Best Of 2010s: Rookie/Newcomer Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This is the trickiest of them all because it’s hard to know where to stop. The point of this is not necessarily wrestlers who started their in-ring career over the last ten years but rather someone who showed up on a new show. This one is likely going to be all over the place as a result so bare with me, as I’ve never been quite comfortable with the specifics of how this one worked.

Four Horsewomen

This is a group joined at the hip that you can’t really separate. I know there are a lot of arguments to be had about ranking the four of them and you could go with a lot of combinations, but what mattered is how much of an impact they had. These four came into WWE and showed that there was a future for women’s wrestling. For years before, there was no reason to believe that women were going to be able to do anything in WWE. Now, the better question is what is left for them to do.

This is one of the most important groups of newcomers of all time because of what they meant, though what they can do in the ring is quite the accomplishment as well. Much like the Shield, they are going to be a big deal for a long time but their impact is going to be more historical than anything else. They did something you don’t see by changing the game and that’s not bad for four newcomers.

Bray Wyatt

It’s almost hard to believe that Wyatt has only been in WWE since 2013 as he feels like he’s been around forever (to be fair, six and a half years is forever in wrestling). Wyatt has not been the most consistent performer in WWE, but there is something about him that lets you see just how good he can be. When Wyatt is at his best, he’s one of the best in the world today with the character stuff as you can’t take your eyes off of him a lot of the time.

Wyatt is the kind of person who does all kinds of things and now you have something as awesome as the Fiend to top them all. There are very few characters where you can feel the fans just go silent when they appear because no one knows what to do with them. That was the case when Undertaker debuted and it’s still the case now with the Fiend. I’m curious to see what he can do next and that’s a nice feeling to have.

Pete Dunne/Tyler Bate

With all due respect to Trent Seven, these two outclass him in almost every way and I can’t split them up so we’ll just put them together. Bate, who looked like a kid who got lost to 7^th grade history when he debuted, has put on more instant classics than almost anyone I’ve seen in years, is starting to grow into a star and that bodes very well for the future because he really is that good.

Then there’s Dunne and my goodness. Dunne is the kind of guy where you saw a future World Champion the day he debuted. The guy just had it and there was no denying what he could do in every aspect of wrestling. He looks tough, he has awesome matches, the aura is bouncing off of him, and he’s in his mid-20s. Dunne is as complete of a package as you can get and that’s why it’s always great to see him doing just about anything: you know you’re seeing something special.

Matt Riddle

What is it about former mixed martial artists that make them successful in the ring? Riddle is the kind of guy who showed up and looked like he had been doing this for years. The Bro stuff is a gimmick that you should hate right off the bat but that goofy smile, incredibly physique and the next level that he can reach at a moment’s notice make him impossible to turn down. Riddle is someone who feels like one of the most natural wrestlers you’ll ever see and he hasn’t even been wrestling for five years.

I remember back when Riddle was still wrestling in the indies and would be prominently featured over Wrestlemania weekend. I had heard so much about him that I needed to try to find a way to see him in person but it never could click. That’s how you know someone has some credentials: the hype is so strong that you want to go out of your way to see them. Imagine what he’ll do when he gets some more experience under his belt.

Ronda Rousey

What else is there to say about her? She debuted one year, had her first match ever at Wrestlemania XXXIV and then headlined Wrestlemania XXXV. That’s the kind of run that very few have been able to pull off ever and Rousey did it while looking like she had been doing this for ten years. In a way she had a good base with MMA, but that didn’t change how fast she took to wrestling.

The biggest thing for Rousey is that she wasn’t just wrecking people with the armbar in ten seconds with one move on occasion. She was out there having long matches and looking like a natural with them. That’s the kind of thing that no one not named Kurt Angle could pull off in their first year and she made it look easy. You don’t see that kind of talent ever and I’m hoping we get to see it again.

But then there’s one (kind of) to top them all.

Shield

Yeah like I’m going to try to separate these three. This team may be the greatest trio WWE has ever seen (certainly the one with the most successful individuals) and to this day it’s rare to see them outside of the main event scene. I don’t remember the last time I saw anyone show up and take over like this but the Shield debuted in the main event and took over the company like it was the easiest thing they had ever done.

You can argue for a good while about which one of the three is the best, but there is no denying that the three of them showed up and took over WWE like they weren’t even trying. These guys are going to be near the top of WWE for years to come and you can see how much WWE thinks of what they have with them. Not bad for three guys who just showed up out of the crowd one day.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

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Best Of 2010s: Worst Wrestler of the Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This is one of the trickiest of them all as it’s kind of hard to come up with a criteria of worst there is. A lot of the time the worst is someone who is overpushed and people get sick of them, while other times it’s because of a horrible gimmick. I’m trying to keep that in perspective there, but it isn’t exactly a guarantee to work. Also note that this about mainstream wrestlers, as I’m sure you could find someone in some nothing company that has no business watching wrestling let alone participating.

