We’re (finally) wrap it up with a pretty important one because this is what people remember most. It might not be a whole match or a promo, but it’s just something that felt important, which you don’t get very often. The good ones are remembered for a long time to come though and that’s what we’re going with today, making it a nice way to end these things. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Note that I’m intentionally leaving off the Brodie Lee Tribute Show. As great as it was, there’s something that doesn’t feel right about calling anything associated with it a positive (if that makes sense).

Roman Reigns Is A Paul Heyman Guy

You can argue this being both the angle, surprise and moment of the year because that’s not the kind of thing you expect to see coming. Reigns has been the mega clean face for so long now and now he’s with Heyman? It’s in the “What are you doing with him Andre?” vein and that is some pretty special praise. Then he wound up being the best heel in recent years, but it all started with this moment.

Brodie Lee Squashes Cody

This is one of the my favorite styles of booking in all of wrestling as AEW completely shifted gears. They almost never do a squash and to do it against one of the biggest stars the company has took a lot of people by surprise. It felt like Lee was FINALLY being given a push that didn’t involve a Vince McMahon parody and I could totally go for that. Then the rematch was awesome too and this set a lot of the stage for that greatness.

Sasha Banks Beats Bayley

There is something great about setting up a match that far in advance and then finally going somewhere with it. Banks vs. Bayley had been built up for years in NXT and WWE and we were actually getting to the big blowoff once and for all. While a lot of this is because it came at the end of a great story, a lot of it is because they had a heck of a fight that was worthy of the Cell. It felt like Banks accomplished something and that isn’t a feeling you get very often.

Le Dinner Debonair

Your tastes may vary on this one but it takes a lot to make my jaw drop in wrestling. The stuff with the two of them messing with the waitress was good enough but then they started singing and had wrestling lyrics to a song and dance routine. It isn’t going to please a lot of people (and believe me I get that), but WOW this was a spectacle and you don’t get those very often (at least not in a positive way).

Edge Returns

If you have followed me for a bit, you know that one of my favorite things is to be wrong about saying never. After nearly nine years out of the ring, it would have been very easy to believe that Edge would never wrestle again (I’m not sure if anyone other than him believed he would.) so hearing Alter Bridge in the Royal Rumble was the kind of moment that made my head snap around. I’d say that warrants a mention.

I’m going with the personal favorite here and I can’t help but smile.

Drew McIntyre Wins The WWE Title

I’ve been a big McIntyre fan from the time he was in Impact to the time I had a rather nice chat with him at WrestleCon and then saw him debut in NXT the next night. It is pretty rare for me to actively cheer for someone to win but as soon as he eliminated Brock Lesnar from the Royal Rumble, I knew what I wanted to see closing Wrestlemania. It’s a shame that he didn’t get to do it in front of 70,000 people, but what a moment it was and I got to smile at wrestling at a time when a lot of us needed to. That’s the Moment of the Year.

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We had to get to this one but it’s kind of one of the most difficult to pick. One of the best things about modern wrestling is they have managed to find a baseline that makes it really hard to have a bad show. AEW and NXT are virtually incapable of it, leaving WWE and whatever Impact has done. Note that this will not included special TV episode because as special as they are, they’re still just TV. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Note: Bear with me on a lot of these, as there just weren’t that many bad shows this year.

Summerslam

The biggest problem here was the fact that it didn’t feel like an important show. There were some nice matches included, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about most of them and that’s a bad thing. Roman Reigns returning at the end kept it from being too bad, but I can barely remember most of this card and that’s not a good sign for what is (allegedly) the second biggest show of the year five months later.

Wrestlemania XXXVI Night Two

As cool as it was to see Drew McIntyre finally win the World Title, it was another one of those matches that comes and goes in about five minutes. That kills so much of the buzz that comes with it, to the point where if this was any other ending, it would have ruined the show. Other than that moment, Charlotte vs. Rhea Ripley, and the good Edge vs. Randy Orton match (yes I still like it), this wasn’t much of a night and certainly didn’t feel like a Wrestlemania. Of course it gets a big pass like everything else this year, but it wasn’t exactly a fun show.

