Slammy Awards 2015 - Match of the Year

[Hanley!]

So these are the nominations for Match of the Year. What match do you think should win? Is it one of these or is it something else? And what do you think of the selections in general?

I have a history of thinking that the match that's awarded Match of the Year is completely overrated and undeserving, but the selection isn't that bad this year. With one exception: Sting vs Triple H was shit. No storytelling, no psychology and not much decent action either. And a terrible finish and pay off. Nostalgia and fan service is all the match had going in its favour. It belongs nowhere near this list and if it wins I'll be annoyed.

Other than that all the matches are pretty good contenders. I think Undertaker and Lesnar's match at Summerslam was probably better than their match at Hell in a Cell, but they deserved to have a match in there and the Hell in a Cell match was good too, so I don't have a problem with that. Also, while the Raw Fatal Fourway was good, I probably would have gone with Cena's US title defenses instead. Maybe one of the ones against Cesaro.

I reckon the Royal Rumble match is the best out of these ones, but my favourite match of the year isn't actually on the list: I think Sasha vs Bayley in Brooklyn was better than anything on the main roster this year. WWE probably made the deliberate decision to only nominate matches from the main roster, but I think it's disappointing that they did. Nominating a women's match as a candidate for Match of the Year would do more for that division than any amount of #DivasRevolution jargon.

[SlightlyJames]

Sting vs HHH is a joke nomination really, deserves to be far, far away from this list. I'd give it to the triple threat at the Rumble, that match was fucking great.

[Str8Shooter]

I'm stunned that Bayley vs Sasha wasn't on the list, although now I kind of understand them only wanting main roster matches. They pretty much know it would have won too.

Lesnar vs Cena vs Rollins is the obvious winner to me. That match was fantastic. Sting vs Triple H is laughable that it's on here. It was fun for what it was, but there were probably 10 Raw matches this year better than that, maybe more.

[Hanley!]

I'm stunned that Bayley vs Sasha wasn't on the list, although now I kind of understand them only wanting main roster matches. They pretty much know it would have won too.

I'm almost certain that's why they left it off. They didn't want to showcase the women as being better than the men, or NXT as being better than the main roster.

But why the hell not? If they want to get the "Diva's Revolution" (vomit) over, then what better way to do so? If they want people to buy the Network, why not show the people watching Raw that some of their best content is on NXT, only available for $9.99 a month?

It's crazy how much of this company's business model is cutting off its own nose to spite its face.

[SlightlyJames]

I'm stunned that Bayley vs Sasha wasn't on the list, although now I kind of understand them only wanting main roster matches. They pretty much know it would have won too.

I'm almost certain that's why they left it off. They didn't want to showcase the women as being better than the men, or NXT as being better than the main roster.

But why the hell not? If they want to get the "Diva's Revolution" (vomit) over, then what better way to do so? If they want people to buy the Network, why not show the people watching Raw that some of their best content is on NXT, only available for $9.99 a month?

It's crazy how much of this company's business model is cutting off its own nose to spite its face.

I would maybe imagine it's less to do with wanting to establish Raw as superior and more to do with not even considering NXT to be in contention whatsoever. They're very different shows, keep in mind that NXT is a wrestling show and Raw is a variety show with a wrestling flavour.

If they were considering NXT as part of the pool for these awards, there is the fact that they'd likely want to maintain the prestige of the main roster because, besides ego which no doubt would be a factor, that's what they're getting boatloads of money from USA for. It's a similar deal as their persistence with the 3 hour Raws that nobody wants beside USA Network. Money talks but if they take their fan base for granted like they have been their next TV deal will be down the shitter.

Either way, I'm sure we can all agree that JBL's "You're a moron for buying regular PPV" bits are what really drives those network subs.

[KaiserGlider]

Sting vs Triple H was great. You guys can fuck off.

For me it's a really close call between the triple threat at the Rumble and the Ironman match between Sasha and Bayley. I voted for the Rumble match since it's more popular, but I could really go either way.