January 21, 2008 Observer Newsletter: 2007 Observer Awards issue

Last year’s race was historical, and this year’s was predictable. The usual rule of thumb for this award is that the winner is a world champion who is a top draw and a good worker. Last year saw Mistico become the first non-heavyweight to win, and first Luchador to win, in a year where eight of the top 12 finishers were non-heavyweights. This year, of the 15 top finishers, 12 are heavyweights (although Shawn Michaels would be considered a heavyweight and Bryan Danielson is booked like a promotion would book a heavyweight with Mistico as the other). It’s a different race when you take the MMA fighters who are generally non-heavies, out of the mix.

Every year has a theme, and for the awards, this was a year of landslides. Nearly every category was predictable, and results weren’t close. Part of the reason is that in most categories, for a number of reasons, there were so few true candidates.

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