ROH MOTY Awards 2019 - Results!

[Wilson]

Despite how much of a downer 2019 has felt for almost the entire year, it is still filled with immensely talented wrestlers. Let's review some of the highlights from the year.

To vote, choose up to three categories using a 5, 3, and 1 point rating system. The nominees with the most points will win their category. Feel free to write in a candidate you don't see listed below.

Most Improved
The Bouncers
Eli Isom
Josh Woods
Matt Taven
Shane Taylor
VINCENT

Most Underrated
The Bouncers
Coast 2 Coast
Mark Haskins
PJ Black
Shane Taylor
Soldiers of Savagery
Tracy Williams

Best New Talent
Bandido
Brody King
Joe Hendry
Mark Haskins
PCO
PJ Black
RUSH
Tracy Williams

Best Moment
Villain Enterprises is established
Lifeblood is established
Jay Lethal breaks the record for cumulative days as World Champion
Matt Taven wins the World Title at MSG
Flip Gordon joins Villain Enterprises
Jeff Cobb and RUSH win Champions vs. All Stars
RUSH wins the World Title
Jay Lethal turns heel
Initial confrontation between Joe Hendry and Dalton Castle
Dragon Lee wins TV Title

Best Character
The Briscoes
Dalton Castle
Joe Hendry
Josh Woods
Juice Robinson
Marty Scurll
Matt Taven
RUSH
Shane Taylor

Best Tag Team
The Bouncers
The Briscoes
Brody King & PCO
Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams
Silas Young & Josh Woods
Soldiers of Savagery

Best Match
Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven (ROH 17 Year Anniversary)
Bandido vs. Caristico vs. Flip Gordon vs. PJ Black (Masters of The Craft)
Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams (Masters of The Craft)
The Briscoes vs. RUSH & Dragon Lee (6/29/19)
Bandido, Mark Haskins, Tracy Williams, & PJ Black vs. Marty Scurll, PCO, Brody King, & Flip Gordon (Manhattan Mayhem)
The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Manhattan Mayhem)
The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Summer Supercard)
Matt Taven vs. RUSH (Death Before Dishonor XVII)

Best Wrestler
Bandido
Jay Lethal
Jeff Cobb
Jonathan Gresham
Matt Taven
Mark Haskins
Marty Scurll
RUSH
Shane Taylor

EDIT: I am adding the write-in nominees to the official list. Thank you for bringing them up.

[Wilson]

Most Improved
Shane Taylor - 5 points
Matt Taven - 3 points
The Bouncers - 1 point

Most Underrated
Mark Haskins - 5 points
Tracy Williams - 3 points
Coast 2 Coast - 1 point

Best New Talent
RUSH - 5 points
Mark Haskins - 3 points
Bandido - 1 points

Best Moment
Villain Enterprises is established - 5 points
RUSH wins the World Title - 3 points
Jeff Cobb and RUSH win Champions vs. All Stars - 1 point

Best Character
Matt Taven - 5 points
Shane Taylor - 3 points
Marty Scurll - 1 point

Best Tag Team
The Briscoes - 5 points
Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham - 3 points
Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams - 1 point

Best Match
Matt Taven vs. RUSH (Death Before Dishonor XVII) - 5 points
Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven (ROH 17 Year Anniversary) - 3 points
The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Manhattan Mayhem) - 1 point

Best Wrestler
Matt Taven - 5 points
Jay Lethal - 3 points
Jonathan Gresham - 1 point

[alexsmellzzz]

Most Improved
Eli Isom - 3 points
Josh Woods - 5 points
Shane Taylor 1 point

Most Underrated
Coast 2 Coast - 5 points
PJ Black - 1 point
Tracy Williams - 3 points

Best New Talent
Bandido - 5 points
Brody King - 3 points
RUSH - 1 point

Best Moment
Lifeblood is established - 1 point
Flip Gordon joins Villain Enterprises - 5 points
RUSH wins the World Title - 3 points

Best Character
The Briscoes - 5 points
Marty Scurll - 3 points
RUSH - 1 point

Best Tag Team
The Briscoes - 5 points
Brody King & PCO - 3 points
Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham - 1 point

