Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Dave Meltzer well known wrestling journalist created Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.

Current awards

"Class A" awards

Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year)

Ric Flair is an eight-time winner and co-namesake of the category

Year	Wrestler	Promotion(s)
1980	Harley Race	National Wrestling Alliance
1981
1982	Ric Flair
1983
1984
1985		Jim Crockett Promotions
1986
1987	Riki Choshu	All Japan Pro Wrestling
1988	Akira Maeda	Universal Wrestling Federation
1989	Ric Flair	World Championship Wrestling
1990
1991	Jumbo Tsuruta	All Japan Pro Wrestling
1992	Ric Flair	World Wrestling Federation
1993	Big Van Vader	World Championship Wrestling
1994	Toshiaki Kawada	All Japan Pro Wrestling
1995	Mitsuharu Misawa
1996	Kenta Kobashi
1997	Mitsuharu Misawa
1998	Stone Cold Steve Austin	World Wrestling Federation
1999	Mitsuharu Misawa	All Japan Pro Wrestling
2000	Triple H	World Wrestling Federation
2001	Keiji Mutoh	New Japan Pro-Wrestling All Japan Pro Wrestling
2002	Kurt Angle	World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
2003	Kenta Kobashi	Pro Wrestling Noah
2004
2005
2006	Místico	Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
2007	John Cena	World Wrestling Entertainment
2008	Chris Jericho
2009
2010	John Cena
2011	Hiroshi Tanahashi	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2012
2013
2014	Shinsuke Nakamura
2015	A.J. Styles	New Japan Pro-Wrestling Ring of Honor
2016		New Japan Pro-Wrestling WWE
2017	Kazuchika Okada	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2018	Kenny Omega	New Japan Pro-Wrestling Ring of Honor
2019	Chris Jericho	New Japan Pro-Wrestling All Elite Wrestling
2020	Jon Moxley
2021	Kenny Omega	All Elite Wrestling Impact Wrestling
2022	Jon Moxley	All Elite Wrestling
2023	Will Ospreay	New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Mixed Martial Arts Most Valuable

Brock Lesnar is a three-time winner of the category

Year	Fighter	Promotion(s)
2007	Randy Couture	Ultimate Fighting Championship
2008	Brock Lesnar
2009
2010
2011	Georges St-Pierre
2012	Anderson Silva
2013	Georges St-Pierre
2014	Ronda Rousey
2015
2016	Conor McGregor
2017	Georges St-Pierre
2018	Conor McGregor
2019	Jorge Masvidal
2020	Khabib Nurmagomedov
2021	Kamaru Usman
2022	Israel Adesanya
2023	Jon Jones

Most Outstanding Wrestler

Manami Toyota is the only female winner of the category

Year	Wrestler	Promotion
1986	Ric Flair	Jim Crockett Promotions
1987
1988	Tatsumi Fujinami	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
1989	Ric Flair	World Championship Wrestling
1990	Jushin Thunder Liger	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
1991		New Japan Pro-Wrestling World Championship Wrestling
1992
1993	Kenta Kobashi	All Japan Pro Wrestling
1994
1995	Manami Toyota	All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
1996	Rey Misterio Jr.	Extreme Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling
1997	Mitsuharu Misawa	All Japan Pro Wrestling
1998	Koji Kanemoto	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
1999	Mitsuharu Misawa	All Japan Pro Wrestling
2000	Chris Benoit	World Championship Wrestling World Wrestling Federation
2001	Kurt Angle	World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
2002
2003
2004	Chris Benoit
2005	Samoa Joe	Ring of Honor Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
2006	Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan	Ring of Honor
2007
2008
2009		Ring of Honor Dragon Gate USA
2010		World Wrestling Entertainment Evolve Dragon Gate USA Chikara
2011	Davey Richards	Ring of Honor Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
2012	Hiroshi Tanahashi	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2013
2014	A.J. Styles	New Japan Pro-Wrestling Ring of Honor
2015
2016		New Japan Pro-Wrestling WWE
2017	Kazuchika Okada	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2018	Kenny Omega
2019	Will Ospreay
2020	Kenny Omega	All Elite Wrestling Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
2021	Shingo Takagi	New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2022	Will Ospreay

Most Outstanding Fighter of the Year

Georges St-Pierre is a three-time winner of the category

Year	Fighter	Promotion(s)
1997	Maurice Smith	Ultimate Fighting Championship
1998	Frank Shamrock
1999
2000	Kazushi Sakuraba	Pride Fighting Championships
2001	Wanderlei Silva
2002	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
2003	Randy Couture	Ultimate Fighting Championship
2004	Wanderlei Silva	Pride Fighting Championships
2005	Fedor Emelianenko
2006	Mirko Filipović
2007	Quinton Jackson	Ultimate Fighting Championship
2008	Georges St-Pierre
2009
2010
2011	Jon Jones
2012	Anderson Silva
2013	Cain Velasquez
2014	Ronda Rousey
2015	Conor McGregor
2016
2017	Demetrious Johnson
2018	Daniel Cormier
2019	Khabib Nurmagomedov
2020
2021	Kamaru Usman
2022	Alexander Volkanovski
2023	Islam Makhachev

Best Box Office Draw

Before 2021, this was a single award. Starting in 2021, separate awards for MMA and pro wrestling were introduced.

The Rock is a three-time winner of this category

Year	Performer	Promotion(s)
1997	Hulk Hogan	World Championship Wrestling
1998	Stone Cold Steve Austin	World Wrestling Federation
1999
2000	The Rock
2001	Kazushi Sakuraba	Pride Fighting Championships
2002	Bob Sapp	K-1 Pride Fighting Championships New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2003
2004	Kenta Kobashi	Pro Wrestling Noah
2005
2006	Místico	Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
2007	John Cena	World Wrestling Entertainment
2008	Brock Lesnar	Ultimate Fighting Championship
2009
2010
2011	The Rock	WWE
2012
2013	Georges St-Pierre	Ultimate Fighting Championship
2014	Ronda Rousey
2015
2016	Conor McGregor
2017
2018
2019	Chris Jericho	All Elite Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling
2020	Conor McGregor	Ultimate Fighting Championship
2021	MMA: Conor McGregor	Ultimate Fighting Championship
	Pro wrestling: CM Punk	All Elite Wrestling
2022	MMA: Israel Adesanya	Ultimate Fighting Championship
	Pro wrestling: Roman Reigns	WWE
2023	MMA: Jon Jones	Ultimate Fighting Championship
	Pro wrestling: Roman Reigns	WWE