I have always enjoyed a good documentary. Whether it be a feature length film or a limited series, a good doc can be fascinating and engaging. Over the years, there have been some great ones, such as Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Beyond the Mat, Tiger King, The Imposter, Jinx, and so on.

2022 has its share of really good documentaries as well.

Best Documentary

Previous Winners:  Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, My Scientology Movie, Tickled, Finding Neverland, Tiger King, The Beatles: Get Back

Honorable Mentions: Disney + released a doc on Mickey Mouse’s 94th birthday called Mickey: The Story of a Mouse which was more in-depth than I ever would have believed it would be. Following up on the movie Being the Ricardos from last year, we got the doc Lucy & Desi, with more details on the life of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The Tindler Swindler was a fascinating look at a guy who scammed women through the online dating and geosocial networking application. Fire of Love dealt with a loving relationship between two volcanologists who would die in a volcanic eruption. Netflix has several of these docs on their streaming platform, and they also have the newer film, The Volcano: Rescue for Whakaari dealing with the escape from another volcanic island. Pennywise: The Story of It was a fun doc looking at the creation of the original It mini series starring Tim Curry. The search for truth was underway in Girl in the Picture, and it is a tale that is quite warped. The most recent Disney + documentary was by the daughter of Paul McCartney, Mary McCartney, all about Abbey Road Studios in If These Walls Could Sing.

Best Documentary of 2022 is…

Light & Magic

The Disney + doc series about the special effects company Industrial Lights & Magic looked at the early days of the company led by George Lucas, their work on Star Wars and the corresponding sequels, as well as the advancement of the technical ability in making the special effects. Six episodes directed by Lawrence Kasdan explored the world of ILM. It was an amazing look behind the scenes and at the magic they were able to make.

The horror genre has been one of the top genres over the last few years and 2022 is one of the best years for horror movies in a long time. There are so many great horror or horror-centric films this year that my list of horror films for consideration was really long, including several that have a chance to end up in the top 10 films of the year.

However, there were also some poor horror films as well. So we will start off with the Worst Horror films of the year…

Worst Horror Films Runners-Up: Sadly, there were some real stinkers in horror this year too. Start off with some of the poor remakes such as Firestarter, House of Darkness and one of the absolutely worst films in Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Netflix. Choose or Die was one of the first worst films of the year. My Best Friend’s Exorcism was a ridiculous film. Very bad and really disappointing was the Edgar Allan Poe film Raven’s Hollow from Shudder. I wanted to love that movie, but it just was not up to the quality I had hoped for. She Will was a film that the critics liked, but I just could not get into it. Finally, Halloween Ends could have been so much better, but it was promoted incorrectly and the big showdown between Michael and Laurie felt like an add on part.

Worst Horror Film of the Year…

Studio 666

Another film that I had high expectations for that was just a horrible flop. Poor acting, poor story, just everything lacking and it is in contention for the worst movie of the year.

Best Horror Movie of 2022

Best Horror Movie

Previous Winners:  A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods, Doctor Sleep, Black Box, Fear Street trilogy

Honorable Mentions: One of my biggest surprises this year was the Shudder film called Deadstream. This was nearly the winner of this award, but it slipped just below the mark. Another absolute epic film this year was Black Phone, one of the most clever and most dramatic films in the genre. One of the more unexpected horror films of 2022 was Barbarian, which I went into with no idea what it was about and found myself completely thrilled with the film. V/H/S 99 was a lot of fun on Shudder as it took this franchise in a bit of a new direction. Hulu’s Hellraiser was surprisingly good. I really thought this one was going to be one of those really bad remakes, but it overcame those issues. One of the scariest and creepiest films this year was the excellent Smile. I was truly shaken at times in the theater. Jordan Peele had another solid film with Nope. Bodies, Bodies, Bodies was a clever and enjoyable film with a cool ending. Another Hulu film that was one of the most creative was Fresh. The Sadness and The Cursed are both poorly titled, but both are very good horror films. We got a new entry in the Scream franchise and the new cast knocked it out of the park. Finally, we had two movies featuring a great character. X and Pearl were awesome as we learn more about the character of Pearl.

