Shining a Spotlight 2.07.08: Awards Season

Congrats to the Giants for pulling off a major shocker to win the Super Bowl. Amazed the game was so low-scoring and the Pats weren’t the dominating force everyone expected. Once again proves why I never bet on sports in any way.

For some reason, I’ve had year-end awards on my mind in regards to wrestling. A key reason is that the annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated year-end issue came out this week. As you can imagine, PWI has had some trouble dealing with the whole Benoit mess. In fact, the two-page spread of writers sharing their memories of the year opens with publisher Stu Saks saying he told all of them to stay away from talking about Benoit to concentrate on other stuff of the year. However, columnist Dan Murphy foregoed his usual countdown of the ten goofiest bits of the year to talk about Benoit.

I wrote last year about the awards and the question of whether or not they may be fixed. While that’s still up in the air, they do undoubtedly lean toward a mark audience. What hasn’t changed is that PWI still tend to be a bit full of themselves as to how big the awards are. The introduction even says they’re unique as it’s the only sport (yes, they still insist on referring to pro wrestling as a legitimate sport) where readers can vote across the board. It’s an ironic comment given how things lean so close to WWE and TNA which is where I’m sure some folks will have a beef.

Let’s kick it off with Rookie of the year which went to Hornswoggle. Yes, the Little Bastard was voted Rookie over a class that included both of Ted DiBiase’s sons. The magazine itself does point out the problem, which is that thanks to WWE’s developmental system, most guys have a few years under their belt before breaking out on the national scene (otherwise Santino Marella would have walked away with it). And love or hate the “Vince’s son” storyline (and given that it was voted the Gooker award over at Wrestlecrap, I think “hate” is the majority), Hornswoggle has been given a pretty good place and gotten over much bigger than you would have expected. Still, a shame we can’t get back to the days where you had so many independents promotions with their own TV deals so you could see wider range of rookies.

I have to say, I never imagined I’d see Jeff Jarrett voted Inspirational Wrestler of the Year. I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m no fan of Jarrett’s, either his in-ring skills or his political power and hogging the spotlight so long in TNA. But however I felt about him, I would never have wished Jarrett to go through the pain of losing his beloved wife to cancer and was moved by his comments afterward so I have to say this was deserved. Comeback was a bit interesting as it went to Jeff Hardy and while I still can’t buy him as a main eventer or a world champion, it is nice to see him coming back after his poor TNA run and personal problems.

One of the biggest surprises of the voting was Candice Michelle. Now, I’ve always liked her even when she was basically eye candy (I mean, come on, that body, that entrance…) and was very impressed by how she’s managed to improve as an actual in-ring competitor. Still, having her voted Woman of the Year was a bit of a surprise but it does say she only beat out Beth Phoenix by less than a thousand votes. Personally, I would have gone with Gail Kim who is a terrific wrestler and has helped validate TNA’s own women division. Having Karen finish it up as third runner-up is a bit insulting given how bad her bits on Impact can be.

But even more surprising is that Michelle is the first woman ever to win two PWI awards in the same year as she was also voted Most Improved. Now, I admit she did improve very nicely but enough to win the award? I would have gone with MVP who wound up second runner-up. In his defense (and the magazine does admit this), MVP was hurt by the fact the man who gave him the rub in their US title feud turned into a family killing suicide and MVP’s own heart condition slowed him down too. Still, a pretty remarkable achievement for Michelle.

Feud of the year was very interesting as it ended up being Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle, highly ironic considering how TNA managed to so completely blow this seemingly perfect setup. For Most Popular, Cena was the runaway winner and it’s interesting how some fans who often hated him admitted they appreciated him a bit more when he was absent and Orton began to dominate RAW. Interestingly, Orton was voted Most Hated, not that surprising given the long-range disdain for him as both a heel on screen and his backstage personality. Personally, I think Orton is extremely talented and thus a great heel but his personal problems may hurt him in the long haul.

