IMG Credit: WWE

These are the things that you remember the most. Wrestling is all about the moments and those can take place either in the ring or elsewhere, because a lot of the time it is something in a segment rather than a match. When you get a good one of these you can feel it though, and you know how big of a deal it really is.

Jon Moxley Debuts In AEW

This is a special one because it showed you that things were serious. AEW was something that had just gotten started and this was their first actual show after the company was named. That makes things special and they needed a big moment to make it seem like things were really going to be different. This was their Hall Jumps The Barricade moment and it felt like it was something that mattered in a big way.

Above all else, it was how soon after Moxley left. Moxley did a brilliant thing by waiting his contract out and eliminating the ninety day no compete clause. That changed everything and it was a special feeling. AEW had arrived as a big deal and while they had a lot to go, it was a great moment to end an awesome show.

Finn Balor Returns To NXT

As soon as it was announced that AEW and NXT would be airing head to head, you knew the war was coming. AEW made its first move by having their show on at the same time so it was NXT’s chance to retaliate. They have a lot of advantages over AEW and one of them is the amount of wrestlers that they have to throw out there. That’s what they did on the first night of head to head.

Balor is a hybrid of a main roster star with some titles to his credit and an NXT legend with the longest NXT Title reign in history. That made him a special option and it made it clear that WWE was taking this whole thing seriously. NXT could have all of the wrestlers that they want with the resources that WWE has and that makes everything all the more interesting against AEW. It had to start somewhere though and Balor kicked it off.

Roman Reigns Is Cancer Free

I wasn’t sure if I should have included this one but this is something worth celebrating. Reigns announcing that he had to step away was horrible and the kind of thing that goes way beyond the realm of wrestling. Then he got to come out and announce that he was back, which put a smile on everyone’s faces. You don’t get a feeling like that every day and Reigns got to do it in a special way.

This was a moment where it didn’t matter what you thought about Reigns. It was something different and the kind of thing that was a lot more important than Reigns being pushed or being popular or anything like that. Reigns is a person and this was about him being healthy, which is a lot bigger than whatever he does between the bells. I smiled big when he made his announcement and it was a special moment.

Dynamite Debuts

They actually did it. This is the kind of moment that was big both in the short term and long term because we have no idea where this is going to go. For the first time in about twenty years, we had a major wrestling company running a weekly television show on a top level network. That was a dream not very long ago and now it is actually happening.

It’s the kind of thing that you do not ever see in wrestling and it is something that is going to change everything about the industry. Fans have been waiting for this for a very long time now and after a few months, AEW has blown any reasonable expectations out of the water. I’m looking forward to see where things go because this is the kind of thing that could make a lot of the problems over the last few decades go away. It started with that one show though and that’s the thing people should remember.

Johnny Gargano Wins The NXT Title

I’ve long since said that NXT is all about the journey instead of the final destination but this was a mixture of both. Gargano was very similar to Sami Zayn or Bayley in that the fans had been with him every step of the way because he was so easy to support. Gargano is one of those guys who anyone can get behind because he’s the everyman. We’ve seen him go up and down over the years and then it was finally time for him to cross the finish line.

That’s what happened at Takeover: New York in the biggest NXT show of the year. Gargano finally, after all of the setbacks, defeated Adam Cole to become the new NXT Champion. It was the kind of thing where you felt like you had wanted to see him finally get there and that’s exactly what they did. It was a great moment with a great match to go with it, so well done.

I think you know what this is.

Kofi Wins

This is a similar situation to Gargano winning, but at the same time it was its own thing. Gargano had been chasing glory for years while Kofi had never actually had a one on one match for the WWE Championship. That all changed at Wrestlemania 35 and Kofi won the title in a great match at the biggest show of the year. If not for the women’s triple threat, this should have been the big closing match and I don’t think anyone would have complained.

What made this work though was the celebration. The rest of the New Day was right there to celebrate with Kofi, as they should have been. They unveiled the classic championship design and presented it to Kofi, along with Kofi’s son and the new t-shirt showing Kofi as champion. This one brought a lot of tears to a lot of eyes and it was the kind of thing that felt special because it was special. You can’t create that and as is always the case with something like this, you’ll remember it for a long time to come.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Believe it or not, there is something other than Takeover on here. This is what everything builds towards as the weekly television shows are designed to set up the big show, usually on Saturdays and Sundays. I know the weekly shows are basically terrible, but the big shows have actually been rather good. Or maybe that’s just NXT and Takeover.

Survivor Series

We’ll start with one that might be more of a sympathetic vote because I was in the house for the event. This show was built around the idea of a three way battle between Raw, Smackdown and NXT and that created one of the best and most interesting dynamics that we could have had. The whole thing was a smash hit and that’s more than you could ask for.

