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
FOURTEENTH year for the Awards.
This year we received 133 ballots. Scott Keith managed to sneak in a
mention of the awards in his blog, so big sarcastic thanks to him for
rubing it up. Despite that, given the interest level in pro wrestling in
2003, this is actually a pretty good number of ballots.
Thanks to my employer, XO Communications, for giving me so little to do
that I could tally votes.
Thanks to radiok.org, BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix and ESPN Radio for
providing the soundtrack.
Thanks to Kim...just 'cause. :)
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:
With my site on semi-permanent hiatus, The Cubs Fan's site is the place
to go to find all the dates and times of WWE matchups in 2003
The Wrestling Supercards & Tournaments Web Page
The Great Hisa's Puroresu Dojo
Rev. Ray's Page of 1,000 Holds
rspw.org - for all sorts of links, including links the 1990-2002 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!!!!
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This entire document copyright 2003 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 .
First, a few general comments...
JASON KREITZER: The fact that so much of the worst stuff this year
involved the McMahons says it all.
NADZILLA 333: Overall, a pretty piss-poor year to be a wrestling fan.
HACK-MAN: I can't believe I didn't vote for HHH in any of the "worst"
categories.
C FRARACCI: This past year has been a really bad one for the WWE. If it
wasn't for certain stars (Cena, Angle, Guerrero, Jericho, Christian, the
divas) I'd have given up on it and just watched TNA. TNA has had bad
things this year as well, but the WWE is supposed to be the leader and
they've made a lot of fans upset this year. With Triple H constantly
running things on RAW the show has no chance to improve. Guys are held
down and prevented from shining. RVD, Jericho, Booker, etc should be moved
up and given a chance to show what they can do. If Vince doesn't start
cultivating and utilizing his young talent he could see a mass exodus of
young stars in 2004. If TNA can fix their biggest problems, Jarrett as
champ and no TV deal, TNA could become the big challenger for the WWE and
could steal some big names in the new year. I hope TNA can land that TV
deal and challenge Vince, maybe with competition WWE could finally be
enjoyable again. This year I've had a hell of a time just watching the
shows, I usually have to do other stuff just to stay awake. I find myself
drifting back to the computer or changing channels and watching
picture-in-picture till something good happens. 2004 is going to be a make
or break year not just for WWE but wrestling in general.
JON RICHARDSON: I left a number of categories blank because there just
wasn't an awful lot that was either good or bad this year. I suppose
that's what I get for not watching wrestling from Mexico or Japan. Or TNA
for that matter. The WWE had so many ideas that were good in premise but
absolutely horrible in execution this year. Maybe next year will be
better. Or maybe next year I'll learn to just stop watching......
CRIMEFIGHTER: This is my second year filling out this entire ballot, and
my first year commenting on all the votes. Turn out last year was under
100, and I had decided to forward the nomination calls to various message
boards of wrestling sites in a bid to increase overall turnout. That has
yielded some nominations from indies, but I do not feel any one of them
will "steal" an award. We shall see. Considering that the WWE is the
only game in town on a national level, the only way to see anything
different these days is live in a town that airs one of the indy
promotions, or watch matches delivered through streaming video on the
Internet. I personally have been reviewing matches I've found available
through the net that are free to watch, though outside of Toryumon I
haven't seen much that really set the world on fire yet. I figured the
best way to vote is start with #45 and work my way up to #1.
DAN: The main problem plaguing the WWE is the pointless continuation of
the "brand extension". It didn't work from a creative or business
standpoint and their main event properties (Raw/Smackdown) suffer from a
watered down product with simply not enough wrestling.
A-MOL: The main problem for me with this ballot is that, as a UK viewer,
my only reference for top class wrestling is the WWE. This means that all
my votes are based on WWE wrestlers and shows.
CHRIS BIRD: Hoo boy. This was a hell of a year - the worst year for
wrestling since 1999 in terms of content, except now all the
mouth-breathing idiots who were vigorously stroking themselves when Road
Dogg yelled at them or when they booked the "This Is Your Life" segment
have since moved on to actual porn or possibly SlamBall, so the WWE is
bleeding money. Great news, really. Anyway, I'm just taking a moment to
address something that didn't make any of my Best or Worst lists - the
brand split by the WWE. It didn't make any of my Worst lists because the
basic idea is an excellent one: in the absence of a viable second
promotion to allow talent to circulate and new stars to be created, create
that viable second promotion yourself and reap all the benefits of
competition while in reality having a monopoly. However, it didn't make
any of my Best lists because while the idea is excellent, the execution
has been poor, as the number of main-event wrestlers has somehow dropped
despite there being more potential main-eventers than ever AND in a year
where the two biggest, Steve Austin and the Rock, more or less dropped out
of wrestling full-time to be occasional attractions. So instead of there
being one major federation with a stagnant top tier, there's two. Truly a
bumbling clusterfuck of the highest nature, which just shows that there is
no idea that is good - hiring Goldberg, buying WCW, et cetera - that the
WWE braintrust cannot screw up royally. And that is depressing. Other than
that, this was also the year where NWA TNA really started to make its bid
as a serious competitor. It's not there yet - maybe in two years' time -
but right now NWA TNA is where ECW was in 1995, for better or for worse.
MICHAEL FISCHER: Just a general comment, it cannot be a good sign for the
wrestling business when I can think of more than enough for every worst
category while I have to struggle to come up with any bests.
EDDIE BURKETT: No one had a truly stand out/break out year, so it was hard
to pick for a lot of the best of categories. Even the stuff that was bad
(aside from some of the angles) wasn't bad so much as it was bland.
Having attended several Ring Of Honor shows live during the year, and
watching primarily Raw has biased my voting. I didn't feel right voting
on the major shows since I didn't see much of what was eligible. Nor did
I feel right voting for the tv shows since I mostly watched just the WWE.
And while I'm sure there are terrible organizations out there, I didn't
see them myself, so I didn't feel like voting for them. And I couldn't
think of any wrestling move that anyone does that is patently offensive to
me this year. Overall, it was a rather mediocre year, but I think the
stage is being set for next year to be exciting.
MH GARDNER: Another fine year of sportz entertainment! I'm a fan of TNA,
but I've never seen an eppy, so I relinquish the right to vote on anything
TNA related. Otherwise AJ Styles, Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, AMW, among
others would be on my lists.
JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: The year 2003, ironically was both one of the worst
for wrestling and yet had some of the better matches in years. WWE
continued its downward slide but churned out some great matches like
Benoit/Angle, HBK/Jericho, Eddie/Tajiri v.s. Team Angle, and Lesnar/Angle.
NWA-TNA had a peak with a lot of very good wrestling and a couple
memorable angles, but quickly went down the toilet at the end of the
voting period. Several prominent indies were raided by TNA and WWE. A
real bright spot was OVW which put on some of the best TV of the year.
In general, no national company had any great storylines or feuds to place
around the matches. That, coupled with poor booking and a lack of long-
term planned made this a frustating year for wrestling fans.
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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
**2003**: Kurt Angle
133 first place votes
132 second place votes
132 third place votes
58 33 9 407 Kurt Angle
23 16 20 203 Chris Jericho
18 23 15 189 Eddie Guerrero
6 15 16 107 Chris Benoit
5 6 22 87 Brock Lesnar
6 4 9 60 AJ Styles
2 7 4 39 Shawn Michaels
4 0 0 20 Kenta Kobashi
2 1 0 13 Hiroyoshi Tenzan
0 1 5 13 Raven
0 2 3 12 John Cena
1 2 0 11 Shocker
0 3 1 11 Trish Stratus
0 3 1 11 Triple H
0 1 3 9 Matt Hardy
0 2 1 8 Homicide
1 0 1 7 Ultimo Guerrero
1 0 1 7 Kory Twist
1 0 1 7 Christopher Daniels
1 0 1 7 Chris Hero
0 2 0 6 Jeremy Lightfoot
0 0 3 6 Rey Mysterio
1 0 0 5 Samoa Joe
1 0 0 5 Mammoth Sasaki
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
1 0 0 5 Cade Sydal
0 1 1 5 Yoshihiro Takayama
0 1 1 5 Rey Bucanero
0 1 0 3 Yuji Nagata
0 1 0 3 Tajiri
0 1 0 3 Stevie Richards
0 1 0 3 Rock
0 1 0 3 Rob van Dam
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke
0 1 0 3 Mad Mikey
0 1 0 3 Koji Kanemoto
0 1 0 3 KENTA
0 0 1 2 Vince McMahon
0 0 1 2 Undertaker
0 0 1 2 Steve Corino
0 0 1 2 Ric Flair
0 0 1 2 Paul London
0 0 1 2 Michael Shane
0 0 1 2 Kintaro Kanemura
0 0 1 2 Kane
0 0 1 2 Hulk Hogan
0 0 1 2 Hiroshi Tanahashi
0 0 1 2 Goldberg
0 0 1 2 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 0 1 2 Bryan Danielson
0 0 1 2 Ace Steel
PAUL ZOROVICH: Oh Lordy, here we go again. Just like last year, Kurt
Angle and Eddy Guerrero will be all over my ballot -- and we start with
the very first category.
PAUL FONTAINE: I am certainly not a Triple H fan, but something has to be
said for holding the belt for the greater part of the year, and keeping us
believing that he could(and should) lose it at any time. I shudder to
think what the internet comments would've been back in the 80's with Flair
constantly keeping his belt against the flavour de jour.
JON RICHARDSON: The best wrestler is the one that puts on the best matches
while delivering the most entertaining promos. This year that can only be
Kurt Angle. Even while missing 2 months with neck surgery he busted his
ass night in and night out. Second and Third go to Benoit and Eddie
Guerrero, though ranking one above the other is near impossible. I
finally chose Benoit because he was consistently booked with worse
opponents (2 months of A-Train for instance) and carried them all to
decent matches, while Eddie had a slightly easier time for most of the
year.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Kurt Angle liked or hated, puts on the best matches.
Chris Benoit close second.
YNAE316: I give Jericho the nod as he was consistently the top performer
for the entire year. He may be smothered by Triple H on Raw, but he
consistently had the best matches and promos. Angle comes in second
because he was out part of the year, otherwise I would have given it to
him. Eddie Guerrero rounds out my picks due to his stellar year.
CHRIS BIRD: Kurt Angle is so far ahead of everybody else in this category
that I'm not sure who's ever going to be able to contend with him for the
next few years, barring a major injury. Maybe if Brock Lesnar ever becomes
a real draw. Maybe.
TEXAS KELLY: Chris Jericho - the only true candidate.
SCOTT CHRIST: It was a tough pick this year, because I'm an American
wrestling fan, and there hasn't really been a standout MVP in WWE. So I
did something I'm still having trouble with - I voted for AJ Styles. I
simply think that during the timeframe, he has been the most important
wrestler to an American company. He made their belt seem worthy, which
they desperately needed, and it didn't hurt that neither of WWE's seemed
all that important during the year. My #2 was Kurt Angle, who is a
superior everything to Styles, but his time spent off with an injury drops
him down a notch. Brock Lesnar at #3, he had a year that cemented him as
the future of the company.
AERO: WWE finally gave Eddie Guerrero a push and he delivered, hopefully
the recent influx of roid monsters won't keep Eddie back because he proved
he can be a top level guy in 2003.
JOHN DONALDSON: Forget Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles is "The Next Big Thing"
in wrestling. Turning down Vince McMahon may have been a great career
move. In terms of trying to beat the odds of lacking size, he's the next
generation's Shawn Michaels.
ED BRANSCOMB: I've got to give this to Kenta Kobashi who is so good just
facing and teaming with him seems to have raised Tamon Honda's game to the
point where his matches are worth watching. Kobashi had several classics
this year vs. Misawa, Nagata, Chono, etc.
RICK SCAIA: Brock Lesnar was the most important performer on WWE's
stronger roster. It's that simple. There was no point during the voting
year in which Lesnar was not entrenched in the WWE Title picture. Along
the way, he put on a bunch of solid matches (including at least three
surprising outings against the presumably lost cause that was the Big
Show), and also matured into a very capable heel performer. Eddie
Guerrero gets big points for a breakthrough year: he excelled in singles
and tag settings, and proved to be so strong a fan favorite that a WWE
attempt to turn him heel failed. Chris Jericho rounds out the list by
being the indisputable MVP of RAW: he held any number of storylines
together (including the late year campaign against Austin, a killer feud
with Shawn Michaels, and more) as a bankable heel, and could always be
counted on for top shelf mic work and matches.
RYAN FAULCONER: Kenta Kobashi has been so great this year. He brought so
much charisma just by wrestling. Shocker is still the man in CMLL but the
tapes were harder to get so he gets second. Eddy Guerrero is the complete
sports entertainment package - even the limiting gimmick couldn't hold him
back in 2003.
BUNK: 3rd: Ric Flair - who put over more people in constructive matches
this year?
