Correct The Award: PWI Most Popular Wrestler Of The Year

[The Brain]

This is the fifth installment of the PWI Award series. This may be a little tough to argue. We’re discussing the most popular wrestler on for an award determined by fan balloting. In this category more than the others the right guy usually wins. I’ve said other awards wrongfully come down to a popularity contest. This award is literally a popularity contest so it may be hard to argue the guy with the most votes wasn’t the most popular wrestler. However, we all have our own opinions, which is the beauty of a discussion forum so let’s get to it.

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

I have to admit I find it hard to disagree with anyone on this list. For the sake of conversation I’m going all the way back to 1986 and question if Roddy Piper was the most popular wrestler that year. Not to be unoriginal, but I think the award probably should have gone to Hulk Hogan. We all know the popularity of Hulkamania in the mid 80s. He literally changed the business. Hogan could have realistically won the award every year from 1984-1991. 1986 stands out because Piper was coming off consecutive years as the most hated wrestler and started 1986 the same way. I can’t say I remember much about 1986. It was the year I started watching wrestling and my memories of wrestling start around 1987. I just know Piper was still hated at WrestleMania so to give a guy who was still really hated for at least a third of the year the most popular award seems a little wrong. It seems especially wrong when we had a guy who was consistently popular for years in Hulk Hogan. I’m not doubting Piper’s popularity once he turned face, but the award is most popular of the year, not most popular of the last six months.

For the most part the list looks good, but I had to pick one to argue against. What do you think?

 

[Judah's Lion]

tough call. i'd have to cry foul over the fact that Undertaker has never won this award. maybe the best year for him to win it would have been a few years ago when he feuded with Batista or the year after that when he feuded with Edge and La Familia.

also have to cry foul over the fact that HBK never won this award after his return from injury. this guy got incredible pops. maybe even in 2002, though he was only around for about half a year. it was a pretty incredible half.

Benoit and Eddie not winning in 2004 - 2005 is also pretty tough to swallow. they had huge Rumble performances in 2004 and had incredible moments at Mania. they were super over and very popular.

i'd be interested to see who wins this year... my early vote goes for Orton. this is the most over Tweener since the days of Stone Cold that i can think of and his pops are undeniable. good inside or outside of the ring is really irrelevant. he is white hot on his popularity right now.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

pretty easy one that comes to my mind is rob van dam

2001 should have been rock or angle.angle had a fucking awesome feud with austin but this is the year that most rocky fans point out as the year rocky took over the baton as the face of the company.leading team wwf,feud with jericho,starting the year out with austin and angle and you give such a prestigious award to an overrated midcard spot monkey named rvd.rocky all the way dude

2002 you have legends like hogan and shawn michaels returning and once again the spot monkey takes the award away.how the hell can that happen??you have edge too just to name another contender.he was hot all year especially in his feud with angle.

also 2007 should have been michaels or taker.whatever you say you can bring up your orton's hardy's and even cena.but the rock and austin of this generation have been hbk and undertaker.they have been the biggest stars of this generation and its shameful in some ways that two guys in their 40's outperformed the whole roster.id probably give 2007 to taker and 2008 to shawn.

1997 i would have given to austin because while sting was awesome in 1997 he didnt exactly wrestle a ton of matches like austin did including his five star classic with hart at mania.though i gotta say that sting was hot all year.but 1997 is the best year of austin's career imo

 

[Dzone]

Wait wtf... Undertaker has never won PWI Most popular wrestler of the year but Samoa Joe has? wtf?!?!?!

But otherwise enough has been said by previous posters...

 

[EdonjuanR]

The most popular wrestler this year would have to be the Undertaker. His merchandise still sells after almost 20 years of being on the market, his pops are huge, and he has put on the best matches of the year, vis a vis Wrestlemania 26, so he is still getting it done. His fan base ranges from 6 years old to idk 40. Cena has been getting booed more than ever and Orton has started really getting serious pops relatively recently. Anyone in TNA just can't be because they simply don't have as large of a fanbase. WWE better get their act together, I dont see anyone coming up the ranks that will reach these oldtimers level of popularity. The gimmicks aren't there and neither is the entetainment factor.

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

I think Batista could have won the 2005 award. Whilst John Cena was incredibly popular for most of the year, I believe it was around September or October during his feud with Angle when Cena haters started to emerge. He was still loved by his own fans, but a significant part of the audience started to turn on him. The hate wasn't nearly as big as what would come over the next year or so, but it was building.

