One of my favorite ways to reflect on each year of the WWE was the annual Slammy Awards on the year-end episodes of Monday Night Raw. The annual tradition has since gone away. But that isn’t going to stop fans from sharing their thoughts on what superstars and performances should receive their flowers for a brilliant year of wrestling.

With all televised events officially over until the new year, let’s take a look at what an unofficial 2023 Slammy Awards would look like.

Tag Team/Stable of the Year

There’s been a rise in dominant teams and stables this year more than ever before. The past two years have run through The Bloodline, and with the continued unification of the tag titles, it’s been tough to get consistency.

But one group that’s shown up every week and created intriguing television has to be The Judgement Day. They essentially have run Raw since the summer, with varying rivalries and intersecting stories. At one point, each member of the stable held gold. Now leaving 2023 as the tag champs, Damian Priest still as Señor Money in the Bank, and Rhea Ripley as the Women’s World Champion, I think they’re more than deserving of Slammy recognition as Stable of the Year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
• The Bloodline
• Damage CTRL
• The Creed Brothers

Crowd of the Year

2023 also provided us with an assortment of international premium live events and rowdy crowds. The atmosphere provided at PLEs made big moments bigger and created a genuinely entertaining product.

But the one crowd that stood out above all was San Juan, Puerto Rico at Backlash. The Puerto Rican crowd was rowdy throughout the night. A thunderous hometown ovation for Zelina Vega in her championship pursuit, an honorary adoption of Iyo Sky in her clash against Bianca Belair, and a deafening reception for Bad Bunny in his street fight against Damian Priest.

Backlash was made exponentially better due to the crowd participation, and it’ll forever be the first benchmark in testing the international waters for PLEs. Very deserving of the Slammy.

Honorable Mentions

• Montreal, Quebec (Elimination Chamber)
• Chicago, IL (Survivor Series: WarGames)
• London, England (Money in the Bank)
• Pittsburgh, PA (Payback)
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Night of Champions)

Breakout Star of the Year

2023 was definitely a year of creation, and a year of innovation. Iyo Sky rode a wave of momentum to become Ms. Money in the Bank, and is now the WWE Women’s Champion. 

Logan Paul created viral moments with everything he touched, appearing at six PLEs and ending the year as United States Champion. Jey Uso ended up completely separated from the Bloodline and has shined as a true main eventer, and is more over than ever before (YEET!).

But for the winner of this Slammy, I have to call my first and only co-winners: LA Knight and Dominik Mysterio.

Knight has truly become a megastar. His popularity skyrocketed within a few months. He started the year losing to Bray Wyatt in a lights-out street fight and ended the year in world title contention and feuding with the Bloodline. 

Not to mention he’s teamed with John Cena, was in the Money in the Bank ladder match, and is now in a program with Randy Orton and AJ Styles. LA Knight’s rise was nothing short of meteoric and he is by definition a breakout star.

But then there’s Dominik Mysterio. He’s been in the company for four years, but 2023 was where he really found his footing as a character and a performer. Dirty Dom taking on the cocky, “ex-con” role and his on-screen relationship with Rhea Ripley has been incredibly entertaining. 

Not to mention he’s a massive heat magnet, with a chorus of boos erupting every time he speaks. Mysterio is a natural heel, and a workhorse as well. His two NXT North American Championship runs helped him accumulate over 100 matches this year.

I couldn’t justify putting Knight or Mysterio over each other, so this rare co-Slammy will suffice.

Honorable Mentions:

• Iyo Sky
• Jey Uso
• Trick Williams
• Logan Paul
• Tiffany Stratton

Best on the Mic

The character work in promos has contributed to a large part of what made this year great. So many phenomenal stories told by such passionate performers that felt natural.

It’s impossible not to acknowledge the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns whenever he shows up to speak his mind. And it’s almost as impossible to avoid chanting “with everybody saying, L-A Knight, YEAH!” every Friday on Smackdown.

But in terms of character, personality, and finetuning himself as a master on the microphone with the power to touch people’s souls, nobody did it better this year than Sami Zayn.

Time and time again, Zayn captured the essence of the fighting spirit babyface. His dynamic, whether on his own or partnered with Kevin Owens, was unchanged. Hopefully 2024 has more in store for the underdog from the underground.

