The 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards: Part Thirteen – 411’s 2017 Wrestler of The Year: Styles Battles Okada & Omega

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.

(Open to pro wrestlers, for a combination of everything, being both important and influential this year in a positive manner from a business perspective, combining both box office impact as well as strong match quality in worked matches; the wrestler that was the total package.)

Jake Chambers
5. Roman Reigns
4. Prince Puma
3. Tetsuya Naito
2. Kazuchika Okada

1. Johnny Mundo – 2017 Lucha Underground started with Mundo defending the LU Championship in an awesome All Night Long Ironman Match and ended with him losing that title in the (semi) Main Event at Ultima Lucha Tres against the man he defeated in the very first episode of Season One. Synergy, continuity, great wrestling, great characters, passion and style – this is what Lucha Underground brought to the wrestling world, and Mundo’s arc in the second half of Season 3 was both hilarious and hubris-tic, reaching its peak in the title defense against Lucha legend Rey Mysterio in a match that was so well promoted it was the equivalent of McGregor/Mayweather in the self-contained LU-verse. It doesn’t matter to me that this is a show that was taped in mid-2016, because that would be like saying a movie or album has to be produced in the same year it’s nominated for an Oscar or Grammy; it just matters when it was released. Anyways, on top of being the star antagonist contributing to the most fun segments on the best wrestling TV show of the year (if not ever), and being in some of the best matches of the year aired on that very show, Mundo was also AAA Mega-Champion in the largest promotion in wrestling-crazy Mexico, and went to IMPACT Wrestling, still probably the second most watched wrestling promotion in the world, and instantly main event-ed their biggest show of the year: Bound for Glory. You might think more people watched Okada matches in 2017 than Johnny Mundo matches, but you’d be wrong. And while WWE is clearly the most popular wrestling company in the world, the quality of their content in 2017 was so poor it barely matters what they do, in my opinion. 2017 is the perfect time to recognize wrestlers who are having great success outside of the commercial AND critical mainstream, guys like Matt Riddle, Joey Janella, Fred Yehi, Trevor Lee, Ricochet, Penta & Fenix, Cage, just to name a few. They don’t get the headlines but these guys are working their asses off. John Morrison AKA Johnny Mundo/Impact is a bit of an elder statesman in comparison, but he’s proven that with smart decision-making and creative work in the ring you can be a wrestler-of-the-year candidate without main event-ing WWE PPVs or having multiple “5-star” matches in Japan. Slam-town was a great place to live in 2017, and I’m re-upping my lease!

JUSTIN WATRY
5. The Miz
4. The Usos
3. Brock Lesnar
2. Roman Reigns

1. AJ Styles – No explanation needed.

Mike Chin
5. Cody Rhodes
4. The Miz
3. Pentagon Dark
2. Kenny Omega

1. AJ Styles – AJ Styles is beyond reproach as a top five pick for best in ring, if not all around performers in the world this past year. He gets my vote for the number one spot on account of taking care of business on the biggest stage possible with WWE, and doing well enough to convince WWE to award him the championship—coming out of the dark days of Jinder Mahal’s reign—based purely on merit. Give Styles some bonus points here, too, for being WWE’s hardest worker, spotlighted over TLC week in particular, working sick, traveling like crazy and starring for both brands, including an impromptu minor classic with Finn Balor. And for the persistent criticism that he can work but can’t talk, he did himself proud on the mic to boot, most memorably with a fun promo en route to going to war against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.

Kevin Pantoja
5. Kazuchika Okada
4. AJ Styles
3. Kenny Omega
2. Pete Dunne

1. Tetsuya Naito – Kazuchika Okada was the top box office attraction of 2017, though not all of his matches were stellar to me. AJ Styles was money, but didn’t always deliver great matches either. Kenny Omega blended both rather well, while Pete Dunne was too damn good to ignore. First, I had to put Tetsuya Naito. He was the best combination of both. Naito led events did great in terms of ticket sales and his appearance in the Tokyo Dome main event helped boost ticket sales over the previous years. He also excelled in the ring. Other than a few G1 matches, every single major match Naito was featured in delivered in spades. The trilogy against Ishii all gave us ****+ matches, while the one against Tanahashi was the best NJPW trilogy of 2017. Throw in great work with Michael Elgin, how he helped solidify Juice Robinson, countless entertaining multi-man tags, and the incredible G1 Finals against Omega, and you’ve got wrestler of the year.