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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
**2003**: Self-Proclaimed World's Greatest Tag Team - Shelton Benjamin &
Charlie Haas (Team Angle)
132 first place votes
130 second place votes
129 third place votes
42 34 20 352 Self-Proclaimed World's Greatest Tag Team - Shelton Benjamin &
Charlie Haas (Team Angle)
33 36 16 305 Los Guerreros - Eddie & Chavo
16 15 16 157 America's Most Wanted - Chris Harris & James Storm
8 8 8 80 Dudley Boyz - Bubba Ray & D-Von
2 6 16 60 Chris Jericho & Christian
4 5 9 53 Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit
3 4 4 35 Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri
5 1 0 28 Guerreros del Infierno - Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero
2 3 3 25 Triple X - Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper
2 3 1 21 Kane & Rob van Dam
2 2 2 20 Booker T & Goldust
3 0 1 17 Road Warriors - Hawk & Animal
3 0 0 15 Jushin Liger & Koji Kanemoto
2 1 0 13 KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji
1 0 4 13 Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger
0 0 5 10 Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman
1 0 2 9 Trish Stratus & Lita
0 1 2 7 Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito
0 1 2 7 Briscoe Brothers - Jay & Mark
0 0 3 6 Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore
1 0 0 5 Timid & Pizon
1 0 0 5 Irish Drinking Team - Ian Knoxx & Chris Stylz
1 0 0 5 GOEMON & Onryo
0 1 1 5 La Resistance - Sylvain Grenier & Rene Dupre & Rob Conway
0 0 2 4 Basham Brothers - Doug & Danny
0 1 0 3 Yutaka Yoshie & Hiroshi Tanahashi
0 1 0 3 Samoan Island Tribe - Samu & Ekmo
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke & Kintaro Kanemura
0 1 0 3 Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade
0 1 0 3 Koji Kanemoto & Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 Habana Brothers - Rocky Romero & Bobby Quance & Puma Kid
0 1 0 3 Gail Kim & Trish Stratus
0 1 0 3 Diabolic Khaos
0 1 0 3 Backseat Boyz - Johnny Kashmere & Trent Acid
0 0 1 2 Ultimo Dragon & Funaki
0 0 1 2 Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero
0 0 1 2 Molly Holly & Gail Kim
0 0 1 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura
0 0 1 2 Hirotaka Yokoi & Kohei Sato
0 0 1 2 Hellfire Club - Machine & Botch (Gravediggers)
0 0 1 2 Goldust & Lance Storm
0 0 1 2 Christopher Street Connection - Buff-E & Mase Mendoza
0 0 1 2 Chris Benoit & Rhyno
0 0 1 2 APA - Faarooq & Bradshaw
0 0 1 2 AJ Styles & Amazing Red
0 0 1 2 A-Train & Big Show
C FRARACCI: Can Haas and Benjamin get any better? These two have dominated
since debuting and always put on a killer match, why they're not tag
champs is insane. Watching AMW is like the Hart Foundation in their prime,
I can see them being a dominant team for a long time. Simon and Swinger is
just a personal pick, they're two vastly underrated guys who can put on a
great show and do quality interviews.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Lita & Trish only tagged a couple of times, but they showed
pretty good chemistry and were better than most of the other tag teams I
saw. The Dudleyz ruled otherwise.
CRIMEFIGHTER: The two best wrestlers make up the best tag team. AMW is
the best regular tag team.
YNAE316: Harris and Storm are just THE best tag team out there today. It's
too bad that they don't have a wider platform to show what they got.
Eddie and Chavo are WWE's best team right now. They got the skills in the
ring and their "Cheat To Win" antics are always entertaining to watch.
Dudleyz round out my picks by default. They're stale, but they still got
the goods.
CHRIS BIRD: Chris Harris and James Storm aren't flashy like past winners
of this award, but America's Most Wanted is just one of the most solid
teams to come along in years - young, talented brawlers with good
storytelling skills and a lot of willingness to go the extra mile. And
they've got the match of the year under their belts, too. TNA was smart to
snap them up to an extended contract - these guys are the next Road
Warriors, mark my words.
SCOTT CHRIST: Went with Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas this year. They
just FELT like a tag team, which is getting increasingly rare this year.
Los Guerreros as the runner-up, and probably would have been my pick if
not for Chavo's time on the shelf. Third spot to America's Most Wanted,
who I think are a little overrated but good, and they've become part of
TNA's foundation.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: AMW exemplifies what WWE seems to have forgotten (but
fortunately, is slowly rediscovering): the "team" part of "tag team." Too
many other tag teams feel like two singles guys who just happen to be in
the ring together.
AERO: Smackdown had a great tag scene for most of the year led by the
Guerreros and Team Angle. The recent addition of Paul London and Spanky
will hopefully bring the tag scene back into focus.
JOHN DONALDSON: AMW is the most consistent tag team of 2003, Haas and
Benjamin would have warranted my vote here, but injury to Benjamin cost
them. Molly and Gail get a mention here because they had a stretch of
about a month where they were the best tag team on RAW. I'll give them
credit for that despite the fact they never faced any men. They could
give La Resistance a run for their money.
THE CUBS FAN: Even though they did less this year as compared to last, Rey
and Ultimo were still the tag team I'd pick to watch above all others.
RICK SCAIA: This one's a coin flip. Both Los Guerreros and Charlie
Haas/Shelton Benjamin were involved in about the same number of incredible
tag matches over the year, and were integral to the SD! brand tag title
picture. I give Eddie and Chavo the nod mostly because they always
brought great promos/mic work to the table, whereas Haas and Benjamin took
a bit of time after losing the "Team Angle" gimmick to find their own
voices. TNA's America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) are an
easy choice for #3; they exhibit exceptional tag team synergy in their
well-worked matches, are over with audiences, and are certainly the
standard bearers for TNA when it comes to tag work.
RYAN FAULCONER: Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito had too many good matches in
2003 to be considered anything but the best team this year.
BUNK: 3rd: The Basham Brothers - seriously - the gimmick is cheesy, but
they are entertaining workers
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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
**2003**: Chris Jericho
133 first place votes
132 second place votes
130 third place votes
39 25 14 298 Chris Jericho
7 11 20 109 John Cena
12 8 7 98 Triple H
9 7 15 96 Rock
10 9 9 95 Brock Lesnar
8 7 11 83 Matt Hardy
7 8 5 69 Vince McMahon
10 4 0 62 Kurt Angle
5 6 2 47 CM Punk
4 3 3 35 Eddie Guerrero
2 2 9 34 Kane
1 7 3 32 Christian
3 4 1 29 Randy Orton
1 4 3 23 Tajiri
1 4 1 19 Steve Corino
1 3 2 18 Jonathan Coachman
1 2 3 17 Christopher Daniels
1 1 3 14 Big Show
1 2 1 13 Ric Flair
0 2 2 10 Teddy Long
1 0 2 9 Victoria
1 1 0 8 Tadao Yasuda
0 2 1 8 Katsushi Takemura
1 0 1 7 Kazunari Murakami
0 1 2 7 Eric Bischoff
1 0 0 5 Test
1 0 0 5 Slim J
1 0 0 5 Nikki Strychnine
1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
1 0 0 5 Dr. Wagner Jr.
1 0 0 5 Cade Sydal
0 1 1 5 Satanico
0 1 1 5 Paul Heyman
0 0 2 4 Don Callis
0 1 0 3 Trent Acid
0 1 0 3 Stevie Richards
0 1 0 3 Shaniqua
0 1 0 3 Koji Kanemoto
0 1 0 3 Kintaro Kanemura
0 1 0 3 Jeff Jarrett
0 1 0 3 Butcher
0 0 1 2 Molly Holly
0 0 1 2 Messiah
0 0 1 2 Mat Maniac
0 0 1 2 Jushin Liger
0 0 1 2 Doug Basham
0 0 1 2 Agent Steele (IPW Florida)
C FRARACCI: No one can get a crowd going quite like Cena and his raps are
hilarious and the highlight of Smackdown. Matt Hardy, who knew he'd be the
star of the team. Jeff had the moves but Matt has the personality. I love
the Mattitude gimmick, deserves a lot more credit then he gets. Christian
is another who can garner heat without even trying.
PAUL ZOROVICH: John Cena's gimmick change has helped him tremendously.
He's the most over heel in WWE right now. HHH plays the part so well that
it's hard to think of him any other way now.
JON RICHARDSON: Best Heel this year was easily Chris Jericho. When the
crowd wanted to cheer him, he went out of his way to get hated. When he
was already hated, he went over the top to be even more hated. He quickly
made the Highlight Reel the most entertaining part of Raw, all be being an
ass.
CRIMEFIGHTER: John Cena's raps are things you love to hate.
YNAE316: Vince McMahon wins best heel by default because, sadly, he's the
one person who has the biggest push. As far as real wrestlers go, Jericho
turned in the best heel performance this year. Triple H was booked the
stronger heel so I give him third place, but I found Jericho's act way
better that Trips.
JOSH MANN: The fact that the Rock's heel run only lasted from February to
April and he STILL would get consideration as best heel of 2003 speaks
volumes over what a magnificent heel run it truly was. Had he stuck around
al year, it would have been no contest. He turned every catchphrase he
ever used on its ear, he made it a point to make sure that he would play
the heel at all times and was the most dominating presence every time he
was around, as opposed to a HHH, who needs to be a dominant presence by
push and force of will, as opposed to Rocky doing it without having to
work all that hard to do it.
MATTHEW HOCKING: How sad is it that the best heel on Smackdown is Vince
McMahon? It's not the booker's fault either. Brock Lesner is just not
convincing as a face or a heel when he's left alone, and Kurt Angle is too
popular to be a heel, but not that interesting as a face. The two best
heels on Smackdown this year (outside McMahon) were John Cena and Eddie
Guererro, who were also the show's top faces at the time. Big Show made a
run at the list, but Jericho and HHH have been the most convincing heels
for the longest amount of time in the voting period, so they get the nod.
SCOTT CHRIST: Well the real vote here is Vince McMahon, since he is out of
this world, but I like to stick to wrestlers for wrestler awards. No one
was in Lesnar's league as a heel this year. The brutal annihilations of
Spanky and Zach Gowen, and his turn itself, were pulled off wonderfully.
He works well on either side, but was a show-saving heel this year for the
SmackDown side. If his turn hadn't panned out, they were really stuck.
Second place to Tajiri, third to John Cena.
JOHN DONALDSON: As much as I despise non-wrestlers or part-time wrestlers
taking the spotlight away from the everyday wrestlers, they've done a
better job at being heels than those that wrestle all the time. If
there's one thing that Vince is good at, it's coming across evil on the
camera.
THE CUBS FAN: Rock's problem is that he's so entertaining of a heel that
he ends up turning face before long (and he's not as good at being a face
except for being the Rock.) Which doesn't help a lot in this category.
RICK SCAIA: Chris Jericho continues to astound me with his ability to say
and to do clever things, but then press the right buttons to keep fans
booing him. The creation of "The Highlight Reel" provided him the perfect
outlet to flex those heel muscles this year, and he's head and shoulders
above all others. The "Real" Brock Lesnar developed really well after his
mid-year heel turn, and seemed very comfortable and convincing in his
diatribes; an altogether more effective heel package than his mute "Next
Big Thing" gimmick in 2002. I don't care that he was only here for 3
months, The Rock gets my #3 vote; as annoying as he was as a fan favorite
in 2002, he was pure gold as a heel in this run, and made everybody around
him better for it.
RYAN FAULCONER: CM Punk is such a great heel. The talent he has cannot be
taught. You need to be born with it so he gets first. Steve Corino can
work the ROH crowd so that is good enough for second. Kazunari Murakami
is still a maniac and gets third.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Kurt Angle
133 first place votes
129 second place votes
128 third place votes
28 7 10 181 Kurt Angle
20 19 11 179 Eddie Guerrero
16 14 10 142 Booker T
7 16 13 109 Shawn Michaels
7 15 10 100 Rey Mysterio
6 12 12 90 Rob van Dam
9 7 8 82 Steve Austin
8 4 5 62 Goldberg
7 5 5 60 Raven
3 4 10 47 Trish Stratus
2 3 9 37 Hurricane
3 2 6 33 Spanky
2 4 2 26 Chris Benoit
2 2 0 16 Paul London
1 1 4 16 Hulk Hogan
2 0 0 10 Hijo del Santo
0 2 1 8 Goldust
1 0 1 7 Brock Lesnar
0 2 0 6 Maven
0 2 0 6 Kory Twist
0 0 3 6 Super Porky
1 0 0 5 Shocker
1 0 0 5 Nate Webb
1 0 0 5 Mammoth Sasaki
1 0 0 5 Kenta Kobashi
1 0 0 5 Kenny Campbell
1 0 0 5 John Cena
1 0 0 5 Jeremy Lightfoot
1 0 0 5 Hiroshi Tanahashi
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
0 1 1 5 Rock
0 1 0 3 Shinsuke Nakamura
0 1 0 3 Satanico
0 1 0 3 Onryo
0 1 0 3 Norman Smiley
0 1 0 3 Masahiro Chono
0 1 0 3 Lita
0 1 0 3 Edge
0 0 1 2 Yutaka Yoshie
0 0 1 2 Shane McMahon
0 0 1 2 Rikishi
0 0 1 2 Matt Sydal
0 0 1 2 Jerry Lynn
0 0 1 2 Dragon Kid
0 0 1 2 AJ Styles
C FRARACCI: Trish Stratus as I said before is the MVP of RAW, she makes
the show. It's not just her looks, but her athletism, her personality and
just the way she acts. She's come a long way from T&A to star of RAW (how
long till she gets attack by Triple H). Eddie Guerrero is just amazing,
I've been a fan of his since his WCW days. The man knows how to play the
crowd and puts on a helluva match every week. Why he had to drop both
belts to poor athletes like Show and Basham is just sad. Hurricane is just
to funny, from the facial expressions, the Hurrisense, etc. His matches
are great and hell he made Rosey entertaining, who knew?
PAUL ZOROVICH: Eddy 'n' Kurt make their second appearance on my ballot.
Booker T is the only face on the RAW roster that I find credible recently.
JON RICHARDSON: Booker T as best babyface? Why Not? He was a face all
year, the crowd absolutely loved him and he gave them exactly what they
wanted to see. He didn't act heelish, he didn't act wacky, he just went
out and entertained the crowd. Steve Austin is #2 because nobody can pop
a crowd like he does, Eddie Guerrero gets #3 for being so insanely over
the the WWE had to keep turning him face, despite their best efforts to
make him a heel.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Spanky really made you root for the underdog. Everyone
wants to see the spineroonie. And everyone goes R-V-D.
MICHAEL: Eddie Guerrero. Yes, I also put him in the Best Heel category.
He just brings a great presence and ability in whatever role he¹s cast in.
3rd: Super Porky. I'm telling you, put The Big Show in the same outfit,
have him come out to the same music and do the same dance and it's money
in the bank, baby!
YNAE316: I'm going with Booker T for top face this year. He consistently
performed as a Top Babyface this year and in my opinion should have gotten
a stronger push than the half-ass push he got going into Mania. Yes, he
should have gone over Triple H. I give Angle second place only because he
worked heel for the first half of the year, otherwise he was the
no-brainer pick for best face. I give Van Dam third place for much the
same reasons as Booker. He's another buried star who COULD have done sooo
much more (but was made Kane's bitch instead).
SCOTT CHRIST: I actually thought kind of hard about this, and I went with
Raven, with my reasoning being that I think he could walk into Nashville
and fart and 500 people would chant his name. For as much ridiculously
lame garbage as Raven came up with this year (Clockwork Orange House of
Fun? Dream Blood Gallows of Retribution?), the TNA fans just went with
him. Even the Shane Douglas feud, which was absolutely awful, was easy to
accept because the two had so much heat on it. I might have gone with
Shawn Michaels, who is my #2, if the Survivor Series '03 match had been in
the timeframe. Michaels is incredible as a neo-traditional babyface. Kurt
Angle third.
