Thanks all for particpating, or even just reading. I learned some things about how to better do this – we’ll see if I can use them next year.
We ended with four ballots. Not every ballot completely filled out the awards.
There was a no comment rule, but since only one person did them, I’ll save them the type of retyping in the comment window.
Best Wrestler: L.A. Park
Wrestler Points 1st's
1 L.A. Park 40 2
2 Ultimo Guerrero 28 1
3 Perro Aguayo Jr. 12 1
4 El Hijo del Santo 7
5 Negro Casas 5
5 Rey Bucanero 5
5 Ultimo Dragon 5
5 Shocker 5
5 Super Crazy 5
10 Dr. Wagner 3
10 Hector Garza 3
12 Zumbido 2
Best Match: 09-03 Averno vs Zumbido
Date Match Points 1st's
1 09-03 Averno vs Zumbido 29 2
2 03-26 Zumbido/Crazy/Violencia vs Volador/Alan/Virus 27 1
3 04-18 L.A. Park vs Ultimo Guerrero 16
4 10-22 El Hijo del Santo vs Averno 12 1
5 10-01 Santo/Casas/Atlantis/Mistico vs Averno/Ultimo/Rey/Tarzan 8
5 07-23 Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Atlantis 8
7 08-20 Sevilla/Barrio Boys vs Black Family 5
8 07-16 LdP Cibernetico 4
9 07-30 Garza/Guerrero/Bucanero vs Atlantis/Santo/Casas 3
9 ??-?? Mistico/Volador Jr. vs Antrax/Ebola 3
Best Tecnico: L.A. Park
Wrestler Points 1st's
1 L.A. Park 14 1
2 Shocker 10 2
3 El Hijo del Santo 9 1
4 Negro Casas 3
5 Brazo de Plata 2
5 La Parka (AAA) 2
Best Rudo: Hector Garza
Wrestler Points 1st's
1 Hector Garza 13 2
2 Perro Aguayo Jr. 11 1
3 Dr. Wagner Jr. 6
4 Ultimo Guerrero 5 1
5 Olimpico 3
6 Rey Bucanero 2
Best Tag Team: Ultimo & Rey
Tag Team Points 1st's
1 Ultimo & Rey 20 4
2 Park & Shocker 5
2 Averno & Mephisto 5
4 Atlantis & Blue Panther 3
5 Mega & Ultra Mega 2
Best Trio: GdI
Trios Points 1st's
1 GdI 17 3
2 Volador/Felino/Safari 9 1
3 Barrio Boys 5
4 Mistico/Misterioso/Volador 3
4 Terrible/Garza/Tarzan 3
4 Rey/Ultimo/Hector 3
Best Promotion: CMLL
Promotion Points 1st's
1 CMLL 20 4
2 AAA 11
3 Lucha Va Voom 3
4 ENSEMA 2
Best Rivalary: Santo vs Perro Aguayo
Rivalary Points 1st's
1 Santo vs Perro Aguayo 15 3
2 Canek vs Wagner 8
3 Ultimo Guerrero vs L.A. Park 7 1
4 Casas vs Santo 3
4 Barrio Boys vs Black Family 3
6 Park/Shocker vs GdI 2
6 Super Crazy vs Zumbdio 2
Best Legend: Santo
Legend Points 1st's
1 Santo 15 3
2 Satanico 7 1
3 Negro Casas 3
3 Canek 3
3 Blue Panther 3
3 Mil Mascaras 3
7 Universo 2000 2
Most Improved: Olimpico
Wrestler Points 1st's
1 Olimpico 7 1
2 Violencia 5 1
2 Safari 5 1
2 L.A. Park 5 1
5 Alan Stone 3
5 Pierroth 3
5 Averno 3
5 Hector Garza 3
9 Terrible 2
9 Zumbido 2
9 Barrio Boys 2
Most Underrated: Olimpico
Wrestler Points 1st's
1 Olimpico 8 1
1 Felino 8 1
3 Averno 5 1
3 Sangre Azteca 5 1
5 Safari 3
5 Chessman 3
7 Misterioso II 2
7 Volador Jr. 2
7 Rey Bucanero 2
7 Pegasso 2
And now…Robert on the awards:
Best Wrestler:
Nice to see a change of pace from the usual El Hijo Del Santo, Shocker, Blue Panther, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King list everyone comes up with. I picked La Parka because for me the best wrestler is someone who works hard in every match(i.e. never takes the night off). I’ve seen Parka work EMLL, IWRG, Monterrey, ENESMA and Guadalajara and he always makes his match the best on the show no matter who he’s working with. By that criteria alone, Dr. Wagner Jr. and El Hijo Del Santo were thrown off my list. Wagner is notorious for doing the same shtick constantly and never doing a clean finish. It’s so much worse watching him work Guadalajara and Monterrey b/c he is ten times lazier and doesn’t even try to put together one decent exchange. No wonder he can work four shots per day, I could work four shots per day not taking any bumps. Santo is a great worker but you can call his moves about ten seconds before he does them. