2001 R.S.P-W Awards | Best Technical Wrestler |
Awards |
Award Description: To be given to the wrestler who has the most technical ability. The number of holds and moves you see this person do and the crispness with which the moves are executed makes his/her matches a pleasure to watch. In 1994, this award was split into three: North American, Non-North American, and overall. In 1998, it was recombined into one. Previous Winners: 1991: Bret Hart 1992: Bret Hart 1993: Bret Hart 1994: (overall/NA) Bret Hart 1994: (non-NA) Chris Benoit 1995: (overall/NA) Dean Malenko 1995: (non-NA) Chris Benoit 1996: (sweep) Dean Malenko 1997: (overall/NA) Dean Malenko 1997: (non-NA) Jushin Liger 1998: Dean Malenko 1999: Chris Benoit 2000: Chris Benoit **2001**: Chris Benoit 302 first place votes 296 second place votes 286 third place votes 149 92 14 1049 Chris Benoit 97 85 39 818 Kurt Angle 6 27 58 227 Lance Storm 6 13 41 151 William Regal 8 9 16 99 Dean Malenko 2 13 17 83 Triple H 2 6 17 62 Steve Austin 3 5 14 58 Tajiri 6 3 5 49 Minoru Tanaka 4 5 4 43 Yuji Nagata 4 4 1 34 Toshiaki Kawada 0 4 10 32 Chris Jericho 0 4 8 28 Jerry Lynn 3 4 0 27 Blue Panther 2 1 4 21 Doug Williams 0 4 4 20 Rob van Dam 1 2 4 19 Kanyon 0 4 3 18 American Dragon 2 0 0 10 Mariko Yoshida 1 1 1 10 Keiji Muto 0 2 2 10 Tazz 1 1 0 8 Super Dragon 1 0 1 7 Lexie Fyfe 0 0 3 6 Kendo Ka Shin 0 0 3 6 Eddie Guerrero 1 0 0 5 X-Pac 1 0 0 5 Mr. Gannosuke 1 0 0 5 Mitsuya Nagai 1 0 0 5 James Mason 0 1 1 5 Osamu Nishimura 0 1 1 5 Christian 0 0 2 4 Jeff Jarrett 0 1 0 3 Mike Enos 0 1 0 3 Masahito Kakihara 0 1 0 3 Jushin Liger 0 1 0 3 Hiromi Yagi 0 1 0 3 El Hijo del Santo 0 0 1 2 Undertaker 0 0 1 2 Tony Kozina 0 0 1 2 Test 0 0 1 2 Takehiro Murahama 0 0 1 2 Takashi Iizuka 0 0 1 2 Shinjiro Ohtani 0 0 1 2 Matt Hardy 0 0 1 2 Jungle Grrrl 0 0 1 2 Ivory 0 0 1 2 Hisakatsu Oya 0 0 1 2 Carlos Amano 0 0 1 2 Carl Malenko 0 0 1 2 Caliente RYAN HALL: Angle, Benoit, Austin. Angle is an Olympic gold medallist for chris'sakes EDDIE BURKETT: Benoit continued to impress until his injury. Angle and Austin still impress every time they go out there. They may not be technical each and every time they put on the tights, but they bust it out sometimes, and its great when they do. HIRO: If not for Chris Benoit's injury and the fact that Dean Malenko is semi-retired, they would've wrapped this category. VIKRAM BIRRING: The "Man of 1000 holds" is the best technical wrestler of this generation. Too bad nobody noticed. DEAN RASMUSSEN: Doug Williams is all Snakepit and carney and Britastically fabulous on the mat. He's my favorite new guy to make the tapes this year. I'm glad he's working more in the States and that British tapes are starting to become more accessible because he rules. CHIP BOOTS: Kurt has really stepped up his technical game in Benoit's absence. MARKUS: Duh, part deux. SCOTT WORDEN: Angle rules the mat.. Oh it's true, it's true.. CANZ: Blue Panther can still tie anyone in knots. There is no move this man can't turn into some crazy lucha submission. SHOCKER 2K: Benoit is a virtual lock for this spot. DONNY L: Benoit & Angle has such great technique, Lance Storm finishes third JOHN C.: After their classic match on Smackdown in May, Steve Austin said this about Chris Benoit: "He's the only person I would trust to give me that many (ten) German suplexes in a match." This is coming from a man with a surgically repaired neck. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the best wrestler of the year had that to say about Benoit then there's no denying the Crippler is the best technical wrestler. Kurt Angle comes in second with Lance Storm, the forgotten one, coming in third. JOE GENTILE: I want to know how in the hell the internet smarks are going to justify giving this award to Benoit when Angle not only was BETTER technically, but wrestled a full year to Benoit's six months??? BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: Benoit, of course. He is truly a god of technical wrestling. Just poetry in motion. Him referring to himself as the best technical wrestler in the world today is *still* a shoot. Angle gets second, and all of the above applies to him as well. Shame he decided to appropriate Benoit's chained German Suplexes, though (more to the point, shame the announcers never acknowledged it!). And if anyone doesn't get why these guys are one and two, just go and watch their match from Wrestlemania. Thank you, I knew you'd see things my way. William Regal gets third. YNAE316: It should be no surprise Chris and Lance rank high. I've always been impressed with Jerry's work and think it's a crying shame how the WWF just BURIED him after the initialthree week push. SHANE SPEAR: Now that the actual number of pinfall is thrown out the window, I can safely votes for the other side of my feud here with Chris Benoit. Again, it was just a margin of a decision as Kurt Angle could, by all means, have shared the spot which is why he obviously takes second. I used my third place spot on Deano, as I may never get to vote for him again, and the fact that when he DID wrestle this year, it was a beatuiful thing. RYAN FAULCONER: Momoe has mad hops. |
Intro General Comments Best Wrestler Best Tag Team Best Heel Best Babyface Best Worker Best Jobber Best Jobber to the Stars Best Flyer Best Technical Best Brawler Most Favourite Most Improved Most Overrated Best Gimmick Best Move Best Match Best Feud Worst Wrestler Worst Tag Team Worst Heel Worst Babyface Worst Worker Least Favourite Most Deteriorated Most Underrated Worst Gimmick Worst Move Worst Match Worst Feud Most Disappointing News item Most Obnoxious Best Second Best Announcer Best Colour Best Interviewee Best Angle Best Organization Best TV Show Best Major Show Best Promotional Move Worst Second Worst Announcer Worst Colour Worst Interviewee Worst Angle Worst Organization Worst TV Show Worst Major Show Worst Promotional Move 'netter Suggested Awards |
Main |