2022 Horror Movie of the Year…

The Menu

One of the best movies of the year, Ralph Fiennes and the awesome ensemble cast were delicious in The Menu. I was so entertained during this film. It was a psychological horror film with some terrible things happening to the characters.

TV watching has been ups and downs for me. Some years I have watched a ton of TV, but other years there are not as much that interests me. Fact is that I watch so much more comic book TV shows than I do regular shows. So, I decided to split them into two sections- Regular TV and Comic Book TV.

Of course, there are only winners here from shows that I actually watch so if your favorites are not here, that is probably the reason.

Starting with Regular TV

Best Show: Stranger Things season 4 Runners-up: Cobra Kai, Andor, Wednesday, Only Murders in the Building

Best Game Show: Password Runners-Up: Celebrity Jeopardy, Jeopardy, Celebrity Family Feud, 100,000 Pyramid

Best Actor: Diego Luna (Andor) Runners-Up: Ralph Macchio, Nathan Fillion, Ewan McGregor, Himesh Patel

Best Actress: Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) Runners-Up: Jenna Ortega, Mackenzie Davis, Selena Gomez

Best Cameo: Shirley MacLaine (Only Murders in the Building) Runners-Up: Andy Serkis (Andor), Liam Neeson (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Paul Rudd, Amy Schumer, Tina Fey (Only Murders in the Building), Robert Englund (Stranger Things)

Best Villain: Vecna (Stranger Things) Runners-Up: Terry Silver, Darth Vader, Cad Bane

Best Finale: Cobra Kai “Head of the Snake” Runners-Up: Stranger Things, Only Murders in the Building

Best Song: “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. Runners-Up: Master of Puppets by Metallica (Stranger Things)

Best Moment: Daniel uses the Crane Kick (Cobra Kai). Runners-Up: Hopper escapes the gulag (Stranger Things)

Favorite Network Show: The Rookie (ABC). Runners-Up: Celebrity Jeopardy, Password

Best Episode: “Dear Billy” (Stranger Things)

Comic Book TV

Best Series: Peacemaker Runners-Up: Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, The Boys

Best Actor: Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight) Runners-Up: Antony Starr, John Cena, Karl Urban

Best Actress: Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) Runners-Up: Erin Moriarty, Iman Vellani

Shock of the Year: The Termite explodes out of lover’s penis (The Boys). Runners-Up: She-Hulk breaks 4th Wall and goes to Marvel Studios, Soldier Boy is Homelander’s father, Homelander kills Black Noir

Best Ensemble Cast: Ms. Marvel Runners-Up: The Boys, Peacemaker, Superman and Lois

Best Villain: Homelander (The Boys). Runners-Up: Soldier Boy, Arthur Harrow, Auggie Smith

Best Animation: Baymax Runner-Up: I Am Groot

Best Theme: Peacemaker

Best episode: “Asylum” Moon Knight. Runners-Up: “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed” (The Boys), “Whose Show Is This?” (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law), “The Choad Less Traveled” (Peacemaker)

Best Cameo: Charlie Cox (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) Runners-Up: The Justice League (Peacemaker), Benedict Wong (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law), Mark Ruffalo (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law)

Best Casting: Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) Runners-Up: Jensen Ackles (The Boys), Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law), Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight)

It is time for the “I Am Groot” Award. This does not necessarily have to be an award for voice over animation only. We have awarded those who may have performed in motion capture suits as well. If your main way of getting your character across is through your voice, this is the award for you.

“I am Groot” Voice Acting Award

Previous Winners:  Robin Williams (Aladdin- honorary), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes),  Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War), Ryan Reynolds (Detective Pikachu), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Jeffrey Wright and Chadwick Boseman (What If…?)

