2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award Winners Announced

Better late than never. Dave Meltzer’s “Wrestling Observer Newsletter” is the undisputed king of wrestling dirt sheets. What once was just a place to list what’s going on in wrestling has turned into something with a near life of its own, including a dedicated fanbase who vote on their end of the year awards. It’s a bit late in the year but we now know the latest winners.

Definitely my Match of the Year.

The Great Khali returns to assist Jinder Mahal in his Punjabi Prison Match: WWE Battleground 2017

The “Wrestling Observer Newsletter” have released their 2017 End of the Year Awards. This includes over thirty categories looking at almost all aspects of wrestling, ranging from the in-ring product to booking decisions to wrestling media such as TV shows, documentaries and books. Here are the winners as announced on F4Wonline.com:

Wrestler of the Year – Kazuchika Okada

Most Outstanding Wrestler – Kazuchika Okada

Tag Team of the Year – The Young Bucks

Best on Interviews – Conor McGregor

Promotion of the Year – New Japan

Best Weekly TV Show – New Japan on AXS

Match of the Year – Okada vs. Omega – Wrestle Kingdom

Feud of the Year – Okada vs. Omega

Most Charismatic – Tetsuya Naito

Best Technical Wrestler – Zach Sabre Jr.

Best Brawler – Tomohiro Ishii

Best Flying Wrestler – Will Ospreay

Most Overrated – Jinder Mahal

Most Underrated – Rusev

Rookie of the Year – Ketsuya Kitamura

Best Non-Wrestler – Daniel Bryan

Best TV Announcer – Mauro Ranallo

Worst TV Announcer – Booker T.

Best Major Wrestling Show – Wrestle Kingdom XI

Worst Major Wrestling Show – Battleground

Best Wrestling Move – One Winged Angel

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE Promoting Jimmy Snuka As A Hero

Worst TV Show – Monday Night Raw

Worst Match of the Year – Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton – Wrestlemania XXXIII

Worst Feud of the Year – Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton

Worst Promotion – Impact Wrestling

Best Booker – Gedo – New Japan

Promoter of the Year – Takaai Kidani – New Japan

Best Gimmick – Los Ingobernables de Japon

Worst Gimmick – Bray Wyatt and Sister Abigail

Best Pro-Wrestling Book – Crazy Like a Fox: The Brian Pillman Story

Best Documentary – Ric Flair: 30 For 30

Opinion: Most of these aren’t the biggest surprise. New Japan had an amazing year and Okada was the crown jewel of the promotion. You would expect WWE to get a few more awards here and there (“Monday Night Raw” as the worst weekly show is questionable at best) but the New Japan dominance isn’t surprising.

This deserved some more attention.

WWE U.K. Champion Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne prepare for battle at TakeOver: Chicago

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 26 wrestling books. His latest book is the History of the WWE Championship.

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Which of these make the least sense? Who would you have had win? Let us know in the comments below.