In the absence of the Slammies this year, I have decided to put forward my own awards. The Shawn Michaels Has Left The Bulding Awards (Or SMHLTBies - pronounced Smaltbies, obviously).
Underutilised Superstar(s) of the Year
Also known as the Most Shat On Award, this goes to The Club. They came in as AJ Styles' henchmen, turned into a comedy double act and then repeatedly failed to take the tag team titles from The New Day. This is despite being clearly the top contenders, and repeatedly getting victories over them in non-title or singles matches. The top brass clearly wanted The New Day to beat Demolition's record, and so as the biggest threat to them, the Club had to suffer loss after loss to allow The New Day to accomplish that. After the excitement and heat they generated upon their debut, they should really have been given the belts and allowed to destroy the entire tag team division. Instead, when it finally became time for The New Day to drop the belts, the newly formed team of Sheamus and Cesaro got the nod over The Club.
Match of the Year
I can't give this to anything other than Goldberg v Lesnar at Survivor Series. The fact that everyone expected Lesnar to take the victory made the fact that Goldberg won so decisively and so quickly even more incredible. No doubt Lesnar will get some measure of revenge at some point, but this match was just so shocking and memorable that no other match this year can compare.
Rivalry of the Year
This goes to the two ladies who have redefined what female superstars can do in the business, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair. Whilst they have both occasionally stumbled on the mic at times, what they have been doing in the ring has been incredible and pushed the women's division where it has been needing to go for some time. I can't remember a match between these two that I didn't enjoy watching.
Breakout Star of the Year
This goes to my current favourite NXT star and current NXT champion, Shinsuke Nakamura. He debuted on the 1st of April with an excellent match against Sami Zayn, is now a 2-time NXT Champion having had an excellent rivalry with Samoa Joe. Nakamura is a future WWE Champion when he gets the call up. Despite occasionally struggling with English, the man has so much charisma and is so so popular that he clearly has a great future ahead of him.
Cruiserweight of the Year
By far the most entertaining thing about 205 Live has been The Extraordinary Gentleman Jack Gallagher. He is the gift that keeps on giving. Every week, he seems to up his game. His schtick is what the Vaudevillains should have been, however he has done it perfectly, and it can't be long before he earns himself a title shot.
Tag Team of the Year
This goes to the team who held the titles for all but 14 days of the year, The New Day. They perhaps shouldn't have held them for that long for the good of the division, but they have been entertaining all through their reign. The competition has been a bit weak at times, especially since the brand split when Sheamus and Cesaro had to be thrown together to take the belts from them but they definitely deserve this award.
Female Superstar of the Year
Whilst the obvious choices would be Charlotte Flair or Sasha Banks, I'm giving this to Asuka who has so completely dominated the NXT Women's Division and looked so scary doing so. No one has been able to touch her.
Male Superstar of the Year
This goes to AJ Styles, who has had the most incredible year. From debuting at number 3 in the Royal Rumble in January, to getting to clean victories over John Cena and then holding the WWE Championship for the last 4 months of the year - it's really hard to think of anyone who has anywhere near as good a year.
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