Daily News Update – February 3, 2023

5. Men’s Royal Rumble – Royal Rumble
4. New Day vs. Brawling Brutes – Wrestlemania XXXVIII
3. Nikkita Lyons vs. Lash Legend – NXT – April 26
2. Vince McMahon vs. Pat McAfee – Wrestlemania XXXVIII
1. Ric Flair/Andrade El Idolo vs. Jay Lethal/Jeff Jarrett – Ric Flair’s Last Match

Like this could be anything else. This wasn’t so much a match as much as it was a horrible embarrassment/a cry for help. There were parts of the match that were acceptable, which you knew would be the case with the other three involved. But then Flair teased a heart attack and had to lay on the apron because he couldn’t stand. This match made me feel wrong to be watching it and you could almost feel Flair and Conrad Thompson counting the money in their heads throughout the whole thing. This is a runaway #1 and nothing is touching it.

Rookie/Newcomer Of The Year (As in rookie/newcomer on a show, not new to wrestling. And no, I won’t be cutting them off if they had a match or two in 2021.)

5. Raquel Rodriguez
4. Roxanne Perez
3. Pretty Deadly
2. Hook
1. Logan Paul

Like this could have been anyone else. I had barely heard of Paul before he showed up in WWE but then he gets announced for a match at Wrestlemania. Then he’s winning there, beating Miz at Summerslam, and blowing it out of the park in a Saudi main event against Roman Reigns. This is something that felt like it should have been a horrible joke and wound up being a massive success. Paul has more than proven himself and it was a blast to watch him more often than not.

Worst Wrestler Of The Year (Not counting people who had one or two matches that is)

5. Shanky
4. Kip Sabian
3. Lash Legend
2. Top Dolla
1. Aliyah

Aliyah debuted in NXT in 2015. Roman Reigns hadn’t even headlined Wrestlemania yet and Aliyah had her first match under the WWE banner. How in the freaking world has she not picked up SOMETHING yet? There are worse wrestlers out there, but how is it possible that she hasn’t gotten at least the basics down at this point? I had to think about this one for a bit and then thought back to what Aliyah had done in her career. Realizing how long it had been was enough to put this one over the edge.

Worst Angle Of The Year

5. Jade Cargill And The Baddies
4. Andrade/Hardy Family Office Contract Nonsense
3. Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin/Madcap Moss
2. Jay Lethal/Jeff Jarrett vs. Ric Flair/Andrade El Idolo (There was a build to that monstrosity.)
1. Kip Sabian Has A Box On His Head

This went on for months and for the life of me I still cannot tell you what in the world the point was supposed to be. Sabian literally sat there for months (without being acknowledged for most of the time), eventually unboxed, and then lost to Pac before the whole thing was dropped and not mentioned again. I have no idea what they were going for here and I don’t think AEW does either.

Title Reign Of The Year

5. Bron Breakker – NXT TItle
4. Josh Alexander – Impact Wrestling World Title
3. Roman Reigns – Undisputed WWE World Title
2. Usos – WWE Tag Team Titles
1. Gunther – Intercontinental Title

This has been the year of the long title reigns and really, some of them are getting boring. We’ve seen the Usos and Reigns hold their titles for so long that you know nothing is going to happen to them for a very long time. The same is true of Alexander and Breakker, as there are only a few people who are going to take the title from him. That left me with Gunther, who has made the title seem so much more important, while also having the longest title reign in over ten years (even if you might not have realized it). Gunther takes this one for me, as I want to see how much longer he can hold the thing.

Surprise Of The Year (In-Ring/Storyline Only)

5. Bray Wyatt Returns
4. Cody Rhodes Returns
3. Bayley/Damage Ctrl Returns
2. Sami Zayn Makes The Bloodline So Much Better
1. Steve Austin Wrestles

This is one of those things that I never thought I would actually see and then it actually happened. That is the kind of wonder that you do not get in wrestling very often but dang is it a special moment. I don’t think there was any doubt that Austin would do something physical, but how many people had “Steve Austin is going to main event Wrestlemania” back in October 2021? This wins by a landslide and it felt special, even to a not very big Austin fan.