The are Japanese professional wrestling, or puroresu, awards that have been handed out by the Tokyo Sports magazine annually since 1974. The most publicized awards in Japanese professional wrestling, they are recognized by all the major promotions in the country, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Noah.
The awards are voted for by a committee made up of people involved with Japanese professional wrestling, including reporters and photographers. After the winners are announced in the middle of December, an award ceremony is held in Tokyo in January. Voting takes place in rounds. In landslide cases, the winner can be determined in a single round of voting, however, if no wrestler gets enough votes, the award can be left blank and not given out that year. Most notably, the award for female wrestler of the year was not given out between 2004 and 2008 and again in 2014, when the committee felt that no wrestler had the necessary qualifications.
The awards have been described as "legit to a degree", but also to spread them among different major promotions. For example, the award for the best technical wrestler may not be given to someone considered the best technical wrestler in puroresu, but to a top wrestler from a promotion that has not gotten any of the other awards. There are currently ten active awards given out by Tokyo Sports, including one dedicated to sport wrestling.
Active awards MVP Award Rebranded in 2010. Originally known as , which has since become a secondary name. YearWinnerPromotion1974Antonio InokiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1975Giant BabaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1976Antonio InokiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling197719781979Giant BabaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1980Antonio InokiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling19811982Tiger Mask1983Jumbo TsurutaAll Japan Pro Wrestling19841985Tatsumi FujinamiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1986Genichiro TenryuAll Japan Pro Wrestling198719881989Akira MaedaUniversal Wrestling Federation1990Atsushi OnitaFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling1991Jumbo TsurutaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1992Nobuhiko TakadaUnion of Wrestling Forces International1993Genichiro TenryuWrestle Association R1994Shinya HashimotoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1995Keiji Muto1996Kenta KobashiAll Japan Pro Wrestling1997Masahiro ChonoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1998Kenta KobashiAll Japan Pro Wrestling1999Keiji MutoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2000Kazushi SakurabaPride Fighting Championships2001Keiji MutoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2002Bob SappK-1New Japan Pro-Wrestling2003Yoshihiro TakayamaPro Wrestling Noah2004Kensuke SasakiAll Japan Pro WrestlingNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2005Satoshi KojimaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2006Minoru SuzukiPancrase2007Mitsuharu MisawaPro Wrestling Noah2008Keiji MutoAll Japan Pro Wrestling2009Hiroshi TanahashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2010Takashi SugiuraPro Wrestling Noah2011Hiroshi TanahashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2012Kazuchika Okada20132014Hiroshi Tanahashi2015Kazuchika Okada2016Tetsuya Naito20172018Hiroshi Tanahashi2019Kazuchika Okada2020Tetsuya Naito2021Shingo Takagi2022Kazuchika Okada2023Tetsuya Naito2024Zack Sabre Jr.2025Saya KamitaniWorld Wonder Ring Stardom
Rebranded in 2010. Originally known as , which has since become a secondary name.
YearWinnerPromotion1974Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi (March 19)New Japan Pro-Wrestling1975Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Robinson (December 11)1976Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rusher Kimura (March 28)International Wrestling EnterpriseAll Japan Pro Wrestling1977Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mil Máscaras (August 25)All Japan Pro Wrestling1978Harley Race vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (January 20)1979B-I Cannon (Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba) vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh (August 26)Tokyo Sports1980Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (December 11)All Japan Pro Wrestling1981Giant Baba vs. Verne Gagne (January 18)1982Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen (February 4)1983Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (April 3)New Japan Pro-Wrestling1984Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu (August 2)1985Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Riki Choshu (November 4)All Japan Pro Wrestling1986Akira Maeda vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (June 12)New Japan Pro-Wrestling1987Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (August 31)All Japan Pro Wrestling1988Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen (July 27)1989Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (June 5)1990Atsushi Onita vs. Tarzan Goto (August 4)Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling1991Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hulk Hogan (December 12)Super World of Sports1992Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (June 5)All Japan Pro Wrestling1993Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu (January 4)New Japan Pro-Wrestling1994Revolution (Ashura Hara & Genichiro Tenryu) vs. Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto (March 2)Wrestle Association R1995Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (June 9)All Japan Pro Wrestling1996Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobuhiko Takada (September 11)Wrestle Association R1997Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (October 21)All Japan Pro Wrestling1998Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (October 31)1999Genichiro Tenryu vs. Keiji Muto (May 3)New Japan Pro-Wrestling2000Kensuke Sasaki vs. Toshiaki Kawada (October 9)2001Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Yuji Nagata (June 6)2002Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Yuji Nagata (May 2)2003Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (March 1)Pro Wrestling Noah2004Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi (July 10)2005Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kenta Kobashi (July 18)2006Kenta vs. Naomichi Marufuji (October 29)2007Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama (December 2)2008Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shuji Kondo (November 3)All Japan Pro Wrestling2009Jun Kasai vs. Ryuji Ito (November 20)Big Japan Pro Wrestling2010Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi (October 11)New Japan Pro-Wrestling2011Keiji Muto & Kenta Kobashi vs. Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano (August 27)All Japan Pro WrestlingNew Japan Pro-WrestlingPro Wrestling Noah2012Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (June 16)New Japan Pro-Wrestling2013Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (August 4)2014Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (August 10)2015Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kazuchika Okada (November 15)Tenryu Project2016Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji (July 18)New Japan Pro-Wrestling2017Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (January 4)2018Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (June 9)2019Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada (October 14)2020Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito (January 5)2021Go Shiozaki vs. Keiji Muto (February 12)Pro Wrestling Noah2022Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay (August 18)New Japan Pro-Wrestling2023The Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (January 1)Pro Wrestling Noah2024Hirooki Goto vs. Yota Tsuji (March 20)New Japan Pro-Wrestling2025Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ozawa (January 1)Pro Wrestling Noah
YearWinnerPromotion1975Rusher KimuraInternational Wrestling Enterprise1976Seiji SakaguchiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1977Animal HamaguchiMighty InoueInternational Wrestling Enterprise1978Rusher Kimura1979Ashura Hara1980Tatsumi FujinamiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1981Genichiro TenryuAll Japan Pro Wrestling1982Tatsumi FujinamiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1983The Great KabukiAll Japan Pro Wrestling1984Genichiro Tenryu1985Kengo KimuraNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1986Yoshiaki YatsuJapan Pro-Wrestling1987Kengo KimuraTatsumi FujinamiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1988Tatsumi Fujinami1989Shinya Hashimoto1990Mitsuharu MisawaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1991Atsushi OnitaFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling1992Masahiro ChonoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1993Kenta KobashiAll Japan Pro Wrestling1994Jushin Thunder LigerNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1995Akira TaueAll Japan Pro Wrestling1996Genichiro TenryuWrestle Association R1997Mitsuharu MisawaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1998Keiji MutoKodo FuyukiNew Japan Pro-WrestlingFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling1999Kazushi SakurabaPride Fighting Championships2000Jun AkiyamaAll Japan Pro WrestlingPro Wrestling Noah2001Pro Wrestling Noah2002Yoshihiro Takayama2003Kenta Kobashi2004Toshiaki KawadaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2005Takeshi RikioPro Wrestling Noah2006Naomichi Marufuji2007Hiroshi TanahashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2008Kensuke SasakiKensuke Office2009Takashi SugiuraPro Wrestling Noah2010SuwamaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2011Jun AkiyamaPro Wrestling Noah2012Takeshi Morishima2013Kenta2014Tomohiro IshiiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2015Minoru SuzukiPancrase2016Kento MiyaharaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2017YamatoDragon Gate2018Naomichi MarufujiPro Wrestling Noah2019Kento MiyaharaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2020Go ShiozakiPro Wrestling Noah2021Jake LeeAll Japan Pro Wrestling2022Kento Miyahara2023Hiromu TakahashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2024Yuma AnzaiAll Japan Pro Wrestling2025Konosuke TakeshitaAll Elite WrestlingDDT Pro-WrestlingNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
YearWinnerPromotion1974Strong KobayashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1975Kintarō ŌkiAll Japan Pro Wrestling1976Rusher KimuraInternational Wrestling Enterprise1977Seiji SakaguchiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1978Kim DukAll Japan Pro Wrestling1979Riki ChoshuNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1980Animal HamaguchiInternational Wrestling Enterprise1981Rusher Kimura19821983Genichiro TenryuAll Japan Pro Wrestling1984Tatsumi FujinamiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1985Tiger Mask (II)All Japan Pro Wrestling1986Riki ChoshuJapan Pro-Wrestling1987Yoshiaki FujiwaraNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1988Riki Choshu19891990Masakatsu FunakiUniversal Wrestling Federation1991Masahiro ChonoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1992Akira TaueAll Japan Pro Wrestling1993Shinya HashimotoNew Japan Pro-Wrestling1994Toshiaki KawadaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1995Kodo FuyukiWrestle Association R1996Akira TaueAll Japan Pro Wrestling1997HayabusaFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling1998Jun AkiyamaAll Japan Pro Wrestling1999Manabu NakanishiNaoya OgawaNew Japan Pro-WrestlingUniversal Fighting Arts Organization2000Toshiaki KawadaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2001Yuji NagataNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2002Masahiro Chono2003Hiroshi Tanahashi2004Hiroyoshi Tenzan2005Katsuhiko NakajimaAll Japan Pro Wrestling2006Hiroshi TanahashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2007Takeshi MorishimaPro Wrestling Noah2008Masato TanakaPro Wrestling Zero12009Togi MakabeNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2010Satoshi Kojima2011Masaaki MochizukiYuji NagataDragon GateNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2012Abdullah KobayashiBig Japan Pro Wrestling2013Daisuke Sekimoto2014Atsushi OnitaChō Hanabi Puroresu2015Yuji OkabayashiBig Japan Pro Wrestling2016Katsuhiko NakajimaPro Wrestling Noah2017Katsuyori ShibataNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2018Kaito KiyomiyaPro Wrestling Noah20192020Hiromu TakahashiNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2021Konosuke TakeshitaDDT Pro-Wrestling2022Great-O-KhanNew Japan Pro-Wrestling2023KenohPro Wrestling Noah2024Kaito Kiyomiya2025SareeeSareee-ism