wrestling / Columns

The 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards: Part Nine – The Best Wrestlers of The Year

January 15, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome back to the Wrestling Top 5, year-end awards edition! What we are going to is take a topic, and all the writers here on 411 will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, and the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1

It’s similar to how we do the WOTW voting. At the end we tally the scores and get our overall top 5! It’s highly non-official and final, like WWE’s old power rankings. From some of the best and worst, the 411 staff is ready to break down the awards! Thanks for joining us, and lets get down to work.

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Mike Hammerlock
5. Bobby Roode
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi
3. Seth Rollins
2. AJ Styles

1. Ricochet – I spent a long time agonizing over the choice between Ricochet and AJ. Ultimately Ricochet popping up just about everywhere won it for me. He won the PWG Battle of Los Angeles and New Japan’s Best of Super Juniors Tournament. He also won Dragon Gate’s Open the Dream Gate title and ended Johnny Gargano’s 873-day run as DGUSA’s Open the Freedom Gate champion. Dependent on when this article runs, we may have seen him win the Lucha Underground Championship, as Prince Puma (sorry if that’s a spoiler). He may be the hardest working man in the business these days. On any given weekend it seems he’s working a show somewhere – east, west, north, south, over in Asia, don’t be surprised to see him popping up in Mexico. In a year where injuries and terrible booking undermined many top WWE talents, Ricochet emerging as King of the Indies stands out. Brock Lesnar’s four matches (only one of which was notably good) doesn’t register for me. No amount of kayfabe covers for that. AJ Styles going to New Japan and doing some of the best work of his career also deserves recognition. Amazing how quickly he rebounded after escaping the mess he’d been mired in at TNA. If there ever was an argument that AJ wasn’t on the short list of best wrestlers on the planet, it doesn’t hold water anymore. What tipped the scales for me was Ricochet did more total work.

Alex Crowder
5. Ricochet
4. Seth Rollins
3. Kazuchika Okada
2. AJ Styles

1. Sami Zayn – This one was extremely difficult to decide. I’m not sure there even is a right decision with this one. Nevertheless, I decided to go wth Sami Zayn based on consistent good to great performances. Everyone else did fantastic work, but I either didn’t catch enough of their work or saw a few less than performances. Sami Zayn is the one guy who I feel brought it in every match this year. Honestly, every match he had was entertaining and easy to watch. Zayn was the MVP of arguably the best show of the year. I can’t fault that, and I think he deserves credit for that. Would NXT have been superb as it was without Sami Zayn?

Mike Chin
5. Ricochet
4. AJ Styles
3. Dean Ambrose
2. Seth Rollins

1. Brock Lesnar I struggled to pick a part-timer who only wrestled four times as the wrestler of the year, but when a guy ends The Undertaker’s 21-year WrestleMania win streak, and goes on to win a rare WWE PPV main event squash over no lesser superstar than John Cena, it’s hard to deny that was the “Big Thing” in 2014 WWE. Add onto these historic matches a very good and entirely different rematch with Cena at Night of Champions (probably a fringe top ten match of the year up to the schmozz finish), plus his destruction of Big Show at the Royal Rumble and you have arguably the greatest four-match run anyone’s ever had in pro wrestling.

Scott Rutherford
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi
4. Ricochet
3. Sami Zayn
2. Kazuchika Okada

1. AJ Styles – Discarded by TNA and unwanted by the WWE, AJ Styles was forced to go overseas to make his money this year and it came as a surprise to most when he won the IWGP Heavyweight Title on debut in NJPW against Kazuchika Okada. Then he proceeded to have an amazing G1 tournament where he put on five ****+ matches and a legit MOTY ***** effort against Minoru Suzuki on Day 7. He held the IWGP Title for 165 days before losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi in another ****+ effort. AJ Styles wrestled like a man looking to prove to people that he was worth more than they realized. I’d say he did just that. Considering the WWE has hired a slew of smaller wrestlers with a long list of credentials in the past months, you have to wonder who he pissed off to not even get a look in.

