2021 Wrestling Elitists Awards—The Elities
The Nobel. The Academy Award. The MacArthur Fellowship. The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award. All of them mean jack-fucking-shit compared to the prestigious, Wrestling Elitists Elities.
In their inaugural debut of The Elities, let us look back at some of the highlights of 2021—one of the greatest, most enjoyable years to be a wrestling fan in recent memory.
Men’s Wrestler of the Year—Kenny Omega
In kayfabe, Kenny Omega was AEW World Champion for the majority of the calendar year. With his belt collector persona, winning titles from Impact and AAA, he was positioned as the number one wrestler in the company. In-ring, Omega had 4 star matches with Rey Fenix; in trios matches partnered with the Good Brothers or Young Bucks against the combinations of “Hangman” Adam Page and the Dark Order, Lucha Express, and Christian Cage; and on PPV he had marquee main events that all hit 4 stars against Jon Moxley, PAC and Orange Cassidy, Christian Cage and “Hangman” Adam Page. A dream match against Bryan Danielson met impossible expectations while still leaving more on the table. Kenny accomplished this all while suffering from vertigo so severely he had to alter his in-ring style. IF this was his last year in wrestling or last in a featured, main even slot, he can walk away happy with his legacy in tack.
Women’s Wrestler of the Year—Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.
Funny how things pan out. Initially, Dr. Britt Baker was viewed as something of the AEW equivalent to Roman Reigns and his persistent face push. But the tides shifted forever after a show-stealing performance in an unsanctioned lights out match against Thunder Rosa in March. The image of her bloody face became a thing. Her coronation became official at Double or Nothing after a title win over Shida. The crowd reaction was booming, as her heel persona and on-screen relationship with Tony Schiavone caught fire. The DMD finger pointing became the most wonderfully insipid hand gesture since too-sweeting. The division revolves around her and should for the next year. Seldom does a cool heel schtick stay fresh but it just works with her.
PPV of the Year—All Out
As wrestling fans, we’ll look fondly on this year as being one of the best ever in terms of classic PPVs from top to bottom of the cards. Your mileage may vary, but All Out and Full Gear were 1A and 1B for PPV of the Year (and in consideration for best of all time). We decided to go with All Out as it felt like the start of a new era in the company’s history with all the PPV debuts—CM Punk’s first match in seven years, Ruby Soho, Suzuki walking through the forbidden door, and the double-whammy surprises of Adam Cole then Bryan Danielson after the main event. The stars will never align like they did at that time and All Out cemented this promotion will be around for the long-haul.
Rookie of the Year—Hook
He only had two matches this year but he looked like a mega star the second Action Bronson’s music hit. His presence, his superstar look, his aura landed like not only was he going to be the shit, but he already is the shit. The online reaction was euphoric, too. It was one of those brief, universal reactions amongst the IWC that all could be in agreement that something special was witnessed.
Tag-Team of the Year—FTR
They didn’t have the match of the year, but they were the glue that held the division together. In 2021, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler made tag-team wrestling seem viable and relevant and that the title belts were something to feverishly pine for. They basically can’t have an outing that’s not a 3 star match and damn-near every big outing with time-allotted gets 4 stars. Their series with the Lucha Bros each got 4 star ratings and was in consideration for angle of the year.
Angle of the Year—CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston
Keep shit simple. Kingston interrupted a backstage promo of CM Punk’s and Punk wanted an apology from Kingston. Kingston confronted Punk for judging him and not creating a locker room that was a refuge from the mental trauma Kingston was living in. In an odd role reversal, they played it like Punk was Cena to Kingston’s CM Punk a decade earlier. The feud included all sorts of great worked-shoot jabs for hardcore fans to ponder over their possible, inside-scoop deeper meaning. The match culminated in a 4 to 4.5 star match at Full Gear that felt like an epic battle when it was only all of ten minutes. Which was perfectly fitting for a feud that lasted two weeks. This feud gave a fresh, empathetic shine to Kingston and pushed Punk away from his, “gee-shucks, just-happy-to-be-here persona” intentionally put-on since his debut.
Moment of the Year—CM Punk returns
Wouldn’t it be great if he came back? What would it take for him to sign? How could he come back to an industry after the mental scars it seemingly inflicted on him? Then came rumors, subtle hints, easter eggs that this could actually happen and we could get our hopes up. AEW sold out the United Center for an event called The First Dance and it felt like no way could Tony fuck over the fans after calling it that. Punk came back and the reaction was crazier than Money in the Bank 2011. All he did was speak from the heart, swallow some tears, and share his gratitude to be back in professional wrestling. Supposedly he improvised it all, wanting to feel it out there as it happened. Thankfully there were no heel interruptions or trolling of the audience. It was an emotional welcome back and celebration, and it felt fucking amazing to see him happy again.
Cringe of the Year—Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes tried VERY HARD at Cody Rhodes this year. Like that grammatically incorrect sentence, not a whole helluva lot associated with Cody made sense. Push aside the smokescreen of if he should be a heel or face question. The aesthetic failings of Cody’s character is that he lived in his own universe separate from AEW, and every storyline revolved around him swallowing the talent and absorbing the heat of promising younger wrestlers (Ogogo, Malakai Black, Andrade). Too many of his matches and segments just had to be enhanced with overbooking, out-of-left-field spots, and felt like his every moment was governed by Russo-esque desperation grabs for attention and validation. His matches with Shaq (to fucking think that was a thing!), “celebrity” cameos from T-Pain and Rosario Dawson, and botched fire spots exposed his craven need for a top slot. Most infuriating, because the goodwill Cody accrued with fans had been pissed away for 4th-wall-breaking assurances that Cody “heard us,” thus, seemingly working himself in a shoot that this tone-deaf devolution of his character was working and needed to continue. As we’ve buttressed with our criticisms, Cody has talent. Cody is a star. He’s just not the star-level of John Cena. And that’s perfectly fine. We look forward to him taking on a new act in 2022, as again, the thing we find most cringeworthy is us having a one-direction feud with a fictional character that’s not listening. OR IS HE?!?!
Best Promo of the Year—MJF and CM Punk
Pick your best shit-talking line. The Thanksgiving episode of Dynamite was the career defining moment for MJF that he probably, legit wanted his entire wrestling career. What was your favorite insult? CM Punk looks like a meth addict, MJF is a less famous Miz, CM Punk’s eyes show that he needs to go to sleep, CM Punks persona is closer to Hustle Loyalty Respect, and finally, when Punk was selling out MSG, MJF was marking out to Rosie O’Donnell. This was easily one of the greatest promo duels of all time and something you can watch again and again and again.
all photos courtesy of allelitewrestling.com
TNT Champion of the Year—Miro
Miro’s character got a refresh as The Redeemer, and his brutal submissions of mid-card talent was an offering to his God. Simply put, nobody held the TNT Title with more dominance this year. Secondary titles in wrestling promotions historically have a fluctuating value, but Miro elevated it to the heights of the Intercontinental title of 80s WWE.
We at Wrestling Elitists want to thank you for your support this year. If you listened to our podcast, or read any of our articles, we genuinely as fuck want to tell you how much we appreciate you for putting in any time to check out our content. We are committed to increasing our output in 2022 by a tremendous amount. We will be attending major events this year (Dynamite/Rampage in Cleveland, WrestleMania in Dallas) and hope to present our evaluations to you in an honest, thought-provoking, and entertaining way. Let’s hope 2022 in general is going to be better than better by default!
