God has Spoken

[Gelgarin]

By God I am of course referring to Dave Meltzer.

...

There. Now that I've got every-body's blood boiling nicely, I'll begin.

What with the Slammys, the "All time" Slammys and the the End of Year awards, I imagine we at Wrestlezone are more than a little bit sick of debating which 'guy who doesn't care' gets which 'award that doesn't matter' over and over again.

That being said, all time internet guru and professional wrestling "journalist" Dave Meltzer has, with the help of his posse of "insiders" compiled his own end of year awards.

Given that these awards are apparently prestigious enough to warrant mention on a stars wikipedia page, and given that some of then deal with areas that it is just possibly we haven't probed over the past sixty days, I thought I'd post them up here as a sort of forum bonding exercise, where everyone comes together to renounce the Meltzarnator.

So without anymore surplus a-do.

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD - May the record show that I am incredibly pissed off about Flair getting his name tacked onto the end of Lou Thesz's award.

This award is given to the professional wrestlers who have the ability to carry an entire promotion by themselves by means of being in the main event of every major show, having the best matches, and being the most compelling, iconic figure in the business at the moment; it could be seen as a most valuable player award by many. Before 2007, mixed martial artists were eligible for this award, but it became exclusive to professional wrestlers after mixed martial artists were given their own award to recognize similar aspects for their sport. No fucking way should this have gone to anyone other than Cena or Angle.


1. CHRIS JERICHO (139)
2. Edge (116)
3. Shawn Michaels (157)
4. Keiji Muto (97)
5. Nigel McGuinness (45)
6. John Cena (73)
7. Shingo Takagi (57)
8. Cibernetico (53)
9. Kurt Angle (32)
10. Bryan Danielson (12)




MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE

1. BROCK LESNAR (658)
2. Georges St. Pierre (81)
3. Randy Couture (25)
4. Fedor Emelianenko (31)
5. Anderson Silva (2)
6. Forrest Griffin (2)
7. Gina Carano (1)
8. Kimbo Slice (3)
9. Masato (27)
10. Chuck Liddell




MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER

1. BRYAN DANIELSON (325)
2. Shawn Michaels (173)
3. Nigel McGuinness (32)
4. Naomichi Marufuji (46)
5. Chris Jericho (36)
6. Kurt Angle (47)
7. KENTA (19)
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi (16)
9. Edge (17)
10. Masato Tanaka (29)




MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. GEORGES ST. PIERRE (333)
2. Anderson Silva (215)
3. B.J. Penn (35)
4. Fedor Emelianenko (46)
5. Brock Lesnar (55)
6. Miguel Torres (13)
7. Eddie Alvarez (17)
8. Forrest Griffin (8)
9. Urijah Faber (5)
10. Kenny Florian




BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW

1. BROCK LESNAR (605)
2. Mistico (118)
3. John Cena (107)
4. Georges St. Pierre (3)
5. Cibernetico (19)
6. Randy Couture (7)
7. Chuck Liddell (13)
8, Kimbo Slice (4)
9. Keiji Muto
10. Kenta Kobashi




FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. CHRIS JERICHO VS. SHAWN MICHAELS (443)
2. Undertaker vs. Edge (56)
3. New Japan vs. Zero-One Max (71)
4. Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (19)
5. Konnan vs. Joachim Roldan (37)
6. Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra (2)
7. Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens (15)
8. Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (19)
9. HHH vs. Jeff Hardy (6)
10. Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe (2)




TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ (294)
2. Kevin Steen & El Generico (137)
3. Robert Roode & James Storm (30)
4. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi (120)
5. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori (83)
6. Mark & Jay Briscoe (30)
7. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black (38)
8. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley (15)
9. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk (16)
10. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (22)




MOST IMPROVED

1. THE MIZ (203)
2. Tyler Black (194)
3. John Morrison (15)
4. Cody Rhodes (22)
5. Suwama (16)
6. Yamato (33)
7. Kofi Kingston (9)
8. Shingo Takagi (14)
9. Ted DiBiase (8)
10. Rhett Titus (13)




