Since we’re not having the listeners selections on the Best of show this year, I would like to create a discussion thread for the BEST OF 2019.
2019 was one heck of a year.
Here are my picks:
BEST MOMENT : Kofi Kingston winning WWE Championship BEST INTERVIEW ON A MEDIA OUTLET : Undertaker on Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Sessions BEST PODCAST (NON-POST WRESTLING ): The Fix with Wade Keller and Todd Martin on PWTorch.com BEST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT: Dave Meltzer @davemeltzerWON MOST IMPROVED PERFORMER: MJF ANGLE OF THE YEAR: KENTA turning on Katsuyori Shibata and joining the Bullet Club BEST CELEBRITY INVOLVEMENT: Joan Jett at WrestleMania BEST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE: Little Bit of the Bubbly wine bottle BEST MUSIC (ENTRANCE OR PAY-PER-VIEW THEME): Kingdom by Downstait BEST DIGITAL SERIES : Viceland’s Dark Side of the Ring (amazing series with episodes on Bruiser Brody, The Von Erichs, etc) BEST BOOK : Totally Unauthorized 100 Things WWE Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Bryan Alvarez (sooooo entertaining) BEST WRESTLING EPISODE : The December 18, 2019 edition of NXT with Rhea Ripley winning the NXT Women’s Championship BEST WRESTLING SERIES : NWA Power BEST EVENT : AEW Double or Nothing BEST BROADCASTER : Tony Schiavone BEST CHARACTER : MJF BEST ON THE MIC : Cody Rhodes WOMEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Io Shirai vs Candice LeRae – NXT Takeover: Toronto - August 10, 2019 MEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi – Best of the Super Juniors Grand Final - June 5, 2019 BEST FEUD : The Young Bucks vs The Lucha Brothers BEST PROMOTION : New Japan Pro Wrestling (hands down still the best) BEST TAG TEAM : The Lucha Brothers BEST WRESTLER (Female) : Io Shirai BEST WRESTLER (Male) : Will Ospreay BIGGEST STORY OF 2019 : The Launch of All Elite Wrestling
BEST MOMENT : Dakota Kai’s heel turn on Tegan Nox (made total sense) BEST INTERVIEW ON A MEDIA OUTLET : Goldberg on Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Sessions BEST PODCAST (NON-POST WRESTLING ): Something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard BEST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT: Oney Lorcan’s twitter MOST IMPROVED PERFORMER: Carmella ANGLE OF THE YEAR: Io Shirai becoming Dark Io BEST CELEBRITY INVOLVEMENT: Joan Jett at WrestleMania BEST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE: Alexa and Nikki’s shirt BEST MUSIC (ENTRANCE OR PAY-PER-VIEW THEME): The Fiend BEST DIGITAL SERIES : WWE 365 BEST BOOK : BEST WRESTLING EPISODE : NXT Takeover Smackdown BEST WRESTLING SERIES : NWA Power BEST EVENT : NXT TakeOver: New York BEST BROADCASTER : Mauro BEST CHARACTER : Le Champion BEST ON THE MIC : Daniel Bryan WOMEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Io Shirai vs Candice LeRae – NXT Takeover: Toronto - August 10, 2019 MEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Tag team ladder match takeover 25 BEST FEUD : Seth Rollins vs Crowd BEST PROMOTION : New Japan Pro Wrestling (I would pick NXT if it’s considered as a promotion) BEST TAG TEAM : U Era BEST WRESTLER (Female) : Io Shirai BEST WRESTLER (Male) : Will Ospreay BIGGEST STORY OF 2019 : The Launch of All Elite Wrestling
