The Second Annual Christopher J.

Garcia Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the

Field of Wrestling Excellence

This year has been up and down for the wrestling business. The business as a whole, in
the US, Japan, and Mexico, has been shaky, with signs of a recovery never fully
materializing. There were more deaths this year than any other I can think of, with the
last of the major 1950s names passing away, as well as players in the last days of the
territories of the 1980s, and of the WWF explosion.

Then again, this year we saw the WWE bring a higher level of wrestling to the national
spotlight than ever before. Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle had several incredible bouts,
and Brock did the same with Rey Mysterio, Benoit, and even dragged a couple of good
matches out of Big Show. Kurt was no slouch either, even after his surgery following
WrestleMania. Aside from the Brock classics, he had great matches with Benoit, one of
which is an early favourite for Match of the Year.

Falls Count Anywhere seldom mentions NWA-TNA, which is more due to the fact that I
just can’t watch it on my system. They’ve provided some fine high flying from the likes
of Amazing Red, Chris Daniels, and AJ Styles, and have several feuds that have been
very good. Just as they seemed ready to bust their biggest coup ever by signing Hulk
Hogan, he gets injured, or backs out, and they have to call off the big show.

I should also mention that there have been some highly significant passings this year.
The last remaining huge stars of the 1950s, Blassie, The Sheik, Dick Hutton, and Stu
Hart, all passed away. From the 1980s boom period we lost Hennig, Miss Elizabeth, and
Road Warrior Hawk. We lost Crash Holly, Larry Booker, Pitbull #2, and The Wall. With
the exception of the old timers, none of the above were natural deaths. Perhaps the WWE
and others will realize what’s going on.

Enough of that, let’s go to the Awards.

Best on Interviews- Ric Flair. If the awards had been around in the 1980s, Flair would
have a ton of these. He’s been great all year long, doing fantastic interviews to get
Evolution over. HHH was smart to bring Flair into the group, learning from the Freebirds
that an older guy who can talk will help you get over. Second goes to Paul Heyman, who
has done some great interviews, but was gone a good deal of the year, and Kurt Angle.

Woman of the Year (Last Year’s Winner: Trish Stratus)- Trish Stratus. Molly came back
to prominence, Victoria cooled down, and Lita returned, but Trish was solid all year long.
Fit Finley has been training all the girls, and Trish took to it, came up with some good
matches and a few great moments on the show. Her angle with Jericho was fun, and she
more than carried her own in the Battle of the Sexes matches. Molly is second for
coming back strong, and Lillian Garcia is third for stealing my heart.

Tag Team of the Year(Last Year’s Winners: Los Guerreros)- Los Guerreros. While last
year was a huge year for tag team feuds, this year saw Los Guerreros work some great
matches until Chavo got hurt and they started Eddy’s singles push. Even when they’ve
been pushing them as at odds and on the verge of breaking up, they’ve still given great
matches. The World’s Greatest Tag Team is second, and KENTA and Marafuji of Pro
Wrestling Noah, who should try and get dates working in the US as they would steal
every show they were on.

Lou Thesz Award for Good Wrestling(Last Year’s Winner: Eddy Guerrero)- Tie: Brock
Lesnar and Chris Benoit. Brock had some classics, even if he botched the Shooting Star
at Mania, and Benoit had some classics, even if he had far fewer of them a the top of the
card. They both carried large lumps of crap for extended periods to matches that were
watchable, Brock doing it for Big Show and Benoit with A-Train. Their match on
SmackDown! a couple of weeks ago was great. Really can’t see one over the other.
Kurt Angle is in second, and Kenta Kobashi of Pro Wrestling Noah is third.

Best Match (Last Year’s Winner: Shawn Michaels vs. HHH at SummerSlam)- Kenta
Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa from Pro Wrestling Noah. This match, more than any
other that happened in 2003, will be talked about for years to come. It was the final
match in a friendly rivalry that goes back the better part of a decade. Misawa, the elder
statesman. Kobashi, the injured wrestler returning for another run at the top. Both have
been going downhill due to the combined effects of the years of great work, and they
pulled out a match that most would have thought was impossible for them to do at this
stage. Tiger Driver from the Apron to the floor alone will make you go “Whoa”, but
there is so much in this match. Drama, emotion, psychology, it’s all there. Second goes
to Angle vs. Brock from WrestleMania. Third goes to Brock vs. Benoit from San Jose.
Honorable mentions to the Ironman match and Kurt vs. Benoit from February.

Feud of the Year- Kurt vs. Brock. How could it not be? They built it up over months,
delivered at WrestleMania, then again on free TV. They had some great matches and this
one will go on as one of those rivalries that just keeps coming up. There are no two
workers in the business who are better suited to each other than Brock and Kurt. Raven
vs. CM Punk from Ring of Honor gets second as it was the best little seen feud of 2003.
Michaels vs. Evolution gets third.

Wrestler of the Year(Last Year’s Winner: Kurt Angle)- The Heartbreak Kid Shawn
Michaels. Looking at the year, you had Brock and Angle having great matches with each
other, but neither of them really rose above the other in the feud. Brock has been a good
champion, and so was Angle. HHH has been spotty, though he had some very good
matches. SmackDown! was a strong show, mostly due to Brock, Angle, Benoit, and
Eddy, though none of them can take sole credit for it. That leaves RAW, which was weak
for much of the year. Jericho was really good, as was Flair, but Michaels worked his ass
off, gave great TV segments and PPV matches, built feuds with fantastic mic work,
proved that he has learned his lesson on doing jobs, and just had a fantastic year, even if
he was part time. His overall package was better than anyone else this year. His work
was always top notch. His interviews were always right there. You can’t find a chink in
the armor. He wasn’t on the top of the card much, but the crowd treated him like he was.
Second goes to Brock. Third to Kenta Kobashi.
Reader Awards (From FanboyPlanet.com readers, members of my mailing list, and
Tribe.net)
Best Babyface: Goldberg. 30% voted for Goldberg, which surprised me quite a bit. He
easily overtook Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Shawn Michaels. Oddly, Jericho and
Flair both got votes.

Best Heel: HHH. Brock Lesnar came within 2 votes of taking it, but HHH gets the win.
And it’s deserved as he had a really good year as the villain, both in and out of the ring.
The only others getting votes were Jericho and Kane.

FanboyPlanet’s Favorite Wrestler: Brock Lesnar. Brock was way ahead for the first few
weeks, and Eddy came up with the votes towards the end to end up in second by 3 votes.
Brock had a big year, and is the cornerstone of the what the WWE will be trying to do
over the next several years. One voter said “Brock is awesome.” That sums it up for
most folks. HHH held strong, as did Kurt, and Jericho also got votes.

That’s another year of awards. Come back next year when I’ll still be doing the exact
same stuff.