Why the Slammys Weren’t Rigged, But Maybe Should Have Been

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When fan voting determines the results of any particular competition, be it an award ceremony or reality show, there will be plenty of members of the public that will claim that rigging has occurred. This has certainly been the case in the aftermath of the Slammy Awards on RAW, with Michael Hayes actually coming out on Twitter to combat such rumors that the results were fixed. The main reason for the outcry was the selection of Roman Reigns as the Superstar of the Year winner, with some commentators online suggesting this was an odd choice.

It certainly was odd, but that doesn’t mean that the result was fixed. Far from it, the randomness of the results actually more than likely present the opinion that WWE actually remained true to their word and followed the fan vote. Though I commend them fortheir willingness to allow the fans to have the final say, if there is any awards ceremony that could be forgiven of rigging their votes for the purposes of storytelling, it is the Slammy Awards.

WWE.com

Think about it, it is not as though WWE were making any profit from the vote. The pre-show and WWE.com awards were conducted online at no cost to the voter, and the ones live were made as part of the WWE app, another free application. So the fans wouldn’t exactly be cheated beyond not having the person they voted for winning. But would that have really been a bad thing?

Just look at some of the winners of the major awards of the night. Reigns as Superstar of the Year was a bizarre choice. He certainly had a breakout year, starting as the powerhouse of the Shield, and eliminating 12 men in the 2014 Royal Rumble. He was pushed to the main event with major victories over the likes of Kane, Randy Orton and Seth Rollins, and competed for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. But, he has been MIA with a hernia injury since Night of Champions, so has missed the last three months of the year. Although him being backstage just in case he won this or another award in the ceremony may make it seem though he was hand-picked, it would have been a creatively strange decision as well.

WWE.com

I mean, he didn’t even win the Breakout Star Award that he was much better suited for, losing to Dean Ambrose. The fact that the three men that have held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship since WrestleMania, Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Brock Lesnar were left without that moniker is surprising to say the least. If Reigns had picked up the award and immediately had a confrontation with Paul Heyman on Lesnar’s behalf, it would have appeared to be a staged choice. The fact that this didn’t happen points to it being a genuine fan choice. If those backstage were in control of that, then Bryan or Lesnar were the obvious choices, and Reigns would have won Breakout Star instead.

Other selections also came from out of nowhere, and actually seemed to catch the creative team on their heels. When Chris Jericho won Extreme Moment of the Year for his dive off the cage onto Bray Wyatt, my jaw hit the floor. Sure it was a cool spot, but it’s been seen numerous times before. Jericho wasn’t backstage, either due to his own commitments or the thought that he wouldn’t win against Lesnar’s suplexes or the Curb Stomp through the cinder blocks. Yes, it was a weak field, but clearly the result was unexpected when they dragged out Fandango to accept the award on Jericho’s behalf because he beat him once at WrestleMania.

WWE.com

Fan choices for awards were clear as well in the choice of Match of the Year and Diva of the Year. AJ Lee was certainly a worthy winner of the latter, having held the Divas Championship three times in 2014, but Paige was equally deserving. AJ as the babyface therefore received the rub of the fan vote. A similar situation presents itself for Match of the Year, as whilst Team Cena vs. Team Authority was an excellent and exciting bout, it was likely chosen for being fresh in the minds of fans, whilst the WrestleMania 30 main event and the Shield/Evolution bout from Extreme Rules were runners-up.

If the fans weren’t in control, names like Rusev would have picked up awards as it would have made sense for his dominant year. Adrian Neville would have won NXT Superstar of the Year for being Champion since February, and not fan favorite Sami Zayn. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would have taken Couple of the Year ahead of Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella. Arguably, the only award that has a sniffing of fixed is the Bunny for Animal of the Year, simply because El Torito had some fun matches this year. But, the biggest shock was that Brock Lesnar, arguably the man of 2014, only received one paltry award, when he should have swept up for one of the strongest years for a superstar in history.

WWE.com

So, I think any fans that are holding onto the belief that WWE screwed fans out of the rightful winners of the awards should leave those assumptions at home. In fact, they should be applauding the company for forgoing any logical sense and sticking to the fans’ choice, even though they weren’t really under any fiscal obligation to do so. For fans that did vote, your voices were heard, and thanks to you we had to endure Fandango desperately trying to make himself relevant in an awkward and unnecessary acceptance speech.

For that, you should be sorry, not WWE.