2018 PWI Pro Wrestling Illustrated Achievement Awards

[Saiyanic Panic]

Alright, alright, alright! Time to dust off the "Edit Post" feature, time to send some moneys an old-school/sorta shootey magazine's way! It's my favorite pro-wrestling awards presentation, the one that as a kid proved your guy was #1 and the #2 cause of magazines being slapped out of hands I saw in the nineties (behind those dudes who played MKII with a GamePro). It's the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Achievement Awards!

I did and still do love these, even with Apter mags on the downward sway for years and years now. So it's my great pleasure to list them for those of you curious or nostalgic for those olden days.

Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: AJ Styles (46%)
1st Runner-up: Kenny Omega (17%)
2nd Runner-up: Cody (8%)

3rd Runner-up: Seth Rollins (7%)

Three consecutive years for AJ. One other wrestler can match that feat - Ric Flair from 1984-86. There are only four men to win this award three times or more - Flair (w/6 in 1981, 1984-86, 1989, 1992), Hulk Hogan (1987, 1991, 1994), Stone Cold Steve Austin (1998, 1999, 2001) and Styles.

One more puts him as the one guy to win four years counting and the one AJ to rule them all! (AJ Lee being named Woman of the Year from 2012-14).

Tag Team of the Year
WINNERS: The Young Bucks - Matt & Nick Jackson (25%)
1st Runner-up: The New Day - Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods (13%)
2nd Runner-up: The Undisputed Era - Roderick Strong & Kyle O'Reilly (10%)

3rd Runner-up: LAX - Santana & Ortiz (9%)

The Young Bucks continue their tag team dominance from 2017.

Match of the Year
WINNER: Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada, 2 out of 3 Falls No Time Limit - Dominion 6.9 (17%)
1st Runner-up: Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon - WWE WrestleMania (15%)
2nd Runner-up: Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho, No Disqualification - Wrestle Kingdom 12 (7%)

3rd Runner-up: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch, Last Woman Standing - WWE Evolution (6%)

Two in a row for Omega and Okada, following last year's win for their bout at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

Most Hated Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: Brock Lesnar (23%)
1st Runner-up: Tommaso Ciampa (13%)
2nd Runner-up: Samoa Joe (10%)
3rd Runner-up: Baron Corbin (7%)

PWI readers like their wrestlers to wrestle.

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: A.J. Styles (31%)
1st Runner-up: Seth Rollins (13%)
2nd Runner-up: Becky Lynch (10%)

3rd Runner-up: Ronda Rousey (9%)

Two years running now for Styles.

Feud of the Year
WINNER: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (39%)
1st Runner-up: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (11%)
2nd Runner-up: The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan (10%)
3rd Runner-up: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (8%)

Woman The Man of the Year
WINNER: Becky Lynch (40%)
1st Runner-up: Ronda Rousey (36%)
2nd Runner-up: Asuka (6%)
3rd Runner-up: Tessa Blanchard (5%)



Comeback of the Year
WINNER: Daniel Bryan (73%)
1st Runner-up: Drew McIntyre (10%)
2nd Runner-up: PCO (7%)
3rd Runner-up: Shawn Michaels (4%)

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: The Velveteen Dream (30%)
1st Runner-up: The B Team - Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel (17%)
2nd Runner-up: Nia Jax (13%)
3rd Runner-up: Hangman Page (10%)

Inspirational Wrestler of the Year
WINNER: Roman Reigns (46%)
1st Runner-up: Cody (27%)
2nd Runner-up: Tommy Dreamer (7%)

3rd Runner-up: LuFisto (3%)

Roman Reigns doesn't normally get a lot of love (in 2016 he was the first fan-favorite to win for Most Hated Wrestler) but Joe Anoaʻi has a lot of fans in his corner.

Rookie of the Year
WINNER: Ronda Rousey (87%)
1st Runner-up: Tomoyuki Oka (7%)
2nd Runner-up: Kacy Catanzaro (3%)

3rd Runner-up: Taynara Conti (2%)

You knew this. Only question was by how much.

Ronnie scored the second-highest vote percentage in PWI history, only 1% behind another Rookie of the Year winner, The Giant (1996). That year "Mongo" Steve McMichael came next, outpacing the Bluechipper Rocky Maivia and "Desperado" Joe Gomez!

