Pro Wrestling Illustrated Awards For 2017

May 2024 ยท 3 minute read
We're at that time of year, or around that time, when pretty much anyone and anything involving wrestling journalism or news hands out its best and worst of the year awards. Of course, the PWI awards are generally viewed as being on a much higher order than others, possibly except for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards. At any rate, here's Pro Wrestling Illustrated's best of the year:

PWI Wrestler of the Year - AJ Styles
1st Runner Up - Kazuchika Okada
2nd Runner Up - Kenny Omega
3rd Runner Up - Cody

PWI Tag Team of the Year - The Young Bucks
1st Runner Up - The New Day
2nd Runner Up - Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins
3rd Runner Up - The Usos

PWI Match of the Year - Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

PWI Feud of the Year - Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
1st Runner Up - Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
2nd Runner Up - Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens
3rd Runner Up - Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman

PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year - AJ Styles
1st Runner Up - Shinsuke Nakamura
2nd Runner Up - Braun Strowman
3rd Runner Up - Kazuchika Okada

PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year - Jinder Mahal
1st Runner Up - Kevin Owens
2nd Runner Up - Roman Reigns
3rd Runner Up - Sexy Star

PWI Comeback of the Year - The Hardy Boyz
1st Runner Up - Finn Balor
2nd Runner Up - Mickie James
3rd Runner Up - Shelton Benjamin

PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year - Jinder Mahal
1st Runner Up - Braun Strowman
2nd Runner Up - Eli Drake
3rd Runner Up - Naomi

PWI Inspirational Wrestler of the Year - Christopher Daniels
1st Runner Up - John Cena
2nd Runner Up - Shane McMahon
3rd Runner Up - Mia Yim

PWI Rookie of the Year - Otis Dozovic
1st Runner Up - Ray Gonzalez Jr.
2nd runner Up - Andy Williams
3rd Runner Up - Hirai Kawato

PWI Woman of the Year - Asuka
1st Runner Up - Alexa Bliss
2nd Runner Up - Charlotte Flair
3rd Runner Up - Sienna

PWI Stanley Weston Award - Jack Brisco

A couple of surprises to this year's list for me and a few I vehemently disagree with.

To me, the Young Bucks are overrated spot monkeys while New Day and the Usos absolutely killed it in 2017 with one fantastic match after the other.

Jinder Mahal being the most improved wrestler of the year is sickening to think about. With that being said, it's easy to see how he got the votes as he literally went from lifetime jobber to winning the WWE Championship within the span of about 5 weeks.

As for Rookie of the Year, Otis Dozovic winning while Velveteen Dream didn't even rank among one of the runners up is a goddamn Greek tragedy.

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