My Mid-Year WON Awards Ballot Going By The Antiquated and Absurd WON Calendar

As I type this, we are in the very early morning hours of June 3, 2016. This means that it is just a wee bit past the halfway mark of the phony year (Dec. 1 of previous year to Dec. 1 of current year) used for the purposes of Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards. Setting aside the issue of the odd calendar itself, I figured it might be fun to take a look at the Awards themselves and where my ballot would stand at the halfway point.

Originally I had hoped to include votes on every wrestling category. But what I discovered is that some categories I could not complete in full because there is not a strong enough slate of candidates to vote for (yes I take this, as I take all things wrestling, far too seriously). In part this reflects the antiquated and confusing nature of some of the awards themselves, but it also speaks to significant and substantial changes in the wrestling business that have occurred in recent years. The influence of digital culture and social media in particular seem to be effecting wresting in profound ways that are not really captured by the Awards as they are currently structured. On top of this certain awards create confusion for linguistic reasons (as in Most Overrated meaning Most Overpushed not overhyped per se), and other awards seem to mean radically different things to different voters.

What this means is that this will not quite be a complete ballot. But it will be my ballot as I would submit it today, gaps included.

I thought about including explanations for my votes but decided against it for two reasons. Firstly I am very long winded and it would have taken me forever to write up everything. By the time I finished I likely would be angry or annoyed about the wording of something and just delete the entire thing.

Secondly I'm at a point with some of this stuff where I would rather be engaged than do the engaging. If you think this defeats the purpose of having a blog you are probably right but hear me out - I want this to be picked apart. I would rather people comment with criticism or asking for an explanation (or even hit me up on Twitter @DylanWaco ), then give everything away in a massive, up front, manifesto, that few would read.

With that said here is my ballot, do your worst.

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD

1. AJ Styles
2. Tetsuya Naito
3. Chris Hero

MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER

1. Fred Yehi
2. Matt Riddle
3. Chris Hero

BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW

Abstain

FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. A.J. Styles v. Roman Reigns (Usos/The Club as surrogates)
2. Tetsuya Naito v. New Japan Orthodoxy
3. The Carnies v. The Hierarchy

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. The Revival
2. Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa
3. Team IOU

MOST IMPROVED

1. Colby Corino
2. Zeus
3. Ethan Page

BEST ON INTERVIEWS

1. Jay Briscoe
2. Jay Lethal
3. Enzo Amore

MOST CHARISMATIC

1. Shinsuke Nakamura
2. Enzo Amore
3. Matt Riddle

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER

1. Drew Gulak
2. Fred Yehi
3. Matt Riddle

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD

1. Mil Muertes
2. Team IOU
3. The Island of Puerto Rico

BEST FLYING WRESTLER

1. AR Fox
2. Dragon Lee
3. Fenix

MOST OVERRATED

1. Chris Jericho
2. Brock Lesnar
3. The Young Bucks

MOST UNDERRATED

1. All people of color in Ring of Honor other than Jay Lethal
2. The Bruiserweights (John Skyler and Corey Hollis)
3. Fred Yehi

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. Evolve
2. CWF Mid-Atlantic
3. Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. CWF Mid-Atlantic
2. The Edge and Christian Show
3. NXT

PRO WRESTlING MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. Chris Hero v. Zack Sabre Jr. - WWN Mercury Rising
2. A.J. Styles v. Roman Reigns - Extreme Rules
3. Sami Callihan v. Chip Day - Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment Homegrown

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

1. Matt Riddle
2. Lio Rush

BEST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER

1. So Cal Val/Andrea
2. Maryse
3. Stokely Hathaway

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. The CWF Mid-Atlantic Crew
2. Corey Graves
3. Emil Jay

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. Take your pick

BEST MAJOR SHOW

1. WWNLive - Mercury Rising
2. Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment - Homegrown
3. Empire Wrestling Entertainment - Tooth and Nail V