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The 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards (Part Fourteen) – Csonka Award For Hardest Working Performers of 2021
Image Credit: NJPW
Welcome back to Part Fourteen of the 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards of 2021! The Year-End Awards have been out for a couple of years but they’re back, and here’s how they work. For the next couple of weeks, we will present our top choices for a particular topic relating to wrestling in 2021. 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 the votes 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
Once everyone’s had their say, we will tally the scores and get our overall top 5. Tonight we’re concluding the awards with the second annual Larry Csonka Award for the Hardest Working Performer of the year. So without further ado, let’s get right to it…
Jeffrey Harris
5. Taiji Ishimori
4. Thunder Rosa
3. Britt Baker
2. Hangman Page
1. Kenny Omega – Once again, it’s Kenny Omega for me. And that’s despite starting the year on a relatively off note with the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch at AEW Revolution 2021. You can’t tell me Omega didn’t bust his ass off in 2021, serving as the face of not just AEW, but also Impact Wrestling and AAA as their top champions. And that’s during a continuing global pandemic. Despite how significantly the wrestling industry was being impacted by the pandemic, Kenny Omega was not one to rest on his laurels. Also, his match with Danielson was my favorite match of the year at AEW Grand Slam.
Steve Cook
5. SANADA
4. Drew McIntyre
3. Tomohiro Ishii
2. Shingo Takagi
1. Danhausen – Last year, I thought this award should be for the person that worked the most matches and got the highest star ratings. This year, I think this award should go to the person that most worked their gimmick in spite of whatever was in their way. Not all work takes place inside the ring, right? I realize this isn’t very consistent on my part, but I also believe that our best friend Larry Csonka would have been a fanhausen. Danhausen worked his gimmick better than anybody in 2021 in spite of whatever promotion he was working for. He did his darndest to get the people on his side, and he did a darn good job of it. Danhausen got ROH to book him, he did well there, and now he’s got his sights set on AEW and they better get him signed. He’s already done more to get the Gunn Club Ass Boys over than anybody else.
You might look at Danhausen and see a skinny fella that doesn’t fit Vince’s mold. I see a mastermind that knows how to get things over with the wrestling audience. He realizes his limitations and his strengths, and he plays to his strengths like he’s Paul Heyman editing an ECW show. Hide all the negatives, play up all the positives. I eagerly await Danhausen’s return to the ring and where he goes next.
Andrew Cazer
5. Thunder Rosa
4. Sammy Guevara
3. Joey Janela/Effy
2. Matt Cardona
1. Danhausen – Danhausen is an independent wrestling workhorse who hardly has to touch a ring to be considered such. The grind never seems to stop for this man and it has landed him among the top ten sellers on Pro Wrestling Tees for all of 2021 selling more than the likes of the Young Bucks and other top AEW stars. Whether you love him or hate him, the man’s popularity and dedication to his craft is undeniable. He’s always releasing new content and finding new ways to promote himself and others. Not only has he gotten himself over he has seemingly coined a terrific nickname for the Gunn Club. Danhausen is the true definition of an independent worker who has made a brand for himself and capitalized on it. The Young Bucks helped show the formula prior to AEW’s existence and now more wrestlers than ever are getting out there and putting in the work both in and out of the ring.
Jake Chambers
5. Josh Alexander
4. Shingo Takagi
3. Roman Reigns
2. Johnny Gargano
1. Hiroshi Tanahashi – Would you rush a barrier post match to rub your toddler against a sweaty post-match Tanahashi? Of course you would. This heavenly veteran continued to give everything in the ring in 2021, making his perspiration the metaphorical essence of pro-wrestling goodness. There’s no logical reason that Tanahashi should still be this awesome, going this hard, and propping up the artistic and financial livelihood of not just NJPW but the entire Japanese wrestling industry. There may be other names regularly higher on the cards and having more important matches for bigger titles, names like Ibushi, Ospreay, Okada and Takagi, but I would argue that they are only able to do this because of the iron backbone Tanahashi props them up with on every show. Even after the flashy innovation of his in-ring work has transformed into economical standards, Tanahashi no longer post-scripts main events with triumphant air guitar-ing to standing ovations because now he’s an elder statesman who is still the hardest working performer in all of wrestling. Distill this man’s sweat!
Ian Hamilton
5. Anyone Trying to Get Anything Watchable Out of EVIL/House of Torture
4. Drew McIntyre
3. Jonathan Gresham
2. Jeff Cobb
1. Hiromu Takahashi – Another year, another injury (unfortunately) to come back from, but with Hiromu doing odd jobs from hype man, to ring announcer, to camera man, to commentator, Hiromu literally was working for most of the year!
Thomas Hall
5. Bianca Belair
4. Big E.
3. Eddie Kingston
2. Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson
1. Drew McIntyre – A few weeks ago I saw a tweet from one of the WWE accounts saying that McIntyre wrestled more matches than anyone else for the company during the year. McIntyre not only topped the list, but he topped it by a good stretch. The rest of the tweet said that if you need someone to do media, an appearance, a promo or anything else, McIntyre is who you call. Since the pandemic, McIntyre has been the definition of handing someone the ball and letting them run with it. While Roman Reigns gets the glory, McIntyre has been the one doing a lot of the heavy lifting and he belongs on the top of this list.
Jeremy Thomas
5. Danhausen
4. Kenny Omega
3. Drew McIntyre
2. Shingo Takagi
1. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. – When I was considering who I would vote for in this category, I sat back and thought about what “hardest worker” meant. Yes, having the most matches is an important factor, and you have to give credit to both Drew McIntyre and Shingo Takagi for being the absolute workhorses of North America and Japan. Kenny Omega worked everywhere he could, representing as champion of three different companies and doing his utmost in all three for the time he spent there. And Danhausen was the spirit of indie wrestling, hustling and working his character above and beyond what anyone could expect of him.
But there’s a lot for me to be said for the amount of work Britt Baker did in not only improving herself as a character and in-ring performer, but how she put the AEW women’s division on her back and carried it. That’s not to take anything away from what Thunder Rosa and the like did, but this division found redemption after a couple of shaky years thanks to a dominant force as champion in Baker. The good doctor was tireless in her efforts to elevate the division and herself, and along the way she had some showstopper matches. She didn’t have the most matches this year, but I really do view Baker as the hardest worker for professional wrestling in 2021.
5. Kenny Omega – 7 points
4. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. – 8 points
T-2. Shingo Takagi – 10 points
2. Danhausen – 11 points
1. Drew McIntyre – 12 points
THE 2021 411 WRESTLING AWARDS:
* 1. The Biggest Disappointment of The Year: WWE’s Talent Releases – 28 points
* 2. The Best Non-Wrestler: Paul Heyman – 40 points
* 3. The Best Tag Team: The Lucha Bros – 32 points
* 4. The Worst Major Show: WrestleMania Backlash – 18 points
* 5. The Best Major Show: AEW All Out – 34 points
* 6. The Best Weekly Show: AEW Dynamite – 42 points
* 7. The Best Promotion: AEW – 47 points
* 8. The Best Match: WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov (NXT Takeover 36) – 35 points
* 9. The Most Overrated Performer: Charlotte Flair – 14 points
* 10. The Most Underrated Performer: Damian Priest – 11 points
* 11. The Best Women’s Wrestler: Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. – 35 points
* 12. The Best In-Ring Performer: Bryan Danielson – 43 points
* 13. The Best Overall Performer: Bryan Danielson – 32 points
* 14. The Larry Csonka Award For Hardest Working Performer: Drew McIntyre – 12 points