Great Khali

I know he’s a giant and I know that he had a lot of marketability in India, but at the same time, there comes a point where you have to be able to do something other than chop people in the head and chokeslam them. Khali very rarely got beyond anything resembling that (oh wait he also had the vice grip, as squeezing someone’s head was his third move) and it was hard to watch.

The biggest problem was his lack of mobility, which became a major issue later in his WWE career. It’s the case of putting a turtle on his back. Once you knock him down, there isn’t much else that he can do to hurt you because he wasn’t getting up. The Punjabi Playboy stuff was good for a chuckle, but that’s the extent of his usefulness to most fans.

Joey Ryan

Here’s your controversial pick of the list as some people say Ryan is killing wrestling or that he is doing so many terrible things that he doesn’t belong anywhere near a wrestling ring. I’ll spare you a long rant about how much I can’t stand most of his shtick and don’t want him anywhere near a mainstream promotion, but he has found a way to stay relevant in the business despite a lack of anything making him stand out otherwise.

That’s a big part of where Ryan loses me: he’s the most average in-ring performer ever and his big deal is all of his shtick. It’s not like he can do anything of note in the ring and he keeps getting where he is because of one joke that got tired a long time ago. There are worse wrestlers out there, but few who got on my nerves as much. I know you might see it differently and that’s fine, but I could go for never seeing Ryan doing his thing again.

Lana

This list keeps including people who had something to offer, which is a big part of why this is a harder one to do. Lana can talk with some of the best of them, but that’s about it as far as her talents go from a performance standpoint. She’s a great example of someone who doesn’t need to do anything more than stand around smiling/scowling between promos, which has been the case for a lot of people. Lana has all kinds of talent, but it’s not in the ring.

Again, I’m leaving her away from the top of the list because she hasn’t wrestled all that often, but it’s rather sad to see when she does get in the ring. If they want her to do something regularly in the ring, she should be down in NXT on their house show circuit. It isn’t fair to her to have her thrown out in the middle like that, but that doesn’t make her any less painful to watch.

Jinder Mahal

This is another case where it is more about how Mahal was presented than anything he did, but the other problem is everything he didn’t do. Mahal wasn’t interesting, wasn’t a great talker as he said the same things time after time, and then had the same matches time after time. Yes he was in incredible shape but that’s about the extent of the positives. Other than the match where he lost the title to AJ Styles, I don’t remember a single match where he was entertaining in the ring.

Mahal is a great example of someone with everything needed on the outside and nothing on the inside, as he was not interesting either on the microphone or in the ring. I can completely accept that he was giving it all he had and that’s very commendable, but the idea that he should have been at the top of the company for five months was just a nightmare, with the same match structure every single time. Maybe he’ll be better when he gets back, but for now, it was a lot to take.

Cameron

Now we’re getting to the point where some of people with one marketable skill aren’t having the same impact as others. That’s the case here, as Cameron was the annoying one on Total Divas who could dance with Naomi as the Funkadactyls. That’s the extent of anything positive about her though and it only got worse when we had to watch her in the ring, because it was a nightmare.

Then there’s the one moment that I’m sure you remember, with Cameron not knowing that you have to have someone’s shoulders on the mat to pin them. I know there’s an argument to be made that it’s part of her character, but if the best character that you can have is “she’s stupid”, you might want to try something else for a career.

And now for the one that is going to get more people yelling at me than any other.

Enzo Amore

Now first and foremost, let’s get this out of the way: Enzo can talk with some of the best of them. His promos are very good and some of the lines he has were outstanding. That’s the extent of anything good he could do though, as everything after that involved him either looking terrible in the ring or being out there for no reason other than he spoke well and sold merchandise.

Then there’s EVERYTHING else from when he was out of the ring. Everything after he left was all about getting attention on himself and there’s a reason for that: he can’t do anything else in wrestling other than cause problems so this is what we have to put up with. Either him challenging people or getting in fights with Joey Janela at a concert or whatever, it’s all about Enzo trying to be noticed and bragging about how awesome he is when really, he was a loudmouth who couldn’t have a good match if his life depended on it. I could not stand his time on 205 Live as he killed that show for months, but at least he rhymed while doing it right?

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Best Of 2010s: Angle Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

Any two wrestlers can go out and have a great match on the right night. Kane and Albert of all people had a heck of a match on a Smackdown in 2001. That being said, it takes something special to string together a bunch of matches in a story and have people coming back. That’s called an angle and it’s not the easiest thing to pull off. There have been a lot of great ones over the last ten years and we’re looking at them today.

Honorable Mention

Zack Ryder’s Rise – I know it didn’t go very far and Ryder was destroyed harder than anyone else in recent memory, but egads this was an awesome time as the fans rallied behind Ryder and got him a title he never would have gotten otherwise.