Payback

This show had the major problem of coming a week after Summerslam, giving it the feeling of being the show that had everything not good enough to make it onto the previous pay per view. Roman Reigns won the Universal Title and Keith Lee beat Randy Orton completely clean, but I can’t tell you another thing that happened on this show. They were behind the eight ball coming in and then didn’t exactly deliver, but I’d put this one much more on the scheduling than the wrestling. That may not be fair, but it’s the reality of what happened.

Like it was going to be anything else.

Super Showdown

The Saudi Arabian shows (Remember them?) don’t have a good reputation and you leave them feeling a bit dirty. This time around though it made a lot of people mad, as Goldberg beat the Fiend in a match that was probably only booked to satisfy the people financing the event. It was one of those incredibly frustrating moments and came after a pretty bad (but not the worst) show, which is enough to give it this one pretty easily.

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It’s nice to have a few positive ones included here and having some people move up the ladder is nice to see. There are some people who had a great year in 2020 and showed more of what they can do. These people were hired to these companies for a reason and it’s great to see what they can do when they are given something better to do and a chance. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Bobby Lashley

How in the world do you screw up someone like Lashley? It should be the easiest booking ever but for some reason it took WWE YEARS to figure it out. Believe it or not, the idea was just to have him be the big, unstoppable monster who runs over everyone and destroys them like there is nothing that can stop them. That’s what Impact Wrestling showed Lashley can do and for some reason it took WWE this long to make it work.

Apollo Crews

Who knew that the solution to Crews was to let him win something? I know he might not be a top star or anything like that, but he is certainly someone who should be a star of some sort with all of the natural tools that he has. Crews had a nice US Title reign and I could go with seeing more of him in some big spots. Just let him actually win a few matches and he gets better because he has all of the tools in the first place. Again: how can it be this complicated?

Bianca Belair

I mentioned this in the Rookie/Newcomer section but this was an amazing year for Belair, who went from being a rather irritating heel that I didn’t want to watch to being one of the better women on the roster. She fits in perfectly well on Raw and I would be surprised if she isn’t Women’s Champion at some point in the year. Something has clicked in her and I’m seeing why people spoke so highly of her for so long.

Bayley

As I have asked about her several times in the last year, who knew she had this in her? Bayley was one of the best characters ever in NXT, came up to the main roster and did well(ish) there and then changed absolutely everything to become the longest reigning Smackdown Women’s Champion ever. This was a huge shock for me and while I know Bayley isn’t everyone’s taste, she is such an awesome heel and I’m amazed by how great she is as so many things.

Roman Reigns

What else is there to say? Reigns coming back was one heck of an eye roll inducing moment and then he shocked us all by becoming the best heel in years. It says a lot when Paul Heyman is there as little more than a background character because Reigns is just that awesome at what he does. Reigns is going to be the top star for a LONG time on Smackdown as he’s even raising the viewership, but my goodness how frustrating is it to know what he could have done all these years?

That leaves one person and say it with me.

Jey Uso

Let me say that again.

Jey Uso

What in the world man? I mean……it’s JEY USO main eventing pay per views in singles matches and having some of the best matches in the company all year. I know a lot of it had to do with Reigns but Uso came out of nowhere and stole a lot of shows with the most improbably singles run in a very long time. This isn’t just the most improved but there’s a case for it being the most shocking, so this was one of the easier layups all year.

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This is one that always requires a bit of an explanation and that’s perfectly understandable. When I say rookie/newcomer, I mean someone who made their debut on a show rather than someone who has only just started wrestling. You’re only going to see so many actual rookies on major shows so this makes things a little more interesting with some different variables included. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Timothy Thatcher

His gimmick is that he’s an old school wrestler and believer it or not, he got it over. This is one of those things that will always have a place on any roster because it is something that you can have on any wrestling show. Thatcher has a good look and does all of the holds well, with the Thatch As Thatch Can being a great way to show how completely ruthless he really could be with all of his students and underlings. He’s a bit older, but he fit in really well and should be around for a long time.

