bumps that this person takes are just that
much more spectacular than other PLs. After seeing a match with this person,
you feel sorry about the punishment he/she took and realize how good it made
his/her name opponent look. In 2000, this category was removed.
Previous Winners:
1990: Barry Horowitz
1991: Rip Rogers
1992: Barry Horowitz
1993: Barry Horowitz
1994: Barry Horowitz
1995: Barry Horowitz
1996: Barry Horowitz
1997: Spike Dudley
1998: Lenny Lane
1999: Bad Barry Horowitz
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Jobber to the Stars
To be given to the "Superstar" who has no problem defeating "real" jobbers,
but for some reason can't score the victory when facing comparable opposition.
This award should recognise performers who manage to look good both in
victory AND defeat, as well as helping their opponents look good while
jobbing, and may or may not represent a wrestler deserving of a push (that is
better reflected in the "Most Underrated" category). In 2000, this category
was removed.
1998: Chris Benoit
1999: Al Snow
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Flyer
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who did the most and the best high-flying
maneuvers throughout the year. In 1994, this award was split into two:
North
American and Non-North American. In 1998, it was recombined.
Previous Winners:
1991: Jushin Liger
1992: Jushin Liger
1993: 1-2-3 Kid (Lightning Kid)
1994: (NA) 1-2-3 Kid
1994: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
1995: (NA) Sabu
1995: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
1996: (NA) Rey Mysterio, Jr.
1996: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
1997: (NA) Rey Mysterio, Jr.
1997: (non-NA) Taka Michinoku
1998: (Billy) Kidman
1999: Jeff Hardy
2000: Jeff Hardy
2001: Rob van Dam
**2002**: Rey Mysterio
92 first place votes
92 second place votes
90 third place votes
55 13 9 332 Rey Mysterio
11 25 16 162 Rob van Dam
5 6 14 71 Jeff Hardy
5 7 7 60 Amazing Red
1 11 11 60 Eddie Guerrero
5 7 4 54 AJ Styles
0 4 8 28 Billy Kidman
0 4 5 22 Hurricane
2 0 0 10 Momoe Nakanishi
0 2 2 10 Spike Dudley
0 2 0 6 Naomichi Marufuji
1 0 0 5 Slim J
1 0 0 5 Ricky Marvin
1 0 0 5 Onryo
1 0 0 5 Matt Hardy
1 0 0 5 Manami Toyota
1 0 0 5 Low-Ki
1 0 0 5 Jack Evans
1 0 0 5 Dragon Kid
0 1 1 5 Jerry Lynn
0 1 0 3 Tony Rivera
0 1 0 3 Sumie Sakai
0 1 0 3 Molly Holly
0 1 0 3 Lita
0 1 0 3 Joel Maximo
0 1 0 3 Jimmy Yang
0 1 0 3 Hombre Sin Nombre
0 1 0 3 Hijo del Santo
0 1 0 3 GOEMON
0 1 0 3 Air Paris
0 0 1 2 Yoshinobu Kanemaru
0 0 1 2 Tajiri
0 0 1 2 Shawn Michaels
0 0 1 2 Shannon Moore
0 0 1 2 Matt Burns
0 0 1 2 Kid Kash
0 0 1 2 Jose Maximo
0 0 1 2 Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 Curry Man
0 0 1 2 Black Warrior
0 0 1 2 Black Tiger III
0 0 1 2 Averno
0 0 1 2 Ai Fujita
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Flyer: Rey gets the nod here. Love that entrance!
GREG PIZZO: Eddie's frogsplash is still the best in the business.
DON L: Rey Mysterio came back this year as good as ever with new
highflying moves in his moveset, Rey takes top spot. RVD is always a
guarantees some great highspots comes in 2nd and Eddie Guerrero comes in a
close third.
THE CUBS FAN: While Rey's my favorite guy here, Hombre Sin Nombre had all
sorts of chances to be really cool given some actual screen time, but NO,
his uncle/brother/"unrelated person with prior version of same gimmick"
ended up causing him to go to AAA! That's inhuman.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Technical Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who has the most technical ability. The number
of holds and moves you see this person do and the crispness with which the
moves are executed makes his/her matches a pleasure to watch. In 1994, this
award was split into three: North American, Non-North American, and overall.
In 1998, it was recombined into one.
Previous Winners:
1991: Bret Hart
1992: Bret Hart
1993: Bret Hart
1994: (overall/NA) Bret Hart
1994: (non-NA) Chris Benoit
1995: (overall/NA) Dean Malenko
1995: (non-NA) Chris Benoit
1996: (sweep) Dean Malenko
1997: (overall/NA) Dean Malenko
1997: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
1998: Dean Malenko
1999: Chris Benoit
2000: Chris Benoit
2001: Chris Benoit
**2002**: Chris Benoit
92 first place votes
92 second place votes
91 third place votes
39 35 8 316 Chris Benoit
40 31 8 309 Kurt Angle
4 5 32 99 Eddie Guerrero
0 4 12 36 Lance Storm
1 2 9 29 Chris Jericho
0 5 5 25 William Regal
1 0 2 9 Jerry Lynn
1 0 2 9 American Dragon
0 1 3 9 Ric Flair
1 1 0 8 Osamu Nishimura
1 1 0 8 Hijo del Santo
1 0 1 7 Doug Williams
0 2 0 6 Ultimo Guerrero
1 0 0 5 Mariko Yoshida
1 0 0 5 GOEMON
1 0 0 5 Blue Panther
0 1 1 5 Milano Collection AT
0 1 0 3 noki-A
0 1 0 3 Yuji Nagata
0 1 0 3 Steve Austin
0 1 0 3 Hisakatsu Oya
0 0 1 2 Tajiri
0 0 1 2 Sun Paul
0 0 1 2 Molly Holly
0 0 1 2 Koji Kanemoto
0 0 1 2 Jaime Noble
0 0 1 2 Edge
0 0 1 2 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 0 1 2 Chikayo Nagashima
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Technical Wrestler: Angle 'n' Benoit, but no Eddy
this time -- I kinda like Regal for third. When are we getting that Angle
vs. Brock match already?
DON L: I always look forward to Kurt Angle matches to see what he thinks
and does next. Especially when he goes against the 2nd best Tech wrestler
Chris Benoit. Eddie Guerrero finishes third.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Brawler
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who brawled his/her way through the year most
convincingly. This award would go to Frank "Bruiser Brody" Goodish if he
were still around. In 1994, this award was split into two: North American
and Non-North American. In 1998, it was recombined.
Previous Winners:
1991: Stan Hansen
1992: Cactus Jack
1993: Big Van Vader
1994: (NA) Cactus Jack
1994: (non-NA) Stan Hansen
1995: (NA) Cactus Jack
1995: (non-NA) Stan Hansen
1996: (NA) Mankind (Cactus Jack)
1996: (non-NA) Terry Funk
1997: (NA) Mankind
1997: (non-NA) Stan Hansen
1998: Mankind (Cactus Jack / Mick Foley / Dude Love)
1999: Mankind
2000: Mick Foley (Cactus Jack / Mankind)
2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin
**2002**: Brock Lesnar
86 first place votes
85 second place votes
83 third place votes
15 15 7 134 Brock Lesnar
13 7 11 108 Undertaker
9 11 12 102 Tommy Dreamer
10 11 9 101 Steve Austin
6 7 5 61 Bubba Ray Dudley
8 4 3 58 Chris Benoit
5 6 7 57 Triple H
3 2 5 31 Bradshaw
1 4 4 25 Al Snow
3 1 0 18 Yoshihiro Takayama
0 4 1 14 Booker T
1 0 3 11 Rock
2 0 0 10 Satanico
2 0 0 10 Kintaro Kanemura
1 1 1 10 Kane
1 1 1 10 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
1 1 1 10 Don Frye
1 0 2 9 Kurt Angle
0 2 0 6 Rob van Dam
1 0 0 5 William Regal
1 0 0 5 Mima Shimoda
1 0 0 5 Jeff Hardy
1 0 0 5 Crash
0 0 2 4 Shawn Michaels
0 1 0 3 Spike Dudley
0 1 0 3 Ric Flair
0 1 0 3 Raven
0 1 0 3 Mayumi Ozaki
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki
0 1 0 3 Kensuke Sasaki
0 1 0 3 Jerry Lynn
0 1 0 3 Halloween
0 0 1 2 Victoria
0 0 1 2 Test
0 0 1 2 Shadow WX
0 0 1 2 Scott Hall
0 0 1 2 Maven
0 0 1 2 Goldust
0 0 1 2 Etsuko Mita
0 0 1 2 Chris Jericho
0 0 1 2 Biomonster DNA
DON L: Brock Lesner looks like a fighting machine and the #1 brawler.
Tommy still does hardcore justice and gets 2nd place. Victoria gets 3rd,
ouch she looks stiff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Favourite Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler you like the most, regardless of the reason.
Previous Winners:
1991: Ric Flair
1992: Ric Flair
1993: Ric Flair
1994: Ric Flair
1995: Shawn Michaels
1996: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1997: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1998: Mankind (Cactus Jack / Dude Love / Mick Foley)
1999: Chris Jericho
2000: Triple H
2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin
**2002**: Kurt Angle
92 first place votes
92 second place votes
91 third place votes
13 20 14 153 Kurt Angle
11 6 4 81 Chris Benoit
5 8 8 65 Booker T
8 3 5 59 Eddie Guerrero
5 6 5 53 Rob van Dam
7 3 2 48 Chris Jericho
3 5 3 36 Edge
3 2 7 35 Shawn Michaels
4 2 3 32 Rock
5 0 3 31 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
2 3 3 25 Hurricane
2 3 1 21 Rey Mysterio
2 2 2 20 Steve Austin
0 5 2 19 Brock Lesnar
1 2 2 15 Tajiri
2 1 0 13 Ultimo Guerrero
1 2 0 11 Jerry Lynn
1 1 1 10 Goldust
1 0 2 9 Shocker
1 1 0 8 Tommy Dreamer
1 1 0 8 Raven
1 1 0 8 Molly Holly
1 1 0 8 Lance Storm
1 1 0 8 D'Lo Brown
0 2 1 8 Jeff Hardy
1 0 1 7 William Regal
1 0 1 7 Trish Stratus
0 1 2 7 Matt Hardy
0 2 0 6 Rey Bucanero
1 0 0 5 Triple H
1 0 0 5 Steve Blackman
1 0 0 5 Ran Yuyu
1 0 0 5 Osamu Nishimura
1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke
1 0 0 5 Mitsuharu Misawa
1 0 0 5 Kane
1 0 0 5 Johnny Devine
1 0 0 5 Chavo Guerrero
0 1 1 5 Ric Flair
0 1 1 5 Low-Ki
0 1 1 5 AJ Styles
0 0 2 4 Spanky
0 0 2 4 Amazing Red
0 1 0 3 Scott Hall
0 1 0 3 Satoshi Kojima
0 1 0 3 Psycho
0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 GOEMON
0 0 1 2 Yuu Yamagata
0 0 1 2 Yuji Nagata
0 0 1 2 Undertaker
0 0 1 2 Taiyo Kea
0 0 1 2 Mammoth Sasaki
0 0 1 2 Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 Jacqueline
0 0 1 2 Ivory
0 0 1 2 Hijo Del Santo
0 0 1 2 Christopher Nowinski
0 0 1 2 Christian
0 0 1 2 Billy Gunn
PAUL ZOROVICH: Most Favourite Wrestler: Given the number of times Angle &
Eddy have appeared on this list, it's no surprise they're #1 and #2 in
this category too. Except Eddy gets first this time.
RINGMISTRESS: Kurt was the IT guy, and you know why.
GREG PIZZO: I am sticking with Blackman even though he has not been on my
TV in the last 12 months. Booker and Eddie are good substitutes, but the
Lethal Weapon will always be my favorite wrestler.
DON L: There so many that can be on this list. But I'm a Trish mark, her
hardwork and desire is so amazing, she's my favourite person. Angle comes
in 2nd funny and a great wrestler. 3rd is difficult but I went with
Jericho by a bit but he's been dropping every year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Improved Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who most improved himself/herself in all facets
of the sport in the past year.
Previous Winners:
1990: Lex Luger
1991: Ron Simmons
1992: Steve Austin
1993: Marcus Alexander Bagwell
1994: Diesel
1995: Johnny B. Badd
1996: Wildman Marc Mero (Johnny B. Badd)
1997: Ken Shamrock
1998: The Rock
1999: Hardcore Holly
2000: Triple H
2001: Rob van Dam
**2002**: Trish Stratus
91 first place votes
88 second place votes
81 third place votes
26 12 8 182 Trish Stratus
23 10 9 163 Edge
7 11 13 94 Matt Hardy
6 14 11 94 Brock Lesnar
3 2 2 25 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
2 2 4 24 Shawn Michaels
2 2 4 24 Bubba Ray Dudley
1 3 4 22 Victoria
2 3 1 21 Rey Mysterio
3 1 0 18 Yoshihiro Takayama
1 3 2 18 Kurt Angle
3 0 1 17 Ron Killings
1 2 3 17 Hurricane
1 2 1 13 Goldust
2 0 1 12 Booker T
0 2 2 10 Rob van Dam
1 1 0 8 Stacy Keibler
0 2 0 6 Eddie Guerrero
1 0 0 5 Syxx-Pac
1 0 0 5 Randy Orton
1 0 0 5 Miyuki Fujii
1 0 0 5 Manabu Nakanishi
1 0 0 5 Lance Storm
1 0 0 5 Garuda
1 0 0 5 Averno
0 1 1 5 Undertaker
0 1 1 5 Maven
0 1 1 5 Jerry Lynn
0 1 1 5 Chavo Guerrero
0 0 2 4 AJ Styles
0 1 0 3 Yutaka Yoshie
0 1 0 3 Torrie Wilson
0 1 0 3 Tarzan Boy
0 1 0 3 Molly Holly
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki
0 1 0 3 Katsushi Takemura
0 1 0 3 Hombre Sin Nombre
0 1 0 3 Bull Buchanan
0 1 0 3 Bruce
0 1 0 3 Billy Kidman
0 1 0 3 Big Show
0 1 0 3 Ai Fujita
0 0 1 2 Yuka Shiina
0 0 1 2 Sun Paul
0 0 1 2 Steven Richards
0 0 1 2 Naoya Ogawa
0 0 1 2 Mascara Magica
0 0 1 2 Jimmy Yang
0 0 1 2 Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 Christopher Nowinski
0 0 1 2 Big Valbowski
PAUL ZOROVICH: Most Improved Wrestler: Edge finally shows he deserves the
big push. This time last year, nobody was sure Shawn Michaels could go
again, but he proved he had a couple of good nights left.
RINGMISTRESS: To think, a year and a half ago I thought of her as a no
talent slut! Sorry, Trish...
CHRIS BIRD: Really, this should be Edge's in a walk. Yes, Brock Lesnar was
very impressive in his first year, but he didn't get better so much as he
just showed up and performed decently when handed talented opponents. Edge
was given the ball this year and he ran with it in great feuds with Kurt
Angle, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit.
DON L: Trish Stratus, All year we see such improvement in her. Matt gets
2nd because he somehow became a real interesting character and wrestler
when I was ready to give up on him. Mysterio gets 3rd for his comeback this
year.
RICK SCAIA: I'm voting for Trish Stratus again this year; that's twice in a
row. And while she's probably not on her way to being Bull Nakano, I'm
still really pleasantly surprised to see that Trish is still comitted to
getting better. With more matches/experience against a pretty talented set
of opponents, it seems like Trish has gotten into a comfort zone, and can
be counted on to have matches that are just plain good (and not "good...
for a girl"). Matt Hardy's always been solid in the ring, but a liability
in the personality category; in 2002, he created "Mattitude," and I think
firmly established himself as the more overall entertaining Hardy Boy.
Brock Lesnar's a third pick in this category, though I'm guessing perceived
improvement in Lesnar over his first 6 months in the ring is more a
function of how he was booked than anything; he showed us more as time went
on, rather than blowing his load all at once.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Overrated Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who really has little talent, but has a large
place in the spotlight nonetheless. This is a measure of how undeserved a
wrestler's push is.
Previous Winners:
1990: Hulk Hogan
1991: Hulk Hogan
1992: Ultimate Warrior
1993: Hulk Hogan
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: Hulk Hogan
1997: Hulk Hogan
1998: Hollywood Hogan
1999: Hulk Hogan
2000: Goldberg
2001: The Undertaker
**2002**: Triple H
91 first place votes
90 second place votes
85 third place votes
35 8 7 213 Triple H
11 7 2 80 Rob van Dam
5 11 3 64 Undertaker
3 11 4 56 Jeff Hardy
3 5 10 50 Big Show
2 6 6 40 Rikishi
3 4 6 39 Kevin Nash
2 6 5 38 Bradshaw
2 3 5 29 Kane
3 1 5 28 Scott Hall
3 2 1 23 Test
1 4 3 23 Brock Lesnar
2 3 0 19 Syxx-Pac
1 2 4 19 Edge
0 3 4 17 Rock
2 0 2 14 William Regal
2 0 2 14 Maven
2 0 1 12 Chris Benoit
2 0 0 10 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 2 1 8 Torrie Wilson
1 0 1 7 Lance Storm
0 2 0 6 Christopher Nowinski
0 2 0 6 Booker T
1 0 0 5 Tadao Yasuda
1 0 0 5 Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
1 0 0 5 Lita
1 0 0 5 Keiji Muto
1 0 0 5 Genichiro Tenryu
1 0 0 5 Bill Goldberg
0 1 1 5 Steve Austin
0 1 1 5 Ron Killings
0 1 1 5 Atlantis
0 0 2 4 X-Pac
0 1 0 3 Taiyo Kea
0 1 0 3 Matt Hardy
0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 Chavo Guerrero
0 1 0 3 Albert
0 0 1 2 Trish Stratus
0 0 1 2 Mark Henry
0 0 1 2 Malice
0 0 1 2 Jackie Gayda
0 0 1 2 Gedo
0 0 1 2 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 0 1 2 Bubba Ray Dudley
0 0 1 2 Brian Lawler
PAUL ZOROVICH: Most Overrated Wrestler: Undertaker again this year. OK,
he's been around forever, but it's time to hang it up now. Jeff Hardy
isn't half the wrestler his brother is.
RINGMISTRESS: Being a fan of HHH, I had to be honest, he gave us lots of
steak, but no sizzle, or is it the other way around? Hopefully he'll right
himself by next year.
DOUG CORTI: I put Dr. Wagner Jr. in some of the 'best' categories, but he
also deserves a position in this category. You get one of two Wagners in
any match of his. He'll put on a match that showcases both his incredible
technical expertise and brawling skills. Then he'll give you a match where
he the most notable thing he does is high-five a fan in the crowd clad in a
Wagner mask. Despite the fact I went 5 years between being an avid lucha
follower, it is refreshing to see that Rayo de Jalisco Jr. is still
bringing gigantic heaps of suck to the top of the card in CMLL.
DONNIE VOMIT: Trips was never that great, even during his zenith in early
2000 where he could actually halfway wrestle. Now - crippled, boring,
unfunny and holding the RAW brand's top strap - I wish he was dead. Not
really dead, though. Just a simulated dead to shock the media into some
mainstream coverage.
DON L: HHH by a mile. There is no way he should be the figurehead of the
WWE for an entire year. Undertaker time has past he shouldn't be having
main event feuds all the time he gets 2. I'm not a fan of Torrie, She the
only diva face on SD bothers me she gets 3rd
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: Regal is getting to the point where he really needs to
retire and become a full-time manager. Yes, he works stiff, and yes, he may
have had that legendary match with Benoit two years ago ... but how many
memorable Regal matches have there been lately? Even against talented
opponents, the magic isn't there any more.
