We have some more.

Moment Of The Year

5. Brock Lesnar Lifts The Ring With A Bulldozer
4. CM Punk’s All Out Rant
3. Cody Rhodes Is Back
2. Stephanie McMahon Announces Vince McMahon’s Retirement
1. Steve Austin Wrestles Again

This continues to support my mantra of NEVER SAY NEVER in wrestling. Austin retired back in 2003 and has not wrestled since. But then, one day, Kevin Owens called Austin out for an appearance at Wrestlemania XXXVIII. You knew something was going to happen, but then it got even bigger as Owens challenged Austin to a No Holds Barred match. Austin gave an amazing face where you could see the wheels turning….and then he said yes. The bell rang and we were actually seeing it again. And then it was good! This was one of those things I never thought I would see but there it was, right in front of your eyes.

Angle Of The Year

5. Mickie James’ Last Rodeo
4. Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch
3. FTR vs. Briscoes
2. CM Punk vs. MJF
1. Bloodline

Where do you begin? It is very rare in wrestling for a story to keep going on for so long and not get dull. The Bloodline manages to find ways to keep going, even with Roman Reigns barely around a lot of the time. To top the whole thing off, you have Sami Zayn, who is trying his hardest to give the Bloodline a higher level of Ucey, but Reigns isn’t exactly pleased with what he’s doing. I want to see where things go week to week and that is not something I get to say very often.

Feud Of The Year

5. Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch
4. RKBro vs. Usos
3. Brawling Brutes vs. Imperium
2. MJF vs. CM Punk
1. FTR vs. The Briscoes

I was going back and forth between this one and MJF vs. Punk, but so much of MJF vs. Punk took place in 2021 that FTR and the Briscoes just beat it out. At the end of the day, there is nothing that is topping three instant classics like those three had and nothing was going to beat it. They had an awesome segment before their first match, because we can’t have the Briscoes on AEW TV so at least they had something in the way of talking. It was outstanding and they somehow kept it amazing throughout the entire feud.

News Story Of The Year

5. Wrestlers Return To WWE
4. HHH Is In charge
3. Naomi/Sasha Banks Walk Out
2. Brawl Out
1. Vince McMahon Retires

Ok so this one is already a little bit out of date, but there is nothing that comes close to touching this one. You can have your Brawl Out and all that, but the person who modernized professional wrestling and has dominated the industry for 20+ years walked away from the company he built into a global juggernaut. That is the kind of game changers that you do not see in wrestling ever and now we are dealing with the insane fallout. McMahon retiring was the story of the year, if not the story of the decade.

Match Of The Year

5. Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins – Hell In A Cell
4. FTR vs. Briscoes – Final Battle
3. Sheamus vs. Gunther – Clash At The Castle
2. CM Punk vs. MJF – Revolution
1. FTR vs. Briscoes – Supercard Of Honor

We’ll start with the best/and then there’s this (depending on which way this is posted), as you had two teams stealing the show on the biggest wrestling weekend of the year. It was the match that I knew I had to see and it blew away any and all expectations. Throw in the fact that it was a clean match that ran almost half an hour and never once felt long and you know you have something special. I can’t praise this match enough as it more than blew away the considerable hype.

Wrestler Of The Year

5. Bianca Belair
4. Josh Alexander
3. Sami Zayn
2. Jay White
1. Roman Reigns

One of the best things a wrestler can have is presence and that is where Reigns shines. You can feel something special whenever he is in on screen and it makes a huge difference. The Bloodline has featured some amazing moments, all of which revolve around Reigns. Throw in the fact that he has the matches to back it up and this is one of the easier picks of the year so far.

We’ll wrap it up with some sad parts of the year.

Worst Angle Of The Year

5. Karrion Kross Keeps Losing
4. Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall
3. Fiend/Alexa Bliss Exist
2. Nikki Ash

1. Lilly

I was going to go with Nikki, but then I thought of that doll. That stupid, rotten, horrible, no good doll, WHICH WINKED AT THE CAMERA AND THEN APPEARED IN A MIRROR. WWE went out of their way to destroy a lot of people and things for the sake of pushing the idea that Alexa Bliss had an evil doll. It was some bad horror movie come to life and I could not stand this stupid thing, which is somehow following us into 2022, because of course it is.

Angle Of The Year

5. CM Punk Is An Old Gunslinger
4. The Rise Of RKBro
3. Baron Corbin Is Broke And It’s Hilarious
2. Hangman Page Wins AEW World Title

1. Whose Side is Paul Heyman On

WWE is pretty terrible these days but this is must see television. Paul Heyman is one of the greatest performers in wrestling history and the things he is doing in this story has been even better than I would have thought possible. Above all else, he made me want to see where the story was going next and it was nothing short of amazing to see every single week. The story is still going in the new year and I really want to see where these things go next. Or just whatever Heyman is going to do.

