2015 Wrestling Observer Awards

[Snowman1]

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
1. A.J. STYLES (299) 2,507
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (160) 1,674
3. Kazuchika Okada (136) 1,532
4. Shinsuke Nakamura (190) 1,481
5. John Cena (55) 976
6. Brock Lesnar (79) 668
7. Seth Rollins (51) 580
8. Sasha Banks (80) 519
9. La Sombra (35) 228
10. Jay Lethal (21) 214


MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER

1. A.J. STYLES (334) 2,631
2. Shinsuke Nakamura (149) 1,254
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (134) 1,146
4. Kazuchika Okada (72) 870
5. Roderick Strong (82) 712
6. Seth Rollins (60) 640
7. Kota Ibushi (46) 425
8. Chris Hero (49) 364
9. Tomohiro Ishii (34) 343
10. Cesaro (7) 324

FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. CONOR MCGREGOR VS. JOSE ALDO (342) 1,995
2. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks (216) 1,684
3. John Cena vs. Kevin Owens (45) 684
4. Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (90) 645
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (72) 624
6. Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker (25) 554
7. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (17) 491
8. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma (44) 417
9. Suzuki-gun vs. NOAH (41) 371
10. Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia (41) 345

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. YOUNG BUCKS (382) 3,284
2. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (229) 2,204
3. New Day (167) 1,691
4. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (86) 835
5. Naruki Doi & Yamato (70) 637
6. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable (33) 537
7. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (2) 189
8. Michael Bennett & Matt Taven (6) 172
9. Matt Sydal & Ricochet (16) 156
10. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta (7) 125


MOST IMPROVED
1. BAYLEY (116) 1,397
2. Moose (94) 793
3. Sasha Banks (81) 654
4. Roman Reigns (75) 649
5. Baron Corbin (63) 617
6. Michael Elgin (55) 477
7. Jason Jordan (19) 387
8. Chad Gable (65) 349
9. Tetsuya Naito (23) 226
10.Nikki Bella (22) 223

BEST ON INTERVIEWS

1. CONOR MCGREGOR (524) 3,285
2. Paul Heyman (193)` 1,839
3. Kevin Owens (73) 1,109
4. New Day (23) 369
5. Jay Lethal (27) 360
6. John Cena (15) 359
7. Jay Briscoe (16) 235
8. Ronda Rousey (9) 176
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi (16) 159
10. Rush 127

MOST CHARISMATIC

1. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (418) 3,147
2. Conor McGregor (314) 2,293
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (64) 966
4. Bayley (45) 387
5. Ronda Rousey (61) 378
6. Rush (48) 367
7. Brock Lesnar (33) 340
8. Dalton Castle (17) 310
9. John Cena (5) 302
10. Pentagon Jr. (4) 242

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER

1. ZACK SABRE JR. (346) 2,411
2. Kyle O’Reilly (130) 1,099
3. Timothy Thatcher (77) 841
4. Roderick Strong (40) 356
5. Shinsuke Nakamura (56) 279
6. Cesaro (33) 255
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi (7) 215
8. Chad Gable (28) 196
9. Seth Rollins (8) 179
10. A.J. Styles (7) 160

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)

1. TOMOHIRO ISHII (426) 2,994
2. Katsuyori Shibata (72) 1,051
3. Kevin Owens (133) 1,006
4. Brock Lesnar (111) 828
5. Tomoaki Honma (24) 532
6. Pentagon Jr. (50) 527
7. Dean Ambrose (15) 344
8. Daisuke Sekimoto (32) 313
9. Chris Hero (22) 255
10. Drew Galloway (13) 253

BEST FLYING WRESTLER

1. RICOCHET (583) 3,708
2. Kota Ibushi (144) 1,327
3. Will Ospreay (109) 847
4. Matt Sydal (24) 737
5. Neville (37) 618
6. Fenix (16) 593
7. Angelico (40) 508
8. Flamita (18) 328
9. Kushida (8) 223
10. Aero Star (23) 218

MOST OVERRATED

1. KANE (211) 1,775
2. Roman Reigns (186) 1,121
3. Sheamus (85) 755
4 .Big Show (46) 702
5. Charlotte (58) 466
6. Bray Wyatt (21) 353
7. Eva Marie (41) 309
8. Braun Strowman (27) 265
9. Ryback (3) 243
10. Alberto Del Rio (20) 226

MOST UNDERRATED

1. CESARO (477) 2,643
2. Neville (39) 527
3. Luke Harper (22) 407
4. Sasha Banks (39) 337
5. Mascara Dorada (15) 271
6. Kevin Owens (17) 211
7. Samoa Joe (16) 189
8. Dean Ambrose (6) 185
9. Katsuyori Shibata (9) 182
10. Tama Tonga (7) 172

