On the year’s first NXT, the show took the time look back on 2018’s highlight matches and announced the nominees for its year end awards.
Female stars were featured prominently throughout all the major ballots, excluding Male Competitor of the Year and Tag Team of the Year.
Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler lead the locker room with five nominations, including two for her rivalries with Ember Moon and Kairi Sane, Female Competitor of the Year, Overall Competitor of the Year and Match of the Year for her TakeOver: Brooklyn IV match with Sane.
Imports Dakota Kai and Rhea Ripley both earned nominations for Breakout Star of the Year, alongside Bianca Belair and Lacey Evans. A handful of women also made the list of Future Star of NXT, including Io Shirai, Mia Yim, Candice LaRae, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke.
Nikki Cross earned a nomination for Rivalry of the Year for her infamous role in the saga of the attack on Aleister Black. Cross also earned a Match of the Year nomination for her NXT TV match against Belair on Sep. 12 in the height of that saga.
This year’s Female Competitor of the Year award is a tight race featuring, as mentioned above, the first ever two-time Women’s Champion Baszler, Cross, Sane, Moon, and Belair, all of which are also nominated for Overall Competitor of the Year.
Fans will be able to vote exclusively on Twitter. Voting ends on Friday, Jan. 25 at midnight and the winners will be announced during the NXT TakeOver: Phoenix pre-show on Jan. 26.
In order for the vote to be official, fans must include both the hashtag of the award category and the hashtag of the nominee they are voting for. Votes are limited to one category and one nominee per tweet.
Here is the full list of categories with their hashtag, as well as the corresponding nominee hashtags, provided by Wrestling, Inc.
Female Competitor of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardFemale
#NikkiCross – Nikki Cross
#ShaynaBaszler – NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler
#KairiSane – Kairi Sane
#EmberMoon – Ember Moon
#BiancaBelair – Bianca Belair
Male Competitor of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardMale
#Ciampa – NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa
#Gargano – Johnny Gargano
#Ricochet – NXT North American Champion Ricochet
#Aleister – Aleister Black
#Velveteen – The Velveteen Dream
#Andrade – Andrade “Cien” Almas
#AdamCole – Adam Cole
#PeteDunne – WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne
Overall Competitor of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardOverall
#Ciampa – Tommaso Ciampa
#NikkiCross – Nikki Cross
#Gargano – Johnny Gargano
#Ricochet – Ricochet
#ShaynaBaszler – Shayna Baszler
#Aleister – Aleister Black
#KairiSane – Kairi Sane
#Velveteen – The Velveteen Dream
#Andrade – Andrade “Cien” Almas
#EmberMoon – Ember Moon
#AdamCole – Adam Cole
#PeteDunne – Pete Dunne
#BiancaBelair – Bianca Belair
NXT Tag Team of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardTag
#UndisputedERA – NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era
#WarRaiders – The War Raiders
#StreetProfits – The Street Profits
#HeavyMachinery – Heavy Machinery
#LorcanBurch – Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
#MoustacheMountain – Moustache Mountain
NXT TakeOver of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardTakeOver
#Philly – Takeover: Philadelphia
#NewOrleans – Takeover: New Orleans
#ChicagoII – Takeover: Chicago II
#BrooklynIV – Takeover: Brooklyn IV
#WarGames – Takeover: War Games II
NXT Match of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardMatch
#WarGames – WarGames Match (TakeOver: WarGames)
#GarganoAlmas – Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas (NXT Championship Match, TakeOver: Philadelphia)
#NXTTags – Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed ERA (NXT Tag Team Championship Match, NXT TV, July 11, 2018)
#GarganoCiampa – Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (Unsanctioned Match, TakeOver: New Orleans)
#NATitle – NXT North American Championship Ladder Match (TakeOver: New Orleans)
#SaneBaszler – Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT Women’s Championship Match, TakeOver: Brooklyn IV)
#RicochetDream – Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream (TakeOver: Chicago)
#CiampaBlack – Aleister Black vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT Championship Match, NXT TV, July 25)
#DunneGibson – Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson (WWE U.K. Championship Match, NXT TV, Aug. 22)
#ColeBlack – Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole (Extreme Rules Match, TakeOver: Philadelphia)
#DunneOReilly – Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly (WWE U.K. Championship Match, NXT TV, June 13)
#ERABurchLorcan – Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Undisputed ERA (TakeOver: Chicago)
#CrossBelair – Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Belair (NXT TV, Sept. 12)
#ChampvsChamp – Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne (NXT North American Champion vs. WWE U.K. Champion Match, NXT TV, Sept. 19)
#NATitleTripleThreat – Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole (NXT North American Championship Triple Threat Match, NXT TV, Oct. 10)
NXT Rivalry of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardRivalry
#GarganoCiampa – Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
#SaneBaszler – Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler
#AleisterAttack – Aleister Black/Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa/Nikki Cross
#GarganoAlmas – Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
#ERAMoustache – Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed ERA
#MoonBaszler – Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler
#RicochetDream – Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream
Breakout Star of the Year
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardBreakout
#BiancaBelair – Bianca Belair
#LaceyEvans – Lacey Evans
#RheaRipley – NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley
#DakotaKai – Dakota Kai
#LarsSullivan – Lars Sullivan
#Ricochet – Ricochet
#WarRaiders – The War Raiders
#EC3 – EC3
Future Star of NXT
Category Hashtag: #NXTAwardFuture
#MattRiddle – Matt Riddle
#KeithLee – Keith Lee
#MiaYim – Mia Yim
#ForgottenSons – The Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake)
#DominikDijakovic – Dominik Dijakovic
#IoShirai – Io Shirai
#CandiceLeRae – Candice LeRae
#DukeShafir – Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir
#KonaReeves – Kona Reeves
See the entire article from Wrestling, Inc., including videos of the nominees, here.
Who will you vote for?