Women’s Revolution – This is a tricky one but for the sake of simplicity, I’m only going with the night Becky, Charlotte and Sasha debuted on Raw. That was a game changer for Raw and while it went downhill for a bit with the faction warfare, this wound up being the big move that showed things were changing and changing forever. The overall movement is much bigger, but this one night angle was big enough.

KofiMania – I only put this as an honorable mention because really, there were only two great parts to this: the Elimination Chamber and the title change. Everything else in there was rather frustrating at times as they wouldn’t just announce the match, but those two moments are as good as anything WWE has does in years.

Becky Lynch Is The Man

Much like Ryder, there is something so special about the fans rallying behind someone and turning them into a main event star. That’s what happened with Becky, who went out there as herself and talked/fought herself all the way to the main event of Wrestlemania. The fans loved her and wanted her there, which is what took her higher than a female wrestler could ever dream of doing.

Then there was the moment that changed everything. You know the one I’m talking about and it will be the kind of angle that works forever. The image of Becky, with the busted nose, standing at the top of the arena and posing as the queen of the show made her look like the biggest star in years and turned her into a legend in her own time. That’s not being topped for a long time.

US Open Challenge

There is very little that turns Raw, which has been on the air for almost thirty years now, into must see TV. John Cena managed to make it work in the summer of 2015 as he would put his United States Title on the line every single week against a mystery opponent. What followed was one of the best matches the other person ever had almost every time and some of the best rubs you’ll ever see on Raw.

Finding out who was coming through that curtain after Cena said “you want some, come get some” was the most exciting thing to happen on Monday Night Raw in forever. I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun watching to see who might be next to face Cena, as there were some actual surprises and it even set up Kevin Owens beating him clean in an awesome match that made him a star. As usual, Cena can do it all and often does.

John Cena vs. CM Punk

Back in the 60s, there was a simple formula: build up a monster, have them beat up everyone in sight, put them on a poster against Bruno, make money. Repeat in the 1980s with Hulk Hogan. That is a little hard to pull off in modern times, but the principle was the same. John Cena was the modern hero and CM Punk threatened to ruin everything WWE held dear. Cena demanded to fight him and Vince McMahon said the magic words: “What if you can’t beat him?”

Those six words planted seeds of doubt into fans minds and made things interesting. The fact that the match was an instant classic and the rematch was almost as good made it even better. What mattered here was you didn’t know what was coming and the match was going to be incredible. That’s what we got, but it was the angle that made us want to see the match.

YES Movement

What else is there to say? You can have your Zack Ryder and your Becky Lynch and they’re great, but nothing captured the fans like Daniel Bryan and his rise against the Authority. HHH and Stephanie McMahon made one of the best heel moves possible: they told you that you didn’t know what was good for you and that they were going to tell you what you really wanted. That meant no Bryan, even though he had beaten John Cena clean in an instant classic at Summerslam 2013.

That set up seven months of near war between Bryan and the Authority, capped off by Bryan defeating HHH, Randy Orton and Batista in one night to FINALLY become the WWE Champion, which he should have been all the way back in August. That’s one of those moments that will be on Wrestlemania highlight reels forever and much like Bryan, it earned every bit of it.

But there was one (ok two) that I liked better. And yes I know I’m in the minority on this.

Sami Zayn/Bayley’s Road To Redemption

I’ve made no secret of how much I love NXT, and there’s a reason for that: they know how to take you on a journey. NXT has mastered the art of setting a goal and building up to it as perfectly as can be done and they did it as well as they ever had with these two stories, which just happen to be nearly identical.

It’s something that has been done before but that doesn’t make it any worse. Both Sami and Bayley fought to become the champion and went through everyone they never could beat before to get there. For Sami it was Tyler Breeze and Neville and for Bayley it was Charlotte and Sasha Banks. That Bayley vs. Sasha match is one of my all time favorites and I got so into both of these stories that they’re on the top of my list.

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Best Of 2010s: Group/Tag Team Of The Year

IMG Credit: WWE

This is something where you can probably guess the headliners, but it was a good decade for both trios and tag teams. There might not have been as many great stables, but the group mentality got a nice boost over the decade. Some of the ones on here are among the best the WWE has ever had and that might never be topped. But what was the best of the last ten years?

Honorable Mention

Motor City Machine Guns – Someone mentioned them as a possibility and while I wrote it off at first, the more I think about it, the more they deserve at least a mention. With the influence they have, it’s hard to not at least include them somewhere.

Briscoes – Best modern tag team never in WWE yes?

Undisputed Era – They haven’t been around all that long but they have become one of the best things going in wrestling today. If nothing else, it’s nice to see the smaller guys as a dominant force like this. It isn’t likely to work outside of NXT, but it certainly works there.

Beer Money – What is there to say here? They’re incredible.

Usos

I love these guys. There’s something about a team of actual brothers, especially twins, that you can’t beat and that’s what you have here. It took them some time to get going and find their rhythm but once they got it rolling, they became one of the best tag teams in recent years and are on the list of best WWE tag teams ever. Their feud with New Day was an instant classic as those teams had some outstanding chemistry.