Worst Match Of The Year

5. Charlotte vs. Nia Jax – Raw – August 30
4. Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt – Wrestlemania
3. Alexa Bliss vs. Eva Marie – Summerslam
2. Miz vs. Damian Priest – Wrestlemania Backlash

1. Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley – Revolution

This is one where your mileage may vary, but ultimately, this was a bunch of barbed wire violence before the lamest ending you could imagine. It was like some sparklers going off in place of an explosion. Ignoring the total disaster of the ending, you had the carnage for the sake of carnage, all because AEW wanted to recreate some angle from Japan, down to Eddie Kingston trying to cover Moxley and selling the….well nothing really. This was bad on all fronts and is still somehow even worse than I remember.

News Story Of The Year

5. NXT Gets Its Own Sequel
4. Ring Of Honor Hiatus
3. Huge Stars To AEW
2. Fans Return

1. WWE Releases

I don’t know how it could be anything else, as WWE did not so much take the roster apart but completely gutted the thing. Over the last year and a half, WWE has literally released over a hundred wrestlers. That isn’t just going to shake up the WWE, but also the wrestling world as a whole. In addition to weakening the WWE roster, it opened up the flood gates to all kinds of other promotions. Several wrestlers have since moved elsewhere, which has made some other companies that much more interesting. This was a game changer, and the amazing part is it might not be done yet.

Feud Of The Year

5. Roman Reigns vs. Edge
4. Pinnacle vs. Inner Circle
3. Edge vs. Seth Rollins
2. Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page

1. Roman Reigns vs. John Cena

This might have been short, but what mattered was how big this felt. That’s the kind of thing you don’t get to see very often, but Cena can make it work so well. Above all else, this felt like a feud that belonged in the main event of one of biggest shows of the year. Then the match wound up working too, which shouldn’t be a surprise. It wasn’t long, but Reigns defeated Cena in a huge main event and it felt like a showdown.

Title Reign Of The Year

5. Bianca Belair – Smackdown Women’s Title
4. Young Bucks – AEW Tag Team Titles
3. Bobby Lashley – WWE Championship
2. Kenny Omega – AEW World Title

1. Roman Reigns – Universal Title

The words “of the year” apply here, because Reigns was champion for the entire year. That is not something you get to see very often but it has been pretty incredible for a very long time now. Reigns comes off as the biggest star in all of wrestling and has been bringing people up just by association. This was an easy pick to make, because holding the title for a year is hard to fathom back in the day, let alone modern times.

I’m not going to waste your time on this one.

For once, I’m not even bothering with the other nominees or even honorable mention. There is only one option here and it’s the SpeakingOut Movement (I consider Covid to be something wrestling dealt with rather than a wrestling story if that makes sense). SpeakingOut shook up wrestling, but it did so in a way that needed to happen. The things that were taking place behind the scenes could not continue and something had to be done about them.

That is where the movement comes into play and thank goodness it got rid of so many of the problems that were taking place. Those things cannot continue and the faster it cleaned everything out, the better it was going to be. There were so many horrible things taking place and it is great to see the people not only being taken to task for them but being flat out punished for them. That stuff shouldn’t have started and it should have ended earlier, but at least it is being pulled out into the light instead of being kept a secret any longer. This was the only real option and it’s a problem that needed to be addressed a lot sooner than it was.

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: WWEGen

This is a weird one as it takes us both in and out of the ring. It’s more along the lines of the biggest headline, which could be either good or bad. Some of these are a lot more widespread than others but they’re all important in one way or another. That makes this rather interesting in a way, as some stories have more ramifications than they would originally seem to.

Shawn Michaels Returns To The Ring

This is one of those things where you almost never believed it could happen. Michaels had the perfect retirement back in the day and had been teased to return to the ring almost ever since. Now though he actually got back in the ring….and it didn’t matter whatsoever for the most part. It was a one off (for now) appearance and while Shawn looked decent, it came on such a nothing show that it was more of a disappointment than anything else.

Ronda Rousey Is Awesome

I said this one in Surprise Of The Year but who in the world expected her to be this good? Rousey coming over to WWE made some headlines in mainstream sports but I don’t think anyone imagined she would be so awesome so fast. Rousey hasn’t had a bad match yet and has run through everyone in front of her like they’re nothing. I don’t know how much better she can get, but it’s going to be fun to watch.

WWE TV Ratings Plummet

I didn’t really consider this one a strong contender because it happens every year. At the same time though, it never gets this bad. You can’t be surprised that the ratings got this bad because the shows were just so bad. There was nothing good about them more often than not and WWE didn’t exactly go out of their way to make things better. At the end of the day you can’t get around bad wrestling TV and that’s what WWE found out in a hard way this time. It’s getting a little better, but without things really changing it’s not going to fix things.

