AJ Styles: 2015 Wrestler of the Year Winner

[supersonic]

http://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling- ... ver-awards

A.J. Styles, 38-year-old Allan Jones, became the first American to win the Thesz/Flair Award since John Cena in 2010.

Ironically, it took him going to Japan to do so, where he held the IWGP championship, beating Hiroshi Tanahashi on February 11 in Osaka, and losing to Kazuchika Okada on July 5 in New Japan’s biggest Osaka event in more than a decade at a sold out Jo Hall.

Styles was also one of the top stars in ROH and also headlined for a number of promotions in the U.K. During the year, he had some incredible matches with the likes of Tanahashi, Okada, Kota Ibushi, Katsuyori Shibata and Will Ospreay, and headlined the some of the biggest non-WWE shows of the year.

New Japan dominated the voting with the top four finishers, including the winners from the past four years in Tanahashi (2011-2013) and Nakamura (2014).

This was a year without a clear-cut standout for the award. Most of the top place-winners could be reasonably argued to have a shot. With New Japan, Styles was one of the big four, but all of the big four were fantastic wrestlers who successfully headlined major shows. Styles, maybe surprisingly, won by a considerable margin, since it’s hard to find a gap between the four. Styles, Tanahashi and Okada all held the IWGP heavyweight title, while Nakamura headlined a number of shows as IC champion. Okada got most of the Japanese awards, but that’s because he was the one who ended the year as champion, and also was in Genichiro Tenryu’s retirement match, which was one of the year’s biggest events in that country with the sold out crowd and closed circuit throughout the country.

Of the big four, Styles did more outside of Japan since he was not a full-timer there. But the New Japan crew strengthened their relationship with ROH, and got on television weekly in the U.S., so all strengthened their names overseas and in particular, had great matches with Roderick Strong in the U.S.

It was ridiculously close for spots two through four, with Nakamura actually getting the second most first place votes, but Tanahashi was listed top three on more ballots. All four came through in just about title match they were in during the year.

During the latter part of the year Styles was bothered with a herniated disc in his lower back, which forced him to miss a number of scheduled matches. He finished up in ROH with a title loss to Jay Lethal at Final Battle, and then, in a match of the year candidate, finished with New Japan on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome with an IC title loss to Nakamura after he gave notice. He left Japan after shooting an angle where he was turned on by Kenny Omega and kicked out of the Bullet Club.

Styles had been one of the best wrestlers in the U.S. for more than a decade with TNA, when his contract expired at the end of 2013. He opted to leave the promotion when they offered him a substantial pay cut due to the company’s financial issues.

But even though he was a great wrestler, it was something of a risk when New Japan made the decision to go all the way with him as the top foreigner, putting him over for the IWGP title in his first match as a regular on May 3, 2014, where he beat Okada in Fukuoka.

Only a handful of Americans had ever held the IWGP title, Hogan (who is generally not listed as champion now since when he held the title it was a tournament where the winner would defend the next year), Big Van Vader, Scott Norton and Bob Sapp. What they all had in common was they were monsters, while Styles was really the size of a junior heavyweight. New Japan had never put an American of Styles’ size over to the degree they did with him as far as clearly made top foreigner and a two-time top singles champion.

Styles didn’t get over immediately, and there were questions asked when a company as hot as New Japan was when they brought him in, would make him world champion so quickly, before a lot of fans knew who he was. But the experiment was a huge success. His first match with Okada was good, but not great, but the rematch was fantastic and he clearly showed he could hang with the best in Japan during his first G-1 tournament in 2014.

Barring something unforeseen, Styles will be starting a new chapter in his career with WWE in 2016. It’ll be a major test for both. Styles already broke the mold for top foreigner with New Japan, and he’s certainly not the traditional style headliner for WWE. The question is can WWE, which has struggled to an extent in making top new stars, get over a guy who doesn’t fit their mold but has gotten over strong everywhere he’s been in the last two years. And for Styles, the challenge is performing on his biggest stage while dealing with healing a serious back problem.

Cena, as WWE’s biggest star, had consistently very good matches in a Nakamura-like role of elevating the U.S. title after WrestleMania, with weekly challenge matches on Raw. His program with Kevin Owens, while it could have ended differently, did put Owens on the map as a genuine star at a far higher level. There is a gap between his best matches and those of the Japanese. And he was downgraded as the company’s focal point in favor of Roman Reigns as the ascending star. But he is still the biggest full-time pro wrestling star in the world and one who delivered big matches inside the ring.

