AEW Dominates “Wrestling Observer Newsletter” Awards, WWE Almost Shut Out
AEW dominated the 2021 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, which are voted on by the readers of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The awards were based on the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021.
Kenny Omega won the "Wrestler Of The Year" award for a second time. Omega headlined every AEW pay-per-view in 2021, and each one drew a better buy rate than the same event the year prior. Roman Reigns came in a distant second place. Reigns spent the entire year as WWE Universal Champion, and headlined the two shows with the biggest gates in WrestleMania 37 and SummerSlam 2021.
In other "Category A" awards, AEW won "Promotion Of The Year", AEW Dynamite won "Best Pro Wrestling Show", The Young Bucks won "Tag Team of the Year", MJF was voted "Best On Interviews" and The Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros at AEW All Out won "Pro Wrestling Match Of The Year". The only "Category A" award not won by AEW was "Most Outstanding Wrestler" (Shingo Takagi).
In the "Category B" awards, AEW dominated the positive awards, while WWE almost swept the negative ones. AEW President Tony Khan won "Best Booker" and "Promoter Of The Year". Some of the other awards that AEW nabbed included "Best Pro Wrestling Draw" (CM Punk), "Feud Of The Year" (Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page), "Most Improved" (Tay Conti), "Most Charismatic" (CM Punk), "Bryan Danielson Best Technical Wrestler" (Bryan Danielson), "Bruiser Brody Memorial Award Best Brawler" (Jon Moxley), "Best Flying Wrestler" (Rey Fenix), "Rookie Of The Year" (Jade Cargill), "Best Television Announcer" (Excalibur), "Best Major Wrestling Show" (AEW All Out 2021), and "Best Wrestling Maneuver" (Adam Page's Buckshot Lariat).
WWE mostly won the negative "Category B" awards, including "Worst Promotion Of The Year" (WWE), "Worst Television Show" (WWE RAW), "Worst Major Wrestling Show" (WWE Survivor Series 2021), "Worst Television Announcer" (Corey Graves), "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" (WWE firing wrestlers during the pandemic while setting profit records), "Worst Match Of The Year" (Damien Priest vs. The Miz "Zombie" match at WWE Backlash), "Worst Feud Of The Year" (Randy Orton vs. The Fiend vs. Alexa Bliss) and "Worst Gimmick" (Alexa Bliss).
WWE did win "Best Gimmick" (Roman Reigns), as well as "Best Non-Wrestler" (Paul Heyman). Ricochet won "Most Underrated", while EVIL nabbed "Most Overrated".