THE CUBS FAN: Please stop building match stories around hurting one of
RVD's legs, because he can't do his moves and sell the leg at the same
time, and he ALWAYS chooses doing his moves. Work an arm or something,
please.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Wrestling Gimmick
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who had the best character gimmick in the past
year.
Previous Winners:
1991: The Undertaker
1992: The Undertaker
1993: The Undertaker
1994: Bob Backlund as the real WWF champ
1995: Goldust
1996: NWO
1997: Mick Foley's multiple personalities
1998: Lionheart Chris Jericho as a Paragon of Virtue
1999: Hardcore Holly as The Big Shot and a Superheavyweight
2000: Edge & Christian, for the benefit of those with flash photography
2001: His name is Steve Austin - WWF Champion - he does not deserve this
**2002**: Matt Hardy (version 1) begins the era of Mattitude
91 first place votes
91 second place votes
89 third place votes
23 15 14 188 Matt Hardy's Mattitude
17 13 9 142 Goldust & Booker T as an odd couple team
6 11 11 85 Jamie Noble/Nidia as Trailer Park Trash
11 6 5 83 Brock Lesnar, Next Big Thing
6 13 3 75 Hurricane
2 7 8 47 Chris Jericho, King of the World
5 3 3 40 Christopher Nowinski, Harvard graduate
4 4 1 34 Booker T calling everyone a "SUCKA!"
4 1 3 29 nWo
3 2 3 27 Get Well Randy Orton
1 1 5 18 Rob van Dam as really mellow
0 2 5 16 Eddie & Chavo Guerrero's Latino Heat
2 1 1 15 Shocker - 1000 El Guapo
1 2 1 13 Ron Killings as "The Truth"
1 0 2 9 Silver King as Black Tiger III
1 0 1 7 Milano Collection AT
1 0 0 5 Tiger Mask 4
1 0 0 5 Kaori Yoneyama the Snake Charmer
1 0 0 5 Hayabusa
1 0 0 5 Eric Bischoff as RAW GM
0 1 1 5 William Regal
0 0 2 4 Un-Americans
0 0 2 4 Molly Holly
0 1 0 3 Undertaker as bully heel
0 1 0 3 Tommy Dreamer as guy who eats weird stuff
0 1 0 3 Tiger's Mask as baseball playing Tiger Mask
0 1 0 3 Sakura (Cosplay) Hirota
0 1 0 3 Rock as WWE's savior
0 1 0 3 Kurt Angle
0 1 0 3 Dragon Kid
0 1 0 3 Disciples of the New Church
0 1 0 3 Biomonster DNA
0 0 1 2 Ron Simmons as Ron Simmons
0 0 1 2 Onryo
0 0 1 2 Mr. Zero as middle management wrestler
0 0 1 2 Lenny Lane as a Britney Spears fan
0 0 1 2 John Cena channels Payne Stewart by wearing team colors
0 0 1 2 Funaki as "SmackDown! #1 Announcer"
0 0 1 2 Flying Elvises
0 0 1 2 Erika Watanabe the Phone Sex Operator
0 0 1 2 Comic Book Guy Anderson (IPW Florida)
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Wrestling Gimmick: I'm loving the Jamie Knoble/Nidia
thing! It's being executed almost perfectly. The era of Mattitude is
killing me too -- FABULOUS entrances! I also like the subtle "team colors"
thing that John Cena is doing, despite the FUGLY tights that result
sometimes.
RINGMISTRESS: Still waiting for Randy's reply...
CHRIS BIRD: Matt Hardy knows how to do the tango, foxtrot, and rhumba.
SYDNEYEIGHT: For best wrestling gimmick, I picked the three gimmicks that I
really thought would work the LEAST. I was surprised to see Matt Hardy
finally sorta break out of Jeff's shell, and maybe avoid turning into Marty
Jannetty, even more surprised to see how well Jamie Noble took to his new
gimmick, and was down right SHOCKED to finally be entertained by Dustin
Rhodes after over a decade of boring and annoying the hell out of me.
DONNIE VOMIT: Did you know Matt Hardy's bedtime is 4am? Did you know he
loves guacamole? Did you ever figure that he'd be the HBK of the Hardy
Boyz?
DON L: Chris Nowinski harvard gimmick is the best, and it's a SHOOT!.
Mattitude saved Matt Hardy, I was about to give up on him, who knew he had
personality he gets 2nd. 3rd is Randy Orton is another example of a guy I
didn't care for and overnight I really starting liking.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Wrestling Move
Award Description:
To be given to the move that is just the damn best thing you've seen this
past year. This should probably be a "finishing" move or something really
spectacular.
Previous Winners:
1990: Scott Steiner's Frankensteiner
1991: Scott Steiner's Frankensteiner
1992: Jushin Liger's moonsault off the second ropes to floor
1993: Big Van Vader's moonsault
1994: Vader's moonsault
1995: Hakushi's Space Flying Tiger Drop
1996: Wildman Marc Mero's Wild Thing shooting star press
1997: Bret Hart's figure four leglock around the ringpost
1998: Rock's People's Elbow elbowdrop
1999: Jeff Hardy's senton bomb
2000: Jeff Hardy's swantonbomb senton
2001: Rob van Damn's Five Star frog splash
**2002**: Brock Lesnar's F-5 fireman carry neckbreaker
89 first place votes
88 second place votes
87 third place votes
13 7 6 98 Brock Lesnar's F-5 fireman carry neckbreaker
7 14 8 93 Rey Mysterio's 619 swingout kick
11 4 5 77 Hurricane's Vertebreaker back to back piledriver
7 2 7 55 Rob van Dam's Van Terminator dropkick
2 9 4 45 Rob van Dam's Five Star frog splash
5 4 3 43 Chris Benoit's Crippler crossface
5 2 4 39 Chris Benoit's locomotion German suplex
3 3 4 32 AJ Styles' Styles Clash
4 1 1 25 Kurt Angle's anklelock
2 4 1 24 Booker T's Houston Hangover somersault legdrop
2 4 1 24 Billy Kidman's Shooting Star press
1 3 2 18 Lo-Ki's Ki Krusher '99 Michinoku driver
1 3 1 16 Jerry Lynn's cradle piledriver
2 1 1 15 Chris Jericho's Lionsault quebrada
2 1 0 13 SAT's Spanish Fly double top rope leaping superplex
2 1 0 13 Kurt Angle's running the ropes belly to belly suplex
1 0 4 13 Molly Holly's Molly Go Round somersault press
0 2 3 12 Kurt Angle's Angle slam
1 1 2 12 Amazing Red's Code Red sunset flip bomb
1 2 0 11 Amazing Red's Infra-Red corkscrew moonsault
2 0 0 10 Mr. Gannosuke's Gannosuke Clutch
0 2 2 10 Hurricane's top rope swinging neckbreaker
1 0 2 9 Big Show's chokeslam
1 1 0 8 Undertaker's Last Ride powerbomb
1 1 0 8 Ultimo Guerrero's off the rope inverted superplex
1 1 0 8 Hollywood Hulk Hogan's legdrop
0 2 1 8 Jamie Noble's Trailer Hitch leglock
1 0 1 7 Edge's Edgecution swinging DDT
1 0 1 7 Black Warrior's tope
0 1 2 7 Tajiri's head kick
1 0 0 5 Yuji Nagata's backdrop suplex hold
1 0 0 5 William Regal's Power of the Punch left
1 0 0 5 Ultimo Guerrero's off the rope senton into suicide tope
1 0 0 5 Tomoko Watanabe's Hellsmasher
1 0 0 5 Rock's Rock Bottom uranage
1 0 0 5 Genichiro Tenryu's chops
1 0 0 5 Chris Benoit's locomotion Northern Lights suplex
1 0 0 5 AJ Styles' Spiral Tap
0 1 1 5 Eddie Guerrero's Lasso from El Paso standing leglock
0 1 1 5 Chris Jericho's Walls of Jericho Boston crab
0 1 1 5 AJ Styles' moonsault into Final Cut
0 0 2 4 Test's Big Boot kick
0 0 2 4 Hurricane's Shining Wizard kick
0 1 0 3 Yuji Nagata's Nagata Lock II
0 1 0 3 Tomoko Watanabe's Screwdriver
0 1 0 3 Test's Testdrive
0 1 0 3 Scott Hall's Razor's Edge crucifix bomb
0 1 0 3 Mitsuharu Misawa's Emerald Frosion
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki's Mammoth Driver
0 1 0 3 Hijo del Santo's Camel Clutch
0 1 0 3 Eddie Guerrero's frog splash
0 0 1 2 Yoshiko Tamura's Patriot Buster
0 0 1 2 Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner
0 0 1 2 Spike Dudley's double foot stomp
0 0 1 2 Slim J's suicide corkscrew plancha
0 0 1 2 Raven's Raven Effect DDT
0 0 1 2 Onryo's Onryo Clutch
0 0 1 2 Mr. Niebla's La Nieblina
0 0 1 2 Jazz's STF
0 0 1 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan's Tenzan tombstone driver
0 0 1 2 Hiroshi Hase's giant swing
0 0 1 2 Christian's Unprettier reverse underhook DDT
0 0 1 2 Amazing Red's Red Star press
REJECTED
1 0 0 Magistral Cradle (no performer named)
0 1 0 Dragonscrew Legwhip (ditto)
0 0 1 Piledriver (ditto)
0 0 1 Booker T's Spinarooni (not a "wrestling move")
DOUG CORTI: There is nothing in wrestling that combines both graceful
beauty and total insanity better than Black Warrior's lightning-fast tope.
GREG PIZZO: Since starting to watch CMLL in the last 6 months, I have come
to appreciate the talents of Ultimo Guerrero. He is outstanding!
DON L: I know some are critical of the lionsault but it's still the coolest
looking move in my book. RVD 5 Star splash looks great as well finishing
2nd while Molly Go round is another cool looking move getting third.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Match
Award Description:
To be given to the best wrestling match you've seen this year, either live,
on TV, PPV, or in an arena, or on tape. If it took place in the past year,
it is eligible. In 1994, this award was split into three: North American,
Non-North American, and overall. In 1997, due to lack of participation on
both the NA and non-NA sides, it was recombined.
Previous Winners:
1990: 04/22/90: Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs. Marty Janetty & Shawn
Michaels (SNME)
1991: 03/21/91: Steiners vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Hase (Tokyo, aired
on taped PPV)
1992: 01/18/92: Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble)
1993: 10/24/93: Cactus Jack vs. Big Van Vader (Halloween Havoc)
1994: (overall/NA) 03/20/94: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (WrestleMania)
1994: (non-NA) 04/16/94: Chris Benoit vs. Great Sasuke (Super J Cup)
1995: (overall/NA) 08/27/95: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (SummerSlam)
1995: (non-NA) 11/20/94: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota (AJW V*TOP Tourney)
1996: (overall/NA) 03/31/96: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania)
1996: (non-NA) 03/17/96: Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani
1997: 10/05/97: Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (Hell in the Cell cage)
1998: 06/28/98: Undertaker vs. Mankind (Hell in the Cell cage)
1999: 10/17/99: Brood (Matt & Jeff Hardy) vs. Edge & Christian (ladder)
2000: 08/27/00: Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz (tag TLC)
2001: 05/21/01: Steve Austin & Triple H (tag) vs. Chris Benoit & Chris
Jericho (RAW)
**2002**: 10/20/02: Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle v. Edge & Rey Mysterio (WWE
tag final) (No Mercy)
89 first place votes
87 second place votes
85 third place votes
21 9 7 146 10/20/02 Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle v. Edge & Rey Mysterio
(WWE tag final)
12 8 12 108 08/25/02 Shawn Michaels v. Triple H
14 9 5 107 03/17/02 Rock v. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
9 8 4 77 09/22/02 Chris Benoit v. Kurt Angle
3 10 7 59 09/26/02 Edge v. Eddie Guerrero (no DQ SmackDown!)
3 5 8 46 05/27/02 Eddie Guerrero (IC) v. Rob van Dam (ladder RAW)
3 4 3 33 10/07/02 Kane & Hurricane (tag) v. Jeff Hardy & Rob van Dam
v. Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley Christian & Chris
Jericho (TLC RAW)
2 4 0 22 05/19/02 Kurt Angle v. Edge (hair)
2 2 3 22 10/20/02 Brock Lesnar (WWE) v. Undertaker (Hell in the Cell)
2 2 3 22 06/26/02 Jerry Lynn v. AJ Styles v. Psicosis v. Lo-Ki
(double elim X)
1 2 2 15 01/20/02 Chris Jericho (Un.) v. Rock
1 1 3 14 08/25/02 Rock (Un.) v. Brock Lesnar
1 1 2 12 07/01/02 Undertaker (Un.) v. Jeff Hardy (ladder RAW)
1 1 1 10 11/18/01 Steve Austin & Kurt Angle & Rob van Dam & Booker T
& Shane McMahon v. Rock & Undertaker & Kane & Big
Show & Chris Jericho (elim)
1 1 1 10 03/26/02 Shocker v. Dr. Wagner Jr.
1 0 2 9 12/09/01 Chris Jericho (WCW) v. Steve Austin (WWF)
1 0 2 9 07/21/02 Undertaker (Un.) v. Rock v. Kurt Angle
1 1 0 8 11/02/01 Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero v. Negro Casas &
Hijo Del Santo
1 1 0 8 02/24/02 Keiji Muto v. Toshiaki Kawada
1 1 0 8 08/28/02 Low-Ki (X) v. Jerry Lynn v. AJ Styles (ladder)
0 0 4 8 08/25/02 Edge v. Eddie Guerrero
0 2 0 6 05/30/02 Kurt Angle v. Edge (cage SmackDown!)
1 0 0 5 12/09/01 Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Kintaro Kanemura & Mr. Gannosuke
& Mammoth Saski v. Genichiro Tenryu & Kodo Fuyuki &
Arashi & Koki Kitahara
1 0 0 5 12/09/01 Ran Yuyu v. Misae Genki
1 0 0 5 02/24/02 Lo-Ki v. Shark Boy v. AJ Styles v. Tony Mamaluke v.
Christopher Daniels v. Nova (elim) (WWA)
1 0 0 5 02/24/02 Kaoru Ito v. Manami Toyota
1 0 0 5 03/11/02 Hollywood Hulk Hogan & Scott Hall & Kevin Nash v.
Rock and Steve Austin (RAW)
1 0 0 5 06/05/02 Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan v. Manabu
Nakanishi & Osamu Nishimura
1 0 0 5 06/27/02 Kurt Angle v. John Cena (SmackDown!)
1 0 0 5 07/04/02 Undertaker (Un.) v. Kurt Angle (SmackDown!)
0 1 1 5 06/03/02 Steve Austin v. Ric Flair (closed fists cause
immediate DQ RAW)
0 0 2 4 04/21/02 Kurt Angle v. Edge
0 1 0 3 12/07/01 Lioness Asuka v. Mima Shimoda v. Yoshiko Tamura
v. Kyoko Inoue v. Misae Genki v. Ran Yuyu
0 1 0 3 12/09/01 Tatsuhito Takaiwa v. Naomichi Marufuji
0 1 0 3 12/21/01 Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Mr. Gannosuke v. Kintaro
Kanemura & Mammoth Sasaki
0 1 0 3 02/17/02 Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata v. Kenta Kobahsi &
Mitsuharu Misawa
0 1 0 3 02/23/02 Lo-Ki v. American Dragon v. Christopher
Daniels (ROH)
0 1 0 3 02/24/02 Satoshi Kojima v. Genichiru Tenryu
0 1 0 3 04/21/02 Eddie Guerrero v. Rob van Dam
0 1 0 3 07/02/02 Billy & Chuck v. Edge & Hulk Hogan
0 1 0 3 07/10/02 Jerry Lynn v. Christopher Daniels v. Lo-Ki v. Elix
0 1 0 3 07/17/02 Genichiro Tenryu v. Satoshi Kojima
0 1 0 3 08/01/02 Hollywood Hulk Hogan v. Kurt Angle (SmackDown!)
Skipper v. Tony Marmaluke v. Kid Romeo (elim)
0 1 0 3 08/25/02 Kurt Angle v. Rey Mysterio
0 1 0 3 09/13/02 Buccanero & Guerrero v. Shocker & Vampiro
0 1 0 3 10/03/02 Kurt Angle v. Edge
0 0 1 2 11/27/01 Negro Casas & Mr. Aguila & Hombre Sin Nombre & Rey
Mysterio v. Damien 666 & Halloween & Averno
& Mephisto
0 0 1 2 12/03/01 Rock & Trish Status v. Kurt Angle & Vince
McMahon (RAW)
0 0 1 2 03/30/02 American Dragon v. Christopher Daniels (ROH)
0 0 1 2 05/06/02 Tiger Mask 4 v. Ikuto Hidaka
0 0 1 2 05/19/02 Eddie Guerrero (IC) v. Rob van Dam
0 0 1 2 05/31/02 Shocker & Mascara Magica v. Masada & Katsushi
Takemura
0 0 1 2 06/16/02 Ran Yuyu v. Azumi Hyuga (2/3)
0 0 1 2 06/23/02 Chris Jericho v. Rob van Dam (KotR semi)
0 0 1 2 06/29/02 Rob van Dam (IC) v. Eddie Guerrero (ladder MSG
house show)
0 0 1 2 07/27/02 Christopher Daniels v. Lo-Ki v. Spanky v. Doug
Williams (Iron Man, ROH title)
0 0 1 2 08/08/02 Yuji Nagata v. Osamu Nishimura
0 0 1 2 08/25/02 Chris Benoit v. Rob van Dam
0 0 1 2 08/30/02 Genichiro Tenryu v. Hiroshi Hase
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Match: The Edge/Eddy no-DQ match on Smackdown was
killer. KILLER, I say.
RINGMISTRESS: As difficult as HHH was this year, that match with HBK gave
me a reason not to give up on him just yet. Really!
KING OF KEITH: Match of the Year: Hogan/Rock at WM X8 This was such a
wonderful match, not only for all of us old Hulkamaniacs desperately
wanting the old man to win one last main event (so we thought), but for the
casual fans as well. Hogan stepped it up three notches and Rock was money
as usual. I still get chills thinking about how loudly the crowd cheered
when Hulk "hulked up".
DOUG CORTI: Dr. Wagner vs. Shocker was a clinic as to how to put on a
perfect lucha singles match. The first two falls focus on the destruction
of Shocker's leg, getting to the point where the desperation roll-up to
even the falls is perfectly believable. The break between the falls builds
into the psychology of Shocker recovering, and allowing him to break out
the spots, albeit slower than usual, as he continues to sell the injury and
fatigue up to the end. The November '01 match from Ultimo Guerrero/Rey
Bucanero vs. Negro Casas & El Hijo del Santo was the best tag match of the
many in the past year that involved Rey & Ultimo.
SYDNEYEIGHT: Triple H and HBK had maybe the worst possible build-up to
their SummerSlam match, but I have to say it was the only match I was on
the edge of my seat on this year. Edge and Guerrero put on the best free
match I saw this year, and the Rock / Hogan match was picked not because of
the in-ring action, but because of the simple aura. Hogan / Andre would
never be Match of the Year -worthy either, but it just had that FEEL to it,
and no other match did that for me this year.
DON L: This one was the hardest one of the bunch but I ended up voting for
the Smackdown tag titles finals and Edge v. Eddie Guerrero Smackdown match.
