Best Of 2018: Angle Of The Year
The Gall Of That Man
Back in October, Roman Reigns was forced to vacate the Universal Title due to his Leukemia returning. It was as emotional and real of a moment as you’ll see in WWE, but the night wasn’t over yet. Later that same evening, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins won the Raw Tag Team Titles in honor of their Shield mate. We still weren’t done though as Ambrose turned on Rollins to end the Shield and become the biggest heel on the roster.
I loved this, because it’s the kind of thing WWE doesn’t do very often. This was taking a real life story and turning it into something. The turn had been teased for over a month and this was finally the time to pull the trigger. It put incredible heat on Ambrose and it couldn’t have been done much better. The follow up didn’t work, but my goodness it was an amazing moment when they actually went with something like this. It was great, but it should have been incredible.
Whodunit
Aleister Black was injured at a house show and had to go on the shelf. Since NXT knows what they’re doing, they turned it into a several months long whodunit mystery, as the question became who actually attacked Black. Everyone was a suspect and in the end, Johnny Gargano was revealed as the attacker as he gave in to evil to try and stop Tommaso Ciampa.
What made this story so great is that it fell into NXT’s lap and they ran with the thing. Not only did you get the reveal, some great promos and Black vs. Gargano, but you also got the excellent Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream match as Dream accused Ciampa of being behind everything. That’s the kind of storytelling you don’t get every day and NXT made the most of a bad situation.
When I started writing this, Whodunit was the runaway winner. Then I realized it was only part of the real Angle of the Year.
Welcome To The Dark Side
In a name you’re going to hear a lot in these things this year, Johnny Gargano’s heel turn/descent into evil was second to none. What started as an incredible year with Gargano doing everything imaginable other than winning the NXT Title turned into a nightmare as Gargano became obsessed with ending Tommaso Ciampa’s reign of evil. That evil consumed Gargano, who took out his aggression on Aleister Black in a horrible assault, which saw Gargano become everything he hated in the name of stopping Ciampa.
This is the story of the year because it has a beginning, middle and ending. Gargano turning was foreshadowed when he couldn’t tell William Regal he didn’t do it and, as usual in NXT, the fun part was watching everything play out from there. This story isn’t over yet, but the ride they’ve taken us on so far has been magical. Gargano has gone from the light to the darkness, and now the question is whether it destroys him or if he comes out the other side. That’s great storytelling, and it’s the best of the year.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:
https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
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