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (354) 3,290
2. UFC (383) 2,286
3. Ring of Honor (55) 1,137
4. Lucha Underground (56) 880
5. Dragon Gate (79) 798
6. PWG (17) 439
7. WWE (19) 392
8. DDT (9) 246
9. Progress Wrestling (20) 154
10. Evolve 96

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. WWE NXT (347) 3,148
2. Lucha Underground (410) 3,112
3. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (197) 1,803
4. Ring of Honor (73) 918
5. WWE Monday Night Raw (4) 97
6. Ultimate Fighter Faber vs. McGregor 60
7. Dragon Gate Infinity 48

PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. KOTA IBUSHI 1/4 TOKYO (319)2,429
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 8/16 Tokyo (207) 1,519
3. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks 8/22 Brooklyn (107) 1,173
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 1/4 Tokyo (90) 939
5.Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins 1/25 Philadelphia (57) 619
6. Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki 11/1 Osaka (64) 588
7. Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville 12/11/14 Winter Park (27) 407
8. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 2/14 Sendai (25) 391
9. Minoru Suzuki vs. Takashi Sugiura 9/19 Osaka (29) 287
10. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. A.J. Styles 8/14 Tokyo (11) 229

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

1. CHAD GABLE (539) 3,299
2. Jay White (159) 2,395
3. Dana Brooke (51) 1,357
4. Kazusada Higuchi (48) 671
5. Cody Hall (33) 431
6. Takehiro Yamamura (23) 311
7. Shotaro Ashino (4) 216
8. Matt Riddle (15) 213
9. Kaito Ishida 119
10. Nia Jax (1) 114

BEST NON-WRESTLER

1. DARIO CUETO (362) 2,394
2. Paul Heyman (358) 2,373
3. Xavier Woods (61) 736
4. William Regal (56) 547
5. Stephanie McMahon (13) 343
6. Truth Martini (12) 338
7. Maria Kanellis (9) 314
8. Lana (7) 220
9. Katrina (2) 181
10. Gedo (4) 128

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. MAURO RANALLO (625) 3,751
2. Corey Graves (57) 819
3. Shimpei Nogami (96) 774
4. Josh Barnett (3) 676
5. Kevin Kelly (74) 572
6. Joe Rogan (36) 537
7. Steve Corino (19) 485
8. Brian Stann (40) 391
9. Jim Ross (25) 391
10. Lenny Leonard (21) 284

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. JOHN LAYFIELD (225) 2,016
2. Michael Cole (107) 1,179
3. Jerry Lawler (127) 1,117
4. Byron Saxton (101) 1,005
5. Josh Matthews (93) 815
6. Matt Striker (82) 809
7. The Pope (48) 408
8. Booker T (32) 373
9. Vampiro (1) 117
10. Corey Graves 49

BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM 9 1/4 TOKYO (614) 3,663
2. UFC 189 7/11 Las Vegas (104) 1,039
3. WWE WrestleMania 31 3/29 Santa Clara (89) 953
4. NXT Takeover Brooklyn 8/22 (67) 797
5. New Japan Dominion 7/5 Osaka (11) 604
6. NXT Takeover R Evolution 12/11/14 Winter Park (32) 375
7. Lucha Underground Ultima Lucha 4/19 Los Angeles (14) 362
8. New Japan G-1 Climax finals 8/16 Tokyo (8) 311
9. PWG Battle of Los Angeles 8/29 Reseda day two (28) 263
10. NXT Takeover Respect 10/7 Winter Park (9) 192

WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. AAA TRIPLEMANIA 8/9 MEXICO CITY 483
2. WWE Royal Rumble 1/25 Philadelphia 79
3. WWE TLC 12/14/14 Cleveland 74
4. WWE Survivor Series 11/22 Atlanta 58
5. TNA Bound for Glory 10/4 Concord, NC 48
6. WWE Payback 5/17 Baltimore 38
7. WWE Elimination Chamber 5/31 Corpus Christi 31
8. WWE Extreme Rules 4/26 Chicago 18
9. UFC 186 4/25 Montreal 9
10. TNA Slammiverary 6/28 Orlando 9

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER

1. A.J. STYLES STYLES CLASH 137
2. Young Bucks Meltzer Driver 131
3. Kazuchika Okada rainmaker 93
4. Neville red arrow 86
5. Ricochet & Matt Sydal double shooting star press 45
6. Kevin Owens pop up power bomb 41
7. Shinsuke Nakamura flying armbar 32
8. Angelico dropkick off the stage into the ring 22
9. Tomoaki Honma kokeshi spear 20
10. Ricochet 630 17

MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC

1. WWE USING REID FLEIHR’S DEATH IN AN ANGLE 618
2. WWE Divas Revolution 26
3. TNA having James Storm push Mickie James onto the train tracks 24
4. WWE changing Ultimate Warrior’s words and meaning in giving Connor Michalek the Warrior Award 17
5. Lucha Underground and indie men vs. women matches 15
6. WWE having Michael Cole do a broken neck angle right after Perro Aguayo Jr. died from a broken neck 10
7. WWE getting rid of Hulk Hogan while Lionizing Ultimate Warrior who said things as bad or worse in public 9

WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. WWE RAW 470
2. TNA Impact 169
3. WWE Smackdown 66
4. Lucha Underground 9

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. PSYCHO CIRCUS VS. VILLANOS 8/9 MEXICO CITY 396
2. Royal Rumble 1/25 Philadelphia 137
3. Big Show vs. Erick Rowan stairs match 12/14/14 Cleveland 60
4. Ryback vs. Sheamus vs. R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry vs. King Barrett Elimination Chamber 5/31 Corpus Christi 57
5. TNA Gauntlet for the Gold 10/4 Concord, NC 32
6. Eva Marie vs. Carmella 8/22 Brooklyn 31
7. John Cena vs. Rusev chain match 4/26 Chicago 13
8. Mahabali Shera vs. Crazy Steve TNA title tournament 11

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. TEAM PCB VS. TEAM BAD VS. TEAM BELLA 221
2. Seth Rollins vs. Kane 111
3. Dolph Ziggler & Lana vs. Rusev & Summer Rae 110
4. Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt 72
5. Kingdom vs. Bullet Club 43
6. James Storm vs. Magnus 23
7. R-Truth vs. King Barrett 20
8. Charlotte vs. Paige 19
9. TNA vs. GFW 16
10. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Thunder 15

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION 423
2. World Wrestling Entertainment 151
3. AAA 37

BEST BOOKER

1. PAUL LEVESQUE/RYAN WARD 317
2. Gedo 314
3. Joe Silva 117
4. Chris DeJoseph/Chris Roach 61
5. Dragon Gate team 56
6. Hunter Johnston 39
7. Sean Shelby 19
8. Sanshiro Takagi 17
9. Gabe Sapolsky 11

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

1. DANA WHITE 581
2. Takaaki Kidani 177
3. Paul Levesque 121
4. Mark Dallas 18
5. Vince McMahon 15
6. Scott Coker 12
7. Joe Koff 11

BEST GIMMICK

1. NEW DAY 213
2. Dalton Castle 200
3. Los Ingobernables 129
4. Bayley 71
5. Finn Balor 44
6. Pentagon Jr. 39
7. Conor McGregor 23
8. Bullet Club 20
9. Mojo Rawley 18
10. Kevin Owens 15

WORST GIMMICK
1. STARDUST 155
2. Alberto Del Rio Mex-America 85
3. Divas Revolution 54
4. Adam Rose 52
5. The Authority 45
6. King Barrett 27
7. Mojo Rawley 21
8. Mahabali Shera 20
9. The Ascension 17
10. Eva Marie 15

A look at the 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award winners

Thoughts?

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Came for lots of Conor, leaves satisfied. Conor is better at pro wrestling than pro wrestling right now.

Brock got fucked as well. Idgaf about # of matches, he is the most must see thing in wrestling and we all know it.

 

[Snowman1]

Came for lots of Conor, leaves satisfied. Conor is better at pro wrestling than pro wrestling right now.

Brock got fucked as well. Idgaf about # of matches, he is the most must see thing in wrestling and we all know it.

TAKE YOUR BROKEN LINK AND GO SHOVE IT

Your winner: BROCK, LESNARRRR - WrasslorMonkey's Wrestling With Text

 

[Snowman1]

seriously I was a little surprised to not see him win Box Office Draw of the Year - well ARousey is (well, was) a little untouchable in that regard, but WWE sold an entire show on "HEY! LESNAR! COME ON! BROCK LESNAR! BUY NOW!" and it was their second most watched show IIRC, because Brock killin' dudes >>>>>

Hell from a overall performance standpoint, he had a shit match with the Big Show (not his fault), 3 possible MOTYCs (the Rumble classic, HIAC, and the Mania ME), the awesome spectacle with Kofi, and a quality Summerslam ME. Nobody has that kind of track record. In the mainstream at least Lesnar was easily Wrestler of the Year, I'd put him over Balor or Lethal or Rollins or EC3 for sure

 

[Prince Bálor]

I'm cool with this.

 

[Stopspot]

Dave is so fucking salty that Charlotte and McGregor didn't win every single award. It's fucking comical.

 

[Leo C]

Dave is a geek

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Also UFC should win most disgusting promotional tactic for signing CM Punk to a fucking contract. Scumbags.

