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Between 2008 and 2015, it had been a December tradition for WWE to host the Slammy Awards, their answer to the Oscars and the Grammys. It would be on an episode of RAW, looking back at some of the most memorable happenings of the year.
Following a five year gap, the company confirmed the return of the Slammy Awards when announcing the new programming coming to the WWE Network in December. While not happening on TV, the awards show could still be a lot of fun on the Network.
Several categories are constant, like Superstar of the Year, Tag Team of the Year, Match of the Year, and a few more. This year has been all over the place, with a lot of moments happening throughout. So it will be nice to sit back and review it, with awards being dished out to the best of 2020 in WWE.
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While the company has presented the Year-end Awards in the past few years, particularly for NXT, they haven't had an entire broadcast dedicated to it. The Slammy Awards feels like a proper ceremony and hopefully, it gets that treatment instead of awards being given out on WWE's The Bump.
With that being said, here are eight categories for the 2020 WWE Slammy Awards, and predictions on who might win them.
#8 WWE Breakout Star of the Year: Keith Lee
There have been several stars who have stood out and risen up the card in 2020, with most of them debuting on the WWE main roster this year itself. Possibly the highest-profile name to do so was Keith Lee, who made an instant impact on Monday Night RAW.
He defeated Randy Orton clean on pay-per-view in his first-week post-NXT. Since then, The Limitless One has been a constant presence near the top of the card and could realistically challenge for the WWE Championship at any point soon. Lee's big win at Payback has turned him into one of the top faces in WWE today.
He enjoyed a great year even before joining the main roster, having won the NXT Championship as well as the North American title in 2020. Keith Lee even entered the Royal Rumble Match and confronted Brock Lesnar. All these ingredients make up the perfect recipe for WWE's breakout star of the year.
Other debuting Superstars who could be nominated are Dominik Mysterio and Bianca Belair, although the latter could truly become a main-event star next year. Otis, the 2020 Money in the Bank Ladder Match winner, could also be in the mix after having a larger involvement in singles competition.
#7 WWE Tag Team of the Year: The Street Profits
WWE's tag team scene is not in the best shape, with a need to unify the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships. The two divisions should be merged, with the result being a single, solid tag team roster. Nevertheless, 2020 has been The Street Profits' year.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins won the RAW Tag Team Championship at the start of March and have reigned as Champions throughout the 'Pandemic Era'. They have had several solid title defenses, but their biggest moment came after swapping belts with The New Day upon being drafted to SmackDown.
The current SmackDown Tag Team Champions defeated Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods in a brilliant match at Survivor Series, solidifying themselves as the best tag team in WWE. This Slammy will have been earned solely on the beauty of Ford's Frog Splash.
Other contenders include the previously mentioned New Day, as well as the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, Nia Jax, and Shayna Baszler. Also, even though they went through an intense breakup and rivalry, Sasha Banks and Bayley deserve a nomination for their incredible work during the summer.
#6 WWE Rivalry of the Year: Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton
WWE has stepped up its game in the storytelling department in 2020, with several fascinating angles gracing RAW and SmackDown. Quite a few of them could win this award so whichever rivalry WWE gives this award to, it would be earned. It does seem likely that the recently concluded program between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton could win this award.
For starters, it lasted nearly four months. The two Superstars faced off for the WWE Championship at three different pay-per-views, with each match feeling different enough. Orton and McIntyre had a technical battle at SummerSlam, while their Ambulance Match at Clash of Champions went all over the arena.
After a brutal Hell in a Cell match, where Orton won the WWE title, the two concluded their rivalry in a satisfying No DQ Match on RAW. McIntyre emerged victorious at the end of it. All four matches delivered, which might give Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton the edge in this category.
Speaking of "edge", Orton's storied program with the returning Rated-R Superstar could be a nominee. Possibly joining Randy Orton vs. Edge could be the pair of SmackDown smash-hits, Sasha Banks vs. Bayley and Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso. The latter was extremely compelling and its story is still ongoing.
#5 WWE Cinematic Match of the Year: Boneyard Match (WrestleMania 36)
With the influx of cinematic matches on WWE pay-per-views when shows happened at the Performance Center, it makes complete sense to give them their own category at the Slammy Awards. The brilliance of the first few ones merit a separate award, away from the top in-ring matches of 2020.
This could go one of two ways, with either of the WrestleMania cinematic masterpieces worthy winners of the award. However, the company might give it to the Boneyard Match considering it just became much more significant as the confirmed final match of The Undertaker's WWE career.
The Deadman had a fantastic showing alongside AJ Styles, with the two putting on a spectacle for the ages. It worked perfectly, providing Undertaker with the perfect end to his WWE career. The symbolic nature of the Boneyard Match gives it the advantage over the Firefly Fun House Match.
