Pro Wrestling Awards 2022
By Alex Kalil
Best Gimmick: Roman Reigns-Tribal Chief: Of all the things going on in WWE right now, Roman Reigns continues to be head and shoulders above the entire roster. His look, presence, promos, in-ring work, everything has clicked in a way that no one can deny how important he is to the company right now. Roman has finally become THE Ace of WWE and one of the biggest stars in wrestling. Honorable mention would be Sami Zayn's Honorary Uso gimmick which was also a weekly highlight from WWE. But with the Head of the Table to work off of, Sami won't be as good so Roman gets the win here. Ian Riccaboni Best Commentator: Kevin Kelly: There are many excellent commentators right now. Taz and Excalibur in AEW are two of the best right now and I enjoy them every week on TV. Ian Riccaboni in ROH was a joy as well. But for me, Kevin Kelly in NJPW was the best. He is able to analyze a match, tell the story of the match or just sit back and marvel at the match all in the same match. He is the gold standard for me right now. Breakout Star of the Year: Wardlow: I think we can all agree that Wardlow's push post MJF feud has been underwhelming, no one can deny that the lead up to their Double or Nothing PPV match was some of the best TV of the year and made Wardlow a near bulletproof star. The proof is that even after all the lackluster TV and feuds the man has been a part of, he is still over with the people and people still want to see him. Wardlow started off 2022 as a bodyguard and ended the year as legit contender for the World Title. That is a hell of a year. Most Overrated: Austin Theory: For me, this was a three horse race all year. Ronda Rousey has devolved into such a below average wrestler this year and despite that WWE continues to push her as the female Brock Lesnar. Omos would give Giant Gonzalez a run for money as the worst giant in WWE history. It becomes more and more clear that his tag run with AJ Styles was carried by AJ. In the end, Austin Theory is my winner because I just don't see it. Theory is a solid hand, even a good hand. But WWE continues to push him as the next big thing. He gets a big Mania match against Pat McAfee for the most flimsy storyline reasons, won the US title multiple times from people like Lashley and Rollins, who were doing way more for that belt and won Money in the Bank. And while the Money in the Bank cash-in was one of the dumbest cash-ins of all time, Theory continues to be all over TV and marketed as the next big star. I don't see it and I don't get it. Give this kid some time to grow before you force it down everyone's throats. Most Underrated: Eddie Kingston: Right off the bat, the fact that Eddie isn't the biggest babyface in AEW right now is a shame. His feud with Jericho fell apart. and while his personal issues got in the way of that somewhat, it's still a damn right that Eddie isn't a bigger star right. I have really high hopes that it will be fixed in 2023. Most Improved: The Acclaimed: These two are the best homegrown AEW tag team right now. From working Dark and doing jobs to slowly moving up the ranks and now they are the AEW Tag Team Champions. Along the way, these two improved by leaps and bounds. They were always talented but they have really clicked in-ring and put it all together to become a world class team. Everyone does indeed LOVE The Acclaimed. Female Wrestle of the Year: Bianca Belair: This was the year I wanted Bianca to have last year. Bianca won the belt at Mania from Becky in a fantastic match (one of my favorites of the year from WWE) and has held it without fail since then. Bianca has fully and completely cemented herself as one of the top women in WWE for sure. Well deserved for this incredible wrestler. Worst TV Show: WWE Raw: While there are several shows that maybe deserve this award more like MLW or NWA, Raw continues to be a 3 hour chore to watch. Raw doesn't even get Roman and the Bloodline to help boost my enjoyment. Best TV Show: AEW Dynamite: Dynamite continues its uninterrupted dominance in terms of enjoyment week to week on TV. There were certainly bad shows throughout the year, but the amount of amazing matches, fantastic promos and segments and just overall easy watch makes this an unquestionable pick for me. Best Talker: MJF: This was one of the hardest years to pick the best talkers. There were clear front runners like CM Punk and Paul Heyman as well as dark horses like Roman Reigns and Jon Moxley. For me though, one man was able to be a weekly highlight every week with his promos and that was MJF. His promos with Punk, Wardlow, his "Pipebomb" segment (more on that in a minute), promos with Moxley and Regal. MJF NEVER missed every time he touched a mic. He is better than everyone else on the mic. And you know it. Promo of the Year: MJF's Pipebomb: So many segments and promo this year could be on this list. Most of them with MJF or Punk. However, the biggest one was the Dynamite after Double or Nothing. After a weekend full of rumors and whispers about MJF and his status in AEW, MJF walked to the ring and cut one of the greatest promos of all time about how he deserves better and the crowd was eating out of the palm of his hands. Capping it off was MJF cussing out Tony Khan, getting his mic cut and cutting to black. In terms of work shoots, this is up there with CM Punk's Pipebomb in WWE. Hopefully, this is not the last time MJF cuts an all time great promo. Worst Feud of the Year: Bobby Lashley vs. Omos: Highlights of this feud? None. Great matches from this feud? Zero. What did this feud accomplish? Nothing. Who enjoyed it? No one, besides Vince probably. This feud sucked. Best Feud of the Year: CM Punk vs. MJF: In a perfect world, this feud would have ended with MJF taking the AEW World Championship off of Punk at All Out or Full Gear. But real life, injuries and bullshit got in the way of that happening. Instead we got weeks of great promos, a great match in Chicago where MJF pinned Punk (twice!) and then a Dog Collar Match that would make Piper and Valentine proud. This