Honorable Mentions:

• LA Knight
• Cody Rhodes
• Roman Reigns
• Seth “Freakin” Rollins
• Kevin Owens

Rivalry of the Year

There were a lot of compelling stories that played out on a week-to-week basis this year. Smackdown was a bit murky due to the sustained absence of Roman Reigns, but Raw provided several intriguing stories.

Whether it was the trilogy of Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar giving each other hell, or Chad Gable pushing Gunther to the very limit. And who could forget the weekly tradition of The Judgement Day interrupting whichever babyface they wanted all summer long.

Smackdown also provided us with the Bloodline Civil War and all the fireworks that came with that. But nothing rang better than the Sami Zayn vs Bloodline saga.

This year started out with Zayn within the ranks of the Bloodline as an “honorary Uce” attempting to maintain their trust during Reign’s feud with Kevin Owens, Zayn’s longtime friend. It all culminated in the character-defining chair shot to Reigns at the Royal Rumble, leading to a fiery passionate match at Elimination Chamber.

Although he wasn’t victorious over Reigns, he reunited with Owens to end the historic reign of The Usos at WrestleMania 39. And Zayn would eventually get the last laugh over Reigns as well, defeating him and Solo Sikoa to retain the Undisputed Tag Team Championships at Night of Champions.

Zayn’s eventual reunion with Jey Uso on Raw paid homage to the incredible story that played out this year, and is rightfully deserving of a Slammy.

Honorable Mentions:

• Jey Uso vs The Bloodline
• Gunther vs Chad Gable
• Becky Lynch vs Tiffany Stratton
• Cody Rhodes vs Brock Lesnar
• Rey Mysterio vs Dominik Mysterio
• The Judgement Day vs Raw babyfaces

Best in the Ring

I decided that the superstar of the year categories should be separate from the top in-ring workers, even if there is a lot of overlap. Solely because there were just as many incredible performers as there were compelling stories. And these top performers deserve their flowers for their work in the squared circle.

But to no surprise, the Slammy award winner for this has to go to the Ring General Gunther. He leaves 2023 on a very well-deserved break from television amidst a record-breaking 565 day reign and counting.

He put on classic after classic, whether it was Chad Gable, The Miz, Matt Riddle, Mustafa Ali or Drew McIntyre in his way. The television matches have been outstanding, and recently his in-match storytelling has been just as tremendous.

Honorable Mentions:

• Ilja Draganov
• Cody Rhodes
• Becky Lynch
• Seth “Freakin” Rollins

Moment of the Year

2023 was a year of virality for the WWE. It seemed that almost every week we were guaranteed to see a jaw-dropping moment, on television and PLEs.

We saw Ricochet do death-defying flips. Kevin Owens put his body on the line in street fights. The return of The Rock on a random episode of Smackdown. We even saw The Viper Randy Orton return at Survivor Series and hit an insane RKO to JD McDonagh.

But absolutely nothing compares to when ‘Cult of Personality’ hit in Allstate Arena on November 25. Nothing was as huge. No reaction was as loud. Nothing has had a crazier fallout. No moment can top CM Punk walking back into the WWE after a nine-year absence.

It is, without a doubt, unequivocally the rightful Slammy winner for this category.

Honorable Mentions:

• Sami Zayn hits Roman Reigns with a steel chair (Royal Rumble)
• Logan Paul and Ricochet collide (Royal Rumble)
• Montez Ford jumps from the top of the Chamber (Elimination Chamber)
• Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens win Undisputed Tag Team Championships (WrestleMania 39)
• Logan Paul splash on KSI (WrestleMania 39)
• Jimmy Uso superkicks Roman Reigns (Night of Champions)
• Kevin Owens swanton bombs Dominik Mysterio from the crowd (Payback)
• Randy Orton RKO’s JD McDonagh from the top of the cage (Survivor Series: WarGames)
• Randy Orton returns (Survivor Series: WarGames)
• The Rock returns to Smackdown

Storyline of the Year

For this category, I wanted to take a broader look at the writer’s room. The weekly product is reliant on good writing, and they deserve just as much props as the performers for keeping up high entertainment, captivating stories.

There were a lot of fun stories to follow this year, such as Becky Lynch’s run in NXT, the arguments over who the true leader of The Judgement Day is, and Seth Rollins’ bad back. But the story with the most implications was definitely Jey Uso’s falling out with The Bloodline.

