Jake Ziegler’s WWE Awards
Before I get to the awards, if you have any interest at all in seeing Dragon Gate programming legally in the United States, Sign This Petition and then thank Brad Garoon for all his hard work.
Wrestler of the Year: The Miz
He held the United States Title for about 10 of 11 months, won the Unified Tag Team Championship with Big Show, won the Raw Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed it in on Randy Orton to win his first WWE Championship. He also had a big hand in getting Daniel Bryan over, losing cleanly to him a number of times while not losing his own heat. No one had a bigger year than the Miz.
Runners Up: John Cena, Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Randy Orton
Tag Team of the Year: The Hart Dynasty
This used to be a competitive award, but it’s almost like the Hart Dynasty takes it this year by default. They held won the Unified Tag Team Championship from Big Show & the Miz on April 26 and held them all the way until September 19, dropping them in a weird Tag Team Turmoil match. David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd could have stayed together and helped revitalize the tag team scene, but they’ve already been split up for some reason.
Runners Up: Big Show & The Miz, The Usos, Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov, The Dudebusters
Show of the Year: WrestleMania XXVI
Again, there aren’t a lot of great choices here, but WrestleMania is usually a pretty good bet. Shawn Michaels and Undertaker tore it up again in the main event and Shawn’s last match, John Cena and Batista had a pretty good WWE Title match, Chris Jericho and Edge had a good match for the World Heavyweight Title, Rey Mysterio and CM Punk had a good albeit brief match. It wasn’t one of the best but it was the best one this year.
Runners Up: Royal Rumble, Hell in a Cell, Survivor Series, SummerSlam
Breakout Star of the Year: (tie) Wade Barrett, Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio, and Sheamus
The top of the class for NXT Season 1, both Barrett and Bryan made an impact on Raw in different ways. Barrett is clearly the bigger star, with a marquee feud against John Cena and multiple WWE Title shots on pay-per-view against Randy Orton. Bryan won the United States Title form the red-hot Miz in September, defeated him in a rematch, beat Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler three straight times, and easily handled Ted DiBiase. Del Rio immediately made an impact with a hot feud with Rey Mysterio and has been made into quite the big deal on Smackdown. Sheamus won the WWE Title twice, feuded with Randy Orton and John Cena, “injured†Triple H, and won the King of the Ring by defeating John Morrison. That’s a lot to accomplish in a year. I know a four-way tie is kind exceptionally lame, but I think all four of these men really stood out this year, and anyone who says the WWE doesn’t push new talent is just wrong.
Runner Up: Kaval
Match of the Year: Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker, WrestleMania XXVI
Shawn Michaels’s retirement match against the Undertaker was more emotionally involving than any other match in WWE this year, and thus it gets my vote for Match of the Year. These two have always had amazing chemistry together and their coupe de grace may have been just about perfect.
Runners Up: Royal Rumble match (Royal Rumble), Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk (Over the Limit), Wade Barrett vs. John Cena (Hell in a Cell), D-Generation X vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show (TLC)
Well that about wraps it up. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comment section below.
