The first annual EuroGraps.com Awards looks to recognise the very best in European Wrestling. We put our survey out to a carefully selected panel of journalists and fans from all across Europe to select their top three in a number of categories. 2018’s panel was @MikeKilby, @NordieByNature, @Spoilex16, @GaryOnGraps, @ArnoldFurious, @SarahFlann, @JPJipeee, @marv2punkt0, @ManuRomeroGraps, @TheKingofBoom, @RealPhillipDohm and @theianhamilton. Points were awarded with a first choice receiving 5 points, a second choice receiving  3 points and a third choice receiving 1 point. Not every person surveyed voted on every category.

Feud/Storyline of the Year:

1. Jordan Devlin vs. WALTER – 37pts.

2. David Starr vs. Revolution Pro – 14pts.

3. Rise of Absolute Andy – 9pts.

4. Dirty Dragan Trial Series – 7pts.

=5. Nothing to Prove vs. ATTACK!, Eddie Dennis vs. Mark Andrews & David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin – 6pts.

=8. Legion of Lords implode (RevPro) & More Than Hype vs. The Kings of the North – 3pts.

10. RISE implode – 2pts.

11. Monster Consulting vs. Jay-FK – 1pt.

OTT clinch their first award of the year so far with the superb programme between two of the hottest wrestlers in Europe. Jordan Devlin spent over a year as the untested ace of the Irish scene and saw off all contenders. That was until WALTER made the jump to the Emerald Isle in June – seeing off Starr and Devlin in a tag match and putting a chink in the armour of the Import Killer. WALTER then demolished Devlin’s close friend in Sean Guinness a month later before he crushed Devlin in the main event of Wrestlerama 2 – presenting the Austrian as the ultimate final boss in Ireland and beyond. From this, the feud has segued into an equally enthralling David Starr/Jordan Devlin programme which has all the makings of another classic. More than anything, OTT deserves credit for their incredible video work – producing world-class hype videos that sold this feud (and several more) better than any other promotion on the planet – WWE included.

In a fine second place – the David Starr vs. Revolution Pro storyline captured the imagination of the vast majority of visitors to Andy Q’s dream factory. Starr shone a light on an apparent conspiracy that Revolution Pro had against the American star – in particular the fact that his promos were edited out of the VOD releases as well as being on the receiving end of some frankly woeful refereeing from head official Chris Roberts. This eventually led to a Cruiserweight title run which continues to this day as well as a failed unification attempt against Heavyweight champion Tomohiro Ishii. For a company with an unfair reputation for having poor storylines – Rev Pro definitely stepped it up in 2018 with this as well as the wholesome comedy of the Legion of Lords implosion.

The wrestling world was shocked when Absolute Andy won the 16 Carat Gold tournament in March – a relative unknown on an international level but a true veteran of the scene domestically. However, nobody would have expected the tour de force that Andy embarked on in the following months – firstly batting away his former protegé in Marius Al-Ani before setting his sights on Unified champion Ilja Dragunov. Andy and Ilja had a great series over the course of the year which evolved into Andy staking a claim on Dragunov’s wife and son which only brought out the fire in the Russian. An injury stopped a potential golden weekend at World Tag Team League but Andy has remained the backbone of the company despite the very ‘fluid’ talent situation over the year in wXw.

Another popular storyline for wXw last year was the Dirty Dragan Trial Series. After the Dutch-Bosnian wrestler had been on a bad run of form, he was given the opportunity to prove himself with a number of matches against a large variety of opponents. Eventually this snowballed into a genuinely gut-wrenching mental health storyline – in which Dragan struggled with depression as well as a reluctance to seek help. It was incredibly refreshing to see such a difficult subject tackled in a respectful manner within the world of wrestling. Dragan, wXw and everyone else involved deserve a whole lot of credit for this.

✏️ @MikeKilby