Opinion: WWE’s Rivalry of the Year

The nominees for WWE’s Slammy Award for Best Rivalry of the Year are the following:

httpss://youtube.com/watch?v=4KbqsFsDMVw

Of those choices, it’s going to be tough to choose anything other than Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker. That rivalry not only main evented Summerslam, but it culminated in the Hell in a Cell and ended their feud after Lesnar conquered The Undertaker’s Wrestlemania Streak almost two years ago.

Reigns vs. Wyatt deserves to win in the nominees because it not only did wonders for the career of Reigns, but also for Bray Wyatt. This feud felt personal, had a great face vs. heel dynamic and was spread out for almost six months.

The feud catapulted Reigns into the WWE Championship twice and put Wyatt on the warpath with Undertaker again. It was a great feud that carried WWE television for quite some time and deserves better recognition.

httpss://youtube.com/watch?v=Z78gLhsSE3o

In my opinion, this was the rivalry of the year for WWE. Granted, it is NXT. However, it is a crime that WWE isn’t acknowledging the best NXT has to offer alongside WWE’s best of the year.

The introduction of Kevin Owens, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks has drastically changed WWE programming and is pivotal to much of the success WWE has had in 2015.

In some ways, NXT was eclipsed WWE at their own game.

The shining example of this was Banks vs. Bayley. Their first match at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn was an incredible story of a “girlhood dream” come true and a crystal clear demonstration of what women’s wrestling is capable of.

The Ironwoman match at NXT Takeover: Respect is a serious contender for match of the year and told a great final chapter for Sasha Banks in NXT, Bayley emerging as the face of NXT and putting women’s wrestling under a huge spotlight to perform and Banks vs. Bayley delivered to excess.

Banks vs. Bayley was not only the best feud of the year. It was the most important feud of the year for women in wrestling and change in WWE. It deserves to be recognized as such, but it’s not even being acknowledged. That is not only a shame, but it’s also unfair.