RICK SCAIA: I'm sure I'm in a small minority, but since I don't have
anything personal against Triple H, I think the hands-down Match of the
Year was HHH vs. Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. You can have all the
moonsaults and suplexes you want, but if a match doesn't FEEL big and
important, it's not gonna cut the mustard for me. HHH/HBK felt like a huge
deal, and on top of that, those two busted ass and had a very good match.
Was it the "best worked" match of the year? Probably not, but it was
easily the best worked Big Time Match of the year. [Note that I'm not even
considering Hogan/Rock from WM, which had even more Big Time feel, but was
really not that well executed, workrate-wise.] Despite an anti-climactic
finish, I thought Benoit v. Angle from Unforgiven was an amazingly unique
style of match, and was very entertaining. And at #3, I'm taking the
Edge/Eddie No DQ match from SmackDown! a couple months back; it's really a
crapshoot with all the great stuff SD! featured late in the year, but that
Edge/Eddie match gets the nod because it was really the stand-out match
that set the standard for later weeks' efforts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Feud
Award Description:
To be given to the feud that gave us the most heated and best wrestling
match(es) of the year. In 1994, this award was split into two: North
American and Non-North American. In 1996, due to lack of participation on
the non-NA side, it was recombined.
Previous Winners:
1990: Doom: Ron Simmons & Butch Reed vs. Horsemen: Arn Anderson & Barry
Windham
1991: Doom: Ron Simmons & Butch Reed vs. Steiners
1992: Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage
1993: Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack
1994: (NA) Cactus Jack & partner vs. Nasty Boys
1994: (non-NA) All Japan Women vs. JWP (& other outside women)
1995: (NA) Dean Malenko vs. Eddy Guerrero
1995: (non-NA) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota
1996: NWO vs. WCW
1997: Bret Hart / Hart Foundation vs. Steve Austin
1998: Mr. McMahon vs. Steve Austin
1999: Mankind vs. Rock
2000: Triple H vs. Mankind / Cactus Jack
2001: Rock vs. Chris Jericho
**2002**: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle
92 first place votes
87 second place votes
80 third place votes
31 7 9 194 Chris Benoit v. Kurt Angle
8 13 12 103 Edge v. Kurt Angle
10 10 3 86 Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle v. Eddie & Chavo Guerrero
8 3 7 63 Rock v. Hulk Hogan
6 6 4 56 AJ Styles v. Jerry Lynn
4 10 1 52 Rock v. Chris Jericho
4 5 4 43 Edge v. Eddie Guerrero
3 6 4 41 Rock v. Brock Lesnar
2 8 3 40 Rey Mysterio v. Kurt Angle
2 5 4 33 Eddie Guerrero v. Rob van Dam
4 0 5 30 Steve Austin v. Kurt Angle
2 2 5 26 Eric Bischoff v. Stephanie McMahon
2 0 0 10 Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero v. Negro Casas & Hijo del Santo
1 1 0 8 Team 2000 v. New Japan
1 1 0 8 Shawn Michaels v. Triple H
1 1 0 8 Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle v. Edge & Rey Mysterio
0 2 1 8 Undertaker v. Jeff Hardy
0 2 0 6 Booker T v. NWO
0 0 3 6 Torrie Wilson v. Dawn Marie
1 0 0 5 WMF v. Brand Double Cross
1 0 0 5 Ran Yuyu v. Azumi Hyuga
1 0 0 5 Chris Jericho v. Edge
0 1 1 5 Trish Stratus v. Jazz
0 0 2 4 Ric Flair v. Undertaker
0 1 0 3 WEW v. ZERO-ONE
0 1 0 3 Raven v. D'Lo Brown
0 1 0 3 Ran Yuyu v. Misae Genki
0 1 0 3 Hurricane v. Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 The Real FN World v. Bean's Brood
0 0 1 2 Tarzan Boy v. Shocker
0 0 1 2 Shocker v. Tarzan Boy
0 0 1 2 Ric Flair v. Vince McMahon
0 0 1 2 RAW v. SmackDown!
0 0 1 2 New Japan v. Pro-Wrestling NOAH
0 0 1 2 NWO v. Steve Austin & Rock
0 0 1 2 Manabu Nakanishi v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
0 0 1 2 Jeff Jarrett v. Ron Killings
0 0 1 2 Diamond Dallas Page v. Christian
0 0 1 2 Brock Lesnar v. Undertaker
REJECTED
0 0 1 Duplicated votes
PAUL ZOROVICH: Best Feud: Edge, Eddy, Benoit, Chavo, Angle. I'm getting
bored typing their names all the time!
DONNIE VOMIT: "I lost to a freakin' twelve-year-old!" Those words, from
the mouth of Kurt Angle four days following SummerSlam, set a precident for
matches between and involving the two men that were the highlight of a
desperately low period for WWE. Come to think of it, Rey-Rey is the only
signee that's really panned out for WWE this year.
DON L: Benoit/Angle v. Guerreros was my favourite feud they were just too
funny. I placed Trish v. Jazz 2nd just for the reason that they both seem
to elevate eachother and got the women division rolling.
RICK SCAIA: Again, Benoit and Angle were only hooked up with a few months
left in the voting year, but still somehow manage to stand out as the best.
Not only did their feud yield tremendous singles showdowns, but it also
played into their very entertaining work as a tag team. It's not a
dramatic death feud, but rather a simmering rivalry... and those of sitting
at home are the real winners. Angle also gets credit for the #3 feud of
the year, this time against Edge: not only did that feud propel Edge to
legit singles star status, but it also resulted in Angle's current hairless
look. Sandwiched in between Angle's two feud is AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn,
which pretty much represents the best, most lingering issue in NWA-TNA's X
Division; story -- and character-wise this may have been a bit thin at
times, but the focus was always on the X Title and the killer matches, so
that's more than forgiveable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the name athlete who was the worst overall wrestler in the
past year. Minimal technical ability, lousy interviews, non-existent
workrate, and the charisma of a rock should describe this person.
Previous Winners:
1990: Junkyard Dog
1991: Andre The Giant
1992: Nailz
1993: Giant Gonzalez
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: Hulk Hogan
1997: Hulk Hogan
1998: Hollywood Hogan
1999: Hulk Hogan
2000: Hulk Hogan
2001: Buff Bagwell
**2002**: Jackie Gayda
92 first place votes
91 second place votes
88 third place votes
24 8 10 164 Jackie Gayda
10 9 9 95 Big Show
8 11 10 93 Kevin Nash
12 3 7 83 Triple H
5 5 7 54 Buff Bagwell
5 6 4 51 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
4 7 3 47 Undertaker
2 5 6 37 Rikishi
3 2 6 33 Bradshaw
2 3 4 27 Scott Hall
1 6 2 27 Albert
3 1 2 22 Cheex
2 1 1 15 Syxx-Pac (X-Pac)
1 2 0 11 Jeff Hardy
1 0 2 9 Mark Henry
0 3 0 9 Maven
1 1 0 8 Faarooq
1 0 1 7 Test
0 1 2 7 Malice
0 1 2 7 Jamal
0 2 0 6 Rosey
0 2 0 6 Batista
1 0 0 5 Steve Williams
1 0 0 5 Rob van Dam
1 0 0 5 Negro Casas
1 0 0 5 Lita
1 0 0 5 Ian Myers
1 0 0 5 Gran Markus Jr.
1 0 0 5 Bulldog
0 1 1 5 Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
0 1 0 3 William Regal
0 1 0 3 Tadao Yasuda
0 1 0 3 Steve Austin
0 1 0 3 Ricky Marvin
0 1 0 3 Mike Rotundo
0 1 0 3 Mike Awesome
0 1 0 3 Matt Hardy
0 1 0 3 Godfather
0 1 0 3 Giant Singh
0 1 0 3 Genichiro Tenryu
0 1 0 3 Brock Lesnar
0 0 1 2 Shawn Michaels
0 0 1 2 Paul LeDuc
0 0 1 2 John Cena
0 0 1 2 Joanie Laurer
0 0 1 2 Ian Harrison
0 0 1 2 D-Von
0 0 1 2 Cedman
0 0 1 2 Brian Lawler
0 0 1 2 Billy Gunn
CHRIS BIRD: I would put Buff Bagwell in first, except that he has been
reduced to a pathetic shell. There is no need to vote Buff Bagwell first,
because God has taken care of him for us. Thus, Undertaker.
GREG PIZZO: Negro Casas has to be the worst wrestler I have ever seen.
He's not in any kind of shape and he can't wrestle either. Is he married
to someone that owns the company or something?
DON L: worst wrestler is Bradshaw, awful promos, awful wrestler, awful look
just well Awful. 2nd goes to Rikishi, everything about him annoys me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Tag Team
Award Description:
To be given to the name tag team who were the worst overall wrestlers in the
past year. Minimal technical ability, lousy interviews, non-existent
workrate, the charisma of a rock, and lousy team moves should describe this
pair.
Previous Winners:
1990: Rhythm & Blues: Greg Valentine & Honky Tonk Man
1991: The Patriots: Todd Champion & Firebreaker Chip
1992: Bushwhackers: Luke Williams & Butch Miller
1993: The Colossal Kongs: Awesome Kong & King Kong
1994: Bushwhackers: Luke Williams & Butch Miller
1995: Tekno Team 2000: Travis & Troy
1996: Godwinns: Henry O. & Phineas I.
1997: Godwinns: Henry O. & Phineas I.
1998: Diamond Dallas Page & Jay Leno
1999: Ministry of Darkness: Mideon & Viscera
2000: Harris Brothers: Big Ron & Heavy D
2001: Kronik: Brian Adams & Bryan Clarke
**2002**: Rosey & Jamal
86 first place votes
84 second place votes
79 third place votes
9 12 10 104 Rosey & Jamal
10 8 5 84 Billy & Chuck
10 4 6 74 Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert
6 8 9 72 Rico & Rikishi
10 2 5 66 Jackie Gayda & Christopher Nowinski
3 11 3 54 Reverend D-Von & Deacon Batista
5 4 6 49 Steve Austin & Bradshaw
5 4 3 43 NWO - Scott Hall & X-Pac
4 3 6 41 D-Von & Ron Simmons
3 5 2 34 Kane & Big Show
3 4 2 31 Johnsons - Richard & Rod
3 3 1 26 NWO - Scott Hall & Kevin Nash & Hollywood Hulk Hogan
3 2 2 25 Hardy Boyz - Matt & Jeff
2 1 2 17 Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley
1 2 2 15 APA - Bradshaw & Faarooq
2 1 0 13 Kronik - Brian Adams & Bryan Clarke
0 2 3 12 Dupps - Bo & Stan
0 1 3 9 Lance Storm & William Regal
1 1 0 8 Gran Markus Jr & Poder Boricua
1 0 1 7 Dudley Boyz - Bubba Ray & D-Von
0 1 2 7 Kane & Hurricane
1 0 0 5 Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo
1 0 0 5 Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka
1 0 0 5 Pierroth & Bulldog
1 0 0 5 Karnage & Juggernaut
1 0 0 5 Harris Brothers - Big Ron & Heavy D
0 1 1 5 Un-Americans - Lance Storm & Christian
0 1 1 5 Spike Dudley & Tazz
0 1 0 3 Team No Fear
0 1 0 3 Joanie Laurer & Great Muta
0 0 1 2 Keiji Muto & Road Warrior Animal
0 0 1 2 Jushin Liger & Jodie Fleisch
0 0 1 2 Hardcore Holly & Big Valbowski
REJECTED
0 1 1 Duplicated votes
PAUL ZOROVICH: Worst Tag Team: Jackie Gayda & Chris Nowinski, hands-down.
CHRIS BIRD: God, and here I thought I'd never get to vote Billy Gunn "Worst
Anything" ever again, but the WWF keeps trying to push him. Thank god for
that. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't get to see his crappy Jackhammer
once a month.
DOUG CORTI: I couldn't vote for "Any combination of Los Boricuas that
didn't include Violencia", so Gran Markus & Poder Boricua draw the short
straw here. Their skits were priceless, though.
DON L: Worst tag team, Oh those weeks with Austin/Bradshaw in main event
tags was just too brutal. For 2nd worst the team of Rico & Rikishi.
Sometimes the enemies forced to tag works, well one just failed really bad.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: They tried their best, but Albert and Scotty went
together like ice cream and garlic. Honorable mention to Rosey and Jamal
because after weeks and weeks of hype, they turned out to be not very good
actually.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Heel
Award Description:
To be given to the person whose casting as a bad guy just didn't work well.
Maybe there was just no heel heat drawn or maybe the fans actually cheered
this person, but for whatever reason the heel image just didn't get over.
Previous Winners:
1990: Rick Martel
1991: The Mountie Jacques Rougeau
1992: Razor Ramon
1993: Giant Gonzalez
1994: Bastion Booger
1995: Zodiac (The Butcher/Brutus Beefcake)
1996: Hulk Hogan
1997: Ahmed Johnson
1998: Hollywood Hogan
1999: Sting
2000: Goldberg
2001: Rob van Dam
**2002**: Triple H
86 first place votes
84 second place votes
79 third place votes
19 5 6 122 Triple H
12 10 6 102 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
8 8 7 78 Stephanie McMahon
7 1 7 52 Undertaker
3 7 7 50 Kevin Nash
4 3 5 39 D-Von
5 3 2 38 Billy Gunn
3 6 1 35 Syxx-Pac (X-Pac)
3 4 3 33 Justin Credible
1 6 1 25 Dawn Marie
1 4 4 25 Stacy Keibler
2 3 2 23 Crash
3 0 3 21 Eric Bischoff
2 3 0 19 Chuck Palumbo
1 3 2 18 Molly Holly
2 1 2 17 Ric Flair
0 5 1 17 Big Show
1 2 0 11 Brock Lesnar
1 0 3 11 Scott Hall
2 0 0 10 Shawn Michaels
2 0 0 10 Jackie Gayda
1 0 1 7 Rico
1 0 1 7 Kurt Angle
0 1 2 7 Raven
0 1 2 7 Jazz
0 0 3 6 Vince McMahon
1 0 0 5 Jamie Noble
1 0 0 5 Genichiro Tenryu
0 0 2 4 William Regal
0 1 0 3 Xavier
0 1 0 3 Steve Austin
0 1 0 3 Ron Killings
0 1 0 3 Lance Storm
0 1 0 3 Ian Myers
0 1 0 3 Chris Jericho
0 1 0 3 Brian Lawler
0 0 1 2 Ron Simmons
0 0 1 2 Mascara Magica
0 0 1 2 Hardcore Holly
0 0 1 2 Booker T
0 0 1 2 Albert
REJECTED
0 1 0 Chuck & Billy
0 0 1 Un-Americans
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Worst Heel. I can't believe they tried to get Dawn
Marie and Eric Bischoff over as heels.
RINGMISTRESS: Steph really made me want to smash my TV. I can remember
when she was more entertaining. This year, she was just... there, here,
and EVERYWHERE!
DON L: Triple H, He gets pushed as a #1 heel but gets cheered and splits
the crowd and makes his opponent less over, Sorry that makes you a lame
heel in my books. 2nd goes to Stacy, she's god RVD syndrome, she can't get
booed (lol).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Babyface
Award Description:
To be given to the person whose casting as a good guy just didn't work well.
Maybe there was just no face heat drawn or maybe the fans actually booed
this person, but for whatever reason the face image just didn't get over.
Previous Winners:
1990: Dusty Rhodes
1991: P.N. News
1992: Sid Justice
1993: Lex Luger
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: John Tenta
1997: Rocky Maivia
1998: Warrior
1999: Hulk Hogan
2000: Hulk Hogan
2001: "The One" Billy Gunn
**2002**: Triple H
89 first place votes
85 second place votes
77 third place votes
32 10 10 210 Triple H
12 11 6 105 Stephanie McMahon
10 8 7 88 Randy Orton
9 5 13 86 Big Show
3 14 10 77 John Cena
5 5 6 52 Rikishi
2 8 1 36 Undertaker
1 6 1 25 Chuck Palumbo
3 1 3 24 Billy Gunn
2 0 3 16 Big Valbowski
1 3 1 16 Bubba Ray Dudley
1 2 1 13 Torrie Wilson
0 1 3 9 Jeff Hardy
1 1 0 8 Mark Henry
1 1 0 8 Bradshaw
1 0 1 7 Ric Flair
1 0 0 5 Kane
1 0 0 5 Jushin Liger
1 0 0 5 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
1 0 0 5 Edge
1 0 0 5 Buff Bagwell
0 1 1 5 Shawn Michaels
0 1 1 5 Jacqueline
0 1 1 5 Albert
0 1 0 3 Steve Austin
0 1 0 3 Rock
0 1 0 3 Masato Tanaka
0 1 0 3 La Parka Jr.
0 1 0 3 B.G. James
0 0 1 2 Shinjiro Otani
0 0 1 2 Rob van Dam
0 0 1 2 Matt Hardy
0 0 1 2 Don Harris
0 0 1 2 Cheex
0 0 1 2 Booker T
0 0 1 2 Billy Kidman
0 0 1 2 Batista
REJECTED
0 1 0 Billy & Chuck
PAUL ZOROVICH: Worst Babyface: Billy 'n' Chuck get it this time out
because after the "wedding" fiasco nobody in their right mind would have
cheered for them. And who the hell cares about Randy Orton, anyway?
SYDNEYEIGHT: Stephanie McMahon may be the worst face ever. The only thing
she does differently now is that she lowers her voice. What possible
motivation do I have to like her? At least Shane was smart enough to know
when his moment was up.
DON L: Triple H gets this one as well, The first 6 months he's pushed to
the moon as superman babyface, just to fail and go back to being his tired
old heel self. Orton and Cena gets 2 and 3 because they had no personality
as faces.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Worker
Award Description:
To be given to the name wrestler whose workrate is so low it's barely
measureable.
Previous Winners:
1990: Junkyard Dog
1991: Andre The Giant
1992: Nailz
1993: Giant Gonzalez
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: Hulk Hogan
1997: Hulk Hogan
1998: Hollywood Hogan
1999: Hulk Hogan
2000: Kevin Nash
2001: Buff Bagwell
**2002**: Jackie Gayda
91 first place votes
88 second place votes
82 third place votes
18 12 9 144 Jackie Gayda
15 15 9 138 Big Show
12 11 9 111 Kevin Nash
10 9 5 87 Triple H
4 5 5 45 Buff Bagwell
5 3 4 42 Undertaker
5 4 2 41 Jamal
1 6 3 29 Rosey
3 1 2 22 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
2 1 4 21 Syxx-Pac (X-Pac)
3 0 2 19 Cheex
2 1 3 19 Mark Henry
1 3 2 18 Rikishi
1 2 3 17 Scott Hall
1 3 1 16 Linda Miles
0 3 2 13 Jeff Hardy
1 1 1 10 Rob van Dam
1 1 0 8 Rayo de Jalisco Jr
1 0 1 7 Steve Williams
0 2 0 6 Mike Awesome
0 0 3 6 Test
0 0 3 6 Albert
1 0 0 5 Lita
1 0 0 5 Gran Markus Jr
1 0 0 5 Edge
1 0 0 5 Bulldog
1 0 0 5 Bubba Ray Dudley
0 1 1 5 Torrie Wilson
0 1 1 5 Pierroth
0 1 0 3 Stacy Kiebler
0 1 0 3 Mike Rotundo
0 1 0 3 Giant Singh
0 0 1 2 Stephanie McMahon
0 0 1 2 Maven
0 0 1 2 Kane
0 0 1 2 Hardcore Holly
0 0 1 2 Godfather
0 0 1 2 Cedman
0 0 1 2 B.G. James
DON DEL GRANDE:There was a slight delay deciding between #2 and #3 while I
went looking for a coin - have you considered allowing ties?