Best Match
Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven (ROH 17 Year Anniversary) - 1 point
The Briscoes vs. RUSH & Dragon Lee (6/29/19) - 5 points
The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Manhattan Mayhem) - 3 points

Best Wrestler
Bandido - 1 point
Jay Lethal - 3 points
Jonathan Gresham - 5 points

[AlexROH]

Most Improved
- Taylor 5
- Woods 3
- Bouncers 1

Most Underrated
- Tracy 5
- Haskins 3
- Coast 2 Coast 1

Best New Talent
- Bandido 5
- Brody King 3

Best Moment
- RUSH becomes the first mexican World Champion 5
- Taven wins the title at MSG 3
- Jay Lethal becomes the longest ROH World Champion in history 1

Best Character
- Taven 5
- Hendry 3
- Taylor 1

Best Tag Team
- Briscoes 5
- PCO & Brody 3
- Lethal & Gresham 1

Best Match
- The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Manhattan Mayhem) 5
- Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven (ROH 17 Year Anniversary) 3
- The Briscoes vs. RUSH & Dragon Lee (6/29/19) 1

Best Wrestler
- Rush 5
- Taven 3
- Taylor 1

[Montana]

Most Improved

5-Matt Taven
3 -Shane Taylor
1 - Josh Woods

Most Underrated

5 - Mark Haskins
3 - Tracy Williams
1 - PJ Black

Best New Talent

5-Rush
3 - Bandido
1 - Haskins

Honorable note - They all add/contributed in 2019. Hard category to rank.

Best Moment

5 - Taven wins belt at MSG
3 - Villain Enterprises is established
1 - RUSH wins the World Title


Best Character

5-Dalton Castle
3 - Marty Scurll
1 - The Briscoes

Best Tag Team

5-The Briscoes
3 -Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams
1 - Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham

Best Match

5 - The Briscoes vs. RUSH & Dragon Lee (6/29/19)
3 - The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Summer Supercard)
1 - Bandido vs. Caristico vs. Flip Gordon vs. PJ Black (Masters of The Craft)

Best Wrestler

5 - Jonathan Gresham
3 - Matt Taven
1 - Jay Lethal

[famicommander]

Most Improved
Shane Taylor - 5
Eli Isom - 3
Josh Woods - 1

Most Underrated
PJ Black - 5
Shane Taylor - 3
Coast 2 Coast - 1

Best New Talent
Rush - 5
Bandido - 3
Tracy Williams - 1

Best Moment
Taven wins World Title - 5
Rush wins World Title - 3
Villain Enterprises is established - 1

Best Character
The Briscoes - 5
Shane Taylor - 3
Joe Hendry - 1

Best Tag Team
Lethal and Gresham - 5
The Briscoes - 3
PCO and King - 1
Best Match

Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven (ROH 17 Year Anniversary) - 5
The Briscoes vs. RUSH & Dragon Lee (6/29/19) - 3
Matt Taven vs. RUSH (Death Before Dishonor XVII) - 1

Best Wrestler
Matt Taven - 5
Jay Lethal - 3
Rush - 1

[Big Red Machine]

Most Improved
Shane Taylor- 5
Vinny Marseglia- 3
Josh Woods- 1

Most Underrated
P.J. Black- 5
Tracy Williams- 3
Mark Haskins- 1

Best New Talent
Bandido- 5
Mark Haskins- 3
Joe Hendry- 1

Best Moment
Jay Lethal turns heel- 5
Initial confrontation between Joe Hendry and Dalton Castle- 3
LifeBlood forms (although in hindsight this really just illustrates how much of a disappointment they were, booking-wise)- 1

Best Character
The Briscoes- 5
Jonathan Gresham- 3
Josh Woods- 1 (I LOVE his "'aw shucks' babyface who is too shy to stand up to his heel mentor" personality)

Best Tag Team
Briscoes- 5
Lethal & Gresham- 3
Haskins & Williams- 1

Best Match
Briscoes vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Manhattan Mayhem 2019)- 5
Lethal vs. Taven (17th Anniversary Show)- 3
Flip vs. Bandido vs. Caristico vs. P.J. Black (Masters of the Craft 2019)- 1

(I haven't seen Cobb vs. Rush yet, so I might change my vote here. When is the deadline?)