STEFAN TORNGREN: Eddie certainly isn’t the traditional babyface, but he
really got the crowd behind with his lie, cheat and steal persona, and
when they tried to turn him, they wouldn’t have it.
RICK SCAIA: An interesting dilemma this year. Guys like Austin, Hogan,
and Angle did not work full slates, although they probably are the three
who get the most reaction by doing the least. So I'm going to do
something odd and give Shawn Michaels my #1 Babyface vote. He did it all
year long, and was probably RAW's only really bankable babyface in that
span. Also, due to the vagaries of the voting year, he was a babyface
World Champ during the year. I think the case for HBK is strong. Of the
"all year long" performers on SD!, I'm going with Eddie Guerrero for #2;
his face turn pretty much coincided with the start of the voting year, and
he was so popular that fans would not let him turn heel. And of the
partial qualifiers, I'm pulling out Steve Austin for the #3 slot.
Because even if he was an active wrestler for only 3 months of the year,
the fact is that he was a weekly performer, and ALWAYS did a great job
firing up the audiences. If I could vote for Heyman as a top heel last
year, I don't feel bad at all about voting for Austin as a top babyface
this year.
RYAN FAULCONER: How can you boo someone like Spanky? You can't. He gets
first place. Paul London was a great underdog in ROH and gets second.
WWE crowds will dig him soon enough. Its hard to not get behind Dragon Kid
whenever he wrestles so he gets third.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Kurt Angle
132 first place votes
129 second place votes
127 third place votes
54 26 13 374 Kurt Angle
27 30 20 265 Chris Benoit
14 23 24 187 Eddie Guerrero
6 12 13 92 Chris Jericho
4 1 8 39 AJ Styles
4 3 2 33 American Dragon
1 4 8 33 Shawn Michaels
0 4 6 24 Brock Lesnar
2 3 2 23 Christopher Daniels
3 1 0 18 Homicide
2 1 1 15 Matt Hardy
2 1 1 15 Chris Hero
2 0 2 14 Kenta Kobashi
1 1 3 14 Rob van Dam
2 0 0 10 Hiroshi Tanahashi
0 2 2 10 Low Ki
0 1 3 9 Tajiri
0 1 3 9 Rey Mysterio
1 1 0 8 Shocker
1 0 1 7 Ultimo Guerrero
0 2 0 6 Yuji Nagata
0 2 0 6 Kory Twist
0 2 0 6 Jerry Lynn
1 0 0 5 Toshiaki Kawada
1 0 0 5 Raven
1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke
1 0 0 5 Lance Storm
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
1 0 0 5 Cade Sydal
0 1 1 5 Rey Bucanero
0 1 1 5 Christian
0 1 0 3 Tiger Mask
0 1 0 3 Slim J
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki
0 1 0 3 KENTA
0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 Hurricane
0 0 1 2 Shelton Benjamin
0 0 1 2 Ric Flair
0 0 1 2 Paul London
0 0 1 2 Nunzio
0 0 1 2 Koji Kanemoto
0 0 1 2 Jun Akiyama
0 0 1 2 John Walters
0 0 1 2 Jimmy Yang
0 0 1 2 Jeremy Lightfoot
0 0 1 2 Jeff Jarrett
0 0 1 2 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 0 1 2 Chad Collyer
0 0 1 2 Bob Sapp
C FRARACCI: AJ makes the TNA PPV worthwhile, no matter the opponent he's
the kind of guy to build the federation around. Should still be NWA
champion, not Jarrett. Kurt Angle can pull of great matches with anyone,
even A-Train and Big Show, if that's not talent what is? Guerrero, what
more can I say but more talent then the entire male RAW roster combined.
No matter who he faces he gives 100 percent and always makes the match
seem important.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Guess who? Yep, it's the Kurt 'n' Eddy Show, back in town
for a third appearance.
JON RICHARDSON: Best worker this year goes to Eddie Guerrero. He made
matches that should have been bad watchable, and made average matches
great. He brought up the ability of whoever he was facing and produced
consistent quality matches, even against stiffs like Big Show. Benoit &
Angle are 2nd and 3rd respectively, but have just as strong an argument
for #1.
YNAE316: Clearly, Angle, Benoit and Guerrero are the cream of the WWE's
crop.
SCOTT CHRIST: I love Kurt Angle and Eddy Guerrero and all kinds of people,
and it isn't a knock at anyone, but I still just don't think that anyone
in America has quite reached Chris Benoit's level as a worker. He's
unbelievable with everything he does. Everything looks meaningful and
violent. Benoit hits violently, he bumps violently, and he gets up from a
bump violently. Every motion has some sort of purpose, and that's
something I just don't think anyone else is quite there with. Angle is
second, followed by Eddy, who both had truly outstanding years, but I
think Benoit is still king.
VANILLASKY: Best Worker should have included Brock Lesnar. His ability to
make people look good by his insane selling had him ranked 2nd in my
opinion.
RYAN FAULCONER: I think its hard to say that anyone had better in ring
years in 2003 than Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama and KENTA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Rey Mysterio
129 first place votes
126 second place votes
125 third place votes
65 24 7 411 Rey Mysterio
8 18 10 114 Rob van Dam
12 8 11 106 AJ Styles
6 9 10 77 Paul London
8 7 6 73 Amazing Red
1 14 9 65 Spanky
2 7 5 41 Eddie Guerrero
5 1 6 40 Teddy Hart
2 5 1 27 Ultimo Dragon
1 3 6 26 Chris Sabin
1 3 6 26 Billy Kidman
2 1 3 19 Sonjay Dutt
1 4 1 19 Juventud Guerrera
0 1 6 15 Shannon Moore
1 1 3 14 Ricky Marvin
2 1 0 13 Dragon Kid
0 3 2 13 Michael Shane
2 0 1 12 Frankie Kazarian
0 0 5 10 Zach Gowen
0 2 1 8 Jody Fleisch
0 0 4 8 Tajiri
1 0 1 7 Matt Hardy
1 0 1 7 Jimmy Yang
1 0 1 7 Delirious
0 1 2 7 Christopher Daniels
0 1 2 7 Chris Jericho
0 2 0 6 Naomichi Marufuji
0 0 3 6 Lance Storm
1 0 0 5 Volador Jr.
1 0 0 5 Slim J
1 0 0 5 Onryo
1 0 0 5 Mascarita Sagarda Jr.
1 0 0 5 Lil Joe
1 0 0 5 KENTA
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
0 1 1 5 Matt Sydal
0 0 2 4 Hurricane
0 1 0 3 Undertaker
0 1 0 3 Spanish Red
0 1 0 3 Octagoncito
0 1 0 3 Nunzio
0 1 0 3 Kory Twist
0 1 0 3 Jamie Noble
0 1 0 3 Garuda
0 1 0 3 Curry Man
0 1 0 3 Bobby Quance
0 0 1 2 Ultimo Guerrero
0 0 1 2 Shane McMahon
0 0 1 2 Randy Orton
0 0 1 2 Low Ki
0 0 1 2 Justice (IPW Florida)
0 0 1 2 Jack Evans
0 0 1 2 CM Punk
0 0 1 2 Black Warrior
0 0 1 2 Billy McNeil
YNAE316: I give Mysterio the nod here. I've seen his act for years, but
he's still amazing to watch. Ditto with RVD. I'm giving Lance Storm
third place. While his "Dancing Fun Guy" gimmick sucks shit, at least it's
given him an opportunity to showcase a lot of the cool flying and
technical moves he couldn't as a heel, case in point, his Owen Hart like
springboards with obligatory Owen Hart "Woooo."
CHRIS BIRD: Jimmy Yang does things in the air that simply should not be.
SCOTT CHRIST: A.J. Styles gets my vote here, followed by Rey Misterio Jr.
and Chris Sabin. Most of these guys do a lot of the same stuff, so it's
hard to really pick, but I thought they were the three best. My order
could change depending on my mood, probably.
JOHN DONALDSON: Get your hands on a tape of the NWA-TNA Super X Cup show
or any event that matter that has a Teddy Hart match and you'll see why he
is the best flyer of 2003 hands down.
RYAN FAULCONER: I should really start using Dragon Kid, Naomichi Marufuji
and Ricky Marvin instead of the post office. They delivered it better
than anyone else by air in 2003.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Kurt Angle
133 first place votes
130 second place votes
129 third place votes
49 49 15 422 Kurt Angle
54 27 15 381 Chris Benoit
6 11 21 105 Eddie Guerrero
7 5 7 64 American Dragon
2 10 7 54 Brock Lesnar
1 3 14 42 Charlie Haas
1 1 11 30 Chris Jericho
0 3 8 25 Shelton Benjamin
3 0 1 17 Osamu Nishimura
2 1 2 17 Chris Hero
0 2 5 16 Tajiri
2 1 1 15 Yuji Nagata
1 1 1 10 Hijo del Santo
0 2 2 10 Chad Collyer
0 0 4 8 Lance Storm
0 2 0 6 Jeff Jarrett
0 2 0 6 Christopher Daniels
0 0 3 6 Low Ki
1 0 0 5 Ultimo Guerrero
1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke
1 0 0 5 John Walters
1 0 0 5 Jeremy Lightfoot
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
0 1 1 5 Shinsuke Nakamura
0 1 1 5 Jerry Lynn
0 0 2 4 Ric Flair
0 1 0 3 YOSSINO
0 1 0 3 Nunzio
0 1 0 3 Matt Stryker
0 1 0 3 Hiroshi Tanahashi
0 1 0 3 GOEMON
0 1 0 3 Doug Williams
0 1 0 3 Diamond Back Dingo
0 1 0 3 Blue Panther
0 0 1 2 Ultimo Dragon
0 0 1 2 Shawn Michaels
0 0 1 2 Paul London
0 0 1 2 Milano Collection AT
0 0 1 2 Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 Homicide
0 0 1 2 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 0 1 2 AJ Styles
PAUL ZOROVICH: Kurt and his two protegees, Charlie Haas and Shelton
Benjamin, get the nod here. Sure, Brock Lesnar was a college champ too,
but he's developed into more of a brawler in WWE.
YNAE316: Again, Angle, Benoit and Guerrero are the cream of the WWE's
crop.
SCOTT CHRIST: I don't think Angle is a better technical pro wrestler than
Chris Benoit, and I also think that's saying a ton, because Angle is
fantastic. Benoit and Angle are my 1-2, followed by Low Ki.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Brock Lesnar
131 first place votes
124 second place votes
120 third place votes
32 16 12 232 Brock Lesnar
21 13 14 172 Raven
16 20 16 172 Undertaker
8 10 12 94 Kane
7 8 7 73 Triple H
9 3 2 58 Chris Benoit
4 5 5 45 Kurt Angle
3 5 1 32 Bradshaw
3 3 1 26 Yoshihiro Takayama
4 1 1 25 Homicide
2 3 2 23 Goldberg
2 2 2 20 Eddie Guerrero
0 6 1 20 John Cena
1 2 2 15 Steve Corino
1 2 2 15 Samoa Joe
2 0 1 12 Satanico
1 1 2 12 Vince McMahon
1 1 2 12 Steve Austin
2 0 0 10 Steve Williams
2 0 0 10 Diamond Back Dingo
0 2 2 10 Matt Hardy
0 2 2 10 A-Train
0 1 3 9 Goldust
0 1 3 9 Bubba Ray Dudley
0 1 3 9 Big Show
1 1 0 8 Tommy Dreamer
1 1 0 8 Dr. Wagner Jr.
1 0 1 7 Shane McMahon
1 0 1 7 Kintaro Kanemura
0 0 3 6 CM Punk
1 0 0 5 Victoria
1 0 0 5 Necro Butcher
1 0 0 5 Kazunari Murakami
1 0 0 5 Josh Barnett
1 0 0 5 Hiroyoshi Tenzan
1 0 0 5 Corey Edsel
0 1 1 5 Rock
0 1 1 5 D-Von Dudley
0 1 1 5 Batista
0 0 2 4 James Storm
0 1 0 3 Yutaka Yoshie
0 1 0 3 Terry Funk
0 1 0 3 Shawn Michaels
0 1 0 3 Pete Madden
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke
0 1 0 3 Katsushi Takemura
0 1 0 3 JC Bailey
0 1 0 3 Hulk Hogan
0 1 0 3 Chris Harris
0 1 0 3 Booker T
0 1 0 3 Bart Sawyer
0 0 1 2 Ultimo Guerrero
0 0 1 2 Test
0 0 1 2 Shocker
0 0 1 2 Sandman
0 0 1 2 Mammoth Sasaki
0 0 1 2 Jeff Jarrett
0 0 1 2 Ian Rotten
0 0 1 2 Chuck Palumbo
0 0 1 2 Chris Jericho
0 0 1 2 Brooklyn Brawler
0 0 1 2 Blue Wolf
0 0 1 2 Beast
C FRARACCI: Call me a mark but I like Bradshaw, ever since he came in the
WWE as Justin I thought he was cool. That and I think he could
legitimately kick most other wrestlers asses. Raven is just immense to
watch him in the ring, he was best in ECW mid 90's but he can still brawl
with anyone. Kane is just a monster with mass power and can destroy anyone
he's in the ring with.
PAUL ZOROVICH: This is where Brock Lesnar fits.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Torrie Wilson nominated as best brawler??? Are you freakin'
kidding me? The Undertaker remains the best brawler in the business,
Bradshaw second. It's tough to pick #3.
JOSH MANN: Raven isn't really doing anything different that what he was
doing in ECW, WCW or the WWF/E, but the difference is that he's able to do
it at the highest level of TNA, and it's letting him show how good at it
he really is. He lays out plans well, bumps well and knows how to time his
comebacks to maximum efficiency. Not bad for a guy who was left for dead
by the buisness.
MICHAEL FISCHER: It never gets old voting Brooklyn Brawler as the #3 Best
Brawler. Or maybe it's just me.
SCOTT CHRIST: I usually like to vote for guys who are at least mainly
brawlers, but I had to go with Benoit again, but I kind of feel like there
was no real choice. Guys like Foley and Austin and Rock could make a
straight brawl tremendously exciting, and there's no one left that does
that on a consistent basis. So just on how convincing I find the brawling,
I'll go with Benoit. Undertaker at #2 because sometimes it's just really
hard, as an MMA fan, to buy his schtick, but I also appreciate the idea
behind it, and well, I like Undertaker. Lesnar third.