Honorary Mention: Truthfully, I almost gave this award as a tie. We did that last year, but, at the last moment, I decided to single out one performance. That meant that the other performance that ALMOST tied the winner was Ewan McGregor from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. McGregor was the Cricket and narrator of the film and he was sensational. Also from that Netflix film was Gregory Mann, who voiced the puppet and did a great job of bringing the little wooden boy to life. Dwayne Johnson was Superman’s best friend, Krypto, in the DC League of Super Pets. Jake Gyllenhaal was one of the top positives in Disney’s Strange World. Lightyear was also not a huge success for Disney/Pixar, but Chris Evans was great in the title role. Turning Red featured a typically strong voice performance from Sandra Oh, but the star of that film was Rosalie Chiang. One of the top surprise characters came in The Book of Boba Fett when Corey Burton brought Cad Bane into the world of the live action Star Wars canon. Vin Diesel returned to the role that this award was named after in a series of animated shorts on Disney + called I Am Groot.

The performer who will be awarded the I Am Groot Voice Acting Award will be…

Antonio Banderas

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I specifically waited to give this award until after I saw Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and I am glad that I did. Antonio Banderas was masterful in this action/comedy giving a voice to the legendary gato.

The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (three times), John Cena, Chris Evans (two times), Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman, Yoda, J.K. Simmons, Harrison Ford, Rudy Giuliani

Honorary Mentions: I really wanted to give this award to one of the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story cameos, whether it be Jack Black as Wolfman Jack, Will Forte as one of the Scotti Brothers, Conan O’Brien as Andy Warhol or “Weird Al” Yankovic himself as the other Scotti Brother, but, unfortunately, the cameo this year that wins the Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award is just ahead of these. Marvel Studios had a bunch of intriguing cameos this year too as Julia Louis Dreyfus showed up in Wakanda Forever as did Michael B. Jordan, Brett Goldstein appeared as Hercules in Thor: Love and Thunder, Charlize Theron was Clea in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, John Krasinski and Patrick Stewart in the same film, and Kevin Bacon as himself in Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers cameo had Paul Rudd. That film had a lot of cameos from characters such as Ugly Sonic. Of course, Michael Keaton had one of the worst cameos of the year as Adrian Toomes in Morbius. Though he is going to wind up on the Supporting Actor list, Judd Hirsch‘s role in The Fabelmans would be considered a cameo. Also in that film we saw David Lynch appear as director John Ford. And then… we have the film that has the cameo of the year…

Winner of the EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award is….

Val Kilmer, Top Gun: Maverick

Yeah, when researching this award, I came across the Val Kilmer cameo from Top Gun: Maverick, which filled the movie with so much nostalgia and real emotion that I couldn’t, in all honesty, give this award to anyone from Weird, as I had intended. Val Kilmer has had such a challenging life, especially recently, that his appearance in Maverick was a game changer and the movie was made so much better by his performance. Congrats. Iceman.

This has been an excellent year for animation. I would say especially over the last couple of months.

However, let’s start with the lower level of animation. The films that I did not like and consider the worst of animation of 2022.

Runners-Up: I only have three runners-up. As I said, a pretty good year for animation. First one to mention is Bob’s Burgers. Though I did not hate the film, I was never a fan of the TV show and that made the movie experience less engaging for me. The most recent Netflix Christmas animation was one of the worst versions of Charles Dickens classic tale and it was called Scrooge: A Christmas Carol. It was amazing that someone could mess that story up. The third and final runner-up goes to Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. I considered this as the “winner” but there were enough okay moments to save it. The worst animated film of the year went back to an old offender…

Worst Animated Film of the Year is…

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania

I have not been a fan of any of this franchise and this new version, that turns all the monsters back human, is no exception. I am surely hoping that this is the final installment.

BEST ANIMATED MOVIES OF 2022

EYG Frame Award- Best Animation

Previous Winners: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Coco, Moana, Inside Out, Big Hero 6, Flashpoint Paradox, Paranorman, Winnie the Pooh, Klaus, Wolfwalkers, Mitchells vs. the Machines

I am going to place this in a top 10 list.

#10. Minions: Rise of Gru. Big surprise. I hated the last Minions movie, but this was more entertaining.

#9. Sea Beast. One of the better Netflix animations of the year.

#8. Wendell & Wild. Another good Netflix film. Very creative and a reunion of Key & Peele.

