This year’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards have been the biggest one yet for Will Ospreay. The 30-year-old won six different categories in the fan-voted awards this week, including “Wrestler of the Year” and “Match of the Year.”
Ospreay is a first-time winner of “Wrestler of the Year.” Trailing behind him for the award was Cody Rhodes, MJF, Roman Reigns, and Bryan Danielson. 2023 is the first year that Ospreay has won the award, with previous years going to Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, and Chris Jericho.
Ospreay had an incredibly busy 2023 that saw him receive heaps of praise for the matches he put on in his home promotion of NJPW and elsewhere as well. Despite not having a run with one of the top titles in NJPW, he was one of their more prominent names throughout the year. He is set to make his official AEW debut next week, beginning his run with the promotion just a few months after his signing was initially announced.
Ospreay picked up “Match of the Year” for his NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 performance against Kenny Omega. Trailing behind that bout in the vote was a rematch between the two, which took place at AEW Forbidden Door 2023 five months later.
Ospreay also took home “Most Outstanding Wrestler,” “Japanese MVP,” “Europe MVP,” and “Best Wrestling Maneuver.”
WWE ended their multi-decade absence from the “Promotion of the Year” award, narrowly beating out defending champ AEW. The win is WWE’s first time earning the award since the year 2000. AEW previously won the award for three consecutive years, and NJPW had an eight-year run with the category during the 2010s.
Despite WWE earning “Promotion of the Year,” AEW still prevailed in the vote for “Best Weekly TV Show.” Wednesday night program AEW Dynamite won for the fifth consecutive year.
The full list of winners and runners-up can be read in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