Other awards involving ROH and its talents:

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD
(WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
1. A.J. STYLES (299) 2,507
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (160) 1,674
3. Kazuchika Okada (136) 1,532
4. Shinsuke Nakamura (190) 1,481
5. John Cena (55) 976
6. Brock Lesnar (79) 668
7. Seth Rollins (51) 580
8. Sasha Banks (80) 519
9. La Sombra (35) 228
10. Jay Lethal (21) 214

MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1. A.J. STYLES (334) 2,631
2. Shinsuke Nakamura (149) 1,254
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (134) 1,146
4. Kazuchika Okada (72) 870
5. Roderick Strong (82) 712
6. Seth Rollins (60) 640
7. Kota Ibushi (46) 425
8. Chris Hero (49) 364
9. Tomohiro Ishii (34) 343
10. Cesaro (7) 324

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1. YOUNG BUCKS (382) 3,284
2. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (229) 2,204
3. New Day (167) 1,691
4. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (86) 835
5. Naruki Doi & Yamato (70) 637
6. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable (33) 537
7. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (2) 189
8. Michael Bennett & Matt Taven (6) 172
9. Matt Sydal & Ricochet (16) 156
10. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta (7) 125

MOST IMPROVED
1. BAYLEY (116) 1,397
2. Moose (94) 793
3. Sasha Banks (81) 654
4. Roman Reigns (75) 649
5. Baron Corbin (63) 617
6. Michael Elgin (55) 477
7. Jason Jordan (19) 387
8. Chad Gable (65) 349
9. Tetsuya Naito (23) 226
10.Nikki Bella (22) 223

BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1. CONOR MCGREGOR (524) 3,285
2. Paul Heyman (193)` 1,839
3. Kevin Owens (73) 1,109
4. New Day (23) 369
5. Jay Lethal (27) 360
6. John Cena (15) 359
7. Jay Briscoe (16) 235
8. Ronda Rousey (9) 176
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi (16) 159
10. Rush 127

MOST CHARISMATIC
1. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (418) 3,147
2. Conor McGregor (314) 2,293
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (64) 966
4. Bayley (45) 387
5. Ronda Rousey (61) 378
6. Rush (48) 367
7. Brock Lesnar (33) 340
8. Dalton Castle (17) 310
9. John Cena (5) 302
10. Pentagon Jr. (4) 242

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER
1. ZACK SABRE JR. (346) 2,411
2. Kyle O’Reilly (130) 1,099
3. Timothy Thatcher (77) 841
4. Roderick Strong (40) 356
5. Shinsuke Nakamura (56) 279
6. Cesaro (33) 255
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi (7) 215
8. Chad Gable (28) 196
9. Seth Rollins (8) 179
10. A.J. Styles (7) 160

BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1. RICOCHET (583) 3,708
2. Kota Ibushi (144) 1,327
3. Will Ospreay (109) 847
4. Matt Sydal (24) 737
5. Neville (37) 618
6. Fenix (16) 593
7. Angelico (40) 508
8. Flamita (18) 328
9. Kushida (8) 223
10. Aero Star (23) 218

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (354) 3,290
2. UFC (383) 2,286
3. Ring of Honor (55) 1,137
4. Lucha Underground (56) 880
5. Dragon Gate (79) 798
6. PWG (17) 439
7. WWE (19) 392
8. DDT (9) 246
9. Progress Wrestling (20) 154
10. Evolve 96

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
1. WWE NXT (347) 3,148
2. Lucha Underground (410) 3,112
3. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (197) 1,803
4. Ring of Honor (73) 918
5. WWE Monday Night Raw (4) 97
6. Ultimate Fighter Faber vs. McGregor 60
7. Dragon Gate Infinity 48

BEST NON-WRESTLER
1. DARIO CUETO (362) 2,394
2. Paul Heyman (358) 2,373
3. Xavier Woods (61) 736
4. William Regal (56) 547
5. Stephanie McMahon (13) 343
6. Truth Martini (12) 338
7. Maria Kanellis (9) 314
8. Lana (7) 220
9. Katrina (2) 181
10. Gedo (4) 128

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. MAURO RANALLO (625) 3,751
2. Corey Graves (57) 819
3. Shimpei Nogami (96) 774
4. Josh Barnett (3) 676
5. Kevin Kelly (74) 572
6. Joe Rogan (36) 537
7. Steve Corino (19) 485
8. Brian Stann (40) 391
9. Jim Ross (25) 391
10. Lenny Leonard (21) 284

