Male Wrestler of the Year
Christopher Jeter: I’m going with Tommaso Ciampa. The current NXT Champion turned in a phenomenal 2018 as he became arguably the best heel in all of pro wrestling. I mean, the man came out to no music for the first few months of the year, as the symphony of boos he received on a weekly basis were the only soundtracks he needed. While Ciampa isn’t known as the best worker or the best talker — though he is very good in both categories — he brought a consistency on the mic and in the ring that few matched.
Obviously, Ciampa’s stellar 12 months was buoyed by his feud with former tag team partner Johnny Gargano and their subsequent classics at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, TakeOver: Chicago II, and TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, but he also had great showings against Velveteen Dream at TakeOver: WarGames and against Aleister Black on the July 25 NXT.
Plus, it’s hard to ignore the pure vitriol he engendered from the fans, even if he has started getting the almost inevitable “cool heel” cheers over the last couple of months. On a side note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give an honorable mention to Gargano, Black, and The Velveteen Dream
Laura Mauro: Aleister Black. He’s had three of the absolute standout matches of the year for me: versus Adam Cole at TakeOver: Philadelphia, versus Andrade Cien Almas at TakeOver: New Orleans, and my MOTY pick, versus Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: Wargames II. His Steel Cage match against Gargano was also superb.
Black’s in-ring storytelling is up there with the very best, particularly his unique ability to tell entire stories in a single, well-chosen line of dialogue — no lengthy promos required. Plus he always looks 100% legit in the ring. He may have lost the NXT Championship earlier this year, but this might have been the best thing to have happened to him — he’s been able to step out of the shadow of Gargano/Ciampa and become a star in his own right.
Joe Anthony Myrick: Aleister Black. Few superstars had a better overall year in 2018 than Aleister Black. He kicked things off in style by having an early MOTY contender with Adam Cole at Takeover Philadelphia before momentarily becoming NXT Champion months later. Even after he lost the title to Tomasso Ciampa and sustained an injury, his presence was still felt for months in his absence thanks to the mystery surrounding who attacked him in the parking lot.
The fact that Black was largely absent during the tail end of summer and early fall from NXT programming and was still an active part of storylines shows just how much of an impact he had on NXT this year. With his in-ring ability being so unique and his fiery persona being unmatched, few NXT superstars this year had the same intensity, momentum, and overall improvement as Black had this past year.
Jesse Velasquez: Tommaso Ciampa. He is arguably the biggest villain on the wrestling planet (sorry Marty Scurll). He has put forth two of the top four matches of the year and been involved in the feud of the year with Johnny Gargano. His heinous attack on Johnny carried over to 2018 after his ACL injury put him on the shelf. On top of that, he won the NXT Championship in an upset over Aleister Black. Ciampa earned this award simply for being one of the last wrestlers to enter the arena without music and get booed more than ANYONE in recent memory.