Slammy Award | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Presented by |
WWE Academy of Wrestling Arts and Sciences (kayfabe) |
First awarded | 1986 |
The Slammy Awards was a concept used by WWE, where awards, similar to the Academy and Grammy Awards, were given to professional wrestlers and other individuals within WWE, such as commentators and managers. There were twelve editions of the concept, with the first two iterations airing in 1986 and 1987, respectively. After a seven-year hiatus, the awards returned in 1994 on a special edition of WWF Mania. The concept resumed in 1996 and 1997 (in a banquet-like format). The concept endured another long hiatus until its subsequent return in 2008 by WWE (in a format interlaced with regular matches on a live TV arena show). The recipients of the awards received a statuette that depicted one wrestler holding another over his head.
The first edition of the Slammy Awards took place on March 1, 1986 from the Civic Center in Baltimore, after a live wrestling event. It aired live on MTV. The wrestling event aired later in the month on Prime Time Wrestling. Theas created by the Academy of Wrestling Arts and Sciences.Martha Quinn was the guest interviewer.
The second edition of the Slammy Awards (referred to in commercials and on the air as the 37th annual Slammy Awards) took place on December 16, 1987 from Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It aired in syndication on December 19, 1987. The show did an impressive 6.2 national rating and 15 share, finishing second in its time-slot only to Saturday Night Live.
This ceremony is perhaps best remembered for a musical number performed by WWF owner Vince McMahon, singing the song "Stand Back". The video of McMahon (whose on-air role at the time was strictly as an announcer) singing "Stand Back" would resurface on the May 28, 2001 episode of WWF Raw is War when Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit played the video to humiliate McMahon, who by then had long moved out of his announcing role and into his Mr. McMahon persona on TV; "Stand Back" has since resurfaced several times over the years as a running gag between McMahon and any face wrestler he is feuding with at that particular time, and was included on the 2006 McMahon DVD.