Dot Net Awards: 2019 Pro Wrestling MVP

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Dot Net readers were allowed a single vote per day for each of the 2019 awards categories. The following are the results of our poll for 2019 Pro Wrestling MVP along with our staff comments. Thanks to everyone who took part in the voting.

1. Chris Jericho (24 percent)
2. Becky Lynch (20 percent)
3. Cody (14 percent)
4. Adam Cole (14 percent)
5. Kazuchika Okada (4 percent)
Others (24 percent)
.

Anish V’s Thoughts: The MVP of 2019 Wrestling for me has to be Chris Jericho. If there’s one person whose contributions to their company cannot be understated it’s Jericho. AEW starting up is great for the Wrestling industry and the backbone of that product has been the 49-year-old who continues to churn out great matches, a solid championship run, and just a little bit of the bubbly. This is the second year in a row that I’ve given this award to Jericho, but I just can’t see a reason not to. He’s more talked about in good light than probably anybody else and the tiebreaker for me is that he’s doing this all outside of WWE. MVP has to go to the youngest ever AEW World Champion.

John’s Thoughts’s Thoughts: While Becky wasn’t as red hot as she was in 2018, I still felt like there’s an argument that she carried WWE on her back as their most popular and reliable wrestler throughout 2019. Going to live events, men, women, young men, and young women alike, Lynch still has that appeal as a badass and relatable hero. The biggest example of Becky being WWE’s MVP is WWE’s advertising being solely based around her. WWE2k, terrible game this year, still sold very well and the advertising was built all around Becky Lynch and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Go to WWE’s FOX advertising. Same story, WWE built all their advertising on Lynch and she was and still is a Raw wrestler. Becky carried the largest wrestling company in the world on her back and that’s MVP business in my book. The only other person I would put into the discussion is Sami Callihan for carrying Impact Wrestling, but you can’t argue against the merchandise, video game, and television carrying that Becky was doing.

Jeff Lutz’s Thoughts: Becky Lynch stabilized WWE’s women’s division after Ronda Rousey left and multiple others went down with injuries. She survived an awkward pairing with real-life fiancé Seth Rollins and countless repetitive interactions with Charlotte Flair, and has maintained most of her popularity into 2020.

Nick Perkins’ Thoughts: Most Valuable Player. Who has been the most valuable asset to the world of professional wrestling this year? It’s a tough question, because so many men and women have worked tirelessly to give wrestling fans a pretty excellent year of wrestling. But I believe, in a business sense at least, the most valuable players in wrestling this year were Tony Khan and, of course, his father (or at least his father’s money). Yes, it was Cody and the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho that turned the dream of AEW into a reality, complete with network television deals, pay-per-views and merchandise. But without the backing of Tony Khan and his father, none of that would have been possible. Dreams are great, but without the means, that’s all AEW ever would have been. The Khan family provided those means and the wrestling world has changed for the better because of it.

Powell’s Thoughts: Forgive Nick for missing out on the spirit of the award. While I understand his reasoning and I would be right there with him if this were a “person of the year” type of award, they’ve never given the NFL MVP Award to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, though his ego would surely welcome it. Using Nick’s logic, Vince McMahon should have been MVP in pasts year since he’s the owner of WWE. Sure, I could have asked Nick to re-write his piece and adhere to the usual guidelines, but it’s a lot more fun to be a dick about it… er, it’s helpful in terms of reminding everyone what the award is meant to represent. Chris Jericho has been the most important acquisition for AEW. He provided the company and its championship belt with instant credibility. Factor in his high profile matches in Japan and this is actually an easy decision.

WE VALUE YOUR PRIVACY

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