Best Of 2020: Surprise Of The Year
As usual, these are in no particular order until the winner at the end.
Otis Is Mr. Money In The Bank
The words “I’m sorry what now?” apply here, as Otis went from a gyrating goof to a gyrating goof who won at Wrestlemania to a gyrating goof who caught the Money in the Bank briefcase. It came out of almost nowhere and while it didn’t wind up meaning anything in the end, it certainly had some awesome surprise value and it made Otis feel like a player.
Sting In AEW
This was certainly a moment, even if Sting has never quite been associated with snow. Just seeing Sting show up and instantly being used better than he was in WWE was a cool moment, though I’m almost worried about where all of this is leading. What matters here is an awesome debut though and Sting feeling like a legend, especially one who came out of nowhere.
Pat McAfee Is Awesome
You see a lot of celebrities pop up in wrestling but how often do you see someone who comes off like a natural? McAfee had a heck of a match with Adam Cole but what mattered was his insane talking ability, as he was instantly one of (if not the) best heels in all of wrestling. I wanted to see someone hit this guy in the face over and over again, which is the name of the game. Most people would have been happy with McAfee being adequate and then he wound up being great. Not a bad surprise.
Roman Reigns Is A Paul Heyman Guy
Sometimes the best way to make something like this work is with a simple camera swipe and that’s how they did this reveal. Reigns had returned at Summreslam and felt a bit different, but then we saw that he had Heyman by his side and it was a whole new ball game. What followed was one of the best heel runs of the modern age, but it all started with having Heyman, the ultimate evil in WWE, sitting next to him and I was absolutely stunned
But there was one thing better.
Edge Returns At The Royal Rumble
I had the previous entry winning but just couldn’t get around this one. If there is one thing that I have learned over the last few years in wrestling, it is that you can never say never. That being said, when you wait almost nine years, you kind of believe that something is never going to happen. That was the case with Edge, who made his return at the Royal Rumble in a moment I never thought I would see. Yeah he’s older and yeah he’s hurt again, but Edge got back in the ring and had a few matches all those years later. I lost it when that music hit and it was outstanding the whole way through.
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