Kevin P
5. Bobby Roode
4. Dolph Ziggler
3. Seth Rollins
2. AJ Styles

1. Sami Zayn – Had he stayed healthy all year, I expect Daniel Bryan would’ve made and possibly topped my list. Instead, I had to go with Sami Zayn. He didn’t win the most matches but he always stole the show and didn’t need to. He was the most popular guy in NXT and might be the only pure face left in the WWE. His arrival and impact in NXT has opened the door for Hideo Itami, Kevin Owens and Finn Balor. The best performer on the best show gets to be the Wrestler of the Year, especially after winning the NXT Championship on the best show of the year.

JUSTIN WATRY
5. Bobby Roode
4. Brock Lesnar
3. Sami Zayn
2. John Cena

1. Seth Rollins – I am not sure how to answer this, so I suppose I will simply say I am terrible a making lists and fully admit as such. Do I vote for best “wrestler” of the year? Or best “Superstar” of the year? Or pick my favorites? Or just ramble on as usual? It is a shame that Daniel Bryan had to get injured because I would have placed him #1 for all of the options. He would have been on top of every ranking without a doubt. Too bad. Maybe 2015? In terms of money and star power, it is clearly John Cena by a mile. For most accomplishments, you would have to give Brock Lesnar a strong consideration, as he had a dominant run, even with a limited schedule. In the end, I want to recognize Seth Rollins for his 2014 year. Started on The Shield, as strong as any faction ever. Turned heel and proved everyone wrong by developing into a great top heel. Had many fun bouts with Dean Ambrose and won (nearly?) all of them. Became THE Money in the Bank briefcase winner and sets himself up to be WWE World Champion in early-mid 2015. Was featured on television all year long delivering in each situation. Ended the year by being in the big Survivor Series main event and feuding with John FREAKIN’ Cena! Seth Rollins is #1 and believe it or not, the man is positioned to have an even better 2015.

LEN ARCHIBALD
5. Ricochet
4. Brock Lesnar
3. Sami Zayn
2. Seth Rollins

1. AJ Styles – Let me start by saying in regards to individual performances, 2014 has been one of the best years I can remember. There are more than those in the upper echelon that have turned in consistent, head-turning and memorable turns in the ring. Seth Rollins, Ricochet (aka Prince Puma), Sami Zayn and BROCK LESNAR all deserve mentions and cases as to why each could be considered for Wrestler of the year. For me, though – AJ Styles has tapped into something this year that cannot be taught. Perhaps he has found a new lease being freed from the shackles of his up and down run with TNA. Perhaps he has seen the performances from those under the WWE banner and has vowed to outdo them all. Whatever the reason, Styles has come into his own in 2014 and put out banner matches with Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki and Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan. He was IWGP Champion for an impressive 165 days and in that time, wrestled like a man possessed. With the Styles Clash being considered as a dangerous move, Styles’ notoriety has only risen. I will not get into any arguments with those who decide to troll or flame with the “vanilla midget filp-floppy spot monkey” moniker and will just politely agree to disagree…But AJ Styles has been IT in 2014.

Paul Leazar
5. Dolph Ziggler
4. Sami Zayn
3. AJ Styles
2. Ricochet

1. Seth Rollins – I agonized over this decision for an hour before I was halfway happy with this list. 2014 has had no shortage of stand-out performances from individual wrestlers at every level, no matter where you look. When you look at Seth Rollins, however, I don’t think anybody really touches his year. His first quarter of the year was filled with successful SHIELD matches and feuds with The Wyatt Family and Evolution. He made a spectacular turn when aligned with The Authority, his subsequent winning of the Money in the Bank briefcase, and he has gone on to have good to great matches with pretty much everybody (I seriously can’t think of a bad match this guy has had this year). Last, but not the least of his accomplishments, has been that he has pretty much been given the ball when it comes to being the top heel in WWE in the last quarter of the year. This becomes even more impressive when you look at Ricochet’s national and international success (seriously, what didn’t he win in 2014?), AJ Styles turn around in New Japan, Sami Zayn’s unstoppable run in NXT, and Dolph Ziggler making anybody and everybody in the WWE look terrific, as well as bringing some prestige back to the Intercontinental Title (which was no small feat in of itself). As great as Seth Rollin’s 2014 has been, the sky is the limit for him in 2015.

