‘Arrow’ Star Stephen Amell Wins Award For His WWE Work
Throughout a truly historic tenure on television, the WWE has seen its fair share of major celebrity appearances, and the appearance of non-wrestling related stars has become somewhat of an honoured tradition in the squared-circle. With the times comes adaptation and new technology, and never has the aspect of celebrity been more popular and relevant than in the modern age, one dominated by social media. Facebook, Twitter, and many other platforms, give fans a direct method of communication with their beloved stars, and it was little surprise when WWE utilised this enhancement to the hilt.
One benefit of this move, something WWE have always managed to make interesting for the fans, is the interaction with relevant celebrity personalities. The year 2015 saw a fair share of celebrity cameos throughout the year — the best of which are mentioned below — but none were more intriguing than Stephen Amell, the star of Arrow, making an appearance in the crowd in the middle of the year. Many thought it was a one off — after all, Amell is a self-confessed wrestling fan — but the appearance soon became its own little monster on Twitter, between Amell and rival Stardust. The feud escalated and culminated in a match at SummerSlam in August, one of WWE’s cornerstone PPV’s, and three months later, there was little surprise when Amell scooped an award for his work.
This past Monday, WWE’s flagship show Raw hosted the WWE Slammy Awards, their iteration of the Oscars, where golden statues are handed out for specific categories across the calender year. Stephen Amell was nominated in the Celebrity Moment of the Year category, which he won in due course. In a twist of events, the feud between Amell and Stardust — whose quirky character exists in an alternate dimension — saw the latter referring to Amell as Oliver or The Green Arrow, his alter-egos in Arrow. A social media war of words, one that lasted several weeks and continues to this day, and a heated scuffle in the ring (see above), resulted in a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Stephen Amell teamed with Neville against Stardust and Wade Barrett. Amell’s team promptly won the match, but Amell’s athleticism in the ring, one enhanced by his strict training and regime on Arrow, was a sight to behold, one that escalated the match beyond the standard celebrity wrestling appearance.
Amell also beat out fellow celebrities in the award. Who can forget John Stewart’s dastardly SummerSlam appearance where he cost John Cena the United States Championship against Seth Rollins? Or Kevin Owens viciously powerbombing rapper Machine Gun Kelly off the stage? Even soccer star Wayne Rooney got in on the act during a U.K showing of Raw, when he slapped Wade Barrett across the face. The nominations were rounded out by the cast of Entourage introducing Zack Ryder on an episode of Raw. While all entries were interesting to see, Amell’s involved a lot more training and dedication on his part, so seeing the award handed to him was a nice touch.
In an indication that the feud may still have legs, Stardust unceremoniously stole Stephen Amell’s Slammy following the announcement of the winner, as you can see in the video below.
Stephen Amell would then take to Twitter to possibly continue their feud into 2016.
.@StardustWWE – you're welcome to my Slammy while I vacation. Need it personally delivered in the new year or I'll break your face. Again.
— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) December 22, 2015
As many people know, WWE is entertainment, so the barbs between the two are nothing more than scripted, but it brings another level of entertainment to the show, one that WWE has managed to instil into their programming for decades now. It was also nice to see Amell and Stardust (Cody Rhodes) use their interaction to promote a charity event for Emily’s House in Toronto, as revealed by Cinema Blend. A check of $297,557 was handed to the charity through sales of their limited edition SummerSlam t-shirts. With social media so relevant in the modern age, and with celebrities like Amell using their WWE experience to benefit the less fortunate, expect the celebrity cameos to continue coming thick and fast.
So, congratulations to Stephen Amell. As a wrestling fan, winning a Slammy will be a nice personal moment for the star, one that will add to his list of growing accolades. Have we seen the last of Stephen Amell in a WWE ring? Only time will tell.
[Image via the CW]
