The first episode of WWE NXT in 2020 was a show commemorating what happened to the company in 2019.
While the show started off with a nice tribute talking about the big moments (going live on USA Network, winning big at Survivor Series), the real fun started when they started counting down the best matches of the year.
The #3 Match of the Year was the tag team ladder match from NXT TakeOver XXV (June 1).
This was the match where The Street Profits won the NXT tag team titles in a match that also included The Forgotten Sons, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, and Undisputed Era.
They showed almost the entire match.
NXT Tag Team of the Year
The tag teams up for the award were the Street Profits, Grizzled Young Veterans, Viking Raiders, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster, and Undisputed Era.
I love that NXT UK is included here.
With that said, there was only one real choice here … The Undisputed Era. The Undisputed Era holds all the men’s titles in NXT and they all came out to celebrate their win and William Regal presented them with their awards.
Winners: The Undisputed Era
NXT Male Competitor of the Year
The wrestlers up for the award were Adam Cole, WALTER, Johnny Gargano, Velveteen Dream, and Tyler Bate.
This was a tough one. Adam Cole has dominated in America, WALTER dominated in the UK. This was also the year that Johnny Gargano became the Grand Slam Champion and Tomasso Ciampa became The Man.
However, Adam Cole has dominated with the NXT title for most of the year.
Winner: Adam Cole
NXT Female Competitor of the Year
The wrestlers up for this award are Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Toni Storm, Kay Lee Ray, Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley.
There were six people up for this award, but there was only one person who deserves this award and that is the woman who held the NXT women’s title the entire year until the end of December.
Shayna Baszler held the title for over 500 days. She came out with her Four Horsewomen partners. Baszler said she is the most dominant champion WWE has ever seen and even though she lost the title, that won’t change.
Winner: Shayna Baszler
NXT Rivalry of the Year
They didn’t even show contenders here and just showed a highlight reel of the Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano feud, which won the NXT Rivalry of the Year.
Johnny Gargano came out to accept his award and then Adam Cole came out by himself without Undisputed Era to accept his award. They exchanged quips.
Winner: Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano
The #2 Match of the Year candidate was the female War Games match.
This match was a disadvantage from the start, as Rhea Ripley’s team was shorthanded and then Dakota Kai turned heel and betrayed her team by beating down Tegan Nox.
It all ended with Rhea Ripley standing tall as her team won, beating Shayna Baszler’s team in an amazing match by pinning Baszler.
NXT Future Star of the Year
The nominees were Kushida, Xia Li, Bronson Reed, Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, Ilga Dragunuv, Isaiah Scott, Taynara, and Cameron Grimes
Kushida is going to be a massive star and already proved himself in Japan and is probably the most experienced “future star” in NXT. Cameron Grimes is also very experienced since he worked on the indies as Trevor Lee.
However, Dakota Kai won the award.
Winner: Dakota Kai
NXT TakeOver of the Year
After seeing the women’s NXT TakeOver War Games match, it should come as no surprise that WarGames won this award.
On top of the women’s match, Team Tommaso Ciampa won the men’s match when Kevin Owens made his return to NXT to help beat The Undisputed Era.
The other three matches the show saw Finn Balor beat Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne beat both Damian Priest and Killian Dain, and Angel Garza beat Isaiah Scott.
Winner: NXT TakeOver: War Games
NXT Breakout Star of the Year
The competitors here were Damian Priest, Piper Niven, Dominik Dijakovic, Angel Garza, Joe Coffey, Keith Lee, Candice LeRae, Matt Riddle, and Rhea Ripley.
This award was very hard to call. With Matt Riddle, Keith Lee and Rhea Ripley all involved, they all deserved this award for different reasons. While Ripley possibly deserved the award, Keith Lee did pin Seth Rollins.
Triple H was there to give the award to Limitless Keith Lee.
Winner: Keith Lee
NXT Match of the Year
The match of the year was from NXT TakeOver New York — the 2/3 Falls Match for the NXT Championship between Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano.
The match saw Adam Cole win the first fall, Johnny Gargano win the second, and then Gargano was able to overcome interference from Undisputed Era to finally win the NXT Championship for the first time.
Winner: Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole
.@TripleH poses with the #NXTYearEndAwards Winners: @AdamColePro, @QoSBaszler, @RealKeithLee, @DakotaKai_WWE, @KORcombat, @theBobbyFish & @JohnnyGargano!#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/lUz7uvtgeS
— WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2020
NXT Overall Competitor of the Year
The winner of the NXT Overall Competitor of the Year was Adam Cole, meaning Undisputed Era left with awards in five different categories.
Winner: Adam Cole
WWE NXT airs on USA Network on Wednesdays at 8/7c.