RYAN FAULCONER: Homicide had a number of very good matches this year with
most of them probably being classified as brawls. He deserves some
recogniton regardless and if the shoe fits...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Kurt Angle
133 first place votes
132 second place votes
131 third place votes
26 24 9 220 Kurt Angle
28 14 14 210 Chris Jericho
11 12 8 107 Eddie Guerrero
11 7 12 100 Chris Benoit
2 12 17 80 John Cena
5 7 4 54 Matt Hardy
4 5 1 37 Rob van Dam
4 2 4 34 Shawn Michaels
3 0 5 25 AJ Styles
2 3 2 23 Raven
2 4 0 22 Booker T
2 1 4 21 Trish Stratus
1 3 2 18 Tajiri
1 3 2 18 Spanky
1 1 5 18 Ric Flair
2 1 2 17 Low Ki
1 3 1 16 Rock
0 4 1 14 Brock Lesnar
2 1 0 13 Colt Cabana
2 0 1 12 Rey Mysterio
1 2 0 11 Hulk Hogan
0 3 1 11 Goldberg
2 0 0 10 Undertaker
2 0 0 10 Triple H
2 0 0 10 Big Show
1 0 2 9 Christopher Daniels
1 1 0 8 Shinsuke Nakamura
1 1 0 8 La Parka
1 1 0 8 Kory Twist
1 1 0 8 Kane
1 1 0 8 CM Punk
0 2 1 8 Ultimo Dragon
1 0 1 7 Steve Austin
1 0 1 7 Hijo del Santo
0 1 2 7 Molly Holly
1 0 0 5 X-Cal
1 0 0 5 Sonjay Dutt
1 0 0 5 Slim J
1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke
1 0 0 5 Koji Kanemoto
1 0 0 5 John Walters
1 0 0 5 Hiroshi Tanahashi
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
0 1 1 5 Jushin Liger
0 1 1 5 Homicide
0 1 1 5 Bryan Danielson
0 0 2 4 Rey Bucanero
0 0 2 4 Lance Storm
0 0 2 4 Christian
0 1 0 3 Vince McMahon
0 1 0 3 Ultimo Guerrero
0 1 0 3 Shocker
0 1 0 3 Pete Madden
0 1 0 3 Masahiro Chono
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki
0 1 0 3 Jeff Hardy
0 1 0 3 Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 1 0 3 Caprice Coleman
0 0 1 2 Victoria
0 0 1 2 Stevie Richards
0 0 1 2 Shane McMahon
0 0 1 2 Samoa Joe
0 0 1 2 Randy Orton
0 0 1 2 Paul London
0 0 1 2 Nikki Strychnine
0 0 1 2 Nick Gage
0 0 1 2 Matt Sydal
0 0 1 2 Manabu Nakanishi
0 0 1 2 Kintaro Kanemura
0 0 1 2 Kid Kash
0 0 1 2 Kenta Kobashi
0 0 1 2 Josh Barnett
0 0 1 2 Ivory
0 0 1 2 Hurricane
0 0 1 2 Ebessan
0 0 1 2 Diamond Back Dingo
0 0 1 2 Chris Sabin
0 0 1 2 Chavo Guerrero
C FRARACCI: The MVP's of each show, AJ for TNA, Matt for SD and Trish for
RAW. My favorite reasons to watch each show.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Eddy Guerrero, hands down. He's the one I stay tuned for
no matter what. Kurt Angle comes in second by a nose, and on the RAW
side, Chris Jericho is Da Man.
MICHAEL: Ultimo Dragon. Damn you, Vince.
SCOTT CHRIST: Exactly the same as my technical wrestler list: Benoit,
Angle, Low Ki.
STEFAN TORNGREN: I don’t see how Jericho can’t get the #1 vote from me in
this category. Eddie was great this year, and not too far behind.
VANILLASKY: Brock was not listed in the "Most Favourite Wrestler"? Come on!
He's my un-official third instead of Cena.
JOHN DONALDSON: Whether he's goofing on the rap skills of John Cena by
trying his hand at it or he's dead serious staring you eye to eye, Kurt
Angle and his many layers shine through time and time again. I enjoy the
gimmick of John Cena, I just hope hip hop music doesn't leave pop culture.
If it does, it may just kill his character. Sabin is growing on me like a
fungus, a psychedelic fungus that's tripping me out with his raw ability
and ring savvy.
THE CUBS FAN: Matt Hardy is a great example that creativity, hard work,
and determination gets you the same midcard slot you had from the first
day you jumped to SmackDown. But at least he was fun to watch.
RICK SCAIA: Angle. Tajiri. Jericho. Those are my three picks using the
"if I could only watch tapes of three wrestlers" heuristic. They do it
all, and very well.
RYAN FAULCONER: Homicide really won me over this 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
**2003**: John Cena
129 first place votes
126 second place votes
122 third place votes
47 19 11 314 John Cena
15 13 7 128 Matt Hardy
13 9 8 108 Big Show
4 13 13 85 Randy Orton
6 9 8 73 Trish Stratus
7 7 7 70 Brock Lesnar
3 7 10 56 AJ Styles
3 6 5 43 Charlie Haas
5 3 4 42 Test
2 3 8 35 Victoria
2 3 1 21 Maven
2 2 2 20 Elix Skipper
2 0 5 20 Mark Henry
2 2 0 16 Shelton Benjamin
1 3 1 16 Shawn Michaels
1 1 3 14 Goldberg
1 1 3 14 Christian
0 2 3 12 Rosey
1 2 0 11 A-Train
0 3 1 11 Raven
2 0 0 10 Tamon Honda
2 0 0 10 Shinsuke Nakamura
1 1 1 10 Undertaker
1 0 1 7 Kane
1 0 1 7 Eddie Guerrero
1 0 1 7 CM Punk
0 2 0 6 Tajiri
1 0 0 5 Steven Kennedy
1 0 0 5 Sonjay Dutt
1 0 0 5 Mammoth Sasaki
1 0 0 5 Lil Joe
0 1 1 5 Chavo Guerrero
0 1 1 5 Alex Shelley
0 0 2 4 Shannon Moore
0 0 2 4 Lita
0 1 0 3 Rico
0 1 0 3 Nidia
0 1 0 3 Kid Kash
0 1 0 3 Juventud Guerrera
0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger
0 1 0 3 Josh Barnett
0 1 0 3 Homicide
0 1 0 3 Goldust
0 1 0 3 Garuda
0 1 0 3 Dan Maff (Mafia)
0 1 0 3 Daizee Haze
0 1 0 3 Christopher Daniels
0 1 0 3 Abyss
0 0 1 2 Zach Gowen
0 0 1 2 Triple H
0 0 1 2 Ryusuke Taguchi
0 0 1 2 Rob Conway
0 0 1 2 MsChif
0 0 1 2 Mikey Whipwreck
0 0 1 2 Michael Shane
0 0 1 2 Matt Morgan
0 0 1 2 Katsuyori Shibata
0 0 1 2 John Walters
0 0 1 2 Ikeda-kun
0 0 1 2 Hiroshi Tanahashi
C FRARACCI: Tough pick here as a lot the guys improved (Big Show
excluded), but Matt went from tag team star to singles superstar with more
charisma then I thought he had. Besides anyone who can make Gowan look
good is impressive to me. Victoria for two reasons, from Godfather's ho to
accomplished star and the most vicious finisher of all time. Trish just
because I think she's just amazing, she may not have done a not of
improving but she gets better with every match. Who knoes maybe in 2004
she'll start incorporating high flying moves in her repertoire.
PAUL ZOROVICH: John Cena. As I said above, the gimmick change did
wonders for him. Considering where he was until only recently, Shawn
Michaels gets second. It took a while to shake off some rust but he's
eminently watchable now.
BIGDADDYLOCO: Big Show may have had some great people to work with, but he
kept up with them and even looked like a legit title holder/contender.
JON RICHARDSON: Most improved this year goes to John Cena. Last year at
this time he was still a bland white guy with adequate skills and the
ability to be carried. A year later he's got a great gimmick, big crowd
pops and doesn't need to be carried. He still has room to improve but
with a sustained push should hit the top. 2nd and 3rd go the Benjamin and
Haas because the two of them came up green, but rapidly became the best
tag team in the WWE.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Shocking as it sounds, Big Show had better matches this
year than the last couple years and a WWE Heavyweight Title reign to boot,
so he gets the nod. AJ Styles won a world title as well, and John Cena
has improved over the year.
DAVID POWELL: One comment on the most improved wrestler category. I have
to put in Christian, even though he was not on the list. Between his ring
work and his character skills he has really come into his own as a singles
competitor as well as a tag team wrestler, and really impressed me this
year. His IC belt matches, stint and skits with Chris Jericho and others
have been pure gold. All around, an excellent performer, (reeking of
awesomeness, dare I say) and one who has really shown the fans a lot to
mark out for this year.
YNAE316: Again, like last year, I'm going with Trish Stratus. Her
committment to improvement just amazes me. Her developing of the "Matrix"
move and "Turnbuckle Hurracanrana" are great testaments to her
improvement. She has developed herself into an awesome performer and a
legitimate top women's worker. More power to her!!! John Cena's also
someone I've been impressed with this year. The "Thugonomics" character
is easily one of the best characters developed this past year and his
rapping promos are among the best promo of ANY type in the business.
He's also clearly stepped up his in-ring game. I'm looking for Cena to be
a huge breakout star in 2004. Orton's another name who's stepped up to
the plate this past year looking to justify his huge push.
SCOTT CHRIST: John Cena took a goofy mid-card gimmick, worked it, worked
it, and worked it some more, and eventually the crowd truly believed it,
and that's a huge part of success. He also got consistently better in the
ring throughout the year, going from that weak WWE title match at Backlash
with Lesnar to a really good capper on his voting year with Angle at No
Mercy. I myself became a Cena fan over the course of the year just because
he kept getting so hard to dislike. I went with Test at #2, which was hard
because I really hated Test for three years. But he's finally developed
something of a personality, and his work is acceptable at this point.
Third place to Randy Orton, just because he is better than he was last
year, and there aren't a ton of people to vote for in this category.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: Yes, Shawn Michaels for most improved. Anyone who can go
from "career over" to "occasional attraction" to keeping a semi-regular
schedule has definitely improved, and he's actually contributing to the
show. On the other hand, this isn't a completely positive development --
it also means that a lot of injured older wrestlers will be following in
his footsteps and working partial schedules, hogging TV time and leaving
house show drudgery to others (I'm looking at you, Mr. Austin).
JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: I put Cena in the top spot because he's been so
awesome on the stick this year. Trish Stratus continues to improve and
expand her moveset every week, which is something most wrestlers don't do.
Michaels really started to round back into his mid-nineties form towards
the end of the voting period, both on the mic and in the ring. Really
amazing for someone we didn't think would ever wrestle again.
RICK SCAIA: Since there is no category for "Most Re-Motivated," I think
this is the most appropriate place to eat my crow and pay my dues to the
Big Show. A worthless sack of crap, if you believed my 2002 awards
ballot, Big Show had a tremendous year in 2003. The right booking? The
right opponent (almost exclusively Brock Lesnar)? Or learning how to work
a style that is befitting a "giant," but also not boring? Probably a
combination of factors, but the end result is Big Show went from
channel-flip-inducing to a valuable contributor in the last year. John
Cena is #2 on the list; not only did he find a personality that worked for
him, but his ringwork reflected an increased attention to detail and doing
the little things that draw an audience into a match. Last year, Cena
probably knew how to do all the moves he knows today, it's just that now,
he's much better at making them mean something to the audience.
RYAN FAULCONER: Tamon Honda went from craptacular to competent in 2003.
I never saw that one coming. Alex Shelley needs special mention here
since he has only been wrestling for just over a year. He will be in
contention for best worker by this time next year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Triple H
132 first place votes
132 second place votes
127 third place votes
28 12 10 196 Triple H
12 9 5 97 Goldberg
7 7 7 70 Randy Orton
7 7 6 68 Jeff Jarrett
7 3 5 54 Booker T
4 7 4 49 Kevin Nash
5 2 6 43 Shane McMahon
1 10 4 43 Zach Gowen
1 8 4 37 Big Show
4 2 5 36 Undertaker
4 2 4 34 Rob van Dam
4 2 4 34 Bradshaw
3 3 4 32 Rhyno
2 2 7 30 Vince McMahon
5 0 2 29 Chris Benoit
2 6 0 28 Hulk Hogan
4 1 2 27 Nathan Jones
1 4 4 25 Kane
3 2 1 23 Brock Lesnar
2 1 4 21 Scott Steiner
1 4 2 21 A-Train
2 2 2 20 Stephanie McMahon
2 2 1 18 Mark Henry
2 1 2 17 Test
2 1 1 15 D'Lo Brown
0 2 4 14 Jeff Hardy
1 2 1 13 Chris Jericho
0 3 2 13 Rodney Mack
2 0 1 12 Kurt Angle
2 0 1 12 Glen Gilberti
1 0 3 11 AJ Styles
1 0 2 9 Christopher Daniels
0 3 0 9 Trish Stratus
0 3 0 9 Low Ki
1 1 0 8 Tamon Honda
0 2 1 8 Steve Austin
1 0 1 7 Homicide
1 0 1 7 CM Punk
1 0 1 7 Batista
1 0 1 7 Amazing Red
0 1 2 7 Xavier
0 2 0 6 Raven
1 0 0 5 Shinya Hashimoto
1 0 0 5 Michael Shane
1 0 0 5 Matt Sydal
1 0 0 5 Kenta Kobashi
1 0 0 5 Edge
0 1 1 5 Gedo
0 1 1 5 Chavo Guerrero
0 0 2 4 Jazz
0 1 0 3 Torrie Wilson
0 1 0 3 Tajiri
0 1 0 3 Steve Corino
0 1 0 3 Shinjiro Otani
0 1 0 3 Shawn Michaels
0 1 0 3 Rey Mysterio
0 1 0 3 Jun Akiyama
0 1 0 3 Garrison Cade
0 1 0 3 Bill DeMott
0 0 1 2 Sean O'Haire
0 0 1 2 Masato Tanaka
0 0 1 2 Lita
0 0 1 2 Jado
0 0 1 2 Bison Smith
REJECTED
0 1 1 Duplicated votes
0 1 0 Dudley Boyz (not one person)
HACK-MAN: For Most Overrated Wrestler I really wanted to include Vince
McMahon (since he takes up so much time not only on TV but on PPV) but I
couldn't in good conscious bump Undertaker, Steve Austin, or Rodney Mack
off my top three list. Honorable mention to Hulk Hogan, Jazz, A-Train,
Big Show, Bradshaw, Nathan Jones, HHH, Glen Gilberti, Jeff Jarrett, and
Vince Russo (who wasn't even nominated!)
