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Wrestling 101 WWE and TNA Awards 2009: The Results!

Results are in!
A HUGE thank you to everyone who voted, we had 173 voters this year which is almost TRIPLE last year’s number! It was a wonderful result so well done everyone.
Feel free to groan, moan or…something that rhymes about the results, I for one was really surprised by quite a few of them.

– – –
Bad news first..

Worst PPV

1. TNA Victory Road (48 votes)

2. WWE Bragging Rights (25)
3. WWE Hell in a Cell (22)
A clear winner here, and probably a deserving one since it was a mess of a PPV. Its also clear that people arent fans of this ‘gimmick PPV’ malarky.

Worst Match

1. Chavo Guerrero v Hornswoggle, WWE Raw, many times (45)

2. Vickie & Chavo Guerrero v Santina Marella, Hogpen match, WWE Extreme Rules (44)
3. Jenna Morasca v Sharmell, TNA Victory Road (25)
Only one vote separating 1st and 2nd, unfortunately for Chavo he was in both matches. My first surprise of the show is how distant Jenna v Sharmell ran for third.

Worst Moment or Decision

1. WWE is PG: no blood and less violence (58)

2. Jeff Hardy leaves, WWE Smackdown 28/8 (41)
3. Untimely wrestler deaths (Test, Umaga, Misawa) (30)
As we’ve seen by the board lately, there arent many fans of the current restrictions on WWE programming. There are many fans of Jeff Hardy, however, but of course, not many fans of death.

Worst Wrestler

1. Hornswoggle (29)

2. Chavo Guerrero (28)
3. Jenna Morasca (27)
An extremely tight race here for the, ahem, honours, but these three were far and away the most (un)popular choices. I should note that the winner of this award has historically always either been fired soon after, or won a world title. You’ve been warned.

“Get Off My TV” Award

1. Vickie Guerrero (55)

2. TNA (32)
3. Hornswoggle (27)
For the second year in a row Vickie Guerrero takes out the prize. What is wrong with you people?! I aint forgiving you guys for this for a while. Still, there it is. And in the end, after winning the nomination votes, no DX in sight.
Moving onto the good news..

Best Face

1. Jeff Hardy (51)

2. Shawn Michaels (29)
3. John Cena (25)
Jeff Hardy is the runaway winner for most popular dude for the second year in a row, as I think he well deserves to be. Shame about, you know, leaving and felony charges and TNA and stuff.

Best Heel

1. Chris Jericho (49)

2. Randy Orton (46)
3. CM Punk (37)
Another winner fully expected, fully deserved and for the second year in a row. Orton for his troubles had the highest percentage of any second place votes with 26.6%. Going in I would definitely have predicted Punk and Orton to be the other way around, but as we shall see, what the hell do I know?

Best Tag Team

1. Chris Jericho & Big Show (63)

2. Beer Money (Roode & Storm) (32)
3. Legacy (Rhodes & DiBiase) (20)
And again, huge runaway winners, almost doubling second place, and I dont think there’s any reason why not. JeriShow ruled and we mourn their heartbreaking divorce.

Best Cruiserweight

1. Rey Mysterio (58)

2. AJ Styles (41)
3. Evan Bourne (29)
A seemingly anachronistic award, but still we celebrate the little guys, and Rey was the best little guy of 2009 with a string of great matches and a great feud with Jericho.

Best Newcomer

1. Sheamus (61)

2. Desmond Wolfe (36)
3. Yoshi Tatsu (33)
Curious note: none of the top five (including Drew McIntyre and The Pope) debuted in their company until at least June, and Wolfe didnt debut until late October. Ol’ Dessie polled second with only 3 months under him, although WWE Champ Sheamus is a clear winner.

Most Improved

1. Kofi Kingston (50)

2. John Morrison (39)
3. The Miz (34)
The next best was Ted DiBiase at 16 votes, meaning these three guys were head and shoulders above in terms of improvement. Kofi’s change to a serious character and chance to shine (initially) with Orton wins him this award.

Best Female

1. Maryse (32)

2. Mickie James (31)
3. Melina (25)
Beth Phoenix drops to fourth after her breakthrough 2008, and Maryse comes out on top in a close race with Mickie. Deservedly so, Maryse is amazing, and I predict she’ll have an even better 2010.

Best Talker

1. Chris Jericho (67)

2. John Cena (29)
3. CM Punk (21)
Now this, predictably, was a landslide. Jericho creams the competition with the biggest winning margin for any single wrestler award, easily doubling Cena in second place.

Best Announcer

1. Jim Ross (41)

2. Matt Striker (31)
3. Jerry Lawler (29)
JR wins for (as far as I can tell) the fourth time in Wrestling 101 Wrestling Awards history. I should definitely note here that the one-night nostalgia trip of Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura came in 4th with 24 votes, far above the rest of the full-time field.

Best PPV

1. WWE Wrestlemania 25 (91)

2. TNA Bound for Glory (17)
3. TNA Turning Point (15)
Well. Despite its unpopularity both at the time and in the nomination period (it was nominated far more for Worst PPV), Wrestlemania storms home easily to retain the title it has never lost, with more than 50% of the vote.

Best Feud or Angle

1. Undertaker v Shawn Michaels (41)

2. CM Punk v Jeff Hardy (33)
3. Randy Orton v HHH & The McMahons (27)
This one baffled me a bit I must say. Punk and Jeff not winning makes me sad. Rey and Jericho not appearing makes me sadder. HHH and Orton appearing makes me…baffled.

Best Match

1. Undertaker v Shawn Michaels, WWE Wrestlemania 25 (103)

2. AJ Styles v Samoa Joe v Chris Daniels, TNA Turning Point (16)
3. Randy Orton v John Cena, Ironman match, WWE Bragging Rights (15)
You’re shocked, right? Taker/Shawn cleaned this mother up, with the largest number of votes (103), the largest winning margin (87 votes more than 2nd place) and the largest win percentage with 59.54% of the vote. Shawn wins this award for the fifth time, and for a curious note, every Wrestling 101 MOTY has included either HBK or Kurt Angle.

Best Moment or Decision

1. TNA signs Hulk Hogan and announce a head-to-head show against Monday Night Raw (39)

2. Randy Orton handcuffs HHH, DDTs and kisses Stephanie, WWE Raw 23/3 (22)
3. CM Punk cashes in on Jeff Hardy and eventually turns heel, WWE Extreme Rules (21)
Not something that immediately came to my mind, but probably what will become the most enduring decision made in 2009, the Hulkster crossing the line and setting up the ‘New Monday Night War’ wins the gong for this year ahead of some very heelish antics.
And the big kahuna…

BEST WRESTLER

1. Randy Orton (29)

2. John Cena (28)
=. AJ Styles (28)
Yes folks, Randy Orton was your Wrestler of 2009, winning by a nosehair in the closest race I’ve ever seen; Jeff Hardy came next with 27 votes, making 2 votes between 1st and 4th place. I honestly never saw that coming, and I think it demonstrates clearly the difference between those who nominate and those who vote. Cena and Orton snuck onto the ballot with the lowest nomination points, and the clear favourite Chris Jericho (more than double the points of anyone else) ended up in 5th place. In any case, the people have spoken!
So there you have it. Once again thank you to everyone who nominated and voted, and big thanks to Kam for putting the vote together.