Official ROHWorld 2017 ROH Awards Thread

[Big Red Machine]

End of the Year Awards 2017


The awards below will be conducted via written response in this thread. Up to three candidates can be awarded, using a tiered scoring system, 5 points for your 1st place vote, 3 points for 2nd, and 1 point for third. Write-ins for candidates not suggested in each category are very much encouraged. All categories are to be ROH-focused, in which work from other promotions should bear little influence. Voting in this thread will be open until 7:00 pm Eastern Time on January 20th when Music City Excellence officially kicks off ROH’s 2018.
Much credit is due to AlexROH and Wilson, my co-conspirators in this endeavor, without whom this process would have been much more difficult, and likely wouldn’t have started until mid-May. Now, without further ado, please submit your votes for…




Most Improved

Improvement is marked by the changes made in terms of the talent themselves and/or in the way they are presented in contrast to last year. Whose stock was raised most?

• Adam Page
• Frankie Kazarian
• Jay White
• Kenny King
• Punishment Martinez
• Shane Taylor
• Beer City Bruiser

Best Newcomer(s)/Breakout Star(s)

A wrestler that breaks out is one that has been in the company less than two years eighteen months and would have for them considered ROH as easily their greatest platform of exposure yet. This category may also be used to signify who to most look out for in 2018 based on their time in ROH, in the promotion or otherwise.

Note: Shane Taylor was awarded the Best Newcomer/Breakout Star last year, and has been excluded from the current field.

• Flip Gordon
• Jay White
• Josh Woods
• Karen Q
• Tempura Boyz
• TK O’Ryan
• Johnathan Gresham

Best Non-Roster Wrestler or Team

To qualify as a non-roster wrestler is an odd discussion. Below are wrestlers that are at least not under contract to ROH and/or do not appear in a continuous stream of bookings. Who has been the most impressive in their limited appearances for ROH in 2017?

• Dragon Lee
• The Hardys
• Hiromu Takahashi
• Kenny Omega
• KUSHIDA
• Minoru Suzuki
• Tetsuya Naito
• Will Ospreay

Best Women of Honor Wrestler

• Deonna Purrazzo
• Jenny Rose
• Karen Q
• Kelly Klein
• Mandy Leon
• Sumie Sakai

Most Underrated Match

Pick the match that you feel has gotten the least amount of buzz or praise compared to what a match of its quality should expect.

Note: Some matches below may also appear in the Best Match category.

• Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee vs. KUSHIDA (ROH on SBG #279)
• The Briscoes vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Cole (Honor Rising 2017: Day 1)
• Bobby Fish vs. Lio Rush (Honor Reigns Supreme)
• Marty Scurll vs. Lio Rush (The Experience)
• Marty Scurll vs. Donovan Dijak (ROH on SBG #284)
• Frankie Kazarian vs. Adam Page (Best in the World 2017)
• KUSHIDA vs. Titan (War of the Worlds UK: London)
• Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal (War of the Worlds UK: Edinburgh)
• Punishment Martinez vs. Will Ospreay (Global Wars: Buffalo)
• Jay Lethal vs. Jay White (Global Wars: Pittsburgh)

Biggest News

The news that created or has the potential to create the most acute set of consequences for ROH

• Top stars and/or recent World Champions Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish depart from ROH to pursue the WWE
• Up-and-coming stars Keith Lee, Donovan Dijak, and Lio Rush depart from ROH to develop their talents in other promotions; Lee in EVOLVE, Rush and Dijak touring for NXT
• Matt and Jeff Hardy main event with The Young Bucks to help generate the largest-attended show in ROH history; Kenny Omega returns to the United States, instantly selling out Chicago by his name alone
• Increased cooperation for joint shows between ROH, NJPW, CMLL, and RevPro
• An official Women of Honor title (and attendant tournament) is announced at Final Battle
• Sinclair buys Tribune, opening the door for ROH to air in many new media markets.

Best Moment

In which one votes for the moment that was most satisfying.

• Christopher Daniels finally fulfills his prophecy of winning the ROH World Title at the 15th Anniversary
• The Hardys debut as a team at Manhattan Mayhem, winning an impromptu title match against The Young Bucks
• Adam Cole is kicked out of Bullet Club and Marty Scurll takes his spot
• Cody becomes World Champion and produces untold ire/debate among the IWC
• Minoru Suzuki debuts in ROH at Death Before Dishonor XV--his first return to the US in 20 years
• After years and years in the company, Silas Young earns his first ROH title at Final Battle
• Bah Gawd, Dalton Castle defeats Joe Koff’s favorite wrestler to become World Champion at Final Battle

Best Character(s)

Best Character embodies how the talent present themselves in interviews and in matches; complementation by well-told narratives can be considered, but are not necessarily the benchmark.