There are things these guys can do that get me every time and the dive over the top with a midair tag is at the top of the list. They make it look so effortless and it’s the reason I’d put them at the top: no team should be able to make something look that smooth and yet they pull it off every single time. I’m glad they’re back as I can always go for more of these two.

Young Bucks

Speaking of brothers, you have one of the most controversial teams ever. Some fans will tell you they’re the best team of all time and others will tell you how they’ve killed tag team wrestling. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle: I don’t like a lot of their stuff, but when you get down to it, these guys are athletic freaks and can do some of the best double team stuff around.

The main question is what kind of Young Bucks match are you getting. If it’s the Superkick Party style, I never need to see it again as they have done it to death and there is little reason to see it again. Then there’s the more Japanese style, where they’re the fast team with some selling and a more down to earth psychology. That’s where I can get into the Young Bucks and they’re very fun to watch. Love them or hate them though, their impact cannot be denied and they have been the biggest regular tag team of the decade.

Bullet Club

Similar to the Young Bucks (appropriately enough), you have to include these guys whether you like them or not. Bullet Club became a sensation for a few years and had a lot to do with the rise of AEW. The team became absolutely huge in Japan and then came over to America to take things global. Armed with a truckload of money from the t-shirt sales, All In resulted and the rest was history (that might be a lose telling of the story but it’s about 4:15 in the morning).

The Bullet Club took a group of wrestlers who were stars in the first place and turned them into superstars, showing that it could be done outside of WWE. That was their big selling card and it worked out very well. This is the beginning of the AEW roster and that is the kind of long term meaning that takes this kind of team to the next level. I wasn’t a fan, but I became one of what they became, which is why they warrant a big spot.

Shield

You knew it would be one of these two. Shield debuted just over seven years ago and even though one of the members is gone, it has been very rare to see one of those members not on top of the company (or at least near the top) since their debut. This isn’t your normal trio and there are very few teams who have ever come close (thinking about it, they really are one of the best ever).

The moment that sums them up as much as anything else is the night of Money in the Bank 2016. On one night, all three of its members were World Champion. Ignoring how having two title changes in about a minute and a half might not be the best idea, that is the kind of accomplishment that is never going to be topped and makes Shield legends in their own time.

Yeah you know who wins.

New Day

This was always going to be all either New Day or Shield but there were two reasons why I went with New Day and both of them tie together. The first reason is pure longevity, as we are coming up on six years of them being together and there is little sign of them slowing down. They’re still funny, they still move merchandise and they’re still successful. Why in the world would you break them up at this point?

The bigger reason though is how they got here. When the Shield debuted, they were instantly in the main event. They were brought in to be a success and that’s what they did. New Day was seemingly thrown together due to a lack of anything better to do with them (If you need proof of how nothing they were at first, their initial name was Speed Force.). They just kept going though and turned into the team they are today. That’s the proof that tyou have something that works and they have been doing it for a long time now. I’m not sure how much longer they can go, but how long have we been saying that now?

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Best Of 2010s: Surprise Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

If you’re reading this, odds are you’re a bigger than average wrestling fan. We spend a lot of time talking about this stuff and you get to the point where you can guess quite a bit of what is about to happen on almost any given show. That being said, everyone gets something wrong every now and then and that’s what we’re looking at today. Some of these are outstanding and among the best ever, which is why they’re on such a list.

Honorable Mentions

AEW – I know they had a big fan base, but who in the world would have seen them getting this far this fast? I was surprised and keep being surprised by what they do. Maybe it can’t last, but for now they’re doing incredibly well.

Brock Lesnar Returns (2012) – Ok so it wasn’t exactly shocking as there were a bunch of signs about him in the crowd, but it was hard to imagine it would actually happen. The reaction from the crowd makes this work so much better, but it was impossible to imagine what it would turn into.

Seth Rollins Cashes In Money In The Bank At Wrestlemania – Everyone talks about doing this, but Rollins actually did it. If nothing else, it was surprising to see WWE come up with a way to get themselves out of a corner.

THEY Are Here Again

This is one you might not remember but back in 2010, the big story in TNA was the rise of Immortal, which came together as part of a big conspiracy involving Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Jeff Hardy among others. After THEY arrived and everything was revealed at Bound For Glory, a few weeks later came an episode called THEY Are Here Again.

It turned out that Fourtune, a subgroup of Immortal, turned on Immortal and had been hinting that they would for weeks. This COMPLETELY got me, to the point where I actually left my house and went for a walk around the block because I was so stunned. That’s the kind of thing that doesn’t happen to me very often but sweet goodness they got me on this one and it was a really fun feeling.

Rock Returns – Raw – February 14, 2011

Much like the Lesnar deal, it’s one of those things where you can imagine it happening but it’s still a shock when it actually goes down. Rock had become a huge movie star (and would become a bigger one) and it was a major favor for him to come back to WWE. He doesn’t need the place but wound up getting into one of the biggest feuds of the modern era and even winning the WWE Title again.