was glorious TV. Wish we got a better ending but the one we got was pretty great. Worst Major Show: WWE Royal Rumble 2022: I honestly had to think on which PPV this year was the worst because there were not many that stuck out in my mind. At least ones that people watched. Looking at you, NWA. Then I remembered this lackluster show. My wife LOVES the Royal Rumble. We do random number draws with all our friends and she gets excited every time a new entry happens. It's her favorite PPV of the year. This year however, both Rumble matches sucked! They were boring and lifeless and having Lesnar and Ronda win was a very questionable decision. On top of that, we had the dream match of Lesnar vs. Lashley end in typical bullshit Vince fashion, a lackluster women's match where the only highlight was the Mania sign catching fire, and a Raw quality mixed tag match. We did get a very good Roman Reign vs. Seth Rollins match... that ended in a DQ and we never got a conclusion to this feud. Fuck this show! Best Major Show: AEW Revolution: There were a lot of great PPVs this year. AEW's Full Gear and joint show Forbidden Door with NJPW and even WWE with the first night of Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Clash at the Castle were top contenders. Also this might be the first year in a long time that NJPW Wrestle Kingdom wasn't in the running for Best Show. (Do better, New Japan) For me though, the best show of the year was AEW Revolution. A stacked card, like most AEW PPVs, that delivered one of the best matches of the year with the Dog Collar Match between Punk and MJF. We also got an incredible Jericho vs. Kingston match, a wild 3 way for the tag belts, a fun ladder match, Danielson vs. Moxley, and the main event of Page vs. Cole. While there were some less than stellar matches on the card, the highs from this show were so good and so worth watching, it has to be my pick for the year. Stable of the Year: The Bloodline: This stable was just about the only thing to stay watchable all year in WWE. While I may have issues with some of the booking of the group and its members (Usos being henchmen AND the most dominant tag team in the company and Solo's week long North American title reign), the overall booking of the group and their story-telling was must-see TV most weeks. Roman Reigns continues to be a star above all others in WWE and Sami Zayn did some of his greatest work of his career in promos alone. The only question remains is how this stable and storyline will end and if WWE can stick the landing. Tag Team of the Year: FTR: I am a huge fan of the Young Bucks but there is zero question who was the kings of tag team wrestling this year: FTR. Winning the AAA, ROH and IWGP Tag Team Championships and holding all 3 belts at the same time, the greatest three match tag team series of all time with the Briscoes and a multitude of other amazing matches with every time under the sun. Why Tony Khan didn't put the AEW Tag Team titles on them this year, I will never understand. Hopefully something that 2023 can fix. Best Promotion of the Year: AEW: Let's address the elephant in the room: Yes, AEW didn't have the amazing year they should've had. The injury to Punk, the fallout from the All Out fight and so on BUT when push comes to shove AEW had the best weekly TV more weeks than they didn't. Had five PPVs that all over delivered despite the lackluster build to some of them (Tony, work on that, please). And so many great matches time and time again and great feuds. AEW was fun to watch this year, like it is every year. Most Outstanding Wrestler: Will Ospreay: In a year of great wrestlers and great wrestling matches, Ospreay was always relebale to deliver something great. His Wrestle Kingdom main event and G1 Climax finals with Okada, his matches with Naito, Sabre, Moxley, Orange Cassidy, SANADA. Also his trios run with Aussie Open in AEW and some great matches in RevPro as well. If Ospreay was on the card, you were guaranteed a great match. No questions asked Match of the Year: FTR vs. The Briscoes at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022: When this year started off and we got Page vs. Danielson II, I didn't think anything would beat that match. And then, we got the dream match: The Briscoes vs. FTR! And while it was close, I still had to go with Page vs. Danielson as my Match of the Year... until we got the rematch. FTR vs. Briscoes in a 2 out of 3 Falls match maybe the greatest tag team match of all time. It is a perfect example of pacing, story-telling, action, drama and just everything that makes wrestling so amazing all wrapped up in a 40 plus minute match. Honestly any of the FTR/Briscoe matches could be called the Match of the Year or even the greatest tag match of all time. I hope they come back to this feud again and again because I want to see what these guys can do next and how they will top themselves. Wrestler of the Year: Jon Moxley: I had a hard time deciding between Moxley and Roman this year. In the end, my choice came down to who I thought was a bigger help to the company overall and who was there more. Coming back from rehab in early January 2022, Moxley wasted no time reestablishing himself as one of the top guys in AEW. His match with Danielson at Revolution, the incredible star-making match with Yuta, Anarchy in the Arena, Blood and Guts and then to top it off: reclaiming the AEW World Championship when Punk was out with his injury. Moxley's interim run with the belt was great as we got week to week reminders that Moxley was the top guy now in AEW. Punk's return and storyline was well done and made for some insane TV and talked about moments. And just when it looks like Moxley can take a break and let someone else be the top guy, real life got in the way and yet again, Moxley had to be the guy and the AEW Champion. He carried the belt until dropping it to MJF, putting over as the top heel in AEW right now. But for me, 2022 cemented Moxley as the Ace of AEW and the most reliable man in wrestling.
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