Post by Snitsky on Jan 10, 2009 19:31:01 GMT -5
Honorable Mentions: Gail Kim (TNA – 8 points), Victoria (WWE – 9 points), Sara Del Rey (SHIMMER – 3 points)
3rd Place: MsChif (SHIMMER/Indys) - 13 points
2nd Place: Awesome Kong (TNA) - 51 points
And your winner is...:
Beth Phoenix (WWE RAW) - 66 points
Ryan Byers: In my last several years writing for this website, I have gained the reputation of being a big fan of SHIMMER. However, despite my love for independent women's wrestling, even I had to cast my vote for Beth Phoenix as the Women's Wrestler of the Year. Why? First of all, she was the WWE Champion of her division for the majority of the year, and that kind of exposure can never be completely taken out of the equation when voting for an award like this one. However, Phoenix has been doing more than just hanging around in the biggest promotion on the planet. No, she hasn't had that many epic matches. In fact, she's had some matches that have been outright awful. You sometimes have to look at what an individual is given to work with when evaluating his or her performance, though. On a regular basis, Phoenix is asked to hit the ring and work with individuals who have little to no formal training, and, even when she dos have an opportunity to wrestle against individuals who stack up to her in terms of in-ring ability, she's limited to two or three minutes. She's given some of the worst material in professional wrestling to work with, but she consistently takes absolute lemons and turns them in to lemonade. There have been numerous times throughout this year during which Phoenix has made a completely incompetent opponent look halfway decent and even more times that she has taken what would otherwise be a throwaway bout and turned it in to something that had at least one memorable spot. For doing the most entertaining work with the least support from her home promotion, wholeheartedly support giving Beth Phoenix the Women's Wrestler of the Year crown for 2008.
Mathew Sforcina: It's odd that a woman is pretty much going to win this based on her charisma, rather than her in-ring work. After all, 2008 was hardly a stellar year for Women's Wrestling. SHIMMER did it's usual good stuff, TNA managed to only stuff up the Knockouts a little and we got the Butterfly Belt on Smackdown, but there was no break out star, no massive shift, nothing major or noteworthy in the long term, at least nothing notable yet. In 10 years when the Nikki Bella/Noelle Foley HITC has become the first female match to headline a WWE PPV or something we might change our tune, but right now, women's wrestling just... existed this year. And while Beth had some pretty good matches, and was a good champion, you kinda have to say that she wins this thanks in no small way to Glamarella. And you know what? Good! A wrestler is not strictly in-ring work, it's everything about them, their talent, their charisma, their ability, the whole thing, and Beth showed us all that she is just as good as a straight woman as she is a brawler in the ring. So, congrats for the award, Beth. Here's hoping next year you get to show a bit more of the skill.
Jeremy Thomas: There was a lot of good women's wrestling in 2008. Not enough to think we might be reaching the heyday of Trish, Molly, Lita, Ivory, Jazz and Victoria, but it's certainly back up from the painful era of Tori Wilson and Stacy Keibler, who were nice to look at until they locked up. While there's been some great work done over in TNA's Knockouts Division between Awesome Kong, Roxxi, Gail Kim, ODB, Raisha/Melissa and Taylor there's little doubt in my mind that no woman has been more amazing in 2008 then Beth Phoenix. While Awesome Kong—her closest competition in my mind—certainly dominated in TNA, and the two held their respective titles in a remarkably similar manner throughout '08 (234 days in 2 reigns for Kong vs. 236 in two reigns for Beth), Beth simply had more tools. She has the work rate in the ring to be dominating as well as the mike skills. Whereas Kong has to rely on Raisha to do the talking, Beth can hold her own on the mike—and even better, is part of one of the more entertaining duos in the business in Glamarella. When Beth started to go comic, I was actually worried for her, because I was concerned it would dilute her character. In fact, it hasn't done that at all, and she's played off Santino perfectly well and continued to hold her own in the Women's Division on Raw. She was the sole survivor of the Women's Survivor Series match and worked a great feud with Mickie James for the belt for most of the year. As 2008 draws to a close, one can only see bigger and better things on the road ahead for Phoenix, and hopefully for women's wrestling as a whole.
Michael Bauer: The Divas of the WWE and the Knockouts of TNA are generally there for the looks they provide, instead of the skills in the ring. The exceptions to this would obviously be Amazing Kong and Beth Pheonix. Both are dominating, both have held their respective Women's Titles twice in the year of 2008, and both are the opposite of a "normal" diva or knockout. What makes Beth Pheonix so much different than Amazing Kong? How about the fact that the WWE has better Women's Wrestlers as a whole than TNA. How about the fact that while Kong has real allies and a trainer/manager, Beth Pheonix tends to be more of a lone gun. Either way you look it, Beth simply has had a better year as the WWE has, believe it or not, done a better job of making the Women's Division matter than TNA. And you can go from the longer matches on television, to the believable challengers, to anything else you want, but the fact would still be the same. And when you have been the most dominant Diva in the better program, you should not only be WWE's Women's Wrestler of the Year, but 411Wrestling's as well.
