wrestling / Columns

The 411 Wrestling Awards FAQ: A Look Into The Awards

January 19, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

WELCOME: Hello 411 readers, and welcome to a little follow up column on the 411 2014 Wrestling Year-End Awards. As I was looking at the feedback for the columns, I noticed several comments and questions that appeared in the columns, and felt that as the editor of the 411 wrestling section, I would try to do my best to answer these questions that you had. So I have essentially created a little “FAQ” column here, and will do my best to answer some of your questions as honestly as possible. I know that my answers will not please everyone and I am ok with that, but I wanted to take the time to try and give you the answers you wanted. Please know that as readers, you are greatly appreciated, and I hope that I can give some extra insight into the 2014 Wrestling Year-End Awards. Thank you for reading.

THE AWARDS:
* The Biggest Disappointments of 2014.
* Best Promo Person of 2014.
* Best Tag team of the Year.
* Worst Major Show/PPV of the Year.
* Best Female Wrestler of the Year.
* Best Major Show/PPV of the Year.
* Promotion of the Year.
* The Match of the Year.
* The Best Wrestler of the Year.

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How is Daniel Bryan’s year a disappointment when he won the title at WrestleMania?: This one is multi-layered. First of all, the “disappointment of the year” is a mixture of kayfabe and real life. So in the comments I noticed that there were many supporters of Cesaro’s poor booking, and also many supporters of the unfortunate passing of the Warrior (for the award). Both fit into a single category, Cesaro (kayfabe because of shitty booking) and Warrior (there is nothing more real than someone dying). There is also expectation. Sometimes we have certain expectations of what someone may do, and then they are not lived up too or simply ruined for some reason. The story of Bryan was a great story; especially to people that had followed him for years. His popularity grew organically, and the “WWE Universe” loved the guy. He got the run to WrestleMania, and had one of the best nights in the history of the event. And then it went downhill. He started a feud with Kane that no one really wanted, and then the news of the injury happened, and he ended up being gone for the rest of the year. The award was titled, “Daniel Bryan Achieves His Dream – Then Has to Miss The Rest of The Year,” and I think that best describes what happened. He achieved his dream, we were all happy and wanted to see what would happen next, and then it got taken away due to a very serious injury. No one thinks he had a bad year as a wrestler, it was amazing, but at the end of the day the disappointment came because we never got to see where the story would go and had to seriously consider that his career could have been over.

Why was “promo of the year” changed to “promo person of the year”?/What happened to feud of the year?: At 411, I am always trying to make sure that we produce the best year-end awards possible. I look at how the staff reacts to the awards, how you the readers look at and react to the awards and of course, I look at the overall numbers when the run of columns are completed. For another look into the process, we try to keep a running thread of “nominations” in our staff forum, where the staff can freely nominate anything they like so that we have something to look back on when the end of the year comes. One problem we’ve been having with promos is that as the years go on, the number of really good individual promos has drastically gone down. Also, even with the thread to look back on, many staffers had issues remembering individual promos. But, since promos are still an important part of wrestling, we changed directions and went with awarding the best “promo person” of the year. As for feud, it felt the same in some regards. Many staffers felt that the art of the feud has been dying and that they are harder to lock down. Last year many people asked why we didn’t discuss the best promotions of the year, and the change was made. Part of it was to make things easier for the staff, and part of it was reader request.

How did the Hardys not place in the tag teams of the year list?: This one popped up in the tag team of the year thread. For this I cannot speak for the entire staff, but I can give you insight into my thoughts on the team and why they did not make my top 5. First of all, they were only active for about half the year in TNA as a team. Now, while not active the entire year, I felt that they were a very fun part of TNA programming and were a part of a lot of good matches. But outside of the matches, they had no real accomplishments (titles/MOTY contender) in the year. Again, this is in my opinion. Now take into account that they were only active half of the year on a major stage as a team, and that their other major activity together was a series against the Young Bucks on the independent scene, which I would guess that many did not get a chance to see, and that is why they missed out on the top five. Did they provide quality work in the year? Most certainly they did. But when you look at the teams that made the list (Time Splitters, Wolves, Bucks, reDRagon and Usos) I feel that the Hardys lacked the accomplishments that the other teams had during the calendar year. But they get my respect for making a good comeback and showing that they had another run in them when most felt that they didn’t.

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On what planet did the Usos have a better year than the Young Bucks/reDRagon/Wolves?: I remember last year that there was quite the backlash when the Bucks didn’t win (and I agreed) and it seems as if we had that again this year. I hear the cry this year, and again personally agree. Hell my #1 tag team, (The Millenials – T-Hawk and EITA) didn’t even make the top 5! If I had to guess, it would come down to how the staff weighs accomplishments as well as what they watch the most. WWE is the most readily available product, and gets watched the most by the staff. The Usos were on TV a lot, had a lot of good TV matches, some great PPV outings and won the titles two times. So for someone that watches WWE, then TNA, then ROH and then whatever else, I can see how the voting went the way that it did. It’s discouraging in ways when there are so many options out there, and again we have the staff thread where we discuss these things; but the voting went the way that it did. Do the Usos deserve a mention in the top 5? Certainly, they had a very good year, but I do agree with many of you, in no way did I feel that they had the best year.

