Official Winners of the 2011 TNA Year-End Awards

Earlier this month, nominees for TNA year-end awards were released. Over the last few weeks, readers have cast their votes for their favorites in each category. Without further ado, here are the results.

Wrestler of the Year:

Bobby Roode

It is difficult to argue that any TNA performer had a better overall year than Bobby Roode. Beer Money had another dominant year in the tag team division and Roode followed up with an impressive performance in the Bound For Glory series.

A win in that series put Bobby in the main event of TNA's biggest pay-per-view and, despite coming up short in his match with Kurt Angle, Roode would capture the TNA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating former partner James Storm and end 2011 as the hottest heel in the company.

Breakout Wrestler of the Year:

Austin Aries

From the moment he arrived in TNA, Aries proved to be a force to be reckoned with. He became X-Division Champion almost immediately and dominated the division concurrently. He brings a presence to the division that screams "star," something that has been missing since the days of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Christopher Daniels.

There are big things on the horizon for Aries, who may be the first since those three stars to break out of the X-Division and into the main event of TNA.

Tag Team of the Year:

Beer Money

Beer Money wins this award by default. In 2011, tag team wrestling was officially put on the endangered species list. With so few quality teams anywhere on television, the most experienced and beloved of those teams, Beer Money, garnered all the votes necessary for a win.

The question remains, however, what happens in 2012 now that Beer Money is no more?

Knockout of the Year:

Velvet Sky

Velvet Sky's win is interesting in that her 2011 was largely unspectacular, save for a one month reign as Knockouts Champion late in October. Both Winter and Mickie James had far better 2011s than Velvet and both were featured more heavily on TNA programming. Velvet has the longevity and has the feel of a genuine TNA original, a point that may not have been lost on the TNA loyalists.

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year:

Jeff Hardy

The next time you, the reader, questions why TNA keeps Jeff Hardy around despite the headaches he has been known to cause throughout his career, look no further than the results of this award.

Jeff Hardy missed two-thirds of 2011 yet still was considered TNA's most popular. And that is even after spending the first three months of the year as the top heel in the company.

Most Hated Wrestler of the Year:

Bully Ray

Bully Ray is a feel-good story in that he was able to segue from a highly successful tag team to a singles career, despite critics questioning how Ray or Devon going single in 2011 could ever work.

Bully Ray embraced the character of the loud-mouth New Yorker who had no problem bullying the more popular stars in the company. As a result, he became one of the company's most valuable heel characters and is poised to make a run at the top of the card in 2012.

Authority Figure of the Year:

Sting

Another honor awarded by default. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff dominated the screen time in 2011, and Karen Jarrett proved to be her always-entertaining self but Sting has always been a favorite of TNA fans and as a result, he was voted Authority Figure of the Year. This writer likely would have cast his vote for Karen Jarrett.

Match of the Year:

Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion vs. Jack Evans v. Lo Ki (Destination X)

A high-paced X-Division match that revisited the golden days of the division. While it was the highest quality of the nominees, AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray was more important and had a better story heading into the match. As a result, I have to respectfully disagree with the readers here.