Award Description:

To be given to the best move made by a promotion this past year. This
could include giving somebody a push, demoting someone, firing someone
hiring someone, or anything of a promotional nature.

Previous Winners:

  1991: WWF signs Ric Flair
  1992: WCW signs Jake Roberts
  1993: WWF works with SMW & USWA
  1994: WWF pushes Bret Hart as champion again
  1995: WCW signs Sabu, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero & Dean Malenko away
  1996: WCW signs Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Ted DiBiase & Syxx
  1997: ECW uses "working agreement" with WWF
  1998: WWF books Vince McMahon into top storyline role
  1999: WWF signs Chris Jericho
  2000: WWF signs Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn

**2001**: WWF adds ECW to "invasion" angle

269 first place votes
262 second place votes
257 third place votes

 42 28 17  328   WWF adds ECW to invasion angle
 40 11  9  251   WWF buys WCW
 26 24 19  240   WWF hires Paul Heyman
 18 13 26  181   WCW books Flair vs. Sting in final main event
 12 20 14  148   WWF breaks off negotiations with Chyna
 12 22 10  146   WWF pushes Chris Benoit
  8 21 17  137   WWF pushes Rob van Dam
 12 15 14  133   WWF simulcasts RAW on final Nitro
  5 20 24  133   WWFE shuts down XFL after one year
  9  9 11   94   WWF turns Steve Austin heel
  9  7 12   90   WWF books Chris Jericho to WCW Championship win
 12  4  2   76   WWF announces Toronto Skydome as location for Wrestlemania X-8
 11  4  4   75   WWF donates $1 million to New York City mayor's office
  8  8  5   74   WWF promotes Rock vs. Austin as WrestleMania main event
  7  3 15   74   WWF produces Tough Enough
  2 10 11   62   WWF, Buff Bagwell agree on release
  5  3  2   38   New Japan pushes Yuji Nagata to main event
  3  4  5   37   WWF books Kurt Angle to WWF Championship win in hometown
  3  2  6   33   WWF release Kronik
  3  3  4   32   WWF signs Booker T
  2  5  2   29   AJPW & NJPW make Keiji Muto six crown king
  1  5  1   22   WWF accepts Jerry Lawler's resignation
  1  2  1   13   ARSION & AJW work together
  0  3  1   11   Zero-One works with NOAH
  2  0  0   10   WWF signs Rob van Dam
  2  0  0   10   PGWA title defended in other organizations
  1  1  1   10   ECW goes bankrupt
  1  0  2    9   UFC pushes Tito Ortiz as their top star
  0  1  3    9   Sakie Hasegawa, Debbie Malenko return to wrestling
  1  0  0    5   WWF improves Jakked/Metal
  1  0  0    5   WWF hires Haku
  1  0  0    5   WWF drops Alliance angle
  1  0  0    5   WCW pushes Kanyon
  1  0  0    5   WCW doesn't use Hulk Hogan
  1  0  0    5   New-Japan co-promotes with All-Japan and NOAH
  1  0  0    5   Momoe Nakanishi wins JGP
  1  0  0    5   FMW pushes Onryo
  1  0  0    5   EMLL decides to push young talent
  1  0  0    5   Chyna poses for Playboy
  0  1  1    5   WWF redesigns SmackDown! set, graphics
  0  0  2    4   WWF books Edge to King of the Ring win
  0  0  2    4   WWF airs live SmackDown! after World Trade Center attack
  0  1  0    3   WWF teases "old Steve Austin" return for Invasion
  0  1  0    3   WWF teams up with Microsoft to promote X Box
  0  1  0    3   WWF superstars appear on The Weakest Link
  0  1  0    3   WWF doesn't hire Scott Hudson & Mike Tenay
  0  1  0    3   WWF cuts back on long show-opening promos
  0  1  0    3   WWF books lengthy title run for Steve Austin
  0  1  0    3   Tetsuhiro Kuroda becomes star of FMW
  0  1  0    3   Rock does The Mummy Returns
  0  1  0    3   Perro Aguayo forced into retirement
  0  1  0    3   Osaka Pro works with New Japan
  0  1  0    3   AJW pits new vs. old
  0  0  1    2   WWF ties Undertaker with over musical acts
  0  0  1    2   WWF showcases Trish Stratus on Excess
  0  0  1    2   WWF reteams Undertaker & Kane
  0  0  1    2   WWF pushes Rhyno
  0  0  1    2   WWF punishes Saturn by having Bradshaw stiff crap out of him
  0  0  1    2   WWF makes "Divas in Hedonism" video
  0  0  1    2   WWF considers hiring Scott Hall & Kevin Nash
  0  0  1    2   WCW signs Road Warrior Animal
  0  0  1    2   NJPW signs Masahito Kakihara
  0  0  1    2   NEO makes Lioness champ
  0  0  1    2   Mr. Gannosuke and Kintaro Kanemura get back together
  0  0  1    2   Athtress Project

