Best Of 2019: Feud Of The Year
IMG Credit: WWE
This is what causes a lot of the big stuff to take shape and that’s where things get more interesting. You can have all of your great one off matches, but what about something designed to keep things going? Sometimes you get great matches and a hot angle combined together into a feud and that’s when things get special. So what was the most special this year?
Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley
Shayna is a lot of things but one of them was the bane of my predictions for big shows. Every single time she defended the title I was SURE that she was going to lose it and then she just never did. That was the case for several months as Baszler’s reign just kept going. Someone had to stop her sooner or later and it was pretty clear that Rhea Ripley was going to be an option.
That’s exactly what happened on the last regular NXT of the year in a great moment. Ripley FINALLY won the title after chasing it for a few months, including facing off with Baszler’s team in WarGames. It was a big moment, it had been built up for months, and the Ripley finally paid it off in a great match. This was a huge deal and came at the right time, making it a great piece of business for several months.
British Strong Style vs. Imperium
There is something about a stable war that always works. Well as long as the people involved in it are worth seeing. And they have a good reason for feuding. And it doesn’t go on too long. Ok so it doesn’t always work but when they work well, they’re awesome. That was the case with this one from NXT UK and it only meant good things for everyone involved.
British Strong Style are the most popular guys in NXT UK and it isn’t even close. They are the bedrock of the promotion and when you throw in a scary team like Imperium, there is almost no way that the whole thing isn’t going to work very well. Couple that with some outstanding matches (including the Match Of The Year) and there was no way this wasn’t going to be outstanding.
Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan
It was a big year but there were only two options for the top of this list. This was all about Kofi’s chances to win the title, but I wasn’t wild on what it took to get him there. Vince changing the setup time after time got rather annoying and it took too long to get to the point. Everything was fine once we got to the execution, but dang it took a long time to get there.
Then there’s the whole Wrestlemania Moment and one of the best title wins of all time things. This was a case where they couldn’t have stuck the landing better if they had tried and the big payoff was one of the best in years (probably since Bryan won five years earlier). It was the coronation that Kofi fans, including myself, had wanted for a long time and this worked so well. Not the best build, but the title change made up for all of that and more.
You know where this is going.
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano
There are some criticisms against this feud and I can understand those very easily. The matches went WAY beyond the point of believeability at times and they were all marathons that could have been trimmed down. That being said, the matches were all exciting and gave us some of the best moments of the year, namely Gargano winning the NXT Title for the first time.
What made this work was how it was such a perfect balance of storytelling and wrestling. You don’t get that every day and the whole thing felt epic the entire time. The storytelling aspect with Cole invading Gargano’s world, including going after Gargano’s father, made it all the better. It’s the feud of the year, though I can get why some people wouldn’t like it as much.
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Oh man I ragged on the Gargano Cole matches for the spamming and lack of selling but I must say that match they had in New York was the most my adrenaline spiked since probably Taker vs Shawn at Mania 25.