A few awards to wrap up my 1993 rewatch of PPVs and TV specials. I looked up some 1993 WON awards to see what people thought at the time. 

Wrestler of the Year: Vader

This was a simple enough choice. Vader had three of WCW’s best big-show matches in 1993 with Sting, Cactus, and Flair, respectively. The stuff with Bulldog became redundant, but the matches were still good. Bret had a sneaky good 1993, particularly when you factor in his one-night KOTR performance, and came damn close, but Vader edged him out. 

Match of the Year: Sting vs. Vader (Superbrawl III) 

The Observer readers had Vader vs. Cactus from Havoc higher in their MOTY ratings, but I preferred this one. Bret vs. Hennig from KITR was third in big show matches on the Observer poll, and I’d probably concur with that. 

Best Major Show: WCW Superbrawl III

Besides the aforementioned Sting vs. Vader match, we also got a fun SMW match and Scorpio vs. Benoit. KOTR was close. Maybe if we didn’t get the fifteen-minute Lex vs. Tatanka draw. 

Worst Major Show: Battle Bowl ‘93 

Just a dreadful waste of time. 

Best Tag Team: Steiners 

As an overall act in 1993, I would go with the Blondes, as the WON readers did, but the Steiners had an underrated debut here in the WWF. I positively loved their match with the Beverly Brothers at the Royal Rumble, and I don’t think the Blondes had a Clash or PPV match on the level of Steiners vs. Bodies from SummerSlam. 

Worst Wrestler: The Equalizer 

I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, but he was the shits and on multiple shows. At least Giant Gonzalez had a dash of presence. 

Worst Match of the Year: Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez at WrestleMania

You can argue their SummerSlam match, any Equalizer match, or the four Doinks Survivor Series match, but poor Taker trying to work a straight match with Gonzalez will define empathy for you. 

Most Underrated: 2 Cold Scorpio 

Scorp had an awesome match with Benoit at Superbrawl and a very good NWA title match with Windham at a Clash. He and Bagwell were a steady babyface tag team on a lot of these shows, and had one of the best Nasties matches of the year at Havoc. It’s too bad he was gone in 1994. 

Coolest Moment: Flair winning the WCW title at Starrcade 

WCW did a lot of stupid shit in 1993, but Flair winning the title in Greensboro with his career on the line was almost perfectly done. The build-up to it with the videos at Starrcade was fucking phenomenal, as was Gene Okerlund. Gene genuinely added tremendous value to the main event of the year’s biggest show. What a flex. 

The Biggest WTF Moment: Luger Celebration at SummerSlam

The Shockmaster was a disaster on live television, but its biggest sin was Shockmaster’s fall, and that was a mistake. The countout win by Luger, followed by a massive celebration of never getting another title shot, was some of the dumbest shit of its time and a conscious decision.