The Academy Awards of Professional Wrestling
Honoring the entertainment performances by WWE superstars over the past year.
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 passing last Sunday, honoring the cinematic achievements of the film industry, I’ve decided to put together my own Oscars for professional wrestling. There’s only about a ⅓ of the awards as The Slammys, but I promise it’s about ten times better.
Best Promo
- Paul Heyman & Brock Lesnar ‘Eat. Sleep. Conquer John Cena’ (Watch)
- Stephanie McMahon & Brie Bella set Summerslam Stage (Watch)
- Sami Zayn snaps on Adrian Neville (Watch)
- Mick Foley warns Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins to ‘Hell in a Cell’ (Watch)
- The Ultimate Warrior’s is Immortal (Watch)
- The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 30 (Watch)
There’s no question that if Paul Heyman has a microphone in his hand, the world is listening. Heyman is arguably the best performer of the last year, capturing audiences every time he appears on WWE television, but no promo delivered as big of a statement as the night Brock Lesnar was named the number one contender for John Cena’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The night after Battleground — and months after ending Undertaker’s famed Wrestlemania streak, Brock Lesnar re-emerged with Paul Heyman in tow to stake a claim as the rightful No. 1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
It would just be the first of many promos that summer that would continue to hype the legend of Brock Lesnar, and within ten minutes, the main event to Summerslam was sold.
Heyman acknowledged the past defeat to John Cena and reaffirmed why Summerslam would be a completely different story. He drove home the magnitude of Brock Lesnar’s ending The Undertaker’s streak and crushing the conscience of the WWE. Every word, every phrase was not only calculated, but served a purpose. Lesnar didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to say a word, because not only did Heyman say enough — but Lesnar’s touted accomplishments said enough.
Best Male Wrestler In a Leading Role
- Roman Reigns
- Seth Rollins
- Bray Wyatt
- Daniel Bryan
- Dean Ambrose
- Sami Zayn
Seth Rollins was the last member of The Shield anyone expected to ascend quickly as a main event contender, but in the last 365 days he’s proved to be the most consistent performer in his field — both in and out the ring. The biggest moment of his career — his break out moment, struck as suddenly as the cataclysmic chair shot that caused it. The night after The Shield trumped the three-headed dragon known as Evolution (the revived troupe with 30 world championships between them), Seth Rollins single-handedly destroyed The Shield from within with a sickening chair shots that maimed his fellow hounds, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. From there, he would conquer the landscape of the WWE by winning Money in the Bank, main eventing in the unforgiving Hell in a Cell, and nearly capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from the unstoppable Brock Lesnar.
Best Male Wrestler In a Supporting Role
- Paul Heyman
- Damien Mizdow
- Triple H
- Sting
- William Regal
As much as Damien Mizdow has his character down to a fine science, there was no prominent supporting player in the past year than Paul Heyman.
In this era where promos are heavily-scripted, Paul Heyman revived what it means to capture the eyes and ears of the world — not with chair shots, high-risk maneuvers, or expert technical wrestling, but with sheer conviction on microphone. The microphone is a coveted commodity in the WWE. Plenty superstars beg for the privilege to sell their story on the mic, but very few are confidently afforded that luxury (some for good reason). Heyman has more than earned that luxury by capturing audiences with his signature New York bravado ingrained with his against-the-grain mentality over the last 30 years. But in the last year, he’s delivered a series of spellbinding sermons that’s topped anything he’s ever done.
From his tone, to his delivery, and especially the content, he delivers every syllable with a purpose. Heyman’s nuances include accenting the dominance of Brock Lesnar every time he utters his name to match the vigor and intensity of the Beast Incarnate’s destruction. During the spring of 2014, Heyman brought Cesaro into the fold as the next Paul Heyman Guy and it only increased his stock, within months he was main eventing pay-per views for the WWE Championship. It’s clear that whether it comes to selling talent or selling tickets, there’s no greater support in the WWE than Paul Heyman.
Best Female Wrestler In a Leading Role
- Stephanie McMahon
- Paige
- AJ Lee
- Nikki Bella
- Brie Bella
- Bayley
All six females in this category have had their shining moment of their career over the past year, which continues to highlight 2014–2015’s prominence of female performers on WWE television. But this year, the boss proved why she’s the boss with some of the greatest moments you’ll see on a reel of the Reality Era ten years from now.
