PW Awards : Best Wrestler of 2016

beakerjoe

Here we have the first poll for our own wrestling end of year awards. The nominations are as follows for Best Wrestler of the year :

AJ Styles
The Miz
Pete Dunne
Marty Scrull
Chris Hero
Will Ospreay
Chris Jericho

Kevin Owens
Seth Rollins
Shinsuke Nakamura
Dean Ambrose
Tomohiro Ishii
Ricochet
Kazuchika Okada
Cesaro
Becky Lynch
Sami Zayn


Get voting guys

Wrongway1985

Micky Gall for me no question destroyed CM Punk who had loads of grappling experience and was a multiple title holder.

LeeJM

Wrongway1985 wrote: »

Micky Gall for me no question destroyed CM Punk who had loads of grappling experience and was a multiple title holder.

STOP!!
Lads we need to stop this sham of a vote!! Mr Wrongway here is correct, I mean my god how could we all have been so wrong. I feel so foolish now for not nominating Mickey Gall. I think we need to all take the time to appreciate Mr Wrongways input here. He has selected an MMA fighter beating another MMA fighter as his WRESTLER of the Year. This in of itself is just so outta the box that it is genius. I mean I know we just voted on our poster of the year for the forum but just for his sheer brilliance I can already reveal SPOILER ALERT Wrongway85 is gonna be my poster of the year next year. His level of brilliance knows no bounds and to nominate not just anybody but an MMA fighter after the poll has been published is just mind blowing in its sheer fantasticism. I mean why even bother with the rest of the polls we should just ask Mr Wrongway who in his opinion should win them all. I look forward to him naming Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones as Tag Team of the Year. Rookie of the Year could be Georges St Pierre as we know Mr Wrongway doesnt play by the rules and sure GSP is brilliant. 

Alternatively, take your shít UFC joke and dont return unless you wanna actually contribute to the forum :) see I can do smilies too :)

Wrongway1985

That was me contribution LeeJM it's a public forum and the topic was on the front page when I logged in at the time, wasn't aware CM Punk was still much loved in the wrestling world but he must be one of your faves to go on a one man crusade against me like that.

Virtanen

LeeJM wrote: »

Epic rant

:pac:

WinnyThePoo

James Ellsworth?

sky88

Jericho while amazing on the mic had a pretty poor in ring 2016 sadly i think age has caught up

Pentecost

AJ Styles gets my vote. Has been on top form all year.

thebostoncrab

Pentecost wrote: »

AJ Styles gets my vote. Has been on top form all year.

He had done the impossible and had a better first 12 months than Angle. That's how good he is.

Lord TSC

This shouldn't even be close. Styles has not only had one of the greatest debut years in WWE history, he's done it against the odds due to the fact he was "Mr TNA", not built like an army tank and was labeled as a poor talker when he first arrived.

Bounty Hunter

Lord TSC wrote: »

This shouldn't even be close. Styles has not only had one of the greatest debut years in WWE history, he's done it against the odds due to the fact he was "Mr TNA", not built like an army tank and was labeled as a poor talker when he first arrived.

I don't think this will be close. Also he does not look like letting up either. Probably a feud with Taker next before who knows Joe? I would also kinda expect him to be back on Raw after the next draft and have another string of big name opponents to have big matches against as well as more Bullet club potential be it with Balor or Anderson & Gallows.

Andersonisgod

AJ Styles will win this poll but I don't believe it's correct. I don't believe it's even been Styles' best year in wrestling. My nomination was Kazuchika Okada and, for me at least, he's the obvious choice for this award. I'll make 2 separate points as to why.

1. Kazuchika Okada has had a considerably better in ring year than Styles. Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (WK 10), Okada vs Naito (Dominion), Okada vs Marafuji (G1 Climax) Okada vs Ishii (G1 Climax) Okada vs Tanahashi (G1 Climax) Okada vs Marafuji (King of Pro Wrestling) are literally all better matches than what Styles has had this year. You could make a fairly reasonable case for at least 4 or even 5 of those matches being legit 5 star matches. This has been Okada's best year in terms of in ring work.

2. At the start of the year New Japan looked to have hit a stumbling block. WWE took 4 top talents in Nakamura, Styles, Gallows and Anderson, while they also lost Kota Ibushi. On top of that 2015 had seen New Japan's momentum stall, attendances were down (most evidently at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 10) and the main event scene had become somewhat stale. New Japan regrouped in 2016, forced to mix up the tried and tested format following the high profile departures and they rebuilt their company around the newly crowned ace, Okada. 2016 has been a triumph for Okada in ring, creatively and at the box office. Attendances are up, they've done bigger numbers in the same arenas they ran last year and, reportedly, tickets for Wrestle Kingdom 11 (headlined by Okada) are selling considerably better than they did for WK 10. Okada, in his first year proper as Ace of New Japan, has been a hit at the box office and has led New Japan out of a very tricky situation into a very prosperous one.

