Correct The Award: PWI Most Improved Wrestler Of The Year

[The Brain]

Next up in the Correct the Award series is Most Improved Wrestler. You know the routine by now. Take a look at the PWI award winners from over the years and tell me which are wrong.

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

The one I feel that needs to be corrected is 2007. I think the award should have gone to MVP. I know there are a lot of people here who think MVP has underachieved. Keep in mind I am talking about the MVP of 2007 not the MVP of 2010. MVP came up form WWE developmental in late 2006 and wasn’t taken seriously at first. Remember the Power Ranger chants? A feud with Kane at the end of the year, which culminated with an inferno match, started to earn MVP a bit of respect. Despite a loss to Chris Benoit WrestleMania 23 was a breakout for MVP. He looked really good against Benoit in what would have been a great match had it been given just a couple more minutes for a proper climax. Two months later MVP beat Benoit in two straight falls to win the US Title. He would hold the title for nearly a year. Although health issues kept MVP from wrestling throughout much of the summer he was always a very relevant part of Smackdown. He was getting more and more over even without being able to wrestle. Unfortunately MVP hasn’t been too successful lately, but he made great strides in 2007 and I felt he was the one who improved the most from 2006.

 

[KKarvox]

Mine is for 2004 to go to JBL. Don't get me wrong, Randy Orton really established himself, and found his niche as the Legend Killer, but he was already being groomed for greatness in Evolution. JBL literally went from bottom to top in one year, he went from popular Tag wrestler, and lower mid carder to Main Eventer, and arguably one of the best heels of the last ten years overnight. So while Randy definitely broke out in 2004, I think JBL had a much more vast improvement.

Not to mention JBL's first and only title reign being one of the longest reigns in recent history.

 

[CARLOSWRESTLING]

I think candice winning the award in 2007 was a mistake, I mean, MVP did a lot more, this is a man's sport, and he won the US title from one of the all time greats, Chris Benoit, he really was one of smackdown's stars at the time.

Also I would have given Petey Williams the award in 2008, he worked a good angle with Scott Steiner and then teamed up with him, I remember Petey coming to the ring with Steiner's mesh, he was a good X division champ and all of that, Cody otherwise didn't look that much improved in the ring, ok he won the tag titles, but he looked very green at the time, still is, so that I think wasn't a good selection either.

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

I feel the 2006 award needs to be corrected, and it should have gone to the runner up that year, Johnny Nitro. Nitro had a good year in 2005 along with Mercury and Melina in establishing MNM as Smackdown's top tag team. However, they were only fighting the likes of Burchill and Regal, Bob Holly and Charlie Haas, and the new LOD. However as soon as 2006 arrived, Nitro took off. It started with MNM's best feud and best work at that point, against London and Kendrick. The feud resulted with MNM putting over London and Kendrick massively and MNM splitting up.

Nitro would then go on to excel in singles competition. He would win the IC title in a very good match at Vengeance and would go on to have a good feud with the returning Jeff Hardy, exchanging the title with each other several times. He succeeded in getting over as a heel, especially with the help of Melina. Although I didn't like Kevin Federline in the WWE at all, that storyline gave Nitro some time to work with Cena, the biggest star in the company. He would finish the year off by by reuniting with Mercury and having a succession of good matches with the Hardys. Nitro was particularly highlighted in the ladder match at Armageddon. After Mercury got injured, Nitro carried on fighting valiantly by himself and had JBL singing his praises on commentary. What Nitro accomplished in 2006 against strong competition shows how he took a huge step forward, and this would lead to him becoming ECW champ in 2007.

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

In my opinion, the 2008 award should have gone to Kofi Kingston. I am not disputing that Cody Rhodes had a terrific 2008 but i feel that the interesting and exciting part involving Randy Orton did not actually happen until the back end of '08, whereas Kingston was steadily improving throughout the year.

A very entertaining feud with Shelton Benjamin on ECW from April til June was the first real bit of TV exposure Kofi got, and he won a very solid extreme rules match against Benjamin to end the feud. Then he would go on to defeat Chris Jericho at NOC for the IC belt and win his first title in the WWE. I think this win was important on so many levels. One, the PPV audience that may not have watched ECW finally got to see Kofi's exciting style before he debuted on RAW. Two, he recieved the 'Chris Jericho rub' by going over the former world champion on PPV. Three, he won the Intercontinental title and cemented himself in the midcard. As many of you will know, some of the talent on ECW never really recieved the TV exposure needed to roll in the midcard so they were mainly viewed as lower-midcard but i think this victory really shot him up to the upper/midcard.

After dropping the IC title, he began to tag with a former world champion in CM Punk, and the two of them won the world tag team championships. Again, this was more than just a title win. By remaining associated with Punk via the tag titles, he was then involved in the Batista/Orton feud by being a member of Team Batista. Although eliminated early, i think it showed how far he had come over the past 12 months.

He debuted in January '08 and by January '09 he had held IC and tag gold and been involved in a good amount of PPVs and in today's era of joint-branded PPVs this is quite an achievement. Christian hasn't been on PPV that hasn't involved a MITB match since the Royal Rumble so i think it shows that just being on a PPV these days shows that creative think highly of you. Whilst Rhodes had a good 2008 and had certainly improved, i just think Kingston's rise was more rapid and overall, entertaining. Rhodes at times appeared to be an errand boy and a whipping boy especially when he beat down CM Punk at Unforgiven whereas Kingston was making a name for himself on his own.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

2009. Morrison was indeed making decent strides having two MOTY candidate matches against Jeff Hardy & Rey Mysterio, but in terms of improvement, it has to be The Miz.