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves in wrestling so naturally… Santo gets the axe. Ultimo Guerrero was an easy choice for number two b/c he would have been #1 if not for Parka’s amazing year. He’s the best rudo in Mexico right now and combines that with the best work ethic I’ve seen in my many years of watching Lucha Libre. To think he was wasting away on the undercard until Satanico took him under his wing. It’s a shame there are no other under- carders like that any more… *cough* Sangre Azteca *cough*. Super Crazy should be no surprise to those who know me b/c I was always a mark for him. He finally got some TV exposure this year and in every TV match he was in, I felt he was the one who held eve- rything together. Bonus points for his appearence on IWRG TV where he was working hard which no doubt confused all the regular IWRG guys working with him who couldn’t under- stand why he was trying to have a good match. Oooohhhh I love cheapshots.:) Garza, much like Parka, came back from a rather disapointing 2003 and stepped up his workrate big time since joining La Empresa. His AAA work earlier in the year was also strong which is why I put him above Shocker. Shocker is a hard worker much like everyone else on the list and I admire him as he could easily get by on just dancing and posing but he works hard constantly(notice the trend?) and seems to really care about being in the ring. Blue Panther, Virus and Black Tiger are all strong runner-ups but I either hadn’t seen enough of them this year to justify putting them in the top five or in Blue’s case, I just can’t help thinking back to when he was younger and faster. Still an awesome worker, don’t get me wrong, just appears like he’s lost a step or two and guys like Garza and Crazy have picked it up.
Best Match:
I vote without having seen Mistico vs Virus, Santo vs Perro Jr., the recent Torneo to make CMLL TV and the newest ENEMA episode with Skayde and Turbo teaming against Black Thunder and King Black. I was tempted to toss in a match from ENEMA but I couldn’t think of one that stood up to any of the five matches I listed.
Best Tecnico
While everyone must hate Parka Jr. for doing Parka’s gimmick, he does it well and has a ton of charisma. If they changed his gimmick up and made him Ultra Parka or something, he m
Best Rudo
Oh man, nothing beats Garza begging off when a tecnico comes after him or Perro Jr. beating the crap out of the tecnicos at the peak of his heel run.
Best Tag Team
Weak category since there aren’t many true tag teams that actually stick together except on the undercard. Can’t see anyone else being #1.
Best Trio
Barrios really improved this year and had a bunch of great matches. You can’t ask for much more. The 3rd pick is just default b/c they’re the champions.
Best Promotion
First two are no-brainers though I think I respect AAA more than anyone else who is going to vote.;) IWRG usually takes #3 but wow do their shows suck these days. Just no work ethic from ANYONE and I usually fall asleep halfway through. Crowds are way down as well. LML/ENEMA…fine ENE*S*MA, had a horrible start with brutally clipped matches and the same non-existant work ethic but then they stepped it up bringing in some good workers and the shows became awesome. I look forward to every new shipment of footage now.