C FRARACCI: Easy choices here, Triple H gets too much airtime, title
reigns and power. Sadly it'll get worse in 2004 now he's a McMahon. He
gets the belt back, he'll never drop it. Big Show is just pathetic. Why
does he get the US title? He's fat, slow, lazy and untalented. Yes he was
cool in WCW when he was motivated but now he's just a shell of himself.
Zach was pushed to much to fast and didn't deserve it, he's a one-trick
pony and now it's time to turn him into glue. I feel for Matt Hardy having
to lose to him.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Like the dark doppelgangers of Kurt 'n' Eddy, Test and
Scott Steiner will be making several appearances on this ballot. Here's
the first one.
STEVE BEVERDIGE: Not fair! So many to pick and only 3 slots. Not fair at
all. I went with picking one McMahon to represent all of them. One
Poochie to represent all of them. And one "only in the WWE or some crummy
indie would you see this guy" type gimmick wrestler.
JON RICHARDSON: Okay Randy Orton. We know you're cocky. Unfortunately
you don't put on good matches, have incredibly bland promos, and have done
nothing to distinguish yourself from the rest of the Raw crew. Wait,
that's not true. You get injured a bunch. He's got the potential to be
good but I'm still failing to see "next superstar" in this guy.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Triple H still is highly overrated on a roster that's all
in all been effectively depushed and buried. Only by completely shuffling
both rosters will this be corrected. Hulk Hogan still thinks he's the
best in the business, no. And of course "Little Porker Punk" was thought
to be so great before he blew up in his first match.
MICHAEL: 1st: Triple H, aka God¹s Gift to Grappling, the Game, aka
HHHubby. 2nd: Randy Orton. Get a date with a laser tattoo removal
machine. 3rd: Vince, Shane, & Stephanie McMahon. Though I give Shane a
lot of credit for the high-risk stuff he does.
YNAE316: Vince, Shane and Stephanie McMahon are my three picks. They are
NOT wrestlers but I'm glad they were nominated. It amazes me that a
"wrestling" program features these non-wrestlers so prominently.
Clearly, while they may be the owners, they are NOT deserving of the huge
push they give themselves at the expense of the talent.
MATTHEW HOCKING: I'm with the WWE on these. Rhyno has a nice look, but
nothing to compliment it. His promos consist of him rambling and
breathing heavily, and his moveset only looks really good against small
guys. Jeff Jarrett wasn't even good when he was the WCW champion, and now
he's being asked to carry his entire company to cable TV. And I've
watched Sean O'Haire in WCW AND WWE, and I've really never thought he was
anything special. He's got a good look, a somewhat varied moveset, but
that's it. He's about as interesting as a pile of rocks and the rocks
could cut a better live promo, all O'Haire's best work has been taped and
edited.
SCOTT CHRIST: Jeff Jarrett's position in TNA is easily explained and
obviously predictable, but that doesn't make it less annoying. Those
crowds weren't clamoring for Jarrett. They wanted Styles and Raven and
America's Most Wanted and Chris Sabin and hell, even D'Lo Brown. And the
product went back in the can once Jarrett was again the #1 star of the
show. Second place to Zach Gowen. The first time the visual was fun, after
that he's just a guy with one leg and I don't care. Third to Shane
McMahon.
JOHN DONALDSON: If I could give a tie for any award in this list, it
would be this one. Both Nathan Jones and Mark Henry equally are overhyped
by the WWE announcers. I try to hold back my gag reflexes every time they
are shoved down my throat.
RYAN FAULCONER: Kurt Angle still isn't even the best wrestler in his
promotion yet he still gets the "best wrestler in the world" tag. Raven
is a smart man in a relatively stupid business which makes him sound
greater than he actually is. He wrestles like he is parodying smart
wrestling, not demonstrating it. CIMA's expiration date was sometime in
2001. For some reason people are still eating his stuff up like it was
fresh.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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's Mattitude
**2003**: John Cena as the Minister of Thuganomics
131 first place votes
129 second place votes
127 third place votes
44 18 7 288 John Cena as minister of thuganomics
12 24 16 164 Matt Hardy Version 1
6 17 12 105 Los Guerreros - lie, cheat, steal
10 7 8 87 Chris Jericho as host of the Highlight Reel
5 9 13 78 Rock as a Hollywood sellout
6 8 3 60 CM Punk, straight edge and better than you
7 5 3 56 Randy Orton as legend killer
5 3 10 54 Sean O'Haire as Devil's Advocate
6 5 4 53 Kane, unmasked and deranged
5 2 5 41 Hurricane
2 2 10 36 Team Angle
1 5 5 30 Steven Richards names himself Heat GM, creates "Stevie Night Heat"
1 3 3 20 Victoria
1 3 1 16 Eric Bischoff as the sleaziest man on TV
2 1 1 15 Bob Sapp as the Beast
1 2 2 15 Christopher Nowinski as a Harvard graduate
1 1 2 12 Father Mitchell's New Church
1 2 0 11 Jimmy Jacobs as the barbaric berzerker
1 1 1 10 Teddy Long - Black Rights Activist (Playas' Club)
1 0 2 9 Rob van Dam as stoner
1 1 0 8 Spanky with new mask/name/costume every week
1 1 0 8 Rosey as Super Hero In Training
0 0 4 8 Jamie Noble as white trash
1 0 1 7 Ric Flair, crazy psychotic manager determined to help Triple H win
1 0 1 7 Full Blooded Italians
1 0 1 7 "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels
1 0 0 5 Steve Austin
1 0 0 5 Osamu Nishimura's "old-style revival"
1 0 0 5 Onryo
1 0 0 5 Hulk Hogan as Mr. America
1 0 0 5 Garrison Cade
1 0 0 5 Cade Sydal as Girlfriend Stealing Teen Idol
1 0 0 5 Army of Darkness (MLW)
1 0 0 5 3 Live Kru
0 1 1 5 Rodney Mack's Five Minute White Boy Challenge
0 1 1 5 "City Slicker" Don Callis (Don Callis, MBA)
0 0 2 4 Dunn & Marcos - 80's Rock Fans
0 1 0 3 Steve Corino as King Of Old School
0 1 0 3 Kurt Angle
0 1 0 3 Goldust
0 1 0 3 Goldberg
0 1 0 3 Garuda
0 1 0 3 Elimination Chamber
0 1 0 3 Eddie Guerrero's Latino Heat
0 0 1 2 Special K Raver gimmick
0 0 1 2 Shinsuke Nakamura's "Super-Rookie" / "Supernova"
0 0 1 2 Shane McMahon being able to beat Kane
0 0 1 2 Julius Smokes as Homicide's cornerman
0 0 1 2 Flying Elvises
0 0 1 2 Christopher Street Connection
0 0 1 2 Butcher
0 0 1 2 "Boring" Lance Storm
C FRARACCI: The gimmick that died to fast, Sean O' Haire's gimmick was
cool and different. His little vignettes on Smackdown were awesome and he
looked the part, why did it get killed so fast? Now he's the Velocity boy?
Matt's gimmick is hilarious and he's great to watch in the ring. Father
Mitchell's New Church is a great gimmick with cool music and some great
talent.
PAUL ZOROVICH: John Cena, again. (Maybe I should start calling it the
"Cena, Kurt, & Eddy Show?") Mattitude gets the nod for second.
YNAE316: Cena's "Eminen" gimmick was the most entertaining thing the whole
year. Los Guerrero's "Lie, Cheat and Steal" gimmick also made for creative
matches in the ring this year. Didn't care too much for their Latino
stereotype vignettes though. Here's hoping 2004 see's a renewed big push
for Mattitude. Mattitude's a solid gimmick that I love but it's too bad
he got buried a little this year.
JOSH MANN: Compared to the very vanilla personality Cena was given coming
into the WWE and the very lukewarm response he got when the gimmick was
introduced, it's a testament to Cena's ability to play the part and MAKE
that gimmick (as opposed to the other way around) that he's on the cusp of
main event status a year later. John Cena would probably be on Velocity
right now. But John Cena: Dean of Thuganomics is the biggest rising star
in the WWE right now. And it's because it's perfect for him. We just
didn't realize it at the time.
TEXAS KELLY: Funny how three years ago we all bashed Road Dogg & K-Kwik's
rap gimmick to pieces - and now John Cena gets best gimmick from me for
being a rapper. Wonder what changed between then and now.
SCOTT CHRIST: Los Guerreros really ran away with this category. It was
just hard to boo them, even though everything they said was wrong and
mean-spirited. Second place to Cena, who, again, took a goofy idea and
made himself a player with it. Third place to Rock the movie star, because
he was brilliant in the role, but it just didn't last long enough.
STEFAN TORNGREN: CM Punk brought something new to the table and does
excellent promos, Cena tried something that has failed before but actually
got it over, and the Guerreros did a great job of incorporationg their
lie, cheat and steal philosophy into their ring work.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: Aw c'mon, Spanky's ever-changing gimmick gimmick was
infinitely better than the "eager but wimpy rookie" gimmick he got tagged
with when he made the brief jump from Velocity to Smackdown. And it was
hilarious in the good way, the way that amuses the audience without
turning the wrestler into a joke (unlike, say, Rosey the S.H.I.T.).
JOHN DONALDSON: If it wasn't for the lowriders and the Oscar winning
performances of Los Guerreros during the summer where they got away with
cheating constantly, John Cena would have gotten 1st from me here.
O'Haire's gimmick got great buildup, but it just went flat because the
bookers didn't care about it once Piper left.
RICK SCAIA: It took balls to do, and I think it paid off: Rock's return as
a "Hollywood" heel is something I thought he'd be hesitant to do because
of the affect it might have on his mainstream/box office appeal.
Instead, he did it 100%, and the results were that Rock was the most
entertaining man on RAW for 2 months earlier this year. I love the
Guerrero's "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" gimmick, and think it deserves #2 on
this list because of how expertly they wove it into countless convoluted
and hilariously devious match finishes. I'm still not sold on Randy Orton,
but I gotta admit that the "Legend Killer" gimmick is perfect for him; it
gives his otherwise vacuous persona some much needed direction, and is,
more than Orton's performance, responsible for keeping him barely-viable
as an upper-mid-carder.
RYAN FAULCONER: CM Punk as a straight edge saviour for the wrestling fans
is such a great gimmick, simultaneously achieving high and low art status.
Jimmy Jacobs as the barbaric berzerker is just the kind of ridiculousness
that I like in my wrestling so he gets second place. Julius Smokes is
just about the greatest manager in pro wrestling right now. When he
rambles on as Homicide's cornerman it just makes me smile for some reason.