Then there was the show itself and it was quite the night of action. Save for a not great main event, you had one of the most entertaining shows I can remember in a long time, with NXT shocking the world by winning the Battle For Brand Supremacy and turning into the third brand instead of the developmental show for a first time. The wrestling was great, the build was better and the execution was awesome. What more can you ask for?

Takeover: Toronto

This is kind of a weird one as the show is kind of forgotten because of everything that took place before and after. The most memorable match on the show is the main event blowoff between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole, but the rest of the show was outstanding as well and it made for one of the best shows of the year.

As usual with NXT, it was the complete structure that made the whole thing work. There were five matches on the card and the worst was completely watchable. The main event is what people remember though, with the 2/3 falls match running nearly an hour. It’s a great show up and down and another good example of an NXT show that was a blast to watch and of high quality at the same time, because that’s what NXT does.

Takeover: WarGames

I was in the house for this one too and what a special feeling it was. What mattered here was the team battle situation and that made you feel something different. The two WarGames matches meant we had two reasons for William Regal to come in and shout WARGAMES so it was already a good day. There was other stuff on the show as well, but come on. Like anything else on the show really mattered here.

The main event was an absolute war though, with the big ending legitimately having me scared to look as Adam Cole was upside down above the top of the cage. This felt like a special event and having WarGames in there made it even better. I loved the show and there was nothing bad on it, which always tends to be the case. In other words, it was Takeover, again.

Double Or Nothing

This one is a different kind of major show as there was barely anything to set it up. AEW was still more of a concept than a company at this point so the expectations were both high and also almost non-existent at the same time. Then they went out there and had an incredible show with some great action and drama, plus the big surprise at the end of the show.

I know the big reason people are going to remember this show was the Moxley debut at the end and….well yeah it makes sense. That was one of the most important things to happen to AEW so far as they now had a big deal that they could point to with Moxley jumping over rather quickly after leaving WWE. Add in the Dustin vs. Cody blood bath, Omega vs. Jericho and the Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks and it was a great show with a big surprise at the end.

That’s going to be hard to top. This one did it pretty easily.

Takeover: New York

Every now and then you see a show that makes you remember why NXT has its reputation. This was NXT on the biggest stage in the biggest city under the brightest light and they hit it so far out of the park that you couldn’t even see the ball anymore. This was the show of the year and one of the best of all time with nothing below great and a show that left you wanting more when it was over.

I can’t praise this show enough and it’s up there with the other legendary NXT shows (most of which seem to take place over Wrestlemania weekend). Gargano finally winning the title was a special moment and I can’t even comprehend how high the show is if it’s Gargano vs. Ciampa as planned. This is an all timer and it’s one of the best NXT shows ever, which is as high as the praise gets.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

This is another one that depends on how you look at it. Sometimes an angle can be short term or long term, but what matters is how effective the whole thing is. There were some good options in 2019 and they can open some doors to some big stuff down the line. But what was the best one of the year?

Daniel Bryan Is Captain Planet

There is something special about a wrestler who gets to be themselves in the ring and that is exactly what we had here. Bryan is known for his environmental causes and that’s what he got to do in the middle of the ring with some of the best promos that were a combination of a way to get great heat and a message that had some value outside of wrestling.

This led to one of the more bizarre partnerships in recent years as Bryan teamed with Erick Rowan in a weird intellectual pairing, though they certainly had some success. I was hoping to see more of them but unfortunately the team’s split ended Bryan’s environmentalist run, which had some serious potential with Bryan knowing how to say every single thing to drive the fans crazier and crazier.

The Fiend

Yeah I’m getting tired of talking about him in these things too but it was that big of a deal this year. The Fiend is something that you don’t see every year or even a lot longer than that as it was something that fits Bray Wyatt so well. Much like Bryan’s environmental stuff, there is a lot of Wyatt being put into the dual character and it makes things work that much better.

I know the Fiend seems like something as simple as good and evil, but there is more to it than that. Consider how much everyone who has faced the Fiend has changed (from heel turns to changes in appearance) and how Wyatt can be heard shouting as Fiend attacks in an attempt to control him. That is another level of development and part of what made this year so special.

Seth Rollins Is The Beastslayer

As intricate as the Fiend was, this one is a lot more basic: Brock Lesnar can’t beat Seth Rollins. That was the case at Wrestlemania and then Rollins did it again at Summerslam, both times for the Universal Title. It’s something that no one has been able to do to Lesnar in a long time and Rollins made it work (ignore how bad things went after the title changes).

What makes this better is it was built up over the years. Lesnar has always had trouble with smaller, faster opponents and Rollins served as the final boss of the concept. He was able to go in and take Lesnar out with a combination of speed, heart, and a bunch of low blows. It might not have been something that worked long term, but how can you argue with beating Lesnar twice in a year?

And now, say it with me.