#7. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood. A great story of a young boy becoming an astronaut.

#6. Strange World. This is one that I really enjoyed at first, but upon reflection, may not have been as good as I thought. Still worth a spot on the list.

#5. Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons. DC Animation continues to be really good. Nice characterization of the two young heroes.

#4. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Who would have thought this Internet short would be such a powerful film?

#3. Turning Red. This Pixar film was number one for a good chunk of the year. A wonderful story of a young girl becoming a woman by turning into a panda.

#2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Most years, this is number one. I loved this film with a great voice performance by Antonio Banderas.

And the Frame Award winner for 2022 is…

#1.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro created such a masterpiece of a film that it has to be the number one animated film of the year. He took the story of Pinocchio, which just earlier in the year had a Disney + film that was terrible, and made a special film dealing with a dark story, Fascism, and the loss of a child. The stop motion animation of the film was lovely and the story brought tears to my eyes.

Honorable Mentions: DC League of Super Pets, Luck, Beavis & Butthead Do the Universe, The Bad Guys, and My Father’s Dragon

Science Fiction has seen better days. There are a few good sci-fi films that come out every year but there is not a huge run on the genre. Perhaps the continuing Dune franchise can help, but it feels as if the sci-fi film is too easily poorly constructed.

So it is a little challenging to choose the best sci-fi movie of the year. I do remove super hero movies from the mix. That leaves a lesser amount.

I’ll start with the worst.

Worst Sci-Fi Movie of the Year

Runners-Up: Crimes of the Future, Don’t Worry Darling, The School for Good & Evil, Jurassic World: Dominion, Firestarter, Moonfall

Worst: RIPD 2: Rise of the Damned

Who wanted a sequel of this movie? It is not as if RIPD was a huge hit. It was a minor film that was bad and went away. RIPD 2 is just a cheap knockoff without any of the stars of the original.

Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year

Best Sci-Fi Movie

Previous Winners:  Upgrade, Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, The Martian, Ex Machina, Star Trek Into Darkness, Edge of Tomorrow, Freaks, The Invisible Man, Dune

Runners-Up: Day Shift, Lightyear, The Adam Project

Best (TIE): Everything Everywhere All At Once

AND…

Best (TIE): Avatar: The Way of Water

Two opposite types of films this year. The small, low budget movie that could and the giant, high budget blockbuster. Yet both came up with wonderful movies. Everything Everywhere All at Once had a tighter story and plot, but the new Avatar had the most spectacular special effects, surely revolutionizing the industry.

As I was watching Christmas Bloody Christmas this morning on Shudder, I realized that I had seen a lot of Christmas movies this year and that this might be the perfect opportunity to create a new category/Award for the Year in Review. So, I created the banner that is above this post and came up with my favorite X-Mas Movies of the Year.

Of course, the letter X is big in the geek world, so it felt natural to use it instead of writing out the word Christmas. Looking back over the years, there have been several epic Christmas movies. I watch The Muppet Christmas Carol every year. The constant argument over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie rages on. I loved the animated Klaus a few years ago on Netflix. Just to name a few.

Runners-Up for 2022: The film that would have been number two on a list of Christmas movies for 2022 was Spirited, a fun musical movie featuring Ryan Reynolds and Will Farrell, once again tapping into the Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. The music in that film was excellent and Ferrell provided some solid work. Another big film was the long time sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas on HBO Max. Bringing back several of the original actors from A Christmas Story found all of the nostalgia for the season. Marvel Studios provided us with a special presentation on Disney + of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which included Drax and Mantis kidnapping Kevin Bacon as they tried to boosts the spirits of Peter Quill. I saw Christmas Bloody Christmas just this morning on Shudder and found the robot Santa Claus slasher that I did not know that I needed. Then, there were two Netflix films that were not particular favorites of mine, but I would include on this list at the bottom. That would be Falling for Christmas and the animated Scrooge: A Christmas Carol. Both very disappointing, especially Scrooge which somehow messed up the easiest of all stories.

