The 2nd Annual Academy Awards of Professional Wrestling
by Jameel Raeburn (@MeelzTV)
The Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Illustrated hand out annual awards to highlight the in-ring performances of professional wrestlers around the world, but rarely are there any awards that highlight the quality entertainment that moves hand in hand with their athletic prowess. With The Oscars ceremony coming up on Sunday February 28th , honoring the cinematic achievements of the film industry, I’ve compiled my own list of winners and losers for the 2nd annual Academy Awards of Professional Wrestling. All nominees were highlighted between the period of February 1st 2015 and January 30th 2016.
READ: 2015’s The Academy Awards of Professional Wrestling
Best Promo
- Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman confronts The Undertaker on RAW (watch)
- Triple H asks Roman Reigns to ‘sell out’ for WWE World Heavyweight Championship (watch)
- The Rock and Ronda Rousey take on The Authority (watch)
- Seth Rollins, The New Day, Edge & Christian, and The Dudley Boyz cross paths (watch)
- Sami Zayn meets Kevin Owens before NXT Takeover: Unstoppable (watch)
- Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose prepare to wage war at Money in the Bank (watch)
History will feature Triple H’s finest moments as the role of merciless brute. He’s endlessly assaulted his rivals, ended legendary careers, and is notorious for wielding a sledgehammer as his weapon of choice. But arguably his greatest role is when he completely falls back on his cerebral nature, as an alternative to excessive force. When his prized champion Seth Rollins was sidelined by a knee injury last November, rather than mourn his loss he opted to immediately scout a successor in Rollins’ arch-rival, Roman Reigns.
The best part of the promo is that it’s legitimate a tough sell. Everything that has alluded Roman Reigns could be in his possession in a second. Everything that he’s worked for could be worth it, instantly. He’s walked through several lakes of fire, and finally he could reach the promise land if he agrees to be Triple H’s “man.” It’s the same sell that made Randy Orton the unified WWE Championship & World Heavyweight Champion and that allowed Seth Rollins to win that same belt in the main event of Wrestlemania.
Unfortunately for Triple H, Reigns refuses his offer, which ultimately begins setting up the pieces the Wrestlemania 32 main event. Last year Paul Heyman was the recipient of this award, and with Triple H winning it this year, it proves that even the best still get better with time.
Best Male Performer In a Leading Role
- New Day
- Seth Rollins
- John Cena
- Kevin Owens
- Roman Reigns
- Brock Lesnar
Despite the heavy competition in this category, Seth Rollins has emerged as the clear-cut winner with a year that most superstars can only dream, accomplished within the span of 8 months. Seth Rollins reached the summit of the WWE mountain by winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 31, and the months that would follow would cement him as one of the most impressive champions in recent WWE history.
Already an amazing performer, he took it to the next level as WWE World Heavyweight Champion, in the ring, on the mic, and everywhere else by fending off a who’s who of challengers. His laundry list of title contenders includes Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Sting, Dean Ambrose, Kane, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena — the latter whom he dethroned as United States Champion to become the first double champion of his kind in almost fifteen years.
Rollins’ stellar year would come to an abrupt end when he suffered a knee injury during an overseas tour. Seth Rollins may not have filled up the full calendar year, but when you talk about the best performer all year round he manages to still surpass his competition.
Best Male Performer In a Supporting Role
- Paul Heyman
- J&J Security
- The Miz
- Braun Strowman
- Zeb Colter
- Ric Flair
Braun Strowman doesn’t have the mic skills of Paul Heyman, the tenure of Ric Flair, or the showmanship of The Miz, but his presence surprisingly makes a difference in the once-complete Wyatt family fold, which is why he stands head and shoulders above the rest of his competition (literally). Four years ago, The Wyatt family made their debut in the WWE and naturally through wars and battles, their adversaries have discovered holes in their means of attack. Braun Strowman’s role as their newest heavy ensures that if you manage to make it through any of those holes, you’re going to run straight into a brick wall. The learning curve is certainly steep as he enters the ring with former world champions the likes of The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show, but he has the potential to be more dominant than the faceless hosses that dominated the aughts in the WWE.
Best Female Performer In a Leading Role
- Charlotte
- Becky Lynch
- Sasha Banks
- Bayley
- Nikki Bella
- Paige
While the four horsewomen of the swelling NXT brand have been the talk of the town over the last year, Nikki Bella dominated the year of women’s wrestling with a record-setting championship reign. Almost exactly a year to the day, the WWE Universe let out cries for change in the women’s division on television, begging for an upgrade from the swimsuit model era status quo to develop more characters and allow more ring time. Before the imminent hashtag Divas Revolution shifted the tectonic plates of the division, Nikki Bella rose to meet the new standard with championship defenses against AJ Lee, Paige, Naomi, and even a rare triple threat defense in Tokyo, Japan at WWE’s Beast of the East Event. The boss of the Bella Hammer was unfortunately grounded by a neck injury in the final days of 2015, but her contributions to 2015 certainly got the wheels turning with the new women’s movement in WWE.