NICK MARSICO
5. Dean Ambrose
4. Dolph Ziggler
3. AJ Styles
2. Ricochet

1. Seth Rollins – It’s not always a tough choice to choose who the best wrestler of the year is, but this year was certainly a close race. My list changed a couple times but it kept ending with Seth Rollins at the top. The first few months with The Shield gave us matches with The Wyatt Family and Evolution. Rollins got the crowd to go insane with his high flying and he ended up becoming the assumed leader when everyone always associated Dean Ambrose with the title of the leader of the group. Ever since turning heel he has been garnering great reactions of hatred and it’s not only because of his association with The Authority. He has produced nothing but great matches, he has been making himself and everyone around him look good and since Randy Orton has been gone they have stopped treating Seth like the annoying little brother whose mess always needs to be cleaned up for him. Rollins has come into his own as a singles performer in WWE and has improved so ridiculously immensely in the promo department that one would think he was born with the gift. He has crazy momentum going into 2015 and I would not be at all surprised to see him on even more peoples’ lists as number one a year from now. Breakout performer AND top performer of the year in 2014.

Ryan Byers
5. Ricochet
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi
3. Kazuchika Okada
2. Brock Lesnar

1. AJ Styles – Truly, this man had a career renaissance in 2014. After spending twelve years in a promotion that occasionally paid lip service to his talents but never truly took full advantage of them, AJ Styles departed for the greener pastures of New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he instantaneously captured the IWPG Heavyweight Championship, perhaps the most respected major title in the industry today. Winning the championship also shot him headlong into an excellent series of matches with one of the hottest wrestlers of the last five years, Kauzchika Okada, and, even though the two men had not wrestled each other before, they automatically gelled just as well as Styles does with his long-time friends and opponents such as Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. Styles also did battle in excellent matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi, a TNA opponent of his own from years past, and he entered his first ever G1 Climax tournament, becoming a cornerstone of the event and helping to establish it as perhaps the greatest tournament in professional wrestling history. He put on excellent bout after excellent in the G1 with a variety of opponents with vastly different styles, including my own personal match of the year against Minoru Suzuki. That wasn’t all for Styles, though. In addition to his antics in Japan, he kept busy in between tours with appearances in the United States, much like the best NJPW gaijin wrestlers of a bygone era would do. In promotions like Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Styles had excellent matches with old rivals like Roderick Strong and Jay Lethal in addition to going head to head with up-and-comers such as Adam Cole and Brian Myers. Though his appearances are lower profile, he’s even had tours of the United Kingdom over the course of the past twelve months. Styles has been a true globetrotter in 2014, leaving a trail of ****+ matches wherever he goes, and that’s what makes him my 2014 wrestler of the year.

Arnold Furious
5. Naomichi Marufuji
4. HARASHIMA
3. Shinsuke Nakamura
2. Tomohiro Ishii

1. Kazuchika Okada – New Japan has had a remarkable year and you could easily make a claim for half a dozen of their wrestlers to be the best of the year. However the first half of the year was carried by a mixture of undercard effort and Okada’s title matches. While Okada entered into a bit of a funk when he eventually dropped the belt to AJ Styles in the middle of the year the second half of the year seemed dedicated to Okada’s road back to the very top of the promotion with him demonstrating all of the effort, intensity and talent that put him there in the first place. So, half the year was about Okada the incumbent, near-perfect champion and the other half of the year about him proving himself to be the best, winning the greatest wrestling tournament of all time in the G1 and headlining shows with just about anybody and having great matches. It pains me to have to choose between Okada and Ishii but Okada has been up in the main event all year, having great matches while Ishii has been around the midcard all year having great matches. For my money Ishii has had more MOTYC than anyone else and he certainly deserves the top spot. Okada has done it in bigger matches. Nakamura has been asked to perform a different job for New Japan this year and he’s done fine work in helping to improve undercard guys, especially Fale. When he has worked a top guy he’s been great, as always. Over in DDT, HARASHIMA has been consistently fantastic this year. Every time he’s stepped in the ring he’s delivered. They’ve built the whole main event scene around him and his title defenses are a serious highlight. Finally I’ve picked Marufuji as he’s stepped up to fill the KENTA void and he’s NOAH’s ace right now. He’s really matured in-ring.