The X-Mas Movie of the Year…

Violent Night

David Harbour starred in Violent Night, a film that was a surprise because of how much they actually spent on characterization and the depth of the story. It is not just Santa Claus being a bad ass. Of course, he is a bad ass. This was a hoot of a film with a ton of fun and some serious violence. And it is one of my favorite movies of the year.

The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

Previous Winners:  Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), In the Heights (2021), Mass (2021)

Ensemble casts are vital to the movie industry. Not every film has an obvious main protagonist. Instead they depend on deep and talented casts to provide the story.

2022 has its share of top notch ensemble casts. In fact, this year, as we did last year, has a tie in The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award.

Before we reveal the winners this year, we have to look at the runners-up.

Runners-Up: Starting off, one of my favorite movies of the year featured a great ensemble cast in The Menu. You may argue that Ralph Fiennes is the main character which keeps that out of the winner’s circle. The Woman King had a great cast, led by Viola Davis in a film where they were not the Dora Milaje. Then, Bullet Train was a lot of fun, featuring Brad Pitt and Brian Tyree Henry. The second Kenneth Branagh film with him as Hercule Poirot, Death on the Nile, is better than the other film. Everything Everywhere All the Time is a great film, but the fact that Michelle Yeoh is the main protagonist, though the remainder of the cast was amazing. German film All Quiet on the Western Front was a solid remake on Netflix this year. There was a new Scream this year too (and next year as well).

Winner#1

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

This cast is amazing. Featuring the skills of Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Dominique Thorne, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Martin Freeman, Mabel Cadena, Michaela Coel, Florence Kasumba and Lake Bell.

This was a very emotional film for the cast to make, since they were moving on without their “king” Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020. You can tell that the actors in Wakanda Forever were definitely bringing it in honor of their fallen friend.

Winner #2

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

The second winner is another sequel, but there is only one returning character. Benoit Blanc, as played by Daniel Craig, is the pne connective tissue between the original Knives Out film and Glass Onion.

However, the rest of the cast is tremendous as well including Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., and Hugh Grant.

The idea of following Benoit Blanc into different mysteries with new ensemble casts is very engaging and Glass Onion was a ton of fun.

I did not have a ton of nominees for this award this year. Next year it sure looks like Harrison Ford’s young Indiana Jones has to be considered a leading candidate, but this year was slight.

In fact, I only have two nominees.

Runner-up: Luke Skywalker (The Book of Boba Fett)

The Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award

Previous Winners:  Robert DeNiro (The Irishman), Mark Hamill (The Mandalorian), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man: No Way Home)

2022 Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award goes to…

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven (Stranger Things Season 4)

The flashbacks of Eleven that helped tell the origin of Vecna included many scenes with a young Millie Bobby Brown. At times they used Millie and other times they had a young actress Martie Blair (from Young & the Restless) do the scenes with a de-aged Millie Bobby Brown head CGIed on her body. Amazing what they can do with technology these days.

I actually had a difficult time with this award because I had several choices to become the 2022 I See Kid Actors Award but there was not any that really jumped out at me. I mean, there were several decent performances and several solid work by the youngster of the movie world, but I did not think there was that real standout.

In fact, I found a lot of serious contenders who just did not made the age cut. For our purposes, a “kid actor” is a performer who was under the age of 18 during the calendar year. I had considered Sadie Sink from Stranger Things 4, but she was 20 years old. Her work on “Dear Billy” was brilliant (and you’ll see her name later in the Year in Review, I am sure). Then I thought a shoo-in would be Jenna Ortega for her work in the new Netflix series, Wednesday, but, she too, was 20 years old.

Then I found the winner.

I See Kid Actor Award 

Previous Winners:  Emjay Anthony (Chef), Jacob Trembley (Room), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Dafne Keen (Logan), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Noah Jupe (Honey Boy), McKenna Grace (Troop Zero), Jeremy T. Thomas (Antlers)

Runners-Up: Marlow Barkley did a solid job in the under appreciated Slumberland on Netflix. She carried much of that film with Jason Momoa. Real life twin brothers Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti played twins in the horror remake of Goodnight Mommy. They were the best part of that movie. Walker Scobell appeared in two films this year, the biggest being The Adam Project with Ryan Reynolds. He looks to be a star of the future. Then there was Banks Repeta who starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in Armageddon Time and looked like he belonged. How many adult actors could say that? Mason Thomas and Madeleine McGraw were so epic in Black Phone that one or both nearly took this award. In fact, they were probably the frontrunners until just recently. Then, Rueby Wood was fun in the surprisingly entertaining Disney + show Better Nate Than Ever.

