It's that time of year again, yes it is time for me to give my own personal opinion about WWE figurative year, from the Raw after Wrestlemania 32 to Wrestlemania 33. Now I started doing these back in the years where NXT was growing and now it is a much more substanial brand with it showing up Main Roster most of the time, it has been a debate of mine about if I want to start including NXT in the WWE awards, but I think my conclusion has come to that this will stay as Main Roster only and I will probably start a new award blog for an actual End Of Year Awards as my viewership of wrestling has extended a huge amount over these past few years.
But let's get on with the 2016-17 Season Awards:
Best Moment Of The Year - The Hardy Boys Return at Wrestlemania 33
I think the biggest pop from me this year was the surprising and amazing return of Matt and Jeff Hardy, off the back of their best run since Wrestlemania 25 the little boy in me wept with joy as I watched two of my all-time favourite wrestlers take to the ring. The return is even more surprising when you realise the two had been in another ladder match for ROH Tag Team Titles the night before against best team in the world The Young Bucks. Truly WONDERFUL!
Worst Moment Of The Year - Roman Reigns entering at number 30 in the Royal Rumble
"Could it be Finn Balor!? He is back! He returned on a house show last week! Maybe it's Samoa Joe, I'm ok with that too, he isn't on the card and he needs to look more like a monster. Maybe it's someone INSANE like Kurt Angle or something, he is gonna be in the Hall Of Fame. Oh..oh here we goo! 5..4..3..2..1...
For fuck's sake."
Best PPV Of The Year - Wrestlemania 33
This year I was adamant that we would get another PPV which would be better than Wrestlemania but alas the instant classic that was 33 has blown everything else out of the water, maybe it was the fact that 32 was a lack luster and disappointing event but this years card was stacked to the brim with great bouts including Styles/Shane, Rollins/Triple H, Tag Team Ladder Match and even the heart breaking Reigns/Undertaker all made the event what it was. Though I do think it would be unfair if I didn't shoutout some of the runners up which all would've won the award by themselves if it wasn't for the year being so stacked of great PPVs, Battleground and Survivor Series, as well as most of the Smackdown Live exclusive PPVs.
Worst PPV Of The Year - Roadblock
A PPV where nothing was good and everything was mediocre, and overall most of the RAW exclusive PPVs were the same, but they all had one good match, Hell in a Cell had Owens/Rollins, Clash Of Champions had Roman/Rusev, Fastlane had Neville/Gallagher, sadly Roadblock didn't have one of these.
Best Debut Year (formerly Rookie Of The Year) - Alexa Bliss
Looking back at this award, especially last years winner Kevin Owens, it felt unfair to be calling these already pre-made stars 'rookies' so I thought a better way to state it was the Best Debut Year, someone who debuted on Main Roster in this year and has made the biggest impact and the best run.
There were a couple no-brainers you could've put here but all of it unfair to me, Finn Balor should have had this award but his shoulder injury that took him out for the rest of the year after his debut a month before made it impossible for me in good conscience give it to him. We had Baron Corbin who had a good year but not great, he also debuted at Mania 32, and if we're sticking by the rules that I have for this (which we should) that means he debuted last year. So the only person left I feel is worthy of having this award is Alexa Bliss. Someone who's potential was so obvious in NXT but never capitalised on enough, here on Main Roster though, she made the Smackdown Live Women's Division worth watch every week. Her matches with Becky Lynch, Mickie James and Naomi have all been good, entertaining matches and she has been the most entertaining women on the whole Main Roster. I think she will be known to be cornerstone of this resurgence in women's wrestling in a decades time.
Superstar Of The Year - AJ Styles
It's har to put anyone else in this spot and it might be hard for AJ to be toppled of this award in the future too. His debut last year was my shock of the year but because he was only around for 3 months I didn't feel it fair to give him a shot here, but thi year he has proven and cemented himself as the best wrestler in the world period. Some may argue that his Bullet Club replacement Kenny Omega is better in-ring but I don't believe there is anyone better overall as a wrestling performer than AJ Styles right now. Sone od his highlights this year include, some stellar matches like Roman Reigns at Payback and Extreme Rules, Having one of the best feuds of the year with John Cena, winning the WWE Championship etc. It couldn't go to anyone better.
Underutilised Star Of The Year (formerly Superstar who needs a push) - Luke Harper
I've decided to change the name of this award because I think the previous name was just a bad name, and this new name more correctly describes what I'm looking at, someone with potential who is getting little to no air time and has potential to do something great.
