Smark Out Moment

The nominees for the 2020 NXT Year-End Awards have been released and voting is now open for all categories.

The winners will be announced on the December 30, 2020 edition of NXT and on the results page.

The following are all the nominees as well as my predictions of what will win and my personal picks of what I'm voting for.

BREAKOUT STAR OF THE YEAR

PREDICTION: Pat McAfee

PERSONAL PICK: I'd go with either McAfee or Damian Priest, who won a title and has improved more and more every month.

RIVALRY OF THE YEAR

• Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee
• Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai
• Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano
• Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes
• Shotzi Blackheart vs. Robert Stone
• Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez
• WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov
• Kay Lee Ray vs. Piper Niven

PREDICTION: Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee

PERSONAL PICK: You can't really go with the NXT UK ones that were missing half the year. I think out of this list, I'd go with Cole/McAfee, too.

FUTURE STAR OF NXT

• Austin Theory
• Jake Atlas
• Leon Ruff
• Kacy Catanzaro
• Kayden Carter
• Indi Hartwell
• Xia Li
• A-Kid
• Aoife Valkyrie
• Pretty Deadly

PREDICTION: Austin Theory

PERSONAL PICK: Lots of great talent here. Austin Theory is my pick to win and the one I'd vote for, but I wouldn't be upset at all if someone like Xia Li were to win.

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

• Undisputed ERA
• Oney and Danny
• Breezango
• Imperium
• Gallus
• Legado Del Fantasma

PREDICTION: The Undisputed ERA

PERSONAL PICK: This is tough. I really like Legado del Fantasma, but they haven't won the tag titles. Everyone else did. Ultimately, The Undisputed ERA also won WarGames, so that gives them an edge.

FEMALE COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR

• Rhea Ripley
• Io Shirai
• Candice LeRae
• Dakota Kai
• Kay Lee Ray
• Tegan Nox

PREDICTION: Io Shirai

PERSONAL PICK: It's not Rhea Ripley after she lost at WrestleMania and never amounted to anything else but continually losing to other people. I don't know how they screwed her up like that. Kay Lee Ray has a long title reign, but a good chunk of it was during lockdown, so that isn't worth as much. This is totally Io Shirai's to win and she's the right choice.

MALE COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR

• Finn Bálor
• Adam Cole
• Johnny Gargano
• Keith Lee
• WALTER
• Tommaso Ciampa

PREDICTION: Finn Balor

PERSONAL PICK: From my point of view, I'd go Keith Lee or Adam Cole over Finn Balor, but I think people will vote for Finn.

EVENT OF THE YEAR

• TakeOver: Blackpool 2
• TakeOver: Portland
• TakeOver: In Your House
• Great American Bash
• TakeOver: XXX
• TakeOver: 31
• Halloween Havoc
• TakeOver: WarGames

PREDICTION: TakeOver: WarGames

PERSONAL PICK: TakeOver: Portland, if I remember correctly, had more matches that I liked better than anything else, even though 30 and 31 had some great stuff, too.

MATCH OF THE YEAR

• Fatal 4-Way Iron Man Match – Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano – Super Tuesday
• Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor > NXT Title Match – Super Tuesday II
• Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa – One Final Beat
• Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly > NXT Title Match – TakeOver 31
• Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole > Great American Bash
• Ladder Match for North American Championship – Takeover XXX
• Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae > TLS Women’s Championship Match – Halloween Havoc
• Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER > NXT UK Title Match – NXT UK TV
• Men’s WarGames Match
• Women’s WarGames Match
• Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai vs. Charlotte – TakeOver: In Your House
• Gallus vs. Imperium vs. GYV vs. Andrews/Webster – Ladder Match - TakeOver: Blackpool 2
  Tyler Bate vs. Jordan Devlin - TakeOver: Blackpool 2
• Bronson Reed vs. Roderick Strong vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT TV
• Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher – Fight Pit

PREDICTION: Finn Balor vs. Kyle O'Reilly

PERSONAL PICK: This is tough. I kind of want to say Dragunov vs. WALTER might be the one I'd vote for, but I'd also lean toward some of the earlier stuff. Funny enough, they don't have the 3 matches from Portland that I'd put on here (Lee/Dijakovic, BroserWeights/Undisputed and Cole/Ciampa)

OVERALL COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR

• Adam Cole
• Candice LeRae
• Dakota Kai
• Finn Bálor
• Io Shirai
• Johnny Gargano
• Kay Lee Ray
• Keith Lee
• Rhea Ripley
• Tegan Nox
• Tommaso Ciampa
• WALTER

PREDICTION: Finn Balor

PERSONAL PICK: Adam Cole bay bay.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE WINNERS?
TELL US YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!