And now, for the final “Best of 2015” wrestling entry, the year-end awards.
Moment of the Year – Seth Rollins breaks John Cena’s nose during RAW match
7/27/215 – WWE RAW
Yes, Pro Wrestling is scripted. But sometimes things legitimately go wrong. Rollins wasn’t supposed to break Cena’s nose, but he did. Cena was supposed to win the match and he did, valiantly finishing the match despite his injury. Without a doubt the moment of the year.
Runner-Up – Sasha Banks makes a little girl cry: 10/7/2015 NXT TakeOver: Respect
Event of the Year – Lucha Underground: Ultima Lucha
7/29/2015 and 8/5/2015
By limiting their major events to only one in 2015, Lucha Underground made sure that it would be a great one. They had creative match gimmicks that the other associations don’t or no longer do. And almost every single match lived up to the hype. There were more “OMG” moments during Ultima Lucha than a whole year of WWE.
Runner-Up – WWE NXT: NXT TakeOver: London 12/16/2015
Promotion of the Year: Lucha Underground
Lucha Underground combines the best of American wrestling with the best of the Mexican and Japanese styles. The overt personalities and storylines of the American style are mixed well with the high-flying and technical style of Mexican and Japanese wrestling. They also, shoot the outside the ring segments like a TV show so their quality and pacing are much better than the other promotions. By far the most entertaining wrestling product on TV right now.
Runner-Up – WWE
Wrestler of the Year – John Cena
A lot of people hate John Cena, but he was the wrestler of 2015. His move-set was greatly improved and expanded. He helped put over Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro. He somehow made the extremely limited Rusev seem like a credible threat. He was one of the reasons Alberto Del Rio’s return to the WWE worked. He was involved in a number of the best matches of 2015. You can still hate him, but internet favorites Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens would be where they are now without his help.
Runners-Up – Bayley and Tomohiro Ishii