However, I saw a film today that, 15 minutes into the film, I knew this would be my “I See Kid Actors” Award winner for 2022.

The I See Kid Actors Award for 2022 goes to…

Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical)

She was so spectacular in this movie that I knew that she was going to take home this award. She sang beautifully and provided so much emotion and energy that she could hold her own with Emma Thompson and make a character that was beloved by many from a 1996 movie and make it her own.

It has been a great year in the WWE. Even when a lot of the storylines were repetitive or not as interesting, the matches were still delivering, especially with Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes and Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins.

#15. Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Asuka, Mia Yim and Alexa Bliss defeated Damage Control, Rhea Ripley and Nikki Cross, War Games, SummerSlam

#14. Roman Reigns defeated Logan Paul, Crown Jewel

#13. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin defeated Kevin Owens, Wrestlemania

#12. The Bloodline defeated The Brawling Brutes, Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens, War Games, SummerSlam.

#11. Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns by DQ; Royal Rumble

#10. Matt Riddle defeated Seth Rollins, Fight Pit. Extreme Rules

#9. R.K. Bro defeated Alpha Academy and Seth Rollins/Kevin Owens. RAW

#8. Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre. Clash at the Castle

#7. Roman Reigns defeated Matt Riddle. Smackdown.

#6. Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins. Wrestlemania Backlash

#5. Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch. SummerSlam

#4. Roman Reign defeated Brock Lesnar Last Man Standing. SummerSlam.

#3. Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins. Wrestlemania 38

#2. Gunther defeated Sheamus. Clash at the Castle.

Quite the year for Roman Reigns, who was in six of the top 15 matches, Seth Rollins who was in five, and Kevin Owens and Matt Riddle (who found his first name!) were in three each. Two matches that appeared live and free on TV made this list, one from RAW and one from Smackdown. This is the first year in quite awhile that NXT did not make the list. Gunther and Sheamus had the banger of all bangers at Clash at the Castle and it solidified Sheamus as a fan favorite and a tough, tough man. Some runners-up outside the top 15 included Bianca Belair vs. Bayley, Ladder Match, Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch, Wrestlemania 38, The Bloodline vs. R.K.Bro nd Drew McIntyre, Wrestlemania Backlash, The Usos defeated The Street Profits, Money in the Bank, AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor, Survivor Series, Ricochet vs. Carmelo Hayes, NXT World’s Collide, Wes Lee wins North American Championship in Ladder Match, Bron Breakker vs. Ilja Draugnov vs. JD McDonagh, Halloween Havoc

…and the #1 WWE Match of the

Year…

#1. Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins, Hell in the Cell

There may have been better technical matches this year (including from these two), but the fat that Cody Rhodes went into this match with a severe injury, having torn his pec off the bone, and still was able to deliver a match full of drama and intensity, lacking nothing, speaks highly of both Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. The legit injury looked horrible and created such a stir in the audience. I remember when I first saw the injury that I couldn’t believe it was real and that the WWE would allow Cody to compete. The success of the match really sent Cody into the next stratosphere and set him up to be a huge babyface upon his return.

The world of WWE is always interesting and it went through a major shift backstage this year as Chairman Vince McMahon stepped down from the creative and the control of the WWE. As all wrestling fans believed that hell had frozen over, Triple H, aka Paul Levesque, took over the WWE and immediately began making changes and re-signing wrestlers who had been let go. There was a lot of excitement in the world of wrestling and the WWE was on a roll.

Here are our World of WWE Awards.

Male Wrestler of the Year: Roman Reigns (runners-up: Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley). Roman Reigns has been the WWE and Universal Champion for the whole year and he has been involved in the hottest storylines of the year.