It came at a weird time for WWE but what mattered was that it actually happened. Rock is someone who was an actual game changer for WWE when he was just a wrestler so seeing him at this point in his career made it a much bigger deal than it ever could have been during his career. Hearing that music hit was special though, especially when Justin Bieber had been rumored.

AJ Styles In WWE

One of the biggest regrets about TNA…well existing really is seeing how many of the people who had been loyal to it over the years not getting to spend the primes of their careers in WWE. AJ is near the top of that list and while he’s great now as the still amazing veteran, it isn’t the same as what it could have been when he was still the Phenomenal One. I was very pleased when he finally showed up in Orlando for the Royal Rumble and the execution was great.

Well it would have been great had they not had the camera on Roman Reigns because IT MUST BE ABOUT REIGNS. Styles would take a little time to find his footing but as usual, the natural talent a wrestler has will bring them up to the next level. That and one of the finest heads of hair that a wrestler has ever seen.

The Streak….Is Over

I was in the SuperDome for this one and I actually couldn’t speak. After the three count went down, I sat there in silence for a little while, while grown men were crying, with some people leaving and not coming back. This was one of those things that you never thought you would see, but there was something that keeps it from being all the way at the top of the list.

When you think about it, Lesnar beating Undertaker makes sense. By this point, Undertaker was wrestling once a year and was old and broken down. How believable is it that he could beat the Beast? The more I think about it, the more I can almost maybe kind of sort of be the slightest bit ok with it….and then I realize that the Streak is over and it bugs me again. It’s a shocking moment, and rather sad at the same time.

That leaves the winner, with a familiar name.

Brock Lesnar Conquers John Cena

You can guess a lot of things that are going to happen in wrestling. It wasn’t shocking to see Brock Lesnar beat John Cena and win the WWE Championship, but not in the way that he did. Lesnar annihilated Cena, who got in a tiny handful of offense throughout the match as Lesnar suplexed him over and over again. At the end it was Lesnar standing over the fallen superhero and things changed in a hurry.

The moment that got me in this match was right at the beginning when Lesnar hit an F5 in ten seconds. It was a near fall, but I was shouting “NO WAY! NO WAY!” as I was watching the show. You don’t get that kind of emotion these days and I kept waiting for Cena to make some kind of a comeback. That wasn’t happening this time though and it was clear that something had changed in a big way.

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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.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also -available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author- page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Best Of 2010s: Non-Wrestler Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

Ok this one isn’t going to be the biggest surprise. There isn’t much of a way around it but that’s the way these things go sometimes. Even though there are so many names in wrestling, there are some of them who are just better at some aspects than others. That isn’t always inside the ring, which is what we’re looking at today.

Honorable Mention

Vickie Guerrero: I know she wasn’t around long in the decade and could be annoying, but for someone who was hired as little more than a favor to her deceased husband, Vickie ran with her chance and deserves a mention.

Stephanie McMahon

I don’t like her, you probably don’t like her, she can be one of the most annoying people in all of wrestling, but she can also be REALLY good at what she does. Stephanie comes off as one of the most evil people in WWE and while a lot of people aren’t fans of hers (you might say that is true of me, at least a little bit), she knows exactly how to play her role and get the most out of it.

Stephanie is perfect in her role as the stuck up, untouchable owner of the company and can give one of the most condescending promos in wrestling today. She’s awesome at what she does and it makes the times where she gets what’s coming to her all that much better. Much like a lot of other fans, I want to see someone finally get one up on her. That’s good storytelling and while it isn’t exactly executed right, she can do it very, very well.

Dario Cueto

Roddy Piper had a great line that summed up the problem of being a wrestler breaking into mainstream entertainment: “When I was wrestling they said I was acting but when I was acting, they said I was just a wrestler.” That’s a rather insightful line and it’s why Lucha Underground made a brilliant move when they signed a regular actor to play the company’s boss.

Lucha Underground became a cult hit and Cueto was one of the biggest reasons why. He nailed every aspect of what he did at a level that was only beaten (maybe) by Vince McMahon himself and that is some elite company. There was such great joy in his eyes as he would do something horrible to set up his latest evil idea and his catchphrases worked very well. I loved watching this guy because he was so good at it, though he ruins the same role for almost anyone else because no one else can do it like him.

William Regal

This was the only person I considered for the top spot other than the winner. Regal is an outstanding example of someone who knows how to get things done in a hurry. Maybe it is just due to how well things are written in NXT, but seeing how fast he gets things done is a treat to watch. Regal has all of the respect in the world and it has paid off in spades here.

