NXT 2018 Year End Awards Revealed

During the NXT TakeOver: Phoenix pre-show, the 2018 Year End Awards were revealed by backstage interviewer Sarah Schreiber.

The first award to be revealed was the Breakout Star of the year. The nominees were as follows:

• Ricochet
• Dakota Kai
• Lars Sullivan
• Rhea Ripley
• War Raiders
• Lars Sullivan
• EC3
• Bianca Belair

The award for Breakout Star of the year for 2018 went to North American Champion Ricochet. Ricochet made his debut at TakeOver: New Orleans in the North American Title ladder match. He went on to defeat Adam Cole for the North American Title at TakeOver: Brooklyn IV and has held it since. He defends it against Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: Phoenix tonight.

Congrats to our #NXTAwardBreakout winner… NXT #NorthAmericanChampion, @KingRicochet! 👏👏 👏 👏 #NXTTakeOver #NXTYearEndAwards pic.twitter.com/ZIBELLBgcs

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) January 26, 2019

The second was Match of the Year, which was rightfully won by Andrade (c) vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT Championship at TakeOver: Philadelphia. That was my favorite match of the year too, so that’s nice. Gargano received the award, but Zelina Vega also popped by to accept the award for Andrade. Gargano says he’s going to have another Match of the Year tonight against Ricochet, and I think he may well be right.

Male Competitor of the Year was next, between the following nominees:

• Adam Cole
• Pete Dunne
• Andrade
• Ricochet
• Velveteen Dream
• Johnny Gargano
• Aleister Black
• Tommaso Ciampa

The award goes to NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa won the NXT Title on the July 25 episode of NXT TV from Aleister Black and has held it since. On being handed the award, Ciampa simply looked at his title and handed it straight back to Schreiber. What a heel. The ‘Blackheart’ defends his NXT Title against Aleister Black tonight.

Gold on gold… with a side of #Blackheart.@ProjectCiampa is your #NXTAwardMale winner! #NXTTakeOver #NXTYearEndAwards pic.twitter.com/uApT4BZkU7

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) January 26, 2019

We then went straight to the nominees for the Female Competitor of the Year, which were:

• Ember Moon
• Nikki Cross
• Kairi Sane
• Bianca Belair
• Shayna Baszler

The award went to Kairi Sane and her “yacht persona”… here’s hoping we get some equally insightful lines from Cole tomorrow after that corker during last year’s Rumble. Sane enjoyed a 71-day Women’s Title reign during 2018, winning the title from Shayna Baszler at TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, but then dropping it back to the ‘Queen of Spades’ at WWE Evolution in October.

Say AHOY to your #NXTAwardFemale winner… The #PiratePrincess @KairiSaneWWE! ⚓️ #NXTTakeOver #NXTYearEndAwards pic.twitter.com/8SkqASnioR

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) January 26, 2019

The Overall Competitor of the Year award was next, between the male and female winners, Ciampa and Sane, and it was quite surprisingly Kairi Sane who picked up the award. Sane was clearly overjoyed to win the award – she is absolutely amazing, and promised she’d win the NXT Women’s Championship again in 2019.

That was the last award to be revealed on the pre-show, but a few others were verified on WWE’s website.

The full list of award winners is as follows:

• Breakout Star of the Year: Ricochet
• Match of the Year: Andrade (c) vs. Johnny Gargano – NXT Championship – NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
• Male Competitor of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa
• Female Competitor of the Year: Kairi Sane
• Overall Competitor of the Year: Kairi Sane
• TakeOver of the Year: NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
• Future Star of NXT: Io Shirai
• Tag Team of the Year: Undisputed Era
• Rivalry of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano

You can follow along with live coverage of NXT TakeOver: Phoenix here.

• Year End Awards
• takeover phoenix
• nxt
• wwe

Share this article with friends