I dunno if I can wind it down to just one for some of these.
1. Best Match of the Year - John Cena vs. The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII: While there were a lot of great matches this year that probably featured better wrestling, there was so a LOT riding on this match, the two men involved and the story that was being told. They built the match up for a year with a level of hype that we'd never seen in a match. Not only did it live up to the hype, it exceeded everyone's expectations.
2. Worst Match of the Year - John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis at Over The Limit: A good example of why authority figures shouldn't be the center of attention.
3. Best PPV of the Year - WWE Extreme Rules: Everything on the show flat out delivered, even more so than WrestleMania. Expectations for WM each year are set so unrealistically high by a lot of people that it's practically impossible for the show not to fall short, even though it definitely was a great show. Extreme Rules is one of these shows that you generally don't expect much out of overall, but this one knocked it out of the park.
4. Worst PPV of the Year - TNA Against All Odds: Just an extremely lackluster show all around. The best match was the X Division Championship match between Austin Aries & Alex Shelley, but it was no surprise that Aries would win. The TNA WHC match felt meaningless as this was right at the time when there was more heat between Sting & Roode than against any of his challengers. The rest of the card also included lame matches like Robbie E vs. Shannon Moore & Gunner vs. Garrett Bischoff. There was just so little worth being invested in.
5. Best Angle of the Year - CM Punk's Quest for Respect: I truly enjoyed watching CM Punk go from being the most over babyface in pro wrestling in the first half of this year to watching him become the most despised heel in pro wrestling during the second half. It did get repetitive sometimes, but Punk's ability on the mic carried him through. I also loved the fact that WWE didn't try to make him the heel that it's "cool" for people to cheer for. Even though he's always going to get some cheers, WWE has painted him as downright vile at times and the cheers have vastly diminished.
6. Worst Angle of the Year - Claire Lynch: This is easily the worst angle of the year. It's probably gotten more general criticism than any other angle this year and it's not hard to see why. It was painfully dragged out for months & months on end and featured such a convoluted mish-mash of soap opera type drama & acting that you couldn't wait for it to be over. If the AJ/Cena/Vickie angle keeps going for another few months, then it has a legit chance of being every bit as bad or worse than this one.
7. Rookie of the Year - Ryback: I don't think it can really be denied that Ryback shouldn't get this. Ryback has gone from being a tolerated Goldberg clone to being one of the most over talents on the WWE roster within the span of a couple of months.
8. Promo of the Year - CM Punk & Paul Heyman Mocking Jerry Lawler: I can't remember the last time a promo caused so much controversy as this one. I thought Punk & Heyman did a great job on the mic and ultimately did a killer job of getting under people's skin and causing more than a little discomfort. It was a dose of legit controversy rather than the tired cliches that Attitude Era marks are clamoring for and calling edgy.
9. Biggest Surprise of the Year: Daniel Bryan - While I've personally thought Bryan capable, it really surprised me to see him become as over as he's been in the past 12 months. Everything Bryan has done or said has been gold. He's gone from someone that people were expecting to be the first to unsuccessfully cash in MITB to having a significant run with the World Heavyweight Championship and become one of the most over guys on the roster. Another nominee that springs to mind is Brock Lesnar's return. I hadn't read any of the spoilers prior to Raw saying that Lesnar was going to be there so it was something of a shock when that music hit.
10. Best Wrestler of the Year - CM Punk: From an overall perspective, I don't see how it couldn't be anybody but Punk. He's on the verge of having the longest WWE Championship reign since Hulk Hogan's first reign back in 1984, he's generated top level interest among fans despite not being as heavily pushed as Cena or Rock in the first half of the year, many of his matches against the likes of Bryan, Jericho & Cena have been legit match of the year contenders, he's got the ability in the ring & on the mic and, whether you're a fan or not, he had people constantly talking about him. Other notable wrestlers would be John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Austin Aries, Sheamus & Bobby Roode.
11. Worst Wrestler of the Year - Too Close To Call: This is something that could go to anybody really. If I had to pick five nominees for this, I'd probably go with, in no particular order, The Great Khali, Tensai, Garett Bischoff, Gunner and Robbie E.
12. Non-Wrestler of the Year - Paul Heyman: I've really enjoyed Paul Heyman's role since he's been back in WWE. He's great as a mouthpiece for Brock Lesnar and he's great as just someone that's paling around with CM Punk.
13. Best Title Reign - CM Punk's WWE Championship Reign: This should be Punk's in my opinion. Regardless of whether you're a fan of CM Punk or not, no other championship reign in years has generated as much discussion as this one. In a few days, Punk will literally become the longest reigning World Champion the WWE has seen since Hogan's first reign began almost 29 years ago. Punk was able to use his ability to keep main event level interest among fans even if he wasn't given as much limelight as John Cena in the first half of the year. Since turning heel, Punk has been, arguably, the most reviled heel champion the WWE has seen in years and interest is still up.
14. Best Group (Includes Tag Teams) - Team Hell No: Now that I think on it, the success of Kane & Daniel Bryan as a tag team could be a legit contender for surprise of the year. In what very well could've been an abysmal angle turned out to be one of the best of the year. Not only have Bryan & Kane been the most interesting tag team WWE has fielded in years, they've spearheaded a revitalization in the tag team scene in WWE. Tag team wrestling as a whole is stronger in WWE than it's probably been in a decade. Doesn't mean that it's perfect, but they've come a long way in less than 3 months. Kane & Bryan have both been great, surprisingly great, in their current roles and have just delivered in promos and in matches.
15. Feud of the Year - John Cena & The Rock: The hype & build for their WM match was of major importance to the success of their match at WM. Whether you were for Cena or Rock, people were constantly talking about this feud throughout the entire year, especially after the turn of 2012. There were lots of other great feuds like CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, Punk vs. Bryan, Sheamus vs. Bryan, Bobby Roode vs. James Storm and a few others. But this feud had EVERYBODY talking and wondering what was to happen.
16. Moment of the Year - The Undertaker, Triple H & HBK Together After HIAC At WM: This was an incredible moment in my opinion. The HIAC match between Taker & Trips at WM was billed as the "end of an era" and I couldn't help but think of that when these three hugged each other as they moved up the ramp. I thought to myself that this might be the last time I ever see all three of these men together in my lifetime. It's one of those moments that comes along that you can't plan for or that all the booking talent in the world can't simply create. The emotional connections that fans have had for these wrestlers for most of the past 20 years is brought this home.
17. Story of the Year - CM Punk's WWE Championship Reign: So much of Punk's character since winning the title over a year ago has been built around simply being the champion. The title has become a central part of the very identity of Punk's character, especially since his heel turn.
18. Worst Angle of the Year - Claire Lynch: Nothing more to be said about it. From beginning to end, the whole thing was mediocrity personified.
19. Most Improved Wrestler of the Year - Daniel Bryan: Over the course of the past 12 months, Daniel Bryan has gone from being a pretty generic babyface to being a legit top level star on the roster. People have known that Bryan had the stuff in the ring but we got to see that Bryan is someone more than capable of delivering and delivering well on the mic. During the slow process of his heel turn, much like we saw with CM Punk, the WWE didn't try to make Bryan into this guy that was cool to cheer for. Again, while he did and still does get a lot of cheers, the WWE has avoided going for the anti-hero/tweener role that, for some strange reason, a lot of internet fans think just about every wrestler should be. Bryan's gone from someone that most would've thought expendable, despite his great in-ring ability, to being one of the most valuable assets on the WWE roster overall. If that's not improvement, I don't know what is.