• Adam Cole
• Christopher Daniels
• Cody
• Dalton Castle
• Jay Lethal
• Kenny King
• Silas Young
• The Young Bucks

Best Trend

Things the company is doing that you would like to see more of going forward.

• Kenny Omega-ga places a larger footprint in the ROH ecosystem
• Larger emphasis placed on live iPPVs
• More focused implementation of the relationship between ROH and CMLL
• Utilizing gatekeepers like Jay Lethal and Christopher Daniels
• Not giving up on their midcard veterans: Silas Young, Dalton Castle, Kenny King, Matt Taven
• Bolstering the UK tour with strong CMLL and New Japan talent
• Attempting to capitalize on the uptick in attendance by running bigger arenas in various markets

Worst Trend

What has the company been doing this year that you think hurts the product and would like them to stop:

• Using the Bullet Club as the creative thrust for half of the promotion, including making clearly ridiculous storylines from Being The Elite canon without explaining what is going on to the non-BTE-viewing audience
• Providing minimal incentives for up-and-coming talent to remain with the company
• Claiming contract tampering to try to keep wrestlers who want to leave from signing with other major companies
• Short-stint/transitional title reigns: Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole, The Hardys, Christopher Daniels, KUSHIDA, Dalton Castle & The Boys, Kenny King
• Comedy continues to be a major thrust of many matches, including major main events.
• Stables that don’t go much beyond being a random grouping of undercard talent: Search & Destroy, The Rebellion, The Kingdom, Flip Army, SoCal Uncensored
• Bringing in talent that no one asks for: Spirit Squad, Mr. Anderson, Joey Ryan, Glacier
• Bringing in and/or emphasizing the olds: Matt and Jeff Hardy, Bully Ray, Tommy Dreamer, Christopher Daniels as World Champion

Worst Thing

(Bury) the worst thing.

• Bully Ray: inserts himself into ROH’s longest-running homegrown act, works half-assed in all his matches, cuts pre-match promos to chiefly get himself over, is almost completely protected in singles matches, does a retirement promo tour, drags in what’s left on Tommy Dreamer into a 2017 ROH ring, and occupies nine months’ worth of The Briscoes’ time, time in which they and the company would have been better served by them doing just about anything else
• Being the Elite: as attendant to a haphazardly edited web sketch show, as ROH and NJPW canon, as in-ring coda to live events, as a platform to distinguish and elevate Bullet Club stars above other ROH members, as a means to get friends of the show over, as a means to kickstart self-financed ventures
• State of the ROH World Title: Having O’Reilly lose in a twelve-minute match on a New Japan show after spending two years building him with zero title defenses, zigzagging the title back onto the soon-departing Adam Cole, crowning the oldest member of the full-time roster (who happens to be part of creative), and launching Cody so far into the ionosphere that there is no legitimate competition; not to mention that there has been a noticeable pause for worthwhile defenses; a record five champions in a calendar year
• Going all-in on Cody: designing the entire main event scene around him to fill the vacuum created when all of the main event and upper midcard vanished this year, taking up more than a fair share of televised and financial resources while not yet getting other talent over
• Gimmicks and segments designed to waste time: familiar to anyone that watches ROH on SBG, the company is prone to broadcasting heatless, feckless segments with Will Ferrara, Cheeseburger, Rhett Titus, Vinny Marseglia, QT Marshall, envelopes, throwaway title defenses
• Joe Koff’s insufferable interviews: Is it New Japan that makes Ring of Honor so good? Or is it Ring of Honor why New Japan is so good? https://www.avclub.com/ring-of-honors-j ... 1819450908
• The video player: streaming at a wildly unreliable bitrate, this is one of the worst video players out there; purchased goods should not look like they were purposely mosaic-ed

(Secretly the Best)

Which talent do you love but most other people don’t seem like anywhere near as much?

• Caprice Coleman
• Deonna Purrazzo
• Joe Koff (on commentary)
• Jonathan Gresham
• The Kingdom
• The Dawgs
• Shaheem Ali
• Beer City Bruiser

Best Show

Which show had the best combination of exciting or well-built matches and then delivered the best combination of ringwork and storyline progression?