He would be the Best Second but here he places third.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Brock Lesnar's F-5 fireman carry neckbreaker
127 first place votes
125 second place votes
122 third place votes
17 10 11 137 Brock Lesnar's F-5 fireman carry neckbreaker
10 8 10 94 Victoria's Widow's Peak Gory Special into neckbreaker
8 8 7 78 Kurt Angle's running belly-to-belly superplex
8 7 6 73 AJ Styles' Styles Clash tarantula into facefirst drop
6 2 6 48 Rey Mysterio's 619 swingout kick
3 5 8 46 Charlie Haas' Haas of Pain leglock
5 5 2 44 Eddie Guerrero's rolling vertical suplexes
3 8 1 41 Chris Benoit's triple German suplex
4 4 2 36 Spanky's Sliced Bread #2 shiranui
4 3 3 35 Sonjay Dutt's Hindu Press
2 5 3 31 Ultimo Dragon's Asai DDT
3 5 0 30 John Cena's F-U death valley driver
4 1 0 23 America's Most Wanted's Death Sentence cradle guillotine
legdrop
3 2 1 23 Chris Benoit's Crippler crossface
2 4 0 22 Rob van Dam's Five Star frog splash
1 3 4 22 Rey Mysterio's West Coast Pop springboard huracanrana
2 0 5 20 Triple H's Pedigree
1 4 1 19 Molly Holly's Molly-Go-Round somersault press
2 2 1 18 Spanish Announce Team's Spanish Fly double backflip superplex
2 2 1 18 Billy Kidman's shooting star press
3 0 1 17 Jimmy Yang's Yang Time sky twister press
1 1 4 16 Trish Stratus' Matrix
0 1 6 15 Tajiri's Kick
1 2 1 13 Randy Orton's RKO
1 2 1 13 Christopher Daniels' Angel's Wings sitout face-first piledriver
1 0 3 11 Christian's Unprettier DDT
1 1 1 10 Kurt Angle's anklelock
0 3 0 9 Eddie Guerrero's armdrag-leg scissors combo
0 1 3 9 Kurt Angle's Angle slam
1 1 0 8 Frankie Kazarian's Wave of the Future
1 0 1 7 Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner
1 0 1 7 Keiji Muto's Shining Wizard knee
1 0 1 7 Hiroyoshi Tenzan's Anaconda Vice
1 0 1 7 Big Show's chokeslam
0 2 0 6 Raven's Evenflow DDT
1 0 0 5 YOSSINO's From Jungle headscissors into facelock
1 0 0 5 Ultimo Guerrero's Guerrero Special top rope inverted superplex
1 0 0 5 Trish Stratus' Chick kick
1 0 0 5 Sting's Stinger Splash
1 0 0 5 Steven Richards' Steviekick superkick
1 0 0 5 Steve Williams' Doctorbomb
1 0 0 5 Samoa Joe's MuscleBuster off the top rope
1 0 0 5 Randy Orton's Orthodox backbreaker
1 0 0 5 Mammoth Sasaki's Mammoth Home Run
1 0 0 5 Kazunari Murakami's double foot stomp to the face
1 0 0 5 Josh Barnett's Captured Buster
1 0 0 5 Jay Briscoe's Jay-Driller double underhook piledriver
1 0 0 5 Jason Cross's Crossfire shooting star legdrop
1 0 0 5 Homicide's Cop Killa
1 0 0 5 Haas & Benjamin's top rope choke & leapfrog
1 0 0 5 Goldberg's Jackhammer
1 0 0 5 Elix Skipper's Play of the Day
1 0 0 5 Dudley Boyz' Dudley Death Drop
1 0 0 5 Cade Sydal's Cherry Popper
1 0 0 5 Amazing Red's Code Red sunset flip bomb
0 1 1 5 Chris Jericho's Lionsault quebrada
0 1 1 5 Chris Benoit's top rope headbutt
0 1 1 5 Amazing Red's Infrared corkscrew moonsault
0 0 2 4 Shawn Michaels' Sweet Chin Music superkick
0 0 2 4 Chris Jericho's Walls of Jericho boston crab
0 1 0 3 Ultimo Dragon's inverted ace crusher
0 1 0 3 Slim J's springboard corkscrew Asai moonsault
0 1 0 3 Shinsuke Nakamura's Shining Triangle
0 1 0 3 Rock's Rock Bottom uranage
0 1 0 3 Rock's People's Elbow elbowdrop
0 1 0 3 Mutoh & Arashi's Shining Impact
0 1 0 3 Mr. Gannosuke's Fire Thunder
0 1 0 3 Matt Sydal's springboard 450
0 1 0 3 Hurricane's Shining Wizard kick
0 1 0 3 Frankie Kazarian's Flux Compacitor
0 1 0 3 Elix Skipper's rope walk huracanrana
0 1 0 3 Eddie Guerrero's frog splash
0 1 0 3 Dragon Kid's Deja Vu multiple spin headscissors
0 1 0 3 Diamond Back Dingo's Dingo Driver
0 1 0 3 Curt Hennig's Hennigplex fisherman suplex
0 1 0 3 Chris Jericho's Flashback
0 1 0 3 Bradshaw's Clothesline From Hell lariat
0 1 0 3 Adam Booker's Bookdaddy flapjack
0 0 1 2 Yuji Nagata's Nagata Lock III
0 0 1 2 X's Package Piledriver
0 0 1 2 Tajiri's Tarantula
0 0 1 2 Shelton Benjamin's superkick
0 0 1 2 Shawn Davari's Flying Carpet
0 0 1 2 Scott Steiner's belly to belly suplex
0 0 1 2 Scorpio's Tumbleweed
0 0 1 2 Rob van Dam's Van Terminator dropkick
0 0 1 2 Randy Orton's crossbody
0 0 1 2 Randy Orton's across the back neckbreaker
0 0 1 2 Mr. Gannosuke's Gannosuke Clutch
0 0 1 2 Hurricane's Eye of the Storm
0 0 1 2 Delirious' Shadows Over Hell splash
0 0 1 2 Chris Hero's Hangman's Clutch STF
0 0 1 2 Chris Benoit's 270 degree release German suplex
0 0 1 2 Billy McNeil's Trigger Effect
0 0 1 2 American Dragon's Cattle Mutilation
REJECTED - no performer named
1 0 0 630 Splash
1 0 0 stardust press
1 0 0 release german suplex
1 0 0 headlock
0 1 0 vertical suplex
0 1 0 Booker T's Spinarooni (not a wrestling move)
0 0 1 flying elbow
0 0 1 dropkick
CRIMEFIGHTER: The shooting star is still the most thrilling move in
wrestling. Sliced Bread #2 proved effective for an unknown to break out
and everyone likes the 619.
YNAE316: The 619 is still fun to watch. Victoria's "Widow's Peak" gets my
second place vote as it just looks incredibly painful. Trish's "Matrix"
move, while a defensive maneuver is just beautiful to watch.
SCOTT CHRIST: I voted for Sting's Stinger Splash because that's my
gimmick. Usually I just vote for moves that get me to pop, so second to
Benoit's triple German suplex, third to Michaels' superkick.
RYAN FAULCONER: YOSSINO's spinning headscissors into an armbar is
simultaneously preposterous and fluid and that makes it the year's best
move. Dragon Kid's Deja Vu headscissors still impresses after all these
years. Its even better now that he rarely botches it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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)
**2003**: 01/19/03: Kurt Angle (WWE) v. Chris Benoit (Royal Rumble)
129 first place votes
121 second place votes
118 third place votes
49 22 6 323 01/19/03 Kurt Angle (WWE) v. Chris Benoit
22 25 13 211 03/30/03 Shawn Michaels v. Chris Jericho
9 8 14 97 09/18/03 Kurt Angle (WWE) v. Brock Lesnar (ironman Smackdown)
7 8 14 87 06/25/03 Triple X (tag) v. America's Most Wanted (cage)
7 8 8 75 03/30/03 Kurt Angle (WWE) v. Brock Lesnar
3 7 3 42 11/17/02 Triple H (world) v. Shawn Michaels v. Chris Jericho
v. Rob van Dam v. Kane v. Booker T (elimination
chamber)
1 3 11 36 09/29/03 Christian (IC) v. Rob van Dam (ladder RAW)
1 4 9 35 07/27/03 Chris Benoit v. Eddie Guerrero (US final)
5 3 0 34 03/01/03 Mitsuharu Misawa (GHC) v. Kenta Kobashi
3 4 2 31 04/12/03 Bryan Danielson v. Paul London (2/3)
1 4 6 29 07/27/03 World's Greatest Tag Team (WWE Tag) v. Rey Mysterio
& Billy Kidman
3 3 1 26 08/24/03 Kurt Angle (WWE) v. Brock Lesnar
0 3 5 19 09/11/03 Eddie Guerrero v. John Cena (parking lot brawl)
3 0 0 15 12/15/02 Chris Benoit v. Eddie Guerrero
2 0 1 12 02/07/03 CM Punk (IWA) v. Chris Hero (2/3)
0 1 4 11 08/20/03 Chris Sabin (X) v. Michael Shane v. Frankie Kazarian
(ultimate X)
1 1 0 8 06/30/03 Seven woman battle royal (Women's RAW)
1 0 1 7 05/19/03 Triple H (world) v. Ric Flair (RAW)
1 0 1 7 02/14/03 Zumbido v. Ricky Marvin (hair)
0 2 0 6 03/09/03 Yuji Nagata v. Manabu Nakanishi
0 2 0 6 02/08/03 Low Ki v. AJ Styles v. Paul London
1 0 0 5 05/16/03 Kory Twist v. Jeremy Lightfoot
1 0 0 5 12/14/02 Shocker v. Ultimo Guerrero
1 0 0 5 12/12/02 Mammoth Sasaki v. Tetsuhiro Kuroda
1 0 0 5 11/17/02 Brock Lesnar (world) v. Big Show
1 0 0 5 10/27/03 Rob van Dam (IC) v. Chris Jericho (RAW)
1 0 0 5 10/19/03 Tyler Bateman v. Kenny Campbell
1 0 0 5 09/03/03 Juventud Guerrera v. Chris Sabin
1 0 0 5 08/17/03 Hiroyoshi Tenzan v. Jun Akiyama
1 0 0 5 07/09/03 Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie v. Makai #4 &
Makai #5
1 0 0 5 05/18/03 Team Angle (tag) v. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri (ladder)
0 1 1 5 03/30/03 Steve Austin v. Rock
0 0 2 4 02/14/03 Shocker v. Ultimo Guerrero
0 1 0 3 08/13/03 AJ Styles (NWA) v. Low Ki
0 1 0 3 08/01/03 Chris Hero v. Homicide (IWA MS KOTDM Night 1)
0 1 0 3 09/12/03 Kenta Kobashi v. Yuji Nagata
0 1 0 3 08/08/03 Havana Brothers v Volador Jr. & Virus & Ricky Marvin
0 1 0 3 07/04/03 Heat v. Dr. Wagner Jr.
0 1 0 3 06/11/03 Jeff Jarrett (NWA) v. AJ Styles v. Raven (triangle)
0 1 0 3 06/06/03 Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda v. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi
Saito
0 1 0 3 04/30/03 Jeff Jarrett v. Raven
0 1 0 3 04/11/03 Mammoth Sasaki v. Masato Tanaka
0 1 0 3 03/29/03 Jerry Lynn v. Billy McNeil
0 0 1 2 10/11/03 Sonjay Dutt v. Alex Shelley v. Jimmy Jacobs v. Trent
Acid
0 0 1 2 12/05/02 Chris Benoit v. Eddie Guerrero v. Kurt Angle v. Edge
(#1 contender elimination Smackdown)
0 0 1 2 09/22/03 Kintaro Kanemura & Mr. Gannosuke & Tetsuhiro Kuroda
v. Masato Tanaka & Hideki Hosaka & Yoshihito Sasaki
0 0 1 2 09/04/03 Kurt Angle (WWE) v. Undertaker
0 0 1 2 08/27/03 Chris Sabin v. Juventud Guerrera
0 0 1 2 08/16/03 Steve Corino v. Homicide
0 0 1 2 07/16/03 Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama v. KENTA & Naomichi
Marufuji
0 0 1 2 06/15/03 Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair
0 0 1 2 05/25/03 Chris Sabin (NWA TNA X) v. Jerry Lynn (WWA Cruiser)
v. Johnny Swinger v. Frankie Kazarian
0 0 1 2 05/18/03 Brock Lesnar (WWE) v. Big Show (stretcher)
0 0 1 2 03/23/03 Koji Kanemoto v. AKIRA
0 0 1 2 02/09/03 Kenta & Kotaro Suzuki v. Mikami & Kudo
0 0 1 2 01/26/03 Jushin Liger & Koji Kanemoto v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru &
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
0 0 1 2 ??/??/03 Jerry Lynn v. Homicide (07/26/03 or 08/22/03)
REJECTED
0 0 2 11/16/03 Team Bischoff v. Team Austin
0 1 0 Angle - Brock Survivor Series (?)
0 1 0 11/24/03 Hurricane v. Rosey (Catch the Midget RAW)
BIGDADDYLOCO: Did AMA vs XXX in a cage not get nominated or am I missing
it? The best cage match not named Hell in a Cell in years.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Angle vs. Benoit at ****¾ is your MOTY. XXX vs. AMW cage
at ****½ and Shane/Kazarian/Sabin Ultimate X at ****¼ are your runners up.
Yeah there may have been others at ****½ but since the WWE will get the
bulk of the votes I'm throwing the NWA TNA stuff in.
YNAE316: Anytime you put Angle and Benoit together you're bound for a
thing of beauty so their match at the Rumble gets my vote. I also LOVED
Y2J and HBK at Mania. Unfortunately the WRONG GUY went over in the match
so that's why it's only number 2 here.
MATTHEW HOCKING: I understand that I'm "supposed" to vote for the Iron
Man Match, but quite frankly, it wasn't the best Iron Man match the
company's done, and it wasn't even the best match that Kurt and Brock have
had. It didn't feel like it should have lasted nearly an hour, and
niether guy looks any stronger now than they did before because of it.
My vote goes for Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, as it was a
far superior match, and while Jericho wasn't exactly elevated because of
it, it put him in the spotlight long enough for him to get a foothold into
all the other things he's involved with now.
SCOTT CHRIST: The only WWE PPV this year that I missed was the Rumble, so
I wouldn't feel right voting for Angle/Benoit, although I assume it would
be my favorite match of the year. With that limitation, my match of the
year is Michaels/Jericho from Wrestlemania. It was a fantastic match, told
a great story, and was really hot, partly because it was one of the few
storylines the company got over all year long. Second place to the first
elimination chamber from Survivor Series '02. Actually both of those
matches are helped in large part by the tremendous heat Michaels put on
both of them. You know, if Michaels was a full-time wrestler, he'd have
been the wrestler of the year again. The pop for the finish in the EC
match is unreal. Third place to Angle/Lesnar iron man, because I think of
their three matches, none of which were really distinguishably better than
the others, it was the most important.
EMMA: Honourable Mention for the Eddie Guerrero/John Cena Parking Lot
Brawl. That would have been my #1 choice for "Best Brawl".
VANILLASKY: A match that was omitted was Ric Flair v. Triple H from RAW on
5/20/03 (don't hold me to that date) in which the Nature Boy, in front of
a completely insane crowd, proved that he could still go with the best of
them, and almost upset HHH. This match was every bit as emotional as any
you will see.
CHRISTOPHER SHEA: Back in January everyone online, including me, was
saying, "Gee, Benoit and Angle put on a MOTYC, but it'll never win because
no one will remember it; there'll be so much good stuff between now and
November." Well, so much for THAT idea, huh?
AERO: Slim pickins this year, a couple of really good matches early on
with Benoit/Angle at the Rumble and HBK/Jericho at Wrestlemania. NWA put
out some good matches but aside from the big Cage match there was nothing
too memorable. Still haven't seen London vs. Am Dragon so can't comment on
that, although it's likely the Indy match of the year.
JOHN DONALDSON: Angle and Benoit from the Rumble was a classic. I was
there in attendance in Boston and I loved every minute of it. Both guys
deserved the ovations they received.
JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: Angle v.s. Benoit is simply the best match I've seen
in years, and even better looking back on it. Despite having the crowd
numbed by a Worst MOTY candidate in Steiner/HHH, these two worked a dead
"sports entertainment" crowd into a frenzy. Benoit got a a standing
ovation in a losing effort. The match had such an impact Benoit was
getting standing ovations after his matches for the next month or so.
It's really a perfect, five-star match. I don't see how anyone can vote
Misawa/Kobashi as #1 over that when they litterally Hulk- Up after
dropping each other on their head, but it was the #2 match of the year in
my eyes. Not even close to their earlier work, and most people who vote
for this didn't even bother to watch Benoit/Angle before rating it from
reading DVDVR. AMW v.s. XXX was an awesome spotfest in TNA. Honorable
Mention must be made to Jericho/Michaels from WM XIX as a match that
really was better on second viewing as well.
THE CUBS FAN: The Shocker/Ultimo stuff was as good internal story telling
as you're going to get. Havana's/CMLL Teen Idols was spot-tastic, which
you can get quite a bit.
