Smark Out Moment

Welcome to the AEW half of the 14th annual SMARK OUT MOMENT AWARDS (aka the Smarkies)!

These awards focus not just on applauding the best things from the year, but also calling out the worst.

Starting things off is our look at this year in All Elite Wrestling. What were the best and worst parts of AEW 2023?

Make sure you let us know in the comments what your choices are for the best and the worst of each award in all of the divisions (Technical Skills, Writing, and Performers)!

Without further ado, let's start reviewing this year in AEW!

[TECHNICAL SKILLS AWARDS]

ENTRANCE

Explanation: This award should take into account everything including pyro, lighting, music, what the wrestlers do during their entrances, and so on. Your choices can be a singular entrance in particular or someone's standard entrance that happens every time he/she comes to the ring.

[BEST]: Swerve Strickland

• Bryan Danielson's Final Countdown
• MJF (Revolution)
• Julia Hart (WrestleDream)
• Orange Cassidy

[WORST]: Judas from All In

• Danhausen
• Jack Perry

CLOTHING / ATTIRE

Explanation: Who has the best and worst outfits, whether it's just what they wear during their entrance or if it's their normal ring gear?

[BEST]: Jade Cargill

• Athena's Bane-inspired gear from ROH Final Battle
• Jake Hager's hat
• Julia Hart
• Skye Blue

[WORST]: Sting

• Chris Jericho
• Eddie Kingston

SIGNATURE MANEUVER

Explanation: What is your favorite and least favorite regularly seen wrestling move was that had been featured multiple times as something on a wrestler's repertoire. Typically, these are finishers (such as the One-Winged Angel) but it could also be a signature setup (such as Orange Cassidy's shin kicks) or something along those lines.

[BEST]: Samoa Joe's Muscle Buster

• Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel

[WORST]: Eddie Kingston's Uraken spinning back fist

• Chris Jericho's Judas Effect

SPOT / BOTCH

Explanation: What was the most entertaining spot and what was the biggest disaster of a botch that happened this year?

[BEST/COOLEST SPOT]: Take your pick from the Texas Death Match at Full Gear

• Face of the Revolution ladder match spots

[WORST/BIGGEST BOTCH]: Jon Moxley / Rey Fenix injury and Rick Knox not counting the pinfall

• Adam Cole's injury
• Dante Martin's injury
• Marketing and booking strategy for ROH Final Battle (announcing several matches during the show itself, for instance)
  
• Tons of production errors like the Dax Hardwood graphic

RECOGNITION

Explanation: Perception is everything, so which wrestler deserved more credit this year than they received and which wrestler was unworthy of all the praise he or she received?

[MOST UNDERRATED]: Sammy Guevara

• Samoa Joe

[MOST OVERRATED]: Jamie Hayter

• Aussie Open
• CM Punk
• Danhausen
• Darby Allin

IMPROVEMENT IN A WRESTLER

Explanation: Which wrestler improved their work and saw the biggest upgrade and who saw the biggest downgrade in terms of a regression of their performance, spot on the roster, quality of value and so forth?

[BIGGEST UPGRADE]: Eddie Kingston

• Athena
• Christian Cage
• Julia Hart
  
• Kris Statlander
• The Gunns
• Orange Cassidy
• Swerve Strickland

[BIGGEST DOWNGRADE]: Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.

• CM Punk
• Ethan Page
• Jack Perry
• Miro
• Thunder Rosa

RING WORK

Explanation: Which two wrestlers were the best and the worst when performing in the ring?

[BEST]: Orange Cassidy

• Bryan Danielson
• Jack Perry
• Kenny Omega
• Sammy Guevara

[WORST]: (TIE) Jeff Hardy, Trench

• Jeff Hardy
• Trench

MIC WORK

Explanation: Who had the best and worst promo skills, charisma, and performing as an entertaining character with all of the verbal aspects of AEW.

[BEST]: Christian Cage

• CM Punk
• Don Callis
• Eddie Kingston
  
• MJF
• Samoa Joe
  

[WORST]: Ric Flair

• Almost everyone
• Darby Allin

MATCH OF THE YEAR

Explanation: Matches can be from any show, including AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, AEW Collision, AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage as well as pay-per-views. List of my personal candidates here.

[BEST]: AEW World Championship 60-Minute Iron Man Match: MJF (c) vs. Bryan Danielson — Revolution

• Kenny Omega vs. El Hijo del Vikingo — AEW Dynamite (March 22)
• AEW World Championship Four Pillars Four-Way Match: MJF (c) vs. Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry vs. Sammy Guevara — AEW Double or Nothing (May 28)
• IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay — AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door (June 25)
• AEW World Championship Match: MJF (c) vs. Adam Cole — AEW All In (August 27)
• Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. — AEW WrestleDream (October 1)
• Texas Death Match: Hangman Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland — AEW Full Gear (November 18)

[WORST]: Anna Jay vs. Dr. Britt Baker — House Rules

• Texas Chainsaw

[WRITING AWARDS]

CATCH PHRASE or SLOGAN

Explanation: This includes any kind of regularly mentioned slogan, taunt, catch phrase, signature sign-off or any verbal sayings of those sorts.

[BEST]: I'm Orange Cassidy, and I don't have a catchphrase

• Everybody loves The Acclaimed. Scissor me, Daddy Ass
• Who's ready for story time with Adam Cole, bay bay?
• Tell me when I'm telling lies
• Sportsmanship!

[WORST]: Adam!!!

• Chin up, tits out, and watch for the shoe
  
• Isiah Kassidy moaning
• It's Stiiiiiiiing!

GIMMICK

Explanation: Which wrestlers portrayed the best and the worst characters this year?

