The Wrestling Observer E-newsletter readers simply voted for the forty-third yr on their favorites and least favorites in a wide range of classes, and never surprisingly, AEW and the wrestlers it employs did fairly effectively. Headman Tony Khan received Finest Booker and Finest Promoter. FTR received Finest Tag Workforce and MJF received Finest Interviews, amongst a number of different victories for the upstate promotion. Longtime wrestling supervisor and widespread speaking head Jim Cornette, in fact, had loads to say about a lot of the decisions, however he saved his full venom for Jon Moxley, who was given the Lou Thesz/ Ric Aptitude Award for Wrestler Of The 12 months.
Cornette, who isn’t shy along with his opinions, was instructed in regards to the shock selection whereas recording his podcast by co-host Brian Final, and he was not a contented camper. He unloaded about how each Thesz and Aptitude would by no means wish to be in comparison with Moxley. He chided Moxley for working so many matches with “barbed wire and knives and blood and blades” and for instructing the youthful wrestlers to do issues the flawed means. After which he unloaded on Moxley himself with a very aggressive private assault. Right here’s a portion of his quote…
He’s a humiliation in each type of professionalism, from his fuck yous on the air to his (center) fingers on the air to his lack of goddamn any respectable skilled look to his fixed fucking self-mutilation, as the children name it, to his shitty rubbish wrestling.
Now, I believe it’s vital to separate the dialog right here into two completely different components: whether or not Moxley ought to have received Wrestler Of The 12 months and Moxley’s work as a wrestler basically. I agree with Cornette that Moxley had no enterprise profitable the highest award, simply as Khan had no enterprise profitable Finest Promoter given AEW’s well-documented points and lack of development.
Roman Reigns is to date and away the most important attraction proper now in wrestling it’s loopy, and it’s not like he’s Hulk Hogan in 1993. The final yr has been absolutely the peak for Roman Reigns from a storyline standpoint and a fan response standpoint. I believe he deserves all of the flowers, whereas Moxley, as Cornette additionally factors out, is only one of a number of prime guys in his promotion. I may see him perhaps getting some prime ten votes, however it’s complicated, a minimum of to me, to place him greater.
That being mentioned, calling Jon Moxley “a humiliation” is means too far for me, given he’s one of the widespread guys on the roster of the second hottest wrestling promotion. He’s had an unbelievable quantity of success within the two largest wrestling corporations in North America (given his run as Dean Ambrose in WWE), and there are clearly a ton of followers who determine with what he’s doing. The objective is to recover from with the gang, not recover from with Jim Cornette. And he’s clearly carried out that, even when his head wounds and semi-frequent use of international objects isn’t for everybody.
The beauty of wrestling, nonetheless, is that it’s a giant tent. Not each match on the cardboard is meant to attraction to everybody, and never each character goes to play the identical quantity of effectively to every fan. Clearly Cornette isn’t a Jon Moxley supporter, however because the voting exhibits, there are loads who learn The Observer who’re.
You possibly can take a look at all of the awards over at The Wrestling Observer E-newsletter, in addition to Dave Meltzer’s take, and you may catch Cornette wherever you get your podcasts and/ or on YouTube, the place his movies are conveniently spliced out by material.
