RDTWorldofSport 2018 Wrestling Awards
Honesty time. This is pretty much my opinion with some searching around to see what some respected wrestling forums and writers think. Also this will mostly be WWE (but not all), basically because that’s what I watched 99% of the time. But if something else catches my eye, it could make the awards. 2018 was an interesting year, for sure. Again, if you disagree, fine. But just remember, I don’t watch NJPW or anything else really.
Moment of the Year
Winner: The Man Comes Around RAW
You know what the easiest way to determine if what someone is doing is great? Take an angle that’s been pretty horrible for years (in this case, the forced RAW-Smackdown “invasions” or whatever for Survivor Series) and turn it into a masterpiece. And that’s what Becky Lynch did. In a pretty lame year for WWE angles, this ridiculously stood out.
Second Place: Penta-Jericho at All-In
Third Place: Ronda Rousey Debuts at the Royal Rumble
Fourth Place: Asuka wins the Smackdown Women’s Title at TLC
Fifth Place: The Undertaker Returns to Confront John Cena
Debut of the Year
Winner: Ronda Rousey in WWE
Her actual debut at the Rumble felt like an absolute shock, and then she proceeded to string together good match after good match all year. Has anyone felt so natural in WWE as Ronda (samoan drop and awkward smiling aside).
Second Place: Ricochet in NXT
Third Place: War Raiders in NXT
Fourth Place: Matt Riddle in NXT
Fifth Place: AOP in WWE
Return of the Year
Winner: Daniel Bryan (WWE)
It wasn’t even the strongest return as Bryan was saddled with trying to make something of Big Cass. But like always, he was too good to be kept in the midcard for long. His heel turn is perhaps the 2nd best story in the company at the moment, and winning the world title and having an excellent match with Brock shows Bryan hasn’t lost a step.
Second Place: Drew Mcintyre on RAW
Third Place: Rey Mysterio at the Royal Rumble/Smackdown
Fourth Place: The Undertaker at Wrestlemania
Fifth Place: Nikki Bella at the Royal Rumble/Smackdown
Match of the Year
Winner: NXT Championship: Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Johnny Gargano
I feel like I need to add the “I didn’t watch much NJPW” disclaimer like I did last year. I think it’s also worth mentioning, while great matches, the Gargano vs. Ciampa series didn’t completely do it for me for whatever reason (probably because Ciampa was gone too long). Gargano vs. Almas had a perfect story. Gargano’s focus was on becoming Johnny Wrestling again after a post-DIY slump, while Almas had just recently went through the same thing before Zelina Vega got him back on track. The match itself is incredible. Not only did it give Gargano a legit argument at best in the world, it elevated Almas into something special as well (that’s been wasted on Smackdown, but whatever).
Second Place: WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship – Evolution: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch
Third Place: WWE Women’s Championship – TLC: Charlotte vs. Asuka vs. Becky Lynch
Fourth Place: WWE Survivor Series – Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan
Fifth Place: NJPW WrestleKingdom 12 – Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega
Feud of the Year
Winner: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte
Becky Lynch’s heel turn on Charlotte launched one of rare moments of someone getting megaover (the last one I can remember is Daniel Bryan in 2013). Becky and Charlotte’s beef makes a lot of sense from a storyline perspective and while Becky has just absolutely killed it, Charlotte’s done quite well herself. As a result, we’ve had some great matches and launched a megastar in Becky.
Second Place: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Third Place: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
Fourth Place: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Fifth Place: Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
Winner: The Roman Empire Crashes
While the very end of Roman’s run wasn’t his fault at all, the rest of it was an unnecessary mess it didn’t have to be. First, Wrestlemania vs. Brock was an embarrassment. Whoever wrote that needed to be fired. The cage match at the Greatest Royal Rumble was there. The Summerslam main event, where Roman FINALLY won the title was bad (and we needed Braun Strowman to be taken out just so people wouldn’t root for a cash-in). Nonetheless, I was all for a fighting champion Roman storyline and perhaps a strong feud with Braun (who he has great chemistry with; it was my 2017 Feud of the Year). Somehow the writing got worse, where Braun turned heel (no one wanted this), wasted his Money in the Bank contract (what) to face Roman in Hell in a Cell…which went to a no contest (sigh). For as strong as Roman gets pushed, he didn’t get a clean run once he won the title. Sadly, Roman was forced to vacate the title due to real life Leukemia returning. Roman’s ridiculously talented and quite frankly I think the WWE Universe would love to cheer for the guy as a top guy. But his booking is atrocious. The way Roman’s been booked not only hurts Roman, it hurt Samoa Joe (Backlash), Brock (the whole thing), Braun (for his forced heel turn that wasn’t needed), Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (for the botched SHIELD reunion and Ambrose turn). Roman has megastar potential. But not this way.