PAUL ZOROVICH: Worst Worker: Jackie Gayda & Linda Miles by several
lengths. OVW is too good for them. Nash's workrate improved immensely
when he blew out his quad.
CHRIS BIRD: The initial Randy Orton push was an embarrassment along the
lines of Rocky Maivea, back in the day. It's good to see they've regained
some of their senses and started using the crowd's sheer hatred for this
competely useless schmoe to their advantage. Of course, this means next
year he'll be shoved down our throats all over again.
GREG PIZZO: Rosey? Jamal? I don't know which is which, but I know they
both stink.
DONNIE VOMIT: Holy crap! Jackie Gayda is the worst wrestler I've ever seen,
and I've watched a G.I. Joe and a plush rhinoceros go at it.
DON L: Jamal-Rosie, Rosie-Jamal whoever is who they get 1 and 2, What a
disappointment. Kevin Nash gets the third spot because you need to be able
to kick without tearing your body apart
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Least Favourite Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler you like the least, regardless of the reason.
Previous Winners:
1991: Hulk Hogan
1992: Hulk Hogan
1993: Hulk Hogan
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: Hulk Hogan
1997: Hulk Hogan
1998: Hollywood Hogan
1999: Hulk Hogan
2000: Hulk Hogan
2001: Buff Bagwell
**2002**: Triple H
91 first place votes
88 second place votes
86 third place votes
30 6 3 174 Triple H
9 11 7 92 Rikishi
8 5 3 61 Bradshaw
2 6 10 48 Mark Henry
4 6 3 44 Undertaker
4 3 3 35 Kevin Nash
3 5 1 32 Billy Gunn
1 7 3 32 Big Show
1 5 5 30 Albert
4 0 3 26 Jeff Hardy
0 8 1 26 Buff Bagwell
3 2 2 25 Rico
3 1 0 18 Rayo de Jalisco Jr
1 0 5 15 Jackie Gayda
2 0 1 12 Lita
1 1 2 12 Brian Lawler
0 2 3 12 Kane
1 2 0 11 D'Lo Brown
1 0 3 11 Test
2 0 0 10 Jazz
2 0 0 10 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
1 1 1 10 X-Pac
1 1 1 10 Chuck Palumbo
1 1 0 8 Steve Williams
1 0 1 7 William Regal
1 0 1 7 Raven
1 0 1 7 Edge
0 1 2 7 Linda Miles
0 2 0 6 Jamal
0 0 3 6 Steve Austin
1 0 0 5 Rosey
1 0 0 5 Rock
1 0 0 5 Keiji Muto
0 1 1 5 Trish Stratus
0 1 1 5 Scott Hall
0 1 1 5 Jeff Jarrett
0 1 1 5 Chris Jericho
0 1 1 5 Bubba Ray Dudley
0 1 1 5 Brock Lesnar
0 0 2 4 Shawn Michaels
0 0 2 4 Rob van Dam
0 0 2 4 D-Von
0 1 0 3 Spike Dudley
0 1 0 3 Negro Casas
0 1 0 3 Matt Hardy
0 1 0 3 Lance Storm
0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 Batista
0 0 1 2 Tamon Honda
0 0 1 2 Shawn Stasiak
0 0 1 2 Pierroth
0 0 1 2 Hardcore Holly
0 0 1 2 Bull Buchanan
0 0 1 2 Booker T
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Least Favourite Wrestler. No one will be surprised
that Taker & Bradshaw were my easy first two picks. There were a bunch
that I wanted to put at #3, so I ended up flipping a coin and went with
Rikishi.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Least Favourite Wrestler: Billy Gunn is here without Chuck
Palumbo because, well, Chuck has potential. Billy elicits absolutely
nothing from me at all. Albert & Mark Henry I can't bring myself to care
about either.
DONNIE VOMIT: Oh Triple H, how I despise thee. Seriously, this fuckhead is
just begging for the Bradshaw treatment.
JOSEPH HOFFMAN: Where's Regal? Where's Nowinski? DAMN!!
DON L: Rikishi makes me embarassed as a wrestling fan everytime I see him
on TV. Bradshaw gets 2 because I just can't stand the idiot. 3rd is hard
because like there's a lot of favs there's a few guys I can't stand but HHH
gets it for quantity of time he's on my TV.
THE CUBS FAN: The thing is, Rayo, if forced to by punishment of death or
something, Rayo Jalisco Jr. could probably work decently. But everyone
match is the same stupid comedy spots, over and over until, in a dramatic
Twist of Fate, you hope to die. At least Porky switches up the silly stuff
- I bet if I went into a coma for ten years and woke up to watch CMLL
(surely the first thing I'd do), some rudo would still be throwing
themselves out of the ring due to Rayo's fake. I dislike Negro Casas - I
think it's actually boarding on "detest" - but I think I've forgetten why.
I guess I won't let reason stand in the way.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Deteriorated Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the person whose skill has deteriorated the most over the
past year. This person should be a shadow of his/her former self.
Previous Winners:
1990: Dusty Rhodes
1991: Hulk Hogan
1992: Hulk Hogan
1993: Hulk Hogan
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: Hulk Hogan
1997: Roddy Piper
1998: British Bulldog
1999: Hulk Hogan
2000: Undertaker
2001: Undertaker
**2002**: Triple H
89 first place votes
86 second place votes
83 third place votes
29 12 3 185 Triple H
12 13 14 127 Ric Flair
11 5 11 92 Kevin Nash
5 8 8 65 Jeff Hardy
6 4 9 60 Curt Hennig
4 10 2 54 Undertaker
4 3 6 41 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
3 6 3 39 Scott Hall
2 2 4 24 Mike Awesome
1 4 3 23 Big Show
4 0 1 22 Juventud Guerrera
1 1 3 14 Raven
0 3 2 13 Rikishi
0 1 4 11 Rob van Dam
2 0 0 10 Brian Lawler
0 3 0 9 Tazz
0 3 0 9 Buff Bagwell
1 1 0 8 Hurricane
0 2 1 8 Sabu
1 0 1 7 Steve Austin
0 2 0 6 D-Von
1 0 0 5 Spike Dudley
1 0 0 5 Keiji Muto
1 0 0 5 Jushin Liger
0 1 1 5 Syxx-Pac
0 1 0 3 Toshiaki Kawada
0 1 0 3 Steve Williams
0 0 1 2 Tajiri
0 0 1 2 Rey Mysterio
0 0 1 2 Magnum TOKYO
0 0 1 2 Lenny Lane
0 0 1 2 Chris Benoit
0 0 1 2 Bubba Ray Dudley
0 0 1 2 Atlantis
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Most Deteriorated Wrestler. This is usually the
most interesting category (along with "most disappointing news item) since
it shows who *used* to be good that has really slid downhill. People keep
voting Hulk here, but to deteriorate you're saying that he was any better
last year. My top vote went to Hurricane. He used to be one of the best
guys in the business. Now they've pretty much grounded him and his
finisher is a freakin' chokeslam. My second vote goes to Triple H.
Before his quad injury, he was actually able to carry quite a few people to
very good PPV main events. Since coming back, it takes a pretty good
worker to carry HHH to a good match. My final vote goes to Lenny Lane.
This guy used to have the most awesome suicidal moves over the top rope.
Now the only memorable matches he has are when he juices.
BEANFRIEDPORK: Over the years Ric Flair has certainly deteriorated quite a
bit, but since this category only specifies over the last year I really
don't see muh change in him between now 2001, and consequently didn't vote
for him.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Most Deteriorated Wrestler: Scott Hall wasn't ever a GREAT
wrestler, but he was a shadow of his former self when he came back to WWE
this year. Undertaker continued on his downward slide as well. It hurts
to include Flair here, since I think he's got one more great match in him,
but frankly it pains me to watch him now.
RINGMISTRESS: Ric was God, and it pained me to see him like this.
CHRIS BIRD: I see Kevin Nash has gone from "can barely walk" to "can't
walk, period." Which is truly impressive. And what is up with Raven? The
man is a shell of his former self, and that's before we take his awful
dreads into account.
DOUG CORTI: As a wrestler, Juventud Guerrera spent most of the year trying
his sports entertaiment schtick out in CMLL. He had a few nice moments, and
he's better than many, but the difference between his work at his prime and
his work now is drastic, and sad to see.
JOSEPH HOFFMAN: Big Show NEVER had any talent.
DON L: Triple H is a shell of his former self since coming back from his
injury in January. I liked Jeff Hardy but he's really been bad this year
missing spots. 3rd Nash well he's always been bad but atleast he was able
to move limbs without tearing them up.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: ... right, right, boot choke, frame, elbow, crotch chop,
SNAP, collapse to mat ...
THE CUBS FAN: I didn't remember Juvi being this far gone at the end of his
WCW stint - but maybe so many were that way? Anyhow, even though he will
turn it on when he's facing really good people, you've never seen someone
more obviously not care any more than the younger Guerrera. More power to
you if you can live off your name and your rep, but I don't want to see you
on my TV. Juvi's case is worse than Triple H, because outside of that one
year pre-injury and a few spodaric occasions, he wasn't ever better than
good. Juvi was Great, and while years of living The Life of a Wrestler will
understandable hurt your ability to keep being Great, it's also seemingly
killed his drive to even try to be good, which is all kinds of depressing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Underrated Wrestler
Award Description:
To be given to the person whose ability merits a far greater push than the
person receives. There may be many such people, but the winner of this award
should have the most ability with least push.
Previous Winners:
1990: Terry Taylor
1991: Cactus Jack Manson
1992: Owen Hart
1993: Chris Benoit
1994: 1-2-3 Kid
1995: Barry Horowitz
1996: Owen Hart
1997: Chris Benoit
1998: Chris Benoit
1999: D'Lo Brown
2000: Al Snow
2001: Lance Storm
**2002**: D'Lo Brown
90 first place votes
87 second place votes
80 third place votes
7 7 4 64 D'Lo Brown
9 1 3 54 Hurricane
8 2 4 54 Raven
4 6 8 54 Tajiri
8 2 3 52 Christian
5 5 6 52 Goldust
4 4 8 48 Billy Kidman
3 6 7 47 Matt Hardy
3 5 2 34 Chavo Guerrero
1 4 6 29 Rico
3 3 1 26 Jamie Noble
3 2 1 23 Jerry Lynn
3 2 1 23 Funaki
1 4 3 23 Mike Awesome
2 3 1 21 John Cena
2 2 2 20 Lance Storm
3 0 1 17 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
2 1 2 17 Booker T
2 2 0 16 Hiroyoshi Tenzan
1 2 2 15 Edge
2 1 0 13 AJ Styles
1 2 0 11 Crash
0 3 1 11 Jeff Jarrett
1 1 0 8 Jacqueline
1 1 0 8 Elix Skipper
1 1 0 8 Chris Benoit
0 2 0 6 Ron Killings
0 0 3 6 Ivory
1 0 0 5 Slim J
1 0 0 5 Rock
1 0 0 5 Rob van Dam
1 0 0 5 Maven
1 0 0 5 Johnny Devine
1 0 0 5 Hombre Sin Nombre
1 0 0 5 Happy Ikeda
1 0 0 5 Eddie Guerrero
1 0 0 5 Christopher Nowinski
1 0 0 5 Big Valbowski
0 1 1 5 Scott Hall
0 1 1 5 Chuck Palumbo
0 1 1 5 Amazing Red
0 1 0 3 William Regal
0 1 0 3 Tsubo Genjin
0 1 0 3 Shannon Moore
0 1 0 3 Ricky Marvin
0 1 0 3 Molly Holly
0 1 0 3 Manabu Nakanishi
0 1 0 3 Justin Credible
0 1 0 3 Hardcore Holly
0 1 0 3 Austin Aries
0 1 0 3 Albert
0 0 1 2 Yutaka Yoshie
0 0 1 2 Tony Rivera
0 0 1 2 Tommy Dreamer
0 0 1 2 Taiyo Kea
0 0 1 2 Syxx-Pac
0 0 1 2 Stoker Ishikawa
0 0 1 2 Linda Miles
0 0 1 2 Kurt Angle
PAUL ZOROVICH: Most Underrated Wrestler: I don't know what it is about
John Cena, but I think he's better than he's shown. I *know* Kidman is.
CHRIS BIRD: I will continue to vote D-Lo Brown for this award until they
finally start pushing him again, dammit.
SYDNEYEIGHT: What pisses me off is Tajiri got a surprisingly good reaction
when he started last year, and he really could have gone somewhere, but oh
no, God forbid they push a small man (Mysterio the exception). I wonder
why D'Lo even stays employed when they've kept him in the doghouse for over
three years now.
GREG PIZZO: D'Lo and Chavo get no love. They are truly excellent wrestlers
if allowed to show their wares.
DON L: Err Raven stuck on Heat. 2nd goes to Matt Hardy a guy who I'd never
consider putting on this list until Mattitude hit and opened my eyes on how
cool Matt is. Now that he's interesting Use Him! Ivory gets 3rd, she should
be a solid heel player in the women division.
GUERRERO RULES: Funaki has been vastly underrated by WWE. He is followed by
Shannon Moore and Tajiri, who have been underrated as well.
THE CUBS FAN: Matt Hardy had not much reason to get any better - they
really didn't care all that much about him and it showed - but he took the
Heat matches and turned them into a chance to solidfy a WWE-style singles
offense. A half dozen signature moves later (enough to take the 2nd Rope
Legdrop out of rotation, even!), he actually gets that chance and makes the
most of it - yet, I still don't know if they think of him as more than a
solid undercard guy. I guess what I'm saying is "he's underrated because
he's not far from being a semi-main guy" and you're saying "you're insane"
and can't we both be right?
RICK SCAIA: Raven can talk circles around anybody, and when called upon, is
very good in the ring. So why is he dopping "Loser can't appear on RAW
ever again" matches and even getting lost in the shuffle on Heat? I can't
explain, either... but for the most part, my thinking is "If you've got a
job with WWE, then you don't have room to complain." So my next two
choices in this category are from TNA. First, AJ Styles gets credit mostly
for his amazing ring work; I've seen him twice, and there's no doubt the
Fed was on to something when they briefly considered signing him back in
the middle of the year. And second, I want to bring up a name that some of
you may have forgotten: Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett, if political differences
could be put aside, would definitely be a killer main event heel for WWE.
Instead, he's the franchise for TNA, where 95% of all fans will never see
him work a single match.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Wrestling Gimmick
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who had the worst character gimmick in the past
year.
Previous Winners:
1991: Mike Rotundo as Irwin R. Shyster
1992: Papa Shango's voodoo
1993: Doink the Clown
1994: Doink the Clown
1995: Dungeon of Doom
1996: The Leprechaun
1997: Glacier / Blood Runs Cold
1998: Warrior appears in "strange mist" / forms One Warrior Nation
1999: Beaver Cleavage (Chaz)
2000: That 70's Guy / Not a Mullet / Fat Chick Thriller / Career Killer
Mike Awesome
2001: Diamond Dallas Page as Sara's Stalker
**2002**: WWE's necrophilia
(In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have allowed this nomination here,
since the description clearly specifies a *character* gimmick - oh well
- CRZ)
89 first place votes
85 second place votes
85 third place votes
29 8 8 185 WWE's necrophilia
10 11 11 105 Chris Jericho as Stephanie McMahon's lapdog
2 8 10 54 Tommy Dreamer eats weird things
3 7 5 46 Molly Holly as a fatass prude
6 2 4 44 Billy & Chuck's marriage
3 5 6 42 Johnsons as wrestling penises
3 4 4 35 Reverend D-Von
5 1 2 32 Un-Americans carrying upside down American flag
3 2 2 25 Bradshaw as a patriotic American
0 5 5 25 Stephanie McMahon as a babyface owner
2 3 2 23 Rikishi
4 0 0 20 Dupps / Dupp Cup
3 0 0 15 Triple H as returning super-face
1 2 2 15 Rosey & Jamal summoned by Bischoff saying "Three Minutes"
0 3 2 13 NWO
0 2 3 12 Kane trying to be funny
2 0 0 10 Vince McMahon as a ladies' man
2 0 0 10 Jeff Hardy's body paint
1 1 0 8 John Cena as spunky new guy wearing home team tights
0 2 1 8 Rico as a stylist
0 2 1 8 Rey Mysterio fighting non-cruiserweights
1 0 1 7 Hulkamania reborn
1 0 1 7 Bret Hart, WWA Commissioner
0 1 2 7 Triple H as unstoppable heel champion
0 2 0 6 Undertaker as badass biker
1 0 0 5 Puppet brings a gun to the ring
1 0 0 5 Minoru Tanaka as Heat
1 0 0 5 Gronda
1 0 0 5 Chocoball Mukai
1 0 0 5 Allan Funk as "The Funkster"
1 0 0 5 Albert as the Hip Hop Hippo
0 1 1 5 Trish Stratus as a hottie
0 1 1 5 Torrie Wilson sucks lollipops
0 1 1 5 Christopher Nowinski, Harvard graduate
0 1 1 5 Christian throws temper tantrums
0 1 0 3 Triple H as dog lover
0 1 0 3 Stephanie McMahon as Mrs. Game
0 1 0 3 Shinjuku Shark
0 1 0 3 Shawn Micheals as Christian Cowboy
0 1 0 3 Jamie Noble, West Virginian Redneck
0 1 0 3 Goldust
0 1 0 3 Disco Inferno's "Jive Talkin"
0 1 0 3 Chuky
0 1 0 3 Bubba Ray Dudley's Dusty impersonation
0 1 0 3 Bruce wins Miss TNA
0 0 1 2 WWE's brand extension general managers
0 0 1 2 Spike Dudley as tough little bastard
0 0 1 2 Sandman
0 0 1 2 Randy Orton as a blue-chipper
0 0 1 2 Mark Henry, World's Strongest Man
0 0 1 2 Los Talibanes
0 0 1 2 Kobain loves suicide
0 0 1 2 Jackie Gayda as a professional wrestler
0 0 1 2 April, Brian Lawler's cheating nympho girlfriend
REJECTED
2 0 0 "Tie" votes
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Worst Wrestling Gimmick. This was hard to narrow
down to three. First I narrowed it down to about ten. I eventually went
with Bradshaw as a patriotic American, Rey Mysterio fighting
non-cruiserweights, Trish Stratus as a hottie.
BEANFRIEDPORK: As a cultural note, though I haven't seen Ms. Laurer's work
in Japan, it should be noted that the Japanese use of the word "Queen" is
probably meant to mean "Dominatrix."
DON DEL GRANDE:RAW is trying to "reinvent itself", so why does it try to
change pretty much everything EXCEPT tired gimmicks like Goldust? As for
Billy & Chuck, the overall gimmick rates my #1 vote, but I think the
wedding is more of an angle than a gimmick - however, "wedding" was in the
list of nominees, and I didn't feel like causing a vote split.
RINGMISTRESS: If I even had a body like Molly's I wouldn't complain! Way
to make us normal women feel special, Vince!
CHRIS BIRD: You may have repressed it from memory, but apparently someone
thought Christian spazzing out like a freak in the middle of the ring was
supposed to make people hate him.
DOUG CORTI: Gronda. Chuky. There must be some good 'shrooms that gets
passed around during the AAA booking sessions. Even WCW had enough sense
not to put Chucky in the ring. When a guy with an ice cream cone growing
out of the side of his mask doesn't make the list, that says something.
DONNIE VOMIT: Vince McMahon as the ladies man was gross, and if I was
Kidman and\or Test\David Flair, I would've been pretty pissed off watching
my girl defiled by the melty-faced boss. My theory is that Vince's ego
took a big hit with the disasterous failures of his outside ventures, so he
had to recoup his losses by burying some of his personalities in his
browneye.
