PWI Award Winners 2016

[Saiyanic Panic]

Haven't been keeping up with wrestling so much the past year, but old habits die hard and I still buy the PWI awards issue. So for those who still follow the magazine or are just curious, welcome!

Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: AJ Styles (51%)
1st Runner-up: Roman Reigns (14%)
2nd Runner-up: Kevin Owens (9%)
3rd Runner-up: Dean Ambrose (7%)

Largest margin of victory in this year's tallies.

Tag Team of the Year
WINNERS: The New Day - Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods (45%)
1st Runner-up: The Young Bucks - Matt and Nick Jackson (25%)
2nd Runner-up: Big Cass and Enzo Amore (10%)
3rd Runner-up: The Revival - Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder (8%)

First team to win back-to-back honors since Harlem Heat in 1995/96. Only other team to win in consecutive years were The Road Warriors from 1983-1985. Demolition, who New Day famously upended for longest single title reign, never actually won this award.

Match of the Year
WINNER: AJ Styles vs. John Cena - WWE Summerslam (26%)
1st Runner-up: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover: Dallas (15%)
2nd Runner-up: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch - WWE WrestleMania 32 (11%)
3rd Runner-up: AJ Styles vs. John Cena - WWE Money in the Bank (8%)

No love for The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa from NXT Takeover: Toronto which will anger some.

Most Hated Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: Roman Reigns (26%)
1st Runner-up: Kevin Owens (19%)
2nd Runner-up: The Miz (15%)
3rd Runner-up: Eva Marie (8%)

Reigns is the first fan favorite to win for Most Hated Wrestler, something not even Cena at his most "controversial" has done.

(Going by some of the results I suspect I'm not alone in not following the product. I think poor Eva's announcer put in more appearances than she did.)

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura (22%)
1st Runner-up: Dean Ambrose (20%)
2nd Runner-up: Bayley (18%)
3rd Runner-up: Big Cass and Enzo Amore (9%)

Prior to Nakamura no one who was not on the main WWE roster was named "Most Popular" since Sting did while in WCW in 1997.

Feud of the Year
WINNER: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks (27%)
1st Runner-up: John Cena vs. AJ Styles (17%)
2nd Runner-up: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (12%)
3rd Runner-up: AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose (9%)

HISTORIC~! first time a feud between women has won this award.

Woman of the Year
WINNER: Charlotte (40%)
1st Runner-up: Sasha Banks (35%)
2nd Runner-up: Bayley (12%)
3rd Runner-up: Becky Lynch (7%)

Clean sweep for Charlotte, first person be named #1 in PWI's "Female 50" and Woman of the Year since Michelle McCool back in 2010.

Comeback of the Year
WINNER: Goldberg (30%)
1st Runner-up: Seth Rollins (27%)
2nd Runner-up: Chris Jericho (20%)
3rd Runner-up: Matt Hardy (11%)

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: The Miz (19%)
1st Runner-up: TJ Perkins (15%)
2nd Runner-up: Kenny Omega (14%)
3rd Runner-up: Dalton Castle (10%)

Inspirational Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: Bayley (23%)
1st Runner-up: Cody Rhodes (14%)
2nd Runner-up: Seth Rollins (10%)
3rd Runner-up: Dean Ambrose (7%)

Second year for Bayley, first wrestler to win twice in a row.

Rookie of the Year
WINNER: Nia Jax (48%)
1st Runner-up: Lio Rush (20%)
2nd Runner-up: Matt Riddle (11%)
3rd Runner-up: Shayna Baszler (5%)

Stanley Weston Lifetime Achievement Award
Dick Beyer

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

Wow. I actually agree with them all. Except "Inspirational". And I usually don't. Cool for AJ. Somebody should also get Roman to sign it at an autograph signing event.

[chazraps]

Only real surprise here for me is Seth's comeback being that high in the runner up position.

Thanks for transcribing these, always loved these issues too!

[MolotovMocktail]

I wish they did a Promotion of the Year, just to gauge the popularity of Lucha Underground and see how high it gets.

[evilone]

This is WWE awards right?

[hbkid718]

Is the issue out? Because I buy it every year and it's not shown on PWI-Online.com

[Manute Bol]

Jan 12, 2017 15:31:08 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

I wish they did a Promotion of the Year, just to gauge the popularity of Lucha Underground and see how high it gets.

The voting's not real.

