The 2018 Golden Headlock Awards
To close out the year, we at The Scrum Sports bring your our staff picks for the year’s best, and worst, from WWE (including NXT, NXT UK and 205 Live). After ample deliberation, we narrowed down our finalists and ultimately our winners of each Golden Headlock Award for 2018.
Most improved superstar of 2018: Becky Lynch
David: Becky Lynch is not only The Man, but probably the reason why the McMahons are “listening to fans”. No contest here.
Superstar that creative/booking failed the most in 2018: Tie between Andrade Cien Almas and The Revival
Trevor: No Flips, Just Fists, No Pushes either… such a damn shame.
David: Almas was one of THE HOTTEST NXT call ups and is now stuck in the upper mid-card. This man had close to 5 Star matches in NXT. Now, he’s relegated to this.
Gene: I think that could be said for every pick on this list. This was the toughest one to decide, since Vince and company ruined them all.
Best return to WWE in-ring action in 2018: Daniel Bryan
David: Daniel Bryan’s journey back to the ring is amazing. Also, the fact he can turn from face to heel, without missing a step, is immeasurable.
Gene: Daniel Bryan is smart. He knows that you won’t get a strong push in this company unless you’re a heel.
Best commentator of 2018: Corey Graves
Gene: Though I was outvoted, I will say that if you don’t watch any of the NXTs or 205 Live, then Graves is the least annoying of the main roster announcers.
Trevor: Graves is the man and in my opinion pushes Lawler as one of the best behind the desk!
David: I would have to go with Graves, to much of Gene’s disapproval. He’s on both main roster shows & tries to imbue a truly entertaining heel persona, even with backstage (Vince and Kevin Dunn) yapping in his ear.
Marquis: Graves to me is legit insufferable. I hear him and all I hear is Mark Madden in WCW. It’s like the commentary crew can’t go off the prompt for anything.
Best merchandise/paraphernalia of 2018: Becky Lynch’s Twitter page
Gene: Was this even a contest?
David: Again, just like Becky Lynch’s current dominance in WWE, this is no contest. The Man is VICIOUS on Twitter, probably making Stone Cold and The Rock blush.
Biggest DUB-TEE-EFF moment of 2018: Ricochet’s double rotation moonsault off the top of the War Games cage
Joel: It was a thing of unparalleled beauty.
Marquis: Ricochet is a true walking talking highlight film.
Gene: I don’t cringe often watching pro wrestling. But I legit thought that they weren’t going to catch Ricochet on that dive.
David: No matter how many times you see Ricochet do this, it is always a sight to behold. He is truly “The One and Only”.
Best storyline of 2018: Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa ‘fight forever…clap, clap, clap-clap-clap’
Trevor: The Former DIY members did it their way as partners and took the wrestling world by storm as enemies.
Gene: This was the best feud not only in NXT, but maybe all of pro wrestling in 2018.
David: I have to agree with Gene and Trevor, this feud was almost on the same level as Okada vs Omega in NJPW. However, Okada vs Omega took years to build.
Best feud of 2018 (Women’s): Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
Trevor: This was the feud that made Becky “The Man” in the first place.
Gene: It was neck and neck for me between Flair/Lynch and Rhea Ripley/Toni Storm. Flair vs. Lynch wasn’t a landslide victory as it was hindered by Vince’s tone deafness for three months in keeping Becky a heel, having her say stupid lines like “the fans never supported me” when they’re all chanting in unison “BECKY, BECKY, BECKY!” But I can’t argue if someone does pick Becky vs. Charlotte.
Best feud of 2018 (Men’s): Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Jason: Once again, no one even comes close.
Marquis: No other feud worldwide could touch this one.
Best Champions of 2018 (Tag Team): The Undisputed Era
Gene: Undisputed Era, period. The prestige, the dominance, the entertainment factor, these guys are the real deal.
David: Undisputed Era, making stables cool again in WWE.
Best Champion of 2018 (Women’s): Becky Lynch
Gene: Rousey bringing new eyeballs to WWE is the only reason that Raw hasn’t dropped below 2 million viewers due to Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman’s absences. Rhea Ripley giving Toni Storm hell is the main reason I watch NXT UK. Shayna Baszler is the best heel champ on any of the rosters right now with only one exception. But, well, Becky is…Becky.
David: Another clean sweep for Lynch. No one can top her this year. No one.
Best Champion of 2018 (Men’s) Tommaso Ciampa
Gene: That exception I was talking about before, this is it. Ciampa is the greatest heel in pro wrestling today. That’s saying something, given the talent the likes of Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, Jay White, Sami Callihan and Samoa Joe out there. Ciampa’s promos are scathing, his ring work is amazing, but he never lets his ringwork get so good that he gets cheered. This guy should always have gold around his waist.
David: Ciampa does what nobody in WWE does anymore, keep kayfabe alive. You can say Becky Lynch does it, but Ciampa beat her to it.