Bray Wyatt and John Cena were also excellent in their wacky "match" at WrestleMania, finishing a close second. Other high-profile cinematic matches that could be nominated are Wyatt's Swamp Fight with Braun Strowman and the highly entertaining Money in the Bank Ladder Match at Titan Towers.
#4 WWE In-Ring Match of the Year: Randy Orton vs. Edge (Backlash)
While there is a limited number of cinematic matches to choose from, WWE has spoiled the fans with so many excellent contests in the ring this year. Even when shows were happening at the Performance Center, there were some absolute bangers. In fact, the PC played host to the "greatest wrestling match ever".
Purely for the catchphrase alone, Randy Orton vs. Edge from Backlash has to be the WWE Match of the Year. If it isn't, the company would be contradicting its own claims. Anyway, the match truly was one of the best in 2020. It was a fantastic celebration of pro wrestling, lasting nearly 45 minutes.
Edge and Orton hit each other with every move in their respective arsenals, as well as the finishers of some WWE legends. In the end, it was Randy Orton's Punt Kick that made the difference. It was incredible and would be a worthy winner of the 2020 WWE Match of the Year.
However, there are several matches that aren't far off. This year's Men's Royal Rumble Match was excellent and could realistically win as well. Some of the other nominations could be Bayley vs. Sasha Banks inside Hell in a Cell and last month's collision between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre.
#3 Most Memorable WWE Moment of the Year: Edge's surprise return (Royal Rumble)
Another category, another award for Edge. Despite his limited involvement during his in-ring comeback so far, the WWE Hall of Famer has already had a litany of memorable moments in 2020. However, his return at the Royal Rumble easily takes the cake.
It was a sweet moment, as Edge returned to the ring after nine years away. The pop was fantastic, which makes this quite an easy choice for the most memorable WWE moment of 2020. The ThunderDome has also hosted some big things, but the euphoria of the crowd at the Rumble was second to none.
It was a beacon of light in a pretty dark year, as was that entire Royal Rumble Match. This show, and this moment, will forever be looked at with fondness. The moment of Drew McIntyre eliminating Brock Lesnar from the match was also excellent, definitely worthy of a nomination in this category.
As for the ThunderDome, it is hard to top Roman Reigns' shocking return at the end of SummerSlam. That being said, The Undertaker's Final Farewell at Survivor Series rounds out a very strong list of memorable moments at "Big Four" pay-per-views.
#2 WWE Female Superstar of the Year: Sasha Banks
2020 has been another good year for women's wrestling in WWE, despite losing Becky Lynch through pregnancy and Charlotte Flair due to a surgical procedure that she hasn't yet returned from. This has been the year of Sasha Banks and Bayley, both of whom have been brilliant as partners and as rivals.
Either one of them could realistically be the Female Superstar of the year but WWE has a history of usually favoring babyfaces for the Slammy Awards. Therefore, Sasha Banks could end up with the award. The current SmackDown Women's Champion has enjoyed a stellar year.
As Banks and Bayley grew as a tandem, the two of them held all the gold in WWE's women's division. The Legit Boss has won all three possible titles she could in 2020, diversifying her WWE portfolio. The matches she has had with Asuka and Bayley have been excellent.
The two of them would comfortably make up the top three, with dominating spells on RAW and SmackDown respectively. The fourth Superstar to be nominated might be Shayna Baszler, who utterly dominated the Elimination Chamber match and is now one-half of the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions.
#1 WWE Male Superstar of the Year: Drew McIntyre
The year 2020 can be divided into various pockets of months, based on the product and the environment at the time. There is the pre-pandemic portion until WrestleMania, which featured all the big stars in WWE. The period immediately following 'Mania could be differentiated from the weeks heading into SummerSlam. And right now, we are in the ThunderDome era.
Every single period has seen different Superstars step up and make WWE a better place, but one man has done it throughout the year. Drew McIntyre. From his thrilling Royal Rumble victory to his title defenses after WrestleMania, The Scottish Warrior has been WWE's true MVP of 2020.
His first WWE Championship reign was great, with matches against the likes of Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, and Randy Orton to enjoy. McIntyre did lose the title but quickly regained it a few weeks later. He truly stepped up to steer the ship when WWE was at its bleakest right after WrestleMania.
Randy Orton comes close to Drew McIntyre in that regard, with a largely consistent year. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns has set the world alight on SmackDown, but his heel run has only accounted for about a quarter of the year. They could be joined in the nominations for this award by AJ Styles.
The Phenomenal One was a part of the universally popular Boneyard Match and reigned as the Intercontinental Champion after defeating Daniel Bryan in a classic. He also captained Team RAW to a clean sweep at Survivor Series and will face Drew McIntyre for the WWE Title at TLC.
This stellar list of megastars would be the perfect headliner for the 2020 WWE Slammy Awards. As with every other category, the award could be given to multiple winners. Hopefully, the Slammys this year are as fun as they have been in the past.
