Best Wrestler: Chris Jericho Best Tag Team: Chris Jericho & Big Show Best Heel: Chris Jericho Best Babyface: Jeff Hardy Best Worker: Chris Jericho Best Flyer: Evan Bourne Best Technical Wrestler: Kurt Angle Best Brawler: Undertaker Most Favourite Wrestler: Chris Jericho Most Improved Wrestler: Miz Most Overrated Wrestler: Triple H Best Wrestling Gimmick: CM Punk as a Straight Edge savior Best Wrestling Move: Evan Bourne's Air Bourne shooting star press Best Match: 04/05/09 Undertaker v. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania) Best Feud: CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy Worst Wrestler: The Great Khali Worst Tag Team: Brie & Nikki Worst Heel: Mick Foley Worst Babyface: The Great Khali Worst Worker: The Great Khali Least Favourite Wrestler: Triple H Most Deteriorated Wrestler: Kevin Nash Most Underrated Wrestler: Evan Bourne Worst Wrestling Gimmick: Miss WrestleMania Santina Marella, Santino's twin sister Worst Wrestling Move: Hornswoggle's Tadpole Splash frog splash Worst Match: 07/19/09 Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmell (Victory Road 09) Worst Feud: Chavo Guerrero vs. Hornswoggle Most Disappointing News item: Death of Mitsuharu Misawa Most Obnoxious Personality: Abraham Washington Best Second: Natalya Best Announcer: Jim Ross Best Colour Commentator: Matt Striker Best Interviewee: Chris Jericho Best Angle: CM Punk wants to rescue us from Jeff Hardy Best Organization: WWE Best TV Show: WWE Smackdown Best Major Show: 04/05/09 WWE WrestleMania 25 Best Promotional Move: WWE books Undertaker vs. Michaels match for WrestleMania Worst Second: Jenna Morasca Worst Announcer: Michael Cole Worst Colour Commentator: Don West Worst Interviewee: The Great Khali Worst Angle: Thanks to guests hosts, Chavo Guerrero no match for Hornswoggle Worst Organization: TNA Worst TV Show: TNA Impact! Worst Major Show: 07/19/09 TNA Victory Road 09 Worst Promotional Move: TNA hires same players that brought about the demise of WCW
Were there so few tag teams this year that they named the Bella twins as worst tag team? I'd give that honour to Finlay and Hornswoggle.
The worst news item...shouldn't that share the same thing as worst promotional move, which is hiring Death (whoops, Bischoff and Hogan) to "run" TNA? With that said, there has to be a "best" promotional move...which is, what? The lower cost of house show tickets, or the guest host idea on RAW? I dunno.
I also don't agree with Hornswoggle's splash as worst move - I honestly believe they give it that distinction because Horny's being mocked all this time. It looks like it could hurt; having something fall one one's midsection at such height, when you're not bracing for it, could hurt. It's not one of those "OMGWTF?!?!?!!1!oneoneone" shocker moves, but it's not as lame, as say....Shawn Michaels using the back suplex as his finisher when he first broke up with the Rockers.
How can CM Punk win for best gimmick and best storyline, but not as best heel? And how can JeriShow win as best tag team when they're a fairly recent grouping? Beer Money Inc should have easily won that - they're awesome as heels and are surprizingly entertaining as faces.
I call JeriShow/Beer Money a push due to JeriShow only being together since July and no push for Beer Money. WM 25 may go down as the most overrated Mania to date. HBK/Taker was good, but it wins due to actually no great matches this year, plus a general biased against TNA in the voting. I loved the X-Division match for Lockdown and I thought AJ/Joe/Daniels was very good as well. I can't disagree with Jericho's awards as well most of the others, but TNA Impact worst show with all that has happened on Raw this year is retarded. I remember when this was one of the be all end all of end of the year awards, now not so much. Probably due to very few people voting in it and remembering to vote in it.
You see, I was going to put a part in my original post about how "True" fans will scream the X-Division is nothing, but "spotfests". Yet, I thought, you know what no one is going to be that smarky about it since all matches are spot fests. Thanks for proving me wrong, Amos. I didn't say it was better then HBK/Taker either. HBK/Taker is a good match, but it has a lot to due with HBK kicking out of the Tombstone and Taker fucking up his dive outside the ring. If you removed those "spots" from the match, it would be an average match. The entrances really were the best part of the match. In the TNA matches, I didn't know who was going to win which unlike Taker/HBK, you had a good idea that Taker was going to walk out with the win, especially with the 17-0 T-Shirts with the Taker cross through Shawn's Heart symbol that was on shopzone on the Monday before Mania.
A "spotfest" is absolutely a valid description of the typical X Division match. No flow, in-ring storytelling or psychology, just highspot after highspot. It's not some nebulous term with no real connotations to it.