The word “cinema” is synonymous with The Bloodline and their work over the past two years, but it truly hit a fever pitch this summer with the rebellious Jey Uso. He and Jimmy had been drifting away from Roman Reigns following WrestleMania 39 due to the egomaniacal nature of the Tribal Chief. 

Reigns would notoriously play mind games with the twins, attempting to spark hatred and jealousy between the two. And a double-crossing superkick to Reigns at Night of Champions truly sealed their fate. They had chosen war.

And at Money in the Bank, all eyes were glued to the Bloodline Civil War, where Jey Uso became the first man to pin Reigns in over three years. This story resulted in the ascension of Jey Uso, prominently featured the Bloodline on weekly television, and contributed to one of the saddest heel turns ever when Jimmy Uso betrayed his brother at SummerSlam.

And despite the Slammy, who knows, we might still only be in the third inning of this Bloodline story.

Honorable Mentions:

• The “leader” of the Judgement Day
• Drew McIntyre’s slow burning heel turn
• NBexT
• Seth Rollins’ back problems

Female Superstar of the Year

This was another great year for women’s wrestling across each brand. We saw multiple women put on match of the year contenders. We got brand new title designs that give personality to the world championships. But more than anything we got Rhea Ripley.

With all due respect to the other workhorse women in contention for this spot, Ripley had something you couldn’t teach in 2023: aura. Every match she participated in felt like a big deal. Every saunter to the ring felt like a main event-caliber match.

Critics say her title reign hasn’t been memorable because she hasn’t had any stiff competition, but that’s more of a testament to Ripley’s performance on a weekly basis. She is just leaps and bounds ahead of the Raw women’s division and seeing what’s next for her on the Road to WrestleMania as champion will be highly entertaining.

There’s simply no better choice for the Slammy.

Honorable Mentions:

• Becky Lynch
• Iyo Sky
• Bianca Belair
• Tiffany Stratton

Male Superstar of the Year

There’s many familiar faces here, as all of these men have had memorable moments in 2023. Whether it’s Gunther setting an iron man record in the Royal Rumble, or Seth Rollins becoming the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion.

You cannot tell the story of 2023 without mentioning each man mentioned in this category. But ultimately, I think the Slammy belongs to Cody Rhodes.

Sure, Rhodes still has yet to “finish the story” but from January to December, he was must-see TV. Starting out the year by winning the Royal Rumble, main eventing WrestleMania 39, a three-PLE feud with Brock Lesnar ending with a sign of respect, winning the tag titles with Jey Uso, and ultimately getting the band together for WarGames. 

Rhodes was everything that you could ask for from a top babyface, and his road to WrestleMania is still up in the air, but it’s sure to be special. 2023 was the run that Rhodes deserved to begin with prior to injury.

Honorable Mentions:

• Gunther
• Seth “Freakin” Rollins
• Jey Uso
• Sami Zayn

Match of the Year

I saved this category for last, simply based on indecision. The amount of instant classic matches we got this year was honestly surreal. Across all three brands, across all different places on a match card. This was an unforgettable year for wrestling.

I ultimately decided to settle on Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair’s WrestleMania encounter as my 2023 Slammy winner for Match of the Year. Despite not getting the Night 1 main event in favor of The Bloodline, these women did not disappoint.

They went through all-out war at the grandest stage, and drastically outperformed their previous WrestleMania encounter. The writing was on the wall for Ripley to become champion, and Flair made her look like a rockstar in the process.

Honorable Mentions:

• Gunther vs Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre (WrestleMania 39)
• The Judgement Day vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Steel City Street Fight (Payback)
• Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs The Usos (WrestleMania 39)
• Bloodline Civil War (Money in the Bank)
• Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus in a Steel Cage match (Payback)
• Bad Bunny vs Damian Priest in a San Juan Street Fight (Backlash)
• Becky Lynch vs Tiffany Stratton in an Extreme Rules (NXT No Mercy)
• Ilja Dragunov vs Carmelo Hayes (NXT No Mercy)

Top Five WWE Matches of 2023

2023 was arguably one of the greatest years in the history of the company, and the product is in a really good place heading into 2024. With three special shows to open up the new year, the Road to WrestleMania can officially begin.

Do you think 2024 will top 2023? What would your picks be for these categories?

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