Best Wrestler
Jay Lethal- 5
Bandido- 3
Matt Taven- 1
(honorable mentions to Haskins and Gresham)

[Big Red Machine]

No award for best feud, best show, or best promos?

[Wilson]

I haven't seen Cobb vs. Rush yet, so I might change my vote here. When is the deadline?

I want to say at the end of the year, but I would also like to see more votes before it's over.

No award for best feud, best show, or best promos?

I have a suspicion that more categories leads to less people participating. Plus, I don't think Best Show is such a great category when people seem to skim through shows more than ever and that Best Feud wouldn't be very compelling this year. I would keep promo ability in mind when voting for Best Character.

By the way, did anyone else find that voting Best Wrestler/MVP was super competitive this year? Felt like I could have chosen maybe six talents from that field with resolution to back it up.

[Big Red Machine]

By the way, did anyone else find that voting Best Wrestler/MVP was super competitive this year? Felt like I could have chosen maybe six talents from that field with resolution to back it up.

My top spot was easy, but the others did take some real parsing.

[Wilson]

Most Improved - Shane Taylor (Runners Up: Josh Woods and Matt Taven)



Most Underrated - Tracy Willams (Runners Up: Mark Haskins and PJ Black)



Best New Talent - Bandido (Runners Up: RUSH and Mark Haskins)



Best Moment - Rush wins the ROH World Title (Runners Up: Madison Square Taven and Villain Enterprises debuts)



Best Character - The Briscoes (Runners Up: Matt Taven and Shane Taylor)



Best Tag Team - The Briscoes (Runners Up: Lethal & Gresham and PCO & Brody King)



Best Match - Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven (ROH 17 Year Anniversary) (Runners Up: Briscoes vs. GOD (Manhattan Mayhem) and The Briscoes vs. Dragon Lee & RUSH)



Best Wrestler - Matt Taven( (Runners Up: Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham)

[famicommander]

Taven deserves Best Wrestler for sure.

His in-ring performances in 2019 really should've shut up a lot of critics.

[Lynx]

Taven deserves Best Wrestler for sure.

His in-ring performances in 2019 really should've shut up a lot of critics.

Unfortunately most of them didn't watch any of his matches.

[Wilson]

Taven deserves Best Wrestler for sure.

His in-ring performances in 2019 really should've shut up a lot of critics.

I liked Taven before 2019, and he still went way above my expectations of what kind of worker/star he could perform as. With the injection of talent that came in last year, I probably would have scoffed if you told me that Taven would be my favorite by the end of Final Battle.

When people cast aspersions to Taven as a talent, I imagine they aren't watching him and that they're talking about ROH as a larger whole. (For as good as they were, making Shane and Taven you're top singles title holder for most of the year was never a great idea to me.) Also, since the end of 2017, the ROH World Title has slowly felt more like a workrate title again and that's a pretty cool trend.

[Big Red Machine]

Taven deserves Best Wrestler for sure.

His in-ring performances in 2019 really should've shut up a lot of critics.

I liked Taven before 2019, and he still went way above my expectations of what kind of worker/star he could perform as. With the injection of talent that came in last year, I probably would have scoffed if you told me that Taven would be my favorite by the end of Final Battle.

When people cast aspersions to Taven as a talent, I imagine they aren't watching him and that they're talking about ROH as a larger whole. (For as good as they were, making Shane and Taven you're top singles title holder for most of the year was never a great idea to me.) Also, since the end of 2017, the ROH World Title has slowly felt more like a workrate title again and that's a pretty cool trend.

I think the blame goes to the booker for not letting us see how good these people could be before pushing them. The same thing happened with Dalton. Once he was actually given time, he started having awesome match, but he was never given time until the belt was put on him. Taven had shown some flashes of brilliance as well, but the majority of his work was constrained in matches that didn't get time to show off his ability as a singles wrestler.