2017 Awards: Non-Wrestler of the Year
Who says you have to be a wrestler to be in wrestling?
While this might as well be called the Paul Heyman Award, there are certainly several candidates for it this time around. It might be an announcer or an interviewer but there are a variety of options this time around. I’m not sure if anyone is going to get past Heyman this year, but when you show up every now and then, it’s easier to look great.
Actually yeah, this year someone can pass Heyman for the exact reason mentioned: he’s not around very often and that brings him down a lot. Sometimes you need to do more than talk about how awesome Brock Lesnar is and while Heyman can do that better than anyone else, I’d like to see him around a little more often to declare him the best in this role.
We’ll go with someone who is more of a jack of all trades now with Corey Graves. Is there anything this guy can’t do? He hosts shows, he does commentary on both major shows and he rips on Byron Saxton like no one else can do. Graves is fun to listen to and has some rather good heel roles in there, which few others know how to do anymore. He’s very talented and I’d love to see him do this for a very long time to come.
There’s also perennial nominee Dario Cueto, who brings a completely new dimension to this by being an actual actor. He’s capable of being incredible menacing while also calculating, but that evil smile is just perfect for looking like the biggest villain in the world. I’m really hoping he’s back for the next season as the show really wouldn’t work without him.
If Corey is a jack of all trades, Renee Young is a jill of them. She’s the perfect combination of smart, funny, edgy, flirty and interesting that you can imagine her pulling off anything you ask her to do. She does the occasional storyline but for the most part, she’s the most polished interviewer WWE has had in a very long time. There’s a certain charm to her that you can’t make up and it works like a….well a charm actually.
Above all though, there’s Zelina Vega. To have showed up from pretty much nowhere and become the best manager in NXT is quite the accomplishment. Vega and Andrade Cien Almas are one of the best pairings around as Vega is the perfect compliment to her. She’s stunning, manipulative, evil, conniving and can be physical when she needs to be. It’s made Almas interesting, which seemed to be one of the most impossible tasks in all of NXT. Vega pulled it off though and that’s enough to win this hands down.
My vote goes to Corey Graves. For one thing, he has to cover a lot more ground then just coming out to manage during 1 segment a week. He was to be on for hours a night and on at least 2 shows. Plus he is rising head and shoulders above the other announcers with his Jesse Ventura like personality. I did not notice Graves until this year.
No love for Sister Abigail?