2019 Observer Awards

[Crappler El 0 M]

Here are the 2019 Observer Award as voted by their subscribers:

Thesz/Flair Award (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
1. CHRIS JERICHO (522) 3,695
2. Kazuchika Okada (349) 3,133
3. Will Ospreay (158) 1,773

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE
1. JORGE MASVIDAL (272) 1,903
2. Jon Jones (126) 1,159
3. Khabib Nurmagomedov (111) 997

MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1. WILL OSPREAY (852) 4,951
2. Kazuchika Okada (157) 2,095
3. Kota Ibushi (36) 937

MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR 
1. ISRAEL ADESANYA (263) 1,823
2. Jorge Masvidal (169) 1,457
3. Amanda Nunes (135) 983

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR 
1. PENTAGON JR. & REY FENIX (708) 4,476
2. Matt & Nick Jackson (222) 2,640
3. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (145) 1,885

BEST ON INTERVIEWS 
1. CHRIS JERICHO (569) 4,103
2. Cody (378) 3,325
3. MJF (90) 1,169

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR 
1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (744) 4,848
2. All Elite Wrestling (389) 3,691
3. WWE (25) 1,177

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW 
1. AEW DYNAMITE (793) 4,854
2. NXT (192) 3,294
3. NWA Powerrr (126) 1,580

PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR 
1. WILL OSPREAY VS. SHINGO TAKAGI 6/5 TOKYO (330) 2,549
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega 1/4 Tokyo (259) 2,156
3. Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes 5/24 Las Vegas (151) 1,295

MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR 
1. ISRAEL ADESANYA VS. KELVIN GASTELUM 4/13 ATLANTA (353) 2,168
2. Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway 4/13 Atlanta (49) 912
3. Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington 12/14 Las Vegas (74) 808

UNITED STATES/CANADA MVP 
1. CHRIS JERICHO 950
2. Cody 102
3. Adam Cole 86

JAPANESE MVP 
1. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 810
2. Will Ospreay 133
3. Kento Miyahara 90

MEXICO MVP 
1. REY FENIX 376
2. Rush 177
3. L.A. Park 144

EUROPE MVP 
1. WALTER 537
2. Will Ospreay 266
3. David Starr 212

NON-HEAVYWEIGHT MVP 
1. WILL OSPREAY 1,015
2. Dragon Lee 31
3. Shingo Takagi 31

WOMEN’S WRESTLING MVP 
1. BECKY LYNCH 534
2. Tessa Blanchard 153
3. Shayna Baszler 96

WOMEN’S MMA MVP 
1. AMANDA NUNES 736
2. Zhang Weili 40
3. Valentina Shevchenko 35

BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW 
1. CHRIS JERICHO 540
2. Brock Lesnar 99
3. Jon Jones 82

FEUD OF THE YEAR 
1. ADAM COLE VS. JOHNNY GARGANO 405
2. Chris Jericho vs. Cody 198
3. Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix 121

MOST IMPROVED 
1. LANCE ARCHER 270
2. Jon Moxley 205
3. Jungle Boy 128

MOST CHARISMATIC 
1. CHRIS JERICHO 318
2. Cody 194
3. Tetsuya Naito 117


BRYAN DANIELSON AWARD (BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER) 
1. ZACK SABRE JR. 895
2. Daniel Bryan 97
3. Will Ospreay 37

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)
1. TOMOHIRO ISHII 474
2. Jon Moxley 397
3. Shingo Takagi 110

BEST FLYING WRESTLER
1. WILL OSPREAY 667
2. Rey Fenix 366
3. Dragon Lee 36

MOST OVERRATED
1. KING CORBIN 696
2. Seth Rollins 120
3. Bray Wyatt 71

MOST UNDERRATED 
1. SHORTY G 266
2. Matt Riddle 90
3. Toa Henare 50

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR 
1. JUNGLE BOY 249
2. Karl Fredericks 219
3. Cain Velasquez 64

BEST NON-WRESTLER 
1. PAUL HEYMAN 378
2. Zelina Vega 122
3. Salina de la Renta 119

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. KEVIN KELLY 654
2. Excalibur 146
3. Tony Schiavone 131

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1. COREY GRAVES 474
2. Michael Cole 242
3. Beth Phoenix 77

BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW 
1. AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING 5/25 LAS VEGAS 359
2. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 1/4 Tokyo Dome 323
3. NXT Takeover New York 4/5 Brooklyn 260

WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1. WWE SUPER SHOWDOWN 6/7 JEDDAH 427
2. WWE Hell in a Cell 10/6 Sacramento 343
3. WWE Crown Jewel 10/29 Riyadh 180

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1. WILL OSPREAY STORMBREAKER 162
2. Kenny Omega One Winged Angel 147
3. Kazuchika Okada Rainmaker 134

MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1. WWE CONTINUING TO DO BUSINESS IN SAUDI ARABIA 920
2. UFC/USADA handling of Jon Jones 21
3. ROH using Enzo & Cass at MSG without telling New Japan 19

WORST TELEVISION SHOW 
1. WWE RAW 773
2. WWE Smackdown 224
3. Ring of Honor Wrestling 74

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR 
1. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT VS. SETH ROLLINS 10/6 SACRAMENTO 756
2. Undertaker vs. Bill Goldberg 6/7 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 215
3. Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury 10/31 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 17

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR  
1. SETH ROLLINS VS. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT 505
2. Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley 224
3. Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin 81