Kofimania

Much like the Fiend, I’m not sure what else there is to say about this one but it earned every bit of the praise it has received. Kofi was built up for years as a solid hand who didn’t belong in the main event scene. The problem though was he never got a chance, and as soon as that was pointed out, the fans suddenly wanted to see Kofi pull off the miracle that was over ten years in the making.

But then they did exactly what the fans wanted and it made things work to perfection. Suddenly Kofi was not only in the main event but coming close to becoming WWE Champion. After a long stretch of trying to get the WWE Championship title shot at Wrestlemania, Kofi wound up on the biggest stage of them all and kicked Daniel Bryan’s head off to win the title. The moment was great, but it was the journey that got us there that made everything work. Tie in the amazingly emotional celebration and this wasn’t being topped.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

This is one of the more interesting categories as it’s about the bigger things. Instead of what goes on in the ring, we’re looking at the big, overarching stories and seeing which one went the most. These are the things that could last a lot longer than just this year and that makes them a good bit more interesting.

Women Main Event Wrestlemania

This is in the category of “never say never”. Five years ago, the women’s division was a complete and utter joke. WWE didn’t care about it, they made no secret about how little it meant and nothing about that was going to change. Then, everything changed. The Women’s Revolution shook it all up and it was off to the races. Since then it was one milestone and first time ever deal after another, but there was one goal that they always focused on: main eventing Wrestlemania. A lot of people, myself included, laughed if off and with pretty good reason.

And then it actually happened, with Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte headlining Wrestlemania XXXV. It’s one of those things where you would never believe it was possible until it actually happened and that’s what made it so impressive. The match quality wasn’t important and really, it wasn’t all that great of a match. What mattered was they did it, which was almost impossible to believe. Pretty cool though, right?

Resurrection Of The NWA

If the previous one was never say never, this is one where I would have said never. The NWA has been a huge punchline in wrestling for the better part of thirty years now, even though they have always been around. The company was bought by Billy Corgan in what was seen as a move that meant nothing, though now things have turned around to the point where I’m still not sure I believe it.

While it mainly took place in the latter half of the year, the NWA’s turnaround has been a sight to behold. Their Powerrr series has turned into something worth seeing every week with a rather different take on the weekly wrestling series, plus some fresh faces and known veterans. I’m not sure what to expect from the in the future but the fact that they have a future is amazing.

CM Punk Is Back

Back in 2014, CM Punk walked out on WWE and never seemed to be coming back again. It turned into a huge mess with fans chanting CM PUNK throughout show after show and….yeah he was still gone. After a pretty miserable run in UFC (because of course Punk could do that), it was back to waiting around because we didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Then came FOX, which brought in a fortune, including introducing a new series called WWE Backstage. Early on in the show’s run, Punk came out as a surprise and was added to the lineup of analysts and contributors. This means Punk being mentioned on Raw and Smackdown, which seemed like an impossibility just a few weeks earlier. We’ll see if he gets back in the ring one day, but this feels like the end of a long journey, even though there might be some more stops to come.

Everyone Wants To Leave WWE

For the last twentyish years, no one in wrestling has come close to WWE. They have been the undisputed king of the wrestling world for a long time now and several wrestlers wanted to come there. However, things have changed a little bit in 2019 as suddenly a lot of wrestlers wanted out. Above all else, Dean Ambrose left and signed with AEW, but he also gave several interviews, including one where he talked about how bad the creative process was in WWE. As it turns out, he wasn’t the only unhappy person around.

Over the rest of the year, a ton of people tried to get out of their WWE deals, with some of them managing to succeed. Some of the people who wanted out included the Kanellises, Luke Harper, Sin Cara and the Revival, with a handful of them no longer in WWE. It’s going to be interesting to see how many more people leave, but it’s fascinating to see the castle start to crumble a little bit.

Speaking of which…

AEW

Like it could be anything else. This is the definition of a game changer as AEW is now the first promotion to legitimately challenge WWE (or challenge them as much as you possibly can) and give the wrestlers another high level place to go. Seeing them as an option has changed the game in wrestling, along with giving wrestling fans a mainstream wrestling promotion.

The company has only been around for a few months now but things are looking like they could go on for a very, very long time. That’s the kind of things that wrestling fans have been wanting to see for a very long time now and hopefully we can see some changes from WWE as a result. This is a brand new world and it’s going to be really interesting to see where things go from here.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

As wrestling fans, we like to think that we know everything that is going to happen in the sport. It’s a nice sentiment but at the same time, it really isn’t all that accurate. A lot of the time we’re just guessing about what we think might happen and then get surprised when it does. Those surprises are some of the best parts though and that’s what we’re looking at here.

Kofi Wins

We’ll get one of the biggest out of the way first because it was such an awesome moment. I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground when I say how many people loved this. It was the kind of thing that you only see once every few years and it was one of the best moments that WWE has put together in a long time. The build was great, the match was great…and then they actually did it.

