All 33 Winners Of Wrestling Observer Newsletter's 2019 Awards REVEALED

2. Promotion Of The Year: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Chris Jericho AEW
NJPW/Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Stormy waters at the start of the year were navigated through expertly by booker Gedo as attentions moved back to business in the absence of The Elite. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito and others were relied upon to be excellent but that's exactly what happened because of course it did.

All the above were given the rich reward of a Madison Square Garden show in April, as well as two nights at the Tokyo Dome in January for a year magnificently managed.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett