In his latest piece, PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart goes over the best and the worst from the year in WWE for 2016.
Greetings, I trust you all had a happy and fulfilling Christmas.
The results are in for the annual Hart Murmurs’ “Best & Worst of the Year” poll and I’d like to thank our many fans, from all over the world, who submitted votes and also offered candid comments. Some of the results were about what I expected, but several of the outcomes were surprising, to say the least – which, I guess, is what makes surveys like this so interesting.
In any case, without any further preamble, we’ll now present (drum roll, please . . .) the winners, losers and offer some candid comments on them.
In the “Wrestler of the Year” category, there were a number of worthy candidates, including: Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Finn Balor.
When all the votes were counted though, the winner was Styles, who had a sensational year, highlighted by five star performances against Chris Jericho (at WrestleMania) and John Cena (at SummerSlam).
Although many feel that AJ would be better suited to be playing a face than a heel, he, nonetheless, seems to bring his A game nearly every night and, in so doing, compels his opponents to do likewise – which is the hall mark of all the really great workers. Congratulations to him and kudos to all the others who garnered votes and went out of their way to give the fans their money’s worth, night in and night out.
In the “Women’s Wrestler of the Year” category, Sasha Banks won by a surprisingly wide margin over Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Nikki Bella, in that order. While Sasha had a spectacular year and was more than deserving of the honor, I was still somewhat taken aback by her margin of victory, as I figured her arch rival, Charlotte, would give her more of a run for her money. A number of voters, however, voiced their displeasure over Charlotte’s shabby and tasteless treatment of her father, Ric, as well as her propensity for having “the same match” (as many of them referred to it as) almost every night. In any case, the voters have rendered their perspectives and I offer my congratulations to the Boss, who continues to enhance the image of women’s wrestling.
The “Tag Team of the Year” category proved to be a photo finish, with a number of teams in close competition for the honor, including: the New Day (Xavier Woods, Big E and Kofi Kingston), who just ended their record championship run (losing to the recently formed tandem of Cesaro and Sheamus); Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson; the on again, off again tandems of Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho and the only recently formed duo of Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton, who “squashed” the lame duck former champions Heath Slater and Rhyno at the recent TLC pay-per-view to win the SmackDown tag straps. When all the votes were counted, the winners were the unholy alliance of Orton and Wyatt – who seem to have captured the imagination of the masses.
Not to be casting aspersions, but much to my chagrin, the tag team division in the WWE has been on a pronounced downhill slide in recent years, with very few what I’d call truly great teams being produced – certainly not like back in the day, when the likes of the Bulldogs, Road Warriors, Rockers, Demolition and Degeneration-X ruled the roost.
As of late, tag teams, in general, have been bringing up the rear – as evidenced by nondescript jobbers, like Slater, wearing the tag straps in the first place. Here’s hoping that Orton and Wyatt might prove to be the spark that re-ignites the fire in this division.
The prestigious “Match of the Year” category was also closely contested, with several outstanding performances in the running, including: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor (WWE Universal Title Match at SummerSlam), Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair (WWE Raw Women’s Championship Ironman Match at WWE Roadblock), Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins (WWE Universal Championship Match at WWE Clash of Champions), AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho (WrestleMania 32), AJ Styles vs. John Cena (SummerSlam), Shane McMahon vs. The Undertaker (Hell in a Cell Match at WrestleMania 32).
After all the votes were counted, the Match of the Year, as voted by our readers, proved to be the Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins brawl at Clash of Champions, which narrowly defeated Styles and Jericho’s classic at WrestleMania. Congratulations to Kevin and Seth for that command performance and props to the other finalists in that category for having all gone out of your way to raise the proverbial bar.
The “Pay-Per-View of the Year” was another category which created a lot of buzz and a wide range of comments, ranging from overwhelmingly positive to somewhat negative. Although I, personally, think the WWE is going to the proverbial well far too often insofar as the number of pay per views they seem to be having, there, nonetheless, were some tremendous, highly entertaining shows, including: WWE SummerSlam, WrestleMania 32 and WWE Clash of Champions.
After all the votes were counted in this category, the winner, as the best pay per view of the year, went to – SummerSlam, with many of our voters citing the Cena-Styles match as the determining factor. I, personally, probably would have gone with WrestleMania, if only because of Shan O’Mac’s death-defying leap from the top of the cage, but I have no problem with Summer Slam being declared the best show of the year and give props to all of those who made it such a resounding success.
In the “Heel of the Year” category, there were a number of worthy candidates who received significant numbers of votes, including: Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Bray Wyatt, Brawn Strowman, AJ Styles, Charlotte, Stephanie McMahon and, somewhat surprisingly, Roman Reigns (who’s supposedly a face). In any case, this, again, was extremely closely contested, with Owens ultimately emerging victorious over his sometime tag team partner and colleague, Jericho and the ‘billionaire bitch’ herself – Stephanie, coming in third. I commend Kevin, Chris and Stephanie for a great year – keep up the good work!