Moving on to the big ones, you can’t really argue with Match of the Year, the Cena/Michaels hour-long battle from RAW this May. Like everyone else, I never expected them to go this long and give fans such an amazing battle. I also think it should shut up some of the Cena critics, not only by his going so long and in such a high-pitched battle but putting over Michaels too with a win. True, there were a lot of great ROH battles (like the McGuiness/Takeshi matchup which was third-runner up) but this really was the highlight of wrestling in the year.

For the two big ones, the Tag Team of the Year is, quite frankly, an utter joke. Don’t get me wrong, I like Paul London and Brian Kendrick and it is great to see two guys like that managing to get so far ahead in WWE. But to have them be voted the winners in a poor WWE field while the Bricoes, the best tag team in North America right now, ending up second runners-up behind Team 3D with only 8 percent of the vote is really a travesty. It simply shows that, as good as ROH is, it just doesn’t have the mainstream fame WWE or even TNA does and as such their workers just don’t get that respect they deserve. For Wrestler of the Year, Cena was voted for the second year in a row and while you can argue his match quality, you have to admit the man really carried his company in major battles and was the focal point not just for WWE but much of the business itself in the mainstream. The last award, the one PWI does openly give, is the Editor’s Award which went to Nick Bockwinkel, a man who does deserve it.

So some crazy choices here and there but it also shows how much of the audience sees the business. WWE and TNA dominated in winners and runners-up while ROH was virtually ignored despite their reputation as being the best in the business. It seems to show once more that ROH might need some more mainstream attention via a TV deal or such to get some recognition. Of course, even some WWE and TNA fans might argue some of these results. It’s interesting to put these up against the awards for a magazine that caters toward the opposite audience of PWI which is the Wrestling Observer.

Long before the rise of the Internet, the Observer was exposing the reality of the business to people, openly talking about works, shoots and kayfabe and the backstage politics. As such, their awards might be seen as more intelligent than those of PWI for two reasons: First, unlike the Apter mags, they wait until the year is actually over to decide the awards. Second, rather than go for fan polls, they pick the choices themselves which gives them a bit more merit. This year, they’ve expanded to include more of the MMA stuff but I’m concentrating mostly on the wrestling ones.

Now they do agree with PWI in Cena being Wrestler in terms of the biggest guy in the company and he’s also named best Draw, Interviews and Charismatic as well. But in terms of ring skill, Brian Danielson is their pick for most Outstanding and best Technical wrestler, which does make sense and it’s intriguing that they divide those up so you can pick a guy on ring skill and another on their power and place in the industry, giving folks what they like in both categories. They’ve chosen the Briscoes as Tag Team and give ROH more love with Morishma as best Brawler and Mistico as best flyer. Even bigger, Erik Stevens was named Best Rookie and Gabe Sapolsky won his fourth consecutive Booker of the Year award, showing again how his work is a key element in ROH’s success. As for match, had expected Morishma/McGuiness but instead it went to Morishma/Danielson which is a good pick as well. To top it all off, Man Up was named show of the year and while UFC got best Promotion, I think ROH probably came a close second.

Of course, the Observer also picks out the worst and sadly, TNA got a lot of it in that category with signing Pacman as the Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, the Harris/Storm blindfold match at Lockdown named worst match, Don West worst announcer, Black Reign the Worst Gimmick and the whole company named Worst Promotion. I know some TNA fans might find this excessive but you have to consider that this is a promotion with a huge talent base (that includes a bunch of the ex-WWE guys) but is booked and presented worse than some independent promotions, which is where the disdain comes in.

In other award stuff for them, MVP was named Most Improved which was deserved while, to my surprise, Undertaker vs Batista was best Feud. Well, maybe not that surprising considering how the matches were all far better than expected and showed good potential too. Needless to say, the new ECW fared badly with December to Dismember Worst Show and Big Daddy V vs Kane Worst Feud. But in brighter news for WWE, Santino got Best Gimmick which has taken off much better than expected. Also, the awards cover my favorite extras of the business, books and DVDs with Bret Hart’s book and the excellent Four Horsemen DVD deservedly winning. Overall, the Observer showcases a wider range of the fanbase with a bit of a clearer eye toward the entire wrestling landscape.

