ProWrestling.Cool’s Best of 2017

There’s something about the holidays that brings out our inner rose-tints. Surrounded by the warm glow of friends, family, feasts and celebrations, it becomes easy to wax nostalgic about the better days, even if those days were relatively recent. With that in mind, PW.C’s editorial team has silently reflected 2017–the year in which professional wrestling became sentient and took over the American government–and come to the conclusion that while the world may be on fire, there was some pretty good wrestling this year. Hell, there was even some exemplary wrestling! But since silent reflection isn’t that entertaining, we also decided to verbosely argue about our conclusions and give silly awards to the winners.

And so, ProWrestling.Cool is proud to present the 5th annual Best of the Year Awards (the “Dot-Coolies,” if you prefer) celebrating the best in professional wrestling in 2017. As always, PW.C’s editors Owen Douglass and John Gawarecki-Maxwell were joined by EchoZone contributor/Twitch speedrunner Mystakin to determine the nominees and winners for each category. Our winners and top two runners-up are listed below. If you’d like to hear how we came to these decisions, you can listen to our complete deliberations in our Best of 2017 edition of Heel Turn. Patreon subscribers can also see the entire lists we started with here.

Without further ado, here are the wrestling moments of 2017 that weren’t just cool; they were dot-cool:

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BEST NEW THEME SONG: “Rebel Heart by CFO$ (Johnny Gargano’s Theme)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrUm_O8xMA0

RUNNERS-UP: “Velveteen” by CFO$ (Velveteen Dream’s theme) | “Undisputed” by CFO$ (The Undisputed Era’s theme)

MOST POTENTIAL IN THE NEXT YEAR: Lars Sullivan

RUNNERS-UP: The Velveteen Dream | Aleister Black

BEST SHOW AESTHETIC: WWE Clash of Champions 2017

RUNNERS-UP: WrestleMania: The Ultimate Thrill Ride | NXT

MOST IMPORVED: Braun Strowman

RUNNERS-UP: Elias | Andrade “Cien” Almas

2017’S DOT-COOLEST MOMENT: All the cursing in the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11)

RUNNERS-UP: Braun Strowman kills Roman Reigns… and then keeps killing him (WWE Raw 04/10/2017) | The Velveteen Dream reveals his airbrushed leotards (NXT TakeOver: War Games)

BEST PROMO: The Festival of Friendship (WWE Raw 02/13/17)

RUNNERS-UP: Santa Rhyno (WWE Talking Smack 12/20/2016) | Welcome to Fashion Peaks (WWE SmackDown 08/01/2017)

BEST SHOW: Southpaw Regional Wrestling

RUNNERS-UP: NXT | Lucha Underground

BEST SURPRISE: War Games returns from the dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWFoLaSp8BU

RUNNERS-UP: Chris Jericho appears in New Japan to challenge Kenny Omega | Southpaw Regional Wrestling exists

BEST SPECIAL ENTRANCE: Kurt Angle is a Proud Shield Dad (WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs)

RUNNERS-UP: Roderick Strong joins The Authors of Pain (NXT TakeOver: War Games) | Shinsuke Nakamura surfs on a shiny strobe cart (NXT TakeOver: San Antonio)

BEST NEW GIMMICK: Drew Gulak

RUNNERS-UP: Heel Sami Zayn | The Velveteen Dream

BEST NON-IN-RING PERFORMER: Zelina Vega

RUNNERS-UP: Corey Graves | Mauro Ranallo

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR: The Authors of Pain

RUNNERS-UP: The Usos | #DIY

FEMALE SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR: Asuka

RUNNERS-UP: Peyton Royce | Nikki Cross

MALE SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR: Kenny Omega

RUNNERS-UP: Braun Strowman | AJ Styles

BEST FEUD/STORYLINE: Aleister Black vs. The Velveteen Dream

RUNNERS-UP: Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens | Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

BEST EVENT: NXT TakeOver: WarGames

RUNNERS-UP: NXT TakeOver: Chicago | WWE Hell in a Cell 2017

THE TOP TEN MATCHES OF 2017

1. SAnitY vs. The Undisputed Era vs. Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain – War Games match (NXT TakeOver: WarGames)
2. Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne – United Kingdom Championship match (NXT TakeOver: Chicago)
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega – IWGP Heavyweight Championship match (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11)
4. Aleister Black vs. The Velveteen Dream (NXT TakeOver: WarGames)
5. Jeremiah Crane vs. Killshot – Cueto Cup First Round match (Lucha Underground Season 3, Episode 24)
6. #DIY vs. The Authors of Pain – Ladder match for the NXT Tag Team Championships (NXT TakeOver: Chicago)
7. The Usos vs. The New Day – Hell in a Cell match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships (WWE Hell in a Cell 2017)
8. John Cena vs. AJ Styles – WWE Championship match (WWE Royal Rumble 2017)
9. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar – Universal Championship match (WrestleMania: The Ultimate Thrill Ride)
10. AJ Styles vs. “The Demon” Finn Bálor (WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs)