Best Of 2018: Title Reign Of The Year
IMG Credit: WWE
I know it’s one of the more basic ideas but at the end of the day (or year in this case), most wrestling feuds revolve around titles. It’s what most of the people wrestle for and some of the title reigns are outstanding highlights of the year. As is the case with everything though, you can decide which is best and that’s where I come in.
Undisputed Era – NXT Tag Team Titles
I know the Ascension’s record is out of reach (and the Undisputed Era isn’t making it out of Phoenix with the titles) but if you ignore the three week reign by Moustache Mountain (those pesky Brits), Undisputed Era has held the titles since November 2017. That’s a heck of a run in a division that usually changes over so quickly. They’re a great team and the kind of guys who could work very well on the main roster as well.
Seth Rollins – Intercontinental Title
This was the reign where you knew you were going to get something special no matter what happened. Rollins was on the roll of a lifetime in the first half of 2018 as he was back from his knee surgery at full speed and could have a great match with anyone. Then came a feud with Dean Ambrose about how cities smelled and it kind of went away, but the time he spent as champion was incredible.Tommaso Ciampa – NXT Title
Now this is more of a mixture of in-ring work and character stuff, which is about as good as you can get in wrestling. Of course there’s the time with Gargano, but at the same time Ciampa had a great match with Velveteen Dream and even a good one with Otis Dozovic. His mic work has destroyed that though and turned him into one of the best characters in recent memory. I’m not sure how long he’s going to hold the title but at this rate, Finn Balor’s record may be in jeopardy.
Pete Dunne – United Kingdom Title
There were two real options here and the one thing holding me back on Dunne was how he doesn’t defend the title all that often. That has changed in the latter half of the year but it’s still not as frequent as most. If Dunne was around full time, this would pretty easily be his but for now, he’s the part time mega star and that’s only good for really close and one of the best title reigns in a long time.
AJ Styles – Smackdown World Title
Yeah this one might have been obvious. Styles held the title for a year plus and most of 2018, including some of the best matches of the year. There were some awesome efforts against Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan, which probably had something to do with how good the matches were. That being said, it takes two people to have a great match and that tended to be the case every time the champ was in the ring.
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I’m surprised Buddy Murphy didn’t get a mention, since his rise and now reign is the best thing to happen to the show.
Also, I may not watch TNA, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about LAX.