RYAN FAULCONER: Danielson vs London at Epic Encounter was the most fun
I've had watching wrestling in a long time. The then-original fan
participation made the match even more memorable. Second place goes Misawa
vs Kobashi which was as epic a spotfest as you will ever see. Punk and
Hero going for 93 minutes was really great as well and those two are the
true freaks of the industry. I caught myself clapping with the crowd when
I watched it at home. Its not exactly the kind of match you can enjoy
over and over due to its length and that's why it places third.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar
127 first place votes
125 second place votes
118 third place votes
35 30 12 289 Kurt Angle v. Brock Lesnar
24 25 12 219 Shawn Michaels v. Chris Jericho
6 11 12 87 Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit
5 4 17 71 Los Guerreros v. World's Greatest Tag Team
6 9 5 67 Raven v. CM Punk
6 8 4 62 Steve Austin v. Chris Jericho
5 3 5 44 Brock Lesnar v. Big Show
6 1 5 43 Raven v. New Church (& Shane Douglas)
5 1 3 34 Kurt Angle v. John Cena
1 5 7 34 America's Most Wanted v. Triple X
2 4 5 32 Trish Stratus v. Victoria
1 6 2 27 Eddie Guerrero v. John Cena
5 0 0 25 Raven v. Jeff Jarrett
2 0 3 16 Shane McMahon v. Kane
3 0 0 15 Jimmy Jacobs v. Alex Shelley
1 2 2 15 Shocker v. Ultimo Guerrero
1 2 1 13 Jerry Lynn v. AJ Styles
1 0 3 11 Hulk Hogan v. Vince McMahon
0 3 1 11 Steve Austin v. Eric Bischoff
1 1 0 8 NJPW juniors v. NOAH juniors
1 0 1 7 Zumbido v. Ricky Marvin
1 0 1 7 Triple H v. Goldberg
0 2 0 6 Steve Corino v. Homicide
1 0 0 5 Yoshihiro Takayama v. Masahiro Chono
1 0 0 5 Randy Orton v. WWE Legends
1 0 0 5 New Japan v. Takayama
1 0 0 5 Lil Joe v. Cade Sydal
1 0 0 5 John Zandig v. Hi V
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim v. Trish Stratus
1 0 0 5 Evolution v. Goldberg
1 0 0 5 Doug Basham v. Damaja
1 0 0 5 Apache Army v. Zero One
0 1 1 5 Molly Holly & Gail Kim v. Trish Stratus & Lita
0 0 2 4 Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri v. Team Angle
0 0 2 4 AJ Styles v. Jeff Jarrett
0 1 0 3 WMF v. Brand Double Cross
0 1 0 3 Undertaker v. Brock Lesnar
0 1 0 3 Trent Acid v. Homicide
0 1 0 3 Rey Mysterio v. Tajiri
0 1 0 3 M2K v. DoFIXER
0 1 0 3 Liger Jr. Army v. Tiger Mask Jr. Army
0 1 0 3 Havana Brothers v. Volador Jr. & Virus & Ricky Marvin
0 0 1 2 Undertaker v. John Cena
0 0 1 2 Takashi Iizuka v. Mitsuya Nagai
0 0 1 2 Steve Austin v. Rock
0 0 1 2 Satoshi Kojima v. Shinjiro Ohtani
0 0 1 2 Rock v. Goldberg
0 0 1 2 Masahiro Chono v. Yoshihiro Takayama
0 0 1 2 Goldberg v. Triple H
0 0 1 2 Funkin Army v. Extreme Horsemen
0 0 1 2 Dudley Boyz v. La Resistance
0 0 1 2 Booker T v. Triple H
0 0 1 2 4th Reich v. GCW
REJECTED
0 0 1 "Anyone v. ..." votes
CRIMEFIGHTER: Angle vs. Lesnar was the biggest feud in all 2003. AMW vs.
XXX gave us a few MOTY candidates.
YNAE316: This year certainly seemed to have a focus more on the
"Entertainment" part of "Sports Entertainment" with so many non-wrestling
feuds. Soooo, my only two picks for best feuds, while not the highlights
of the year in terms of "percentage of on-screen programming" are Angle
vs. Benoit and Los Guerreros vs. WGTT. Both delivered solid goods in the
ring and on the mic.
SCOTT CHRIST: Angle and Lesnar had the feud of the year, a great series of
matches that put Angle up a notch historically and solidified Lesnar as a
superstar. The nice and refreshing thing that it was based around their
wrestling matches, with minimal extra curricular crap. Second place to
Michaels and Jericho, third to Raven against the New Church and Shane
Douglas, because while largely sucking when it got into the ring, it was
over with the crowd and booked well.
STEFAN TORNGREN: This was a tough category. Austin vs Jericho had some
great moments, but since we don’t know what it will lead to, it’s
difficult to really say how good the feud was. Still my #1. CM Punk’s
character was something new and Raven was an excellent choice for him to
feud with. Michaels vs Jericho had some fantastic moments, but just like
with Jericho vs Austin, it doesn’t feel settled so it’s tough to tell how
good it really was. The fact that Michaels went over at Mania drags it
down for me.
VANILLASKY: Brock v. Big Show is listed twice. I chose this as my
favorite feud because not only did they provide us with some extremely
memorable matches (the stretcher match, the ring-breaking match), but this
feud really helped Brock and Big Show get over. Brock was shown as a true
monster, being able to toss around Show at will and Show was shown as the
only one who could effectively take down Brock. This was a great feud and
I hope to see more of them in the future.
JOHN DONALDSON: Raven and James Mitchell made what should have been a
lackluster secondary feud in NWA-TNA into months of hardcore hijinx and
sheer insanity that entertained even the most casual fan in the TNA
Asylum. If the WWE had booked Raven like TNA has done so, he'd still be
in the WWE. They really missed the boat with him and D-Lo Brown.
JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: In a year with no standout feuds on a national level,
I have to give my vote to this year's feud between Doug Basham and Damaja
in OVW. A great backstory, great wrestling, masterful booking by Cornette
and one of the best and most satisfying blowoffs I've seen in a long time
make this my #1. Benoit/Angle was awesome for sheer workrate, and
Eddy/Tajiri v.s. Team angle rounds out my list.
RICK SCAIA: This is the first of the categories where it's #1, and then
everybody else trailing far behind. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar was just
outstanding in every facet, from storytelling (Heyman screwing Lesnar only
to show up as Angle's "agent," to Angle and Lesnar's mutual respect, to
their second falling out) to ringwork (3 of the top 10 matches of the year
were Angle vs. Lesnar... and they only faced each other one-on-one three
times!). Over on RAW, Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho spanned
essentially the entire year: it was just getting started last November and
is still being referenced this November, and in between, the two cut great
promos on each other and had a handful of super matches. Brock Lesnar's
value this year is underscored by his involvement in my choice for #3 Feud
of the Year, this time against Big Show. Show stepped it up, and Lesnar
was more than game, as they two had surprising matches, and even delivered
one of the year's unforgettable Holy Shit moments (the superplex-ring
collapse on SD!).
RYAN FAULCONER: Believe the HUSS~! Alex Shelley vs Jimmy Jacobs was my
favourite feud of the year. M2K vs DoFIXER was the best puroresu feud of
2003 and gets second place here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Nathan Jones
130 first place votes
130 second place votes
128 third place votes
26 19 9 205 Nathan Jones
11 18 11 131 Kevin Nash
12 11 11 115 A-Train
11 7 10 96 Mark Henry
12 4 5 82 Triple H
7 8 6 71 Scott Steiner
4 5 7 49 Stephanie McMahon
3 7 5 46 Big Show
5 2 5 41 Zach Gowen
3 5 4 38 Rodney Mack
5 2 2 35 Bradshaw
2 4 6 34 Roddy Piper
2 4 4 30 Hulk Hogan
2 2 5 26 Gail Kim
2 0 7 24 Vince McMahon
1 5 2 24 Dusty Rhodes
1 2 3 17 Rosey
2 2 0 16 Undertaker
1 1 3 14 Test
1 2 1 13 Bill DeMott
1 1 2 12 Goldberg
1 2 0 11 Shane McMahon
0 2 2 10 Shaniqua
1 0 2 9 Jon Heidenreich
1 1 0 8 Sandman
1 1 0 8 Randy Orton
0 2 1 8 Sylvan Grenier
1 0 0 5 Teddy Hart
1 0 0 5 Takeshi Rikio
1 0 0 5 Spike Dudley
1 0 0 5 OG Stevie B
1 0 0 5 Kane
1 0 0 5 Gran Markus Jr.
1 0 0 5 Crusher Klein
1 0 0 5 Crash
1 0 0 5 Cien Caras
1 0 0 5 Christian Hartley
1 0 0 5 Chris Benoit
1 0 0 5 Arashi
0 1 1 5 Shane Douglas
0 1 1 5 Pierroth
0 1 1 5 Orlando Jordan
0 0 2 4 Shinya Hashimoto
0 1 0 3 Yoshinari Ogawa
0 1 0 3 Scotty 2 Hotty
0 1 0 3 Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
0 1 0 3 Naoya Ogawa
0 1 0 3 Jeff Jarrett
0 1 0 3 Frankie Kazarian
0 1 0 3 DJ Hyde
0 0 1 2 Sadam
0 0 1 2 Rob van Dam
0 0 1 2 Mark Jindrak
0 0 1 2 Lita
0 0 1 2 Jun Izumida
0 0 1 2 Erik Watts
0 0 1 2 Eric Bischoff
0 0 1 2 Enson Inoue
REJECTED
0 0 2 Duplicated votes
0 1 0 Dudley Boyz
HACK-MAN: For Worst Wrestler I again wanted to include Vince McMahon
(since he takes up so much time not only on TV but on PPV) but I couldn't
in good conscious bump Undertaker, Shaniqua, and A-Train off my top three
list. Honorable mention to Hulk Hogan, Big Show, Rodney Mack, Bradshaw,
Nathan Jones, Jeff Jarrett, Shane Douglas, Roddy Piper, and Vince Russo.
C FRARACCI: Triple H was my favorite wrestler until his injury in 2001,
ever since he came back he's been a one-dimensional wrestler getting by on
his power backstage. He should've dropped the title to Booker T at
Wrestlemania, but he didn't and he consistently holds down the talent
(RVD, Booker, Kane, etc). How long till he turns face so he can bury Orton
or Batista before the get to popular? Gail Kim was brought in with tons of
hype and has failed to live up to it. She's too green and sloppy to be
pushed on the big shows, give her a year in the minors then see what
happens. Besides giving her the title in her debut was a big mistake, but
hopefully she can turn things around and become a star. Look at Rocky
Maivia, came in pushed to the moon and everybody hated him, now he's a
movie star.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Oh, my. So many choices, so little space. Let's go with
A-Train, Big Show, and Rodney Mack here.
JON RICHARDSON: I didn't think it was possible but it happened. Kevin
Nash got worse. He didn't cut a single entertaining promo, didn't have a
single match that was even watchable, then kept getting injured. Vince
must be couting the days till this contract is over.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Hands down, "Little Porker Punk" Scott Steiner who along
with Triple H put forth two WMOTY candidates.
MICHAEL: 1st: The Big Show, aka Brazo de Show. It¹s really too bad he
can¹t keep his weight down, since he¹d be better in the ring. That¹s why
he tops the list for me.
YNAE316: Not a big Bradshaw fan. He's alright in the ring but I think he
gets waaay more screen time than he should. Ditto for A-Train. Gail Kim
rounds out my list. She was pushed too hard too soon. Loved to see her
high spots but she was getting to Jeff Hardy territory for a bit. Glad to
see she's slowing down and working more on the ground now. She should be
pretty decent a year from now. She's not a lost cause yet.
CHRIS BIRD: Scott Steiner. Two words, yet they convey so much raw suck
that God Himself trembles before the Freaky Peaks or whatever the fuck
Steiner calls his distended arms these days. Amazing that a man with so
much muscle gets tired after a couple of overhead suplexes, but there you
go.
SCOTT CHRIST: And so starts the multiple appearances of Kevin Nash on my
ballot, amazing considering he really only worked three months of the
year. Nash was a waste of space and a complete dog as a main event
babyface. Even Scott Steiner eventually became perfectly useful in the
midcard, and got over after the initial vomit reaction to his in-ring
performances against HHH. Steiner gets second nonetheless, third place to
Mark Henry. It's been seven years, guys, he's not going to work out. I
really wanted to give Douglas a vote here, but he was a good heel and kept
himself over despite completely sucking.
RYAN FAULCONER: Kevin Nash really outdid himself this year.
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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
**2003**: 3 Minute Warning - Rosey & Jamal / La Resistance - Sylvan Grenier &
Rene Dupree (tie)
127 first place votes
123 second place votes
117 third place votes
29 10 10 195 3 Minute Warning - Rosey & Jamal
24 21 6 195 La Resistance - Sylvan Grenier & Rene Dupree
14 7 15 121 Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler
8 7 7 75 Big Show & A-Train
6 7 9 69 Rodney Mack & Mark Henry
4 7 12 65 APA - Bradshaw & Faarooq
4 8 10 64 Undertaker & Nathan Jones
4 10 4 58 Zach Gowen & Stephanie McMahon
8 5 1 57 Dudley Boyz - Bubba Ray & D-Von
5 3 9 52 Basham Brothers - Doug & Danny
5 6 4 51 Scott Steiner & Test
2 4 4 30 Roddy Piper & Sean O'Haire
0 6 4 26 Christopher Nowinski & Rodney Mack
0 5 2 19 Jonathan Coachman & Al Snow
1 3 0 14 Hurricane & Rosey
1 2 1 13 FBI - Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli
0 2 3 12 Kane & Rob van Dam
2 0 0 10 Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri
2 0 0 10 3 Live Kru - Ron Killings & Konnan & BG James
1 0 2 9 William Regal & Lance Storm
0 1 3 9 Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade
1 0 0 5 Timid & Pizon
1 0 0 5 Redshirt Security - Kevin Northcutt & Ryan Wilson
1 0 0 5 Michael Modest & Donovan Morgan
1 0 0 5 Mean & Hard - Mitch Page & Rollin Hard
1 0 0 5 Foreign Exchange
1 0 0 5 David Young & Tracy
1 0 0 5 2 Hotty & Rakishi
0 1 1 5 Test & Scott Steiner
0 1 1 5 Hurricane & Kane
0 1 1 5 Billy Gunn & Jamie Noble
0 1 0 3 Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio
0 1 0 3 New Church - Slash & Sinn
0 1 0 3 Mr. Pogo & Shadow WX
0 1 0 3 Los Hermanos Dinamitas - Cien Caras & Mascaro Ano 2000 &
Universo 2000
0 1 0 3 Lance Storm & Goldust
0 1 0 3 French Connection
0 0 1 2 Tadao Yasuda & Kazunari Murakami
0 0 1 2 Steve Williams & Sandman
0 0 1 2 Spanish Announce Team - Jose & Joel Maximo
0 0 1 2 Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger
0 0 1 2 Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka
0 0 1 2 Mad Man Pondo & 2 Tuff Tony
0 0 1 2 Jado & Gedo
0 0 1 2 Harris Boys - Don & Ron
HACK-MAN: For Worst Tag Team I'll be surprised if Big Show & A-Train don't
win outright with La Resistance - Sylvain Grenier & Rene Dupre easily
taking second place. There are a ton of teams that could slip in as #3:
Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler, Zach Gowen & Stephanie McMahon, Undertaker &
Nathan Jones, and 3 Minute Warning - Rosey & Jamal. Most of the other
nominees were bad as a tag team, but not "worst" because there was usually
one decent member paired with a total slug.