Best Female Performer In a Supporting Role
- Lana
- Summer Rae
- Tamina
- Carmella
- Alexa Bliss
A rare two-peat in the Academy Awards of Professional Wrestling, but once again Lana is the leading woman in her field. A high-profile break up with Rusev and a on-screen, popular fling with popular flingster Dolph Ziggler lead her to stardom from the stadium status of Wrestlemania to the bright lights of Summerslam. The Ravishing Russian’s unlikely support swelled and she was quickly positioned to be the it-girl of the WWE. But along the lines of the similar unfortunates, her 2015 ended on a sour note as she was derailed by an injury and then completely knocked off the tracks with a controversial revelation that demolished the boundaries of wrestling’s sacred kayfabe. You know it’s bad when the only words associated with your character is “nuclear heat”. Like vinyls, valets have been making a noticeable comeback in the last few years but no one has yet to come close as a threat to Lana’s role in the last year.
Best Performance In a Match
- Roman Reigns (Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns — WWE World Heavyweight Championship, RAW, December 14, 2015)
- Bayley (Sasha Banks vs. Bayley — NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn)
- Finn Balor (Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor — NXT Championship at WWE: Beast In The East)
- Sting (Triple H vs. Sting at Wrestlemania 31)
- Seth Rollins (John Cena vs. Seth Rollins — Champion vs. Champion: Winner Take All Match, Summerslam 2015)
- Kevin Owens (John Cena vs. Kevin Owens, Elimination Chamber 2015)
Was there any other moment this year that nearly changed your religion at the level that Bayley did at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn? A Bayley-to-Belly suplex lifted a crowd of 12,000 into a new level of elation that was previously only reserved for the Royal Rumbles or Wrestlemanias of sports entertainment. Bayley’s performance at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn rivals the greatest roads to personal atonement since the night Daniel Bryan won the championship at Wrestlemania 30. After finally toppling her peers who went on to main roster success, the only person that stood in her way was her arch rival — and women’s champion, Sasha Banks. Bayley stood as a matured, seasoned competitor compared to her prior bouts for the top prize and the result was the performance of her career. We’ve never seen a battle between two women as audacious and able to elicit the level of emotion as we did that night.
Best Entrance
- Tyler Breeze (“NXT Takeover: Brooklyn”)
- Sasha Banks (“NXT Takeover: Brooklyn”)
- Finn Balor (“NXT Takeover: London”)
- Rusev & Lana (“Wrestlemania 31”)
- Triple H (“Wrestlemania 31”)
- The Undertaker & Kane (“Survivor Series 2015”)
Over the last decade it’s been a rare sight to see The Brothers of Destruction aligning for the same cause, but with The Wyatt family threatening to become the new monsters of the WWE (briefly even capturing their supernatural powers and assuming control of their druids), it was time for the monuments of the WWE to protect their legacies. Kane, whose path of destruction has clocked in at over 18 years, set the fiery stage for the silver anniversary of his brother’s arrival before the entire Philips Arena plunged into darkness. Already one of the greatest entrance in all of sports entertainment was only taken to the next level with one-of-a-kind theatrics and a tribute of all Undertaker’s incarnations over the last 25 years.
Best Video Package
- Sasha Banks and Bayley highlight their journey to NXT Takeover: RESPECT (watch)
- Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s blood rivalry continues at NXT Takeover: Rival (watch)
- Bray Wyatt and The Undertaker prepare to go head-to-head at WrestleMania (watch)
- Nikki Bella makes history, prepares to battle Charlotte at Night of Champions (watch)
- Triple H and Sting collide on the tumultuous Road to Wrestlemania (watch)
- The Divas Revolution rolls through Summerslam (watch)
WWE’s video department are almost undefeated at tugging at your heartstrings through their video tributes that trump box office movie trailers. Blood feuds between Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, races for respect between Sasha Banks & Bayley, or the once in a lifetime encounters like Triple H and Sting are only intensified by the video packages that precede them. However, their trailers featuring supernatural occurrences may be the most understated of the group. Bray Wyatt and Undertaker’s Wrestlemania 31 battle featured two masters of the mind games waging war without never even being in the same place until the bell rang for the match. The oscar-worthy video captures the highs of Undertaker’s Wrestlemania streak to the the earth-shattering moment when it was finally broken. Alongside that, it follows the rise of Bray Wyatt and his advantageous intentions to conquer the phenom in what may have been his most vulnerable state in years. A roller coaster of emotions backed by the perfect music captures the story of redemption in the face of WWE’s new martyr and it’s a classic clip if there ever was one.
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