Best Of 2010s: News Story Of The Decade
IMG Credit: WWE
This is more of the big picture idea. Over the last ten years, there have been a lot of things that have changed the way wrestling works. Some of these are changes that will be felt for years to come and that is where things can get interesting. I always find this one more interesting than a lot of the other awards as it’s something completely different than so many others.
Honorable Mention
Everything That Went Wrong For Hulk Hogan – I know that we are literally decades past his time but anything that involves in to this degree is worthy of at least a mention.
Roman Reigns Health Issues – This might not have had the biggest long term implications, but any time that the World Champion announces that he has cancer, it’s a big deal.
Ultimate Warrior’s Death – I was in the arena for his final promo and drove home twelve hours the next day. That night I was ready to sleep for a few days, but then this news broke and I was in such shock that I was awake for hours. I’m still not sure how this happened and it’s almost impossible to fathom.
The WWE Goes Big (FOX TV Deal)
WWE has been the biggest wrestling promotion for a long time now and that means they are allowed to brag about a lot of things. However, one of the biggest things that they accomplished was managing to make it all the way up to network television, which really is something that deserves serious praise.
It’s one thing to be the top of the wrestling world but it’s another to be put into the top level of televised entertainment. WWE is on the same network as the NFL and various other major sporting events. That is the kind of thing that wrestling just does not do and WWE managed to do it. You can argue how well it is going or how much of a success it will be, but the fact that they got there is a new benchmark for wrestling and WWE can be very proud of it.
WWE In Saudi Arabia
Yeah I know these things aren’t all that popular but they are the reason WWE is going to be profitable for years to come no matter how many people are actually watching the regular shows. While all of the controversies around the shows do not help things very much, the money that WWE brings in from them is far too much for them to turn down and they aren’t likely to go anywhere anytime soon.
The shows bring in so much money and they are allowing WWE to do all kinds of things that they weren’t going to be able to do otherwise. This includes bringing back pyro and signing a bunch of people, which makes things a lot more interesting. I’m not entirely comfortable with the shows most of the time, but they are going to be a factor for a long time, like they or not.
CM Punk Walks Out
This is one of those things where it was a big deal at the time and then it got bigger and bigger over time. For years to come, it became a question of whether or not Punk would ever come back and, as far as in the ring goes, that has not been the case. I don’t know if he ever will wrestle again or not, but the way he left was one of the biggest deals in wrestling for a long time to come.
The fallout from Punk leaving though may have been even bigger, with everything from the Art of Wrestling interview (and EVERYTHING that brought with it) to the ensuing lawsuit to the Backstage return and all of the waiting in between. It was a story that spiraled out of control and it still hasn’t quite gotten back under control to this day. I’m not sure if it ever will and that’s quite the ordeal.
Daniel Bryan Retires And Then Unretires
From late 2013 until early 2014, no one was hotter than Daniel Bryan. He caught lightning in a bottle with the YES Movement and everything that came with it. Bryan had one of the greatest moments in the history of Wrestlemania with the Miracle On Bourbon Street, but then it all fell apart and just over a year later, he was out of the ring for good, with his retirement speech being one of the best ever.
But then he was eventually cleared, and no one believed it. After years of fighting to get back in the ring, Bryan managed to make it happen in one of the most unlikely comebacks of all time. The reason this is such a big deal is how many new doors it opens. Couple that with how much it reinforces the idea of Never Say Never and it is one of the stories that shows nothing in wrestling ever truly ends, and that’s a good thing.
Rise of NXT
Who would have seen this coming? Back in 2010, a new competition show called NXT debuted and it….was really not very good. The show replaced ECW and it was all downhill from there, with one bad idea after another and it went on for years. Eventually the show moved to WWE.com and Full Sail University, where names such as Michael McGillicutty and Derrick Bateman were the top stars for a good while.
Over the next several years, NXT evolved into one of the most celebrated and incredible wrestling promotions in the world, regularly showcasing the stars of tomorrow and often stealing the show every time they run a major event. NXT is no longer on a hot streak as they are a full on success, with the end of 2019 seeing them rise up to the same level as Raw and Smackdown. That’s a decades long story and one of the best that you could have seen.
AEW
This one snuck in at the end and it wouldn’t surprise me to see it be at the top of the list ten years from now. Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor were around for the last ten years as well but neither came close to WWE at any point. AEW has come out swinging and while they are far from taking over anything, they have shown that WWE may be mortal in the eyes of the wrestling fans. That is the definition of a game changer and the question now is how far they can go.
What matters here is how much everything could change. We are now in a world where WWE is not the be all end all of major wrestling companies in the United States. That is something that could shake up wrestling in a way we have not seen in twenty years. I’m not sure where it is going to go and that is a very nice feeling I haven’t had in a long time.
The Women’s Revolution
You can’t call this a storyline or an angle because it has become a new way of life. The women’s division went from nothing, with women’s matches being lucky to get seven minutes even on pay per view, to main eventing Wrestlemania. That is one of those things where you would never believe it to be a possibility and then it happened. It was an exciting time and while you might not be a fan of what you’re seeing, it’s a genuinely major deal and something that is very cool to see.
What makes this so important is that it didn’t seem possible. The women’s division was little more than a way to kill some time and throw out some eye candy. The wrestlers had no personalities, no stories, and were mainly there to promote Total Divas. There were some steps forward here and there, but it wasn’t until 2015 (and thanks to NXT) that they were taken seriously. The genie can’t be put back into the bottle and that’s pretty newsworthy.
And now, for something that we have taken for granted for a long time now.
WWE Network
I’ve called this the greatest thing to ever happen to wrestling fans and I stick by that statement. Do you remember what it was like trying to find old wrestling before the Network came into play? You either had to tape it, know a place to find it illegally, or search YouTube for clips before WWE found out about it. Now, every Raw or Smackdown, pay per view, and material from all around the wrestling world is available at your fingertips for a cheap price.
The days of needing to pay $50 for a pay per view are gone and that is not changing back. You can watch Wrestlemania, NXT, Slamboree 1994 or an episode of Texas Championship Wrestling at the click of a button and do it completely legally. The wrestling world has been opened up in a way that has never been done before and it is the best thing to ever happen to wrestling fans.
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“I’m not entirely with the shows most of the time” Re Saudi Arabia.
How can you be AT ALL comfortable with a regime that, on it’s best days oppresses women and murders the people of Yemen while also interrupting storylines and progress in favour of cheap thrills and on it’s worst day does all of that AND murders journalists?
The fact that so many wrestling writers almost. Gleefully ignore the full issues of WWE blatantly sucking up to a murderous regime is so horribly ignorant it’s amazing.
That is, without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest news story and WWE has a billion dollar deal with fox that has let them bring back pyro. Hell they could always bring it back. They’re a billion dollar company and one of the biggest and most valuable brands in the damn world.
They always had enough talent to make things interesting. Don’t try and use this to justify any perceived jump in quality.
The Network is amazing. I remember wanting to watch WMX7 as a child but not been allowed to. I finally got the tape on 2003 from a friend. It was a bad tape with lines up the screen but I watched the hell out of it.