2018 was a long, weird year for WWE. Even by WWE standards. But amidst all the Survivor
Series clean sweeps, Shane McMahon winning a tournament to determine the best in the
world and two Saudi Arabia PR shows, WWE have had some unequivocal successes. Don’t believe
me? Well then here’s a list video of 10 of them in 2018.
10. The Men’s Royal Rumble Match For our first entry, you must cast your minds
all the way back to the start of 2018, where everyone who is now a heel was once a babyface,
and everyone who was once a heel is… still a heel. There’s a lot of heels in WWE right
now. The men’s Royal Rumble match might not have
main evented the pay-per-view, with that honour saved for the first ever women’s Royal Rumble,
but it might have been one of the best men’s main roster matches all year, and arguably
amongst the top Rumble bouts of all time. Adam Cole and then NXT Champion Andrade ‘Cien’
Almas made their main roster debuts, The Hurricane Shane Helms was a great nostalgia cameo, and
everyone actually enjoyed seeing Rey Mysterio enter the Rumble this time round, after everyone
wanted him to be Daniel Bryan in 2014. The final six perfectly encapsulated WWE’s
identity crises with a fascinating standoff between the old school of Randy Orton, John
Cena and Mysterio against the new generation of Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman
Reigns. Nakamura would eventually win in a fantastically dramatic finish.
9. Moustache Mountain Winning Tag Titles Undisputed Era have dominated NXT in 2018,
with them holding the tag team championships for most the year. I say ‘Most’ because
for just two days in June, NXT UK act Moustache Mountain, made up of Tyler Bate and Trent
Seven, defeated them at the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament in a great match,
with the home country reaction in the Royal Albert Hall being one of the biggest pops
of the year. The UK Tournament match wasn’t just an incredible
bout with a hot crowd, it was also a rare WWE example of the company giving the hometown
stars a win. Although it interrupted what could’ve been a year long title reign for
Undisputed Era, this helped solidify Moustache Mountain as stars.
8. Evolution (The Women’s PPV, Not Triple H & Friends)
After months of clumsy PR pushes and an uninspiring card, I don’t think many saw WWE’s first
ever all-female pay-per-view Evolution coming. Especially not WWE, as they completely forgot
to promote it in the weeks before the event, as they were running about 17 other major
WWE shows at the time. Thankfully, in part because WWE’s production
team were so stretched and the event was run by the NXT crew, the show had a really unique
feel. Evolution was a celebration of sports lady-tainment like how All In was a celebration
of indie wrestling. Trish Stratus and Lita were there, the Battle
Royal was more fun than it had any right to be, and Ronda Rousey and Nikki Bella put on
a solid main event. The standout was WWE’s first ever last woman
standing match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte, though, which finally saw the promotion treat
their women’s division with respect, rather than just booking feuds around who’s friends
with who. Dave Meltzer awarded it 4 ¾ stars, the highest rating he’s ever given for a
WWE women’s match, making Evolution actually one of the best wrestling shows of the year.
7. Undisputed Era Having debuted on NXT in August 2017, the
Undisputed Era began as just Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly - heeling their way
into the main event scene of both the singles and tag divisions within months.
They won their first belts, the NXT tag titles, at the end of 2017 by defeating SAniTy - which
they would go onto hold for all but two days of 2018, as previously mentioned.
And then somehow, at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, they levelled up. First Cole became the inaugural
NXT North American Champion in a widely celebrated ladder match, and then he had to wrestle again
later that night, defending the Undisputed Era’s tag titles with O’Reilly, replacing
an injured Fish. Thankfully they had a heel turn from Roderick Strong aligning with them
to retain. All four men are fantastic wrestlers, with
a shared charisma that’s made them one of the best factions in NXT history. I also like
humming their theme tune. Boom. Speaking of Cole’s inaugural North American
title win...
6. That North American Title Ladder Match
You might’ve noticed by now, there's quite a lot of NXT on this list. Which is mostly
because the main roster can’t ruin it like they pretty much everything else this yea-this
is a positive list. It’s about WWE successes. Shanti-OH DAMMIT, THAT’S A MAIN ROSTER SCREW
UP TOO. In March, NXT General Manager William Regal
announced that a new title, the North American Championship, would be introduced to the developmental
brand at their TakeOver: New Orleans show, and that the belt itself is really sexy. Regal
didn’t say that… it’s just what I think. To decide the inaugural champion, he booked
a ladder match between Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, Velveteen Dream and the aforementioned
Adam Cole - along with the TakeOver debuts of recent major signings EC3 and Ricochet.
The match wasn’t just an absolute spectacle, with Dave Meltzer awarding it 5 stars, it
also showcased each wrestler’s talent, elevating them up the NXT card to establish new stars.