• Manhattan Mayhem VI (March 4, 2017)
• 15th Anniversary Show (March 10, 2017)
• Supercard of Honor XI (April 1, 2017)
• War of the Worlds UK: London (August 18, 2017)
• Death Before Dishonor XV (September 22, 2017)
• Global Wars: Chicago (October 15, 2017)
• Final Battle 2017 (December 15, 2017)

Best Story

Which story that made product compelling, helped create continuity between shows, and made the talent involved all look the better for it?

• The Motor City Machineguns quest to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles
• ROH founding father Christopher Daniels’ quest to finally win the ROH World Title
• Kenny King’s road to the TV Title
• The Briscoes try to run Bully Ray out of ROH
• Cody vs. Dalton Castle
• Daniels & Kazarian outwit Bullet Club to prevent Bullet Club interference Daniels ROH World Title match
• Coast 2 Coast’s quest for their first big win

Best Feud

Best Feud is distinguished from Best Story in that the workrate between the talent involved is what is valued most highly. Which series of matches had the best workrate.

• Jay Lethal vs. Cody
• Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish
• The Young Bucks vs The Hardys
• KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll
• Cody vs. Christopher Daniels
• Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White
• Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young

Best Match

The greatest match of the year.

• Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish (15th Anniversary Show)
• Marty Scurll vs. Lio Rush (15th Anniversary Show)
• The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks (Supercard of Honor XI)
• Will Ospreay vs Jay White (War of the Worlds 2017: New York)
• KUSHIDA vs. Titan (War of the Worlds UK: London)
• Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal (War of the Worlds UK: Edinburgh)
• Punishment Martinez vs. Will Ospreay (Global Wars: Buffalo)
• Flip Gordon vs. Will Ospreay (Global Wars: Chicago)
• Cody Rhodes vs. Christopher Daniels (Survival of the Fittest 2017: Night 2)
• Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll (Final Battle 2017)

Best Tag Team

The Best Tag Team is one that represents the tag team division at large in ROH and pushes themselves as well as the division forward through their workrate and promos.

• The Addiction
• Best Friends
• The Briscoes
• The Motor City Machine Guns
• War Machine
• The Young Bucks
• Silas Young & the Beer City Bruiser


Best Worker

Best Worker evaluates the wrestler’s in-ring abilities: portraying convincing mechanics of the work as a sport; telling engaging, stories, even without build; not hurting himself or his opponents; generously selling for the opponent and/or for the sake of a story; performing in a specific idiom.

• Bobby Fish
• Jay Lethal
• Jay White
• Jonathan Gresham
• KUSHIDA
• Marty Scurll
• Will Ospreay

MVP

The MVP is the wrestler that balances the act of being the most valuable, performing at a high workrate, producing convincing interviews, and delivering consistently on each event, no matter the place on the card.

• Cody
• Christopher Daniels
• Dalton Castle
• Jay Lethal
• Jay White
• Marty Scurll
• Silas Young

[JigsawVs.Jason]

Most Improved
• Punishment Martinez

Best Newcomer(s)/Breakout Star(s)
• Jay White


Best Non-Roster Wrestler or Team
• Kenny Omega


Best Women of Honor Wrestler
• Sumie Sakai

Most Underrated Match

Pick the match that you feel has gotten the least amount of buzz or praise compared to what a match of its quality should expect.

Note: Some matches below may also appear in the Best Match category.
• KUSHIDA vs. Titan (War of the Worlds UK: London)

Biggest News

The news that created or has the potential to create the most acute set of consequences for ROH

• Top stars and/or recent World Champions Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish depart from ROH to pursue the WWE

Best Moment

• Christopher Daniels finally fulfills his prophecy of winning the ROH World Title at the 15th Anniversary

Best Character(s)

• The Young Bucks

Best Trend

• Kenny Omega-ga places a larger footprint in the ROH ecosystem


Worst Trend

• Bringing in talent that no one asks for: Spirit Squad, Mr. Anderson, Joey Ryan, Glacier


Worst Thing

• Going all-in on Cody: designing the entire main event scene around him to fill the vacuum created when all of the main event and upper midcard vanished this year, taking up more than a fair share of televised and financial resources while not yet getting other talent over


(Secretly the Best)

Which talent do you love but most other people don’t seem like anywhere near as much?

• Jonathan Gresham

Best Show

• Supercard of Honor XI (April 1, 2017)


Best Story

• ROH founding father Christopher Daniels’ quest to finally win the ROH World Title


Best Feud

• Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young

Best Match

The greatest match of the year.

