Best Of 2019: News Story Of The Year
IMG Credit: WWE
This is one of the more interesting categories as it’s about the bigger things. Instead of what goes on in the ring, we’re looking at the big, overarching stories and seeing which one went the most. These are the things that could last a lot longer than just this year and that makes them a good bit more interesting.
Women Main Event Wrestlemania
This is in the category of “never say never”. Five years ago, the women’s division was a complete and utter joke. WWE didn’t care about it, they made no secret about how little it meant and nothing about that was going to change. Then, everything changed. The Women’s Revolution shook it all up and it was off to the races. Since then it was one milestone and first time ever deal after another, but there was one goal that they always focused on: main eventing Wrestlemania. A lot of people, myself included, laughed if off and with pretty good reason.
And then it actually happened, with Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte headlining Wrestlemania XXXV. It’s one of those things where you would never believe it was possible until it actually happened and that’s what made it so impressive. The match quality wasn’t important and really, it wasn’t all that great of a match. What mattered was they did it, which was almost impossible to believe. Pretty cool though, right?
Resurrection Of The NWA
If the previous one was never say never, this is one where I would have said never. The NWA has been a huge punchline in wrestling for the better part of thirty years now, even though they have always been around. The company was bought by Billy Corgan in what was seen as a move that meant nothing, though now things have turned around to the point where I’m still not sure I believe it.
While it mainly took place in the latter half of the year, the NWA’s turnaround has been a sight to behold. Their Powerrr series has turned into something worth seeing every week with a rather different take on the weekly wrestling series, plus some fresh faces and known veterans. I’m not sure what to expect from the in the future but the fact that they have a future is amazing.
CM Punk Is Back
Back in 2014, CM Punk walked out on WWE and never seemed to be coming back again. It turned into a huge mess with fans chanting CM PUNK throughout show after show and….yeah he was still gone. After a pretty miserable run in UFC (because of course Punk could do that), it was back to waiting around because we didn’t know what was going to happen next.
Then came FOX, which brought in a fortune, including introducing a new series called WWE Backstage. Early on in the show’s run, Punk came out as a surprise and was added to the lineup of analysts and contributors. This means Punk being mentioned on Raw and Smackdown, which seemed like an impossibility just a few weeks earlier. We’ll see if he gets back in the ring one day, but this feels like the end of a long journey, even though there might be some more stops to come.
Everyone Wants To Leave WWE
For the last twentyish years, no one in wrestling has come close to WWE. They have been the undisputed king of the wrestling world for a long time now and several wrestlers wanted to come there. However, things have changed a little bit in 2019 as suddenly a lot of wrestlers wanted out. Above all else, Dean Ambrose left and signed with AEW, but he also gave several interviews, including one where he talked about how bad the creative process was in WWE. As it turns out, he wasn’t the only unhappy person around.
Over the rest of the year, a ton of people tried to get out of their WWE deals, with some of them managing to succeed. Some of the people who wanted out included the Kanellises, Luke Harper, Sin Cara and the Revival, with a handful of them no longer in WWE. It’s going to be interesting to see how many more people leave, but it’s fascinating to see the castle start to crumble a little bit.
Speaking of which…
AEW
Like it could be anything else. This is the definition of a game changer as AEW is now the first promotion to legitimately challenge WWE (or challenge them as much as you possibly can) and give the wrestlers another high level place to go. Seeing them as an option has changed the game in wrestling, along with giving wrestling fans a mainstream wrestling promotion.
The company has only been around for a few months now but things are looking like they could go on for a very, very long time. That’s the kind of things that wrestling fans have been wanting to see for a very long time now and hopefully we can see some changes from WWE as a result. This is a brand new world and it’s going to be really interesting to see where things go from here.
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https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/
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