Jake St-Pierre
5. KUSHIDA
4. Tetsuya Naito
3. Kenny Omega
2. Keith Lee

1. Kazuchika Okada – This one is pretty obvious if you’re a follower of New Japan, a promotion that has consistently yielded the best results in these lists since 2012. A large part of that is the continued quality and success of their golden boy Kazuchika Okada. It seems as though that each year that passes by, The Rainmaker keeps improving by leaps and bounds. The immense gamble of his February 2012 title win over Hiroshi Tanahashi and the subsequent years-long rivalry, that would be the peak of your average wrestler’s career. Actually, your average wrestler probably wouldn’t be able to lace up Okada’s boots on his worst night, but you know what I mean. So when you think about the significance and fantastic nature of the Okada/Tanahashi rivalry, it makes Okada’s 2017 even more legendary. Not only were we graced with the best feud of the year in his trilogy of bouts with Kenny Omega, we got Okada’s virtuosic performance in Shibata’s last stand. We got to see Okada work outside his comfort zone against guys like Kojima in the G1, and he carried himself like the elite champion New Japan wants him to be by doing his part to elevate wrestlers like EVIL, Juice Robinson, as well as Omega. No wrestler on the planet was the superstar that Kazuchika Okada was in 2017. Many people came close though. North America’s wrestling scene was massively better off for Keith Lee’s departure from Ring of Honor. Fellow New Japan cohorts Naito and Omega were both fantastic in their own ways, as the latter had probably the most “great” matches of anyone on the planet. But none of them carried a company with the poise and quality befitting of a true World Champion, and that’s why Kazuchika Okada is your 2017 Wrestler of the Year.

Ken Hill
5. The Miz
4. Kevin Owens
3. Kazuchika Okada
2. Kenny Omega

1. AJ Styles – When you can get anything resembling a *** to **** match out of what was expected to be a lowbrow WM 33 singles match with Shane “Wabbit Punch” McMahon and bookend 2017 by helping “Hindered” Jinder Mahal to probably the best performance of his main event run, you can certainly call yourself “Phenomenal.” Aside from that, Styles had his barn-burner MOTY candidate versus Cena at Royal Rumble to start off the year, won the US Title in Madison Square Garden, and had consistently good to great TV matches with the likes of Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and a seemingly-for-the-first-time-in-his-life motivated Baron Corbin. Then once the dust had settled down from his 75-day run over the summer as US Champion, Styles would end up pulling what essentially amounted to international triple duty within a week, leaving in the middle of a South American tour in October to sub for a mumps-stricken Bray Wyatt versus fellow former Biz Cliz leader Finn Balor in an excellent first-time encounter at TLC, then competing again the following night on RAW with Rollins and Ambrose, and then capping off his three-pronged tour of duty by combating and dispatching Jinder’s cohort Sunil Singh in short order on SD Live. A feud with Mahal would ensue, leading to what would be a shocking TV victory for Styles, winning the WWE World Title over Mahal in the UK, the first time the WWE Championship had ever changed hands on English soil, or any soil outside of North America for that matter. Styles’ title victory would lead to a climactic Smackdown vs. RAW encounter at Survivor Series with him versus Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in what turned out to be a suitably epic dream match between not only WWE’s two top champions, but also two former IWGP Heavyweight Champions; Lesnar won the battle, but not without taking more than his fair share of lumps against Styles, who at times seemed as if he could truly come out on top over the indomitable Beast. All in all, Styles was WWE’s most consistently high-profile star in 2017, with superb performances spanning different shows, PPVs, and even other continents, accomplishing unprecedented feats with his championship victories, and just being incapable of having a truly bad match with anyone he stepped up to. Styles is simply “Phenomenal”, no doubt about it.