What makes Regal work is you know he is the law in NXT. He has been in charge for years now and unless he gets a promotion, there is no reason to have him leave. Regal is like the father who can bring good news, but when you push him too far, there is no stopping him no matter who you are. The best example of this you’ll find was at the United Kingdom Title Tournament in 2017 when Pete Dunne tried to make a name for himself by jumping the other competitors in between matches. Regal stormed out and stared Dunne down, sending Dunne running away. That’s power, and Regal has it in spade.

But yeah, who are we kidding?

Paul Heyman

This very well may be the biggest layup of both sets of awards. Heyman is not perfect by any means and has some failures to his name, but when he is on his game, there is no one better at what they do. His work with CM Punk was outstanding and another good example of why wrestlers wanted to be labeled as a Paul Heyman Guy. It’s quite the honor and Heyman has earned the accolade.

Oh yeah and then there’s the whole “he works with Brock Lesnar” deal. I don’t remember the last pairing that was better because Heyman never stops talking but who is going to go after him when he’s hiding behind Brock Lesnar? These promos are always well done and worthy of at least some praise, to the point where even though they are getting repetitive, they are still excellent. Heyman belongs at the top of this list and it was a pretty easy pick.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author- page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Best Of 2010s: Promo Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

So here’s the thing: ten years is a long time and there are a lot of nominees in every category. Therefore, for the sake of time, I’m going to limit these to five entries each, though I’ll be including some honorable mentions as leaving a lot of them out would be unfair. Those will receive some brief mentions, but the main list will only be five each. Let’s start with one that might surprise you.

Let’s talk about this. I know wrestling is supposed to be about the stuff in between the bells but how much of that matters if you don’t have a reason to care about these people? The best way to make that be the case is to have the wrestlers talk about things, and that can be the case in some very big moments. I know you might know what is going to be on top of this list, but there are some options to look through first.

Honorable Mention

1. Roman Reigns – It’s My Yard Now – Raw, April 4, 2017

Just listen to the crowd. They do not stop.

2. Mark Henry Fakes Retirement – Raw, June 17, 2013

They got me with this one and Henry even wore the suit again at his Hall of Fame induction.

3. John Cena vs. Roman Reigns – Raw, August 28, 2017

Cena obliterated Reigns here, with one great line after another (“I can do this better part time than you can do it full time.” “It’s called a promo. You’re going to need to learn to do one if you want to do this.”) and Reigns just had NOTHING to say back. This would be higher if it hadn’t cut Reigns’ legs off, though he wound up being fine.

4. AJ Lee/Ronda Rousey Destroy Nikki Bella – Raw, November 24, 2014/October 15, 2018

“Talent isn’t sexually transmitted.”

“The only door you ever knocked down was the door to John Cena’s bedroom.”

Those are two of the best insults I’ve ever heard and they were straight shots to Nikki Bella’s chin.

CM Punk’s Pipebomb – Raw, June 27, 2011

Yeah this isn’t my #1. I know it’s going to be at the top of a lot of lists but there are others that I liked better over the last ten years, or at least ones that I thought were better at what they did. That being said, this is the famous one that made CM Punk for the rest of his career and turned him into THE guy that everyone wanted to see for the rest of time. I mean…can you blame them?

If there is one thing that inside fans love more than anything else, it is thinking they are seeing something from behind the scenes. That was exactly what they were going for here and it worked better than anyone could have expected. Couple that with an incredible match at Money in the Bank as John Cena had a new archrival and this was a complete masterpiece. Just stop calling every other angry promo a pipebomb though. It’s not quite the same thing.

John Cena Responds To The Rock – Raw, February 21, 2011

So back on February 14, 2011, the Rock returned in one of the biggest surprises ever and cut a 20+ minute promo, ripping on just about everything going on in the modern wrestling world but mainly focusing on John Cena, who Rock didn’t seem to like. I don’t think anyone knew where everything was going to go from there, but there was something that had to be done first.

The following week, Cena responded to the Rock in the old school Dr. of Thuganomics style, rapping one insult after another to Rock. For my money, this was a far better promo than Rock’s, as Cena was funnier and did more than say Cena looked like he was wearing Fruity Pebbles. The last line (“You tell these people that you love them. I’m here every week to show it.”) was as perfect of a summary as you could get and it was game on. What mattered here was Cena showed he could hang with Rock on the mic, which was the ultimate praise for anyone in wrestling.

Daniel Bryan’s Retirement Speech – Raw, February 8, 2016

The statement that you will hear about a lot of successful characters is that they are themselves with the volume turned way up. Daniel Bryan was no different, as he made the fans care about him in a way that almost no one has ever done. That made it even harder when he had to step away from the ring due to a bunch of injuries. Things wound up being better, but it was as emotional of a speech as you’re going to get.

Bryan stood in the ring and talked about being grateful to the fans for everything that they had given him over the years and how much he loved being in the ring. It was Brian Danielson talking to the fans and you could feel everything he was feeling. He was off to be a family man for the first time ever and that took away something he loved so much. The emotion was there and everyone felt for him, making it one of the best wrestling speeches of all time.

