Results - 2005 PPH Pro-Wrestling Awards

[Zach Arnold]

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling MVP

Winner: Satoshi Kojima (40.3% - 23 votes)
Runner-up: Kenta Kobashi (38.5% - 22 votes)
Third place: Razor Ramon HG (7% - 4 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Technical Wrestler

Winner: Minoru Suzuki (28% - 14 votes)
Runner-up: Yuji Nagata (22% - 11 votes)
Third place: KENTA (20% - 10 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Most Damaged Goods

Winners: Mitsuharu Misawa & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (35.8% - 19 votes)
Third place: Hiroshi Tanahashi (13.2% - 7 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Wrestler of the Year

Winner: Riki Choshu (55.1% - 27 votes)
Runners-up: Arashi & Ryushi Yanagisawa (12.2% - 6 votes each)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Foreign Wrestler (Best Gaijin)

Winner: Brock Lesnar (30.7%, 16 votes)
Runner-up: Ricky Marvin (20.7%, 11 votes)
Third place: Jamal (18.8%, 10 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Tag Team of the Year

Winner: KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji (32%, 17 votes)
Runner-up: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (22.6%, 12 votes)
Third place: Minoru Suzuki & Naomichi Marufuji (15%, 8 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling: Fighting Spirit Award

Winner: KENTA (28.8%, 15 votes)
Runner-up: Katsuyori Shibata (23%, 12 votes)
Third place: Kenta Kobashi (13.4%, 7 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Newcomer/Rookie of the Year

Winner: Go Shiozaki (63.6%, 35 votes)
Runner-up: Razor Ramon HG (20%, 11 votes)
Third place: Yinling the Erotic Terrorist (10.9%, 6 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Tag Team of the Year

Winner: Matt Morgan & Mark Jindrak (29.1%, 14 votes)
Runner-up: Kenzo & Hiroko Suzuki (20.8%, 10 votes)
Third place: Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli (18.7%, 9 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Promotion

Winner: NOAH (68.9% - 40 votes)
Runner-up: New Japan (13.7% - 8 votes)
Third place: Hustle (6.8% - 4 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Matchmaker

Winner: Misawa, Nakata, and Momota of NOAH (61.8% - 34 votes)
Runners-up: New Japan management & Sakakibara of Hustle (12.7% - 7 votes each)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Promotion of the Year

Winner: New Japan (62.2%, 33 votes)
Runner-up: Hustle (18.8%, 10 votes)
Third place: NOAH (9.4%, 5 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Matchmaker

Winner: Inoki, Chono, and New Japan management (65.3% - 34 votes)
Runner-up: Misawa, Nakata, and Momota of NOAH (17.3% - 9 votes)
Third place: Tanigawa & K-1 of WRESTLE-1 (9.6% - 5 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling Heavyweight Match of the Year

Winner: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki (11/5 Nippon Budokan - NOAH. 46.6%, 21 votes)
Runner-up: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Satoshi Kojima (2/16 Tokyo, Yoyogi National Stadium Gym II - All Japan. 20%, 9 votes)
Honorable Mention: Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (7/18 Tokyo Dome - NOAH)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Jr. Heavyweight Match

Winner: KENTA vs. SUWA (9/18 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 37.5%, 18 votes)
Runner-up: KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (7/18 Tokyo Dome, NOAH. 29.1%, 14 votes)
Third place: Marufuji & KENTA vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita (5/8 Differ Cup. 16.6%, 8 votes)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Match of the Year

Winner: Charlie Haas & Mark Jindrak vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Kendo Ka Shin (10/8 Tokyo Dome, New Japan. 29.1%, 14 votes.)
Runner-up: Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito (4/24 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 25%, 12 votes.)
Third place: Misawa vs. Tenryu (11/5 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 14.5%, 7 votes.) and Bob Sapp vs. Giant Bernard (8/4 Ryogoku Kokugikan, WRESTLE-1. 14.5%, 7 votes.)

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Most Overrated Match of the Year

Winner: Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2/20 Tokyo, Ryogoku Kokugikan, New Japan. 38% - 19 votes.)
Runner-up: SUWA vs. KENTA (9/18 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 16% - 8 votes.)
Third place: Takeshi Rikio vs. Kenta Kobashi (3/5 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 14% - 7 votes.)