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1. A.J. STYLES STYLES CLASH 137
2. Young Bucks Meltzer Driver 131
3. Kazuchika Okada rainmaker 93
4. Neville red arrow 86
5. Ricochet & Matt Sydal double shooting star press 45
6. Kevin Owens pop up power bomb 41
7. Shinsuke Nakamura flying armbar 32
8. Angelico dropkick off the stage into the ring 22
9. Tomoaki Honma kokeshi spear 20
10. Ricochet 630 17

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
1. TEAM PCB VS. TEAM BAD VS. TEAM BELLA 221
2. Seth Rollins vs. Kane 111
3. Dolph Ziggler & Lana vs. Rusev & Summer Rae 110
4. Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt 72
5. Kingdom vs. Bullet Club 43
6. James Storm vs. Magnus 23
7. R-Truth vs. King Barrett 20
8. Charlotte vs. Paige 19
9. TNA vs. GFW 16
10. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Thunder 15

BEST BOOKER
1. PAUL LEVESQUE/RYAN WARD 317
2. Gedo 314
3. Joe Silva 117
4. Chris DeJoseph/Chris Roach 61
5. Dragon Gate team 56
6. Hunter Johnston 39
7. Sean Shelby 19
8. Sanshiro Takagi 17
9. Gabe Sapolsky 11

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1. DANA WHITE 581
2. Takaaki Kidani 177
3. Paul Levesque 121
4. Mark Dallas 18
5. Vince McMahon 15
6. Scott Coker 12
7. Joe Koff 11

BEST GIMMICK
1. NEW DAY 213
2. Dalton Castle 200
3. Los Ingobernables 129
4. Bayley 71
5. Finn Balor 44
6. Pentagon Jr. 39
7. Conor McGregor 23
8. Bullet Club 20
9. Mojo Rawley 18
10. Kevin Owens 15

Notable awards ROH once dominated and failed to crack the top ten for in 2015:
Match of the Year
Feud of the Year
Best Major Wrestling Show
Best Pro Wrestling DVD

[jordidebaas]

I still really don't understand what makes people think LU is any good...

[DXvsNWO1994]

So is this the first time that someone has won the Thesz/Flair Award & Most Outstanding in the same year, or has that happened before?

[JTCole]

I still really don't understand what makes people think LU is any good...

I haven't watched it but I read it really embraces the batshit crazy potential for wrestling storylines.

I can see why NXT won over it though.

[lariat_tubman]

Good list, as usual.

NXT's weekly show is only pretty good in my opinion, a lot of nothing episodes while LU is just so unique it deserved to win.

And I know why Bucks won it but how is New Day not tag team of the year!

[DXvsNWO1994]

And I know why Bucks won it but how is New Day not tag team of the year!

At least New Day won Best Gimmick.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

I find it interesting that as much as of a cancer as Triple H has been labelled for his time in the Kliq, he has been quite successful as a promoter/booker. I give him credit for taking NXT and really making something out of it. Unlike his father-in-law, he has shown quite the knack for adapting.

[supersonic]

Nobody has discussed this fact.

Notable awards ROH once dominated and failed to crack the top ten for in 2015:
Match of the Year
Feud of the Year
Best Major Wrestling Show
Best Pro Wrestling DVD

Will ROH ever get back to its true A-game and dominate those categories again? As much as the company rebounded from 2011, no longer is it keeping up with the in-ring peak of WWE and Japan. The best storylines are either in NJPW or on NXT. There was a time when ROH constantly blew away WWE on the same weekend.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Clearly a sign of the booking. The talent is there but the booking is prohibiting the wrestling to shine. Emotional investment can catapult matches into the stratosphere. Kyle O'Reilly and the Young/Castle feud are examples of a failure to capitalize on the wrestling fans emotional investment.

[Big Red Machine]

Nobody has discussed this fact.

Notable awards ROH once dominated and failed to crack the top ten for in 2015:
Match of the Year
Feud of the Year
Best Major Wrestling Show
Best Pro Wrestling DVD

Will ROH ever get back to its true A-game and dominate those categories again? As much as the company rebounded from 2011, no longer is it keeping up with the in-ring peak of WWE and Japan. The best storylines are either in NJPW or on NXT. There was a time when ROH constantly blew away WWE on the same weekend.