• Will Ospreay vs Jay White (War of the Worlds 2017: New York)

Best Tag Team

• The Young Bucks


Best Worker

• Marty Scurll


MVP

• Marty Scurll

[King of Indy Style]

Most Improved:

1. Punishment Martinez
2. Jay White
3. Adam Page

Breakout Star/Best Newcomer:

1. Flip Gordon
2. Jay White
3. Jonathon Gresham

Best Non-Roster Wrestler or Team:

1. Kenny Omega
2. Will Ospreay
3. KUSHIDA

Best Women of Honor Wrestler:

1. Deonna Purazzo
2. Karen Q
3. Kelly Klein

Most Underrated Match:

Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee vs. KUSHIDA (ROH on SBG #279)

Biggest News:

Matt and Jeff Hardy main event with The Young Bucks to help generate the largest-attended show in ROH history; Kenny Omega returns to the United States, instantly selling out Chicago by his name alone

Best Moment:

Christopher Daniels finally fulfills his prophecy of winning the ROH World Title at the 15th Anniversary

Best Character:

Silas Young

Best Trend:

Kenny Omega-ga places a larger footprint in the ROH ecosystem

Worst Trend:

Providing minimal incentives for up-and-coming talent to remain with the company

Worst Thing:

Being the Elite: as attendant to a haphazardly edited web sketch show, as ROH and NJPW canon, as in-ring coda to live events, as a platform to distinguish and elevate Bullet Club stars above other ROH members, as a means to get friends of the show over, as a means to kickstart self-financed ventures

Secretly The Best:

Beer City Bruiser

Best Show:

15th Anniversary Show (March 10, 2017)

Best Story:

ROH founding father Christopher Daniels’ quest to finally win the ROH World Title

Best Feud:

Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young

Best Match:

Will Ospreay vs Jay White (War of the Worlds 2017: New York)

Best Tag Team:

Best Friends

Best Worker:

Jay Lethal

MVP:

Jay Lethal

[Big Red Machine]

For clarification purposes, you can give first, second, and third place votes for all categories.

[Wilson]

Warmest gratitude toward Big Red Machine and AlexROH on developing the categories and nominees. It's quite a bit of effort, and I'm very grateful for their collaborative generosity.

Also, I hope we can at least make it to five completed surveys on these awards. Not only would I like more points of data to tabulate from, I would be simply be enthused to see how peers viewed the product in 2017.

Now, onto the damned thing:

Most Improved:
Frankie Kazarian - 5 points
Punishment Martinez - 3 points
Kenny King - 1 point

Best Newcomer(s)/Breakout Star(s):
Jay White - 5 points
Flip Gordon - 3 points
Karen Q - 1 point

Best Non-Roster Wrestler or Team:
Will Ospreay - 5 points
KUSHIDA - 3 points
The Hardys - 1 point

Best Women of Honor Wrestler:
Deonna Purrazzo - 5 points
Karen Q - 3 points
Jenny Rose - 1 point

Most Underrated Match:
Jay Lethal vs. Jay White (Global Wars: Pittsburgh) - 5 points
KUSHIDA vs. Titan (War of the Worlds UK: London) - 3 points
Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal (War of the Worlds UK: Edinburgh) - 1 point

Biggest News:
Up-and-coming stars Keith Lee, Donovan Dijak, and Lio Rush depart from ROH - 5 points
Top stars and/or recent World Champions Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish depart from ROH to pursue the WWE - 3 points
Attendance record at SCOH; heretofore unseen sellthrough for GW: Chicago - 1 point

Best Moment:
Dalton Castle becomes Sinclair's true, canonical boy - 5 points
Christopher Daniels finally fulfills his prophecy - 3 points
The Hardys win the tag titles in an impromptu match - 1 point

Best Character(s):
Christopher Daniels - 5 points
Cody - 3 points
Dalton Castle (for best use of aggrieving a low blow in a promo) - 1 point

Best Trend:
Utilizing gatekeepers like Jay Lethal and Christopher Daniels - 5 points
Kenny Omega-ga places a larger footprint in the ROH ecosystem - 3 points
Attempting to capitalize on the uptick in attendance by running bigger arenas in various markets - 1 point

Worst Trend: (what a season, what a season)
Providing minimal incentives for up-and-coming talent to remain with the company - 5 points
Using the Bullet Club as the creative thrust for half of the promotion - 3 points
Claiming contract tampering - 1 point

Worst Thing:
Bully Ray is the worst/this post is my go away heat - 5 points
Going all-in on Cody - 3 points
Being the Elite - 1 point