Best Rivalary
Rough year for rivalries b/c I hated Perro Jr./Negro & Canek/Wagner which I’m sure will take the 1/2 spot respectively. The Crazy/Zumbido feud was too short to be much but I loved the angle where they finally turned on each other and their Guadalajara stuff was really heated.
Best Legend
I refuse to vote for Canek. The guy is awful.
Most Underrated
Easy choice. Sangre Azteca is starting to get a push but he should be working semi-main events with Averno and Mephisto. I even have the gimmick idea… he can form a new Infernales trio and call himself Sangre Infernal! It’s GENIUS! Or Infernal Azteca! I’m too good. I also think the ‘smart’ community still doesn’t appreciate how good Azteca really is but more TV time would make them love him so here’s hoping. Chessman is the greatest thing to hit AAA since Pegasso in the year 2000. He bumps like a freak for anyone and works 110% in every match. He’d EASILY fit into CMLL with a more toned down look. It’s a shame he’s usually in there with such awful workers. Most people just turn the channel or fast forward the match and miss the fact that he makes those awful wor- kers look like they are all world class wrestlers. As for Pegasso, he doesn’t get much TV time but every time he is on, he hits his spots perfectly and shows charisma much like a young Rey Jr. did during his time. If he had better rudos to work with, he’d be HUGE. But Pena has no interest in him for some reason so he’s doomed to become the next Flying type story I tell for years to come.
Thanks to everyone!
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I see that Averno is listed in the top 10 matches of they year and both are singles. Yet he go no love for top ten wrestler of the year. I’m curious as to why the voting fell that way.
I don’t get to see a lot of lucha except for the stuff I taped in 2003 (Shocker(rudo)/Vampiro feud mostly) so I’m way out of the loop which is why I didn’t participate in the voting.
I was gonna vote, but then I realized I know absolutely nothing about lucha. I’m serious. I haven’t seen any luchadors since the WWF took Super Astros off of Univision.
I was actually planning on voting but I then remembered I’m missing almost three months of Lucha.
I think it says more about who he worked. It’s not that Averno’s a bad worker or anything but you could stick an average worker like Olimpico(oooohhhh I’ll get heat for that) in the ring with Zumbido and Santo and get a pretty good match out of it. I just got to see Averno/Santo last night(thanks:)) and wasn’t anywhere near impressed. In fact I was bored at the end but then again, Santo is getting that way and dragged Averno down with him. Really weak main event. The Torneo though… now that was fun aside from Olimpico being there at the instead of… well everyone who knows me knows who I wanted there.
Rob
Awww Maaan. Ripping on Santo and Olimpico?
That’s cold:)
I like to be different.:) I got Santo vs Perrito today so by tomorrow I’ll have a ten page essay on why the match stunk.:P That is of course assuming I am awake to watch it after going through the opening tag with Sombra De Plata over 50 times.:D
Rob
The Santo/Averno 1st place vote was mine; I watched it about 5 seconds before I voted. I mentally compared it to Ultimo/Park in GDL. I knew the results of both matches before watching, but though Park is stronger pushed, the Averno/Santo match had me believing the underdog stronger, which was enough for me to feel it was a stronger match.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I believe Averno wasn’t in a lot of top 5’s because he’s not consistently on TV, and people who are good every week get an edge on those who aren’t on for stretches. If I stretched the list to 10 (which was original plan but skipped because I thought I made these people work enough), I’m sure he’d gotten more votes.
Olimpico’s still an average worker, but he seemed so much fresher after the rudo turn. If he’s just doing the same bit with no reason to exist in ’05, he’ll sink back down to the pack.
2006 Tapatia Awards (Results)
The story of this year’s awards was the lack of standout candidates. We had 13 voters this year (same amount as last), and only in two category did the award winner received a majority (7+) of 1st place votes. In…