PW.C’s Worst of 2018
At the end of each year, the staff of ProWrestling.Cool gets together and argues for several hours until we have our winners and runners-up for the year-end awards. This year Owen and John were joined by Trace Evans, our correspondent from Seattle, New Japan, to help us out. Each award has a “winner” and two runners-up, with the exception of Worst Match of the Year which receives an ordered Top 10 list. If you’d like to hear how we got to these choices, we have a deliberations podcast. Patreon subscribers can see the full lists we worked down from here.
MOST EGREGIOUS MISUSE OF TALENT
Braun Strowman
Candace LeRae
The Raw Tag Team Championship & Division [winner]
WORST NEWCOMER
Antonio Cueto
Jake Strong [winner]
Kona Reeves
WORST SHOW
Raw [winner]
Camp WWE
Any A-Block Show from the G1
DOT BULL$#!% MOMENT [Biggest Bummer of 2018]
Not Playing Vampiro’s Music (TripleMania XXVI)
Fabian Eichner and Street Profits win championship gold… in Evolve (Evolve 114) [winner]
Bullet Club OG runs in on everything (G1 Climax 28)
WORST NEW TREND
Performing literal propaganda for Saudi Arabia [winner]
New Japan issuing copyright takedown notices on YouTube/Twitter
No-selling ultimate moves
WORST PROMO
“But can you do THIS?” (NBC Upfronts)
Tommy Dreamer loves MLK (MLW Fusion, episode 22)
That Bobby Lashley’s family thing that Sami Zayn did, what the fuck/The promo that made John quit watching Raw and never look back (Raw 5/21/18) [winner]
WORST FEUD/STORYLINE
Bayley vs. Sasha Banks
Dean Ambrose’s heel turn [winner]
WWE World Cup
WORST NON-IN-RING PERFORMER
Vampiro [winner]
Jim Ross
Vince McMahon
WORST TAG TEAM/STABLE
The Forgotten Sons [winner]
The B-Team
Guerillas of Destiny
WORST FEMALE WRESTLER
Brie Bella
Nia Jax [winner]
Ronda Rousey
WORST MALE WRESTLER
Austin Aries
Kona Reeves [winner]
Michael Elgin
WORST EVENT
TripleMania XXVI
The Saudi Arabia Double Header (Greatest Royal Rumble/Crown Jewel) [winner]
Raw 25
WORST MATCH
- Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Natalya vs. The Riott Squad – WWE Raw 11/5/18
- Shane McMahon & The Miz vs. The Vegas Boys – WWE SmackDown 12/11/18
- AOP (Akam & Rezar, w/ Drake Maverick) vs. The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro) w/ The Big Show (featuring Special Guest Dickhead Enzo Amore and Drake’s pissed pants) – WWE Survivor Series
- Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale – G1 Climax 28
- Kassius Ohno vs. The Velveteen Dream – NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
- Dolph Ziggler vs. Shane McMahon (World Cup Finals) – WWE Crown Jewel
- Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga – G1 Climax 28
- Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE Universal Championship Match) – WWE Crown Jewel
- Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz (#1 Contender’s Match for the WWE Championship) – WWE Super Show-Down
- Alex Jebailey vs. Michael Nakazawa – CEO x NJPW: When Worlds Collide