Bianca Belair

Belair debuted on Raw just after Wrestlemania and, after a rather lengthy period of nothing, she became one of the more entertaining women on the roster. The natural athleticism is as easy of a drawing card as there is and she has completely won me over in recent months. Who would have thought she would be much better as a face despite having what should be the most natural heel gimmick around?

Ben Carter

You knew he would make the list because he came from absolutely nowhere and turned into one of the more sought after wrestlers around. Carter was a steal for WWE from AEW, though I can’t imagine AEW knew what they had on their hands when he was on Dark. He went from a guy in bad shorts to a total gem and wound up being one of the more compelling newcomers in wrestling this year. I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes from here in NXT UK and beyond, which isn’t something you see very often out of a total newcomer.

Eddie Kingston

Kingston is an interesting case as he has been around for the better part of ever but has only had a cup of coffee in a big promotion. That makes this year all the more frustrating because he turned into one of the best promos in wrestling for most of the summer, tearing into Jon Moxley every chance he could. Kingston was the highlight of AEW most weeks for me and I have yet to get tired of listening to him talk. He comes off like he believes every word he’s saying and that makes him worth every second.

But come on. Like this could be ANYONE else.

Pat McAfee

I’m sorry but what? Who in the world just drops into wrestling and becomes the absolute best heel in the business the second they start talking? I vaguely knew of McAfee when he showed up and wasn’t expecting anything from another ex-football player but WOW was I wrong. McAfee was incredible and put almost every other seasoned veteran to shame on the mic. He then went on to have two pretty great in-ring performances and made me want to see more. Not bad at all for a non-wrestler and completely amazing for a pure rookie.

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This is one of the bigger ones as the angles are the things that carry the audience’s interest. There were some good ones throughout the year and it might be nice to look back at them after so many things went badly this year. Wrestling had a hard time making things work and yet there were more than a few good options to pick from. Hopefully my memory is working this time so let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Who Is Returning To Impact Wrestling?

I’m not sure what else to call this or even if it counts as an angle, but I had a great time watching this over the summer. Someone who had been released from WWE was going to be returning to the company at Slammiversary and it became a huge Whoisit story. That’s one of the best angles that can be done and the big reveals at the end were….well just ok at best, but at least the build up was great.

Golden Role Models Explode

It’s a story that was built up for a very long time and then they finally paid the whole thing off. I’m not sure if it was worth all of the time and effort put in, but everything they set up felt like it was building to a moment and then we actually got there. These two have a very detailed history together and then they kept building on it even more, with the two of them owning all of the women’s titles. It felt like a big deal when they got to the ending and the match in the Cell, with Bayley finally losing the title, was rather good. This was long form storytelling and you don’t get that very often in WWE.

The Rise And Fall Of Hangman Page

Now this one is interesting as I could see it seems like we have only seen part of the story so far. Page started the year hot by winning the Tag Team Titles with Kenny Omega but seemed to like booze more than anything else, including his partner. He continues to seem to be trying to find himself but has no way of knowing where to look. The idea of Page ultimately discovering his inner….whatever it is and dethroning Omega to win the World Title is incredibly intriguing, but for now, I’ll settle for him becoming a lost soul and slowly starting to work his way back to the real world, because the details in this have been very good so far.

Randy Orton vs. The Legends

I’m a sucker for Orton. Even though he has done something similar more than once before, it is something he does rather well and it was nice to see various other legends other than Ric Flair (though of course we had Flair in there too because we have to) involved for a change. The sequence of legends in the ambulance match worked too and Orton even wound up winning the World Title to have the story mean something in the end. Not bad for something that has been done probably half a dozen times before.

Those were all good, but there wasn’t much doubt on this one.