In the weeks building up to Wrestlemania, there was a glimmer of hope that WWE could actually pull the trigger on this but it was hard to believe that they would really go through with it. That’s what made the moment so special: they actually did it, which made the pop that much louder. It’s a great moment and I wish I was there for it, as this one felt special.

Firefly Fun House

You’re probably sick of hearing about this one but sweet goodness it was incredible stuff. This one isn’t so much about one individual edition but more about what the whole thing wound up being. It started back in April and by the end of the summer, it was the hottest thing in WWE and saw Bray Wyatt becoming something new and interesting. Then he wound up winning the World Title and not dropping it almost immediately. Who even knew that was possible?

What worked so well about this was how WWE actually tried something new. They ran with it for a change instead of having it die off almost immediately and that’s a great thing to see. I can’t shake the feeling that this is all setting up another Roman Reigns coronation at Wrestlemania, but at least we had something great over the course of 2019 to show us that this kind of stuff can still be done.

Bayley Turns Heel

Are they allowed to do that? I mean,…..as the introduction says, it’s BAYLEY. How in the world do you turn her heel? I know her heel run hasn’t exactly gone well due to the haircut, being stuck with Sasha Banks (again) and the general mess that is the Smackdown women’s division, but they got us with a great moment of shock when the heel turn actually went down.

The moment that made this was slashing the Bayley Buddies. It’s the symbolism of the whole thing and that’s why it worked. Bayley was one of the most innocent and fun characters you could have and she literally destroyed a big part of what made her who she was. It was great stuff and that’s the kind of thing she needed. Now she needs better execution, but you can’t expect WWE to be able to do something like that.

Dakota Kai Turns Heel

You can’t really separate these two as they’re rather similar in a lot of way, though Kai’s might have been a bit better. What mattered here was they set up a perfectly logical reason for Kai to turn but then they actually did it. That’s the case a lot of the time with some big heel turn: you can have the setup done all the time but it’s the big step of actually going through with it. They did it here and Kai sold it to perfection.

The reason that it clicked for me was how aggressive Kai was. She DESTROYED Tegan Nox at Takeover and it was a really well done turn, even if you probably knew what was coming in the first place. The turn worked very well and Kai sold it to perfection, which is all you can ask for in something like this. What makes it a little better than Bayley’s though is how much better the aftermath has gone. That says a lot as Kai’s hasn’t been anything outstanding, but it’s better than Bayley’s.

Finn Balor Returns To NXT

I thought about putting NXT going to USA but the idea of WWE putting something on TV is hardly new. What is new is WWE actually putting in this kind of effort for NXT. Balor is someone who has main roster credibility but is an absolute NXT legend. That makes him all the more valuable to the new NXT because they’re going to need some star power to go up against Dynamite.

Again though, it’s a case of them actually doing it. We’ve talked about big stars moving down to NXT for a long time now and this time it really happened. Balor is someone who fits perfectly in there and has been a hit since his return. Above all else though it gives you the question of who else might be showing up, which makes you want to keep watching. That’s kind of the point, and it worked.

But then, they did this.

NXT Wins At Survivor Series

I was there in person for this one and I’m still not sure I believed it happened. I know WWE loves this whole Brand Supremacy thing and it really doesn’t mean much in the long run, but this was the symbolic moment that WWE had to pull at some point. Whether WWE wants to admit it or not, NXT is now equal to the main roster shows, but they went a step beyond that and actually gave NXT the win.

I would have put money on Smackdown winning the whole thing as it is the biggest show of the week due to the FOX contract. You could see them getting the win or maybe Raw just because of their history. But NXT? They really did that? I couldn’t believe it when I saw it and I’m still not sure it really happened two months later. It was a great moment and genuinely got me, so well done on the Surprise of the Year.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

This one is usually pretty fun and will likely include some familiar faces. There are a lot of names that come up who drive fans crazy and really, I can’t say I blame them. Some of these people just leave you in awe of how horrendous they can be, either just in the ring or when it comes to putting you to sleep from boredom. This is going to be a combination of that as being uninteresting is a heck of a lot worse than not being able to do a bunch of moves.

Michael Nakazawa

Why does this guy exist? Other than being Omega’s friend, what is the point in having this guy on the roster? He wrestled a handful of times and either got destroyed most of the time, had a nightmarishly bad match at Fyter Fest and then was the damsel in distress over and over again for the sake of Pac tormenting Omega. That’s someone they need to keep around?

My bigger issue here though is how worthless he was in the ring. The baby oil deal got annoying in a hurry and it didn’t help when Nakazawa seemed to be there for little more than comedy/because Omega wants him there. He didn’t do anything important all year and was a glorified prop. When you add in that Fyter Fest match, he deserves at least a mention.