Second Place: Asuka pre-TLC
Third Place: Sasha Banks and Bayley’s never ending storyline
Fourth Place: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura feud
Fifth Place: Finn Balor doing next to nothing
Best Show of the Year
Winner: All-In
A non-WWE show! I don’t know if All-Elite Wrestling is going to make it or anything, but wow did Cody Rhodes and company make waves for the American wrestling landscape not really seen for a long time. Good matches (Omega vs. Pentagon was considered for my Top 5), good stories (Cody Rhodes’ path to the NWA title), big names (Rey Mysterio was in the main event), good surprises (Jericho as Penta is my #2 moment of the year) and some other fun stuff (the Battle Royal) far exceeded my expectations. It takes a lot for me to watch a non-WWE show. It takes a real lot for me to enjoy one.
Second Place: NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
Third Place: NXT Takeover: New Orleans
Fourth Place: WWE Survivor Series 2018
Fifth Place: WWE Royal Rumble 2018
Non-Wrestler of the Year
Winner: Kurt Angle, RAW
Not a great year for non-wrestlers. Angle did wrestle here and there, so this may be cheating. He did fine with what he had to work with though, especially since his main feud ended up being with Baron Corbin (almost made my disappointments list, what a mess that’s turned out to be). Bringing back the Conquistador though, hard to top that.
Second Place: Zelina Vega, Manager (A stretch I know)
Third Place: William Regal, NXT General Manager
Fourth Place: Paul Heyman, Manager
Fifth Place: Paige, Smackdown General Manager
Best Surprisingly Good Angle
Winner: The Ultimate Deletion
One of the few feel good stories in WWE this year. Br Woken Matt Hardy got to do a WWE-style Ultimate Deletion match…and it was a lot of fun! And while Bray Wyatt is capable of much more, the post-Deletion team, the Eater of Worlds, were fun and a good way for Matt Hardy to go out.
Second Place: Daniel Bryan Turns Heel
Third Place: Kurt Angle as a Conquistador
Woman of the Year
Winner: Becky Lynch (WWE)
Like this was a question. Becky’s the most over act in WWE at the moment and arenas everywhere are chanting her name. I’m begging that WWE doesn’t give her the 2012-2013 CM Punk treatment. To give an idea of how big Becky’s year was, she didn’t even make my Top 5 in this category last year.
Second Place: Ronda Rousey (WWE)
Third Place: Charlotte (WWE)
Fourth Place: Asuka (WWE)
Fifth Place: Shayna Bazsler (NXT)
Tag Team of the Year
Winner: The Undisputed Era (NXT)
It was a rough year in WWE land for tag teams, let me tell you. Thank goodness the Undisputed Era continues to be awesome. New Day, Bar and Usos, good as they all are, are stale. Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel were champions at one point. And so was a 10 year old kid? Thank you Undisputed Era.
Second Place: The New Day (WWE)
Third Place: The Bar (WWE)
Fourth Place: The Deleter of Worlds (WWE)
Fifth Place: The Bludgeon Brothers (WWE)
Wrestler of the Year
Winner: Becky Lynch (WWE)
This one was a tough one for me between three people – Becky, AJ Styles and Kenny Omega. Each had pros and cons. Omega did a lot for wrestling that isn’t non-WWE, was called the most important World Champion by Sports Illustrated and won Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s #1 spot on the PWI 500. He had a lot of great matches and I would guess would be the top draw not named Jericho for All Elite Wrestling if it happens. But the truth is, I don’t watch enough to comfortably judge Omega and his influence. If it wasn’t Jericho I wouldn’t have even watched his match at Wrestle Kingdom. If he came to WWE would he even start on the main roster? Tons of people would say of course not. Others would call me stupid for even suggesting it. So I don’t feel he’s #1. AJ Styles’ year is quite strange, but as WWE does whatever around him, he’s a constant top guy where no one else can be consistent. He would have easily won this year (for the third straight time in three WWE years), but unfortunately a lot of his dream feuds fell a little flat. The feud with Nakamura wasn’t bad at all, but it was built as this dream feud and we got…a string of good to very good matches. Samoa Joe, same thing. The feud with Bryan has some potential and I think could be the dream match in the right situation. Still, AJ still put together a very good year (and I don’t even think any of this was his fault). The knock against Becky is she didn’t get a chance to do anything notable before Summerslam. So basically, can she win a year-long award for a strong four-five months. But wow what a four-five months it was. As I wrote earlier, this is the first time since Daniel Bryan in 2013 where the fans are all-in and WWE has a transcendent star in their hands. Becky has delivered ever since. And, it’s not like Becky’s pre-Summerslam was bad. Had AJ had a stronger year or had I saw more of Omega, I would have given one of them the nod most likely, but Becky stole 2018 with a super strong finish.
Second Place: AJ Styles (WWE)
Third Place: Kenny Omega (NJPW)
Fourth Place: Johnny Gargano (NXT)
Fifth Place: Aleister Black (NXT)