I'm not really sure how to argue with someone who thinks that the entrances were the best part of HBK/UT. It was the absolute pinnacle of the classic North American heavyweight-style pro-wrestling match. Dramatically staged, perfect selling, absolutely perfect timing of all the big moves and comebacks and out-of-ring shenanigans, a molten crowd, excellent psychology....it IS pro-wrestling.
Oh, and if good matches were made by people kicking out of the Tombstone, then WMXIV had a five-star classic between 'Taker and Kane.
Perfect timing of all the moves, did you see Taker almost break his neck after the dive? If this is the best North American can offer, then we are screwed. Did you see the X-Division match or going off what other TNA haters are saying about their matches? I thought there was some great storytelling in that match with everyone trying to destroy Suicide. I thought most if not all the "spots" were picture perfect. People have to realize that every move in wrestling is a spot, is it as high risk as others, no, but its still a spot. I will say that HBK kicking out of the Tombstone was the WTF? moment of the match. After that it stated really taking off prior to that it was a good match even with Taker's screw-up. Kane kicking out of the Tombstone made him look good in what was a glorified squash of a match.
Man. For WWE, No Way Out, Backlash, Judgment Day, Extreme Rules, and SummerSlam were all better than Wrestlemania.
HBK/Taker was good, but it wins due to actually no great matches this year
I think Undertaker/Shawn, Rey/Jericho title vs. mask, and Cena/Edge last man standing would be worthy winners in any year. The Jeff/Edge and Jeff/Punk ladder matches, Rey/Morrison, and the two Elimination Chambers were pretty great too.
Also, Misawa dying was a ... disappointment, sure. But was it as disappointing as Edge getting hurt and ending the Rated Y2J tag team longterm plans before they even got started? I say definitely not!
(For the recs I generally agree with everything else on the list.)
I actually haven't seen WM25, but I thought it was generally regarded as a disappointment besides HBK/Taker. I personally enjoyed Extreme Rules, Backlash, and whatever show TNA just did last month.
I gave a lot more love to Jeff Hardy than a lot of people. His peak was just higher than anyone elses this year. I'm shocked he finished 6th in Best Wrestler, but hey what do I know?
These are always fun though, thanks for keeping them alive Zed.
Edit: I also can't get behind The Miz winning most improved two years running. He didn't get that good, and if anything he might have even taken a step back from last year.
Originally posted by lotjxPerfect timing of all the moves, did you see Taker almost break his neck after the dive? If this is the best North American can offer, then we are screwed. Did you see the X-Division match or going off what other TNA haters are saying about their matches? I thought there was some great storytelling in that match with everyone trying to destroy Suicide. I thought most if not all the "spots" were picture perfect. People have to realize that every move in wrestling is a spot, is it as high risk as others, no, but its still a spot. I will say that HBK kicking out of the Tombstone was the WTF? moment of the match. After that it stated really taking off prior to that it was a good match even with Taker's screw-up. Kane kicking out of the Tombstone made him look good in what was a glorified squash of a match.
(edited by lotjx on 14.12.09 1115)
I catch maybe one TNA a month, so I can say, there is generally no story lines in any of the spot fest matches. Everybody was trying to kill Suicide? Why should I, as a casual fan, care? When I've seen all the lightweight fliers that TNA throws in these spot fests get up repeatedly after taking supposedly serious looking moves, with little to no effect, it looses the move's impact.So, a bunch of hullaballoo about a spotfest where somebody actually might look as if they are selling a beatdown, misses the point. Changing how a guy reacts to a asskicking to "logical" doesn't make it a great match, or make the 'story' any better. Just different.
So, you didn't watch the match, you admit there was a storyline in the match that he didn't watch and with a company where Cena is their top star, you care complaining about selling. Wow, just wow.
It's amazing to me how much timing has to do with these awards. I was the only one to vote for Kizarny as "worst gimmick," and I'm going to assume it was because it was almost a year ago (when voting took place). I can't believe no one else voted for him though. Same with fake Sarah Palin and the Beautiful People for worst angle- it was "worst angle of the year candidate" when it happened, but it seems because it didn't happen in the last few months, no one remembered and I was again the only one to vote for it. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
As for the winners....I could make a case for others here and there, but can also see an argument for all the winners too. No major complaints there.
It looks like the AJ/Joe/Daniels match is out of the time frame and ineligible this year. Without it in the running, yeah, Undertaker vs. Michaels is it.
If it was eligible, I'd have a tough time deciding between the two. The Undertaker/Michaels match had a lot of emotional import to it that made it special in a way that TNA just doesn't have the history to match.
I liked AJ/Joe/Daniels more, personally, I think, but I could go either way.
--K
Last 5 movies seen: The Hangover *** - Public Enemies ***1/2 - The Fountain ** - Gigantic *** - The Heartbreak Kid (1972) **1/2
ScottChrist: I would say that the matches actually resemble a mixture of WWE with some old-time Memphis wrestling. About a 85%/15% mix, in favor of the WWE. With Cornette and Danny Davis in charges, you can probably figure out what that 15% is there.