[HMARK Center]

These things do get a bit annoying when it's WWE-only nominees in every category, yet they'll randomly drop a non-WWE or indy name in one or two categories because...reasons?

I know, it's PWI, not exactly going for the pinnacle of wrestling journalism, here, but you may as well go all-WWE or do more to mix it up.

[chazraps]

Jan 12, 2017 17:24:17 GMT -5 Manute Bol said:

Jan 12, 2017 15:31:08 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

I wish they did a Promotion of the Year, just to gauge the popularity of Lucha Underground and see how high it gets.

The voting's not real.

Source?

[chazraps]

Jan 12, 2017 19:39:21 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

These things do get a bit annoying when it's WWE-only nominees in every category, yet they'll randomly drop a non-WWE or indy name in one or two categories because...reasons?

I know, it's PWI, not exactly going for the pinnacle of wrestling journalism, here, but you may as well go all-WWE or do more to mix it up.

I thought it waa still fill-in-the-blank style ballots where readers can write in anything?

[froggyfrog]

Nia as rookie of the year over Lio smh. Sucks but makes sense considering half the voters prob dunno anything other than wwe

[Deleted]

I'm guessing the cutoff for voting was around the NXT Takeover: Toronto event, though that still doesn't explain why the Brooklyn show wasn't there.

I believe Jerry Lawler won Most Hated in 1995, mainly due to his feud with Bret Hart in the WWF. (He was still a face in Memphis. Whether you count that or not is your call.)

I hope I find it somewhere besides Amazon. It's the difference between buying a big fish at the store (Amazon) or actually catching the big one yourself (at newsstands). It's the thrill of the hunt with me.

[Joe Neglia]

Jan 12, 2017 17:24:17 GMT -5 Manute Bol said:

Jan 12, 2017 15:31:08 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

I wish they did a Promotion of the Year, just to gauge the popularity of Lucha Underground and see how high it gets.

The voting's not real.

Yes and no. The placements are absolutely legit, but they jack up the overall number of voters to make it seem like they still have a larger reading audience.

[Saiyanic Panic]

Jan 12, 2017 16:46:11 GMT -5 hbkid718 said:

Is the issue out? Because I buy it every year and it's not shown on PWI-Online.com

Yep, as of the 12th. Issue's up on their digital download site at Zinio.

[Saiyanic Panic]

Jan 12, 2017 20:44:29 GMT -5 @sandman said:

I'm guessing the cutoff for voting was around the NXT Takeover: Toronto event, though that still doesn't explain why the Brooklyn show wasn't there.

Ballots are supposed to be due by December 15. The AJ/Ambrose match from TLC was listed as an also-ran for MotY if you're curious.

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2017 5:03:11 GMT -5 Saiyanic Panic said:

Jan 12, 2017 20:44:29 GMT -5 @sandman said:

I'm guessing the cutoff for voting was around the NXT Takeover: Toronto event, though that still doesn't explain why the Brooklyn show wasn't there.

Ballots are supposed to be due by December 15. The AJ/Ambrose match from TLC was listed as an also-ran for MotY if you're curious.

Weird.

[hbkid718]

Jan 13, 2017 4:59:30 GMT -5 Saiyanic Panic said:

Jan 12, 2017 16:46:11 GMT -5 hbkid718 said:

Is the issue out? Because I buy it every year and it's not shown on PWI-Online.com

Yep, as of the 12th. Issue's up on their digital download site at Zinio.

Thanks. I still buy the physical issue, so that will probably be out in a few weeks.

[cabbageboy]

Anyone find it amusing that the guy that won Wrestler of the Year jobbed twice to the runner up? In fact AJ also jobbed clean to Owens as well. Some of this voting is absurd, stuff like Enzo/Cass getting Tag Team of the Year consideration when they've done zilch to warrant it. They are actually ahead of The Revival on here, yet never beat them for the NXT tag titles and haven't come close to winning the tag titles on Raw.

[Deleted]

Jan 12, 2017 21:00:11 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Jan 12, 2017 17:24:17 GMT -5 Manute Bol said:

The voting's not real.

Yes and no. The placements are absolutely legit, but they jack up the overall number of voters to make it seem like they still have a larger reading audience.

I think that's why they went with percentages instead of vote totals. If your total votes is dropping every year, going by percent salvaged that and makes it seem more impressive.

[Deleted]

Sorry Mods, I don't know how I missed this thread.