Stanley Weston Lifetime Achievement Award
Antonio Inoki

[This Player Hating Mothman]

PWI's awards are a work, right? Cody being 2nd runner up of wrestler of the year and Michaels being 3rd runner up on comeback have to be jokes.

[cabbageboy]

Does it scare anyone that the Angle/Ronda match from WM only lost MOTY to Okada/Omega by 2%?

[mrpeacock]

Jan 10, 2019 14:08:05 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

PWI's awards are a work, right? Cody being 2nd runner up of wrestler of the year and Michaels being 3rd runner up on comeback have to be jokes.

And Nia being on the most Improved List

[MiLB Fan]

That photo of Becky holding the award plaque gave me a serious nostalgia rush. I started reading PWI in the mid-90s, and I remember how each award page in the year-end issue had a photo of the recipient holding a plaque. I can’t recall the last time they actually showed the plaque in the magazine.

I can’t say whether the awards are legitimate, but I can say with one hundred percent certainty that the Unofficial Awards really are sent in by fans. Why? Because PWI published some that I sent in back in the early 2000s. Seeing my name in print was a nice little ego boost.

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

Jan 10, 2019 14:08:05 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

PWI's awards are a work, right? Cody being 2nd runner up of wrestler of the year and Michaels being 3rd runner up on comeback have to be jokes.

I seem to recall it being a reader vote.

Also, I expected Roman to land on the Inspirational list, but goddamn.

[chazraps]

Jan 10, 2019 14:08:05 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

PWI's awards are a work, right? Cody being 2nd runner up of wrestler of the year and Michaels being 3rd runner up on comeback have to be jokes.

I think the Cody runner-up is backlash for how overlooked people felt he was on the PWI 500 and in the awards last year.

[Mayonnaise]

Jan 10, 2019 14:57:06 GMT -5 Gus Richlen Was Wrong said:

Jan 10, 2019 14:08:05 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

PWI's awards are a work, right? Cody being 2nd runner up of wrestler of the year and Michaels being 3rd runner up on comeback have to be jokes.

I seem to recall it being a reader vote.

Also, I expected Roman to land on the Inspirational list, but goddamn.

They do solicit fan votes but I believe who actually gets the award is chosen by the editor. They try and keep the companies happy so they don't lose access to them.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Lol at Joe Gomez being third runner-up in 1996. By the time the awards came out, the shine was already off him.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Jan 10, 2019 14:26:11 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Does it scare anyone that the Angle/Ronda match from WM only lost MOTY to Okada/Omega by 2%?

That’s terrible. We know these things are bs but they don’t have to make it that obvious.

[fw91]

are those award photos legit or photoshopped?

[Sigma: Current SRW Champ!]

Jan 10, 2019 19:38:11 GMT -5 fw91 said:

are those award photos legit or photoshopped?

I'd assume these are legit photos. Namely because Bill Apter is in good with all the companies, and since WWE likes using his photos for certain docs they'd bring him in to do a few photos with the award plaques.

[chazraps]

Thanks again for transcribing all these. I always look forward to them

[Joe Neglia]

Jan 10, 2019 14:08:05 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

PWI's awards are a work, right? Cody being 2nd runner up of wrestler of the year and Michaels being 3rd runner up on comeback have to be jokes.

Nope. Although they inflate the total amount of votes to make their voting base seem larger, they've always gone with the actual winners as voted.

[Joe Neglia]

And guys, you gotta remember, the typical PWI voter these days is a WWE-only type. That's changing quickly but a lot of them, even though they know the other stuff is out there, don't watch it.

[Deleted]

Jericho won most hated in 2008 and wondered where his plaque was. They told him "We don't do that anymore."

Guess I'm putting in an order to Kappa Publishing soon, only way I'm getting this magazine.

[Deleted]

Not meaning to double-post, but I'm glad these are still a thing that exist on paper. 3 years ago (Brock on the cover), they were lamenting how that was probably going to be their last printed Awards issue.
I still look through the old ones with fondness. It was a Christmas tradition to find this on the shelves (or, later on, in my mailbox, as I subscribed from 87 until 93).

[cabbageboy]

So wait up. You're telling me that Hogan actually won Wrestler of the Year in 1994 over Bret Hart?? Hogan barely even wrestled half the year. This wasn't rigged? Or that Flair actually won Wrestler of the Year over Hogan all those times in the 80s despite the WWF obviously having more viewers and thus potential voters?