This was before the brand split returned, SmackDown became a live show on a Friday night and The Undertaker was still an active part of the WWE roster.

Superstars have come and gone over the past few years and WWE has become a completely different place. This means that this year’s winners will be very different from the stars who lifted the awards five years ago.

Here are just 10 of the winners from 2015 and where the past five years of their careers have taken them.

#10. The Hero In All Of Us Award: Former WWE star John Cena

John Cena was pushed as the face of the company throughout his time working for WWE and one of the main reasons for this was because of the former World Champion’s community spirit.

John Cena granted more wishes than any other superstar when it came to the Make A Wish foundation and often went out of his way to be there for his fans. This is why John Cena was the perfect recipient for this award back in 2015.

Back in 2015, John Cena was part of a feud with Rusev which took him all the way to WrestleMania, fast forward five years and the former 16-time World Champion hasn’t been seen in a WWE ring since WrestleMania 36 when he was defeated by Bray Wyatt in a Firefly Fun House match.

Cena has begun concentrating on work outside of the ring instead, recently being cast in F9 and The Suicide Squad.

Back in 2015, John Cena was in a relationship with fellow WWE star Nikki Bella, the couple has since gone their separate ways and Cena married Shay Shariatzadeh back in October.

#9. Double-Cross of the year - Damien Mizdow eliminates The Miz from The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Damien Mizdow’s storyline with The Miz was one of the slowest burn feuds in WWE history, but it gave The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal one of it’s most memorable moments back in 2015.

Mizdow turned on Miz sending him out of the match, much to the delight of the WWE Universe who had been waiting months for some kind of pay-off.

Just over a year after his Slammy Award win, Mizdow was released from WWE. The former star later went on to work for IMPACT Wrestling under the name Aron Rex before debuting in NWA back in October 2019 as Aron Stevens.

#8. “This Is Awesome!” WWE Moment Of The Year - The Rock and Ronda Rousey confront The Authority at WrestleMania

The Rock and Ronda Rousey interrupted Stephanie McMahon and Triple H back at WrestleMania 31 to set up a future match, that is still yet to happen five years on. This doesn’t take away from an awesome moment, since Rousey was able to jump the barricade and attack both members of The Authority, sending a direct message to the duo.

Of course, in the years that have followed Ronda Rousey has made her way to WWE, signed an official contract, and become RAW Women’s Champion. At WrestleMania two years ago Rousey teamed with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie, in a match that The Rock should have been part of but obviously was unavailable.

Ronda Rousey left WWE following WrestleMania 35 and has since been building towards a return before her contract expires in April 2021.

The Rock wrestled a match at WrestleMania 32 back in 2016, which would be his last wrestling match to date since the former World Champion announced his official retirement from wrestling back in 2019. The last time The Rock was seen in a WWE ring was as part of SmackDown’s debut episode on FOX back in October 2019.

#7. OMG! Moment of the year - Kalisto’s Salida Del Sol through a ladder at TLC

Kalisto’s fantastic Salida Del Sol at TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs back in 2015 surprisingly was enough for him to win the OMG! Moment of the year. It was a tough category for that year’s awards but Kalisto’s impressive stunt was enough to lift the award.

The former member of The Lucha House Party has seen a number of changes in the past five years, whilst he’s one of the few stars on this list still contracted to the company, he recently split with The Lucha House Party.

Kalisto was drafted to SmackDown in the WWE Draft whilst his teammates headed over to RAW.

#6. Surprise return of the year - Sting

Sting’s WWE return in 2015 was one of the highlights of the year since the WCW legend crashed Seth Rollins’ statue unveiling and attacked the former World Champion, setting up a match at Night of Champions.

Whilst this is a bitter-sweet story since Night of Champions was Sting’s final WWE match following a neck injury, it was also a fantastic way to bow out for the WWE Hall of Famer. Sting had seemingly retired from the ring following his Hall of Fame induction back in 2016, but The Icon recently appeared for All Elite Wrestling.

It was later announced following Sting’s appearance that he had signed a multi-year deal with AEW that could include actually wrestling.

#5. WWE match of the year - The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar at Hell in a Cell

The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar collided back at WrestleMania 30 when The Beast Incarnate was able to end Undertaker’s undefeated streak. Interestingly, more than a year later at Battleground 2015, The Deadman returned for revenge.

After costing Lesnar the World Championship the two men embarked on an interesting feud that saw them collide several times over the course of the year, but the Slammy Award was for their match at Hell in a Cell.

Since 2015, Brock Lesnar has dominated WWE and become both WWE and Universal Champion, before walking away from the company following this year’s WrestleMania and his WWE contract has now reportedly expired.

The Undertaker returned several times over the past five years and was able to wrestle the likes of Roman Reigns and John Cena at WrestleMania before he announced his retirement from the business earlier this year after three decades.

#4. Breakout star of the year: Neville

The category for WWE Breakout star of the year in 2015 was a stacked one that included Kevin Owens and Charlotte who had both made their main roster debuts earlier in the year.

Interestingly it was Neville who was chosen as the star of the year, after an impressive few months on the main roster which included the King of the Ring finals as well as a storyline with Arrow star Stephen Amell.

Neville’s WWE career didn’t end as well as it began after he walked out of an episode of RAW back in 2017 and refused to make his return. WWE finally released Neville in the summer of 2018.

In January 2019, Neville under his old name Pac signed with All Elite Wrestling and has since become one of the most popular stars on the show.

#3. WWE Tag Team of the year: The Usos

The Usos have been part of WWE’s main roster since 2010 and have won six tag team Championships. The Usos also lifted the Slammy Award for Tag Team of the year in 2014 and were able to retain it in 2015.

Whilst the former Tag Team Champions have continued to be pushed forward as one of the company’s best teams over the past few years, there has recently been a slight change. Jimmy Uso’s injury back at WrestleMania 36 meant that Jey Uso was without a partner and has since stepped into a feud with Roman Reigns.

Main event Jey Uso has since become a headline act on SmackDown and has come close to winning his first singles Championship, whilst his brother Jimmy is targeting January 2021 as a potential return date.

#2. WWE “Diva” of the year: Nikki Bella

That’s right, back in 2015 the women of WWE were still called Divas. It wasn’t until WrestleMania 32 a few months later that the term Diva was removed from the WWE dictionary and the women became known as female superstars.

Nikki Bella was the surprise winner even though she made history as the longest-reigning Divas Champion in WWE history earlier in the year before being sidelined through injury.

Bella has since left WWE and retired from the company, before welcoming her first child, a son called Matteo earlier this year.

#1. Male superstar of the year: Seth Rollins

Despite being out injured when the 2015 Slammy Awards were taking place, The Architect made a special appearance to collect his award for Male Superstar of the year.

Seth Rollins had a fantastic 2015 ahead of his injury and was the biggest star in the company throughout. Rollins’ life inside the ring has remained very much the same, as the backbone of the company and a dependable pair of hands for WWE.

Outside of the ring, Rollins has started a relationship with fellow WWE star Becky Lynch and the couple announced their engagement back in 2019. Earlier this year it was revealed that the couple was expecting their first child together, a daughter who arrived on December 7th.

0 votes