Not to call other people's opinions into question because these are all opinions, but... a large portion of Dave's reader-base (and Dave himself) tend to WAY overrate Puro matches (and NJPW, and Dragon Gate in particular) at the expense of American promotions. They'll praise Tomohiro Ishii for doing something and then bury Dean Ambrose for doing it three minutes later. These awards are all opinions (and in my opinion, anyone who thinks New Japan or WWE had some of the best storylines this year is utterly insane). I also think that Dave just doesn't watch as much ROH as he used to, and as a result it doesn't get as much hype in the Observer and so the readership is less likely to go out of their way to watch a match like Roddy vs. Okada from Field of Honor or the Lethal vs. O'Reilly TV Title match etc. etc.
That being said, I do agree that ROH has been a bit lacking in Match of the Year candidates the past few years, and I think that a major reason for that is that every booker since Gabe has been trying to cut back on the length of the shows. Two and a half hours used to be a short show. Now it's about average. Since the move to PPVs, the bigger shows have been limited by the three-hour time limit. If you're going to limit yourself to a three-hour show, you can't give four top four or five matches twenty-five minutes each like they used to (that's a slight exaggeration, but you get the point).

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Ah, it would not be a true Big Red Machine post without an anti-Ishii reference.

[JigsawVs.Jason]

Nobody has discussed this fact.

Notable awards ROH once dominated and failed to crack the top ten for in 2015:
Match of the Year
Feud of the Year
Best Major Wrestling Show
Best Pro Wrestling DVD

Will ROH ever get back to its true A-game and dominate those categories again? As much as the company rebounded from 2011, no longer is it keeping up with the in-ring peak of WWE and Japan. The best storylines are either in NJPW or on NXT. There was a time when ROH constantly blew away WWE on the same weekend.

Not to call other people's opinions into question because these are all opinions, but... a large portion of Dave's reader-base (and Dave himself) tend to WAY overrate Puro matches (and NJPW, and Dragon Gate in particular) at the expense of American promotions. They'll praise Tomohiro Ishii for doing something and then bury Dean Ambrose for doing it three minutes later. These awards are all opinions (and in my opinion, anyone who thinks New Japan or WWE had some of the best storylines this year is utterly insane). I also think that Dave just doesn't watch as much ROH as he used to, and as a result it doesn't get as much hype in the Observer and so the readership is less likely to go out of their way to watch a match like Roddy vs. Okada from Field of Honor or the Lethal vs. O'Reilly TV Title match etc. etc.
That being said, I do agree that ROH has been a bit lacking in Match of the Year candidates the past few years, and I think that a major reason for that is that every booker since Gabe has been trying to cut back on the length of the shows. Two and a half hours used to be a short show. Now it's about average. Since the move to PPVs, the bigger shows have been limited by the three-hour time limit. If you're going to limit yourself to a three-hour show, you can't give four top four or five matches twenty-five minutes each like they used to (that's a slight exaggeration, but you get the point).

I totally agree with everything BigRedMachine said (minus the Ishii reference) and that is what should be the number one focus of Delirious. To get the product back to these days by booking compelling feuds, giving matches time (not only 1 or 2, you do not need to overdo it like Gabe did in 2008, but at least give 3-4 matches the time required to steal the show) to become true MOTYC. The talent is there, I also like the overall stories of his booking, but what is missing are these long grudge feuds, multi-layered and overlapping storylines and most importantly, match of the year contenders. Yes Lethal/Styles,the Bullet Club 6-Mans, Lethal/Kyle, Tanahashi/Strong, etc all fall in this category, but a company like ROH needs more of those.

[WHG]

There's an irony to this, but in a way ROH is too mainstream now to get real attention anymore from the Observer voters. They had shows, feuds, and matches better (IMO) than some that made the top 10. More people
than ever watch the product, but far fewer hardcores do...and when they do they aren't invested because they don't watch consistently enough to care about the feuds/characters. The SBG acquisition and subsequent Cornette era made the product uncool to the Meltzer crowd, and while it doesn't draw the disdain it did then, it also gets largely ignored.

The days of ROH MOTY contenders are likely gone forever...and it's not entirely the company's fault anymore.

[ColourMeCurious]

It is good to see all the Dalton Castle love.

[Big Red Machine]

Ah, it would not be a true Big Red Machine post without an anti-Ishii reference.

He's just he most egregious example. I flipped a sh*t during Dave's review of Dominion when he started praising Ishii for purposely blowing spots in order to make everyone think that his arm was really hurt. That's a level of bending over backwards that just offends me.
But I do honestly think that a lot of these guys give New Japan and Dragon Gate passes where they would crap on WWE and TNA for doing something.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Ah, it would not be a true Big Red Machine post without an anti-Ishii reference.

