The 2020 Southern California Pro-Wrestling Year End Awards winners have been announced. Click to see the list of this year’s winners and voting results from each category.
2020 Southern California Wrestler of the Year
Danny Limelight
2020 Southern California Women’s Wrestler of the Year
Heather Monroe
2020 Southern California Tag-Team of the Year
Wolf Zaddies (Che Cabrera & Tito Escondido)
2020 Most Outstanding Wrestler in Southern California
Danny Limelight
2020 Southern California Rookie of the Year
Rey Romero Jr. – Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy
2020 Southern California Promotion of the Year
United Wrestling Network
2020 Southern California Match of the Year
KENTA vs. Brody King – New Japan Pro Wrestling – December 18
For the complete awards history, click here.
Danny Limelight was named the 2020 Southern California Wrestler of the Year and the Most Outstanding Wrestler in Southern California. He is the fourth wrestler to win both awards in the same calendar year, joining El Generico (2007), Scott Lost (2008), and Jake Atlas (2019) in that accomplishment. In 2020, Limelight was featured heavily on Championship Wrestling from Hollywood (where he held the tag-team championship with Papa Esco), PrimeTime Live, and New Japan Pro Wrestling. For the Wrestler of the Year, Limelight finished first in the webpoll with 60.28%, and he received seven first place votes from the panel. Ray Rosas finished as runner-up for the Southern California Wrestler of the Year Award. Rosas finished second in the webpoll with 15% and received four first place votes.
Heather Monroe was named the 2020 Southern California Women’s Wrestler of the Year. She is the first wrestler to win that award more than once and the first wrestler to win an individual award in two or more consecutive years since Kevin Steen in 2011 and 2012. Monroe regularly wrestled for Bar Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, and PrimeTime Live. She won the webpoll with 25.87% and received seven first place votes. Ruby Raze was the runner-up for the 2020 Southern California Women’s Wrestler of the Year Award in the closest results for the awards. She finished second in the webpoll with 24.48% and received six first place votes.
The Wolf Zaddies (Tito Escondido and Che Cabrera) have been named the 2020 Southern California Tag-Team of the Year. At points during 2020, the Wolf Zaddies held the SoCal Pro, FIST Combat, and EWF tag-team championships. The team was a significant part of Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and also appeared on Bar Wrestling, Ground Zero, and Prime Time Live. They finished third in the webpoll with 14.47% and received eight first place votes. SoCal Distancing (Andy Brown and Adrian Quest) finished second in the 2020 Southern California Tag-Team of the Year voting. They held the UWN Tag Team Championship for 294 days during 2020. They finished fourth in the webpoll with 11.62% and received four first place votes.
Rey Romero Jr. was named the 2020 Southern California Rookie of the Year. He is the sixth consecutive wrestler from the Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy to win the award, and the eighth overall. He finished first in the webpoll with 50.15% and received seven first place votes. Mylo Matters, who was also trained at the Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy, finished as runner-up for the award. She finished second in the webpoll with 31.25% and received five first place votes.
United Wrestling Network, which promoted Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and Prime Time Live, was named the 2020 Southern California Promotion of the Year. With events being limited in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, UWN held far more shows in the region than any other promotion, including a weekly pay-per-view. UWN finished second in the webpoll with 20.11% and received ten first place votes. New Japan Pro Wrestling, which has an office and dojo in Los Angeles, was voted the runner-up for the 2020 Southern California Promotion of the Year Award. They held a number of tapings in the area for their weekly, critically acclaimed New Japan World program, Strong. NJPW finished fifth in the webpoll with 8.54% and received three first place votes.
KENTA versus Brody King from the December 18 episode of New Japan: Strong was named the 2020 Southern California Match of the Year. This marks the third time a match in New Japan Pro Wrestling has won the award. Jake Atlas versus Kaos from the January 4 Santino Bros. event finished as the runner-up.
Voting results:
2020 Southern California Wrestler of the Year
Danny Limelight 84.501
Ray Rosas 44.285
Clark Connors 30.497
Andy Brown 23.526
Slice Boogie 16.368
Jordan Clearwater 6.651
2020 Southern California Women’s Wrestler of the Year
Heather Monroe 66.126
Ruby Raze 64.837
Cece Chanel 35.668
Vipress 24.665
Miranda Alize 19.325
Lacey Ryan 12.256
2020 Southern California Tag-Team of the Year
Wolf Zaddies 67.705
SoCal Distancing 36.657
The Bodega 33.197
Ring Wormz 24.283
8-Bit Lit 15.654
4 Minutes of Heat 8.629
2020 Most Outstanding Wrestler in Southern California
Danny Limelight 48.635
Brody King 41.348
Ray Rosas 38.051
Andy Brown 33.017
Heather Monroe 28.489
Eli Everfly 20.163
Clark Connors 17.284
Adrian Quest 16.853
Rocky Romero 10.478
Dylan Kyle Cox 7.437
2020 Southern California Rookie of the Year
Rey Romero Jr. 73.379
Mylo Matters 52.678
Damian Troy Fable 20.357
Flor 11.754
2020 Southern California Promotion of the Year
United Wrestling Network 80.268
New Japan Pro Wrestling 40.157
Knokx Pro 37.234
FIST Combat 20.562
Ground Zero 18.283
Empire Wrestling Federation 10.354
2020 Southern California Match of the Year
KENTA vs. Brody King – NJPW – December 18 34.567
Jake Atlas vs. Kaos – SBWA – January 4 31.567
Danny Limelight vs. Clark Connors – NJPW – October 9 25.234
Hunter Freeman vs. Andy Brown – GZ – January 18 24.349
El Phantasmo vs. Lio Rush – NJPW – December 12 19.357
Only top-five are listed.
The awards are decided by a combination of a webpoll that is open to everyone and worth 35% of the vote and a panel of voters that make up the other 65% of the total. A wrestler can earn up to a total of 100 points.