DON L: Rikishi fat ass gimmick is making me sick, that's the worst gimmick.
Torrie Wilson is just some girl who sucks lollipops, pretty lame and it
gets 2nd worse. UnAmericans seemed like a tired used up gimmick and it got
3rd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Wrestling Move
Award Description:
To be given to the move that is the worst thing you've seen this year. This
shouldn't be given to a move that was flubbed by a wrestler - the move was
performed correctly, but was just too stupid for words. This move should
probably be a "finishing" move or something that was meant to be
spectacular.
Previous Winners:
1990: Hulk Hogan's leg drop
1991: Hulk Hogan's leg drop
1992: Crush's Compactor head-vise
1993: Crush's Compactor head-vise
1994: Hulk Hogan's leg drop
1995: Hulk Hogan's leg drop
1996: Hacksaw Jim Duggan's taped fist
1997: Hulk Hogan's leg drop
1998: Hollywood Hogan's legdrop
1999: Hulk Hogan's legdrop
2000: Scotty 2 Hotty's Worm chop
2001: Chyna's handspring elbow
**2002**: Riksihi's stinkface
87 first place votes
83 second place votes
77 third place votes
21 17 12 180 Rikishi's stinkface
18 9 6 129 Triple H's sleeper
8 11 5 83 Hollywood Hulk Hogan's legdrop
3 6 7 47 Lita's Litacanrana
6 3 1 41 Rock's People's Elbow elbowdrop
4 3 4 37 Rob van Dam's forearms
1 6 4 31 X-Pac's X-Factor faceplant
4 2 1 28 Triple H's Pedigree double underhook piledriver
2 2 6 28 Bradshaw's Clothesline from Hell lariat
2 2 6 28 Billy Gunn's Fame-asser legdrop DDT
0 3 3 15 Test's Big Boot kick
0 3 3 15 Big Show's chokeslam
1 3 0 14 Undertaker's Old School ropewalk attack
1 0 4 13 X-Pac's bronco buster
2 0 1 12 Jamal's superkick
2 0 0 10 Chris Jericho's Lionsault quebrada
1 1 0 8 AJ Styles' Spiral Tap top rope corkscrew legdrop
1 0 1 7 Undertaker's Last Ride powerbomb
0 2 0 6 Rob van Dam's Van Daminator kick to chair
0 2 0 6 Bubba Ray Dudley's Bubba Bomb
1 0 0 5 Sanshiro Takagi's Stunner
1 0 0 5 Rikishi's press to samoan drop
1 0 0 5 Randy Orton's O-Zone
1 0 0 5 Matt Hardy's Twist of Fate neckbreaker
1 0 0 5 Lita's moonsault
1 0 0 5 Keiji Muto's Shining Wizard knee
1 0 0 5 John Cena's slap
1 0 0 5 Hardcore Holly's falcon arrow
1 0 0 5 Chris Jericho's bulldog
1 0 0 5 Al Snow's missing chair kick busting Nowinski open(?)
0 1 1 5 William Regal's Power of the Punch left
0 1 0 3 Trish Stratus' Stratusphere
0 1 0 3 Trish Stratus' Stratusfaction bulldog off ropes
0 1 0 3 Spike Dudley's Bulldog
0 1 0 3 John Cena's Oklahoma roll
0 1 0 3 Jeff Jarrett's Stroke forward legsweep
0 1 0 3 Edge's Edgecution DDT
0 1 0 3 Buh Buh Ray Dudley's Bionic elbow
0 0 1 2 Triple H's sledgehammer shot
0 0 1 2 Torrie Wilson's handspring elbow
0 0 1 2 Rob van Dam's kicks
0 0 1 2 Ric Flair's top rope double axehandle
0 0 1 2 Rayo de Jalisco Jr's repeated headbutts
0 0 1 2 Randy Orton's armbar suplex
0 0 1 2 Mark Henry's bearhug
0 0 1 2 Kevin Nash's big boot
0 0 1 2 Kane's chokeslam
0 0 1 2 John Cena's powerbomb
0 0 1 2 Jeff's Hardy's swantonbomb
0 0 1 2 Brock Lesnar's bearhug
DOUG CORTI: You could have Vegas odds on whether or not Lita would hit her
moonsault properly.
GREG PIZZO: Has Jericho's Lionsault ever hit anybody?
DON L: worst finisher is the stinkface, How do you explain Rikishi's
stinkface to a friend who's not into wrestling when they see it. HHH
sleepers not only put his opponents to sleep but me as well and gets 2nd.
The Litacarana is scary in gets 3nd
SEAN SANCHEZ: Triple H's sleeper was appropriate for him, I suppose, since
he is the master of putting audiences to sleep.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: I like Edge, but the Edgecution is a terrible move --
both its name and the way it looks. A finisher should make you go "Whoa, he
just killed him!", not "Huh? What was that? Where'd that come from?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Match
Award Description:
To be given to the worst wrestling match you've seen this year, either live,
on TV, PPV, or in an arena, or on tape. If it took place in the past year,
it is eligible.
Previous Winners:
1990: 06/13/90: Ric Flair vs. Junkyard Dog (CoC XI)
1991: 05/19/91: El Gigante vs. Sid Vicious (SuperBrawl)
1992: 01/18/92: Beverly Brothers vs. Bushwhackers (Royal Rumble)
1993: 04/04/93: Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna (WrestleMania IX)
1994: 09/18/94: Jim Duggan vs. Steve Austin (Fall Brawl)
1995: 03/19/95: Hulk Hogan vs. Vader (Uncensored)
1996: 03/24/96: Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson &
Lex Luger & Kevin Sullivan & Meng & Barbarian & Ze Gangsta
& Ultimate Solution (Uncensored)
1997: 10/26/97: Hulk Hogan vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper (cage) (Halloween Havoc)
1998: 10/25/98: Hollywood Hogan vs. Warrior (Halloween Havoc)
1999: 09/26/99: Al Snow vs. Big Boss Man (Kennel from Hell) (Unforgiven)
2000: 06/25/00: Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco (hardcore evening gown)
2001: 07/02/01: Booker T (WCW) vs. Buff Bagwell (RAW)
**2002**: 07/08/02: Jackie Gayda & Christopher Nowinski vs. Trish Stratus
& Bradshaw (mixed tag RAW)
84 first place votes
78 second place votes
71 third place votes
35 9 4 210 07/08/02 Jackie Gayda & Christopher Nowinski v. Trish
Stratus & Bradshaw (mixed tag RAW)
10 6 6 80 06/24/02 Trish Stratus & Linda Miles v. Molly Holly &
Jackie Gayda (RAW)
6 10 4 68 06/23/02 Undertaker (Un.) v. Triple H
3 8 8 55 05/19/02 Hulk Hogan (Un.) v. Undertaker
4 5 4 43 06/10/02 Vince McMahon v. Ric Flair (Winner Takes All RAW)
2 3 6 31 04/21/02 Triple H (Un.) v. Hulk Hogan
3 4 1 29 08/07/02 Ed Ferrara v. Dupps (Dupp Cup)
3 3 2 28 10/20/02 Triple H (World) v. Kane (IC)
2 2 4 24 08/26/02 Triple H v. Undertaker (RAW)
2 2 3 22 04/21/02 Undertaker v. Steve Austin (#1)
1 2 1 13 12/09/01 Dudley Boyz (tag) v. Kane & Big Show
1 2 1 13 01/20/02 Ric Flair v. Vince McMahon (street fight)
1 2 1 13 08/14/02 TEO v. Dupps (Dupp Cup)
0 0 6 12 09/09/02 Triple H v. Spike Dudley (RAW)
1 2 0 11 10/07/02 Booker T v. Big Show (cage RAW)
0 1 4 11 04/21/02 Scott Hall v. Bradshaw
2 0 0 10 08/30/02 Kronik v. Mike Barton & Jungle Jim Steele
0 2 2 10 03/18/02 Scott Hall & Kevin Nash v. Rock & Hulk Hogan (RAW)
0 3 0 9 03/17/02 Chris Jericho (Un.) v. Triple H
1 0 1 7 09/02/02 Trish Stratus & Bubba Ray Dudley v. Christopher
Nowinski & Molly Holly (tables RAW)
1 0 1 7 05/13/02 Brock Lesnar v. Hardy Boyz (RAW)
1 0 0 5 09/22/02 Triple H (World) v. Rob van Dam
1 0 0 5 08/26/02 Howard Finkel v. Lillian Garcia
1 0 0 5 08/25/02 Triple H v. Shawn Michaels
1 0 0 5 04/13/02 Brian Christopher & Ernest Miller v. Buff Bagwell
& Stevie Ray
1 0 0 5 01/20/02 Thirty man Royal Rumble
1 0 0 5 01/20/02 Spike & Tazz (tag) v. Test & Booker T
0 1 1 5 07/08/02 Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit & X-Pac & Scott Hall
& Kevin Nash v. Rob van Dam & Bubba Ray & Spike
Dudley & Goldust & Booker T (RAW)
0 1 1 5 06/26/02 Frank Parker v. Cheex
0 0 2 4 10/20/02 Dawn Marie v. Torrie Wilson
0 1 0 3 10/04/02 Ian Myers v. Jack Evans (Stampede)
0 1 0 3 09/23/02 Randy Orton v. Steven Richards (RAW)
0 1 0 3 08/30/02 Bill Goldberg v. Satoshi Kojima
0 1 0 3 08/28/02 Bruce (Miss TNA) v. April Hunter
0 1 0 3 07/11/02 Reverend D-Von & Batista v. Mark Henry & Randy
Orton (SmackDown!)
0 1 0 3 03/17/02 Steve Austin v. Scott Hall
0 1 0 3 03/17/02 Hulk Hogan v. Rock
0 1 0 3 03/17/02 Gran Markus Jr. v. Veneno
0 1 0 3 03/17/02 Billy & Chuck (tag) v. Dudley Boyz v. Hardy Boyz
v. APA (elim)
0 1 0 3 01/20/02 Rock v. Undertaker
0 0 1 2 10/07/02 Kane & Hurricane (tag) v. Jeff Hardy & Rob van Dam
v. Bubba Ray & Spike Dudley Christian & Chris
Jericho (TLC RAW)
0 0 1 2 08/04/02 Brock Lesnar v. Hollywood Hulk Hogan (SmackDown!)
0 0 1 2 06/24/02 Tommy Dreamer v. Raven (loser leaves RAW)
0 0 1 2 05/19/02 Rico & Rikishi v. Billy & Chuck (tag)
0 0 1 2 05/13/02 Steve Austin v. Booker T (lumberjack RAW)
0 0 1 2 03/04/02 Triple H v. Kurt Angle (RAW cage)
0 0 1 2 02/05/02 Los Barrio Boys v. Los Diabolicos
REJECTED - out of time frame
0 0 1 11/04/02 Tommy Dreamer & Al Snow v. William Regal & Lance
Storm (RAW)
PAUL ZOROVICH: Worst Match: Trish Stratus & Linda Miles v. Molly Holly &
Jackie Gayda waseven worse than the Booker T/Buff Bagwell debacle last
year, and that's going some.
CHRIS BIRD: I know we all have long lists of Undertaker matches to vote for
here, but it's worth remembering how amazingly bad Bart Gunn and Jim Steele
vs. Kronik was when the NWA showed it back in August. You may have thought
that Kronik could not actually get worse than last year when we awarded
them Worst Tag Team; you would think that Bart Gunn and Jim Steele would be
better wrestlers than Undertaker and Kane. You would be SO WRONG.
TOXIC ROAD: It will be a tragedy if this award does not go to the Jackie
Gayda mixed tag match. I know that over the last few years the business has
been greatly exposed, but this one match has done more to expose it than
any Tough Enough or Vince McMahon "Creative Envelope" interview could. The
only reason the Undisputed Title matches from Backlash and Judgment Day are
on my ballot is because I can't vote for the Gayda match three times.
DON L: I have to go with the 3 absolute crap world title PPV main events we
got from April to June. The worst was HHH v. Hogan, they tried to pull a
face v. face and just sucked. 2nd worse Taker v. HHH and 3rd worse Hogan v.
Taker but actually any 3 in any or would fit
RICK SCAIA: The Fed proved itself still capable of poor judgment back in
July, when it put new Tough Enough winner Jackie Gayda into a live mixed
tag match on RAW. It was an unfair spot for her to be put in, and I have no
doubts that she will be a valuable performer down the line. But the fact
remains that Gayda/Nowinski vs. Trish/Bradshaw was still WWE's lone
experiment with Bowling Shoe Ugliness in 2002.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Feud
Award Description:
To be given to the feud that nobody cared about at all this year. When they
were pushing the feud on TV, you'd go to the fridge for a snack.
Previous Winners:
1990: Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake
1991: Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter
1992: Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango
1993: The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez
1994: Doink vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
1995: Hulk Hogan vs. Dungeon of Doom
1996: Big Bubba vs. John Tenta
1997: Nation of Domination vs. Disciples of Apocalypse vs. Los Boricuas
1998: Warrior vs. Hollywood Hogan
1999: No Limit Soldiers vs. West Texas Rednecks
2000: Big Show vs. Big Boss Man
2001: Undertaker vs. Diamond Dallas Page
**2002**: Triple H vs. Kane
87 first place votes
81 second place votes
77 third place votes
27 11 4 176 Triple H v. Kane
18 15 14 163 Triple H v. Stephanie McMahon & Chris Jericho
7 6 10 73 Dawn Marie v. Torrie Wilson
6 8 2 58 Vince McMahon v. Ric Flair
4 9 4 55 Steve Austin v. Ric Flair
4 6 4 46 Triple H v. Undertaker
5 3 5 44 Billy & Chuck v. Rikishi
0 10 7 44 Hollywood Hulk Hogan v. Undertaker
3 3 6 36 Stephanie McMahon v. Eric Bischoff
2 1 5 23 Triple H v. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
2 0 4 18 Christian v. Diamond Dallas Page
2 0 3 16 NWO v. Steve Austin
3 0 0 15 Pierroth's Boricuas v. Gran Markus Jr's Boricuas
0 3 1 11 Triple H v. Shawn Michaels
1 0 1 7 Triple H v. Vince McMahon
0 2 0 6 Ken Shamrock v. Malice
1 0 0 5 WWE v. Internet fans
1 0 0 5 Steve Austin v. Scott Hall
1 0 0 5 Kronik v. Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo
0 0 2 4 New Japan v. Foreign Army
0 1 0 3 Triple H v. Rob van Dam
0 1 0 3 Test v. Undertaker
0 1 0 3 New Japan v. Makai Club
0 1 0 3 All Japan v. WAR
0 0 1 2 Torrie Wilson v. Dawn Marie
0 0 1 2 NWO v. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 0 1 2 Brock Lesnar v. Big Show
0 0 1 2 Booker T v. Edge
0 0 1 2 APA v. Billy & Chuck
RINGMISTRESS: You could tell that HHH is more like Flair just by looking at
him. I didn't buy that feud with Hogan for a second.
DOUG CORTI: The Boricuas vs. Boricuas feud in CMLL got a nice crowd
reaction. It's a shame that not a single watchable match came out of the
whole thing. Great skits, though.
DONNIE VOMIT: The HHH\Jericho feud might as well have been HHH\Stephie.
Jericho was booked to fail, it's as simple as that. He was forced to walk
the dog and complain about dog shit, while Trips and Big Steph got all the
screen time to further their divorce angle. It was all just a disgusting
auto-cunnilingual exhibition for Stephanie McMahon and her roided-up Romeo.
JOE GAGNE: Gran Markus vs. Boqiquas was a shitty angle that never went
anywhere and resulted in dozens of telelvised matches, one of which was
"ok," the rest of which sucked. Hogan vs. Taker was responsible for (a)
Hogan running out of gas on the bike, (b) the luge ride backstage, and (c)
a cruddy match at Judgment Day, which earns it #2. New Japan vs. Foreign
Army resulted in Joanie Laurer vs. Chono and lots of additional bad
wrestling.
DON L: Worst feud, HHH v. Kane = necorophiliac, enough said. Billy/ Chuck
v. Rikishi was as bad a tag feud as I can remember. HHH v. Steph with the
world champ Y2J as an afterthought for WrestlMania was as poor of a World
Title build in WM history.
RICK SCAIA: It came on late, but boy did it ever come on strong. Triple H
necrophilia-laced rivalry with Kane stands out as easily the most
bafflingly-god-awful feud of the year. How that one even got off the
drawing board is beyond my ability to comprehend. In addition to being
uncomfortably "edgy" to some and chronically unfunny to all, the storyline
also had the effect of un-doing five years of building Kane's character up
as Undertaker's ass-kicking brother. HHH's quest to regain the World Title
at WrestleMania should have been an easily compelling feud against Chris
Jericho, but instead devolved into soap opera nonsense involving puppy dogs
and a faked pregnancy; terrible. Steve Austin against the nWo must have
seemed like a good idea on paper, but in reality, it had shitty
storytelling, no prospects for good in-ring action, and a load of backstage
political elements handcuffing it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Disappointing News item
Award Description:
To be given to the wrestling news item that most disappointed you when heard
of it. When you first learned of this news story, you couldn't believe that
it was true, and when you learned that it was, you were bummed out for a
while.
Previous Winners:
1991: Scott Steiner gets injured
1992: Legion of Doom: Hawk & Animal split up
1993: WWF brings Hulk Hogan back and gives him the title
1994: WCW signs Hulk Hogan and makes him World champion
1995: Death of Eddie Gilbert
1996: Scott Hall and/or Kevin Nash leave WWF and/or join WCW
1997: Death of Brian Pillman
1998: Death of Louie Spicolli
1999: Death of Owen Hart
2000: David Arquette wins WCW World heavyweight championship
2001: Chris Benoit out for the year after neck surgery
**2002**: Steve Austin leaves WWE in frustration over creative direction
89 first place votes
87 second place votes
85 third place votes
16 11 6 125 Steve Austin walks out on WWE
10 10 5 90 WWF changes name to WWE in response to lawsuit loss
12 7 4 89 Death of Davey Boy Smith
9 5 11 82 WWE kills off Intercontinental Title
3 8 12 63 WWF brings back NWO...then ruins it
5 6 4 51 Diamond Dallas Page injured, forced to retire
6 4 4 50 WWE keeps Triple H at the top of the card
4 5 6 47 WWE chooses soap opera storylines over wrestling action to
win viewers
3 5 3 36 Chris Benoit out injured most of the year
3 4 3 33 Steve Austin strikes his wife
1 4 3 23 WWE prominently features Stephanie McMahon
3 2 0 21 Death of Lou Thesz
3 1 1 20 WWE brings back Eric Bischoff
2 2 2 20 NWA TNA hires Vince Russo
2 0 1 12 New Japan pushes Joanie Laurer
0 0 5 10 WWF releases Mr. Perfect very soon after rehiring him
1 1 0 8 FMW shuts down
1 1 0 8 Death of Russ Haas
0 2 0 6 Bret Hart suffers stroke
1 0 0 5 Satoshi Kojima leaves New Japan
1 0 0 5 Rock leaves to do movies
1 0 0 5 Messiah loses thumb in bizarre attack
1 0 0 5 Hollywood Hulk Hogan leaving WWE again
1 0 0 5 Booker T's arrest record surfaces on The Smoking Gun
0 1 1 5 WWF blows off Vince McMahon/Ric Flair feud on RAW with
little build
0 1 1 5 Keiji Muto named All Japan President / declares intent to
follow "WWE" route
0 0 2 4 WWE decides to make Chris Jericho v. Triple H WrestleMania
main event without Chris Jericho
0 0 2 4 WWE considers bringing back Vince Russo
0 1 0 3 WWF splits RAW, SmackDown! rosters
0 1 0 3 WWF rehires Jerry Lawler
0 1 0 3 WWE to not bring back ECW afterall
0 1 0 3 WWE announces Tough Enough III
0 1 0 3 Shoichi Arai commits suicide
0 0 1 2 WWF releases Scott Hall
0 0 1 2 WWE tries to get name in news with controversial angles
0 0 1 2 WWE kills off Hardcore title
0 0 1 2 Scott Hall's troubles continue
0 0 1 2 Kodo Fuyuki gets cancer
0 0 1 2 APW covers up wrestling school death
0 0 1 2 AAA continues to stay in business
REJECTED
0 1 1 Duplicated votes
0 1 0 "Tie" votes
0 0 1 X-Pac and Chyna announce engagement (out of timeframe)
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Most Disappointing News item. None of the deaths
this year were close to affecting me as much as Gordon Solie's, so I stayed
away from voting for any of those (though it was hard not to vote for Lou
Thesz). I ended up voting for WWF forced to change name to WWE; WWF brings
back NWO, ruins in a month; WWE chooses soap opera storylines over
wrestling action to win viewers.