He's just he most egregious example. I flipped a sh*t during Dave's review of Dominion when he started praising Ishii for purposely blowing spots in order to make everyone think that his arm was really hurt. That's a level of bending over backwards that just offends me.
But I do honestly think that a lot of these guys give New Japan and Dragon Gate passes where they would crap on WWE and TNA for doing something.

Oh, I agree with you. I don't mind Ishii, but Dave has an unusual fixation on him I can't quite figure out. I know he was very high on Ishii and Honma for the NEVER title last year. I thought it was decent, but not a MOTY candidate by any stretch of the imagination.

[Big Red Machine]

There's an irony to this, but in a way ROH is too mainstream now to get real attention anymore from the Observer voters. They had shows, feuds, and matches better (IMO) than some that made the top 10. More people
than ever watch the product, but far fewer hardcores do...and when they do they aren't invested because they don't watch consistently enough to care about the feuds/characters. The SBG acquisition and subsequent Cornette era made the product uncool to the Meltzer crowd, and while it doesn't draw the disdain it did then, it also gets largely ignored.

The days of ROH MOTY contenders are likely gone forever...and it's not entirely the company's fault anymore.

I didn't subscribe in the mid 2000s, but I find that indy wrestling in general gets a lot less coverage in the Observer than it deserves. EVOLVE is barely ever mentioned, CZW is on legit broadcast PPV and is never mentioned, PWG only feels like it gets mentioned because Dave goes to the shows (he said recently that he's seen a ton of Thatcher matches at local California indies, but he never covers his visits to those promotions, etc). I know that the increase in UFC shows eats up a bunch of Dave's time, but I don't think there was a review of a single ROH show that wasn't a PPV, iPPV, or didn't have New Japan guys on it. ROH is the #3 promotion in the world right now (Dragon Gate is disgustingly overrated) and the #2 promotion in the markets where the large majority of Dave's subscriber base comes from, and Dave is still covering them like they are on HDnet and running twice a month. Even TNA, as weak as they are, gets less coverage than they deserve based on their place in the totem pole compared to everyone else.

[Big Red Machine]

Ah, it would not be a true Big Red Machine post without an anti-Ishii reference.

He's just he most egregious example. I flipped a sh*t during Dave's review of Dominion when he started praising Ishii for purposely blowing spots in order to make everyone think that his arm was really hurt. That's a level of bending over backwards that just offends me.
But I do honestly think that a lot of these guys give New Japan and Dragon Gate passes where they would crap on WWE and TNA for doing something.

Oh, I agree with you. I don't mind Ishii, but Dave has an unusual fixation on him I can't quite figure out. I know he was very high on Ishii and Honma for the NEVER title last year. I thought it was decent, but not a MOTY candidate by any stretch of the imagination.

Would it surprise you if I told you I thought it was the worst match I'd seen all year wrote a review of it that included an almost move-by-move breakdown of everything I hated and why?

[Big Red Machine]

It is good to see all the Dalton Castle love.

Hopefully it will lead to some actually progression for him in ROH.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

There's an irony to this, but in a way ROH is too mainstream now to get real attention anymore from the Observer voters. They had shows, feuds, and matches better (IMO) than some that made the top 10. More people
than ever watch the product, but far fewer hardcores do...and when they do they aren't invested because they don't watch consistently enough to care about the feuds/characters. The SBG acquisition and subsequent Cornette era made the product uncool to the Meltzer crowd, and while it doesn't draw the disdain it did then, it also gets largely ignored.

The days of ROH MOTY contenders are likely gone forever...and it's not entirely the company's fault anymore.

I didn't subscribe in the mid 2000s, but I find that indy wrestling in general gets a lot less coverage in the Observer than it deserves. EVOLVE is barely ever mentioned, CZW is on legit broadcast PPV and is never mentioned, PWG only feels like it gets mentioned because Dave goes to the shows (he said recently that he's seen a ton of Thatcher matches at local California indies, but he never covers his visits to those promotions, etc). I know that the increase in UFC shows eats up a bunch of Dave's time, but I don't think there was a review of a single ROH show that wasn't a PPV, iPPV, or didn't have New Japan guys on it. ROH is the #3 promotion in the world right now (Dragon Gate is disgustingly overrated) and the #2 promotion in the markets where the large majority of Dave's subscriber base comes from, and Dave is still covering them like they are on HDnet and running twice a month. Even TNA, as weak as they are, gets less coverage than they deserve based on their place in the totem pole compared to everyone else.

PWG is nowhere near as good now as it was in the mid-2000's, but yet they seem to be getting more pub from Dave now than ever before. I could be wrong, if so correct me.