Roman Reigns Is The Head Of The Table

Reigns came back at Summerslam and seemed to have an edge to him but it didn’t exactly feel like some big game changer. Then one night the camera panned out to show Paul Heyman next to him and it was clear that we were in for something new. With the big change taking place, it became very obvious that Reigns wasn’t just a heel but rather THE heel, as he was the monster that everyone had been wanting to see him as for years. This went rolling for a few months and showed no signs of slowing down at the end of the year. Throw in Reigns getting great matches out of Jey Uso and this was the head of the list with no question about it.

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These are the ones you remember. There are so many angles and stories that take place over the course of the year that it is natural to have something stand out as worse than others. WWE tends to have a corner on the market for these things but there are always a few others that sneak through. That may be the case again this year, but you never can tell. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Raw Underground

I’m not sure how terrible this was, but it was so random and came and went so suddenly that I think it warrants an inclusion. Above all else, it was barely used and didn’t really advance anything, so I’d call it more lame than bad. That being said, I’m rarely a fan of something along the lines of “this is the REAL fighting” on a wrestling show and while it was far from the Brawl For All, it wasn’t exactly great.

Retribution

It bothers me to have to put this one on here but it was such a pathetic story for so long that it’s hard not to. I like most of the people involved and I was really glad to see Ali get something to do, but egads how worthless did this team seem for so long? They’re getting better now, albeit at such a low level that it’s hard to make myself care. T-Bar had some amazing moments in NXT and Ali is one of the easiest people to cheer for in WWE today. Why is this the best they can do for them?

Viking Profits

Now I know this one was popular with some fans and that’s fine enough. I did like pieces of it but the whole thing went on for SO long without actually having a match that it felt more like a badly scripted reality series (The Raiders can play basketball but get confused by various common modern references?) than anything else. The cinematic deal with the ninjas and various Marvel/Star Wars references was entertaining, but (and yes this is the old school traditionalist in me), when you advertise a match after weeks/months of buildup, I’d kind of like to see it happen rather than another wacky skit.

Goldberg Returns, Wins Universal Title

So this one was the most infuriating at the time, especially when it was designed to set up the Battle Of The Spears at Wrestlemania, but Goldberg was in the ring less than ten minutes. We’re long past the point where WWE is going to care about how annoyed fans get at Goldberg, so you just kind of learn to live with it. Annoying yes, but at least Goldberg was gone at Wrestlemania, never to be seen…..never mind.

Then there is this, which is worse for one reason.

Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt

As I saw pointed out on SCF, this went on for THREE MONTHS with three pay per view matches, including Money in the Bank and whatever the Swamp Fight was. WWE seemed to think that Strowman was interesting enough to carry half of this feud and oh sweet goodness no. This clinched the worst as soon as you realized that they were going to a third pay per view no matter what. Strowman isn’t very good in the first place (at least not in situations like this) and then he feuded with Wyatt for three pay per views because he was an enforcer for the Wyatt Family (one of three). This just kept going and that’s enough to be the worst.

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Tag team wrestling has had a much better 2020 than you likely would have bet on and a lot of that is due to AEW, who treat tag team wrestling as a much more important deal than WWE has in probably decades. WWE has actually done a few nice things as well though and we could be in for some rather good choices this time around. I’m sure there’s another team from somewhere else in there too. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no order until the winner at the end.

Team McAfee

I’ll get the easiest one out of the way first as Team McAfee was great (or at least McAfee was) with the talking alone being outstanding. It helps that they won some titles and then moved on to the pretty awesome WarGames match. They weren’t around very long, but they made the most out of the time that they have. I could go for Ridge Holland being involved as well, but what we got worked out rather well.

New Day

You almost have to include these guys, even though the trio was split. Even still, the two man version did rather well as the team (in both forms) combined to win multiple Tag Team Titles. That is the kind of thing that at least earns them a spot on the list and it would be hard to imagine New Day not being here. Yes the team is different than it was before, but at least they still had a very good stretch before being split. Kofi and Woods will be fine too, because the team still is that good.