Dolph Ziggler

You’ll see Ziggler’s name come up on lists like this a lot of the time and while I get it, I can’t say he’s the absolute worst. Ziggler can still wrestle a very good match, but he has a lot more going against him than his in-ring work. My issue with Ziggler is that you know exactly what you’re going to get. I can’t remember the last time he changed things up a bit and it feels like everything you see from him is the same thing that you’ve seen from him for years.

The bigger problem though is Ziggler being someone you get thrown in because he has to be there more than anyone that someone might actually want to see. I don’t need to see Ziggler most of the time but he’s ALWAYS there. Maybe it’s more frustration than anything else but whenever Ziggler comes running out, it’s “here we go again” because Ziggler gets thrown into various feuds and stories when it could be a bunch of others getting a shot. Ziggler is certainly good in the ring. The problem is there’s a lot more to it than that.

Dana Brooke

This is a situation where it’s not on the wrestler, at least for the most part. I’m not going to make any suggestion that Brooke is some great in-ring performer or character or anything like that. She isn’t very good in the ring and clearly needs A LOT more training to get to the point where she’s on Raw every week. That being said, I can give her a lot of sympathy for being put in a bad situation.

The problem for Brooke is that she was not ready for this level when she was called up and WWE left her hanging out there to dry. She belongs down in NXT where she can learn a lot more, but instead she’s stuck out there on Raw, losing to everyone in sight and slowly getting better (which she is doing). What matters is she is trying, but it’s a long road to get where she needs to be and she wasn’t given a proper chance.

Baron Corbin

I have said it before and I’ll say it again: Corbin is not that bad. When you put him in the midcard and don’t put him any higher than that, Corbin is perfectly serviceable. The problem is WWE doesn’t know how to hold themselves back with him and he gets one main event run after another, no matter how tired people are of seeing him. They push him to the moon and he winds up all over the show, which kills it every single time.

The King gimmick has helped him out a lot and he was fine beating people up in the midcard. Then it all fell apart because we got to the dog food feud. I can’t stand Corbin most of the time but it’s another case where he doesn’t belong in the spot he’s in. There is a place for Corbin, but WWE doesn’t know what it is and keep pushing him WAY higher than he belongs.

It’s time for an old favorite.

Shane McMahon

Yeah I can’t stand him either. Much like Corbin, it was a case of putting someone in a place where he didn’t belong, but the problem here is Shane has no business being in a ring most of the time. Between the embarrassing punches and some of the reddest faces I’ve ever seen on a wrestler, I don’t want to imagine what would happen if he kept going.

The bigger problem with Shane is how much he won. There was a stretch where he did not lose a match for months, all while beating several former World Champions. We reached the point where he should have been the #1 contender to the World Title and it just never stopped. Kevin Owens FINALLY got rid of him but it took far too long to get there. Shane was all over the shows far too often and it was a disaster far more often than not, putting him on the top of this list.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

This is what causes a lot of the big stuff to take shape and that’s where things get more interesting. You can have all of your great one off matches, but what about something designed to keep things going? Sometimes you get great matches and a hot angle combined together into a feud and that’s when things get special. So what was the most special this year?

Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley

Shayna is a lot of things but one of them was the bane of my predictions for big shows. Every single time she defended the title I was SURE that she was going to lose it and then she just never did. That was the case for several months as Baszler’s reign just kept going. Someone had to stop her sooner or later and it was pretty clear that Rhea Ripley was going to be an option.

That’s exactly what happened on the last regular NXT of the year in a great moment. Ripley FINALLY won the title after chasing it for a few months, including facing off with Baszler’s team in WarGames. It was a big moment, it had been built up for months, and the Ripley finally paid it off in a great match. This was a huge deal and came at the right time, making it a great piece of business for several months.

British Strong Style vs. Imperium

There is something about a stable war that always works. Well as long as the people involved in it are worth seeing. And they have a good reason for feuding. And it doesn’t go on too long. Ok so it doesn’t always work but when they work well, they’re awesome. That was the case with this one from NXT UK and it only meant good things for everyone involved.

British Strong Style are the most popular guys in NXT UK and it isn’t even close. They are the bedrock of the promotion and when you throw in a scary team like Imperium, there is almost no way that the whole thing isn’t going to work very well. Couple that with some outstanding matches (including the Match Of The Year) and there was no way this wasn’t going to be outstanding.

Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan

It was a big year but there were only two options for the top of this list. This was all about Kofi’s chances to win the title, but I wasn’t wild on what it took to get him there. Vince changing the setup time after time got rather annoying and it took too long to get to the point. Everything was fine once we got to the execution, but dang it took a long time to get there.

Then there’s the whole Wrestlemania Moment and one of the best title wins of all time things. This was a case where they couldn’t have stuck the landing better if they had tried and the big payoff was one of the best in years (probably since Bryan won five years earlier). It was the coronation that Kofi fans, including myself, had wanted for a long time and this worked so well. Not the best build, but the title change made up for all of that and more.