Female Wrestler of the Year: Bianca Belair (runners-up: Liv Morgan, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch). Bianca Belair has been dominating the RAW Women’s Division since regaining her championship at Wrestlemania. She seems to be the female John Cena.

Tag Team of the Year: The Usos (runners-up: Street Profits, RKBro, New Day, The Brawling Brutes). Jey and Jimmy Uso have set the all-time record for the longest Tag Team Championship reign of all time and defeated every one of the runners-up this year. The Usos never fail to deliver an awesome match.

Manager of the Year: Paul Heyman (runners-up: MVP, Scarlett). Technically, he is a “Wise Man.” But that is the general idea of the position and nobody plays his role better than Paul Heyman.

On the Mike: Kevin Owens (runners-up: Bray Wyatt, Paul Heyman, Edge). Kevin Owens has been killing it on the microphone this year. His confrontation with Austin Theory, Roman Reigns and the continuing storyline with Sami Zayn has elevated both Owens and his opponents. KO has been outstanding.

Faction of the Year: The Bloodline (runners-up: The Brawling Brutes, Imperium, The Judgment Day, The OC) The Bloodline group with Roman Reigns, The Usos, Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman has dominated and has been involved in the best work of the year. They win all the time and when they finally go down, it is going to be a huge thing.

Feud of the Year: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins. (runners-up: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesner, The Usos vs. Street Profits, Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch) The American Nightmare and The Architect put on three classic matches starting at Wrestlemania this year. Then, Seth took Cody out with a sledgehammer. This was so great.

Underused Performer of the Year: Shayna Basler. Shayna was a killer in NXT. She came to the main roster and immediately lost so much luster. She has just recently been linked with Ronda Rousey and hopefully that will be able to get her back on track.

Comeback of the Year: Cody Rhodes (runners-up: Brey Wyatt, Edge, The OC). Cody’s return at Wrestlemania is so great. It was so sad that he got hurt, but those months of his work was thrilling and the crowd absolutely ate it up.

Celebrity of the Year: Logan Paul. Who thought this guy was going to be good? He turned out incredibly well. His match with The Miz and Roman Reigns was excellent. He is not the typical celebrity.

Heel of the Year: Roman Reigns. Of course.

Face of the Year: Cody Rhodes. He will get one of the best face pops when he returns. Will it match his pop at Wrestlemania?

Storyline of the Year: The Bloodline/Sami Zayn. This has been so compelling and watching it every week was epic. You never knew what was going to happen next. And it is going to pay off BIG TIME.

Best Broadcaster: Pat McAfee. McAfee is so entertaining. He carries himself like a fan and he has helped Michael Cole so much.

Breakout Star: Solo Sikoa. This guy feels like a star in the making. He has been great since coming up from NXT. In fact, he has been so much better on the main roster than he was in NXT, which is not the typical.

Shock of the Year: Cody Rhodes reveals his torn pec at Hell in the Cell. The picture was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe that Cody was still going through with the match vs. Seth Rollins. It was legendary, but, sadly, we haven’t seen him since.

The Expendables Awards are next up for the Year in Review…

Best Expendable Actor in a Film: Glenn Powell (Devotion). Powell is excellent in this film opposite the amazing Jonathan Majors. The film itself was okay.

Best Expendable Voice Over: Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish). I haven’t seen this yet, but the trailers look cool. Dolph Lundgren is the runner up for Minions: Rise of Gru.

The Bruce Willis Quantity Over Quality Expendables Award for Most Movies Made: Mel Gibson. Six movies this year for Mel. On the Line, Bandit, Hot Seat, Father Stu, Agent Game, Panama. I did not see any of them.

Expendable Actor Villain of the Year: Antonio Banderas (Uncharted) He played Santiago Moncade who died too quickly. When he went, the movie was definitely hurt.

The Expendable Women’s Wrestling Champion of the Year: Ronda Rousey. Ronda Rousey returned to the WWE and won the Smackdown Women’s Championship a couple of times.