BEST MOMENT : Kofi Kingston winning WWE Championship BEST INTERVIEW ON A MEDIA OUTLET : Undertaker on Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Sessions BEST PODCAST (NON-POST WRESTLING ): After The Bell BEST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT: WWE on Fox twitter MOST IMPROVED PERFORMER: Baron Corbin ANGLE OF THE YEAR: Dakota Kai heel turn BEST CELEBRITY INVOLVEMENT: Joan Jett at WrestleMania BEST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE: Little Bit of the Bubbly wine bottle BEST MUSIC (ENTRANCE OR PAY-PER-VIEW THEME): The Fiend BEST DIGITAL SERIES : Up Up Down Down BEST BOOK : BEST WRESTLING EPISODE : Smackdown on 11/01 BEST WRESTLING SERIES : WWE 24 Series BEST EVENT : NXT Takeover New York BEST BROADCASTER : Nigel McGuiness BEST CHARACTER : ‘Le Champion’ BEST ON THE MIC : Chris Jericho WOMEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Io Shirai vs Candice LeRae – NXT Takeover: Toronto - August 10, 2019 MEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano at NXT Takeover New York BEST FEUD : Chris Jericho vs Cody Rhodes BEST PROMOTION : NXT BEST TAG TEAM : Undisputed Era BEST WRESTLER (Female) : Shayna Baszler BEST WRESTLER (Male) : Adam Cole BIGGEST STORY OF 2019 : Return of Roman Reigns
BEST MOMENT : Kofi Kingston winning WWE Championship BEST INTERVIEW ON A MEDIA OUTLET : mox on talk is Jericho BEST PODCAST (NON-POST WRESTLING ): busted open podcast BEST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT: Becky lynch MOST IMPROVED PERFORMER: Cody ANGLE OF THE YEAR: KENTA turning on Katsuyori Shibata and joining the Bullet Club BEST CELEBRITY INVOLVEMENT: BEST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE: Blackheart t-shirt (Tomaso ciampa)
**BEST MUSIC (ENTRANCE OR PAY-PER-VIEW THEME): undisputed era BEST DIGITAL SERIES : nwa power BEST WRESTLING EPISODE : The nxt takeover edition of smackdown BEST WRESTLING SERIES : NWA Power BEST EVENT : nxt takeover Brooklyn BEST BROADCASTER : Mauro BEST CHARACTER : Orange Cassidy BEST ON THE MIC : MJF WOMEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : women’s wargames MEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Kofi vs Bryan WrestleMania BEST FEUD : Adam Cole vs gargano BEST PROMOTION : NXT BEST TAG TEAM : the revival BEST WRESTLER (Female) : Toni storm BEST WRESTLER (Male) : Adam Cole Bay Bay BIGGEST STORY OF 2019 : debut of aew on TNT
BEST MOMENT : Kofi Kingston winning WWE Championship BEST INTERVIEW ON A MEDIA OUTLET : mox on talk is Jericho BEST PODCAST (NON-POST WRESTLING ): Faculty of Horror( nobody said it had to be wrestling related) BEST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT: ??? MOST IMPROVED PERFORMER: Dusin Rhodes ANGLE OF THE YEAR: KENTA turning on Katsuyori Shibata and joining the Bullet Club BEST CELEBRITY INVOLVEMENT: Cain Velasquez in AAA BEST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE: A Little Bit of the Bubbly
**BEST MUSIC (ENTRANCE OR PAY-PER-VIEW THEME): Darby Allin BEST DIGITAL SERIES : nwa power BEST WRESTLING EPISODE : AEW Dynamite episode 1 BEST WRESTLING SERIES : AEW Dynamite BEST EVENT : Double or Nothing BEST BROADCASTER : Mauro BEST CHARACTER : Jericho BEST ON THE MIC : MJF WOMEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : women’s wargames MEN’S MATCH OF THE YEAR : Dustin vs. Cody, or any of the amazing Osprey matches BEST FEUD : Seth Rollins vs. twitter BEST PROMOTION : NJPW BEST TAG TEAM : the Young Bucks BEST WRESTLER (Female) : Toni storm BEST WRESTLER (Male) : Le Champion BIGGEST STORY OF 2019 : debut of aew on TNT
I wouldn’t say his body of work for the year is worthy of “Best Broadcaster” recognition, but I think Byron Saxton deserves some love for his work throughout Kofi’s Wrestlemania run. He was fantastic during many of the key moments in that story, including Mania itself.
Just wanted to shout this out since WWE brought Saxy back last night.