Seriously, it’s that simple: what ever happened to the WWE Slammy Awards?
It seems as though the company has a bipolar attitude to this gimmick where they do it for a few years, then get tired of it, hold off on it for a few years, then circle back around to loving it again.
They kicked things off in 1986 and 1987 before taking a break until 1994, taking another break by not having them in 1995, doing two more in 96 and 97, and then holding off until 2008.
In ’08, though, we started to see the Slammy Awards become a more regular idea, being tweaked to fit certain themes that had happened earlier in the year and following trends in technology by acknowledging Twitter, fan votes, and other types of interaction.
From 2008 until 2015, there would be a time in December where we would reflect back on some of the wacky characters and outrageous moments and try to tie that into the current storylines in order to push people going forward.
Last year, though, that didn’t happen, and rumors suggested they were holding off on honoring the events of 2016 with a ceremony in early 2017 to accommodate the general awards season with the Oscars and so forth.
Then, spring came. Then summer. Then fall. Now, we’re in December and once more, there doesn’t seem to be any activity regarding the Slammy Awards.
This means both the entirety of 2016 and likely the entirety of 2017 will go unrecognized by WWE in this fashion, which I feel is a shame.
Sure, the Slammy Awards aren’t some super legitimate thing and a benchmark that makes or breaks a career, but in an era where the more content that’s out there, the better, why is there an active decision not to continue something that has over a dozen years in the bank?
It isn’t as though it could cost WWE all that much, or anything at all, even. The past few years have been episodes of Monday Night Raw that just included more promo segments, so they already have the venue and it’s even less taxing on the performers to have to talk than to wrestle.
Plus, it’s fun! Fans get involved in voting, talking about which person should win Superstar of the Year, debating about what nominees weren’t included in the decision making process, wondering what the hell the difference is between “OMG Shocking Moment of the Year” and “LOL! Moment of the Year” and “Extreme Moment of the Year” just really means, and so on.
It doesn’t hurt, either, to give recognition to the performers and yourself. While some could argue that it seems like an ego trip to give yourself prizes within your own company, don’t ignore how being optimistic and reminding people of the entertaining things you did throughout the year can give them a renewed faith that next year, you’ll do the same, if not better.
The same goes for the wrestlers. If someone like Braun Strowman were to be given the Breakout Star of the Year award, the collective stock in him would rise and people would believe even more in him as a potential world champion going forward. The Fashion Files could win something like “Best Variety Show of the Year” or whatever and have them tie that into a funny segment.
So what gives?
It certainly can’t be because they feel awkward changing Diva of the Year to Female Superstar of the Year, nor is it that they can’t figure out who to give the Hero in All of Us Award Presented by Coca-Cola to, since the Slammys ditch and add new categories all the time.
Is it the brand split? That did happen in 2016, so does WWE not want to do a Slammy Awards because they don’t want to dedicate a cross-branded event to something that isn’t in-ring action or, alternatively, have just Raw or SmackDown host the ceremony?
If that’s the case, I have two suggestions:
1) Just bring all the talent to Raw. It’s a three hour show. The fans won’t refuse to accept that and think that SmackDown needs to host it, too, so long as the blue brand is still represented.
2) Do it all on the website and/or the network. There have been sections of the Slammy Awards done on WWE.com in the past, so why not at least do a web-only version of it? You can have both Raw and SmackDown plugging the voting and the winners can be revealed on the site or in a special in-studio program for the WWE Network. You can film acceptance speeches before or after Raw and SmackDown for each of the winners and they can be shown at the same time we’re told the results.
There are bigger gripes to complain about, for sure, but this is something that just gets under my skin as it just disappeared and no true information has been said about why WWE abandoned the gimmick.
Whether it was somehow a cost-cutting procedure or Vince McMahon just soured on the concept or something else getting in the way, I simply want to know why, and if there isn’t an answer, then bring back the Slammy Awards and keep them coming for years and years.
In the meantime, since that isn’t happening, I invite everybody to take part in the 2017 Smark Out Moment Awards. Every year, I have as thorough of a breakdown of not just the positives, but also the negatives of WWE from the past 12 months as well as Smark Out Moment itself, so go ahead and make up your lists!
But what are your thoughts on the Slammy Awards? Would you like to see them return? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below to keep the discussion going!