You know where this is going.

Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano

There are some criticisms against this feud and I can understand those very easily. The matches went WAY beyond the point of believeability at times and they were all marathons that could have been trimmed down. That being said, the matches were all exciting and gave us some of the best moments of the year, namely Gargano winning the NXT Title for the first time.

What made this work was how it was such a perfect balance of storytelling and wrestling. You don’t get that every day and the whole thing felt epic the entire time. The storytelling aspect with Cole invading Gargano’s world, including going after Gargano’s father, made it all the better. It’s the feud of the year, though I can get why some people wouldn’t like it as much.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Promo Of The Year

This is another important one because while the wrestling world revolves around matches, it’s the promos that make people care about them. A good promo can take a feud (or a character, or anything for that matter) and turn them into something people care about in a big way. There were some awesome promos this year and they weren’t even always about matches.

The Inner Circle Mocks Cody (Dynamite – November 6)

This is one of those things that was put together so perfectly that it was actually memorable. Cody had released a video talking about how important the World Title match was for him and a bunch of talking heads agreed and said how much this was going to matter. It was a really good video and some of the best stuff ever from Cody, but it became obsolete the second this aired.

The Inner Circle aired its own version of the video, mocking every single thing Cody said and did, even down to having Virgil appear as a completely random talking head, going on about how Chris Jericho’s World Title reign will be like the breadsticks at Olive Garden: unlimited. I laughed more than once at this and it was the funniest thing AEW has put out to date. There was real effort in this but more importantly it was from people who knew how to be funny, and it was.

Kofi Kingston: You Know What Comes Next (Smackdown – April 2)

I don’t think there’s any secret to the fact that Kofimania was probably the most memorable part of the entire year. Kofi Kingston made the jump to main eventer and his rise to the title turned into an avalanche with one of the best payoffs in recent memory. He had to get there somehow though and that’s what happened here, in probably the most memorable promo of his career.

On the go home show for Wrestlemania XXXV, we had the contract signing between Bryan and Kingston. Bryan did not seem worried as he signed, saying that this was where it all ended for Kofi. That wasn’t going well for Kofi though, who got more aggressive and showed more fire than he has in his entire career, promising to go to Wrestlemania where Bryan knew what would come next. You could feel the energy here and, for me at least, it made me believe that Kofi could actually do this. If he didn’t, he was likely never getting another similar chance, giving us all the making for an instant classic (which it was).

Tommaso Ciampa: Welcome To The Main Roster (NXT – November 6)

One of the best things about the entire year was the rise of NXT. A lot of that came from Survivor Series as NXT rose up from developmental to something that no one could have ever realistically imagine. The three way feud between Raw, Smackdown and NXT saw all three shows showing up at each others’ events and causing chaos, which included one of the best lines of the year.

On the November 6 NXT, the OC invaded the show to kick things off. This brought out one of the last men in NXT that you want mad at you, Tommaso Ciampa, out to the ramp. Ciampa got straight to the point by welcoming the three oft hem to the main roster. That simple line told you everything you needed to know about NXT’s mindset in this battle and you knew that we were in for something special, which is exactly what you got.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman Trolls Bret Hart (Double Or Nothing)

This one is cheating a bit but since I set the rules for this thing, I think it’s going to be fine. The big segment was designed to introduce the World Title but it also helped set up Hangman Page vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Hart came out with the title and unveiled it, but Friedman wasn’t about to let that kind of opportunity pass him by, which made things more interesting.

Friedman, referencing the attack at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony the previous month, came out and shouted “BRET! LOOK OUT! A FAN!” The rest of the segment came and went, but my goodness it was amazing. Friedman might be the best talker in the world right now and this was one of his best moments ever. It showed you what he could do on the big stage and that makes me very interested in where he gets to go in the future.

Nick Aldis: From A Punchline To A Powerhouse (NWA Powerrr – October 8)

I almost left this one off but the NWA deserves at least a mention somewhere. I did not want to do Powerrr every week. By then I already had a bunch of shows to cover every single week and hearing about the NWA getting a show just made my head hurt. My idea was to watch one episode and then move on to something else. And of course, the show was really good and a lot of that came from one promo at the beginning of the first show.

I know it hasn’t meant much in the last few….well decades really, but the NWA World Title is one of the most important championships ever in wrestling. That title design is legendary and a long list of legends have held it before. Nick Aldis is the World Champion, so it made sense to have him front and center for the debut show. He explained that it was a new era and the NWA was no longer a punchline. By acknowledging their failures and looking straight into the camera on such a simple set, Aldis gave you the feel for the show in one interview and I knew we were in for something great.

Firefly Fun House Debut (Monday Night Raw – April 22)

This is one of those segments where you have no idea what it is going to lead to but egads it caught your attention. We had only know Bray Wyatt as the cult leader and then he’s here, as some deranged version of Pee Wee Herman, complete with talking animals. As Jim Cornette said about Steve Austin, you knew he was going to be a big deal but nobody knew how big.