REJECTED - not in eligible time period

  2  1  0        WWF brings in Ric Flair
  0  1  1        WWF brings back Jerry Lawler
  0  0  1        Mr. T appears on RAW

RYAN HALL: The XFL was a joke, and the WWF being associated with it hurt
their image badly.

EDDIE BURKETT: For the WWF, buying WCW was the best way to shut the
competition down.  Another good business move was to put your two biggest
draws in one big match at the biggest show of the year.  Adding ECW to the
mix was a good way to pep up a stale invasion.

HIRO: The simulcast of Raw and Nitro was a historic moment, it got my vote
unanimously.

VIKRAM BIRRING: Thank God Chyna is gone. She never brought anything to the
table. She was too good for the women but too sorry for the men.

KEN DREILING: Adding ECW to the invasion angle was the smartest move, but
(big but) it was never capitalized on.  Chyna had nowhere for her
character to grow, so it's good they got rid of her (and she sucked too.)  
Pushing Benoit provided us some of the best wrestling on US TV in a while.

CHIP BOOTS: I shudder to think what the WWF would be like today if they
hadn't hired Paul Heyman.

SCOTT WORDEN: WWF getting Heyman was the best thing I feel this year..  
(The better started after the voting year ;) )

CHRIS BIRD: Even if you count the horrible Invasion angle against it,
you've still got to admit that the WWF purchasing WCW was a brilliant
business move. For chump change, Vince got access to a huge video library
and a group of young and hungry wrestlers. That's a bargain no matter your
opinion of the Invasion angle (which, once again, SUCKED).

CANZ: EMLL's decision to spotlight the younger talent and start phasing
out the geezers started it's hottest run in years, and brought the quality
of wrestling up to an amazing level.

DONNY L: One thing comes to mind, Chyna your Fired

JOHN C.: People like to bash the WWF in a lot of ways and they may deserve
it a lot of times but when they donated $1 million to help the people of
NYC they did the right thing.

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: The winner here *should* have been WWF buying WCW.
Unfortunately, seeing as Vince and co. completely screwed up the resultant
angle, it really can't be. It's still a good promotional move in the long
term, though, (for the WWF if not necessarily the rest of the sport) so it
still gets a vote. My top picks though are: 1. the WWF hiring Paul Heyman,
resulting in a much-needed injection of new blood into the booking team,
far improved colour commentary (sorry, King) and a (temporary :( )
emphasis on actual *wrestling* and 2. the WWF giving Chris Jericho the WCW
Title. The man's been ready for quite a while. Giving him the WCW title
should (hopefully) finally put him over the top as a legit main eventer,
something that can only help the WWF, as they need more plausible main
eventers. Now let's see him win the unification WMX ripoff at Vengeance
and I can die happy.

CHRIS LENING: I voted for the Bankruptcy of ECW because the most fun I
ever had with ECW was reading about its legal woes on the Other Arena
(Creepy shot of Heyman scowling aside). Most Wrestling Angles aren't as
interesting as Heyman's legal issues.

JEREMY SORIA: WWF simulcasting on WCW Nitro would be the first - and last
- time it would happen... but it did get its job done:  getting more
people to order WrestleMania. And although the WWF's handling of the WCW
name was just the worst job that anyone's done with it, their purchase of
WCW was a very good promtional move so that most of the wrestlers would
still be working in some capacity without interruption. Too bad they
didn't get the stars they wanted, and too bad the WWF didn't properly
groom the right people for the spotlight.

RYAN FAULCONER: Adding ECW to the WCW side in the feud with the WWF was
brilliant...for twenty minutes. Too bad they couldn't follow it up. Osaka
Pro working with New Japan was a great move because it got Takehiro
Murahama more exposure and allowed various cool Osaka Pro workers like
Kuishinbo Kamen and Gokuaku Kaiju Z Mandora to work at ringside at NJPW
events. WWF buying WCW should have been first on this list but they
bumbled the whole thing so badly.