Miz went into that year considered the weak link in their tag team and he exited the year with a lot of new fans. Miz was made to look dominant over his former partner on three separate occasions. When they split up on the draft show, at the Bragging Rights PPV when he got the pinfall on Morrison and at Survivor Series when Miz captained his team to victory over Morrison's.

It was long thought that Miz would drift into obscurity after he separated from Morrison but instead entered a feud with John Cena. While not exactly making him look strong in the ring, Miz improved a great deal on the mic over this time and would improve in-ring over the course of the year. This determination saw the Miz get a new attire, theme music and a run with The United Championship (Which He's Held for 10 of the Last 12 Months).

 

[THTRobtaylor]

1992 was a ridiculous year, how Davey Boy Smith didn't get in there over Virgil will forever baffle me... Davey went from mid card to main eventing Summerslam and had the Warrior not been careless, I am sure he would have still been in the WWF for a while longer...

2008 was clearly the year William Regal improved the most...The GM, shutting RAW down, King Of The Ring... he had really stepped it up enough that he would have had a credible title run if not for his wellness violation... but he could have also got the nod in 2000 for his work as Commish and against Jericho...

2009 - There seems to be a bias towards people who have not had success in this award, but surely the ones who can step it up ANOTHER level often deserve it... in 2009 Chris Jericho was without doubt the most improved... His heel persona, his timing, and his attitude went from great to Awesome... Sorry Miz and JoMo, but Jericho was more Awesome that year...

 

[THTRobtaylor]

1992 was a ridiculous year, how Davey Boy Smith didn't get in there over Virgil will forever baffle me... Davey went from mid card to main eventing Summerslam and had the Warrior not been careless, I am sure he would have still been in the WWF for a while longer... No mention either for Shawn Michaels... who could have had the same award for the previous 3 years... in 1996/97 are we really to believe that Mongo McMichael really improved more than Rocky Maivia or Hunter?

2008 was clearly the year William Regal improved the most...Bening the GM, shutting RAW down, King Of The Ring... he had really stepped it up enough that he would have had a credible title run if not for his wellness violation... but he could have also got the nod in 2000 for his work as Commish and against Jericho...

2009 - There seems to be a bias towards people who have not had success in this award, but surely the ones who can step it up ANOTHER level often deserve it... in 2009 Chris Jericho was without doubt the most improved... His heel persona, his timing, and his attitude went from great to Awesome... Sorry Miz and JoMo, but Jericho was more Awesome that year...

 

[#hamler]

1996 and 1997-Ahmed Johnson and Ken Shamrock? This I do not agree with. Besides an Intercontinental Title run, Johnson did not do much in my opinion. Ken Shamrock…ehhh…always a MMA fighter and not a wrestler in my opinion. The 1996 AND 1997 Most Improved Wrestler of the year goes to Stone Cold Steve Austin. At this point in Austin’s career, he wasn’t much to look at. He wore black trunks and black boots. But at the 1996 King of the Ring, Austin joined greats such as Owen, Bret Hart, Ted Dibiase, Tito Santana, Randy Savage and many more to win the King of the Ring Tournament. The Stone Cold gimmick was officially born. Starting one of the most famous lines in wrestling history that night aswell, “You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!". He went from being Ted Dibiase’s bitch a yaer before, to being a future main eventer. At Survivor Series, Bret Hart pinned Austin in a match, which helped create an intense year-long feud between the two. Not to mention an incident live on Raw, when Austin broke in Brian Pillman's house, with Pillman holding a gun. In 1997 we saw the Hart/Austin match a mania 13. This match became an instant classic. He also feuded with Owen as well. 1997 was also the official start of the best rivalry in wrestling history: McMahon vs. Austin. These two years are where Steve Austin became someone to talk about and the man we all see today. Thanks to 1996 and 1997!

 

[hurleyworld4]

1999:The Hardy Boyz. These guys went from being jobbers to electric in a short time. I remember watching them get fed to various mid-carders, but then they found their stride. Michael Hayes latched on to Matt and Jeff and helped them rise to the top of their game. They embodied the style reminiscent of the late nineties and inspired countless fans during their rise.

Their first tag title win was also against one of the toughest duos, the APA. I think that it says a lot when to former jobbers win tag titles off the man who was the first black WCW champ and the man who would become one of the longest reigning world champs.

And then, they turned heel. They dumped Hayes, joined Gangrel, and started a feud that would revolutionize tag team wrestling forever. I would say that according to all the Hardy Boyz accomplished in 1999 and everything that was set into motion at this point gives them the win for Most Improved.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I would have to give Batista the 2007 Most Improved. Granted he was injured most of 2006 but when he came back, he was terrible whether due to ring rust or anything else. He had a decent match with Mr. Kennedy at the Royal Rumble and a great matches with the Undertaker at WM, Backlash, and on Smackdown. He had a good feud with Edge and later on that year renewed his rivalry with the Undertaker with wins at Cyber Sunday and Survivor Series.

 

[Dyno Kid]

One of the funniest winners of this award was Curt Hennig back in 1988. He was given his award for being the most improved wrestler of 1987 on AWA T.V. and refused it saying," By wining this award you are implying that I wasn't a good wrestler the year before !" He didn't take it from Bill Apter and if I remember correctly he said to give it to Hogan or Flair.