Trevor: The Blackheart will enter 2019 a champ and still have some gold around his waist when 2019 ends.
Next big thing of 2019: Tie between Velveteen Dream and Matt Riddle
Gene: Matt Riddle, this dude is so…Matt Riddle. I can’t even explain it. He just has that X-factor and has since he made his de-butt, lol.
Joel: Tough, he’s a stud, but Velveteen went from “Tough Enough” Indy darling to the hottest thing in a while. Natural charisma and talent, or as Taker once said, “horrible gimmick”, that he turned into chicken salad.
David: Still sticking with my boy Velveteen Dream. Riddle needs development. The surfer dude act only goes so far.
Gene: Going to have to disagree. From his off kilter music, to his odd entrance to his disarming his opponent with his wackiness, only to unleash with his savage MMA style, Riddle had the crowd in the palm of his hand since the moment his music hit for the first time. No one entered with that much momentum right off the bat since Adam Cole.
Worst match of 2018: Four-way tie between Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax at Backlash, Brothers of Destruction vs. DX at Crown Jewel, Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at Summerslam and Asuka vs. Carmella at Extreme Rules
Joel: How can you bury Asuka any further? By having her lose twice (looking like an idiot babyface in the process) to Carmella, one of the worst champions of the decade.
David: They couldn’t have had Shawn Michaels come back to fight Daniel Bryan? Or AJ Styles? No, he was wasted on this. Good grief, everyone looked tired and banged up. Maybe this should be their ride into the sunset. On another note, this four-way tie displays what a horrible year the WWE had in 2018.
Ryan: You built to this moment for FOUR YEARS and THIS was the final plan for the coronation of Roman Reigns? Smh.
Gene: Sorry, but not only was this match a complete PR stunt (a shallow one since Ms. Anti-Bully Jax went on to become a bully two months later), but it exposed the fact that the women’s division was set back a decade when either one of these women were champion.
Best match of 2018 (Tag Team): Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era from July 11th NXT
Jason: It was tag team professional wrestling at its finest.
Gene: That Mustache Mountain/Undisputed Era match is the first time I’ve seen a five star match on a WWE product that wasn’t a pay per view.
Best match of 2018 (Women’s): Tie between Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair at Evolution and Meiko Satomura vs. Toni Storm at Day 8 of the Mae Young Classic
Marquis: The Man and The Queen showed how to put on 4+ star matches at every pay per view during their feud.
Gene: Flair vs. Rousey could have got my vote, but that match was tainted by Ronda getting Pillmanized at Survivor Series, then completely no selling the injury the next night on Raw.
Satomura and Storm put on a classic and deserve to be on this list.
Best match of 2018 (Men’s): Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa’s Unsanctioned Match at NXT Takeover New Orleans
Trevor: Best Storyline, Best Match, Best Feud…just give Ciampa and Gargano all the awards. They earned them.
Gene: I could have gone with Ali vs. Buddy Murphy on the pre July 4th 205 Live (right after the turnaround of 205 Live where we now get 4 star matches every episode) or Dunne vs. Gibson Day 2 of the WWE UK Championship Tournament (which set up a great rivalry for NXT UK’s show). Almas vs. Gargano at NXT Takeover Philly was five stars to me. But Gargano vs. Ciampa…wow. I normally don’t rate hardcore matches that high, but they told such a compelling story, I couldn’t help but vote for it.
David: Too bad I couldn’t include every match these two had against each other.
Superstar of the year (Tag Team): Undisputed Era
Jason: What’s this? A unanimous vote? Good.
Trevor: SHOCK…THE SYSTEM! This is exactly what the Undisputed Era have done, especially with adding Roderick Strong to the mix.
Superstar of the year (Women’s): Becky Lynch
Gene: Top woman of the year is The Man.
Trevor: There’s no one else this award could go to. Becky Lynch has been straight fire most of 2018.
David: If anyone voted against her, Becky would beat them up.
Superstar of the year (Men’s): Tommaso Ciampa
Joel: Agreed?
Jason: Agreed.
Gene: Many people on our list were saddled with crap booking (Rollins, Strowman), didn’t hold championship gold this year (Samoa Joe, Velveteen Dream), or if they did, they got hampered by 50/50 booking (Drew McIntyre). I want to pick Pete Dunne or AJ Styles just because of their tenure with their respective belts or Daniel Bryan due to a combination of his return to in-ring action and his complete reinvention of himself. However, once again, NXT produces the best EVERYTHING under the WWE umbrella and Tommaso Ciampa is the best champ, the best heel and the best SPORTS ENTERTAINER in the company, period.
David: What the fellas above me said.
That’s a wrap for 2018.
We hope that you enjoyed the selections this year. If so, drop us a line. If not, feel free to voice your opinion and let us know who you would have chosen. From all of us here at The Scrum Sports, we wish you a happy holiday season and an awesome 2019.