CHRIS BIRD: Although the death of Davey Boy Smith hit me much harder, I
just want to take a second to say something about the nWo being utterly
wasted by the WWF. This was the WWF's chance to show that they could
revitalize one of the greatest concepts in wrestling history, and they
utterly, completely, and totally fucked it up. An eight-year-old child
could have booked the nWo's entrance into the WWF with more flair and elan.
SYDNEYEIGHT: When the WWF changed to the WWE will always be the moment that
I really think I stopped caring as much. Dropping the I-C belt was just a
huge slap in the face to anybody whose not a main eventer, and will now
probably never get a moment to shine, and who would have thought I'd be
rooting for Bischoff over a MCMAHON??
DONNIE VOMIT: Six months later, I'm still mourning the loss of Steve
Austin. I might still be sporting the rose-coloured glasses, but I
distinctly remember Austin-oriented TV being a lot more entertaining then
the crap we're getting these days, despite his deteriorating in-ring
skills.
DON L: Forcing HHH down our throats all year round face or heel is enough
to make me puke. Austin leaving gets 2nd was really disappointing, I always
found him entertaining. The IC title can help a lot of midcarders why did
they get rid of it that gets 3rd.
THE CUBS FAN: I guess saying "the WWE has no idea how to stop sucking in a
major way" is too general, but I think that's what many of these non-death
choices are getting at.
RICK SCAIA: Every year, the wrestling world sees a few former stars pass
away, but Davey Boy Smith's passing this year is one of those particularly
tragic ones. He was on top of the world 10 years ago, but ended up dying
at age 40, mired in financial and familial problems too numerous to get
into. Less cosmically significant, but still distressing, was a court
ruling that forced the World Wrestling Federation to change its name; the
"WWF" name that I've been using all my life is no more, and it was tough to
adjust to. The newly-named WWE didn't do itself any favors later in the
year when it decided to retire the InterContinental Title (which similarly
has been around as long as I've been alive and watching wrestling).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Obnoxious Personality
Award Description:
To be given to the person who just rubs you the wrong way. This could be
anybody involved in the wrestling biz.
Previous Winners:
1991: Dusty Rhodes
1992: Vince McMahon
1993: Vince McMahon
1994: Hulk Hogan
1995: Eric Bischoff
1996: Eric Bischoff
1997: Eric Bischoff
1998: Eric Bischoff
1999: Eric Bischoff
2000: Vince Russo
2001: Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley
**2002**: Jerry Lawler
89 first place votes
87 second place votes
82 third place votes
32 6 9 196 Jerry Lawler
15 14 9 135 Stephanie McMahon
13 13 5 114 Triple H
4 7 8 57 Eric Bischoff
0 10 4 38 X-Pac
3 4 3 33 Paul Heyman
3 2 5 31 Bradshaw
4 1 3 29 Christopher Nowinski
2 3 5 29 Vince McMahon
1 5 3 26 Jim Ross
0 5 3 21 Rikishi
1 2 2 15 Al Wilson
1 1 3 14 Kevin Nash
0 2 3 12 Undertaker
2 0 0 10 Kurt Angle
0 2 2 10 Brian Lawler
1 1 0 8 Chris Jericho
0 2 1 8 Matt Hardy
0 0 4 8 Disco Inferno
1 0 1 7 Tazz
1 0 1 7 Don West
1 0 0 5 Trish Stratus
1 0 0 5 Motoko Baba
1 0 0 5 Lita
1 0 0 5 Keiji Muto
1 0 0 5 Antonio Pena
0 1 1 5 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 1 1 5 Ed Ferrara
0 1 0 3 Steve Austin
0 1 0 3 Rock
0 1 0 3 Jeremy Borash
0 1 0 3 Goldy Locks
0 0 1 2 Tom Zenk
0 0 1 2 Shawn Michaels
0 0 1 2 Rico
0 0 1 2 Ric Flair
0 0 1 2 Gene Okerlund
REJECTED
0 1 1 (Non-wrestling personalities)
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Most Obnoxious Personality. The first two were
easy. No one is more annoying than Bradshaw. Undertaker is far and away
the second most annoying person in the biz. There were about 30 people I
wanted to put as #3, from Jim Ross and Tazzz as horrid men that refuse to
call matches to Al Wilson and Disco Inferno who are in lame skits that take
away from valuable PPV match time. And that doesn't even include all the
annoying wrestlers!
RINGMISTRESS: Seriously, look in the mirror, Vinnie Mac, like right now.
Still happy with the direction of your company?
CHRIS BIRD: Jerry Lawler is an embarrassment to wrestling. It's just that
simple. Nothing, nothing more than the continued presence of Jerry Lawler
has caused my interest in watching wrestling to wane. Put the fuckwit out
to pasture with his tired boobies act and let me listen to a REAL colour
commentator. (Also, it would mean never having to see his obligatory shitty
wrestling match every time the WWE stops in Memphis.)
DONNIE VOMIT: Tom Zenk's pretty obnoxious, albeit in a good way. It's
refreshing to see a man completely unreliant on the business letting
everyone know his honest opinions.
DON L: I've had it with Lawlers commentating, what makes matters worse is
that he can do better but doesn't seem to want to. Bradshaw is a stupid
hoss and gets 2nd, while Nash is a jerk from legit stories I heard from
friends he's full of himself and has no reason to.
RICK SCAIA: Jerry Lawler was always a mix of really funny and really
annoying. But it usually seemed like he was leaning towards "funny" more
often than not. But since his return to the commentary desk this year,
that hasn't been the case. It's possible, I guess, that Lawler just seems
less effective to me since he came back and replaced Paul Heyman (who I
honestly thought did a perfect job of being funny, being a heel, and
telling stories, all at the same time)... but I really think Lawler's just
gone off the deep end: he's been embarrasingly juvenile (usually when
words like "semen" or "HLA" are involved) and even counter-productive
(trying to sell a very physical Trish/Victoria feud like its a catfight)
this year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Second
Award Description:
To be given to the manager who outperformed their peers at ringside and
behind the microphone in interviews. In 2002, this category was retired.
Previous Winners:
1990: Jim Cornette
1991: Bobby Heenan
1992: Mr. Perfect
1993: Jim Cornette
1994: Jim Cornette
1995: Jim Cornette
1996: Sunny
1997: Chyna
1998: Chyna
1999: Dawn Marie
2000: Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley
2001: Stacy Keibler
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Announcer
Award Description:
To be given to the commentator/announcer who makes the most insightful and
entertaining comments while pushing his product. "Ring announcers" don't
qualify here. As of 1992, the difference between this and colour commentator
will be enforced.
Previous Winners:
1990: Jesse Ventura
1991: Jesse Ventura
1992: Jim Ross
1993: Jim Ross
1994: Jim Ross
1995: Jim Ross
1996: Jim Ross
1997: Jim Ross
1998: Jim Ross
1999: Jim Ross
2000: Jim Ross
2001: Jim Ross
**2002**: Michael Cole
84 first place votes
69 second place votes
52 third place votes
26 27 6 223 Michael Cole
34 13 5 219 Jim Ross
14 16 13 144 Mike Tenay
0 9 8 43 Eric Bischoff
1 1 8 24 Jonathan Coachman
1 1 5 18 Marc Loyd
2 0 0 10 Dan "The Dragon" Wilson
1 0 1 7 Eric Gargiulo
1 0 0 5 Yoshinori Tsuji
1 0 0 5 Great Sasuke
1 0 0 5 Dr. Alphonso Morales
1 0 0 5 Aaron Royal
0 0 2 4 Jeremy Borash
0 0 1 2 Donnie B
0 0 1 2 Arturo Rivera
REJECTED - not play-by-play announcers
1 0 0 Tazz
0 1 1 Funaki
0 1 0 Howard Cosell
0 0 1 Raven
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Best Announcer. The best in the biz today is Dan
"The Dragon" Wilson (NWA Wildside). Easily in second place is Mike Tenay.
RINGMISTRESS: If you ever watch CZW Fake You TV, I think you'll agree that
this guy is the Next Joey Styles. Excuse me!
CHRIS BIRD: I never thought I'd see the day when Michael Cole became a
competent announcer. But here it is. Go fig.
SYDNEYEIGHT: I only picked Michael Cole only because he's the only guy I
can still tolerate, and that's only been in the past month.
DONNIE VOMIT: Don't get me wrong, I think JR's been slipping for the past
few years. But honestly, sometimes his tone shows a sort of distain for
the product, sort of like a subtle nod to the internet fans that "yes, I
know this sucks guys." He's like a curmudgeony old uncle bitching about
the good old days, and for that I applaud him.
DON L: Cole is really found his niche and style and maybe in a years time
he can be #1 but for now that still goes to Jim Ross. But Cole is a close
2nd, he doesn't do that annoying forced laugh anymore and is working well
with Tazz. Marc Loyd is doing well on Velocity
THE CUBS FAN: I just voted Michael Cole as the best commentators this year.
I'm very scared. I'm not gonna even vote a 2 and 3 - you don't count if
you're a) talking in a language I don't know, b) being so annoying at times
on Velocity/Heat, c) frequently reminding me how far you've fallen the last
few years. I don't know if you can call Cole a standard of excellence, but
at least he's medicore.
RICK SCAIA: For the first time in a long time, I actually had to think long
and hard about who is the best play-by-play man in WWE. Jim Ross, long the
best (and possibly the only really acceptable) announcer in the company,
was saddled with subpar material and an annoying broadcast partner, and I
think had a demonstrably "down" year. On the other hand, Michael Cole had
mostly tremendous material to call, developed real chemistry with Tazz, and
finally showed he had value beyond being a microphone stand. But in the
end, I caved in and gave JR the nod. My reasoning: a Jim Ross who is
focused on a quality product is still the signature voice I want calling a
big time match. JR may have had ups and downs in 2002, but I suspect that
RAW's (lack of) quality made it real easy to lose concentration on what was
going on (whether you're watching at home, writing about it, or even up
close calling the action). Cole, on the other hand, does not have the
benefit of experience or perceived expertise as a commentator, but also did
not have any notable lapses all year. Another year like this, and he'll
probably be in the top spot soon enough. Mike Tenay rounds out the voting,
here, for being the knowledgeable, professional (if uninspiring) Voice of
TNA.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Colour Commentator
Award Description:
To be given to the colour commentator who provides the most insightful and
entertaining comments.
Previous Winners:
1991: Bobby Heenan
1992: Bobby Heenan
1993: Jesse Ventura
1994: Bobby Heenan
1995: Bobby Heenan
1996: Bobby Heenan
1997: Jerry Lawler
1998: Jerry Lawler
1999: Jerry Lawler
2000: Jerry Lawler
2001: Paul Heyman
**2002**: Tazz
85 first place votes
78 second place votes
71 third place votes
39 19 12 276 Tazz
17 18 9 157 Paul Heyman
10 21 12 137 Raven
4 6 15 68 D'Lo Brown
8 5 6 67 Jerry Lawler
1 4 4 25 Don West
0 1 4 11 Michael Cole
0 1 3 9 Ed Ferrara
1 0 0 5 Steve Prazak
1 0 0 5 Ron Niemi
1 0 0 5 Leobardo Magadan
1 0 0 5 Kengo Kimura
1 0 0 5 GOEMON
0 0 2 4 Lita
0 1 0 3 Steve Corino
0 1 0 3 Kazuo Yamazaki
0 1 0 3 Al Snow
0 0 1 2 Mortimer Plumtree
0 0 1 2 Masahiro Chono
0 0 1 2 Marc Loyd
0 0 1 2 Dan Wilson
REJECTED
1 0 0 Ernest Miller (ineligible for time period)
RINGMISTRESS: A sad day in WWE when one of the few truly smart and
observant talents is buried for no reason. Raven has inspired us all.
DONNIE VOMIT: It's unfortunate that Raven isn't enthused with colour
commentary, he's miles ahead of anyone else in terms of knowledge,
entertainment and putting people over. I would much prefer him to The King
next to JR.
DON L: Tazz rules, he knows when to get serious and when to be funny.
Doesn't mind making fun of himself and is clicking with Cole. Raven if he
announced more might have been #1, I liked him on Heat and he made Coach
listenable. Cole on Velocity is pretty funny v. Loyd.
THE CUBS FAN: Get this - if you put people who are actually intersted in
the action in front of them (let's call them "wrestlers") in front of the
mic, you'll get better commentary, at least to those people at home who are
also intersted in the action.
RICK SCAIA: Hands down, this one goes to Tazz this year. On his own, Tazz
seems to have really expanded his efforts to explain the names and purposes
of wrestling holds, which is always appreciated. And his sense of when and
how to be funny seems much more refined and effective than Lawler's, too.
Throw in the fact that he's found a groove working with Michael Cole, and
he's defini tely one half of the best commentary team in the business right
now. The revolving door color man (or woman) spot on Heat provided the
runners-up here. Both Raven and D'Lo Brown were really good in extended
stints teaming with Jonathan Coachman.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Interviewee
Award Description:
To be given to the person who gives the best interview in the biz. This could
be a wrestler or a manager.
Previous Winners:
1990: Ric Flair
1991: Ric Flair
1992: Ric Flair
1993: Ric Flair
1994: Ric Flair
1995: Shawn Michaels
1996: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1997: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1998: Mankind (Dude Love / Cactus Jack / Mick Foley)
1999: Mankind
2000: The Rock
2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin
**2002**: Kurt Angle
89 first place votes
88 second place votes
86 third place votes
27 16 14 211 Kurt Angle
16 13 11 141 Rock
10 10 13 106 Chris Jericho
3 10 5 55 Eddie Guerrero
6 6 3 54 Paul Heyman
4 6 3 44 Ric Flair
5 4 3 43 Booker T
3 4 6 39 Steve Austin
4 1 4 31 Goldust
1 5 1 22 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 0 7 14 Christian
1 2 1 13 William Regal
1 0 4 13 Hurricane
2 0 1 12 Ron Killings
1 0 1 7 Jamie Noble
0 2 0 6 Triple H
0 2 0 6 Edge
0 0 3 6 Kane
1 0 0 5 Rob van Dam
1 0 0 5 Masahiro Chono
1 0 0 5 Johnny Devine
1 0 0 5 Jericho
1 0 0 5 Hayabusa
0 1 1 5 Matt Hardy
0 1 1 5 Diamond Dallas Page
0 1 1 5 Christopher Nowinski
0 1 0 3 Shawn Michaels
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke
0 1 0 3 Lenny Lane
0 1 0 3 Atsushi Onita
0 0 1 2 Gedo
0 0 1 2 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 0 1 2 Chi-nen Hokkai
RINGMISTRESS: It's Angle, duh!
CHRIS BIRD: Matt Hardy was the two-time Connect Four champion of Cameron
County, North Carolina.
DON L: I've laughed countless of times with Angle on the mic he's the best.
Heyman is awesome, I like his sometimes soft speak "Listen to reason,
Brock" then he can do intense. Heyman is a great talker and gets 2nd spot.
3rd is difficult but I gave it to Austin.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Angle
Award Description:
To be given to the best angle you've seen in the sport this year.
Previous Winners:
1990: Horsemen turn heel
1991: "Real World Champion" Ric Flair challenges Hulk Hogan
1992: Ric Flair "knew Elizabeth first"
1993: WWF brings in Sean Waltman as 1-2-3 Kid
1994: Shane Douglas forfeits NWA title moments after winning it
1995: Barry Horowitz finally wins on WWF television
1996: NWO forms and attempts takeover of WCW
1997: Bret Hart turns on USA, reforms Hart Foundation
1998: Mr. McMahon offers Steve Austin the easy way - or the hard way
1999: "Countdown to the Millennium" ends with Chris Jericho's WWF debut
2000: Triple H, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, Kurt Angle love triangle
2001: ECW joins WCW, forms alliance
**2002**: Goldust, Booker T turn "At the Movies" gig into friendship
88 first place votes
80 second place votes
76 third place votes
16 6 11 120 Goldust, Booker T turn "At the Movies" gig into friendship
7 10 8 81 Ric Flair reveals he bought 50% of WWF from Stephanie, Shane
5 15 5 80 Guerreros attempt to stir things up between Angle, Benoit
9 7 5 76 Shawn Michaels, turned on by Triple H, plans comeback match
6 5 6 57 Eric Bischoff, Stephanie McMahon named WWE general managers
7 2 5 51 WWE undergoes "brand extension"
5 5 3 46 Vince McMahon injects NWO poison in attempt to destroy WWF
5 3 6 46 Billy, Chuck urged by Rico into wedding...crashed by Bischoff
4 4 4 40 NWA TNA pushes X Division
4 3 3 35 Booker T says "Suckaaaaa"
5 0 1 27 Brock Lesnar runs roughshod over entire WWF roster
1 4 4 25 Jamie Noble offers Nidia to Tajiri
2 1 3 19 John Cena accepts Kurt Angle's open challenge
2 0 2 14 CMLL's Mexico v. Japan feud
1 2 1 13 NWO runs semi into Rock's ambulance
2 0 0 10 Shocker, Mascara Magica search for someone "guapo" enough
0 2 2 10 Eric Bischoff announces RAW Roulette
0 2 2 10 Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle forced to function as unit
1 0 0 5 Rock questions Hulk Hogan's icon status
1 0 0 5 NWO/Army of Freaks (?)
1 0 0 5 Manabu Nakanishi goes to America to train under Karl Gotch.
1 0 0 5 GOEMON turns on WMF
1 0 0 5 Chris Jericho first-ever Undisputed Champion
0 1 0 3 Undertaker bullies Ric Flair's allies into getting a match
0 1 0 3 Tsubo Genjin & Chi-nen Hokkai fall in love with Yuka Nakamura
0 1 0 3 Triple H turns heel
0 1 0 3 Paul Heyman revealed as Brock Lesnar's agent
0 1 0 3 Maven eliminates Undertaker from the Royal Rumble
0 1 0 3 Hulk Hogan Turns Babyface, Teams with Rock Against NWO on RAW
0 1 0 3 Edge drives Kurt Angle insane
0 1 0 3 Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero jump to SmackDown!
0 1 0 3 Brock Lesnar jumps to Smackdown
0 0 1 2 WWE tag title tourney announced
0 0 1 2 Ikuto Hidaka turns heel
0 0 1 2 Eddie Guerrero returns by attacking Rob van Dam
0 0 1 2 Aborted Vince McMahon v. Hulk Hogan feud
REJECTED - it still isn't funny
2 0 1 Kurt
DON DEL GRANDE:Actually, I think "Vince McMahon brings in NWO wrestlers" is
closer to the truth - I couldn't care less about the NWO gimmick itself.