Andersonisgod

AJ Styles will win this poll but I don't believe it's correct. I don't believe it's even been Styles' best year in wrestling. My nomination was Kazuchika Okada and, for me at least, he's the obvious choice for this award. I'll make 2 separate points as to why.

1. Kazuchika Okada has had a considerably better in ring year than Styles. Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (WK 10), Okada vs Naito (Dominion), Okada vs Marafuji (G1 Climax) Okada vs Ishii (G1 Climax) Okada vs Tanahashi (G1 Climax) Okada vs Marafuji (King of Pro Wrestling) are literally all better matches than what Styles has had this year. You could make a fairly reasonable case for at least 4 or even 5 of those matches being legit 5 star matches. This has been Okada's best year in terms of in ring work.

2. At the start of the year New Japan looked to have hit a stumbling block. WWE took 4 top talents in Nakamura, Styles, Gallows and Anderson, while they also lost Kota Ibushi. On top of that 2015 had seen New Japan's momentum stall, attendances were down (most evidently at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 10) and the main event scene had become somewhat stale. New Japan regrouped in 2016, forced to mix up the tried and tested format following the high profile departures and they rebuilt their company around the newly crowned ace, Okada. 2016 has been a triumph for Okada in ring, creatively and at the box office. Attendances are up, they've done bigger numbers in the same arenas they ran last year and, reportedly, tickets for Wrestle Kingdom 11 (headlined by Okada) are selling considerably better than they did for WK 10. Okada, in his first year proper as Ace of New Japan, has been a hit at the box office and has led New Japan out of a very tricky situation into a very prosperous one.

Omackeral

I'm gonna be honest, I was pretty indifferent to TNA AJ Styles. Never digged his classic look and didn't think the Fortune stuff suited him really. The Lone Wolf and Dixie stuff was a bit meh too. Really liked him in NJPW (granted, I didn't see much) but I really think he's had an absolute rennaisance in his career and to have that hunger and drive after all these years shows something. Excellent as a heel, face or tweener. Smug AJ is a riot. And his in ring stuff is phenomenal. Still can't believe he's WWE Champion sometimes, it's class.

Andersonisgod

Omackeral wrote: »

I'm gonna be honest, I was pretty indifferent to TNA AJ Styles. Never digged his classic look and didn't think the Fortune stuff suited him really. The Lone Wolf and Dixie stuff was a bit meh too. Really liked him in NJPW (granted, I didn't see much) but I really think he's had an absolute rennaisance in his career and to have that hunger and drive after all these years shows something. Excellent as a heel, face or tweener. Smug AJ is a riot. And his in ring stuff is phenomenal. Still can't believe he's WWE Champion sometimes, it's class.

Without being harsh, his rennaisance year was 100% 2014. His last year and a bit in TNA were so depressing, he was clearly so far above what the company were giving him and the level TNA was at and the whole awful atmosphere of TNA seemed to sap the energy out of him. His run in NJPW, starting in 2014, and highlighted by his absolutely incredible performances in that year's G1 Climax and also his indy/ROH run not only rejuvenated Styles but put him on a higher level than before.

connemara man

LeeJM

Rant of the year nominee already

Omackeral

Andersonisgod wrote: »

AJ Styles will win this poll but I don't believe it's correct. I don't believe it's even been Styles' best year in wrestling. My nomination was Kazuchika Okada and, for me at least, he's the obvious choice for this award. y.

Well you were right, Styles did win. 40 votes vs 1 vote to Okada. Seriously AJ was on another level all year and didn't put a foot wrong no matter what they did with him. He definitely got a bang load of new fans on the hype train too. Fully deserved.

Okada beat out Styles for FSM's Top 50 No.1 spot though.

Andersonisgod

Omackeral wrote: »

Well you were right, Styles did win. 40 votes vs 1 vote to Okada. Seriously AJ was on another level all year and didn't put a foot wrong no matter what they did with him. He definitely got a bang load of new fans on the hype train too. Fully deserved.

Okada beat out Styles for FSM's Top 50 No.1 spot though.

Im not surprised given how the numbers are skewered on the Board and I won't argue the result given I've already made my points for Okada but, for me at least, he was the clear number 1.