Wrestling Observer Names 2016 Award Winners

The Wrestling Observer has announced its 2016 Award Winners. The awards are voted on by select members of the pro wrestling industry and longtime readers of the Observer. Dave Meltzer is the leading authority in wrestling news and we strongly suggest you consider subscribing at f4wonline.com.

Here are some of the key wrestling based awards given out this year:

2016 Award Winners

Wrestler of the Year (Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award): AJ Styles

Styles was 1 of only 3 WWE wrestlers to crack the top 10 in this category (Kevin Owens and Nakamura were ranked 9 and 10 respectively).  Technically both Styles and Nakamura were in NJPW to start the year as well.

The Observer awards have been very high on NJPW in recent years, and the majority of the top wrestlers in this category were from there.

Kazuchika Okada received the second most amount of votes, followed by Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega.

Most Outstanding Wrestler: AJ Styles
This award, which is more based on pure wrestling ability, again went to AJ Styles this year. Kenny Omega came in at #2 with Okada at #3.

Feud of the Year: Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz

Hard to deny the most profitable rivalry in MMA the top spot in this category. #2 in the voting was John Cena vs. AJ Styles. #3 was Los Ingobernables vs CHAOS, and #4 was Charlotte vs Sasha Banks.

Tag Team of the Year: the Young Bucks

The Bucks seem to be chasing this award all year long, so they should be happy. The Revival and DIY occupied the #2 and #3 spots in the voting.

Most Improved: Matt Riddle

The MMA fighter turned pro-wrestler Matt Riddle has a lot of buzz around him at the moment. It might not be long until we see him perform on a larger stage. The Miz, Juice Robinson and Alexa Bliss were the top vote-getters behind Riddle.

Bryan Danielson Award for Best Technical Wrestler: Zack Sabre Jr.

This is the first year the award has been named after Bryan, and it goes to Zack Sabre Jr. He performed in the cruiserweight classic, debuted in NJPW, and has been part of a growing European scene. He’ll take on Shibata on Monday for the British Heavyweight Championship on New Japan World.

Best Flying Wrestler: Will Ospreay

British wrestlers take the best technical and best high flying awards this year. That is a testament to how many wrestlers the area has been delivering as of late.

A few other awards worth mentioning:

• Most overrated: Roman Reigns
• Most underrated: Cesaro
• Promotion of the year: New Japan Pro Wrestling
• Match of the Year: Tanahashi vs. Okada from WrestleKingdom 10- January 4th 2016
• Best Non-Wrestler: Dario Cueto

And last but certainly not least the award for “Best Gimmick” this year went to “Broken” Matt Hardy.