[BEST]: Christian Cage ragging on everyone's fathers

• Orange Cassidy
  

[WORST]: Isiah Kassidy moaning

• Miro's marital issues with CJ Perry
• QTV

TITLE REIGN

Explanation: Who had the most meaningful time with a championship to their name, where the matches were good, the feuds were interesting, and you were enjoying their reign, as well as who failed to meet those expectations and perhaps had a boring, uneventful, bad run with a belt.

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: all of the title reigns on this list for AEW and this list for ROH

[BEST]: Orange Cassidy (AEW All-Atlantic/International Championship)

• MJF (AEW World Championship)
  

[WORST]: Almost every TNT champion except Christian Cage (in particular Wardlow)

• Gunns (AEW World Tag Team Championship)
  
• Saraya (AEW Women's World Championship)

MOST SHOCKING MOMENT

Explanation: What was the absolute biggest surprise you had this entire year that you didn't see coming?

[MOST SHOCKING MOMENT]: CM Punk fired / the death of Jay Briscoe

• Hikaru Shida beats Saraya for women's championship on Title Tuesday
• Roderick Strong saves Adam Cole
• Wardlow loses TNT Championship

SMARK OUT MOMENTS

Explanation: What did you consider to be the overall best and worst things to have happened this year? What was the coolest thing to make you happy as a fan and which moment was so horrible that it made you the most disappointed with AEW?

[BEST]: Bryan Danielson wrestles Kazuchika Okada with a broken arm

• Christian Cage tells Adam Copeland "Go fuck yourself."
  

[WORST]: Tony Khan has a special announcement! Tickets to All In go on sale in a month!

• AEW Fight Forever

STORYLINE

Explanation: What were the most interesting, well-executed storylines of the year and which feuds were the least interesting, terrible ones to watch?

[BEST]: Orange Cassidy's International Championship defenses

• MJF vs Bryan Danielson
• Christian Cage
  

[WORST]: (TIE) Everything with Matt Hardy and The Outcasts

• AR Fox's heel and face turn mess
• Jericho Appreciation Society collapses
• Miro and CJ Perry marital issues
  
• QTV

PAY-PER-VIEW or SPECIAL EVENT

Explanation: What were your favorite and least favorite pay-per-views or special events from the year?

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All pay-per-views and special events are indicated on this list

[BEST]: (TIE) Revolution, Full Gear

[WORST]: Battle of the Belts specials

[PERFORMER AWARDS]

MANAGER or VALET

Explanation: This includes anybody who regularly accompanies someone down to the ring in some capacity, but is not their tag team partner in the ring.

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All managers and valets on the roster are indicated on this list

[BEST]: Don Callis

• Prince Nana
  

[WORST]: Vickie Guerrero

• Arn Anderson
• JT Davidson?
• Ric Flair

COMMENTATOR

Explanation: This includes all members of the commentary teams on all brands, including the foreign commentators.

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: Caprice Coleman, Chris Jericho, Excalibur, Ian Riccaboni, Jim Ross, Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness, Paul Wight, Ricky Starks, Taz, Tony Schiavone

[BEST]: Excalibur

• Taz
• Tony Schiavone
  

[WORST]: Jim Ross

• Caprice Coleman

NEWCOMER

Explanation: The Best/Worst Newcomer award applies to anybody who either made their debut, or were repackaged into a completely different gimmick with a different name.

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All newcomers to the roster are indicated amongst the wrestlers on this list

[BEST]: Adam Copeland

• Jay White

[WORST]: Ric Flair

• Aussie Open
• Taya Valkyrie

TAG TEAM or STABLE

Explanation: Which tag team or stable did you like and hate the most?

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All tag teams can be found on this list

[BEST]: Blackpool Combat Club

• The Acclaimed
• Bullet Club Gold
  
• The Elite
• FTR
• House of Black
• The Patriarchy
  

[WORST]: Matt Hardy's collection of misfits (AHFO, The Firm, etc)

• The Factory
• The Outcasts
• QTV
• Trust Busters

HEEL

Explanation: Who was the most hated villain and which wrestler failed the most to get the crowd to boo them?

[BEST]: Christian Cage

• Don Callis
• Samoa Joe

[WORST]: QTV

• Aussie Open
• The Outcasts

BABYFACE

Explanation: Who was the best fan-favorite hero and which wrestler wasn't able to pull off being a babyface?

[BEST]: Orange Cassidy

• Eddie Kingston
• Mark Briscoe
• MJF
• Willow Nightingale
  

[WORST]: Ric Flair

• Fuego Del Sol
• Hardy Boyz
• Isiah Kassidy
• Sonny Kiss

FEMALE WRESTLER

Explanation: Which female wrestlers were the cream of the crop and the bottom of the barrel?

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All wrestlers who were in AEW this year can be found on this list

[BEST]: Willow Nightingale

• Athena
• Hikaru Shida
• Kris Statlander
  

[WORST]: ???

• The vast majority were underwhelming this year
  

MALE WRESTLER

Explanation: Which male wrestlers were the cream of the crop and the bottom of the barrel?

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All wrestlers who were in AEW this year can be found on this list

[BEST]: (TIE) Christian Cage, MJF

• Bryan Danielson
• Orange Cassidy
  

[WORST]: Trench

• Danhausen
• Matt Hardy
• Parker Boudreaux
  
• Who are 60% of these people?

WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

Explanation: Judging as a co-ed award out of both the men and women wrestlers who were in the company at some point, who was the absolute best and worst in the company this year?

POSSIBLE OPTIONS: All wrestlers who were in AEW this year can be found on this list

[BEST]: (TIE) Christian Cage, MJF

• Bryan Danielson
• Orange Cassidy
  

[WORST]: Trench

• Danhausen
• Matt Hardy
  
• Who are 60% of these people?

LET US KNOW YOUR PICKS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!