5. Drew McIntyre’s Main Roster Push There have been 7 NXT call ups this year,
and we can only say that one has actually been a success. And technically he’s more
of main roster return. WHY DO YOU HATE NXT VINCE?! [VINCE SIDE SCREEN]
Far surpassing Ember Moon, Andrade 'Cien' Almas, SAniTy, No Way Jose, the IIconics and
AOP - God, that’s depressing - Drew McIntyre returned to the main roster in April following
a four year hiatus on the Indies and a brief run as NXT Champion in redevelopmental.
In his comeback, Drew initially cut an imposing figure as Dolph Ziggler’s bodyguard, the
Diesel to Ziggler’s Shawn Michaels - but it soon became clear WWE had much bigger plans
for him. He became a Raw tag team champion with Ziggler and was heavily protected in
matches, only suffering his first pinfall defeat to Dolph once they’d split almost
eight months later. And following a dominating performance over
Kurt Angle, Drew’s reportedly set for a mega push in 2019, likely to become Raw’s
top heel.
4. Ronda Rousey At WrestleMania 34
Possibly the most surprising wrestling success of the year was how Ronda Rousey was actually
really, really good in her in-ring debut. After a famous career in MMA and the UFC,
Rousey rather awkwardly debuted in the Women’s Royal Rumble post-match celebration. Not because
a lot of people just wanted to cheer Asuka, but also because she kept doing this weird
point thing. A few clumsy promos and some weird Jedi-like
punch dodging came in the months that followed, and many were doubting how she’d fare in
her big stage debut - a mixed tag match of her tagging with Kurt Angle against Triple
H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 34. Somehow - mainly through weeks and weeks of
practicing the match - her performance stole the show, making Stephanie tap in the armbar
for the win, solidifying her as a top star for the rest of the year.
3. Everything Becky Lynch
Who would have thunk it? Becky Lynch is really, really good. Well, actually, literally everyone
apart from WWE. Ironically, it was a forced heel turn that
ignited her recent reinvention as The Man in August, where after scraping away in undercard
matches for the first half of the year, not having a proper storyline, her best friend
Charlotte was added to her Women’s title match at SummerSlam, mostly just because she’s
Charlotte Flair. The fans emotionally sided with Becky, and
despite WWE pushing her as a heel, she received the loudest cheers night after night. SmackDown
finally relented after Evolution, and began presenting her as a badass babyface.
And after her champion vs champion match for Survivor Series against Ronda Rousey was unfairly
scrapped due to Nia Jax concussing Becky with a botched punch, the eventual Rousey vs Lynch
match is now expected to main event WrestleMania 35. Not bad for someone who started the year
with a tea drinking gimmick. 2. Daniel Bryan’s INITIAL Return
Daniel Bryan retired in 2016 due to multiple concussions and the majority of us believed
we’d never see him wrestle again. A wrestler at the top of his profession cruelly no longer
able to do what he loves. Daniel Bryan, however, disagreed - as he was able to get a number
of doctors to medically clear him for an in-ring return.
Rumours began at the start of 2018 saying he’d just leave WWE once his contract had
expired to start wrestling again on the Indies. Rumours that mainly came from Bryan himself,
because that’s what he kept heavily teasing in public interviews.
But then on a normal day back in March, the almost unbelievable news broke that Bryan
had been cleared to return by WWE's medical team. Which had absolutely nothing to do with
the prospect of him going to All In or New Japan.
He came out on that night's SmackDown to a thunderous reaction, cutting a promo that
had the crowd close to tears. But not me. Because I’m an adult man.
Just six months later, he’d reinvent his character into a preachy environmentalist,
becoming WWE Champion and one of the top heels in the company.
But the best heel in all of WWE goes to half of our topspot entry.
1. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa’s Rivalry January saw the return from injury of Tommaso
Ciampa, where he attacked Johnny Gargano after his five star match with Andrade ‘Cien’
Almas at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. Their rivalry was so intense, Ciampa and Gargano
would go on to main event the next three consecutive TakeOvers, each one a new chapter in Ciampa’s
descent into title-obsessed madness, and Gargano’s own plunge into darkness riding Ciampa from
NXT. I sincerely believe the Gargano/Ciampa story
is amongst the most complex, layered, well-thought out, long-term pieces of booking WWE have
ever done. In fact, that wrestling has ever done, with the seeds of this rivalry even
present in their 2016 Cruiserweight Classic match.
Their character arcs are comparable with the greats in literature, or, at the very least,
adult TV shows on HBO. And I’m yet to see Westworld do a draping DDT on the exposed
plywood beneath a ring canvas. I’d even argue that as a complete package with in-ring
wrestling, story and character, Gargano/Ciampa even surpasses the lauded series of matches
between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada.
What are your favourite WWE wins of 2018? Let me know all the things I’ve stupidly
missed in the comments below!
And speaking of NXT, let’s rank every single main roster call-up this year from best to
worst! That’s going to be depressing. Click the video onscreen now to find out our picks.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.