RINGMISTRESS: Steph's bad luck at weddings continues. Hilarious stuff from
start to finish, and I didn't know what was the best part about it,
Bischoff jamming to It's Raining Men, or Rico as the Wedding Planner. When
it was over, I just applauded.
SYDNEYEIGHT: I'm shocked I had to put Bischoff crashing the gay wedding as
a "write-in." Sure it was a stupid angle leading up to the ceremony, but
the ceremony itself was pulled off BRILLIANTLY.
DON L: The BookDust partnership is always pretty interesting and funny.
Guerrero's stirring it up with Benoit/Angle and Benoit/Angle interplay with
each other made for a fun angle that got 2nd spot. Tajiri/ Noble/Nidia
relationship was silly but I liked for 3rd
THE CUBS FAN: Any angle that produced an actual good match with Giant Silva
and Giant Singh in the ring at the same time deserves some sort of
recogintion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Organization
Award Description:
To be given to the organization/promotion that has the best product. This is
the organization whose TV and house shows you just can't miss.
Previous Winners:
1990: NWA
1991: WWF
1992: WCW
1993: SMW
1994: ECW
1995: WWF
1996: WWF
1997: WWF
1998: WWF
1999: WWF
2000: WWF
2001: WWF
**2002**: WWE (WWF)
80 first place votes
59 second place votes
47 third place votes
54 13 2 313 WWE
6 22 11 118 NWA TNA
4 9 6 59 Ring of Honor
2 5 7 39 All Japan
6 0 1 32 EMLL
1 1 2 12 Pro Wrestling NOAH
1 1 2 12 New Japan
1 1 2 12 NWA Wildside
0 2 1 8 Osaka Pro
1 0 0 5 WMF
1 0 0 5 New Midwest Wrestling
1 0 0 5 French Lake Wrestling Association
1 0 0 5 All Japan Womens
0 1 1 5 Stampede
0 0 2 4 Steel Domain Wrestling
0 0 2 4 HWA
0 1 0 3 OVW
0 1 0 3 IPW Florida
0 1 0 3 GAEA
0 1 0 3 FMW
0 0 1 2 XWF
0 0 1 2 WOW Stampede Wrestling
0 0 1 2 Real FN World
0 0 1 2 Pro Wrestling IRON
0 0 1 2 Midwest Championship Wrestling
0 0 1 2 JCW
0 0 1 2 Future of Wrestling
0 0 1 2 CZW
REJECTED
1 0 0 "Tie" votes
SYDNEYEIGHT: I can't in good conscious pick the WWE. This may have been
their worst year since the New Attitude era. A friend of mine picked up
some Ring of Honor tapes, and just watching those sealed the deal. I was
more entertained watching eight hours of borderline handheld matches edited
together on an iMac than any random eight hours of WWE this year. Easily.
JOE GAGNE: CMLL, although not prefect, brought the quality wrestling and
solid feuds. WWE had some great action but too much crap to win the #1
slot.
DON L: Didn't answer because there's only one real company.
GUERRERO RULES: WWE had some of the best wrestlers in the world delivering
great performances. Osaka Pro was very consistent in delivering good
quality wrestling throughout the year. New Japan had some interesting
matches throughout this year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best TV Show
Award Description:
To be given to what is on average the best wrestling TV show. In 1994, TV
shows and major shows were given separate award categories.
Previous Winners:
1991: 03/21/91: WCW & New Japan Supershow (aired on tape)
1992: 01/18/92: WWF Royal Rumble
1993: WWF Monday Night RAW weekly TV
1994: WWF Monday Night RAW
1995: WWF Monday Night RAW
1996: WWF Monday Night RAW
1997: WWF Monday Night RAW (WWF RAW is War / WWF RAW / WWF War Zone)
1998: WWF RAW is WAR (RAW / War Zone)
1999: WWF RAW is WAR (RAW / War Zone)
2000: WWF RAW is WAR (RAW / War Zone)
2001: WWF RAW (RAW is War / War Zone / RAW Zone)
**2002**: WWF SmackDown!
87 first place votes
81 second place votes
70 third place votes
63 14 3 363 WWE SmackDown!
4 32 19 154 WWE RAW / RAW Zone
4 12 15 86 WWE Confidential
3 10 12 69 NWA Total Nonstop Action weekly PPV
3 4 12 51 WWE Velocity
5 1 0 28 CMLL weekly TV
2 2 0 16 NWA Wildside weekly TV
0 3 3 15 WWE Sunday Night Heat
1 0 0 5 WMF on Samurai TV
1 0 0 5 New Japan World Pro Wrestling Complete Edition
1 0 0 5 IPW Florida
0 1 0 3 Ring of Honor local TV
0 1 0 3 New Japan Strong Style eXtreme Wrestling (SXW)
0 1 0 3 FMW Lock Up
0 0 1 2 WWE Tough Enough
0 0 1 2 WEW on Samurai TV
0 0 1 2 NOAH TV
0 0 1 2 NOAH Di Colosseo
0 0 1 2 Classic Wrestling from Florida
0 0 1 2 CZW Fake You TV
OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Best TV Show. NWA Wildside weekly TV is easily the
best. NWA Total Nonstop Action weekly PPV is easily the second best. I
had a hard time deciding on a third. Smackdown! is the WWE's best "A"
show, but Velocity often has better cruiser matches. But Confidential
started out with decent behind-the-scene bits.
CHRIS BIRD: Smackdown! was so much the superior show to RAW this year it's
not even funny. RAW has simply gotten worse and worse, as Smackdown
continues to impress me more and more. Also, Smackdown has no Jerry Lawler
on it.
DON L: I think Smackdown is really good and very entertaining more times
then not. 2nd place goes to Confidential, sure it's fluff sometimes but
atleast you feel good about the company after watching. Raw's crappy
mainevent picture and Lawlers commentating they are lucky I even gave them
the 3rd spot.
GUERRERO RULES: RAW had the most interesting matches throughout this year,
followed by SmackDown and Velocity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Major Show
Award Description:
To be given to the best major event. This could be a pay-per-view, a TV
special, or any big arena event. In 1994, TV shows and major shows were
given separate award categories.
Previous Winners:
1991: 03/21/91: WCW & New Japan Supershow (aired on tape)
1992: 01/18/92: WWF Royal Rumble
1993: WWF Monday Night RAW weekly TV
1994: 03/20/94: WWF WrestleMania X
1995: 08/27/95: WWF SummerSlam
1996: 03/31/96: WWF WrestleMania XII
1997: 04/14/97: ECW Barely Legal
1998: 03/24/98: WWF WrestleMania XIV
1999: 08/22/99: WWF SummerSlam
2000: 01/23/00: WWF Royal Rumble
2001: 04/01/01: WWF WrestleMania X-7
**2002**: 08/25/02: WWE SummerSlam
81 first place votes
75 second place votes
67 third place votes
50 14 8 308 08/25/02 WWE SummerSlam
14 21 10 153 03/17/02 WWF WrestleMania X-8
3 12 15 81 01/20/02 WWF Royal Rumble
5 6 7 57 11/18/01 WWF Survivor Series
1 4 6 29 10/20/02 WWE No Mercy
2 1 3 19 02/17/02 WWF No Way Out
0 5 0 15 09/22/02 WWE Unforgiven
2 0 1 12 05/02/02 New Japan Tokyo Dome
0 2 3 12 12/09/01 WWF Vengeance
1 0 3 11 06/19/02 NWA Total Nonstop Action #1
0 3 1 11 05/19/02 WWE Judgment Day
1 0 1 7 08/28/02 WMF Debut Show
0 1 2 7 06/23/02 WWE King of the Ring
1 0 0 5 12/14/01 CMLL Sin Piedad
0 0 2 4 04/21/02 WWF Backlash
0 1 0 3 08/02/02 Pro Wrestling IRON Hot August Fights
0 1 0 3 06/22/02 Ring of Honor Road to the Title
0 1 0 3 06/07/02 New Japan BATTLE ZONE 6-7
0 1 0 3 05/06/02 Michinoku Pro Show
0 1 0 3 02/24/02 All Japan PPV
0 0 1 2 12/09/01 Pro Wrestling NOAH Navigation of Raging Ocean
0 0 1 2 06/05/02 New Japan Best of the Super Jr. 2002 Final
0 0 1 2 05/03/02 DDT Turning Point
0 0 1 2 04/13/02 WWA Eruption
REJECTED - TV shows are not eligible
1 0 0 WWE SmackDown!
0 1 0 WWE Velocity
0 0 1 WWE RAW
RINGMISTRESS: Summerslam and Wrestlemania were fun to see this year,
despite the buildup to the latter.
DON L: I really enjoyed the 2001 Survivor Series, the end of the Invasion
angle ended with a very strong PPV. 2nd place goes to Royal Rumble. 3rd
goes to a very solid SummerSlam.
GUERRERO RULES: SummerSlam had the most interesting matches, followed by
Judgement Day and Backlash.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Promotional Move
Award Description:
To be given to the best move made by a promotion this past year. This could
include giving somebody a push, demoting someone, firing someone hiring
someone, or anything of a promotional nature.
Previous Winners:
1991: WWF signs Ric Flair
1992: WCW signs Jake Roberts
1993: WWF works with SMW & USWA
1994: WWF pushes Bret Hart as champion again
1995: WCW signs Sabu, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero & Dean Malenko away
1996: WCW signs Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Ted DiBiase & Syxx
1997: ECW uses "working agreement" with WWF
1998: WWF books Vince McMahon into top storyline role
1999: WWF signs Chris Jericho
2000: WWF signs Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn
2001: WWF adds ECW to "invasion" angle
**2002**: WWE names Paul Heyman head of SmackDown! writing team
85 first place votes
83 second place votes
77 third place votes
18 14 4 140 WWE names Paul Heyman head of SmackDown! writing team (or
at least leaks words to that effect to the right people)
7 14 2 81 WWE signs Rey Mysterio
3 7 9 54 WWF brings back Eddie Guerrero
7 5 1 52 WWE pushes Brock Lesnar
4 5 8 51 WWE hires Eric Bischoff
5 4 5 47 WWF splits roster
5 5 3 46 NWA TNA starts up new national promotion
4 0 8 36 WWE releases X-Pac
1 7 2 30 WWE pushes Edge
1 5 5 30 NWA TNA builds around X Division
3 4 1 29 Ring of Honor puts on good wrestling matches, removing bad gimmicks
3 1 4 26 WWF brings in Ric Flair
5 0 0 25 All Japan signs Keiji Muto, Satoshi Kojima, and Kendo KaShin away from New Japan
4 0 1 22 WWF brings back NWO
2 2 2 20 WWF exploits Hulk Hogan "homecoming"
2 1 3 19 WWE considers restarting ECW
2 1 2 17 Kevin Nash injures himself in first match back
1 1 3 14 NWA TNA hires Jerry Lynn
2 1 0 13 CMLL brings in Familia di Tijuana
0 1 3 9 WWF fires Scott Hall
1 0 1 7 WWF rehires Jerry Lawler, pushes out Heyman as commentator
1 0 0 5 WWF pushes William Regal
1 0 0 5 WWE gives Molly Holly title run
1 0 0 5 New Japan devotes to Yuji Nagata as company leader
1 0 0 5 NWA Wildside, NWA TNA trade talent
1 0 0 5 Eiji Ezaki launches WMF
0 0 2 4 WWE feuds general managers
0 1 0 3 WWF brings back Goldust, pairs with Booker T
0 1 0 3 WWE moves Guerrero & Benoit to SmackDown
0 1 0 3 WWE makes Bill DeMott Tough Enough III trainer
0 1 0 3 WMF works with Michinoku Pro, All Japan
0 1 0 3 New Japan pushes young wrestlers
0 0 1 2 WWE takes Vince McMahon off television
0 0 1 2 WWE splits roster
0 0 1 2 WWE pushes Randy Orton
0 0 1 2 WWE pushes John Cena
0 0 1 2 WWE passes on Vince Russo
0 0 1 2 WWE dumps Hulk Hogan
0 0 1 2 WWE brings back Shawn Michaels
0 0 1 2 WWE books Hogan/Rock for Wrestlemania X-Eight
RINGMISTRESS: One of the few smart decisions by the WWE, and a few weeks
later, a classic promo with the Rock on RAW. Cheech or Chong? Who cares?
Congrats Eddie!
JOE GAGNE: All Japan signing Mutoh, Kojima, and KaShin literally saved the
company from certain death, so that's a pretty easy choice for #1.
DON L: I was really happy when they signed Rey Mysterio, 2nd goes to the
roster split, 3rd goes to Edge's push
GUERRERO RULES: Bringing in the best wrestler in the world, Eddie Guerrero,
was a great move by WWF. When WWE brought in Rey Misterio they assured
themselves some more excellent in-ring work for their shows. Hiring Eric
Bischoff wasn't a bad move either by WWE.
RICK SCAIA: I'm not sure how to phrase it, but WWE's decision to pretty
much put Paul Heyman in charge of SmackDown! has yielded fantastic results.
There's no doubt that WWE wanted each show to take on a unique flavor when
they did the brand extention, and letting Heyman craft a more athletic,
less-skit-driven vibe for SD! has resulted in the most consistantly
entertaining wrestling TV in years. Second best move: WWE signing Rey
Mysterio and then pushing him as more than just another cruiserweight.
Rey's moveset and new WWE packaging (including the return of the mask) have
catapulted him to enormous popularity, and WWE capitalized by putting him
in feud with Angle and in a tag team with Edge. NWA-TNA gets an honorable
mention for creating the "X Division" for featuring top-level workers,
regardless of weight class.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Second
Award Description:
To be given to the manager whose presence at ringside and during
interviews is really unnecessary. This person does little to enhance the
matches in which his/her wrestler(s) participates. In 2002, this category
was retired.
Previous Winners:
1990: Mr. Fuji
1991: Coach John Tolos
1992: Harvey Wippleman
1993: Harvey Wippleman
1994: Harvey Wippleman
1995: Harvey Wippleman
1996: Teddy Long
1997: Uncle Cletus
1998: Eric Bischoff
1999: Curtis Hughes
2000: Mae Young
2001: Sara
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Announcer
Award Description:
To be given to the commentator/announcer who makes the dumbest comments
while pushing his product. This person probably gets you to turn down the TV
when he/she is announcing. As of 1992, the difference between this and
colour commentator will be enforced.
Previous Winners:
1990: Vince McMahon
1991: Vince McMahon
1992: Vince McMahon
1993: Vince McMahon
1994: Eric Bischoff
1995: Eric Bischoff
1996: Eric Bischoff
1997: Tony Schiavone
1998: Tony Schiavone
1999: Tony Schiavone
2000: Tony Schiavone
2001: Tony Schiavone
**2002**: Jim Ross
80 first place votes
61 second place votes
45 third place votes
28 4 9 170 Jim Ross
16 21 3 149 Marc Loyd
11 10 13 111 Jonathan Coachman
8 13 5 89 Kevin Kelly
8 6 8 74 Jeremy Borash
6 5 3 51 Michael Cole
1 0 1 7 Kris Kloss
0 2 0 6 Mike Tenay
0 0 1 2 Chris Leary
REJECTED - not play-by-play announcers
1 0 1 Ed Ferrara
1 0 0 Jerry Lawler
0 0 1 Lita
SYDNEYEIGHT: So sad to see Jim Ross turn into nothing but a shell of his
former self, acting worse than Schiavonne at his worst, because while Tony
was a corporate whore at least I KNOW Ross can do better than this.
DON L: Jonathan Coachman on Heat is truly awful, A match is going on and he
acts like none of it matters but wants to get his lame catchphrases in.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Colour Commentator
Award Description:
To be given to the commentator/announcer who makes the dumbest comment while
pushing his product. This person probably gets you to turn down the TV when
he/she is announcing.
Previous Winners:
1991: Dusty Rhodes
1992: Lord Alfred Hayes
1993: Randy Savage
1994: Dusty Rhodes
1995: Steve McMichael
1996: Dusty Rhodes
1997: Dusty Rhodes
1998: Larry Zbyszko
1999: Jason Hervey
2000: Mark Madden
2001: Mark Madden
**2002**: Jerry Lawler
85 first place votes
66 second place votes
57 third place votes
50 4 5 272 Jerry Lawler
13 16 14 142 Lita
8 6 9 76 Jacqueline
5 6 8 59 Mark Madden
1 11 5 48 Ed Ferrara
3 5 2 34 Don West
1 4 3 23 Marc Loyd
1 4 1 19 D'Lo Brown
2 2 1 18 Tazz
1 2 3 17 Raven
0 2 2 10 Michael Cole
0 2 1 8 Al Snow
0 1 0 3 Crash
0 0 1 2 Missy Hyatt (?)
REJECTED
0 1 1 Duplicated votes
0 0 1 "Tie" votes
RINGMISTRESS: Go back to selling Pokemon cards, Don. It's what you do
best.
SYDNEYEIGHT: Lawler hasn't been funny in years, nor has he said anything
even remotely thoughtful. Some of you people actually PREFERRED Lawler to
Heyman? At least Heyman cared about the match, and not about catering to
the pre-teen crowd who's just discovering Playboy.
GREG PIZZO: I haven't heard Madden this year, but I give him a third place
just because.
DONNIE VOMIT: I find Lita to be a bit of a guilty pleasure, but when her
mouth opens and I hear pre-op transsexual, my heterosexuality dies a
little. And Don West needs to dress a little less flamboyantly. As Johnny
B. Badd would say, "he's a big ole ugly bear!"
DON L: So much too choose here, Lawler is first because I hate his
perverted guys. Lita is getting worse not better. And I guess I won't
represent D'lo and Coach was annoying as hell.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Interviewee
Award Description:
To be given to the person who gives the worst interview in the biz. This
could be a wrestler or a manager.
Previous Winners:
1990: Ultimate Warrior
1991: El Gigante
1992: Ultimate Warrior
1993: Giant Gonzalez
1994: Yokozuna
1995: Hulk Hogan
1996: Ahmed Johnson
1997: Ahmed Johnson
1998: Warrior
1999: Sid Vicious
2000: Hardy Boyz
2001: Linda McMahon
**2002**: Triple H
83 first place votes
80 second place votes
76 third place votes
14 6 5 98 Triple H
14 4 5 92 Jackie Gayda
12 8 4 92 Al Wilson
4 12 7 70 Jeff Hardy
6 6 9 66 Big Show
7 1 5 48 Linda McMahon
5 4 4 45 Rob van Dam
4 5 1 37 Bradshaw
2 6 3 34 Lita
1 3 5 24 Test
2 1 4 21 John Cena
2 1 2 17 Kane
1 4 0 17 Chris Benoit
2 2 0 16 Stephanie McMahon
0 2 5 16 Rikishi
0 3 3 15 Undertaker
1 2 1 13 D-Von
1 2 0 11 Victoria
0 1 4 11 Albert
0 2 0 6 Mark Henry
1 0 0 5 Vince Russo
1 0 0 5 TAKA Michinoku
1 0 0 5 Scott Steiner
1 0 0 5 Matt Hardy
1 0 0 5 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
0 1 1 5 Brock Lesnar
0 0 2 4 Steve Austin
0 0 2 4 Jacqueline
0 1 0 3 Supreme
0 1 0 3 Randy Orton
0 1 0 3 Maven
0 1 0 3 Jeff Jarrett
0 0 1 2 Stacy Keibler
0 0 1 2 Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 Eric Bischoff
0 0 1 2 Bubba Dudley
DOUG CORTI: Stacy Kiebler should grind her nails down a chalkboard. It
would be less painful than listening to her speak.