And now I’m going to cheat and go with a tie for #1 with the listing going chronologically.

John Cena’s Promo On The Rock – Raw, February 20, 2012

Wrestling promos are a weird art form. Most of the time they are monologues with a wrestler having to make you want to see their match coming up in days, weeks or even months. That’s not easy to do as they have to paint a picture with nothing more than words. Some people are masters and Cena was on full display this time around.

With less than six weeks to go before the biggest match of the generation, Cena got in the ring and talked right to the camera about how he did not like the Rock, did not respect him and wanted to fight for everyone who wanted to be a professional wrestler. This was a different in philosophy of life and Cena laid out every the two sides of everything. His line of “I’m here, I’ll always be here, you’re going to have to kill me to beat me” told you everything you needed to know about their match and you believed every word Cena said. I love this one and still watch it from time to time because it actually gives me chills.

And so does this one.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan – Talking Smack, August 23, 2016

There are very few wrestlers as controversial as the Miz, as some people love him while others say he is everything wrong with wrestling. I’m in the former camp and this was his masterpiece. During the Smackdown wrap up show, retired General Manager Daniel Bryan told Miz, his longtime rival, that Miz wrestled like a coward and was the stereotypical WWE wrestler.

That was too much for Miz, who cut the promo of his life, venting out every frustration he had on all of the fans who said that he didn’t belong in WWE and calling out Bryan for saying he would be back in the ring and then retiring. Bryan tried to say he wasn’t allowed to come back so Miz told him to quit, which caused Bryan to walk off the set. Miz, with tears in his eyes, wasn’t done and kept going, talking about how he made the Intercontinental Title the most important title on Smackdown because this was his show and he was never leaving. If you don’t see something in this, I don’t know what to tell you.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author- page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Best Of 2019: Worst Match Of The Year

IMG Credit: WWE

This is the last entry in the series and we’re going out with something I think you all can guess pretty easily. More often than not these things are going to stand out rather badly and that was no exception in 2019. Keep in mind that I’m not looking just at the quality of the match. Some of this is going to be based on the way the match was set up/the idea of the whole thing. Sometimes the match just being set up terribly is a lot worse than the match itself being bad, and that was the case this year.

Also note that I’m intentionally ignoring Undertaker vs. Goldberg. Yeah it was bad, but it was bad due to an injury, and I’ve never found it fair to blame a bad match on someone being hurt, especially as badly as Goldberg was knocked out.

Ken Shamrock vs. Joey Ryan (Impact – November 5)

This is one where the match alone taking place is a bad idea. Impact is a promotion that does not have the best reputation in the world and their best move is to bring in Joey Ryan (an idea that is going to turn off a lot of people in the first place) and have him do his shtick on Ken Shamrock? As in the Shamrock who is something close to a legend willing to do something with your company?

It was a bad idea and made the company look like they were going for the fun route instead of trying to build something up. Ryan’s status in Impact (and wrestling) is secured so why waste one of Shamrock’s appearances on him? Just for the joke of having Shamrock take Ryan’s big move? Yeah Shamrock won and everything, but it’s the kind of match that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Becky Lynch/Seth Rollins vs. King Corbin/Lacey Evans (Extreme Rules)

The words to describe this match would be tone deaf. Seth Rollins went from winning the World Title from Brock Lesnar to being Becky Lynch’s boyfriend by the summer. Clad in a “The Man’s Man” shirt, Rollins was in a mixed Extreme Rules match (with tags because reasons) here for both titles against two opponents that no one wanted to see. I can’t imagine a more colossal mixture of everything that could have gone wrong. It just needed one more thing on top of it though.

And then Brock Lesnar cashed in Money in the Bank to become Universal Champion again, because Brock Lesnar must be a World Champion in WWE. This was the culmination of a bunch of bad ideas and it left me never wanting to see anything else on from WWE for at least twenty one hours, because the show must go on. Even if the show comes after a terrible idea for a match.

Shane McMahon vs. Roman Reigns – Super Showdown

This was part of the Summer of Shane, as fans kept sitting around waiting for SOMEONE to stop Shane. Somehow that was the case going into Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia with Shane facing Roman Reigns. There was no way they would do something like this right? I mean, it’s Roman Reigns. This guy beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania so he had to be able to beat Shane right?

Well of course not, as Shane kicked out of the Superman Punch, blocked the spear, and pinned Reigns in the end (albeit with help from Drew McIntyre). The ending actually made me laugh, because it was clear that WWE was trolling us. That’s all well and good for them, but is it really a good idea to be trolling the fans for about eight months, including on this show that was controversial enough in the first place? They certainly seemed to think so and that’s why we were stuck here.

Those were all bad, but one had me actually ranting and raving at my screen as the match took place.

Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend (Hell In A Cell)

It makes me mad just thinking about it again. I’ve seen a lot of wrestling from a lot of companies and I don’t remember the last time someone came up with such a bad idea this side of Vince Russo. You have an actually interesting character in the Fiend and you put him inside your company’s biggest showdown match (it’s so big that the show is named after it) and….it’s almost some weird performance art thing with the Fiend being down for about half of the match. That’s bad enough, but then there’s the ending.