BEST ON INTERVIEWS

1. CHRIS JERICHO (272)
2. Santino Marella (137)
3. Edge (43)
4. Dana White (42)
5. Shawn Michaels (18)
6. Ric Flair (37)
7. Larry Sweeney (17)
8. Cibernetico
9. Jimmy Jacobs (5)
10. John Cena (4)




MOST CHARISMATIC

1. JOHN CENA (245)
2. Brock Lesnar (86)
3. Edge (43)
4. Santino Marella (77)
5. Kenta Kobashi (35)
6. Shawn Michaels (37)
7. Chris Jericho (26)
8. Cibernetico (26)
9. Quinton Jackson (2)
10. Hiroshi Tanahashi (20)




BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER

1. BRYAN DANIELSON (582) *~*4th Straight Year*~*
2. Nigel McGuinness (45)
3. Kurt Angle (68)
4. Naomichi Marufuji (32)
5. Atsushi Aoki
6. William Regal (6)
7. Yuji Nagata
8. Chris Jericho (24)
9. Shawn Michaels (10)
10. Mike Quackenbush (9)




BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD

(BEST BRAWLER)

1. NECRO BUTCHER (193)
2. Samoa Joe (127)
3. Takeshi Morishima (125)
4. Undertaker (76)
5. Masato Tanaka (40)
6. Togi Makabe (28)
7. Fit Finlay (48)
8. Awesome Kong (21)
9. Jimmy Jacobs (17)
10. Kevin Steen (8)




BEST FLYING WRESTLER

1. EVAN BOURNE (323)
2. Kota Ibushi (108)
3. Mistico (115)
4. Jack Evans (59)
5. Dragon Kid (67)
6. Masato Yoshino (49)
7. A.J. Styles (24)
8. Jeff Hardy (22)
8. Rey Mysterio (2)
10. Pac (15)




MOST OVERRATED

1. VLADIMIR KOZLOV (143)
2. HHH (139)
3. Great Khali (64)
4. Sting (38)
5. Kevin Nash (37)
6. Batista (32)
7. Kane (38)
8. C.M. Punk (34)
9. Mr. Kennedy (29)
10. JBL (18)




MOST UNDERRATED

1. MVP (91)
2. Scotty Goldman (87)
3. Jamie Noble (50)
4. Alex Shelley (53)
5. Elijah Burke (39)
6. Paul London (57)
7. C.M. Punk (22)
8. John Morrison (31)
9. Shuji Kondo (10)
10. Chris Sabin (5)




PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS (533)
2. World Wrestling Entertainment (52)
3. Ring of Honor (58)
4. Dragon Gate (26)
5. New Japan Pro Wrestling (33)
6. World Extreme Cagefighting (7)
7. Pro Wrestling NOAH (15)
8. Total Nonstop Action (32)
9. AAA (12)
10. CHIKARA (21)




BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER (196)
2. WWE Raw (128)
3. WWE ECW (92)
4. WWE Smackdown (70)
5. Dragon Gate Infinity (89)
6. Inside MMA (61)
7. AAA (14)
8. Pro Wrestling NOAH (19)
9. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (9)
10. CMLL (1)




WORKED MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. SHAWN MICHAELS VS. CHRIS JERICHO 10/5 PORTLAND (179)
2. Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels 3/30 Orlando (140)
3. Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe 4/13 Lowell (33)
4. Blue Panther vs. Villano V 9/19 Mexico City (30)
5. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama 12/2/07 Tokyo (36)
6. Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries 12/29/07 New York (37)
7. Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson 2/23 New York (49)
8. Undertaker vs. Edge 3/30 Orlando (22)
9. Naomichi Marufuji & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. KENTA & Kota Ibushi 9/14 Tokyo (39)
10. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino & Genki Horiguchi vs. Cima & Ryo Saito & Dragon Kid 3/29 Orlando (12)




SHOOT MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. FORREST GRIFFIN VS. QUINTON JACKSON 7/5 LAS VEGAS (160)
2. Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida 12/8/07 Las Vegas (237)
3. Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver 6/1 Sacramento (63)
4. Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda 6/1 Sacramento (108)
5. Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture 11/15 Las Vegas (99)
6. Cung Le vs. Frank Shamrock 3/29 San Jose (83)
7. Eddie Alvarez vs. Joachim Hansen 5/11 Saitama (93)
8. Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva 12/29/07 Las Vegas (70)
9. Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri 7/21 Osaka (2)
10. Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch 8/9 Minneapolis (21)




ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

1. KAI (84)
2. Amasis (81)
3. Ryota Hama (88)
4. Kento Miyahara (35)
5. Joe Hennig (41)
6. Nick Jackson (15)
7. Consequences Creed (47)
8. Atsushi Sawada (13)
9. Ophidian (1)
10. King Mo (35)




BEST NON-WRESTLER

1. LARRY SWEENEY (260)
2. Vickie Guerrero (327)
3. Jim Cornette (22)
4. Mick Foley (15)
5. Nobuhiko Takada (45)
6. Vince McMahon (2)
7. Dana White (3)
8. Konnan (35)
9. Teddy Long (11)
10. Karen Angle




BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. MATT STRIKER (264)
2. Jim Ross (232)
3. Joe Rogan (99)
4. Mike Goldberg (49)
5. Frank Mir (2)
6. Mike Tenay (9)
7. Tazz (3)
8. Dave Prazak (31)
9. Gus Johnson (30)
10. Mauro Ranallo(16)




WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. MIKE ADAMLE (289)
2. Don West (93)
3. Michael Cole (107)
4. Todd Grisham (70)
5. Mike Tenay (12)
6. Jerry Lawler (4)
7. Mauro Ranallo (14)
8. Tazz (13)
9. Bubba the Love Sponge (12)
10. Jay Glazer




BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. WWE WRESTLEMANIA 3/30 ORLANDO (158)
2. UFC 91 11/15 Las Vegas (199)
3. WEC 6/1 Sacramento (43)
4. ROH Supercard of Honor 3/29 Orlando (112)
5. WWE No Mercy 10/5 Portland (52)
6. ROH Death Before Dishonor 8/2 New York (2)
7. Pro Wrestling NOAH 3/2 Tokyo (16)
8. ROH Take No Prisoners 3/16 Philadelphia (29)
9. WWE Royal Rumble 1/27 New York (2)
10. Dragon Gate 9/5 Los Angeles (18)




WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW


1. WWE SURVIVOR SERIES 11/23 BOSTON
2. TNA Sacrifice 5/11 Orlando
3. YAMMA Pitfighting 4/11 Atlantic City
4. TNA No Surrender 9/14 Oshawa
5. Elite XC on CBS 10/1 Fort Lauderdale
6. Strikeforce at the Dome 2/23 Tacoma
7. TNA Destination X 3/9 Norfolk
8. UFC 90 10/25 Chicago
9. WWE Cyber Sunday 10/26 Phoenix
10. WWE Unforgiven 9/7 Cleveland1




BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER


1. EVAN BOURNE - SHOOTING STAR PRESS
2. Tyler Black - God’s Last Gift
3. Undertaker - Gogoplata
4. Mistico - La Mistica
5. Chris Jericho - Codebreaker
6. KENTA - Go 2 Sleep
7. Randy Orton - RKO
8. Dragon Kid - Dragonrana
9. Kota Ibushi - Double Moonsault
10. Taiji Ishimori - Superstar Elbow




MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC

1. WWE JEFF HARDY TEASED OVERDOSE TO GET HITS
2. TNA Using Jill Jarrett’s death in Angle vs. Jeff storyline
3. WWE having the set collapse on Vince McMahon just days after a TNA crew member was killed in similar fashion
4. ROH Larry Sweeney surprise sex tease on Allison Danger
5. IWA Mid South Mike Levy incident
6. Elite XC pushing Kimbo Slice as a main eventer
7. AAA using Antonio Pena’s ashes in an angle
8. WWE McMahon’s Millions




WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. TNA IMPACT (520)
2. Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling (43)
3. WWE ECW (41)
4. WWE Raw (34)
5. AAA (11)
6. WWE Smackdown (10)




WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. HHH VS. KOZLOV VS. EDGE 11/23 BOSTON
2. Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen 11/5 Hollywood, FL
3. Santino Marella vs. Honky Tonk Man 10/26 Phoenix
5. Warrior vs. Orlando Jordan 6/25 Madrid, Spain
6. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show 6/29 Dallas
7. Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy 8/17 Indianapolis
8. Rhodes & DiBiase vs. Lawler & Cole 7/28 Washington
9. A.J. Styles vs. Frank Trigg 9/14 Oshawa




WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. REY MYSTERIO VS. KANE
2. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal
3. Main Event Mafia vs. Front Line
4. HHH vs. Vladimir Kozlov
5. B.G. James vs. Kip James
6. Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy
7. Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash
8. Tommy Dreamer vs. Colin Delaney
9. Jamie Noble vs. Chuck Palumbo | Armando Estrada vs. Colin Delaney | Team 3-D vs. X Division




WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION (404)
2. Elite XC (232)
3. All Japan Pro Wrestling (36)
4. World Wrestling Entertainment (34)
5. Inoki Genome Federation (19) | IWA Mid South (19)
7. Hustle Fighting Opera (18)
8. AAA (16)




BEST BOOKER

1. JOE SILVA
2. Gabe Sapolsky
3. Gedo & Jado
4. Mike Quackenbush
5. Vince McMahon
6. Michael Hayes
7. Genki Horiguchi
8. Russo/Mantel/Jarrett




PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

1. DANA WHITE
2. Vince McMahon
3. Cary Silkin
4. Naoki Sugabayashi
5. Dixie Carter




BEST GIMMICK

1. SANTINO MARELLA
2. Beautiful People
3. Rhett Titus
4. Charlie Haas
5. John Morrison
6. Junie Browning
7. Festus




WORST GIMMICK

1. KHALI KISS CAM
2. Whiny World Champion Samoa Joe
3. Super Eric
4. G.M. Mike Adamle
5. Stone Cold Shark Boy
6. Cute Kip
7. Kung Fu Naki
8. Sheik Abdul Bashir
9. Charlie Haas | Bella Twins




BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK

1. GORGEOUS GEORGE/JOHN CAPOUYA
2. Ring of Hell/Matt Randazzo
3. Wrestlecrap Book of Lists/Randy Baer
4. Tales from the Mat/Tito Santana
5. Becoming the Natural/Randy Couture & Loretta Hunt
6. Benoit/Oliver & Johnson & Muchnick & McCoy
7. Made in America/Matt Hughes
8. Jim Londos Record Book/Steve Yohe | Adventures in Larryland/Larry Zbyszko




BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD

1. RIC FLAIR DEFINITIVE COLLECTION
2. Ric Flair High Spots Shoot
3. Mr. Perfect
4. The Rock: Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment
5. PWG Sells Out
6. Wrestlemania 24
7. Hell in a Cell
8. Viva La Raza/Eddie Guerrero Story
9. TNA Global Impact - Tokyo Dome

My offical stance is that whoever was involved in these awards gives smakdom a bad name, but I'll save my commentery regarding how the late Lou Thesz should have won everything for a little bit later.

By all means, enjoy yourselves.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I think this is a pretty decent list. It seems that they have a good mix of "real wrestlers" to satisfy the smarks, but they also have a few "mark" favorites as well. As for the Lou Thez/Flair award, Jericho once his heel turn pretty much was a raw staple(as soon as trips left that is). He did have a good year so I'm not going to complain.

HBK's inclusion was alittle puzzeling though. While HBK is the show stopper and can still put on great matches, other than they Jericho feud he really didn't do much and wasn't really "compelling". But I guess the feud with Jericho really elevated Raw and was a great feud. Cena ranking low, is just because he was out half of the year, and the other half he was in pointless feuds with JBL, and had a sub-par feud with Batista. Next year I can see him being at top.

Other parts that I disagree with is having Edge & The Undertaker's match at WM being as low as it is. I think it was right up there with the Jericho/HBK match, so I think it should be higher.

I have no problem with them calling Kozlov overated since he is a smark favorite but really didn't do much this year(whoevers fault it was). Also think it's great Santino's gimmick got recognized since it really was great. His comedy routine is a highlight of raw. Same with the Beautiful people, their gimmick really was a highlight of TNA and women's wrestling(there characters were intersting and well played).

So I think this was a pretty decent list, although others might think otherwise.