[timlivingston]

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling MVP

Winner: Satoshi Kojima (40.3% - 23 votes)
Runner-up: Kenta Kobashi (38.5% - 22 votes)
Third place: Razor Ramon HG (7% - 4 votes)

Nice to see Kobashi get a run there at the end, not sure if he would give Kojima a run for his money, but he did.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Technical Wrestler

Winner: Minoru Suzuki (28% - 14 votes)
Runner-up: Yuji Nagata (22% - 11 votes)
Third place: KENTA (20% - 10 votes)

Can't believe NAGATA was second, but Suzuki winning is what should have happened.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Most Damaged Goods

Winners: Mitsuharu Misawa & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (35.8% - 19 votes)
Third place: Hiroshi Tanahashi (13.2% - 7 votes)

No surprise that this was a tie, as both of them have really fallen off this year.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Wrestler of the Year

Winner: Riki Choshu (55.1% - 27 votes)
Runners-up: Arashi & Ryushi Yanagisawa (12.2% - 6 votes each)

Yeah, that's about right. Next.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Foreign Wrestler (Best Gaijin)

Winner: Brock Lesnar (30.7%, 16 votes)
Runner-up: Ricky Marvin (20.7%, 11 votes)
Third place: Jamal (18.8%, 10 votes)

I'm REALLY surprised that Bernard didn't eve get up in the Top 3. Jamal may have made it to the CC Finals, but Bernard was treated as a big deal from the moment he started up in All Japan. Interesting category, here.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Tag Team of the Year

Winner: KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji (32%, 17 votes)
Runner-up: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (22.6%, 12 votes)
Third place: Minoru Suzuki & Naomichi Marufuji (15%, 8 votes)

Well, I guess that makes sense, but MaruSuzuki were really good when they were together.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling: Fighting Spirit Award

Winner: KENTA (28.8%, 15 votes)
Runner-up: Katsuyori Shibata (23%, 12 votes)
Third place: Kenta Kobashi (13.4%, 7 votes)

Nice to see KENTA on top here. We really need to do a "Biggest A**hole" category so that Shibata gets 99% of the votes.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Newcomer/Rookie of the Year

Winner: Go Shiozaki (63.6%, 35 votes)
Runner-up: Razor Ramon HG (20%, 11 votes)
Third place: Yinling the Erotic Terrorist (10.9%, 6 votes)

No surprise here, as Go really showed a lot of improvement.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Tag Team of the Year

Winner: Matt Morgan & Mark Jindrak (29.1%, 14 votes)
Runner-up: Kenzo & Hiroko Suzuki (20.8%, 10 votes)
Third place: Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli (18.7%, 9 votes)

Yikes. Tag team wrestling SUCKED for heavyweights this year.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Promotion

Winner: NOAH (68.9% - 40 votes)
Runner-up: New Japan (13.7% - 8 votes)
Third place: Hustle (6.8% - 4 votes)

Why is New Japan second?

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Matchmaker

Winner: Misawa, Nakata, and Momota of NOAH (61.8% - 34 votes)
Runners-up: New Japan management & Sakakibara of Hustle (12.7% - 7 votes each)

Why is New Japan second?

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Promotion of the Year

Winner: New Japan (62.2%, 33 votes)
Runner-up: Hustle (18.8%, 10 votes)
Third place: NOAH (9.4%, 5 votes)

Why is NOAH third?

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Matchmaker

Winner: Inoki, Chono, and New Japan management (65.3% - 34 votes)
Runner-up: Misawa, Nakata, and Momota of NOAH (17.3% - 9 votes)
Third place: Tanigawa & K-1 of WRESTLE-1 (9.6% - 5 votes)

HOW is NOAH second here? Amazing. These really show the inconsistency of voting here.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling Heavyweight Match of the Year

Winner: Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki (11/5 Nippon Budokan - NOAH. 46.6%, 21 votes)
Runner-up: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Satoshi Kojima (2/16 Tokyo, Yoyogi National Stadium Gym II - All Japan. 20%, 9 votes)
Honorable Mention: Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (7/18 Tokyo Dome - NOAH)

Awwww...we just won't get rid of that pesky Dome match, will we?

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Best Jr. Heavyweight Match

Winner: KENTA vs. SUWA (9/18 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 37.5%, 18 votes)
Runner-up: KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (7/18 Tokyo Dome, NOAH. 29.1%, 14 votes)
Third place: Marufuji & KENTA vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita (5/8 Differ Cup. 16.6%, 8 votes)

Rightful winner.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Worst Match of the Year

Winner: Charlie Haas & Mark Jindrak vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Kendo Ka Shin (10/8 Tokyo Dome, New Japan. 29.1%, 14 votes.)
Runner-up: Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito (4/24 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 25%, 12 votes.)
Third place: Misawa vs. Tenryu (11/5 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 14.5%, 7 votes.) and Bob Sapp vs. Giant Bernard (8/4 Ryogoku Kokugikan, WRESTLE-1. 14.5%, 7 votes.)

Rightful winner, there. Rikio/Saito wasn't Rikio's fault, though. Misawa DID make a mistake in booking Saito as his first opponent.

2005 Japanese Pro-Wrestling's Most Overrated Match of the Year

Winner: Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2/20 Tokyo, Ryogoku Kokugikan, New Japan. 38% - 19 votes.)
Runner-up: SUWA vs. KENTA (9/18 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 16% - 8 votes.)
Third place: Takeshi Rikio vs. Kenta Kobashi (3/5 Nippon Budokan, NOAH. 14% - 7 votes.)[/quote]

Wow...interesting choices. Didn't really see the winner as overrated, or the 3rd place winner. Surprised the Dome match didn't make the cut.

