The nominees for the 2022 Most Outstanding Wrestler in Southern California Award have been announced and the web poll is now open for fan voting. This award is based solely on in-ring work and has been given annually since 2006, when it was first won by El Generico (Sami Zayn). Since 2013, the award has been given in honor of the late Paul Tokunaga, who was better known to the Southern California wrestling community as Paul T.
The twelve nominees for 2022 include four wrestlers who have previously won the award: Ray Rosas (2012), Bateman (2014), Eli Everfly (2016), and Danny Limelight (2020).
Here is the full list of nominees for the 2021 Most Outstanding Wrestler in Southern California Award:
- Adrian Quest
- Bateman
- Cameron Gates
- Che Cabrera
- Danny Limelight
- Eli Everfly
- Jordan Cruz
- Lucas Riley
- Michael Hopkins
- Ray Rosas
- Tito Escondido
- Yuya Uemura
Webpoll voting is now open for the award and will remain open until February 15:
Previous winners:
Paul T. Memorial Award for Most Outstanding Wrestler in Southern California
The Southern California Year End Awards have been held annually since 1999 to honor the best in Southern California pro-wrestling for the year. The voting for the awards consists of two parts: a public web poll worth 35% of the total vote and balloting by a committee of voters, which is worth 65% of the total.
Paul Tokunaga, who started in wrestling working for Antonio Inoki, became known to Southern California wrestling fans as the manager for Tokyo Gurentai in Revolution Pro and XPW and later as the first commissioner of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He was also instrumental in bringing Japanese talent to Southern California such as NOSAWA, Kikutaro, and the first United States tour by the Joshi promotion ARSION. He helped numerous Southern California wrestlers get bookings with Japanese wrestling promotions. Paul was also a huge supporter of SoCalUncensored.com and was a frequent poster on our message boards and occasional columnist. More than anything (outside of surfing and Japanese women) he appreciated good wrestling and it was felt to be a fitting tribute to give this award in his honor.