There isn’t much in the first episode, but it made you understand that something big was coming here and that’s what mattered. It got your attention and showed you that there was something else to Wyatt instead of just the same stuff. What followed was even better, but this set the stage in a way that nothing else has done in a very long time.

And one more from a day you may remember.

Cody Sets Up Full Gear (Dynamite – November 6)

Sweet goodness November 6 was a big day. This is a more simple concept: we have a World Title match and Cody needs to sell it. The fact that his father is Dusty Rhodes probably helped this out a lot because….well his dad is possibly the best promo of all time, and that means he had some good stuff to draw from.

Cody went on an incredible rant about how much he needed to become World Champion to honor his legacy but also prove that he belongs on the list of all time greats. This was pure emotion and the whole thing made me want to see Cody win the title. It was one of the best promos he’s ever done and he even agreed to never challenge for the World Title again if he lost. Ok so it might not have been the brightest move in the world, but it was a great delivery and got its point across, which makes it the best of the year.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

I’m picking these using a random number generator and I didn’t intend for two of the biggest ones to be included on the first day. This might be the most important award of all and there were a lot of names to pick from this year. You really could go in a lot of directions with this one and that makes things all the more fascinating.

Adam Cole

Sometimes, you look at a wrestler and just see “it”. That’s not the easiest concept to define, but it’s something that you either have or you don’t. Adam Cole has it and he has a lot of it. There’s something about him that just screams STAR, which is impressive considering his not incredibly impressive physique (look back at his Ring of Honor days and see if you can find his biceps).

What you get from Cole is the complete package. He has a rather punchable face, some great promos and some even better matches. This was a year where Cole reached the top of the mountain in NXT and that isn’t something that people reach easily. It’s a big deal to make it there and it’s going to be a big deal when someone beats him. Cole has his reputation for a reason and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Kofi Kingston

Kofi is a weird case as he had the biggest and most successful career of his life (don’t forget a pair of Tag Team Title reigns to go along with the World Title) but….he’s always been this good. I can’t think of a single bad match Kofi has had in years. He’s been one of the top merchandise sellers for a long time now because of New Day and he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame both on his own and as part of the team. That’s an amazing run and this was the crowning achievement.

That being said, it was more a year of him finally getting a chance than him elevating himself that much more. It’s part of the curse of being that good: how much better can you really get? Kingston has been one of my favorites for a long time now and he’s FINALLY had his big moment and career day. Yeah he’s one of the best in the world, but how is that different than most years?

Seth Rollins

Now I know this one is going to get some people annoyed, but Rollins had one of the best years in a long time. You don’t beat Brock Lesnar twice in a single year and not get some praise for it and that’s what he did here. The problem though is how far Raw fell with him on top and that isn’t something that is going to go away.

I know Rollins is one of the best in the world once the bell rings, but there isn’t much to him as a face. When one of your biggest stories of the year was the fact that your girlfriend is a top star, your career is kind of in trouble, even if you are World Champion. Rollins is someone who can do all kinds of things, but being the top star does not seem to be one of them. It was a bad year for Raw and Rollins was on top for a lot of it, which isn’t a good thing.

Shayne Baszler

NXT deserves some attention here and Baszler was one of their best. There is something great to be said about being the wrestler who surprises you every single time by leaving as champion, especially when you’re sure it’s her time to lose. However, the catch with Baszler is that she always seemed to deserve to retain the title because she was that good. How many people can say that?

The thing that strikes me the most about Shayna is the fact that she is STILL down in NXT (though I’d be surprised if she isn’t in the Rumble). It says a lot that she has been one of its top stars during its breakout year and that is worthy of a lot of attention. She is learning how to command a ring and an audience and even though she may be older than a lot of the roster, she has a lot of things that they don’t and that was on display this year.

Chris Jericho

After TLC II at Wrestlemania XVII, Jim Ross said something like “just when you think these six men couldn’t raise the bar any more, they did it.” That’s how I feel about Jericho. How many times do you believe that he has to be done, only to see him reinvent himself AGAIN? It’s an amazing thing to see and he has done it again with Le Champion and the Little Bit Of The Bubbly stuff. It’s uncanny at this point and he just keeps doing it.

Jericho has put AEW on his back and carried them as far as they have gone so far. He’s easily the biggest star in the whole company and someone who feels important every single time he’s on screen. You don’t do that at his age and he’s making it look easy, because he really is that great. Jericho has earned this and when you throw in his stuff with New Japan, it’s even more impressive.

Daniel Bryan

I was lucky enough to be at Wrestlemania XXX when Bryan won the WWE Championship in one of the all time great moments. It’s one of the coolest things that you’ll ever see in wrestling as Bryan was the ultimate underdog and pulled off the miracle (not on Bourbon Street Cole, though it sounded great). That being said, he’s a better heel than face and that was on display in 2019.

