Voted by the Wrestling Republic voting committee, Former NXT Women’s Champion, Mandy Rose has won the Most Improved Wrestler Of The Year.
The Most Improved Wrestler of the year went to the wrestler that has shown significant growth and improvement. Improvements within their promo skills as well as their in ring ability. Judging in improvement is a subjective thing which is why we have voters from all over the world.
Voting Results:
The first poll for this award resulted in Mandy Rose winning by obtaining 6 votes out of the 17.
The runner ups both received 4 votes, in both Liv Morgan and Jamie Hayter.
And NXT North American champion Wes Lee, Powerhouse Hobbs and Luchasaurus received 1 vote each.
Wardlow, Ren Narita, Julius Creed and Austin Theory were nominees, but did not rank in the standings.
Explanations:
Below are all of the voters with their original explanation of who they voted for, first the winner.
Mandy Rose
“Despite her controversial exit from WWE, no one on this list turned their career around more than Mandy. From being nothing on the main roster to completely reinventing herself in NXT and delivering an incredible reign as Women’s champion.” – Anthony Ricciardi (Head Of Opinions)
“Moving back to NXT was a move that pushed Mandy Rose’s WWE career to new heights. She won the NXT Women’s Title and held on to the belt for 413 days, while also leading Toxic Attraction to championship success and showing everyone she can be a top star” – Tomas Gramajo (News Writer)
“Given recent events it is odd saying this but I still believe Mandy Rose is the clear winner here. The quality of her work improved tremendously across the board.” – Clark Taylor (Reviewer & Republic Ramble Co Host)
Mandy Rose Continued
“Previously someone known more for her appearance than her in-ring skill (recent events notwithstanding) Mandy Rose has come a long way since she showed up on NXT. Despite the year ending in her release, Rose had a dominant reign as NXT Women’s Champion.” – Matt Cookson (Review Writer)
“Mandy Rose for sure, The way she was resurrected when she arrived at NXT was incredible, she demonstrated her talent in various facets and grew as a wrestler in an unparalleled way.” – Gabriela Boteo (News Writer)
“Truly a re-invention of ones character, Mandy went from the lover of Otis. To the leader of a band of sirens thriving through NXT, as they collected all the gold and Mandy would go on to become the third longest reigning NXT Women’s champion of all time. To take the Mandy Rose of 2020 and compare her to the version of her in 2022. They would be very opposite individuals.” – Soul (Host of Soul Sessions & Regular Guest on Take It To The Table)
Jamie Hayter
“With Jamie’s win against Toni Storm and becoming AEW women’s champion, AEW is really trying to utilize Jamie.” – Suki (Japanese News Writer & Lions Of The Republic Co-host)
“Watching Jamie Hayter in her early AEW run or during her STARDOM days and now is a wonderful experience. She showed so much potential back then, but now to come back, get over and win a well-deserved championship? That’s what we like to see. I will also say now that she has the best backbreaker in wrestling today.” – Ben Wagner (Opinion Writer & Lions Of The Republic Co-Host)
“Jamie easily the most organically OVER person on the AEW roster and has proved herself and I believe can be the best and most interesting women’s champion since Britt Baker first won the title and I look to their eventual feud.” – Chaos (Host of Take It To The Table)
“Jamie Hayter started her year as Britt Baker’s right hand woman and is ending it as AEW Women’s World Champion. She managed to break free of Baker’s shadow and build up quite the name for herself, all the while improving as a character and an in-ring performer.” – Olivia Quinlan (Head Of News)
Liv Morgan
“Liv Morgan has had a great year in wrestling, she has been able to make herself one of the the top faces in the women’s division after her rivalry with Rhea Ripley and her Smackdown Women’s Championship win. She should’ve stayed champion for a bit longer though.” – Archie Carter (News & Opinion Writer)
“Someone who consistently grows in popularity and truly continues to evolve and grow as a wrestler in Liv Morgan got the shot to be a champion. While you can’t say the championship run was solid it was experimental that showed she was a good champion for live events, and she was developing into the role of a champion. She lost the championship and had more attention on her direction instead of Ronda’s.” – Coby Galenzoski (Head of Reviews & Co Host of Republic Ramble)
“Liv Morgan broke out of her shell in 2022, and proved (disregarding poor booking) that she can be a main event star for WWE.” – Ben Allison (Owner Of Wrestling Republic and Graphic Artist)
“It took time for Liv Morgan to come out on her own as far as her in ring ability and has significantly shown improvement.” – Savannah Gall (Head Of Scouting Showcase & News Writer)
Powerhouse Hobbs
“This was difficult for me. I love both Julius Creed and Powerhouse Hobbs. The deciding factor is that I don’t believe that Powerhouse Hobbs has been getting the attention and TV time that he needs to be devolved. That’s no fault of his own, I believe that Hobbs would be farther along with his character and work if he was given the time, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and 2.0 have gotten.” – Ignacio Pinalez (Opinion Writer & Take It To The Table Guest)
Wes Lee
“Wes Came into his own after losing his partner.” – Dakota Mayes (News Writer)
Luchasaurus
“Luchasaurus is the most improved wrestler. He’s had a chance to show his skills both in a tag team and as an individual.” – Mark Mumby (News & Scouting Showcase Writer)