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1. WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT 607
2. Ring of Honor 290
3. Impact Wrestling 68

BEST BOOKER 
1. GEDO 1,027
2. Paul Levesque 66
3. Tony Khan 47

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR  
1. TONY KHAN 888
2. Harold Meij/Takaaki Kidani 194
3. Paul Levesque 66

BEST GIMMICK 
1. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT 282
2. Chris Jericho 210
3. Orange Cassidy 200

WORST GIMMICK 
1. SHORTY G 343
2. King Corbin 181
3.The Fiend Bray Wyatt 179

BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK 
1. 100 THINGS A WWE FAN SHOULD KNOW OR DO BEFORE THEY DIE BY BRYAN ALVAREZ 240
2. Voices of Wrestling: NJPW Year in Review 2018 by Voices of Wrestling 32
3. Mayor Kane by Glenn Jacobs 26

BEST PRO WRESTLING DOCUMENTARY 
1. DARK SIDE OF THE RING 404*
2. Omega Man 66
3. The Wrestlers - Voodoo Wrestling in the Congo 32

[Deleted]

There's so many categories, seems like observants agreed with me at least with best singles and tag one.

I kind of want to re-check Ospreay vs. Shingo and Omega vs. Tanahashi. The problem with NJPW last year with me was it that I did not watch it much live or anything - that usually takes away from the experience as I fast-forward stuff way too easily, even if I know something will probably be great.

[Gus Richlen: Ruffian]

Colby Covington not getting Worst Gimmick and Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic is bullshit. Same with Shane McMahon not getting Most Overrated or Kofi vs. Bryan not getting Feud Of The Year.

[The Spelunker!]

Mar 5, 2020 21:41:23 GMT -5 Gus Richlen: Ruffian said:

Colby Covington not getting Worst Gimmick and Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic is bullshit. Same with Shane McMahon not getting Most Overrated or Kofi vs. Bryan not getting Feud Of The Year.

What’s a Colby Covington and what is his promotional tactic?

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Mar 5, 2020 22:09:00 GMT -5 The Spelunker! said:

Mar 5, 2020 21:41:23 GMT -5 Gus Richlen: Ruffian said:

Colby Covington not getting Worst Gimmick and Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic is bullshit. Same with Shane McMahon not getting Most Overrated or Kofi vs. Bryan not getting Feud Of The Year.

What’s a Colby Covington and what is his promotional tactic?

Might just want to Google this one, as answering this question is going to require discussions of things we don't normally discuss here.

[Deleted]

These look pretty good. I disagree with Cole vs. Gargano (I'd go with Bryan vs. Kofi), but I can see why it got the votes.

[JoDaNa1281]

I'd pick De La Renta over Heyman & Impact over Powerrr, but other than those, I can't argue too much.

[toodarkmark]

I'm pretty in agreement here. Finally a year I can care about.

[chrom]

Would've put Corny's rants and allegations as the most disgusting.

[Dave the Dave]

Love the Fiend being best and worst character Top 3.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Mar 5, 2020 23:02:21 GMT -5 JoDaNa1281 said:

I'd pick De La Renta over Heyman & Impact over Powerrr, but other than those, I can't argue too much.

If MLW's product had a bit higher profile in the community, she'd win the non-wrestler category easily.

[Bang Bang Bart]

For “best booker”, shouldn’t the Elite get partial credit along with Tony Khan?

[Joe Neglia]

Mar 6, 2020 1:45:31 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

For “best booker”, shouldn’t the Elite get partial credit along with Tony Khan?

These always go to the head booker, who in this case would be Khan.

[Mister Pigwell]

Mar 5, 2020 23:40:00 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Mar 5, 2020 23:02:21 GMT -5 JoDaNa1281 said:

I'd pick De La Renta over Heyman & Impact over Powerrr, but other than those, I can't argue too much.

If MLW's product had a bit higher profile in the community, she'd win the non-wrestler category easily.

She's probably the performer with the biggest talent to recognition ratio gap going anywhere right now. She's got next level presence.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Mar 5, 2020 23:27:22 GMT -5 chrom said:

Would've put Corny's rants and allegations as the most disgusting.

This is the Observer fan base we’re talking about so I don’t see that happening. A good chunk of the subscribers still view him as a God even post-NWA firing for on-air racism.

[Deleted]

The Fiend in the top 3 for worst gimmick? That really surprises me.

[Jaws the Shark]

A lot of stuff I agree with, some I don't. Great to see Jericho cleaning up, he's been excellent and it's made me really excited for him and his career again after I lost interest somewhat in the late 2000s and 2010s. And I'm glad Corbin and the Shorty G gimmick have been trashed because they're both horrendous, I think Corbin has got to be one of the worst wrestlers I've ever seen get a major push. I'd have maybe considered Lesnar in the most overrated category too.

Walter and Ospreay are curious choices for Europe MVP though, I've made my thoughts on Walter's 2019 clear a number of times and Ospreay's good 2019 was mostly as a result of what he'd achieved in NJPW, I'd have said David Starr and Jordan Devlin were both far more valuable to the European scene last year.

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

Voting Beth in the top 3 of worst announcers 🙄

[Brian Suntan]

My two main takeaways...

- Jericho absolutely deserves wrestler of the year. A fantastic achievement.

- Kofi got hosed by the timing of these awards. From January to October he was one of the best things in wrestling, and there's barely a mention of him.

[The Thread Barbi]

Daniel Bryan was runner up in the Bryan Danielson Award?