Kenny Omega/Hangman Page

I’m made my thoughts on a lot of AEW’s issues rather clear over the years but these guys figured out how to be an awesome team despite having almost no history together before winning the Tag Team Titles. They went on to have some outstanding matches and a heck of a run with the titles before having a great mini feud as well. Odds are we’ll be seeing that again later, but for now, it was just a great tag run.

Young Bucks

If you’re going to mention Page and Omega, you have to throw these guys in too. As is always the case, the Bucks are going to have all of their flips and dives, but when you can get past those (which are rather good) and have them do a more traditional match, they’re as good as anyone going today. Their matches with FTR and Page/Omega were incredible and I can always go for more of that kind of thing. The flips are their signature deal, but they have all kinds of talent elsewhere and that is worthy of a spot.

The North

This is a team that started off as almost nothing and turned into one of the best things going in wrestling. They held the Tag Team Titles for over a year and it felt like an actually epic moment when they finally lost the things. I know Impact doesn’t get the same kind of viewership and the team is split up, but these guys were an absolute hidden gem and the best thing about the company for a long time.

Golden Role Models

It’s true that the team probably dragged on a bit too long and might have been repetitive at times, but you can’t argue with them having two titles each and absolutely owning both women’s divisions for a long stretch. It’s a story that would only work for the two of them and then they had the big blowoff feud to end Bayley’s record setting reign. That’s a story you don’t get to see very often and it took the right people to tell it, which is what you had here.

Street Profits

They aren’t aimed at me, I don’t know what yum yum juice is and I have no earthly idea what the heck they’re talking about half the time but sweet goodness these guys are fun to watch. It’s like a cruiserweight version of the Hart Foundation with the power and speed (a lot of speed in this case) and they became one of the few truly established teams by hold some form of the Tag Team Titles for most of the year. Ford is the breakout star waiting to happen but Dawkins has more than held up his end and has a heck of a future of his own. I love these guys and thankfully they seem set for a long time to come.

That leaves one and you know what time it is.

Hurt Business

What started off feeling like a new Nation of Domination has turned into its own thing and what a thing it has been. These guys have all you could ask for with some titles, an awesome look (a team in suits will always look great) and one heck of a mouthpiece manager with MVP in a career renaissance. These guys could be around for a long time and have been one of the few highlights of a mostly dreadful year for Raw. They’re pretty easily the best for me and hopefully they’re around long enough to be in the running next year.

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We were lucky in 2020 as there were some awesome matches to pick from throughout the year. That is one thing that has grown incredibly well in recent years, as the in-ring work has gotten more and more polished. There were choices from multiple promotions and some of them were absolutely great. I had fun making these picks and there are a lot to go through. Let’s get to it.

As usual, no order until the winner at the end.

Stadium Stampede (Double Or Nothing)

Opinions on cinematic matches are going to be all over the place most of the time and that was the case with Stadium Stampede. I had a blast with this as you could see a lot of creativity throughout the whole thing with some great ideas. If nothing else, Hangman Page riding a freaking horse into the stadium to chase Sammy Guevara off was outstanding and the bar fight worked well too. It’s not for everyone, but this was a blast all night long and you could see the effort they put in.

Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Clash Of The Champions)

This one makes it for a few reasons, with the biggest one being just how out of nowhere it was. Think about it for a second: it was JEY USO in a pay per view main event and it was awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this and then they went out and had a classic. It wasn’t the kind of a match that was supposed to have a ton of drama and the ending wasn’t in doubt, but they had an outstanding match and the things they pulled off deserve praise.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi (Wrestle Kingdom Night One)

Oh like these two weren’t going to make a list like this. These two put on a Wrestle Kingdom worthy major match and it felt every bit as big as you would expect. New Japan’s wrestlers can do this kind of match better than anyone in the world and even though I wasn’t exactly clear on the story (as tends to be the case), I got sucked into the match, as tends to be the case. Outstanding stuff and, as usual, worth seeing.

Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi (Wrestle Kingdom Night One)

It’s from the same night and might have been the better of the two matches. This was all about high flying and doing one crazy spot after another until the other person couldn’t get back up. Ospreay might be the best in the world at doing just that and they tore the dome down with this one. These two are some of the better and more consistent performers on New Japan’s already great roster and this was no exception.

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Tables Ladders And Chairs)

Much like the Uso match, there was no drama in the finish but they had me coming really close to believing that they might pull the trigger. Owens just kept getting up and the whole thing was perfect given the story that had been told coming in. It was an awesome showcase for both of them with Owens continuing to earn his reputation as one of the best in WWE. It takes a lot to make me want to cheer someone to keep going but they pulled it off here. That’s pretty impressive.

FTR vs. Young Bucks (Full Gear)

This was the dream match that a lot of people had wanted to see for good reason. The question was whether or not FTR could make their old school style work with the Bucks certainly non-old school style and indeed they did, with some rather nice bonuses thrown in. Above all else, there was a stretch of classic double team moves thrown in which was incredibly charming. This was two great teams doing everything you could want to see them do and telling a great story throughout. I know the Bucks don’t have the best reputation, but they are outstanding when they are given the right circumstances.

Undertaker vs. AJ Styles (Wrestlemania XXXVI Night One)

Of all the matches I saw all year, this is the one that I enjoyed more than any other. These guys beat the heck out of each and it was one of the best things WWE has done in a long time. This felt like a fight between two people who wanted to hurt each other and that’s exactly what they did, with all kinds of bonuses thrown in. I left this thinking I could not have asked for more and the fact that it wound up being historic made it even better.

Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov (NXT UK TV – October 29)

This is the definition of the big fight feel as the two of them beat the living daylights out of each other. The match felt like a struggle between two people who were fighting over a prize and that is about as good of a thing as you are going to see. No one brings it in a big match these days like Walter and Dragunov had been built up as a real threat and they lived up to the entire thing.

You could pick a few different matches for this but this one stuck out more than any other.

Kenny Omega/Hangman Page vs. Young Bucks

I wasn’t sure what was coming during the buildup to this one and they blew away the expectations. There were so many ways to go and the question was which way they chose. One of the best feelings in all of wrestling is not knowing what was going to take place going into a huge match and that was the case here. Then there was the match itself, which was two great teams having one amazing sequence after another, including a bunch of near falls and saves. I loved this match and it stuck with me more than anything, which is the best thing you can have.

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This is one of the interesting ones as thinking back to all of the bad matches over the course of the year can pull up some horrible memories. There were some matches that I had forgotten about and I wasn’t thrilled with having them pop back into my head. The in-ring product has come a long way in that you have a certain baseline for most matches, but the bad ones really fall apart. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt (Money In The Bank)

These two were stuck in one of the worst situations two wrestlers can be in: being part of a feud that isn’t as big as the company thinks it is and running with it. That’s the case here, as Strowman and Wyatt may have been stablemates but it wasn’t like it was some big deal. This was the match where everything stopped for the sake of Bray trying to control Strowman again and then Strowman just won. I’m not sure why this is supposed to interest me, but that is the case with anything Strowman does.

Dasha Gonzalez/Rachael Ellering vs. Ivelisse/Diamante (AEW Women’s Tag Team Tournament)

I know I’m in the minority on the tournament but I thought it was one of the biggest wastes of time I’ve seen in a long time and one of the only times AEW completely misfired. This was the complete bottom of the barrel as Gonzalez wasn’t a wrestler (not her fault) and Ellering was recovering from a torn ACL. That left Ivelisse and Diamante to carry the thing and that was always going to be a disaster. This was terrible and perhaps the worst match AEW has done to date.

