Best of 2007 - The Ballot, Part 2
And since I actually vote in the Observer awards, and did this last year, and still having posting privileges...
I'll expound upon views where they're significantly different from Shane's or common sense, and I'll go deeper on the ballot when I feel like it. I do watch MMA, so I vote on those too. I watch WWE, TNA, and ROH at least somewhat regularly, and CHIKARA, PWG, puro, and lucha when recommended.
LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD
1.) John Cena
2.) Shawn Michaels
3.) Hiroshi Tanahashi
Man, this was tough to vote for this year. Had the MMA and wrestling not been split, I almost certainly would've had Rampage and Couture in this mix. As it is, Cena was tremendous and on top of the WWE A-brand almost the entire voting period. Michaels was phenomenal but missed a lot of time. Tanahashi was the Japan ace this year, although that's not saying much. Morishima had some fine work in the NOAH upper-mid and some fine work as ROH champion, but he really didn't draw a whole lot so I left him off.
MMA MOST VALUABLE FIGHTER
1.) Quinton Jackson
2.) Randy Couture
3.) Anderson Silva
Couture and Rampage are very close for 1/2, and I may have been swayed by Randy's end of the year bullshit more then anything.
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1.) Bryan Danielson
2.) John Cena
3.) Shawn Michaels
Danielson missed 5 months and still blew everyone but Cena away. He may actually be the best in the world at this point.
MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER
1.) Quinton Jackson
2.) Anderson Silva
3.) Randy Couture
BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1.) Chuck Liddell
2.) Mistico
3.) John Cena
Liddell had the Tito fight and the Rampage fight in the voting period, so this seems obvious. Mistico was still a super draw for at least the first half of the year. Cena carries WWE house shows.
FEUD OF THE YEAR
1.) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
2.) Vince McMahon vs. Donald Trump
3.) Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1.) The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe)
2.) The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
3.) Kevin Steen and El Generico
MOST IMPROVED
1.) MVP
2.) Candice Michelle
3.) Claudio Castagnoli
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1.) Jimmy Jacobs
2.) Quinton Jackson
3.) Santino Marella
Watch the following five videos and tell me Jimmy Jacobs shouldn't win this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cul6TSWq4Gk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDp50GI5pnU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZv5aGlpYYI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x21MIfeGPOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3MKZiDO0nI (promo starts at about 3:45, but watch the entire thing)
His best promo isn't even among these, that's on the Supercard of Honor show. Rampage is Rampage. Santino started out as the worst talker ever and ended up as SANTINO~!
MOST CHARISMATIC
1.) Quinton Jackson
2.) John Cena
3.) Forrest Griffin
BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
1.) Bryan Danielson
2.) William Regal
3.) Yuji Nagata
BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD
1.) Necro Butcher
2.) Umaga
3.) Takeshi Morishima
Necro is the death match king, the other two are more "stiff the crap out of guys" brawlers. But this is a catch-all award.
BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1.) Jack Evans
2.) AJ Styles
3.) Mistico
MOST OVERRATED
1.) The Great Khali
2.) Big Daddy V
3.) Snitsky
Three of the worst workers in the world. Three guys Vince McMahon pushes to the moon. It's not because they're big or anything. Really!
MOST UNDERRATED
1.) Jimmy Jacobs
2.) Alex Shelley
3.) Samoa Joe
This is a tough as fuck award, because guys in WWE don't get a chance to shine unless they're on top, so it's hard to say they're underrated. Jimmy Jacobs should probably be on top in ROH, and he probably will be fairly soon. Alex Shelley should be on top in TNA, and he's going to be lucky if he gets in the mid-card mix. Samoa Joe should be TNA's ace, and he's being criminally misused. There's many ways to be underrated.
PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1.) UFC
2.) ROH
3.) NOAH
After the first two, what do you vote for? NOAH was down, CMLL was down...I almost voted for Dragon Gate, actually.
BEST WEEKLY TELEVISION SHOW
1.) The Ultimate Fighter
2.) Wrestling Society X
3.) Inside the UFC
How bad is it when two of the shows haven't even been on in many months and got no ratings?
PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
1.) Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer, ROH Supercard of Honor II
2.) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, WWE RAW, 4/23
3.) Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima, ROH Manhattan Mayhem II
On my top ten list, only 1 more is a WWE match.
MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR
1.) Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia, UFC 68
2.) Tyson Griffin vs. Frank Edgar, UFC 67
3.) Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi, PRIDE 33: The Second Coming
You could go 20 deep here and not have a huge argument.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1.) Erick Stevens
2.) Tim Donst
3.) Joe Doering
I have no idea how Erick Stevens is still eligible for this, but he is, and he's the best guy around. Santino's not, otherwise he'd have been 3. Lince Dorado was in the mix too.