Wyatt Beougher
5. Bobby Roode
4. Sami Zayn
3. AJ Styles
2. Ricochet/Prince Puma

1. Brock Lesnar – I had initially leaned towards awarding this to either Styles, based on quality and consistency, or Ricochet, based on quality, quantity, and sheer variety, but the simple fact remains that I don’t believe anyone can touch Brock Lesnar’s year as far as historical significance is concerned. Not only did Lesnar end the Undertaker’s historic Wrestlemania Streak, he also won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from John Cena at Summerslam in a match that could be described, with little hyperbole, as a squash, something that is unheard of in this decade of Cena’s dominance. More than that, though, in spite of his extremely limited schedule, or perhaps because of it, Lesnar has made the WWE WHC actually feel important, something that Cena showing up week in and week out with it serving as little more than a prop failed to do. Whenever Lesnar’s music hits and he appears on the entrance ramp, you know something is going to go down and I am not sure there has been a wrestler in the past decade who was so uniquely able to shake up the WWE’s status quo so effectively and so thoroughly. The only other wrestlers to do so on a notable level were CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, and the former just left the WWE this year and made more headlines for his departure than he has since his Pipe Bomb promo. Honestly, the fan in me wishes that I was typing a blurb about WWE WHC Daniel Bryan riding the wave of popular support to a lengthy and strong title reign, but the combination of terrible post-Wrestlemania booking and a career-threatening injury essentially derailed what should have been Bryan’s year and opened the door for Lesnar to take the top spot.

Larry Csonka
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi
4. Shinsuke Nakamura
3. Kazuchika Okada
2. Ricochet

1. AJ Styles – I have openly discussed my thoughts on the WOTY award through out the year, and outside of one or two others early, the two people I have trumpeted are Ricochet and AJ Styles. After a long deliberation, and taking into consideration the years that they had, I eventually picked AJ Styles. Styles “technically” started the year at the TNA World Champion, finished up his run there and then headed to NJPW. While I hated to see Styles leave TNA, because he had been there since day one and provided so many great matches and moments, it was the best move for his career. Styles won the IWGP Title, and was not only accepted, but also thrived at the top man in the promotion. Once the G1 hit, he was a monster, having eight matches of **** or more and proving that he could last the tournament and deliver with a wide variety of opponents. Included in those matches was my personal match of the year (against Minoru Suzuki); simply put, AJ Styles had the best year of his career and I feel ended up as the very best wrestler in 2014.

Robert S. Leighty Jr
5. AJ Styles
4. Bobby Roode
3. Sami Zayn
2. Seth Rollins

1. Brock Lesnar – Had Daniel Bryan stayed healthy all year he is not only in my top 5, but probably wins this award. With that said, I know it is kind of weird to give a part time guy the nod, but when you end The Streak and SQUASH John Cena to win the WWE World Title that is one hell of a year. Lesnar knocking off Taker rocked the wrestling world and had me and my friends at our Mania party standing in stunned silence. If that wasn’t enough Lesnar dominated John Cena in a way we haven’t seen in a Main Event since the days of Goldberg running through people in WCW and even then it wasn’t anything like JOHN FUCKING CENA getting manhandled. There was no match this year that brought me more sheer joy that seeing Cena get tossed around the ring and I am not even a Cena hater (props to him for being a company guy and taking that ass whipping like a man). In what was a very weird year for wrestling with injuries and defections/retirements nobody can match what Lesnar did even with his minimal schedule.

AND 411’s TOP 5 Best Wrestlers of 2014 ARE…

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5. Brock Lesnar22 points

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4. Sami Zayn26 points

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3. Ricochet27 points

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2. Seth Rollins33 points

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1. AJ Styles44 points

THE 2014 411 WRESTLING AWARDS:
* The Biggest Disappointments of 2014: Daniel Bryan Achieves His Dream – Then Has to Miss The Rest of The Year – 40 points

* Best Promo Person of 2014: Paul Heyman – 58 points

* Best Tag team of the Year: The Usos – 52 points

* Worst Major Show/PPV of the Year: WWE TLC – 37 points

* Best Female Wrestler of the Year: Charlotte – 32 points

* Best Major Show/PPV of the Year: WrestleMania 30 – 45 points

* Promotion of the Year: New Japan Pro Wrestling – 54 points

* The Match of the Year: The Shield vs. Wyatts, WWE Elimination Chamber – 39 points

* The Best Wrestler of The Year: AJ Styles – 44 points