PAUL ZOROVICH: 3 Minute Warning din't even last long enough for a cup of
coffee -- let's call it an espresso instead. Undertaker and Nathan Jones
were bad on so many levels I can't even begin to go into it all. And the
less said about Coach and Al Snow the better.
JON RICHARDSON: 3-Minute Warning were simply unredeemable. Horrible,
horrible matches. La R=E9sistance were almost as bad but at least showed
some improvement the more they wrestled. Undertaker & Nathan Jones get
3rd only because Jones was so bad he wasn't even allowed to wrestle, and
that's just too funny not to mention.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Week after week, those two Samoan punks ran out of the
crowd to murder women, grandmothers, legends, and heck they were gonna do
the same to Freddie Blassie. I was waiting FOREVER for someone to come
out and punish these bastards severely, it never happened. Jamal ended up
getting fired, Rosey is doing this cuss word gimmick. Both announce teams
had no business in the ring and produced a WMOTY candidate.
YNAE316: La Resistance was a good concept in my opinion. Great for cheap
heat but they just couldn't BELIEVABLY back it in the ring. Basham
Brothers, while good wrestlers individually were just heat vacuums. I've
always loved the "Twin Double-Switch" bit but it's just too
one-dimensional and is basically a kiss of death in my opinion. Hope to
see those two talented men repackaged soon. Ross & Lawler and Coach &
Snow are here for obvious reasons.
SCOTT CHRIST: The APA went from a mildly entertaining couple of bruisers
with cute backstage segments to just being awful. The overdone patriotic
act, Faarooq being really old, Bradshaw's hair - nothing went well for APA
in their comeback. Second to La Resistance, third to the bizarre and
stupid pairing of Christopher Nowinski and Rodney Mack.
JOHN DONALDSON: Jim Ross should never be in this very ring wrestling ever.
RYAN FAULCONER: Mean & Hard broke the ropes with their sucktitude. They
were that bad. The Dudleys are more dull and boring than outright bad but
this is the only category they really fit in.
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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
**2003**: Triple H
127 first place votes
122 second place votes
118 third place votes
20 7 5 131 Triple H
11 11 11 110 A-Train
10 9 5 87 Sable
9 6 8 79 Mark Henry
7 8 3 65 Vince McMahon
8 6 3 64 Jonathan Coachman
6 7 4 59 Vince Russo
6 3 7 53 Rico
5 4 6 49 Gail Kim
3 7 3 42 Rodney Mack
3 6 4 41 Test
3 6 3 39 Randy Orton
2 5 7 39 Al Snow
4 1 6 35 Eddie Guerrero
2 5 4 33 Roddy Piper
3 1 5 28 Dawn Marie
4 1 1 25 Rock
2 3 3 25 Big Show
2 3 2 23 Kane
1 4 3 23 Shaniqua
2 3 1 21 Brock Lesnar
3 0 0 15 Steven Richards
1 1 2 12 Shane Douglas
0 2 2 10 Nathan Jones
1 0 2 9 AJ Styles
1 1 0 8 Xavier
1 1 0 8 Ric Flair
0 2 1 8 Sean O'Haire
0 0 4 8 Batista
1 0 1 7 Matt Taylor
1 0 1 7 Jeff Jarrett
1 0 1 7 Bill DeMott
0 2 0 6 La Resistance
1 0 0 5 Yoshinari Ogawa
1 0 0 5 Tajiri
1 0 0 5 B-Boy
0 1 0 3 Vampiro
0 1 0 3 Steve Corino
0 1 0 3 Stephanie McMahon
0 1 0 3 Scott Steiner
0 1 0 3 Rob Conway
0 1 0 3 Jamie Noble
0 0 1 2 Val Fuego Roacho
0 0 1 2 Sylvan Grenier
0 0 1 2 Shannon Moore
0 0 1 2 Ricky Marvin
0 0 1 2 Paul Heyman
0 0 1 2 Johnny Stamboli
0 0 1 2 Jerry Lawler
0 0 1 2 Glen Gilberti
0 0 1 2 Eric Bischoff
0 0 1 2 Barry Windham
REJECTED
1 1 0 Duplicated votes
HACK-MAN: The three Worst Heels are Vince Russo, Sable, and Roddy Piper
(since no one had "go away" heat like these three. Honorable mention to
Vince McMahon, and Nathan Jones (who wasn't even nominated!)
C FRARACCI: Eddie is just too funny and charismatic to be booed. Sean
O'Haire had a cool gimmick that was intriguing and I thought he deserved a
big push. The gimmick was to good to be a bad guy. Al Snow is too
respected for a cheap heel turn for no reason.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Eddy Guerrero just does not work as a heel.
JON RICHARDSON: Randy Orton again. One of these days he's actually going
to have to do something heelish besides just standing behind Triple-H with
a smirk on his face. Test and Mark Henry play the same characters as they
did as faces. In fact, was Test a face or a heel for the bulk of the
year? I was never sure.....
CRIMEFIGHTER: Once again, Triple H bores us to tears. What were they
thinking making the Coach a heel? And Test is boring.
YNAE316: My sole pick is Eddie Guerrero. He performed the heel role well,
but he turned himself face in the process, always the sign of a "bad"
heel.
MATTHEW HOCKING: I really do like AJ Styles, but when your world champion
is as bland as he is he deserves the Worst Heel award.
SCOTT CHRIST: I know Al Snow *can* be a great heel, but who really wants
to boo the super nice guy that starred on Tough Enough for three seasons?
It didn't work out so well. Second to A-Train, who tries, God bless him,
but he's just not ever going to do anything. Third to Rico, though not
really his fault.
STEFAN TORNGREN: I enjoyed both The Rock’s and Eddie’s heel work very
much, but since they weren’t able to get heel heat (Rock was at first, but
then there was the Goldberg feud), I gave them #1 & #2. Piper wasn’t
convincing either.
JOHN DONALDSON: Steven Richards couldn't get a reaction even if he was
getting stung by a hive of bumblebees.
RYAN FAULCONER: Brock Lesnar sounds like his name was Ox in college and he
protected the chess club from the football team. That doesn't really make
him much of a heel though. Kane is far too silly a gimmick to be a good
heel. Piper doesn't really make a good anything any more let alone a good
heel so he gets third.
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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
**2003**: Stephanie McMahon / Scott Steiner (tie)
129 first place votes
126 second place votes
119 third place votes
19 13 10 154 Stephanie McMahon
18 16 8 154 Scott Steiner
18 6 9 126 Billy Gunn
13 13 11 126 Kevin Nash
9 6 6 75 Jeff Jarrett
8 7 7 75 Nathan Jones
9 4 2 61 Brock Lesnar
4 8 6 56 Shane McMahon
6 3 5 49 Zach Gowen
2 8 6 46 Gail Kim
5 1 4 36 Goldberg
2 5 4 33 Bradshaw
3 2 5 31 Test
1 6 2 27 Rikishi
2 3 2 23 Rhyno
1 2 6 23 Linda McMahon
2 2 3 22 Lance Storm
1 3 0 14 Kurt Angle
1 1 2 12 Mr. America (Hulk Hogan)
0 0 6 12 Undertaker
1 2 0 11 Maven
1 1 1 10 Jamie Noble
0 1 3 9 Rosey
1 0 1 7 Shawn Michaels
1 0 1 7 Kid Lightning
1 0 0 5 Gran Markus Jr.
0 1 1 5 Val Venis
0 1 1 5 Rey Mysterio
0 1 1 5 Billy Kidman
0 1 0 3 Steve Austin
0 1 0 3 Stacey Keibler
0 1 0 3 Roddy Piper
0 1 0 3 Raven
0 1 0 3 Mat Maniac
0 1 0 3 Mark Madison
0 1 0 3 Erik Watts
0 1 0 3 Chris Benoit
0 0 1 2 Tajiri
0 0 1 2 Sable
0 0 1 2 Orlando Jordan
0 0 1 2 John Cena
0 0 1 2 Homicide
0 0 1 2 Dusty Rhodes
REJECTED - tag teams are ineligible for this award
0 1 0 Dudley Boyz
0 1 0 America's Most Wanted
HACK-MAN: While it would be tempting to list three random McMahons as
Worst Babyfaces, I went with Jeff Jarrett, Stephanie McMahon, and
Undertaker.
C FRARACCI: Billy Gunn has been given to many chances, face facts he
sucks. The man should not even have a job at this point. His best years
were with Road Dogg. Good guy Billy was boring and hopefully he doesn't
come back. Rhyno and Tajiri are much better as heels, they're both vicious
and tough and should be ass kickers.
PAUL ZOROVICH: Yet another category where there are too many to choose
from. Let's go with Nathan Jones here, as I can't bring myself to care
about him.
JON RICHARDSON: Scott Steiner is the only person I've ever seen trying to
get over as a babyface by threatening females and the elderly. He somehow
managed to be a completely despicable person that did nothing to pop the
crowd, but was pushed as a face for almost the entire year. Weird.
Kevin nash and Stephanie McMahon made it a close 3-way race, as both of
them seem to have completely forgotten how to be a face.
CRIMEFIGHTER: Everyone booed Steiner, cause he sucked so bad in the ring.
Gail Kim was a failed experiment, they should had put her in longer
matches so she could improve in the ring instead of these three minute
spotfests. Nathan Jones, never got to see him wrestle a match, WHY?
YNAE316: Nash and Steiner, both well past their primes, just sucked as the
"top faces." It amazes me that BOTH men headlined two consecutive PPVs at
the expense of more deserving wrestlers such as Booker T and RVD (who are
now both damaged goods). I'm rounding out my list here with Gail Kim who
appeared out of nowhere and got pushed to the moon and consequently as a
result failed to get over. Hopefully she's not too damaged beyond repair
yet.
CHRIS BIRD: Remember how they brought in Scott Steiner as Trip's big face
opponent with hordes of fanfare? Remember the "bidding war" for his
services between RAW and Smackdown? Remember the pushup contest? The
armwrestling contest? The posedown? The five thousand other things
designed to disguise the fact that Steiner could no longer wrestle for
more than five minutes without collapsing in a puddle of his own sweat?
Remember how the fans didn't buy it and booed the living shit out of him
at two straight PPV main events? Hey, who says there's nothing good to
remember about 2003?
MICHAEL FISCHER: This has to be the greatest year in the history of the
"Worst Babyface" category. The WWE wanted to push Steiner and Nash as main
event faces and as soon as they got in the ring, the crowd started to boo
them like crazy. Jarrett actually has to have someone instruct the crowd
not to boo him. This category is so deep that Goldberg, who was also booed
mightily while being pushed as a #1 face can't even make the top three.
Incredible.
SCOTT CHRIST: Jarrett was a terrible "number one" babyface for TNA. Nash
and Steiner as runners-up.
JOHN DONALDSON: Rhyno is better off as a heel with that nasty Gore.
Storm lacks the personality to be a good face. Billy Gunn can't get
cheers on his own with having someone else by his side.
RYAN FAULCONER: There was no real reason to get behind Raven in his feud
with the heel CM Punk. Raven seemed much more like the heel to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
**2003**: Nathan Jones
129 first place votes
125 second place votes
125 third place votes
32 13 6 211 Nathan Jones
14 13 14 137 Kevin Nash
9 10 5 85 Mark Henry
4 12 11 78 Scott Steiner
9 3 8 70 A-Train
8 5 4 63 Jim Ross
7 4 4 55 Triple H
5 6 5 53 Hulk Hogan
4 3 11 51 Stephanie McMahon
3 8 5 49 Big Show
3 4 4 35 Sylvan Grenier
1 5 7 34 Jon Heidenreich
1 5 2 24 Bradshaw
0 4 5 22 Rodney Mack
3 1 1 20 Shane Douglas
3 0 2 19 Undertaker
0 4 2 16 Dusty Rhodes
0 3 3 15 Roddy Piper
1 2 1 13 Batista
0 2 3 12 Shane McMahon
1 1 1 10 Vince McMahon
1 1 1 10 Bill DeMott
0 1 3 9 Goldberg
1 1 0 8 Steve Corino
1 1 0 8 Big Daddy
1 0 1 7 Rock
1 0 1 7 Jackie Gayda
0 1 2 7 Rosey
1 0 0 5 Yoshinari Ogawa
1 0 0 5 Teddy Hart
1 0 0 5 Shaniqua
1 0 0 5 Sean O'Haire
1 0 0 5 Rikishi
1 0 0 5 OG Stevie B
1 0 0 5 Matt Morgan
1 0 0 5 Kane
1 0 0 5 Iceberg
1 0 0 5 Gran Markus Jr.
1 0 0 5 Garrison Cade
1 0 0 5 Gail Kim
1 0 0 5 Freebird Buddy Rose (WV)
1 0 0 5 Enson Inoue
1 0 0 5 Cien Caras
1 0 0 5 Chris Benoit
0 1 1 5 Zach Gowen
0 1 0 3 Test
0 1 0 3 Takeshi Rikio
0 1 0 3 Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
0 1 0 3 Mitsuharu Misawa
0 1 0 3 Mad Man Pondo
0 1 0 3 Erik Watts
0 1 0 3 Edward Chastain
0 1 0 3 Billy Gunn
0 1 0 3 Abdullah the Butcher
0 1 0 3 AJ Styles
0 0 1 2 Shocker
0 0 1 2 Shinya Hashimoto
0 0 1 2 Scot