So there is a couple of obvious choices like Cesaro, but his teaming with Sheamus and before that the Best Of 7 series aloud him to have some kind of push and be on Raw every week. I'm more looking for some one who had opportunities, pulled it out of the bag and then didn't get a push because the company decided not to take it further. I think the best example of this has been Luke Harper, he was always considered the best out of the 3 other members of The Wyatt Family and this year has shown it once again. His feud with Orton and Wyatt has allowed him to look like a major contender in the WWE Championship, and in my personal opinion he should've been in the Mania match making it a triple threat and probably not a bad match. I think in the next year Harper should get the IC or US belt once again, hell give him the Money In The Bank! I think he is 100% worth it.
Woman Of The Year - Alexa Bliss
Let's be honest here, I'm sure some of you think any of the Four Horsewomen, especially Charlotte maybe deserves this more this year, and I think you could have an argument their, but Charlotte has never stuck out to me as the best of the four, Sasha has been in a dull maze of booking and Bayley had poor handling since debuting on Main Roster, the closest to winning this is Becky Lynch who is a great face but not as good as Alexa is Heel. Alexa has completely blown the rest of the women out of the water.
See Best Debut Year for more
Team Of The Year - The New Day
For a second year running I have to give this award to The New Day, this year however it is kind of a sad reason why. In a company where we have some of the most gifted wrestlers and teams in the world, no team really had a stand out year in my opinion. Even with teams like Cesaro & Sheamus, The Club, American Alpha, The Usos and Breezango, none of them got a chance to shine more than The New Day who's year was fairly dull also. They did break the all time Tag Championship record and that is truly commendable especially as they didn't get boring throughout. But with the Smackdown Tag division basically being non-existent and Raw's being mediocre it's hard to be excited about anyone winning this award. Let's hope this next year is a bit better.
Heel Of The Year - AJ Styles
AJ Styles had been known for not being a good talker back in the glory days of TNA, and even though that was such a long time ago it was still an opinion lots of people had. But if it wasn't for his microphone work AJ Styles would not have been the best heel this year. AJ had a subtle gimmick of just being 'Best in the World' he never really needed to stoop low to underhanded tactics like Seth Rollins did a year earlier, the subtle nature of the gimmick with the attitude of 'No one can dispute I'm the best because I am' made the whole character convincing and layered.
See Superstar Of The Year for more
Face Of The Year - Chris Jericho
This was a hard one for me, I always seem to gravitate towards heel superstars as some of my favourites, but of the short period that Chris Jericho was face this year he did a superb job. He was mainly heel throughout the year and it was probably his best run for a long time, but I had to give the award to AJ, but he was also a great face considering how short a time period he was one, the feud with Kevin Owens was probably the second best this year and it wouldn't have been half feud it was if it wasn't for Chris Jericho. Seth Rollins was a close competitor for this but his face run had been dull and full of dick and poop jokes until the build for his Mania match which was one of my favourite feuds of the year also.
Shock Of The Year - Goldberg defeating Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series
I went into this match with no enthusiasm, I didn't hate Goldberg I actually quite enjoyed him on Raw, but I didn't think he was going to be very good in-ring, especially against Brock Lesnar, someone who I haven't really enjoyed since Mania 32 when he had a bad match against Dean Ambrose which should've been a barn-burner. But when I watched Goldberg beat Lesnar is such quick and cpnvincing fashion I completely lost my mind, the idea that WWE would book this match the way they did was an insane concept and it was one of the best parts of this past year
Match Of The Year - AJ Styles vs John Cena at Summerslam
This year was full of amazing matches, most have been over looked due to the sheer amount of amazing matches from other companies as well. My personal favourite coming from NXT and their tag division. But as main roster goes my favourite had to be AJ Styles vs John Cena at Summerslam, a purely amazing match that made the long show into something truly enjoyable. Some other matches that deserve a shoutout, Owens/Zayn at Battleground, Men's Survivor Series Match, Balor/Rollins at Summerslam, Both Styles/Reigns Matches, Styles/Cena at Rumble, Styles/Shane at Mania, HHH/Rollins at Mania and Ziggler/Miz at No Mercy.
Feud Of The Year - AJ Styles vs John Cena
It is kind of hard not to give this feud the award as it basically span the whole year and will probably continue into next year. The subtle story of 'TNA guy' vs 'WWE guy' has been a dream match among many for a long time and unlike previous 'dream matches' where they never lived up to expectations, this match did exactly that and on more than one occasion. Promo wars every week on Smackdown and matches every other month allowed it to be the most compelling feud of this year.
See Match Of The Year for more
And that's it for this year, something I think need shouting out from this year but I didn't get a chance too, The Miz's Talking Smack promo on Daniel Bryan, Miz has had a great year including the Dolph Ziggler feud he had. Chris Jericho has had the best run of his career this year and his pairing and subsequent feud with Kevin Owens has been another highlight of this year.
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