It’s a DQ (officially a referee stoppage, but it is my experience that a wrestler being told not to do something and then doing it, followed by a bell ringing is a DQ) inside the most dangerous match in wrestling. I won’t go into my full rant again, but the amount of long term damage here is astounding. Why should I care about the Cell again? The whole premise of the match is thrown out the window, likely because WWE didn’t think things far enough ahead. But hey, you can buy it again next year!

On the other side of things, yeah the Fiend recovered but the point is he shouldn’t have had to recover from this because it shouldn’t have happened. This is one of the only times I can remember when it felt like WWE took my money and laughed at me for it. That’s not why I’m a wrestling fan and I should never feel that way.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author- page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Best Of 2019: Worst Angle Of The Year

IMG Credit: WWE

We’ll finish up with a pair of fun awards as the most interesting things about these are the worst of the year. You can often get a near unanimous answer to the best of things, but the worst side is a lot more divisive. The bad side of things is just more interesting a lot of the time and it might bring back some things that you have forgotten about over the course of the year.

Lana/Bobby Lashley/Rusev

I’m starting with this one because I don’t think it’s as terrible as some. It’s really bad and one of the worst things of the year, but it’s hardly the all time terrible one that a lot of people would seem to think that it is. Yeah it’s gone on forever, it shows little sign of slowing down and egads I’m terrified of what they’re going to do with the finish, but it’s not as bad as it seems.

Now all that being said, this is some wretched television with the soap opera drama that is designed for one small group of fans rather than what the masses might want to see. It’s going on so slowly and it is almost hard to believe that we are still doing all of this stuff. Lana has gotten some good heel heat out of the whole thing, but let is end already because we are now in the fifth month of this story. How is that the best use of TV time?

Usos Prank The Revival

I was there when this one started and my goodness it made me cringe. This was 1000% a Vince McMahon idea and you can imagine him sitting in the back laughing his head off over all of this nonsense. The idea is as simple as it sounds: the Usos decided to mock the Revival and did it week after week. This wasn’t funny and it was a waste of two perfectly good teams, which is where it becomes a bigger problem.

WWE has all the talent they could want and this is what they do with them? The Usos are one of the best teams WWE has ever had and the Revival are an actually different kind of team but for some reason their best idea is to have them in something that would be on a bad Nickelodeon show. This was insulting to the fans and a huge waste of the talent involved. Is there any wonder why the Revival wants out?

Shane McMahon: Best In The World

This one speaks for itself. It was a story that just kept going and going no matter how many people were sick of seeing it continue. Shane was around every single week, often wrestling, won a title in the process, and then went on to win at Wrestlemania. This is all for the boss’ son, who NEVER LOST ANYTHING. Shane went months without a singles loss and probably should have been #1 contender to the Smackdown World Title at various points.

What in the world was the positive of this? Yes Shane did get attention, but he drew an audience because he wasn’t around very often. When you put him out there every single week, it’s an old guy who looks like he ran a marathon on the surface of the sun after about thirty seconds and can’t throw a punch to save his life. Shane is fine in doses, but we got the whole bottle this year.

Roman Reigns’ Attacker

WHAT WAS THIS??? In August, someone started attacking Roman Reigns and tried to take him out. Eventually it was revealed to be Erick Rowan was the attacker, eventually aligning with Daniel Bryan. Somewhere in there, this turned into a story involving a doppelganger (which went nowhere), a bunch of twists and lies, Buddy Murphy (which went nowhere) and eventually Luke Harper returning

AND NONE OF IT MATTERED! That’s what the whole thing wound up meaning as Rowan started messing with something in a cage, Harper got released and Bryan is on fire as a face again. The problem is the story went spiraling out of control and I don’t think anyone knew what was going on by the end. It nearly became entertaining in a way to see where it would go next because it didn’t make sense and was such a mess by the end that it didn’t even matter to anyone.

I was looking at the list of nominees and this one stood out hard.

King Corbin Thinks Roman Reigns Is A Dog

The more I think about this, the less I can believe I actually watched it. Ignoring the whole boring Reigns vs. Corbin (again) feud, this was actually the focal point of the whole thing. Corbin even had a guy in a dog suit pretending to be Reigns and a major point was dog food (that part seems almost like an accidental gem in this mess). The feud is still going and managed to bring in Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode for that big shot of charisma.

Much like the prank deal, this had Vince written all over it, because he thinks that Reigns beating up Corbin for TREATING HIM LIKE A DOG BECAUSE HIS NICKNAME IS THE BIG DOG is going to make Reigns the biggest hero in the company. It takes something special to make me hang my head and just want to hit things, but they did it every single time this story was on screen. And now it’s going to keep going in the new year!

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author- page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6