Nerdly Wrestling Awards – Week One
Welcome to the first weekly Nerdly Wrestling Awards, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we will come together once a week to decide the best and worst of professional wrestling from what was reviewed here on Nerdly. Let’s get started!
Worst Promo:
Elias went to Summerslam and had a purposefully terrible concert that just served to waste time.
Best Promo:
Alex Shelley cut a “retirement” promo that was as genuine as you can get in a fake sport. Shelley made Sabin promise to make the rest of his career into some-thing that validates every sacrifice they’ve made. If more promos were like this one, then the various wrestling leagues would have an easier time in making more of the roster popular.
Worst Trend:
Impact Wrestling’s night of inconsequential matches, save for the main event, turned Impact itself into a card that is difficult to call important viewing. Most of the Impact card just felt like a waste of time, or “spinning the wheels” as my cousin Belchy would say.
Best Trend:
WWE had its best week of wrestling matches in several years. For once, the WWE felt like a wrestling league again, instead of a sports-entertainment enterprise.
Worst Wrestler:
Dean Ambrose – Dean Ambrose had a horrible performance in his match with Dolph Ziggler on Raw. Dean was incredibly slow and almost seemed clumsy in his return, which is understandable but still a fact of life. Dean looked much better when he partook in the Shield’s attack on Braun Strowman, so perhaps this was a brief bump in the road for, as Phil put and I’m continuing, the wrecking machine.
Best Wrestler:
Pentagon – Pentagon had three great matches in one week. How can you not reward a man who was the best in three different leagues at the same time?
Worst Match:
Dash Wilder versus Curtis Axel – I can’t believe this match was terrible, but it was.
Best Match:
The nominees are:
- Adam Cole versus Ricochet – NXT North American Title Match (NXT: Takeover)
- Chris Sabin versus Scorpio Sky (Ring of Honor)
- Pentagon versus Cage – Last Man Standing Match For The Lucha Underground World Title (Lucha Underground)
- Sami Callihan versus Pentagon – Mexican Death Match (Impact Wrestling)
- Lucha Bros. versus ACH and Rich Swann – MLW World Tag Team Title Match
Winner: Adam Cole and Ricochet – This match was on another level and will stand the test of time.
Worst Show:
Impact – The vast majority of the card just felt like it was not necessary. Impact has always had this problem, no matter who is booking.
Best Show:
NXT (NXT: Takeover) – Takeover was a resounding success that had some of the best wrestling from the WWE so far this year.
Worst League:
Impact – A badly booked episode of Impact has landed the fledgling number two promotion in the sport in this spot. How can you get people excited about your next big card if your last one is as dull as used pencil?
Best League:
WWE – I usually complain about the WWE, but they did it right this week. With a full week of great matches and big surprises, the WWE did more to keep people around for the rest of the year than they have done in all of 2018.
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Thank you for reading the first Nerdly Wrestling Awards and we will be back together, next week, to decide the best and worst of professional wrestling.