[Captain Monster C4]

The voting isn't inconsistent for NOAH because although they were by far the best promotion again, there were still a lot problems the company gave itself (Misawa in general and Rikio's title run).

The problem with Misawa is the same as that with Vince McMahon, he thinks he's infallible. Why else was Ogawa champion in 2002 and Misawa himself go over Kawada AGAIN at Destiny. Kobashi's title reign may have started to get little stale by the time he did drop the belt, but no one was clamoring for Rikio vs. Saito.

What makes things worse is that after a decent 2004, Misawa is all but finished as a credible draw and performer. No one but Misawa himself and a few of his die-hard fans living in denial wanted Kawada lose. Misawa has also become a liability to himself and others in the ring due to his weight and eyesight problems. Misawa is going blind from all the years of abuse he's taken and his bloated frame almost ended the career of the company's top draw last month.

Despite the Rikio experiment, NOAH still has same problems that have plagued it since 2002 (an aging main event roster and future prospects being to inexperienced or unable at the present to connect with the fans). Once Kobashi and Akiyama gone, the promotion is screwed.

[Bionic J]

Who actually thought for even 2 seconds that Kawada was going over at the Dome?

No, really, I'm dying to hear the explanation behind this one. "Let's bring in a guy from another company, that we know is not coming back, that the booker doesn't even personally like, and then we'll job the booker to that guy!"

Beyond the kayfabe "I swear I'm not a mark, but Kawada losing upset me", I've yet to hear a logical reason that Kawada would have won this match. And no, becsue "he's cuurently bettter" than Misawa isn't a logical reason in this business. It never has been, and never will be.

[Zach Arnold]

Kawada winning would have set up matches with Kobashi, Taue, and Rikio. That's why people assumed he could win - because it would have been smart business.

It didn't happen. That's wrestling.

[Bionic J]

*If* you had a scenario where you had Kawada's word that he'd be back to do more shows, then absolutely Kawada should go over Misawa, and then you can do whatever you like with him. Add to your above list of opponents Akiyama, certainly for the fans with a memory it would have been interesting to see how their match now would have been different from in the past.

But the moment it became clear that wasn't going to happen (and for us on the outside looking in, that only comes in hindsight) then there was no way I can see Kawada going over there.

[El Fiasco]

Kojima sucks and his match with Kawada was bad. Lesnar as gaijin MVP is somewhat terrifying as well.

Other than that I have no problem with the voting results.

[Bionic J]

^^^

I was going to mention that (both points), but I figured attacking Kawada losing at the dome filled my "grumpy old man of the village" quotient for the day.

Though on the Kojima front, the angle with Suwama has some decent potential. I haven't seen a ton of Suwama but he strikes me as very good for someone relatively new to the business.

[El Fiasco]

Yeah I like Suwama. Ever since he debuted he's been using the grumpy old big man gimmick (similar to Jumbo and Tenryu), which makes him rather unique among Young Lions. He's not a great worker and could use some charisma but he could potentially be a top guy one day.

His match with Minoru Suzuki at Wrestle-1 is a lot of fun, despite being a bit of a squash by Suzuki. Still, anyone who ever wanted to see a guy mockingly straighten out Kyohei Wada's shirt collar when getting heat from the ref for not releasing a choke, well, then this is your match.

[Bionic J]

"His match with Minoru Suzuki at Wrestle-1 is a lot of fun, despite being a bit of a squash by Suzuki."

That was an interesting match. Suzuki essentially did what he's good at (being a complete jerk) and in many ways I thought he even went out of his way to make Suwama look bad. But the match still works. Still, I felt Suzuki should have given Suwama a bit more to do, besides selling like crazy. But that's Minoru Suzuki for you.

[MaSuTa]

I only object to one thing, and that is the Worst Wrestler of the Year winner.

Not only was Riki Choshu not nearly as terrible as he's been in past-prime years, but he is nowhere near the ugliest wrestler on that list. People here have only voted Riki Choshu out of discrimination and misinformation. Riki is, with the exception of Gen'ichiro Tenryu, the best wrestler over 45 today, without question. And his slicked back hair, and svelt attire (only Riki can truly wear a yellow headband) inside and outside of the ring remain one of the standbys of the wrestling business. There are plenty of wrestlers with strange lightning like pants, like Arashi and you could not differentiate between them. However, there is but one Riki Choshu, and but one Riki attire. And Arashi's head is by no means fit for toy production. Arashi is not for children, but as this photo shows:



Riki Choshu is for everyone.

So, in protest of these awards, I'm going to end every post for the next six months with a random fact about Riki Choshu. Excluding this one.

The people must be educated.

~MST