3rd Place: MsChif (SHIMMER/Indys) - 13 points
2nd Place: Awesome Kong (TNA) - 51 points
And your winner is...:
Beth Phoenix (WWE RAW) - 66 points
Ryan Byers: In my last several years writing for this website, I have gained the reputation of being a big fan of SHIMMER. However, despite my love for independent women's wrestling, even I had to cast my vote for Beth Phoenix as the Women's Wrestler of the Year. Why? First of all, she was the WWE Champion of her division for the majority of the year, and that kind of exposure can never be completely taken out of the equation when voting for an award like this one. However, Phoenix has been doing more than just hanging around in the biggest promotion on the planet. No, she hasn't had that many epic matches. In fact, she's had some matches that have been outright awful. You sometimes have to look at what an individual is given to work with when evaluating his or her performance, though. On a regular basis, Phoenix is asked to hit the ring and work with individuals who have little to no formal training, and, even when she dos have an opportunity to wrestle against individuals who stack up to her in terms of in-ring ability, she's limited to two or three minutes. She's given some of the worst material in professional wrestling to work with, but she consistently takes absolute lemons and turns them in to lemonade. There have been numerous times throughout this year during which Phoenix has made a completely incompetent opponent look halfway decent and even more times that she has taken what would otherwise be a throwaway bout and turned it in to something that had at least one memorable spot. For doing the most entertaining work with the least support from her home promotion, wholeheartedly support giving Beth Phoenix the Women's Wrestler of the Year crown for 2008.
Mathew Sforcina: It's odd that a woman is pretty much going to win this based on her charisma, rather than her in-ring work. After all, 2008 was hardly a stellar year for Women's Wrestling. SHIMMER did it's usual good stuff, TNA managed to only stuff up the Knockouts a little and we got the Butterfly Belt on Smackdown, but there was no break out star, no massive shift, nothing major or noteworthy in the long term, at least nothing notable yet. In 10 years when the Nikki Bella/Noelle Foley HITC has become the first female match to headline a WWE PPV or something we might change our tune, but right now, women's wrestling just... existed this year. And while Beth had some pretty good matches, and was a good champion, you kinda have to say that she wins this thanks in no small way to Glamarella. And you know what? Good! A wrestler is not strictly in-ring work, it's everything about them, their talent, their charisma, their ability, the whole thing, and Beth showed us all that she is just as good as a straight woman as she is a brawler in the ring. So, congrats for the award, Beth. Here's hoping next year you get to show a bit more of the skill.
Jeremy Thomas: There was a lot of good women's wrestling in 2008. Not enough to think we might be reaching the heyday of Trish, Molly, Lita, Ivory, Jazz and Victoria, but it's certainly back up from the painful era of Tori Wilson and Stacy Keibler, who were nice to look at until they locked up. While there's been some great work done over in TNA's Knockouts Division between Awesome Kong, Roxxi, Gail Kim, ODB, Raisha/Melissa and Taylor there's little doubt in my mind that no woman has been more amazing in 2008 then Beth Phoenix. While Awesome Kong—her closest competition in my mind—certainly dominated in TNA, and the two held their respective titles in a remarkably similar manner throughout '08 (234 days in 2 reigns for Kong vs. 236 in two reigns for Beth), Beth simply had more tools. She has the work rate in the ring to be dominating as well as the mike skills. Whereas Kong has to rely on Raisha to do the talking, Beth can hold her own on the mike—and even better, is part of one of the more entertaining duos in the business in Glamarella. When Beth started to go comic, I was actually worried for her, because I was concerned it would dilute her character. In fact, it hasn't done that at all, and she's played off Santino perfectly well and continued to hold her own in the Women's Division on Raw. She was the sole survivor of the Women's Survivor Series match and worked a great feud with Mickie James for the belt for most of the year. As 2008 draws to a close, one can only see bigger and better things on the road ahead for Phoenix, and hopefully for women's wrestling as a whole.
Michael Bauer: The Divas of the WWE and the Knockouts of TNA are generally there for the looks they provide, instead of the skills in the ring. The exceptions to this would obviously be Amazing Kong and Beth Pheonix. Both are dominating, both have held their respective Women's Titles twice in the year of 2008, and both are the opposite of a "normal" diva or knockout. What makes Beth Pheonix so much different than Amazing Kong? How about the fact that the WWE has better Women's Wrestlers as a whole than TNA. How about the fact that while Kong has real allies and a trainer/manager, Beth Pheonix tends to be more of a lone gun. Either way you look it, Beth simply has had a better year as the WWE has, believe it or not, done a better job of making the Women's Division matter than TNA. And you can go from the longer matches on television, to the believable challengers, to anything else you want, but the fact would still be the same. And when you have been the most dominant Diva in the better program, you should not only be WWE's Women's Wrestler of the Year, but 411Wrestling's as well.
;D