 

[Rogue]

Kane most overrated? When the fuck was the last time Kane even got a huge pop? Most disliked I can see, but not overrated.

People still like the Young Bucks? Horrible.

Also UFC should win most disgusting promotional tactic for signing CM Punk to a fucking contract. Scumbags.

Dude still hasn't had his first match yet, piece of shit. He's better off pleasing those Marvel nerds.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

"overrated" and "underrated" categories are essentially over and underpushed. Kane was in the main event picture most of the year from what I understand and he sucks therefore he is overrated.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

I don't understand why UFC is on the list.

Also LOL at the fact that WWE dominated the most overrated list

 

[Stopspot]

I don't understand why UFC is on the list.

Also LOL at the fact that WWE dominated the most overrated list

Dave is a UFC mark. It's that simple.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

I don't understand why UFC is on the list.

Also LOL at the fact that WWE dominated the most overrated list

because the UFC is way more pro wrestling than it is sport. Pretty much literally the only difference is determined outcomes vs actual shoot fighting.

 

[Snowman1]

"overrated" and "underrated" categories are essentially over and underpushed. Kane was in the main event picture most of the year from what I understand and he sucks therefore he is overrated.

I wouldn't vote Kane "most overrated" since... The weird thing with Kane was that even though he didn't wrestle many main events, he was the story of many of them. Like at the fatal 4 way at Payback, Kane - at ringside - had to help Seth (who he hated) win to keep his job, and while he helped on behalf of Seth, he was taken out halfway through and Seth won semi-clean... and Michael Cole right after the bell yelled "This means tonight we learned exactly which side Kane is on!" and I was like "NO FUCKFACE ROLLINS RETAINS NOBODY CARES ABOUT KANE"

Michael Cole almost could have won worst announcer for that line alone. Almost.

Think one of the lessons WWE learned this year is that there's a point where you just do too much damage to someone. There were SEVERAL guys doing the best work they've done in a while this year - like Sheamus lately, he's been a lot better in this role than he has been practically ever (outside of his midcard babyface run where he just had hoss fights with Luke Harper every week) and absolutely nobody cares about Sheamus in 2016, we all kinda agreed Kane playing a second-rate Joseph Park was pretty good stuff, but damn after a year of build and Authority garbage that feud died SUCH a death. Hell look at Roman Reigns, he had a pretty spectacular 2015 for match quality, and look at how we're feeling going into the Royal Rumble this year. Even Big Show... nah, not really

Anyway the one winner I disagree with - and can't really argue since I haven't watched much of their promotions - is Young Bucks for tag team. Not a Single vote for the Unlikely Trio? Really? Guess because Snow's transitioned purely from the workrate mark I used to be to more of an emotion mark, but they were SO GREAT. Also the New Day trying to salvage Raw for so long before they fell to the wayside as well. Hell I'd take Jordan and Gable over YB and their series of "NJPW openers" Also no votes for Sandow for Most Underrated after he was the top face going into Mania.

Speaking of such, to the 9 people who gave Worst Show votes to Lucha Underground: :finger:

So after hearing Stop I listened to Dave's podcast about the awards, and I HOWLED with laughter when he was discussing how Bayley and Sasha certainly wasn't a top-10 MOTY. Fuck outta here, dude. Again, didn't see any NJPW or ROH besides Final Battle and WK9 - should watch more after seeing 5-6 spectacular matches on those (and a bunch of "solid" stuff), and even without that there were the early matches with the NXT Six (or largely any combination of Owens/Zayn/Balor/Breeze/Neville, less so Itami), the Owens/Cena trilogy, the Cena/Cesaro stuff, Owens/Ziggler, Sasha/Becky, the women's fatal 4 way, Joe/Ciampa, Joe/Balor, Asuka/Emma, any Brock Lesnar match - especially the Rumble one, DB/Rollins, DB/Reigns, probably a few more Reigns matches (thought he had the MOTN on several big PPVs this year), throw Ethan/Spud in there and about 30 Lucha Underground matches, where to even begin... There's a lot of good wrestling matches I can just rattle off the top of my head this year (few from the main roster but meh) and that developmental women's match in Brooklyn topped them all pretty easily IMO, which still blows my mind. Meltzer can shove his star ratings up his ass.

Also for anything to beat out the 2015 Rumble for WMOTY was sad. Gotta see that Triplemania show for posterity's sake.

 

[The GOAT]

Boxing has been doing "pro wrestling" style promotions for ages as well, even going back before the time of Ali. Guys trash talk, exaggerate beefs, and sometimes even admit to the media they're merely playing characters to get people hyped up about the fight. Nearly all of the great rivalries in combat sports have a clear Protagonist vs Antagonist, no different than pro wrestling.