(Secretly the Best):
JONATHAN FUCKING GRESHAM - 5 points
Deonna Purrazzo - 3 points
Shaheem Ali - 1 point

Best Show:
15th Anniversary Show - 5 points
Death Before Dishonor - 3 points
War of the Worlds: London - 1 point

Best Story:
Cody vs. Dalton - 5 points
Christopher Daniels’ quest to finally win the ROH World Title - 3 points
The Briscoes try to run Bully Ray out of ROH- 1 point

Best Feud:
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young - 5 points
The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys - 3 points
Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White - 1 point

Best Match:
Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish (15th Anniversary Show) - 5 points
Jay Lethal vs. Jay White (Global Wars: Pittsburgh) - 3 points
The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks (Supercard of Honor XI) - 1 point

Best Tag Team:
The Young Bucks - 5 points
The Motor City Machine Guns - 3 points
War Machine - 1 point

Best Worker:
Jay Lethal - 5 points
Jonathan Gresham - 3 points
Marty Scurll - 1 point

MVP:
Jay Lethal - 5 points
Marty Scurll - 3 points
Silas Young - 1 point

[Big Red Machine]

Most Improved:
Frankie Kazarian - 5 points
Punishment Martinez - 3 points
Kenny King - 1 point

Best Newcomer(s)/Breakout Star(s):
Jay White - 5 points
Gresham - 3 points
Karen Q - 1 point

Best Non-Roster Wrestler or Team:
Will Ospreay - 5 points
KUSHIDA - 3 points
The Hardys - 1 point

Best Women of Honor Wrestler:
Deonna Purrazzo - 5 points
Karen Q - 3 points
Jenny Rose - 1 point

Most Underrated Match:
Will Ospreay vs. Punishment Martinez (Global Wars: Buffalo) - 5 points
Bullet Club vs. Briscoes (Honor Rising 2017: Night 1) - 3 points
Adam Page vs. Frankie Kazarian (War of the Worlds 2017) - 1 point

Biggest News:
Up-and-coming stars Keith Lee, Donovan Dijak, and Lio Rush depart from ROH - 5 points
Top stars and/or recent World Champions Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish depart from ROH to pursue the WWE - 3 points
Attendance record at SCOH; heretofore unseen sellthrough for GW: Chicago - 1 point

Best Moment:
Dalton Castle becomes Sinclair's true, canonical boy - 5 points
Christopher Daniels finally fulfills his prophecy - 3 points
The Hardys win the tag titles in an impromptu match - 1 point

Best Character(s):
Silas Young - 5 points
Christopher Daniels - 3 points
Jay Briscoe - 1 point

Best Trend:
Attempting to capitalize on the uptick in attendance by running bigger arenas in various markets - 5 points
Larger focus on live iPPV- 3 points
Kenny Omega-ga places a larger footprint in the ROH ecosystem- 1 point

Worst Trend: (what a season, what a season)
Comedy continues to be a major thrust of many matches (and characters), including major main events- 5 points
Using the Bullet Club as the creative thrust for half of the promotion including making clearly ridiculous storylines from Being The Elite canon without explaining what is going on to the non-BTE-viewing audience- 3 points
Providing minimal incentives for up-and-coming talent to remain with the company- 1 point

Worst Thing:
Complete and total lack of storytelling and/or storylines moving forward- 5 points
State of the world title- 3 points
Cody Rhodes, human cartoon character - 1 point


(Secretly the Best):
Jonathan Gresham- 5 points
Shaheem Ali- 3 points
Deonna Purrazzo- 1 point

Best Show:
15th Anniversary Show - 5 points
Supercard of Honor XI - 3 points
Global Wars: Buffalo - 1 point

Best Story:
Christopher Daniels’ quest to finally win the ROH World Title - 5 points
Kenny King wins the TV Title- 3 points
Coast 2 Coast finally win a match- 1 point

Best Feud:
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young - 5 points
Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White - 3 point
Jay Lethal vs. Bobby Fish- 1 point


Best Match:
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young (War of the Worlds Tour UK: Edinburgh) - 5 points
The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks (Supercard of Honor XI) - 3 points
Bullet Club vs. Briscoes (Honor Rising 2017: Night 1)

Best Tag Team:
The Young Bucks - 5 points
War Machine - 3 points
MCMG - 1 point

Best Worker:
Jay Lethal - 5 points
Jay White - 3 points
Will Ospreay - 1 point

MVP:
Jay Lethal - 5 points
Jay White - 3 points
Christopher Daniels - 1 point

[cgstong]

Keep these answers coming!