Jon Moxley Wins Wrestling Observer’s 2022 Wrestler Of The Year
Jon Moxley has been voted as the Wrestling Observer’s 2022 Wrestler of the Year for the second time in his career.
The 43rd Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards were posted by Dave Meltzer on Friday, which is available for subscribers. They are fan-voted awards, so it is not the opinion of one man, but rather the votes by the subscribers of the newsletter. It covers the calendar year of 2022 from January 1 to December 31.
Wrestler of the Year is the most prestigious award and it is named the Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award.
Here’s how the top ten looked with their voting totals based on a 5-3-2 scoring system and first-place votes in parentheses.
1. Jon Moxley (498) 3,101
2. Roman Reigns (232) 2,216
3. Will Ospreay (105) 1,591
4. Kazuchika Okada (39) 679
5. Syuri (34) 551
6. Chris Jericho (37) 439
7. MJF (20) 325
8. CM Punk (19) 203
9. Giulia (17) 199
10. Bryan Danielson 91
HONORABLE MENTION: Sami Zayn 89
The win for Jon Moxley is the second time he was won the award since he also won in 2020.
As you can see above, there were five wrestlers from AEW in the top ten (Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, MJF, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson) while only Roman Reigns from WWE in the top ten. Sami Zayn was in 11th place.
Here’s what Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter about the voting.
“The way I see the argument it comes down to Reigns as the biggest star of the year in pro wrestling, as WWE champion for the entire year and headliner on the biggest shows, during a year that got very strong for the company after April. He had good-to-great matches on top, which is a big part of the award.”
“But the argument is Most Valuable. Reigns worked a very limited schedule and the company did roughly as well with him and not with him. The Smackdown ratings rise was as much tied to Sami Zayn and Jey Uso, who carried it to strong results when Reigns wasn’t around, as the weekly angle.”
“Moxley was the more valuable, because he was twice, after injuries to Punk, called to lead the company. Had he been not around, the declines would have been greater than they were. Coming off rehab at the start of the year, he and Chris Jericho really carried the company during different periods when so many top names were out with injuries and later after All Out when Punk, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks were suspended. You take both out of the picture in 2022, and it’s AEW that would be hurt far worse.”
“Jon Moxley joins Harley Race, Ric Flair, Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Jericho, John Cena, Hiroshi Tanahashi, A.J. Styles and Kenny Omega as the only two-time winners in history.”
In 2022, Jon Moxley became the first-ever three-time AEW World Champion that was featured heavily in main event level programs all year.