Calling 2015 anything short of a breakout year for NXT would be a pretty grave understatement. We had the first-ever Iron Man match between female competitors, Jushin “Thunder” Liger showed up for a night, and a pair of blue pants took the world by storm. Realizing what kind of momentum they have on their hands, WWE recently opened up a fan vote to decide NXT’s most outstanding competitors. The votes have been tallied, and the winners were revealed on last night’s broadcast. Take a look and see if your favorites came out on top.
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Tag Team of the Year: Enzo and Cass. Kind of an obvious choice, when you think about it. The Vaudevillains were the only real competition on the list if we’re leaving it up to a popular vote. I emphasize the “on the list” part because, as I recall, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable weren’t even nominees. Maybe they wrote up the list of nominees in June or something.
Female Competitor of the Year: Bayley. Actually, Asuka being on the list of nominees here disproves my previous theory, so I have absolutely no clue why JJ and Chad got left out. Getting back to the matter at hand, though, Bayley is the only correct choice here.
Male Competitor of the Year: Finn Balor. With Sami Zayn shelved for much of the year, this was Finn’s category to win. In fact, depending on who you ask, he might be getting too powerful. If he’s got some friends on the way from Japan, I imagine that could be a pretty fun aspect of his character to play with.
NXT Takeover of the Year: Brooklyn. Let’s not stop at the NXT banner, because Takeover Brooklyn might have been the best wrestling event WWE put on all year. A large part of SummerSlam the following night felt embarrassing due the huge shadow this show cast. Not bad for developmental, right? That brings us to…
Match of the Year: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks (NXT Women’s Championship, Takeover Brooklyn). Speaking personally, this match is right up there with Michaels/Undertaker from 2009 in the category of matches that give me the chills every time I watch. Occasionally, wrestling is just the dumbest thing ever, and Bayley vs. Sasha is such a necessary reminder of how great it can be when it’s all done correctly. Much like Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn, this is a rivalry that should continue forever.
Overall Competitor of the Year: Finn Balor. Oddly enough, I believed that Sami Zayn had the best shot at this, regardless of injury. Finn had an awesome year, but I feel like the Overall award would go to the guy with NXT ingrained deepest into his DNA. Sami Zayn is NXT, but Finn definitely had the stats to back this win up.
Solid winners all around, but I feel like it’s kind of a meager list of categories compared to something like the Slammys, which has so many Superfluous Trophies Presented By Orbit Chewing Gum or Whatever that they have to announce most of the winners exclusively online. I think they could stand to add these categories:
Best Finisher of the Year: Between the Coup de Grâce, the Asuka Lock, and the Bayley-to-Belly, there are plenty of great choices. I’m sticking with that new powerbomb that Apollo Crews has been doing. Is he calling it “Crews Control?” I really hope he is.
Debut of the Year: A large part of the fun of NXT is waiting for the big signings to show up, so why not give that its own award? I mean, it would go straight to the New Japan guys, but it’s the thought that counts.
Best Talker of the Year: Along with the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, a great way to continue honoring the American Dream’s contributions to NXT would be establishing an award to celebrate someone who has Dusty’s gift of gab. HOT TAKE: Once Enzo and Sami Zayn hit the main roster, I’m thinking Alexa Bliss would have a shot at this one.
