WRESTLER OF THE YEAR
JOHN CENA
(39 percent)

Not only did John Cena take the top spot in the “PWI 500” in back-to-back years, but he was also the only 2006 PWI Achievement Award winner to repeat in the same category this year.

Let’s put that in historical perspective. Only three other wrestlers have won the Wrestler of the Year Award in back-to-back years. Dusty Rhodes did it in 1977 and 1978, Ric Flair pulled off the three-peat in 1984, 1985, and 1986, and Steve Austin did it in 1998 and 1999. That puts Cena in some lofty company. We’re talking Hall of Fame caliber here.

Until his pectoral muscle was torn in October, “The Champ” looked almost unbeatable in 2007. Cena suffered the most humiliating loss of his career in January ’07, a pinfall loss to Kevin Federline due to Umaga’s interference, but he rebounded to have an incredible year.

Cena handed Umaga his first loss at New Year’s Revolution, followed by another huge victory in a last-man-standing match at the Royal Rumble. Just one day after that intensely physical match, Cena teamed with Shawn Michaels to defeat Team RKO to win the Raw tag title. It was an uneasy alliance, one that crumbled even before Cena scored a decisive win over Michaels at WrestleMania.

Though he lost a non-title match to Michaels in London a few weeks earlier (in a match that won Match of the Year honors), Cena proved his WrestleMania win was no fluke by retaining the championship against Michaels, Edge, and Randy Orton in a fatal four-way at Backlash.

But the biggest challenge Cena faced in 2007 was the gargantuan Great Khali. Cena had to dig deep to beat the most dominating physical specimen in WWE history, which is exactly what Cena did at Judgment Day and One Night Stand.

Cena followed up those impressive performances with a victory over Randy Orton at SummerSlam, and retaining his title against the third-generation grappler at Unforgiven by virtue of a DQ loss. Considering Cena’s victories over Triple-H in 2006, “The Champ” had defeated every major World title contender on the Raw brand. However, on October 1, Cena suffered his injury and was forced to vacate his beloved championship.

Cena’s 12 months as champion was the longest world title reign in more than 15 years. And, if not for the injury, there’s every reason to believe his reign would be intact today.

“There was no one else in wrestling who was anywhere near as successful through the first nine months of 2007 than Cena,” wrote David Winslow of Sudbury, Ontario.

“Time after time, Cena proved the critics wrong,” wrote Sean Draves of Tampa, Florida. “He deserves this award more than anyone else.”

KURT ANGLE (20 percent)
First runner-up: Kurt Angle was certainly Mr. TNA in 2007, but he didn’t exactly use the most honorable of tactics to achieve his spot at the top of the mountain. Angle’s reliance on interference from his wife, Karen, and Kevin Nash, and his constant political maneuvering, overshadowed some of his accomplishments. Not only did he win the TNA World title, but he also won the tag team and X division belts and the IWGP 3rd Belt. It was a stellar year by anyone’s standards.

BATISTA (11 percent)
Second runner-up: Batista came up short in the Wrestler of the Year balloting again, and he has The Undertaker and Edge to thank. “The Animal” vanquished Ken Kennedy at the Royal Rumble, but failed to beat the “Dead Man” at WrestleMania. Batista dominated Edge, but has failed to score a clean-cut victory over him. Yet he did beat The Great Khali for the Smackdown World title—his most impressive achievement of the year. His World title loss to Edge at Armageddon occurred after the voting deadline.

RANDY ORTON (7 percent)
Third runner-up: No one questions Randy Orton’s greatness. It’s just that a lot of fans were reluctant to vote for the man they elected Most Hated Wrestler of the Year as the top competitor of 2007. Orton started 2007 relatively slow, however, and suffered big losses to Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand and Cena at SummerSlam that hurt his overall chances for this award. Remember, it takes more than four or five great months to be named Wrestler of the Year. Orton had the results, but he didn’t have 12 great months.

VOTES FOR OTHERS (23 percent)
Some of the top vote-getters who did not capture a runner-up spot include: The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Christian Cage, Takeshi Morishima, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, Triple-H, and C.M. Punk.