2023 Right Hook Awards

With 2023 coming to close there was a lot of stuff that happened in 2023 from good, bad, and the unthinkable this year should show the potential depth in professional wrestling. So here are the second annual Right Hook Ray awards and we start with male wrestler of the year.

Male Wrestler of the Year

Candidates: Seth Rollins, Bryan Danielson, Cody Rhodes, Will Ospreay, MJF, Gunther, Roman Reigns, CM Punk

Winner: Gunther

This award was extremely difficult to decide on because every candidate had an excellent case this year. Rollins making a new world heavyweight title meaningful in a short period of time while being the workhorse, Danielson having multiple match of year options in what may be his last year full-time, Will Ospreay being well Will Ospreay, MJF carrying a promotion on his back making the best of some less than desirable situations, Cody Rhodes becoming the mega star many us have been expecting, Roman Reigns in limited appearances still being the biggest box office name in the game, and CM Punk despite circumstances being the ultimate needle mover.

All that being considered but Gunther and his consistency along with his reign as Intercontinental champion revived that championship and was for the year the title on Monday nights. Breaking Honky Tonk Man’s long reign of 454 days, Gunther also had stellar matches to legitimize his incredible reign with a triple threat match at WrestleMania 39 against Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, followed by some awesome matches against Chad Gable, Tommaso Ciampa, and The Miz was the deciding factor for him win the year’s award so salute to our ring general who does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

Female Wrestler of the Year

Candidates: Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch, Toni Storm, Athena, Trinity Fatu, Iyo Sky

Winner: Rhea Ripley

All due respect to other ladies up for this award but this was absolutely an easy decision to see who won this award. Ripley absolutely dominated the year in and out the ring being the leader of a group that was very prominent on WWE TV this year with Judgement Day. Mami always on top was a real thing all year especially with her main event match at WrestleMania 39 against Charlotte Flair being the crowning moment certainly made 2023 the beginning of something special for Ripley’s career while displaying her as the next big female superstar.

Male Breakout Wrestler of the Year

Candidates: Dominik Mysterio, Swerve Strickland, LA Knight, Jey Uso, Trick Williams, Kyle Fletcher

Winner: Dominik Mysterio & LA Knight

I absolutely coped out here with this award because there was no way to pick one winner for this award which I guess is a good thing if you love wrestling. Both Knight and Mysterio completely broke out this year where Mysterio began one of the most hated people in wrestling everywhere he went, Knight saved his career from a horrible gimmick that would of ended his career to becoming one of the most popular wrestlers in the world in what felt like record time.

Mysterio became NXT North American champion and for a moment made NXT appointment TV against some AEW TV and quietly worked on all three WWE shows (Raw, Smackdown, NXT) certainly was a major part of the success with Judgement Day. Then there was Knight who absolutely stepped up every time he had to even standing toe to toe and getting the respect from the great John Cena confirmed his rise and made him a main event player this year which made it impossible to pick between both wrestlers.

Female Breakout Wrestler of the Year

Candidates: Tiffany Stratton, Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Zoey Stark, Kilynn King

Winner: Tiffany Stratton

This is new award to be fair to the ladies, who may have not had a great year because injuries some wrestlers sadly and some ladies like Toni Storm could have certainly been in this category but there were other young and promising bright spots (In a non-sexual way folks) that deserve some acknowledgement. Julia Hart certainly improved her game and stock this year with her work, becoming the star of her group the house of Black, and becoming TBS champion makes a compelling case but NXT star Tiffany Stratton beats Hart by the slightest margin. Her return this year showed a major step up in her game in the ring and with her character even though I’m not a huge fan of it but it’s working. However, winning the NXT Women’s title and having a strong feud with the man Becky Lynch was a big vote of confidence in her and the difference maker in winning this award.

Tag Team of the Year

Candidates: FTR, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Judgement Day (Finn Balor & Damian Priest), ABC, Better Than You BAY BAY, The Gunns, The Usos

Winner: Judgement Day (Finn Balor & Damian Priest)

Full transparency I almost gave this award to the Gunns who have certainly improved this year and would have absolutely earned it, but Balor and Priest are the winners. 2023 was banner year for Judgement Day where even with Priest winning money in the bank the team of him and Balor was a strong part on Monday nights that had some good matches. FTR are still the best tag team in the world and certainly did the lord’s work with the bad creative and whatever else in AEW bur that kept them from being the winners this year of no fault of their own.

Promotion of the Year

Candidates: WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT, NXT

Winner: WWE

Another absolute easy decision here when it comes to the best promotion, the WWE absolutely kicked ass this year even with distractions from the Vince McMahon scandal, joining forces with UFC to create TKO group holdings only made them more powerful and separating themselves from all the other promotions out there. The Triple H led regime is what many have been waiting for and has brought back some fans, as much as wrestling’s social media wants AEW to win I work in reality, common sense, and growing appeal the WWE is the only choice to be promotion of the year.

NEEDS A BREAK!

Candidates: Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, Tony Khan, Billy Corgan, CM Punk

Winner: Jon Moxley

This award is a little snarky, but I feel I’m not alone in saying that there are certain stars that would greatly benefit from a prolonged vacation. Like wrestling great Jim Cornette says “How can I miss you if you don’t go away” is one of the realest things ever said and no one else should take those words more seriously than AEW’s ace Jon Moxley.