Bryan turned into Captain Planet with Erick Rowan in one of the most bizarre yet oddly perfect teams in years and wound up tearing the house down most nights. Those promos he had are some of the best you’ll see all year, like having a hemp title so that a cow named Daisy didn’t have to suffer. That was one of those lines that made me wonder if it came to him in a dream because no human should be able to come up with it. This was a great year for Bryan as he showed how versatile he really is.

Becky Lynch

This is one where if it was done by PWI rules (as in July to June), Lynch would win in a heartbeat. The problem though is she cooled off a good bit down the stretch due to running out of people to face. I know that’s a weird complaint to make because she was that good, but other than Asuka now, who is supposed to be seen as a real threat to her (other than Charlotte, who she never needs to face again)?

That being said, the first half of her year included the biggest match in the history of women’s wrestling and a legitimate milestone/game changer moment. That’s something that no one is ever going to be able to take away from her and she deserves all of the praise and accolades that she gets from it. Wrestlemania made her a legend, but there were other things going on that year.

And now, for one of the biggest surprises of the year as the winner.

Bray Wyatt

Character means a lot in wrestling and sweet goodness did Wyatt have it in spades this year. The Firefly Fun House started off as some kooky idea from Wyatt and turned into absolute must see TV every single week. At first everything was a bunch of fun and games (literally in some cases) but then we heard about someone called….The Fiend. It was time to be off to the races.

One day we got to see the Fiend in person and while it was Wyatt in a mask, this felt different. Above all else, Wyatt felt like a different person and someone who was genuinely scary. I got to see him in person a few times and the crowd went quiet when he appeared. Not quiet in a boredom kind of way, but quiet in a “what are we seeing” kind of way. I’ve only heard of that from one person before and that’s the Undertaker. That’s as solid of a compliment as you can get and it worked every time.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Yeah we had to get to this one too, even though it is the kind of thing that rarely ends well. In this case we have a few choices to pick from and believe it or not, one of them has to do with Saudi Arabia. Other than that it’s likely going to be about one show, but that’s the case with this one more often than not.

Super Showdown

We’ll start off in Saudi Arabia as they’re already recycling a name from another (and much better) show. This one was built around the idea of Goldberg vs. Undertaker in a match that might have been really good twenty years ago, but they did have a solid segment building things up. The aura was there, but that’s about as far as I can go with the positives.

Here’s the thing: I can give Goldberg vs. Undertaker all the slack in the world for one simple reason: Goldberg was hurt and basically out on his feet. Yes it was bad but it was bad because of an injury, and that’s a different story entirely. What isn’t a different story is Randy Orton vs. HHH, Seth Rollins defending against Baron Corbin and Kofi Kingston defending against Dolph Ziggler. Outside of the dream match main event, this show felt thrown together with every rematch they could think of and those matches were awful. Terrible show here, with the least amount of effort possible.

Royal Rumble

Really, this wasn’t a bad show but I needed more than two nominees for the whole thing. As tends to be the case with the bigger shows, this was too long and needed to be trimmed down by a good bit. I know it’s cool to have the Women’s Royal Rumble but at the same time, there is only so much that can be done with such a long show. If you’re going to have two matches go an hour, you really can’t put much else on the show other than maybe three other matches. Since it’s WWE, this one had SEVEN more, only one of which was less than twelve minutes long.

That’s where the whole thing falls apart: it’s way too long and the Rumble winners are hardly memorable. You can probably chalk that up to booking, but having two Rumbles on the same day makes the match, as in the point of the show, feel a lot less important. I’m really not a fan of this and I don’t see it getting any better in 2020. That’s quite the shame, but WWE tends to be able to mess up their best things by making them too long.

Ok you know what’s winning so let’s get it over with.

Hell In A Cell

What is there even to say about this? A majority of the card was made less than three days before the show, with multiple matches being added on Sunday. It felt like this show didn’t matter to the company and the fans who paid to see it were wasting their money in one way or another. If WWE doesn’t care about the match, why in the world should the people paying their money to see it? Now normally that’s as bad of a reaction as you can get, but in this case there’s something a lot worse.

The Cell has been around for over twenty years and is one of WWE’s true aces. Even in the PG Era, the match still has a certain mystique and aura around it. That was thrown away for the sake of….what even was the point anyway? WWE put the title on the Fiend THE SAME MONTH but for some reason they needed to have him lose (because a referee stoppage is a loss) here in one of his first major matches.

It’s not like it was some fluke either. Rollins beat the fire out of him for the whole match and then it was stopped with Rollins winning. Yeah Fiend got up, but the damage was done. This was horrible and capped off one of the worst shows of all time from any company, let alone just in 2019.

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