Roman Reigns Vacates The Universal Title

Now we’re getting somewhere as this is the kind of thing that changes wrestling companies. Reigns is gone for the time being and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. WWE has spent years centering the company around Reigns and now that he’s gone, WWE is really starting to feel the burn. Reigns’ health is what really matters here though, as there’s nothing good about having any wrestler, especially one in the prime of his career, taken out like this. I hope Reigns gets better so it can be an even bigger headline soon.

Daniel Bryan Returns To The Ring

This is a bigger one than Shawn for me as I never would have believed it could happen. While it’s certainly a surprise, it also offers something bigger. Bryan was injured for so long and it seemed hopeless yet he came back (and got awesome again under a new character). It gives hope for others whose careers seem to be over, which could make things a lot more interesting in the future.

WWE FOX Deal

WWE has a history with being on network TV but the idea of a weekly show is unheard of for them. It’s a huge step forward and a huge financial boom for the company. With the money coming in there are also loftier expectations, which could mean we get a better Smackdown going forward. I want to see where this goes, but it’s already gone pretty far to start.

All In Sells Out Almost Instantly

Earlier in the year, All In was announced and sounded like something with potential but nothing that big. Then it sold out in something like half an hour (I was thinking about going to the show and then saw how fast it was gone, much to my own shock) and it was clear that they had something special. The show being really good was just a bonus, because the show being such a success was what really mattered.

That’s all wrestling stuff though. Now we need to get to what really matters.

Controversy Over Crown Jewel

This is the kind of thing that went beyond wrestling as it made mainstream headlines. It made WWE look like a money hungry company (it’s not like other companies aren’t the same) who was willing to ignore everything else going on involving a man’s death for the sake of a huge check. This was a disaster on every point, with the show being a nightmare making it even worse. WWE is going to keep going to Saudi Arabia and it’s going to look bad every single time. But at least the stock went up or something right?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

There’s a lot more to wrestling than just wrestling.

I know most of the focus in wrestling goes on wrestling (kind of makes sense if you think about it) but there’s other stuff going on around the wrestling world. While some of these might not be the most thrilling stories in the world, a lot of them could have quite the impact on the wrestling world, either short or long term.

In no order, which shouldn’t be news to you.

We’ll start down in Mexico where Sexy Star apparently went into full on shoot mode on Rosemary in a match. While Star went into a variety of explanations for what happened, I’m not sure how many people actually bought what she said. Star is a big name in Lucha Underground but at the same time she’s not exactly big outside of there. However, anytime something like this happens, it’s a big deal almost by definition.

Sticking with the women, WWE ran the Mae Young Classic. The Women’s Revolution has been in full swing for well over a year now but the idea of running an all women’s special was rather unique stuff. It might not have been the most eventful tournament in the world but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a big deal. At the end of the day, this was being held by WWE. Not Stardom, not Shimmer, not Ring of Honor, but the biggest wrestling company in the world. Imagine that three years or so ago and you’ll see why it’s a big deal.

In something that may not be guaranteed but seems to be as close as you can get to it, Vince McMahon might be bringing back the XFL. While this has very little to do with actual wrestling, it does have to do with the WWE. Vince is going to be distracted by another outside project and that could mean a lot of different things for the promotion. Odds are they won’t be good ones either, but this is the chance to see what happens when so many fans scream about how much they want Vince gone. Be careful what you wish for people.

Then we’ll go up north, along with TNA. Yeah, at least for a little while, TNA seemed to become a Canadian promotion (and not a very good one at that). It begs the question of how much lower can they get, because at the moment they’re the Prairie Wrestling Alliance with a TV deal. It’s lead to stuff like Petey Williams as a featured player and I’m not sure how well that’s going to go over with the masses (or at least the people who actually watch TNA). They already seem to be heading back to Orlando, but it’s hard to say what’s after that for these people.

Speaking of going foreign, we have the proposed expansion of WWE into the United Kingdom. This one has kind of happened and kind of not happened, as we have a United Kingdom Champion but we don’t have the weekly United Kingdom TV show that was mentioned multiple times. Maybe it’s WWE’s anti-cost crusade (just give us pyro at Wrestlemania at least) but for now, this is just the start of something. It’s worked while it’s lasted, but for now it doesn’t mean much.

Finally, and probably by default, we have the winner (or at least the one that had the biggest impact at the time): the illnesses that plagued the locker room around Tables, Ladders and Chairs. This sent the entire card into upheaval and gave us some pretty big matches in the process while also keeping a ton of talent off the shows for weeks. It’s not the biggest long term deal in the world, but for a week or so this was the update to watch.

So yeah, nothing exactly bombshell level yet, but that XFL thing could get big in a hurry.

This one should be a bit arguable.I’m going to go with the downward spirals of the Hardy Boys.  Jeff went from being a heel (seriously, WHO THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA???) to Victory Road and Matt made him look like a pillar of stability by comparison.  These two were at one point considered the future and now they’re running jokes.  And Jeff will be world champion by Mania.

Your picks/thoughts?