This year has certainly made me pause this part of Moxley’s career with his extremely dumb statements and actions in the ring should make us all scream “GO HOME AND TAKE A BREAK PLEASE!” This sentiment can certainly apply to Jericho and Khan. Now I love wild thing and the entrance as much as everyone else but now when I hear it I cringe because it means that we’re about to see the same old and now very stale Moxley match and presentation which should be enough to tell Mox to step back, relax do some fishing perhaps with his little one, and take care of himself more importantly so we can get the Jon Moxley we want to enjoy. So hopefully in 2024 we see the end of the Blackpool Combat Club and Moxley is forced to take a break where come summertime he can return refreshed and start something new.

Best Faction

Candidates: Judgment Day, Damage CTRL, Bullet Club Gold, The Bloodline, Mogul Embassy

Winner: Judgement Day

Judgement Day certainly was not in the best place to start 2023 but after WrestleMania 39 things finally came together for the group. Rhea Ripley becoming Smackdown Women’s champion (Now Women’s World Champion), Dominik Mysterio winning the NXT North American title, then Finn Balor & Damian Priest winning the undisputed tag titles certainly made the faction the face of Monday nights if not the whole company for most of 2023.

With the money in the bank briefcase still in Damian Priest’s hands means there is more room for gold in the group, if they can stick together and not crumble in 2024 would be the perfect thing to cap off Judgement’s Day rise to the top.

Show of the Year

Candidates:  2023 Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania 39, WWE Survivor Series: War Game, WWE Money in the Bank, AEW Revolution, AEW WrestleDream, AEW ALL IN 2023, WWE Backlash Puerto Rico

Winner: WWE Money in the Bank

I tried to not go the cliché route and picked Wrestlemania 39 which was a great show. But the 3 shows I came down to ended up being Wrestlemania 39, the Royal Rumble and Money in the bank now before the internet melts down there is no Anti-AEW narrative here, yes I have been incredibly critical of their product but there were some matches that were great from all of the nominated shows but was not a good show from start to finish compare to the final 3 choices sorry not sorry.

Money in the Bank was quietly good and possibly overlooked but one thing with me that I like or prefer is not having long marathon shows and/or matches (hint AEW) and all the matches on that show were good or at least kept your interest with the exception of the women’s tag title match of course. Both MITB matches were good even with LA Knight and Bayley falling short, Gunther had an impressive outing against Matt Riddle, Cody and Dominik had a fun match, John Cena makes a surprise appearance where he began pushing for a WrestleMania in London finally, Rollins and Balor put on another stellar match in their long history, then the  “Bloodline Civil War” tag match with the Usos against Reigns & Solo overdelivered while putting Jey Uso firmly in that main even scene going forward.

Simply put if you wanted a cliché winner then it would been Wrestlemania 39 for everything that happened that weekend for WWE in and out of the ring, but I went the other way and went with my heart here and MITB in London was my show of the year.

Return/Debut of the Year

Candidates: Trinity Fatu debuts at Impact on 5/4/23

Edge debuts at AEW WrestleDream

Carlito returns at WWE Backlash Puerto Rico

John Cena returns at WWE Money in the Bank

Mercedes Mone debuts at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 2023

The Rock returns to Smackdown on 9/15/23

Randy Orton & CM Punk return at WWE Survivor Series: War Games 2023

Winner: Orton & Punk return at Survivor Series: War Games

Sure, you can say its recency bias but without question the biggest debut or return this year was at this past Survivor Series where Randy Orton returned to the ring after being gone for almost 2 years which would win by itself but then the unthinkable happened CM Punk return to WWE officially telling the world Hell had frozen over. Honestly if those returns did not happen at Survivor Series it would come down to The Rock or Carlito as the winner but for the timing, the excitement, and moment meant for WWE Orton and Punk coming back is the obvious choice.

Match of the Year

Candidates: Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega (Wrestle Kingdom 1/4/23)

Bryan Danielson vs. MJF (Iron man match at AEW Revolution)

Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn (WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber)

Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair (Smackdown Women’s Championship Night 1 WrestleMania 39)

Kevin Owen & Sami Zayn vs. The Usos (Undisputed Tag Team Championship Night 1 WrestleMania 39)

Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes (WWE Undisputed Universal Championship Night 2 WrestleMania 39)

Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest (San Juan Street Fight at WWE Backlash)

FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & Juice Robinson) (2 out of 3 Falls on AEW Collision 7/15/23)

CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe (The “Real” AEW World Championship at AEW ALL IN London)

Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks (Strap Match at AEW All Out)

Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr (AEW WrestleDream)

Winner: Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks (Strap Match at AEW All Out)

There was no way to trim the candidates down to five so I ended up with eleven (laughs) this was incredibly hard because every match was deserving of this award which again should be a positive thing for us wrestling fans regardless of your preferences or side you root for. Yet I had to dwindle it down to five firm choices which 2 of the five included Bryan Danielson, and shockingly 3 of the choices were from AEW! 

In the end I went with Danielson vs. Starks over Punk vs. Joe at ALL IN, Reigns vs, Zayn at Elimination Chamber, Ripley vs. Flair Night 1 of WrestleMania, and Danielson vs. Sabre Jr, which I had dreamed of and greatly enjoyed. Because of all the circumstances surrounding that weekend and week of All Out the strap match between Danielson and Starks absolutely made that very mediocre show overshadowed by backstage drama, decisions, and plain garbage slightly tolerable to sit through. Basically, a cold match made the day before felt like an old school blood feud match that was incredible and for that I had to pick it as match of the year for 2023.

2023 was an incredible and unpredictable year where the phrase “Never say never” and “Expect the unexpected” were absolutely true making professional wrestling the most interesting it has been for quite some time. Hopefully 2024 will be a continuation and then some where maybe just maybe more people will come back to watch, and more memorable moments can happen making for a fun time to be a fan of the sport and its entertainment.