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Credit: All Elite Wrestling
To help make things happen positively in 2021, All Elite Wrestling held an award show before Dynamite on this week’s Bleacher Report app to celebrate their biggest and brightest stars.
The program included the usual awards such as Breakout Star for men and women, as well as categories such as Hardest Time to Clean Up After and Best Twitter Follow.
Tony Schiavone was the master of ceremonies for the evening, while Britt Baker provided additional comments. The show started with Schiavone giving us a quick preview of what to expect from the show.
Baker interviewed most of the winners after they accepted their awards and provided great comedic moments with his fellow Superstars.
Let’s take a look at who took home the award in each category.
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Nominees:
-
MJF speech “We Deserve Better”
- Cody Rhodes accepts Dog Collar Match
- Jon Moxley accepts the Inner Circle invitation
- Brandi Rhodes confronts Jade Cargill
- Orange Cassidy Debates Chris Jericho
Winner: Cody Rhodes accepts Dog Collar Match
Honestly, that was an amazing result. Cody’s promo addressed to Brodie Lee was good, but it didn’t stand out as much as MJF or Cassidy’s promo in the debate with Jericho.
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Nominees:
- Premiere of Matt Hardy
- Jake the Snake Roberts confronts Cody
- Brodie Lee arrives as the Exalted
- Sting debut at AEW
- Miro revealed as godfather
Winner: Sting debut at AEW
That was the only moment that could win this award. Everything else was miles behind the significance of Sting’s arrival at AEW.
The fact that his debut was a genuine surprise made it all the more special. If that didn’t win, there would have been an uproar.
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Nominees:
- Orange Cassidy
- Darby Allin
- Eddie Kingston
- John Silver
Winner: Darby Allin
All four of these stars would have been great choices, but Allin clearly had the best year of the four in terms of overall success.
His new alliance with Sting will continue to keep Allin in the limelight, and his reign as TNT champion could end up making him one of the company’s main stars.
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Nominees:
- Hikaru Shida
- Anna Jay
- Tay Conti
- Big Swole
- Penelope Ford
Winner: Hikaru Shida
Shida has been great at AEW, even though she hasn’t been performed as much this year as many would like, but calling the champion an emerging star seems strange.
Shida has been with AEW since the beginning and has always been seen as a potential champion. This award would have made more sense if it went to Anna Jay after all of her work with The Dark Order and Being The Elite.
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Nominees:
- Inner Circle jumps Orange Cassidy
- Dark Order attacks Nightmare Family
-
Nyla Rose puts Riho and Hikaru Shida on the tables
- Brian Cage attacks Jon Moxley
- The nightmare family and the inner circle fight
Winner: The Inner Circle jumps Orange Cassidy
This award could have been awarded to any of the nominees, but Cassidy being attacked by the Inner Circle was the most one-sided battle, so it made sense to win.
Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara received the award and gave a quick speech behind the scenes.
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Nominees:
- Rey Fenix
-
Marq Quen
- Nick Jackson
- PAC
Winner: Rey Fenix
Fenix has been one of the most exciting people to watch in all of AEW last year, so this award went to the perfect person.
PAC was not around enough, Nick Jackson has been working with a light schedule and Marq Quen is no better than his partner, Isiah Kassidy. Fenix was the only choice that made sense, and he deserves the award after stealing the show several times.
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Nominees:
- Orange Cassidy drops orange juice at The Inner Circle
- The parking fight
- The Bunkhouse Match
- Big Swole throws trash at Dr. Britt Baker
Winner: Parking fight
That was a strange category for the award. But given the criteria, a parking fight that literally involved the use of garbage fit the bill.
Santana and Ortiz delivered a hilarious acceptance speech, in which they questioned why they were the ones who received the award when they lost the match.
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Nominees:
- Cody Rhodes moonsault steel cage
- Sammy Guevara hit by golf cart
- Kenny Omega wins the AEW World Championship and leaves AEW
- Bloody Dr. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida
- Young Frog Bucks Splashing on Stadium Grid
Winner: Kenny Omega wins the AEW World Championship and leaves AEW
The definition of what makes a WTF moment something is vague, so AEW could have chosen any of those moments and justified the decision.
Omega taking the title and appearing at Impact Wrestling the following Tuesday was a great story and it definitely created some buzz for both promotions.
Baker being busted was probably a close second choice. The image of her smiling with a red face is engraved on her brain.
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Nominees:
- Jericho and MJF: Le Dinner Debonair
- Britt Baker deposes Tony Schiavone
- Young Bucks kicks MJF into a pool
- Trip to Inner Circle Vegas
Winner: Young Bucks kicks MJF into a pool
It is shocking that Dinner Debonair did not win this award after all the attention it received, but perhaps AEW thought that was reason enough to give the award to someone else.
When MJF discovered the award he was receiving, his reaction was as funny as you would expect. He plays everything like an old school jump, and it’s wonderful to watch.
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Nominees:
-
MJF
- Orange Cassidy
- Dr. Britt Baker
-
Nyla Rose
Winner: Nyla Rose
This is the most subjective award of the night because the best Twitter follower will be different for each person on the platform.
Rose is a solid choice, but MJF probably should have won. His interactions with online fans have been one of the best parts of his character. Even when he posted something sweet about his grandfather, he did it in the typical MJF style.
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Nominees:
- Stadium Stampede
- Moxley wins the AEW championship
- Shida wins the AEW Women’s Championship
- Omega and Page defeat The Young Bucks
- Darby Allin wins Cody’s TNT title
- The Young Bucks win AEW Tag Team title
Winner: Stadium Stampede
AEW had many memorable moments in 2020. But Stadium Stampede was a game full of memorable moments, so it was the right choice.
Even if you didn’t like this fight, you have to admit that you had some fun points. Seeing Hangman Page riding across the field on a horse will never grow old.
Shaq also launched a challenge to Cody Rhodes before introducing the nominees. Cody responded on Dynamite and it looks like he will be joining Red Velvet to face Shaq and Jade Cargill in the future.