How can Charlotte win Female Wrestler of the Year when she is a developmental talent?: When evaluating wrestlers, I think that the biggest measuring stick is the quality that the performer puts out. While Charlotte is in the WWE developmental system, the NXT product put on several events that were labeled as a “special event,” which was basically a PPV for them. Over any performer in the WWE system, she clearly put on the most high quality matches and did so on the big events that NXT produced. The WWE main product doesn’t properly produce women’s wrestling, so while many love Paige and AJ, you can’t say that they put on the same quality of matches that Charlotte did on a big show stage. For many, it doesn’t matter if there are 300 or 30,000 in attendance, we try to look at the overall quality the performer put out, and she excelled in 2014.

Why did Candace LaRae not get any love in the Female Wrestler of the Year listing?: Great question. First off let me say that I am a huge fan of Miss LaRae, and I feel that she is not only a great performer but that she keeps striving to get better. If I had to guess, and again I cannot speak for each and every member of the staff, I would have to say that it came down to the fact that the staff did not see her enough in the year. For example, in my work for 411, I watch/review the main weekly shows (Raw, Impact, NXT, Smackdown, Main Event, Lucha Underground) and also reviewed 100 major shows/events. I believe I saw Miss LaRae four times in 2014. I watch WAY TOO MUCH WRESTLING and only was able to catch her four times because while PWG is great, I have to draw the line somewhere. Bottom line, I don’t think it was a sign of disrespect or the fact that she was ignored, if I had to guess, the staffers that took time to vote simply did not see her enough to feel they could include her in the voting.

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Why was NXT voted on as a separate promotion?: I knew that this one would cause some issues, and I have no problem discussing it here. Back in the day, when the WWE first started the brand split, we did recognize “Raw” & “Smackdown” as separate brands when it came to awards time, and many thought that it should be the case here. Triple H has said many times that he looks at NXT as a “brand” and not a “developmental territory”. Essentially, some of the writers felt that on its own, NXT deserved to be looked at in this way and voted for it separately from “WWE”. Now I fully agree that “without WWE there is no NXT,” which is why I voted for NXT as a part of WWE, and that is the only reason WWE finished so highly on my ballot. I can understand why some are upset or did not understand why the voting went this way, and again I tend to agree. But when enough staff members make the point and request, I allowed the separation for the vote.

Why the lack of love for TNA in the best matches of the year listing?: Fair question. Now this is one of those questions that I cannot explain to behalf of the rest of the staff, so I will have to give you a look into the way I voted. Once again, in my work for 411, I watch/review the main weekly shows (Raw, Impact, NXT, Smackdown, Main Event, Lucha Underground) and also reviewed 100 major shows/events. So along with watching 46 or whatever editions of Impact, I also watched the four live PPV events along with the One Night Only shows. I think it’s safe to say I watched more Impact Wrestling than most did this year, considering that the One Night Only shows get ignored by 99% of the sites. In my opinion, TNA had ah off year as far as “upper tier” match quality goes. Now please understand, I did not say that they had a bad year as far as wrestling goes. I personally felt that TNA delivered a lot of fun wrestling this year, and once things changed in the second half of the year, produced a lot of very TV matches. But in past years, if you had asked me, “what were the best TNA matches of the year” I would have rattled off anywhere from 2-7 marquee matches with guys like Angle, Joe, AJ, Daniels, Aries or others and done so with ease. And I would have easily heralded these as “MOTY” contenders. In 2013 there was a downturn, and this year that continued. Again, it wasn’t that TNA had a bad year of wrestling, I personally felt that they lacked that top tier match that could be separated from the pack. Aries and Sanada did some nice work in their matches against each other, Lashley had several quality and very fun title defenses against Hardy, Aries and Roode and I enjoyed them. In 2014 the Wolves vs. Team 3D and Hardys feud was better than it had any right to be and was very enjoyable. But through all of the wrestling I watched, I never felt that TNA delivered a “MOTY” quality match. Did they provide a lot of good wrestling? Most certainly, unfortunately I personally did not feel that anything broke into the “MOTY” category.

Why don’t you make the staff watch…?: One recurring theme in the comments was, “Csonka, why don’t you make the writers watch TNA/NJPW/PWG/Insert Fed here more?” As much as I feel that the staff needs to watch as much wrestling as they can to write about and it and vote as fairly as possible, I cannot “make” anyone on staff watch anything. You need to remember, the writers of 411 Mania are independent bloggers. They write because they enjoy the subject that they write about and or are looking to build a writing portfolio to move onto a paying job down the line. I can make requests, I can give recommendations, but if it costs money I cannot “make” anyone watch certain things. I feel that over the years we have broadened the horizons of many writers, but at the end of the day many will vote WWE heavy. Partly due to the easy availability of their programming, and also because we’re getting into a generation of wrestling fans that unfortunately have only been a fan of WWE, due to the lack of competition in North America since 2001.

WHAT CAN WE ADD NEXT YEAR?: I hope that this was helpful and answered some of the questions that you fine readers had. Is there a category that you think we should add in/bring back next year? Please let me know in the comment section.

Thanks for reading.