Peter Kostka
NXT Awards
I originally planned to do this as part of my top 10 match list last week, but this week is another Best of episode and WWE themselves have decided to hold their own NXT awards poll with the results being revealed on next week’s episode, so why not make things easy on me and write about my picks for those awards.
Obviously, I’ll be skipping Match of the Year because you all found that out last week.
Male Competitor of the Year
WINNER: Kevin Owens (Runners-up: Finn Balor, Samoa Joe)
Nobody in NXT in 2015 pissed more people off than Kevin Owens. He started the year by destroying his best friend Sami Zayn in February to win the NXT Championship and proceeded to feud with just about everybody in the company in the spring and summer, including NXT GM William Regal. He also battled in some great matches against Zayn and Balor before making the move to the main roster and beating John Cena in his first match. Although Owens was a bit lost in the shuffle after that, he soon won the IC Title and is one of the lone highlights of a depleted, uninteresting main roster.
Female Competitor of the Year (and my Overall Competitor of the Year)
WINNER: Sasha Banks (Runners-up: Bayley, Emma)
Bayley made a STRONG run towards the end of the year for this award, but nobody in all of WWE aside from maybe John Cena had the year Sasha Banks did. She was involved in four of my top 5 matches of the year and grew into her own in 2015. Though she is WOEFULLY underused on the main roster with the albatross known as Team B.A.D. hung around her neck, there is hope that in 2016 those outside of NXT will realize what they have in The Boss.
Tag Team of the Year
WINNER: The Vaudevillains (Runners-up: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable, Enzo & BIG CASS)
Most people look at NXT in 2015 and point to the explosive growth of the women’s division as the biggest highlight of the year, but NXT also grew themselves quite the tag division as well. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are poised to have a breakout 2016 and Enzo and Cass are the mainstays who should be cutting promos with the New Day yesterday, but The Vaudevillains are my pick due to quietly being perhaps the most well-rounded team in NXT. Gotch is a wrestling dynamo and English has character for days and together they make one of the best, manliest pairings in all of NXT.
Takeover of the Year
Winner: Takeover: Respect (Runners-up: Brooklyn, Rival)
Brooklyn was their biggest show to date with my match of the year and Rival had the amazing Finn/Neville match, the Women’s 4-way and the long-anticipated battle between Owens and Zayn, but by far my favorite Takeover this year was Takeover: Respect. Three of my top 10 matches came from this card and the Full Sail crowd made a room of 400 people feel like 10,000. They were molten from the opening match on and showed why, although they can get on everyone’s nerves at times, they are just as big a part of NXT as what happens in the ring. In a year of feeling satisfied after NXT events, this one satisfied me the most.
That’s it for me. Hopefully we’re back to regular episodes next week.
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