Batista, on the other hand, continued to get a lot of adoration from live fans, as he did through all of his career when he was a face. No matter what the IWC generally thought of him, he got some big pops. Anyway, by the end of 2005, he was still getting the good reactions that Cena wasn't. I think Eddie's passing may have helped with that, and the brief Rey and Batista tag team was very popular for obvious reasons. So, Batista would get my vote for 2005, even though, as you pointed out Brain, it's not really possible to say Cena was an incorrect choice.

 

[#hamler]

2004, John Cena over Eddie Guererro in popularity that year? John Cena was a huge deal in the mid card scene on Smackdown but Eddie Guererro was Smackdwon. Eddie was the reason everyone tuned in. I believe 2004 were the days of John Cena's basic thugnomics days, but Eddie was tearing the house down at No Way Out when he won the WWE Championship and another great match at wrestlemania 20 with Kurt Angle. John Cena was doing what? Feuding with the Big Show in a boring feud that lasted a couple months. Eddie was the one doing great promos getting the crowd pump up with his lying, cheating and stealing while Cena came out and gave us boring rhymes to hear. Eddie was putting on 5 star matches with JBL...yeah that’s right...JBL. While John Cena was defeating Renee Dupree in a bore of a match. Eddie was ten times more popular than Cena ever was in 2004.

Note: not a Cena hater

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Mine will be 1999: The Rock.

How? He was a heel for 4 (or so) months of the year. He was THE most hated heel in that time frame. He was despised by the crowd. Absolutely hated. Sure he was popular following his turn but he wasn't nearly as popular as Austin (at least not that year).

Steve Austin was STILL the mega star. He was STILL locked in his bitter feud with Mr. McMahon. This was the year that Raw had it's most famous ending.

[YOUTUBE]HLHizC-SRiY[/YOUTUBE]​

Listen to the pops and tell me that wasn't the most popular man in professional wrestling. Awarding it to the Rock is ridiculous.

 

[god-soldier]

The PWI has gotten the most popular wrestler award right except for in 2006 who the FUCK likes samoa joe who that fat piece of crap never is more popular than anyone n he was in TNA no way the winner should of been Rey Mysterio Rey has more fans than almost half the WWE right now sure alot of you losers dont like him but his popularity among youngsters and teenagers and Latinos is far no one that they like more than Rey.
Piper won in 86 because he became a face from a heel and he was the biggest heel in 85 thats why he won the award.
And for the record Rob Van Dam was the most popular wrestler in the WWE when he got there from ECW and there was no doubt about it his ovations that he got @ every pay per view told you he was the most popular hell even on smackdown n raw he got the loudest ovations the only louder cheers were for Hogan that night in Toronto other than that the fans were always chanting RVD

 

[mrhexum]

I'm gonna have to go with Luger in 1993....while he had his moments here and there....I honestly don't remember a time that he was the most popular.....need to check into it, but '93 may have been the year he slammed Yokozuna and went all USA....even still....dont agree with him.

Samoa Joe would be a close second

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

1986 It should have went to The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. By the time 1986 rolled around Dusty and Ric Flair had staged some classic battles for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship which saw Rhodes pin Ric Flair at Starrcade '85 only to have the title brought back to Flair due to shady officiating. That being said, when Dusty Rhodes finally won his third and final World Title at The Great American Bash '86 it really put that feud over the top. Not to mention it was the first World Title change since Flair beat Kerry Von Eric in early 1984, back when title changes meant something. Sure, Roddy Piper's face turn was a big deal, especially since the two years prior to 1986 he had been one of the top heels in the business, but some fans already loved Piper from when he was in Mid-Atlantic and even when he went to the WWF. Feuding with Hogan was a big deal but Piper really didn't gain too much from his face turn. Instead, Dusty Rhodes was THE #1 face in the promotion while Roddy Piper of course was #2. So I beg to ask, how can you be The Most Popular Wrestler of the Year when you're not even the #1 guy in your own company. Clearly Dusty Rhodes, with his wars not only with Ric Flair on an indvidual basis but also with The Four Horsemen, as well as his friendship with both Magnum T.A. & The Road Warriors (and later Nikita Koloff), was the Most Popular Wrestler and deserved the award.

 

[legendkiller1979]

I'm going to to go with Sting in 1997. He did NOTHING all year long...literally. How do you cheer for a guy who's highlight reel consists of sitting in the rafters and occasionally walked to the ring to hit someone with a bat. I'm really surprised Steve Austin didn't win Most wrestlers who go from heel to face are a shoe in for the award.

