Why Kenny Omega Is NOT The 2021 Wrestler Of The Year

And for that matter, if not Kenny Omega, then who?

Serena Deeb would have walked it if she'd been allowed to run in AEW's still-limited women's division. Adam Cole's NXT bores were all the more reason for him to switch Floridian zip codes from Orlando to Jacksonville. CM Punk's matches, while awesome, have existed to show growth and improvement rather than revived maturation. Hangman Page has gone underrated this year, but maybe that's down to a style that hasn't yet resonated with a SmackDown-sized wider audience.

Shingo Takagi, Utami Hayashishita and Katsuhiko Nakajima and Yuki Ueno have respectively ruled for New Japan Pro Wrestling, Stardom, NOAH and DDT in Japan, but clap crowds (and, in the case of NJPW at least, ill-advised wrestling media throttling) have done much to temper enjoyment of matches through the screen. Tomohiro Ishii deserves immense credit for being one of the few wrestlers to extract actual gasps from obedient audiences, but he's a rule-proving exception in a viewing experience that still hasn't recovered from the global pandemic's restrictions.

There are more contenders. There are always more contenders. Roman Reigns is very possibly a contender.

But he's not the wrestler of the year, and it's time to acknowledge why.

CONT'D...