BEST NON-WRESTLING PERFORMER
1.) Larry Sweeney
2.) Donald Trump
3.) Jim Cornette
BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1.) Jim Ross
2.) John Layfield
3.) Joe Rogan
WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1.) Mike Tenay
2.) Don West
3.) Todd Grisham
Tenay and West are like a parody of an announce team at this point, probably because TNA scripts everything. Grisham is horrible, but thankfully limited.
BEST MAJOR SHOW
1.) ROH Man Up
2.) PRIDE 33: The Second Coming
3.) UFC 76: Knockout
I urge everyone who hasn't seen Man Up yet to do so.
WORST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR
1.) TNA Lockdown
BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1.) KENTA's Go 2 Sleep
I thought long and hard about Nigel's jawbreaker lariat, which I eliminated because it's actually hurting guys, and the CHIKARA Special, which I'm not sure is eligible because as I read it, it's a singular move by a singular person or team. So I went with the old standby.
MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1.) WWE stages the death of Vince McMahon
I wanted to vote for something related to WWE's handling of the Benoit tragedy, but nothing in particular struck me as bad as this.
WORST TELEVISION SHOW
1.) TNA Impact
WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
1.) James Storm vs. Chris Harris, TNA Lockdown
Has there ever been a good blindfold match? The really sad part is that these guys went out several other times and tore the house down. Fake Rosie vs. Fake Trump was up here too.
WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
1.) Christy Hemme vs. Voodoo Kin Mafia
Not only was this atrocious (WHAT ABOUT CHYNA? WHAT ABOUT JOANIE LAURER?), it also went on forever. Do you realize that this feud went longer then the initial Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe feud? Only in TNA.
WORST PROMOTION
1.) TNA
Easiest pick ever.
BEST BOOKER
1.) Gabe Sapolsky
In some ways, the booking of ROH this year was superior to in past years.
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1.) Dana White
By default almost. UFC had a mediocre year, but everyone else had a horrible year. I guess Dorian Rolden (AAA) wouldn't have been a bad alternative.
BEST GIMMICK
1.) Santino Marella, heel version
Has there ever been a quicker turnaround on a guy? The original Santino was a bad indy guy doing a bad indy gimmick. He then turned into an okay worker doing an awesome, hilarious gimmick.
WORST GIMMICK
1.) Voodoo Kin Mafia
It seems so long ago because TNA does 2 years of angles per month, but most of their DX "feud" and the entire Hemme thing was in the voting period.
BEST WRESTLING BOOK
1.) A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho
Read this!
BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD
1.) Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen
Watch this!
Back in January 2009.
I'll expound upon views where they're significantly different from Shane's or common sense, and I'll go deeper on the ballot when I feel like it. I do watch MMA, so I vote on those too. I watch WWE, TNA, and ROH at least somewhat regularly, and CHIKARA, PWG, puro, and lucha when recommended.
LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD
1.) John Cena
2.) Shawn Michaels
3.) Hiroshi Tanahashi
Man, this was tough to vote for this year. Had the MMA and wrestling not been split, I almost certainly would've had Rampage and Couture in this mix. As it is, Cena was tremendous and on top of the WWE A-brand almost the entire voting period. Michaels was phenomenal but missed a lot of time. Tanahashi was the Japan ace this year, although that's not saying much. Morishima had some fine work in the NOAH upper-mid and some fine work as ROH champion, but he really didn't draw a whole lot so I left him off.
MMA MOST VALUABLE FIGHTER
1.) Quinton Jackson
2.) Randy Couture
3.) Anderson Silva
Couture and Rampage are very close for 1/2, and I may have been swayed by Randy's end of the year bullshit more then anything.
MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1.) Bryan Danielson
2.) John Cena
3.) Shawn Michaels
Danielson missed 5 months and still blew everyone but Cena away. He may actually be the best in the world at this point.
MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER
1.) Quinton Jackson
2.) Anderson Silva
3.) Randy Couture
BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1.) Chuck Liddell
2.) Mistico
3.) John Cena
Liddell had the Tito fight and the Rampage fight in the voting period, so this seems obvious. Mistico was still a super draw for at least the first half of the year. Cena carries WWE house shows.
FEUD OF THE YEAR
1.) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
2.) Vince McMahon vs. Donald Trump
3.) Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1.) The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe)
2.) The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
3.) Kevin Steen and El Generico
MOST IMPROVED
1.) MVP
2.) Candice Michelle
3.) Claudio Castagnoli
BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1.) Jimmy Jacobs
2.) Quinton Jackson
3.) Santino Marella
Watch the following five videos and tell me Jimmy Jacobs shouldn't win this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cul6TSWq4Gk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDp50GI5pnU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZv5aGlpYYI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x21MIfeGPOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3MKZiDO0nI (promo starts at about 3:45, but watch the entire thing)
His best promo isn't even among these, that's on the Supercard of Honor show. Rampage is Rampage. Santino started out as the worst talker ever and ended up as SANTINO~!