DONNIE VOMIT: I still remember that one RAW where Jeff revealed his tag
partner for HITC. "Dude, wanna wrestle in Hell In The Cell, man?" "Dude,
Hell In The Cell, man?" "Dude!" "Dude, man?" "Dude."
DON L: Jackie.. Gayda.. sounded.. like. she.. was.. reading. from.. cue...
cards. Bradshaw gets 2nd worse because I feel dumber everytime this idiot
speaks.
RICK SCAIA: When the best thing that can be said about your interviews is
that the commentators do a hilarious job of making fun of how bad they are,
you're setting a new standard for suckiness. Congratulations, Al Wilson,
for cutting promos so bad, they almost seem good.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Angle
Award Description:
To be given to the worst angle you've seen in the sport this year. It may be
the worst because of taste or because of execution.
Previous Winners:
1990: Earthquake breaks Hulk's ribs & get well card drive /
Black Scorpion (tie)
1991: WWF exploits the Gulf war
1992: Papa Shango curses the Ultimate Warrior
1993: WCW's Cactus Jack gets amnesia; search leads to Cleveland
1994: WCW gives Hulk Hogan the WCW Title
1995: WCW bills Giant as Andre the Giant's alleged son
1996: Jim Ross announces return of Razor Ramon and Diesel to WWF
1997: Brian Pillman claims paternity of Dakota Runnells
1998: "Mysterious laughter" source revealed as Chucky the doll
1999: Big Show's father stricken with cancer; Big Boss Man exploits it
2000: Mae Young's pregnancy results in birth of hand
2001: Triple H quickly returns from fall inside car dropped from forklift
**2002**: Triple H reveals Kane's role in a death - and immediately afterwards
86 first place votes
86 second place votes
85 third place votes
54 11 8 319 Triple H reveals a mysterious secret from Kane's past
3 17 6 78 Chris Jericho runs over Triple H's dog, Lucy
2 12 9 64 Vince McMahon creates "Kiss My Ass" club, recruits JR
7 4 8 63 Eric Bischoff promotes Hot Lesbian Action on RAW
5 7 8 62 Molly Holly suddenly has fat ass, becomes butt of jokes
2 13 5 59 Triple H awarded World title, re-splitting "Undisputed" WWE
Championship after less than a year
5 5 3 46 Billy, Chuck wed...almost: turns out they're not really gay
0 7 11 43 Booker T, Edge vie for spot in Japanese shampoo commercial
1 1 4 16 NWO runs semi into Rock's ambulance
0 2 4 14 Ric Flair sort of joins NWO
2 0 1 12 WWF splits brands
0 2 3 12 Christopher Nowinski wants to deflower virgin Molly Holly
2 0 0 10 Emilio Charles, Scorpio Jr., Bestia Salvaje form El Taliban
1 1 1 10 Bradshaw & Austin fight NWO
1 0 2 9 New Japan has new "Great Muta"
0 1 3 9 Rosey & Jamal summoned with magic words "three minutes"
1 0 0 5 All Japan brings in Animal as Keiji Muto's mystery partner
0 1 0 3 Undertaker accused of cheating on his wife
0 1 0 3 Goldust stalks Rob van Dam
0 1 0 3 All Japan brings in Goldberg and he squashes Kojima and Kea
0 0 1 2 Triple H, Stephanie McMahon finally divorce
0 0 1 2 Talent keeps jumping back and forth between RAW, SmackDown!
0 0 1 2 Policeman keeps Los Barrio Boys from skateboarding
0 0 1 2 Lance Storm begins crusade against America
0 0 1 2 Eric Bischoff, Stephanie McMahon named "general managers"
0 0 1 2 Eric Bischoff "consolidates" secondary titles
0 0 1 2 Emergency board meeting with Ric Flair and Vince McMahon
0 0 1 2 D-Von Dudley becomes sneaky preacher
0 0 1 2 All Japan gives Kronik World Tag Title on their first show
SYDNEYEIGHT: The HHH / Kane feud was literally the moment I realized that
Vince McMahon has absolutely no clue what he's doing any more.
DONNIE VOMIT: "I just screwed your brains out!" I heard RAW goes through
two or three re-writes on average per show. How exactly did this make it
escape the first draft? And as for those notes on the WWE website about
the writing mimicking dark themes on Six Feet Under et al, there's a huge
difference. Mainly, those shows all have professionally trained writers
who've honed their skills throughout the entertainment industry. RAW,
however, employs hacks who couldn't fill the codpiece of the guy who writes
the boot camp teen dialogue on Maury. Seriously, it confuses me that Vince
would make this huge effort to fundraise and legitimately branch out the
WWE brand, then air something as lame and unprofessional as that. That's
why he's a god among carnies and nothing more.
TOXIC ROAD: Wait, wait. The necrophilia angle was supposed to boost ratings
and draw fans? The custody battle over Triple H's dog was supposed to make
me care about WrestleMania? I think it's time for Vince to give the company
to Shane, because the way the business is going, we'll probably be seeing
an angle next year that combines these two.
DON L: Worst Angle, Nocorophiliac, enough said. HLA get's 2nd, thanks it's
not hard enough for the girls to wrestle through "puppies" let throw this
at them as well. 3rd worst goes to me having to see Vince's ass during the
Kiss my ass club.
SEAN SANCHEZ: I'm sure there's nothing I could say about the necrophilia
angle that hasn't been said before. Hands down the worst angle in the
HISTORY of wrestling. The Ric Flair/nWo mess was a complete debacle. Did
Flair join the nWo or didn't he? And why? His whole heel turn to get at
Austin was a disaster. The board meeting on the RAW prior to WrestleMania
X8 was a complete waste of time that badly set up the hastily booked
"split". They didn't need to cut to the meeting several times that night,
culminating in Flair cutting a promo on Undertaker to VINCE'S face.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst Organization
Award Description:
To be given to the organization/promotion that has the worst product. This
is the organization whose TV and house shows you wouldn't even think of
attending. Probably not even as a freebie.
Previous Winners:
1990: WWF / AWA (tie)
1991: WCW
1992: WWF
1993: WCW
1994: WCW
1995: WCW
1996: AWF
1997: WCW
1998: WCW
1999: WCW
2000: WCW
2001: WCW
**2002**: XPW
55 first place votes
45 second place votes
37 third place votes
16 8 7 118 XPW
17 4 2 101 WWE
9 16 4 101 WWA
3 3 10 44 CZW
4 3 3 35 AAA
3 4 4 35 NWA TNA
0 3 4 17 New Japan
0 2 0 6 K-Dojo
1 0 0 5 Real FN World
1 0 0 5 CMLL
1 0 0 5 All Japan
0 1 1 5 XWF
0 0 1 2 MLW
REJECTED
0 1 1 Duplicated votes
RINGMISTRESS: I had to be honest. They're the only game in town, meaning
they get all the blame, and deservedly so in 2002.
DOUG CORTI: I hope Ted Bundy and his ilk are enjoying the non-stop diet of
AAA in whichever portion of hell they currently reside in.
DONNIE VOMIT: One of the major drawbacks of having no number two to laugh
at is realizing how glaring are the flaws in number one. Poor booking,
failed signings, a Tough Enough fiasco and an unhappy lockerroom dominated
news this year. Most people would indicate the problem lies in HHH and the
erect member of misjustice he wields as Vince McMahon's daughter-porking
bosom buddy. However, even if HHH was somehow killed by a travel mate who
couldn't drive a stick and subsequently raped post-mortem, the WWE's woes
would not disappear alongside his semen-drenched corpse. It will be
interesting to see if WWE can recover, both financially and creatively,
from a dramatically poor 2002.
DON L: Unfortunately I can't answer this because there's only one real
company I can watch.
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Worst TV Show
Award Description:
To be given to what is on average the worst wrestling TV show. In 1994, TV
shows and major shows were given separate award categories.
Previous Winners:
1991: 07/07/91: WCW Great American Bash
1992: 12/03/91: WWF This Tuesday In Texas
1993: 04/04/93: WWF WrestleMania IX
1994: WCW World Wide
1995: WWF Mania
1996: AWF Warriors of Wrestling
1997: WWF LiveWire
1998: WCW Worldwide
1999: WCW Thunder
2000: WCW Thunder
2001: (tie) WWF Excess / WCW Thunder
**2002**: WWF Excess
63 first place votes
57 second place votes
52 third place votes
17 9 9 130 WWF Excess
15 7 6 108 WWE RAW / RAW Zone
6 9 9 75 WWE Sunday Night Heat
4 6 4 46 WWE Afterburn
1 7 6 38 WWE Bottom Line
4 3 4 37 WWF Jakked / Metal
1 6 6 35 WWE Velocity
6 0 2 34 AAA Lucha TV
4 4 0 32 NWA Total Nonstop Action weekly PPV
1 3 2 18 WWE Confidential
2 1 1 15 XPW TV
1 1 1 10 WWE Tough Enough
1 0 0 5 All Japan on GAORA TV
0 1 0 3 All Japan on Samurai! TV
0 0 1 2 K-Dojo on GAORA TV
REJECTED
0 0 1 "Tie" votes
CHAD SIMMONS: I know these aren't "wrestling" shows, but they led to some
of the worst things I have ever seen on "wrestling" shows.
DON L: Velocity is the worst show, Alberts the figurehead of Velocity ouch.
Heat has decent matches at times but Coach with D'lo now Lita makes the
show really bad for 2nd worst.
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Worst Major Show
Award Description:
To be given to the worst major event. This could be a pay-per-view, a TV
special, or any big arena event. In 1994, TV shows and major shows were
given separate award categories.
Previous Winners:
1991: 07/07/91: WCW Great American Bash
1992: 12/03/91: WWF This Tuesday In Texas
1993: 04/04/93: WWF WrestleMania IX
1994: 06/19/94: WWF King of the Ring
1995: 03/19/95: WCW Uncensored
1996: 03/24/96: WCW Uncensored
1997: 01/25/97: NWO Souled Out
1998: 08/08/98: WCW Road Wild
1999: 10/10/99: Heroes of Wrestling
2000: 10/29/00: WCW Halloween Havoc
2001: 01/14/01: WCW Sin
**2002**: 06/23/02: WWE King of the Ring
65 first place votes
54 second place votes
48 third place votes
14 11 7 116 06/23/02 WWE King Of The Ring
14 4 1 84 02/24/02 WWA Revolution
8 9 8 83 04/21/02 WWF Backlash
12 3 6 81 02/17/02 WWF No Way Out
6 7 3 57 09/22/02 WWE Unforgiven
4 5 6 47 05/19/02 WWE Judgment Day
3 5 8 46 07/21/02 WWE Vengeance
1 1 3 14 03/17/02 WWF WrestleMania X-8
0 4 0 12 12/09/01 WWF Vengeance
1 0 1 7 05/01/02 All Japan
1 0 0 5 08/30/02 All Japan ROYAL ROAD 30 GIANT BATTLE 2ND
1 0 0 5 08/25/02 WWE SummerSlam
0 1 1 5 10/20/02 WWE No Mercy
0 1 0 3 06/19/02 NWA Total Nonstop Action #1
0 1 0 3 05/02/02 New Japan Tokyo Dome
0 1 0 3 04/13/02 WWA Eruption
0 1 0 3 04/10/02 All Japan Champion Carnival 2002 Final
0 0 1 2 11/18/01 WWE Survivor Series
0 0 1 2 10/14/02 New Japan Tokyo Dome
0 0 1 2 08/31/02 All Japan ROYAL ROAD 30 GIANT BATTLE 3RD
0 0 1 2 01/20/02 WWF Royal Rumble
CHRIS BIRD: Matt Hardy's expert opinion has been requested by the United
States government in stopping the onslaught of killer bees from Mexico.
(Well, I know, this is the Worst Major Show category. But wouldn't you
rather read more about Matt Hardy?
DONNIE VOMIT: King Of The Ring is the worst WWE PPV every year! They should
phase it out for Wargames.
DON L: Vengence, No Way Out and Backlash are 1, 2 and 3 from the bottom of
the PPV list this year
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Worst Promotional Move
Award Description:
To be given to the worst move made by a promotion this past year. This could
include giving somebody a push, demoting someone, firing someone hiring
someone, or anything of a promotional nature.
Previous Winners:
1991: WCW loses Ric Flair
1992: WCW bans off the top rope moves under Bill Watts
1993: WCW tapes 13 weeks of TV at one time in Orlando, Fla.
1994: WCW lets Hulk Hogan control his scenarios
1995: WCW gives Hulk Hogan too much control
1996: WWF lets Scott Hall and/or Kevin Nash go
1997: Sting doesn't wrestle for the entire year
1998: WCW sues Ric Flair, causing nearly five month absence from television
1999: (Tie) WCW lets big names go / WCW signs musical acts for Nitro
2000: WCW gives Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, and Saturn requested releases
2001: WWF botches seemingly surefire WWF/WCW "interpromotional" storyline
**2002**: WWE airs simulated necrophilia in attempt to foster controvery
87 first place votes
84 second place votes
81 third place votes
32 3 5 179 WWE airs simulated necrophilia in attempt at controversy
3 18 11 91 WWE kills off Intercontinental (European / hardcore) title
4 7 12 65 WWF poorly books Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho
6 6 4 56 WWF changes name to WWE
5 4 6 49 WWE revives World championship, awards to Triple H
5 3 5 44 WWE signs Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan / revives NWO
4 3 5 39 WWF rehires Jerry Lawler, removes Paul Heyman from commentary
4 2 5 36 WWE announces Jackie Gayda, Linda Miles Tough Enough 2 winners
2 4 2 26 WWE tells workers to "slow down some more"
2 3 3 25 WWE allows Triple H to give "the boys" locker room speech
2 1 2 17 NWA TNA hires Vince Russo
0 1 7 17 NWA TNA only runs PPV shows
2 2 0 16 New Japan uses Joanie Laurer
0 4 1 14 WWE names Eric Bischoff RAW general manager
1 2 1 13 WWE buries Steve Austin
2 0 1 12 WWF splits brands
2 0 1 12 CMLL runs Taliban angle
1 1 2 12 WWE names Stephanie McMahon SmackDown! general manager
1 2 0 11 WWE continues to feature McMahons prominently
0 3 1 11 WWE heavily promotes Chuck & Billy "wedding"
1 1 1 10 New Japan puts Yuji Nagata in a shoot match
0 3 0 9 WWE overpushes Tough Enough "stars"
1 1 0 8 WWF fires Mr. Perfect
1 1 0 8 WWE books Brock Lesnar to DQ loss to break undefeated streak
0 2 0 6 NWA TNA stops flying in better talent
1 0 0 5 WWE signs Scott Steiner
1 0 0 5 Vince McMahon pushes RAW in soap opera storyline direction
1 0 0 5 Rob Black hires henchmen to end Messiah's career, attempt
to slice off his penis
1 0 0 5 All Japan buries young talent to push Goldberg
0 1 1 5 New Japan lets Muto, Kojima, KaShin get away
0 1 0 3 WWF fires Scott Hall
0 1 0 3 WWE tries soap-opera angles
0 1 0 3 NWA TNA signs Buff Bagwell
0 1 0 3 More importance placed on writers than wrestlers
0 0 1 2 WWF doesn't hype Chris Benoit's return at all
0 0 1 2 WWE pushes Big Show AGAIN
0 0 1 2 WWE gives Hollywood Hulk Hogan Undisputed title
0 0 1 2 WWE fails to book long term angles
0 0 1 2 Vince Russo takes over NWA-TNA
REJECTED
2 2 0 "Tie" votes
CHAD SIMMONS: So many choices... This was the toughest category of the
entire 45 by far.
RINGMISTRESS: I'm not even gonna comment, I think the choices definitely
speak for themselves.
DONNIE VOMIT: Did Vince expect that "lethal posion" to dissipate so
quickly? Scott Hall wrestled sporadically and was promptly fired. Kevin
Nash is being paid exorbinantly for the 18 seconds of ring work he did back
in July. The only one who accomplished anything of note was Hogan, and
that was only after the dead weight turned on him. And imagine everyone's
surprise when the SmackDown GM was announced. Stephanie somehow managed to
keep herself off of TV for all of two months before returning to fold to
drag the GM angle down. Literally. She's that fat.
DON L: Oh do I hate the WWE for bringing Lawler back to do commentating.
Also not crazy of giving the RAW title to HHH and have him be the shows
figurehead that the 2nd worst move. The 3rd worst is bringing back the NWO.
Actually any of these 3 crappy moves can be #1
SEAN SANCHEZ: Way to boost morale, WWE. Let Levesque lecture "the boys".
RICK SCAIA: The Fed's handling of their WrestleMania main event feud (HHH
vs. Jericho) was bafflingly bad; first they screwed things up by adding
ludicrous soap opera nonsense to the storyline, then they still sent the
two out there to be the final match at the WM PPV. The match played to a
mostly dead crowd, lending a very anti-climactic feel to the Fed's biggest
event of the year. Second worst move: the Fed's new choice of name. I
know the necessity of change was forced upon them, legally, but they could
have come up with something less weak-sounding than "WWE," if you ask me.
And what of the return of the New World Order? The nWo concept did have
value, but after the dreadful way it played out upon its return earlier
this year (due to injuries and backstage issues as much as anything,
admittedly), I think that value is gone. The nWo is done after this latest
mishandling.
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And now, the 'Netter-suggested awards...
Best website for news:
1st: pwTorch.com
2nd: WrestlingObserver.com
Best disgruntled wrestler-turned-internet columnist:
1st: Tom Zenk
2nd: Honkytonk Man
3rd: Bret Hart
4th: Ultimate Warrior
Best booked heel turn:
1st: Matt Hardy
2nd: Randy Orton
BEST TIME TRAVEL: John Philip Sousa goes back in time something like 200
years to make his "El Capitan" march (which is Chris Nowinski's entrance
music) Harvard's school song (what, you mean Jerry Lawler might be wrong
about his "facts"?)
FACT BEST FORGOTTEN BY THE BROCK-PUSHERS: It's pretty much agreed that the
only way Lesnar won an NCAA title was because he won the coin toss at the
start of the sudden-death period in his final (one wrestler starts in the
"down" position; if nobody can score in 30 seconds, whoever starts on top
wins); 90% of the time, whoever starts in the down position wins.
Promo of the year: Rock on Austin leaving, Jericho prior to Royal Rumble on
Smackdown and HBK vowing bloody Vengance on HHH at SummerSlam.
Best song for a Pay Per View:
I will fight (SummerSlam)
Downfall (Vengance)
Control (Survivor Series)
Rookie of the year: Brock Lesnar, Victoria, Maven
Worst Rookie of the year: John Cena, Jamie Noble and Randy Orton
Heckle of the year: "GET TO THE POINT", during a Shawn Michaels interview.
Funniest wrestling website (intentional): wrestlecrap.com
Funniest wrestilng website (unintentional): ultimatewarrior.com
Additional Award: The Worst Wrestlers who don't deserve to be in wrestling
anymore:
5. Big Show
4. Christohper Nowinski
3. Rico
2. William Regal
1. (tie) Scott Steiner and Hollywood Hulk Hogan
Not really a cathegory by the funniest sketch of the year was Goldust &
Booker T playing Crocodile Hunter, with X-Pac as grease rat.
Best promo: William Regal's "Look at me, I'm a Hulkamaniac!" promo.
Rookie of the year:
1. Brock Lesnar
2. Chris Nowinski
3. John Cena
Have you considered a "Best Brawl" in addition to "Best Match" ? (eg.
Shawn/HHH or HIAC, as compared to Angle vs anybody)
CRZ SEZ: SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!
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