No one likes the authoritative heel, but Stephanie McMahon’s taken it to a new level with the latest incarnation of her authority character — frequently screwing over her opposition in the name of “best for business”. Her greatest performances came in the Summer of 2014 where a three month program with Brie Bella saw her strip Daniel Bryan of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, get thrown into a pool of chocolate pudding, get arrested on live television, and re-enter the ring for the first time in over a decade at Summerslam to handle business and emerge victorious. No offense to the full-time performers, but it’s going to be hard for the ladies to top a year like Stephanie’s.
She’s matched her “anything she wants, she gets” with a heavy business acumen and now has solidified her place as one of the company’s biggest heat-seekers.
Best Female Wrestler In a Supporting Role
- Lana
- Natalya
- Carmella
- Naomi
At some point after Sunny in 1998, the female manager died a horrible, insignificant death with the emergence of the coined-term “Divas” — smart, sexy, powerful women who added scantily-clad eye candy (and sometimes in-ring skill) to WWE television. Some time during this period, if you had a female performer in your corner she assumed the role of a valet who at times added nothing more than a delightful distraction to the in-ring work. Lana, who by every stretch of the imagination (or as far as a Google search engine will take you), has the looks and charisma to slide into the role as the typical Diva, but her emergence as the first true female manager in nearly twenty years has changed her career trajectory forever.
The Natasha Fatale to Rusev’s Boris Badenov, Lana has commanded the career of Rusev. Both have simultaneously rose to new heights on the roster with Rusev slaying former World Champions (Big Show, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, John Cena) while Lana gloats over the path of destruction. While Rusev’s incredible athleticism has continued to add credibility to his name, his character wouldn’t be as effective (or maybe even undefeated) without the direction of Lana. His stock increases as one of the most hated men in the industry with her ill-tempered promos in defiance of American patriotism.
Best Performance In A Match
- Bray Wyatt (Royal Rumble match 2015)
- Seth Rollins (Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins — WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Royal Rumble 2015)
- Brock Lesnar (Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena — WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam 2014)
- Daniel Bryan (Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan — WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 30)
- Dolph Ziggler (Team Cena vs. Team Authority at Survivor Series 2014)
- Sami Zayn (Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville — NXT Championship at NXT R Evolution)
Originally scheduled to be the third (and final) match in the Brock Lesnar and John Cena series, Seth Rollins’ late inclusion to make their Royal Rumble encounter a Triple Threat match was a questionable decision to say the least. But by the end of the match, not only was it arguably WWE’s best three way dance in the company’s history, but Seth Rollins became a made man.
A dosage of Seth Rollins, WWE’s newest main eventer, added a whole new element to Brock Lesnar’s recent matches (which previously followed the formula of Eat. Sleep. Suplex. Repeat. Suplex. Repeat. Suplex. Repeat. Suplex Repeat), as he became the first person to critically wound the Beast Incarnate with a infinite replay-worthy dive off the top rope through the announcer’s table. Then for the next several minutes, he hung move for move with the 15-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion and nearly finished him off with the awe-inspiring Phoenix Splash, before Lesnar drilled him into the canvas with a set of German Suplexes and an F5.
On a night where WWE featured an undercard of insignificant tag team matches and the most controversial Royal Rumble result in the show’s history, Seth Rollins limped away from his first championship match to a standing ovation, solidifying his role in the future of sports entertainment.
Best Entrance
- Baron Corbin
- Bayley
- Finn Balor
- Stardust
- Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady
Surprisingly enough, the entrance is still underrated aspect of a performer’s full package in the eyes of fans. It’s very seldom discussed when talking about the rise of a talent, but it requires the right amount of theatrics and skill to pull off.
But when it comes to entrances, there’s no one currently topping Finn Balor’s — which can only be described as one word: EPIC. It’s slightly more choreographed than most entrances, as Balor has to focus on the timing of hitting all marks, but he feels like a true superstar from the moment he steps through the curtain. Balor also customizes his entrance for live specials on NXT, donning black, red, and white body paint (often styled as Venom from the Spiderman series).
Balor’s entrance is larger than life, and will only continues to expand as he ascends to the main roster.