That brings us over to 411mania and our own awards. Now, I stayed out of voting myself for them as I knew the ruckus it could cause and figured brighter minds than my own were required to get the right results. For the most part the awards were as expected with JBL named best announcer and MVP getting Best Breakout with Santino Rookie. I don’t know about Michaels as Comeback as it wasn’t like he was really hurting that much before but he did bring it to the table a lot this year with Cena. And once again, the Cena/Michaels RAW classic was MOTY which is well earned while the Cena/Umaga Last Man Standing bout was the PPV MOTY which did surprise me a lot. I mean, it was a surprisingly good brawl but I would have picked Cena/Michaels from Mania or even the Joe/Angle Iron Man match in terms of actual ring work. But then the psychology was good and got the crowd going. Amazing Kong might be a surprise for Best Woman Wrestler but we counted her SHIMMER stuff as well as her power in TNA.

For the bad stuff, TNA did once again rule: Joe failing to win the title was Biggest Disappointment, Junior Fatu’s bizarre promo was Worst Promo, Hard Justice was Worst PPV, Pacman worst tag team and wrestler and the whole thing once again Worst Promotion. Again, some TNA fans will think is too much but as I mentioned, the company just isn’t making the right moves marketing the great talent they had and the results are shown by this disdain for it. Of course, the McMahon insanity was easily Worst Storyline but then various real-life events derailed the payoff while the “Rosie vs Donald” bout was Worst Match but as that helped set up the whole Trump appearance at Mania, I think you can give it a bit more leeway. Needless to say, Benoit had to be the worst story for how it shifted the entire business and robbed us not only of a fine worker but besmirched his name and legacy forever.

ROH got the lion’s share of stuff with Best Indy Show, their move to PPV the best Story, Briscoes vs El Generico & Steen was best Feud (a bit of a surprise to me), Briscoes Tag Team and ROH itself the best Fed. Of course, this has set off a firestorm of comments among many 411 readers in that we’re very biased toward ROH and go too far calling them the greatest. Now, I admit that sometimes we do come off that way a lot but keep in mind that a lot of the ROH faithful are workrate guys and that’s what ROH appeals to. Now me, I’ve always been leaning toward WWE’s glitzy style but I appreciate the hard work of ROH and how intelligent their angles and storylines can be. Sure, some stuff may strike me as a bit overhyped now and then but for the most part, I think they really do deserve all their accolades.

So you can see there’s a rather interesting cross-section of fandom via these awards which may hint at the place of these promotions in the industry. PWI goes for a mainstream “mark” style audience and thus it leans dominantly toward WWE and TNA. Observer is more “smart” and thus ROH gets more respect there while 411 clearly does appreciate ROH and their style. That Cena is chosen as Best Wrestler by all three shows that, despite the fact he’s supposed to be hated by so many and not deserving of his spot, the man gets reactions, does great matches and basically carries his company as a true champion and star which is his duty and deserves respect.

But it also shows how these various sections of fandom feel and how they can disagree on what is and is not deserving of accolades in the business. In many ways, it’s like all those lists you see of the best movies which are almost never alike as critics disagree all the time. So I’m sure some will argue results, say one guy deserved something, another didn’t, everyone’s too down on TNA and too high on ROH. But for the most part, it shows how amazing a year 2007 was for wrestling and even with the good, there was still some stuff to celebrate and that’s an award we can all agree is needed.

Also around 411mania:

Tim’s Take debuts with a look at Cena’s Return.

Seventh Dimension and Truth B Told also look at it while Thoughts From the Top Rope has reader feedback.

The Shimmy tries to book Mania in the new circumstances.

Evolution Schematic looks at the history of the Elimination Chamber.

The Way I C It examines the state of the three main promotions.

Viral Dose of Reality shows off his mark-out moments.