Correct The Award: PWI Rookie Of The Year

[The Brain]

The PWI Award series is almost coming to an end. Next up is Rookie of the Year and I have to admit I’ve been avoiding this one. The problem I have is most years either have a weak rookie class or an obvious winner. It’s hard to argue against a lot of them. I see some not so great names on the list, but I don’t see any decent alternatives. Check out the list and see what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PWI_Rookie_of_the_Year

I know a lot of people will want to argue against Hornswoggle so I’ll choose someone else.

This post is going to be repetitive of an earlier one in the series. I think Chyna should have been rookie of the year in 1999. She debuted in the WWF in 1997 but didn’t start wrestling until 1999. She started early in the year by competing in the Royal Rumble. She would go on to wrestle competitively against men throughout the year eventually winning the IC title. For the same reasons I listed in the woman of the year thread I think Chyna should have been rookie of the year in 1999 as well.

 

[Judah's Lion]

this is a tough one to call. besides the reasons listed by the OP, there's also the fact that it's difficult to consider when a debut actually occurs.

since i've watched mainly the WWF/E for all these years, i'd say that there were several great debuts in Razor Ramon and Diesel, among many others, but they weren't rookies. they had been wrestling for years in other promotions and i just never saw them.

that said, i'll go for the 2001-2002 area. Randy Orton got the award for 2001 and Brock Lesnar came in number 2. now i don't remember Brock from his OVW days and only saw his WWE time. but his was one of the most dominant rookie years in the history of the business, winning the King of the Ring Tournament, going over the Rock cleanly at Summer Slam for the World Title, going over cleanly many times against Taker, including inside the Hell in a Cell match, dropping Big Show with an F-5 and then winning the Rumble to main event Mania where he would again go over clean against Angle for the world title.

see a resounding theme here? this guy went over cleanly many times against the biggest stars, not just of the time, but perhaps of all time. he went over cleanly at the big events, in the main event and in several gimmick matches.

Brock over Orton, who was mostly injured, by far!

 

[CARLOSWRESTLING]

OHH MEN THERE LOTS OF GUYS I WOULD CHANGE, I mean Sting should have been rookie of the year in 1988, come on!, his 45 time limit draw with Flair was legendary and NWA was building him up to become the "man", he should of won that year, ok it wasn't his first year but in the UWF he didn't do that much, he truly raised in the NWA.

And in 1984 I would have chosen Nikita Koloff, he was a raising force as one half of the Russians, with the russian bear Ivan Koloff, so I think he did more than Mike Von Ericha at the time, i don't know.

Sylvain Grenier in 2004 was world tag team champion it was the raising team of the year and I think he did more than Gowen, Ok maybe Gowen was involved in more high profile angles but Grenier did more.

And in 2007 I would have chosen Ted Dibiase, he no doubt is a "wrestler" and with lots of talent and future, which Hornswoggle is not, and this award is "Rookie of the Year" for wrestlers not midget wrestlers.

 

[ScreaminNormanSmiley]

that said, i'll go for the 2001-2002 area. Randy Orton got the award for 2001 and Brock Lesnar came in number 2. now i don't remember Brock from his OVW days and only saw his WWE time. but his was one of the most dominant rookie years in the history of the business, winning the King of the Ring Tournament, going over the Rock cleanly at Summer Slam for the World Title, going over cleanly many times against Taker, including inside the Hell in a Cell match, dropping Big Show with an F-5 and then winning the Rumble to main event Mania where he would again go over clean against Angle for the world title.

see a resounding theme here? this guy went over cleanly many times against the biggest stars, not just of the time, but perhaps of all time. he went over cleanly at the big events, in the main event and in several gimmick matches.

Brock over Orton, who was mostly injured, by far!

And all of those accomplishments for brock you just mentioned for Brock happened in 2002, when he debuted on wwe tv. Orton also moved up to wwe tv in 2002, so nothing you mentioned would have anything to do with the 2001 rookie of the year awards. It would be based on their developmental work so I have no idea who should have gone over as I have never watched much of them that year.