 

[The Brain]

I'm gonna have to go with Luger in 1993....while he had his moments here and there....I honestly don't remember a time that he was the most popular.....need to check into it, but '93 may have been the year he slammed Yokozuna and went all USA....even still....dont agree with him.

Samoa Joe would be a close second

1993 was the year he slammed Yoko and went on the Lex Express tour. I thought about Luger for 1993 too, but wasn't sure who to replace him with. I suppose Sting is always a reasonable choice. I don't ever want to list a guy without having someone else in mind.

Just going to get to the point for who should win 2010 because the past is the past.

You realize this is the old school section right?

 

[misterb]

I always have been and will always be an Austin mark, but I still have to go with Sting in 1997. 1997 was the year of the NWO; anyone with part of a brain knew that WCW would sweep all the top awards, and they did. (MOTY may have been WWF's only big win, if I remember correctly.) But Sting and his sitting-out angle drove everyone and everything wild. I never watched Nitro, but my friends who did talked about nothing but Sting all year long. And he was basically the Starrcade buy rate (which then helped lead to the downfall, but that's another story).

Years ago, one of the PWI columnists renamed the award "The Most Popular Besides Hogan Award". Hogan was simply on a different plane in the 80s. He was beyond anyone else in terms of popularity. Same with Austin in the late 90s and Rock in the early 00s: the only wrestlers even close to them were each other. Anyone else who was given this award has an asterisk next to his name.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Mine will be 1999: The Rock.

How? He was a heel for 4 (or so) months of the year. He was THE most hated heel in that time frame. He was despised by the crowd. Absolutely hated. Sure he was popular following his turn but he wasn't nearly as popular as Austin (at least not that year).

Steve Austin was STILL the mega star. He was STILL locked in his bitter feud with Mr. McMahon. This was the year that Raw had it's most famous ending.

[YOUTUBE]HLHizC-SRiY[/YOUTUBE]​

Listen to the pops and tell me that wasn't the most popular man in professional wrestling. Awarding it to the Rock is ridiculous.

man i cant believe i missed this.1999 was still the austin's era.the beer truck segment you have mentioned here is one of the best moments in wwe ever.its not been replicated since.another thing worth mentioning here is the wwf title match with undertaker which is the highest rated matches in raw history.

rock had a great year too with his highlight being the this is your life segment.but rock did not have the memorable feuds and matches in 1999 that austin had.mostly he was stuck in a stupid program with billy gunn.and as you mentioned he was heel for 4 months.his time would come in 2000 though.

 

[El Rev sXe]

This is the fifth installment of the PWI Award series. This may be a little tough to argue. We’re discussing the most popular wrestler on for an award determined by fan balloting. In this category more than the others the right guy usually wins. I’ve said other awards wrongfully come down to a popularity contest. This award is literally a popularity contest so it may be hard to argue the guy with the most votes wasn’t the most popular wrestler. However, we all have our own opinions, which is the beauty of a discussion forum so let’s get to it.

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

I have to admit I find it hard to disagree with anyone on this list. For the sake of conversation I’m going all the way back to 1986 and question if Roddy Piper was the most popular wrestler that year. Not to be unoriginal, but I think the award probably should have gone to Hulk Hogan. We all know the popularity of Hulkamania in the mid 80s. He literally changed the business. Hogan could have realistically won the award every year from 1984-1991. 1986 stands out because Piper was coming off consecutive years as the most hated wrestler and started 1986 the same way. I can’t say I remember much about 1986. It was the year I started watching wrestling and my memories of wrestling start around 1987. I just know Piper was still hated at WrestleMania so to give a guy who was still really hated for at least a third of the year the most popular award seems a little wrong. It seems especially wrong when we had a guy who was consistently popular for years in Hulk Hogan. I’m not doubting Piper’s popularity once he turned face, but the award is most popular of the year, not most popular of the last six months.

For the most part the list looks good, but I had to pick one to argue against. What do you think?

This one is a tough call, it really is, however, Brain you said correctly, Hogan should've won all of those for 5 years consecutive at least.

As Hamler, said I'm not quiet sure for Cena's spot. I mean, for him it was the next year completely. But over Eddie and Benoit! Come on now, those guys on 2004 were on fire! Remember at Mania XX the moment that both guys were celebrating? That continues to be the most popular celebration in Mania's history, and obviously it was that year.