MOST CHARISMATIC
1.) Quinton Jackson
2.) John Cena
3.) Forrest Griffin
BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
1.) Bryan Danielson
2.) William Regal
3.) Yuji Nagata
BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD
1.) Necro Butcher
2.) Umaga
3.) Takeshi Morishima
Necro is the death match king, the other two are more "stiff the crap out of guys" brawlers. But this is a catch-all award.
BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1.) Jack Evans
2.) AJ Styles
3.) Mistico
MOST OVERRATED
1.) The Great Khali
2.) Big Daddy V
3.) Snitsky
Three of the worst workers in the world. Three guys Vince McMahon pushes to the moon. It's not because they're big or anything. Really!
MOST UNDERRATED
1.) Jimmy Jacobs
2.) Alex Shelley
3.) Samoa Joe
This is a tough as fuck award, because guys in WWE don't get a chance to shine unless they're on top, so it's hard to say they're underrated. Jimmy Jacobs should probably be on top in ROH, and he probably will be fairly soon. Alex Shelley should be on top in TNA, and he's going to be lucky if he gets in the mid-card mix. Samoa Joe should be TNA's ace, and he's being criminally misused. There's many ways to be underrated.
PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1.) UFC
2.) ROH
3.) NOAH
After the first two, what do you vote for? NOAH was down, CMLL was down...I almost voted for Dragon Gate, actually.
BEST WEEKLY TELEVISION SHOW
1.) The Ultimate Fighter
2.) Wrestling Society X
3.) Inside the UFC
How bad is it when two of the shows haven't even been on in many months and got no ratings?
PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
1.) Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer, ROH Supercard of Honor II
2.) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, WWE RAW, 4/23
3.) Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima, ROH Manhattan Mayhem II
On my top ten list, only 1 more is a WWE match.
MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR
1.) Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia, UFC 68
2.) Tyson Griffin vs. Frank Edgar, UFC 67
3.) Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi, PRIDE 33: The Second Coming
You could go 20 deep here and not have a huge argument.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1.) Erick Stevens
2.) Tim Donst
3.) Joe Doering
I have no idea how Erick Stevens is still eligible for this, but he is, and he's the best guy around. Santino's not, otherwise he'd have been 3. Lince Dorado was in the mix too.
BEST NON-WRESTLING PERFORMER
1.) Larry Sweeney
2.) Donald Trump
3.) Jim Cornette
BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1.) Jim Ross
2.) John Layfield
3.) Joe Rogan
WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1.) Mike Tenay
2.) Don West
3.) Todd Grisham
Tenay and West are like a parody of an announce team at this point, probably because TNA scripts everything. Grisham is horrible, but thankfully limited.
BEST MAJOR SHOW
1.) ROH Man Up
2.) PRIDE 33: The Second Coming
3.) UFC 76: Knockout
I urge everyone who hasn't seen Man Up yet to do so.
WORST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR
1.) TNA Lockdown
BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1.) KENTA's Go 2 Sleep
I thought long and hard about Nigel's jawbreaker lariat, which I eliminated because it's actually hurting guys, and the CHIKARA Special, which I'm not sure is eligible because as I read it, it's a singular move by a singular person or team. So I went with the old standby.
MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1.) WWE stages the death of Vince McMahon
I wanted to vote for something related to WWE's handling of the Benoit tragedy, but nothing in particular struck me as bad as this.
WORST TELEVISION SHOW
1.) TNA Impact
WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
1.) James Storm vs. Chris Harris, TNA Lockdown
Has there ever been a good blindfold match? The really sad part is that these guys went out several other times and tore the house down. Fake Rosie vs. Fake Trump was up here too.
WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
1.) Christy Hemme vs. Voodoo Kin Mafia
Not only was this atrocious (WHAT ABOUT CHYNA? WHAT ABOUT JOANIE LAURER?), it also went on forever. Do you realize that this feud went longer then the initial Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe feud? Only in TNA.
WORST PROMOTION
1.) TNA
Easiest pick ever.
BEST BOOKER
1.) Gabe Sapolsky
In some ways, the booking of ROH this year was superior to in past years.
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1.) Dana White
By default almost. UFC had a mediocre year, but everyone else had a horrible year. I guess Dorian Rolden (AAA) wouldn't have been a bad alternative.
BEST GIMMICK
1.) Santino Marella, heel version
Has there ever been a quicker turnaround on a guy? The original Santino was a bad indy guy doing a bad indy gimmick. He then turned into an okay worker doing an awesome, hilarious gimmick.
WORST GIMMICK
1.) Voodoo Kin Mafia
It seems so long ago because TNA does 2 years of angles per month, but most of their DX "feud" and the entire Hemme thing was in the voting period.
BEST WRESTLING BOOK
1.) A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho
Read this!
BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD
1.) Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen
Watch this!
Back in January 2009.
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