Rob Stewart
5. Tetsuya Naito
4. Brock Lesnar
3. AJ Styles
2. Asuka

1. Kazuchika Okada – If I recall correctly, at Wrestle Kingdom 12, commentary pointed out that Okada was… 13-2-2 in 2017? Am I remembering that right? Something like that. But more so than those figures, Okada held onto the IWGP Heavyweight Title for the duration of the calendar year–taking on all comers on the process–and setting himself up to break a handful of longevity and overall-days-as-champion records by the time WK12 rolled around. Between this category and that of Outstanding Performer, you might think I am being sponsored by the man himself, but 2017 was simply the Year of Okada, both as a dominant champion and as an in-ring worker. Kaz is proving that seemingly unstoppable title reigns and unconquerable champions are still an entertaining and exciting aspect of professional wrestling, even in a year where the WWE Title changed hands what felt like 35 times. Challengers step up to the IWGP champion and he sends them home defeated, every defense, without fail. The fact that he does it with absolute breathtaking matches and brilliant psychology is the icing on the cake. To me, that’s the Wrestler of the Year.

Larry Csonka
5. Pete Dunne
4. AJ Styles
3. Kenny Omega
2. Tetsuya Naito

1. Kazuchika Okada – Kazuchika Okada had am all time great year, reigning as NJPW’s IWGP champion, setting records for the title, having awesome match after awesome match, and fulfilling the role as ace, staying healthy, drawing houses and continuing to help the business of NJPW grow. Yes, Omega, Tanahashi, & Naito also help draw houses, it’s far from a solo effort, but Okada is doing some heavy lifting, and has been wildly successful at it. I get that there are some that don’t like his title run, and will call his matches formulaic (who isn’t for the most part), but to deny how great his year was or give him no credit would be an absolute crime in my opinion.

Arnold Furious
5. Kenny Omega
4. Tetsuya Naito
3. Pete Dunne
2. WALTER

1. Kazuchika Okada – Okada has had one of those amazing, virtually unparalleled years of excellence in professional wrestling. He’s been NJPW’s ace. He’s main evented almost every major show of 2017. He’s had MOTYC after MOTYC. The matches have been varied too. He’s worked feuds against almost every top tier NJPW guy and they’ve all been outstanding. He had a stunning match with Shibata that unfortunately ended Shibata’s career. He had a brilliant trio of matches with Kenny Omega. He’s been simply stunning and I’d be shocked if anyone else wins this.

AND 411’s Wrestler of The Year For 2017 Is

5. Pete Dunne – 8 points

4. Tetsuya Naito – 14 points

3. Kenny Omega – 18 points

2. AJ Styles – 22 points

1. Kazuchika Okada – 28 points

THE 2017 411 WRESTLING AWARDS:
* 1. The Biggest Disappointment of The Year: >Katsuyori Shibata’s Injury & Retirement – 14points
* 2. The Best Non-Wrestler: Dario Cueto – 17points
* 3. The Best Tag Team of The Year: The Usos – 31points
* 4. The Worst Major Shows/PPV of 2017: WWE Battleground 2017 – 16points
* 5. The Best Female Wrestler of 2017: Asuka – 24points
* 6. The Best PPV/Major Show of 2017: NJPW Wrestlekingdom 11 – 11points
* 7. The Best Promotion of 2017: New Japan Pro Wrestling – 35points
* 8. The Most Outstanding Performer of 2017: Lucha Underground – 29points
* 9. The Best Weekly TV Show of 2017: Kazuchika Okada – 18points
* 10. The Best Matches of 2017: Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne (NXT Takeover: Chicago) – 19points
* 11. The Most Overrated Performers of 2017: Jinder Mahal – 18points
* 12. The Most Underrated Performers of 2017: Rusev – 17points