As for the “Babyface of the Year,” there seemed to be far fewer individuals who really seemed to resonate with the fans, although that may have been due more to questionable booking than to their own shortcomings. In any case, those who received significant votes in this category were: Finn Balor (who, had a spectacular start to the year, but unfortunately was sidelined by a serious injury that, I’m told, threatens to jeopardize his future); the rejuvenated Dolph Ziggler, who, at the outset, appeared to be on his way to jobberville, but, somehow, was salvaged from the scrap heap and has re-emerged, once again, as one of the WWE’s better faces; the hard-working, albeit unappreciated Sami Zayn; the much maligned Roman Reigns; the Boss, herself, Sasha Banks. There were also, somewhat surprisingly, a few votes even cast for the hapless but endearing James Ellsworth, as well as Shane McMahon, who seemed to have captured the imagination of the fans with his stirring, albeit short-lived return to the ring at WrestleMania. After all the votes were totalled, the winner turned out to be Sasha Banks, who had a breakout year and was a most deserving winner.
On the flip side, we’ll now take a look at some of the “worst in the WWE” categories. I was somewhat surprised to find that, in many ways, this category seemed to engender even more interest than the ‘best of’ category, although many of the comments tended to reflect the fans’ disgust and displeasure with many aspects of the WWE.
In the “Worst Wrestler of the Year” category, there were a number of deserving candidates who seemed to have incurred the wrath of our fans, among them: Sheamus and Heath Slater, as well as a number of formerly highly regarded icons who seem to have fallen from grace, including Dean Ambrose, Brock Lesnar, Bill Goldberg and the Miz.
Ultimately, the winner, or should I say, loser, in this dubious division proved to be the Miz, which may well have been the only title he actually deserved to win all year long. Interestingly, Ambrose placed a close second – which doesn’t say much for his performance this year, either.
The “Worst Match of the Year” category also seemed to invite a lot of vitriolic and, at times, profane comments, most of which, I might add, aren’t fit to repeat in front of women and children. Among the matches garnering the most votes (and unflattering comments) were: Rusev vs. Zack Ryder (WWE United States Championship Match at WWE Battleground), Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch (WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship at WWE TLC), The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler (Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WWE TLC), The Miz vs. Darren Young (WWE Intercontinental Championship Match at WWE Battleground), Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE Survivor Series), Sheamus vs. Cesaro (pick any of their best of seven series matches). After all the smoke (or should I say – “stench”) had cleared and the votes were tabulated, the winner, in this dubious category, turned out to be the Goldberg-Lesnar squash job, with the Sheamus /Cesaro series coming in second, narrowly outpolling Miz and Young’s listless encounter at Battleground.
As for the “Worst Pay-Per-View of the Year,” there were more than a few deserving candidates to consider, among them: Money in the Bank, Survivor Series and TLC. In any case, after tabulating all the votes, the winner in the worst pay per view of the year turned out to be the TLC fiasco – which, in the immortal words of my old friend Cedrick Hathaway, achieved “an exceedingly high degree of mediocrity.”
There were a few other categories in our survey as well – the results of which I’ll now pass along, In the “Most Underrated” category, we had Luke Harper, Bayley, TJ Perkins, Rhyno, Enzo Amore, Cesaro and Sami Zayn, all of whom received a lot of votes, but in the end, Harper outpointed Zayn. I thought that both Luke and Sami were terrific this year, night in and night out, and congratulate Luke on being recognized.
In the “Most Overrated” category, Sheamus, Dean Ambrose, Nikki Bella, Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair and the Miz all received a lot of votes, but in the final count the winner proved to be, by a surprisingly wide margin, Ambrose. I’m not about to write off Ambrose just yet, as he still has the potential and talent to be a marketable commodity, but he needs to get back to some actual wrestling and to cut back on all the contrived loose cannon bullshit.
As far as the Independent Wrestling scene goes, the winner, according to our voters proved to be Impact Pro Wrestling, out of Iowa, which narrowly beat out the Sanctuary, NewAge/Old Time Wrestling, Vendetta Pro Wrestling, Canadian Wrestling Elite, Monster Factory Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor and David Lowe’s highly regarded Scottish. Congratulations to Kyle Klingman and Troy Peterson, the head trainers of Impact Pro on this prestigious honor. To all the Indy promoters, trainers and fans – thanks for helping to keep the flame burning!
In closing, a number of wrestling colleagues, sadly, left us this past year, including: Bob Leonard, Mike Sharpe, Frenchy Martin, Archie “the Stomper” Gouldie, Lord Blears, Dan Miller and John Cozman (aka Principal Dick Pound) –many of whom I had the privilege of crossing paths with or working with. All of them were consummate professionals, great guys and a credit to our business. They will all be missed, but never forgotten.
To each of them, thanks for the memories and rest in peace. God bless. On that note, I`ll call this a wrap, but invite all of you to join us this weekend for our Hart Beat Radio year in review special ,with my esteemed PWP Nation colleague, Eron Ramadanov.
In the meantime and in between time, stay safe and enjoy the holidays!
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