2016 PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the year

[legendkiller1979]

Since it's inception in 1979, Pro Wrestling Illustrated had posted fan voted year ed results. This year has been very interesting from the standpoint of voting for year end awards. I know who I think should win certain awards and every one else has their opinion as well.

When it comes to tag teams, they show up in the running for a year-end award. Three time the match of the year involved tag teams. (1985, 2000, 2001) Twice a tag team has been in the running for the most popular wrestler of the year. (1991, 2014) A tag team needs to have a hell of a year to be considered for the award.

This year has been very interesting when it comes to who's getting the biggest pop of the night. I have been watching wrestling for 28 years and I have never seen a tag team consistently get the biggest pop of the night week in and week out. Sure there have been some popular teams over the years who got great reactions. But never have I seen a team be so much more popular than any other wrestler. This year it has really happened with two teams and both should finish in the running for the most popular of the year for 2016.

If you would have voted for the award at the half way point, the New Day would have won the award. But like everything else, what once was fresh is not so anymore. They still get a great reaction but it isn't what it once was.

If there was any doubt as to how over Enzo and Cass are before last Monday, there shouldn't be now. How incredible was it to have the entire crowd go through the entire E&C routine? It worked for The Rock and now it's working spectacularly for Enzo and Cass. It would be different if it was just the initial routine, but they have done a great job of keeping it fresh.

I'm sure people are going to disagree and they are not a fan. But if you really look at it objectively, there really is no other choice. I'll be honest, I have a feeling Dean Ambrose is going to win the award, but he certainly doesn't deserve it. Enzo and Cass are red hot and is showing no sign of cooling off. I hope at most point they win the tag team championship, but they don't need it. They have found a winning formula.

 

[LegendKiller716]

I'm not too familiar with the award? Does it have to be a baby face that wins? Or is it just most popular in general? Because I think AJ Styles is probably up there. Face or heel, people are just stoked he's in WWE. I see where you're coming from with Enzo and Cass, but it's hard to go against Styles. Rollins and Baylor also seem like good options.

 

[Navi]

I'm not too familiar with the award? Does it have to be a baby face that wins? Or is it just most popular in general? Because I think AJ Styles is probably up there. Face or heel, people are just stoked he's in WWE. I see where you're coming from with Enzo and Cass, but it's hard to go against Styles. Rollins and Baylor also seem like good options.

The actual period of time that they take into consideration is from mid year to the following mid year. So the 2016 winners should be wrestlers who did well from mid 2015 to mid 2016. The criteria is pretty much the same every year. They look at win-loss records, major feuds, how many belts they won, wrestling ability and the overall perception of them.

A tag team would have a hard time winning this award as you have to look at two wrestlers instead of one. Also didn't Enzo and Cass debut halfway through the evaluation period, so they haven't even spent a whole year on the roster yet.

The list is always up for grabs and there is most time a lot of bitching and complaining when someone's favourite didn't win, or didn't make the top ten. So I take the list with a grain of salt each year.

 

[Bagpipes]

Like them or not, there's no tag team in the world more popular than the Young Bucks right now.

They've won 4 sets of tag titles in 3 different promotions this year, 3 of which they currently hold at the same time. They participated in Ladder War 6 in ROH, arguably a 5-star, match of the year contender. They're still the top merch sellers online and at live events, regardless of where they go.

As I said, it's not a matter of whether they're well liked or respected in the wrestling community, nobody can dispute their success or popularity.

But New Day did put Luke Gallows' balls in a jar, so there's that.

 

[stingray11214]

This is a fan award. In awards such as "Most Popular", it will be THAT VOTER'S favorite wrestler they vote for. They are, for the most part, going to ignore the crowd and vote for their favorite. If that means they vote for Dean Ambrose, they vote for Dean Ambrose. Hell, that person could vote for Aldo/Adam Rose, Cody Rhodes or Habib from the Car Wash. That is why winners sometimes have very low numbers when winning the PWI Award.