Bayley vs. Tamina (Money In The Bank)

This one falls under the category of “what were you expecting”? Bayley has gotten a lot better over the course of the year but Tamina was just a fill in challenger until they could get to the showdown with Sasha Banks. The problem is that it’s Tamina, who is perhaps the least interesting main roster star. I feel sorry for Bayley and it isn’t Tamina’s fault that she is put into these spots, but this never had a chance.

Women’s Survivor Series Match (Survivor Series)

You never can tell what is going to happen with something like this, but this was at the height of the Nia Jax Puts Lana Through A Table Every Week period. As a result, this was ALL about Jax tormenting Lana until there was a massive countout to give Lana the win. It was a bad story, bad execution and a bad ending. What more could you have expected from something like this?

Goldberg vs. The Fiend (Super Showdown)

The only thing this match has going for it is that it was short. They had less than three minutes, but man alive it was a frustrating and bad three minutes. Goldberg managed to hit four spears and the Jackhammer for one of the most irritating results of the year. This is more on the booking than the wrestling, but that doesn’t exactly make things that much better.

I went back and forth on this but I couldn’t come up with anything to beat it.

Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt (Extreme Rules)

This was the Swamp Fight and that means it’s time for Wyatt’s crazy antics. I know they sound cool on paper but they were doing this for the sake of having a second match between the two of them, making it a long, drawn out exercise in putting out whatever insanity they felt they could put on screen. I’m (almost) completely over these cinematic matches and a lot of Bray’s stuff is more tiring than anything else. It went long too, making this as bad as it got all year.

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This is another one of the more important ones as you need a good feud to make people care about what they are going to be seeing. If you can find a hot rivalry, it can carry the entire promotion on its back, which is one of the more important as well as difficult things to do. There were some good ones to pick from in 2020 so let’s get to it.

As usual, in no order until the winner at the end.

Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page

This is a rather simple concept turned up to eleven, which is where AEW can shine. They were partners, then Page started going nuts with paranoia over not being elite and they dropped the Tag Team Titles. Page lost to Omega in the finals of the #1 contenders tournament, but it seems that this is going to be revisited later. This was all about the deep storytelling and drama between the two of them, which made for some great moments week to week between the two of them.

Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso

I had to decide between this one or Reigns vs. Owens, because Reigns was good enough to be on the list twice. There was one difference though: the Owens feud was always going to be good because you know what Owens can do. This was Jey Uso having a crazy good pair of World Title matches on pay per view. Just the surprise of seeing something like that made the feud that much better and it’s enough to get the win here.

Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley

This one was built almost entirely on the promos but then the match was good enough to carry its own weight. There wasn’t a ton of drama about Kingston becoming champion, but that is not always a bad thing. It was about the journey instead of the conclusion, and Kingston’s promo work was among the best, if not the very best, of the year. Moxley did his thing too, but this was the Kingston show.

Randy Orton vs. Edge

This is another one where I had to pick one over the other, as Drew McIntyre and Orton had a rather long feud of their own. I liked this one better than, if nothing else because it didn’t drag on as long. Throw in that I was one of the few who liked the Last Man Standing match and it was a heck of a way to bring Edge back. Granted I hope they don’t relaunch it again when he is healed up, but it worked out well here.

Team McAfee vs. Undisputed Era

Earlier on I said that you were going to see McAfee’s name in this a lot and that is going to be the case here again. What was originally going to be Ridge Holland turned into Pete Dunne (at least that seems to be the case) and Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch with McAfee as the mouthpiece against the best faction NXT has ever seen. They had a great singles match and then a great WarGames match with the promos being even better. It came and went in a hurry, but what we got was great.

However, there was one thing that was built up and then paid off very well too.

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

These two have been joined at the hip for years and that is likely going to be the case for a very long time to come. They spent most of the year as friends, dominated the title scene, and then Bayley turned on her before Banks could do it, which is a rather brilliant way to go. The matches were very good but the story was better, because the history was there. That’s what makes a great feud exceptional, and that’s what they did here.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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