The Best
KofiMania and WrestleMania Heel Daniel Bryan
Pro wrestling can range from good to bad to embarrassing, but a story and conclusion like this demonstrates not just how good this stuff can be but why wrestling fans put up with all the embarrassing stuff to begin with. Kofi Kingston took an absolute journey over the last decade in as a wrestler in WWE, coming through on the other side a guy you could respect and genuinely root for. He capped it off by winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania from a guy who was in the same position five years ago. Kofi telling Vince McMahon to his face that he never pushed “guys like him” – as true and depressing as it is – was a special moment on WWE TV.
The messy Road to WrestleMania notwithstandinbrg, she – she – won two championships in the main event and spent the rest of the year a dominant, confident champion that cemented herself as an integral part of the WWE machine. Her work at the Royal Rumble alone was game-changing stuff.
A few months after Becky Lynch cemented herself as The Man, Rhea Ripley walked to the ring at Full Sail University, got in NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler’s face, and said a magical five words: “you haven’t beaten me, bitch.” It has been gold ever since, a WWE Performance Center success story that I am sure WWE will not over-promote for years to come.
A two-hour live NXT on the USA Network every Wednesday night seems so normal now, but it only began in October. Before that, NXT continued to lay the groundwork to become what Triple H kept saying it would on every media call he ever did – a true third WWE brand. Beyond the typically excellent TakeOver shows, NXT’s 2019 was stacked: Halftime Heat, Shayna Baszler’s dominance, #DIY’s brief call-up, Matt Riddle’s debut, Finn Balor’s return, Keith Lee’s rise, and even an invasion of RAW and SmackDown resulting in an NXT-themed Survivor Series. This is the most consistent thing WWE has going.
A key ingredient of NXT’s success was The Undisputed Era acting as the backbone of the brand – not just Adam Cole playing a weirdly effective Triple H, but Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish carrying the tag scene and Roderick Strong finally breaking out as a singles superstar.
Shayna Baszler held the title for most of 2019 as NXT just exploded with riches, already coming into the year with a solid base of talent then building on it: space to define characters, new hires, and imports from NXT UK. The Women’s WarGames match and Rhea Ripley downing Baszler at the end of the year was a pretty great one-two punch of Return on Investment.
He’s around once a month, but WALTER breathed a new life into NXT UK from his first appearance in January. Finally: a purpose. His dominance of NXT UK included winning the U.K. Title, a few of the best matches of the year, a few epic TV matches against midcard guys, and the assembly of a stable that has potential to do what Undisputed Era did for NXT for NXT UK. I don’t think he’s smiled once.
Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff being announced as Executive Directors of RAW and SmackDown respectively was a mindblowing story back in the summer, a realization that Vince McMahon might be finally handing a rein or two over that also signaled that perhaps some kind of change-up to this dreary one-size-fits-all bullshit wrestling company was finally, finally coming.
What we got… was mostly the same, with some smart tweaks on RAW that continue into 2020, mostly around the show feeling more alive, stories inter-weaving, fresh angles, guys actually winning matches clean, and the slow establishment of a roster filled with newcomers. Also, because it’s wrestling there was also a wedding interrupted by a jaded lesbian lover.
Bischoff got canned a few months later, but Heyman remains and the September 16 post-Clash of Champions show was the finest example of the old mad weird genius at work, a RAW filled with good wrestling and Heyman tropes that did the best trope of all: put people over and setup interesting feuds. An entertaining, compelling, occasionally bizarre wrestling show – the best of the year.
A much needed re-alignment of some stale old favorites took place in 2019, a mid-year reunion with Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for AJ Styles and for the rest of them a lot of teases of a turn throughout the year before the trigger got pulled in the last quarter.
Rey Mysterio laid down a mission statement at the start of 2019 by having two incredible matches with Andrade, and it turns out they weren’t a fluke – mid-40s Rey Mysterio is just back and ready to go. God bless stem cells or something. He not only wrestled a bunch of great matches, including the best possible one with Brock Lesnar, but his son is getting into wrestling and it’s actually more adorable than silly. A great story.
Honorable Mentions: The Low Key Genius of Introducing Aleister Black & Ricochet as a Tag Team, John Cena Says He Believes in Finn Balor, Mustafa Ali Succeeds as a Heavyweight, The Miz and Shane McMahon Are Tag Partners then Not, R-Truth Remains Timeless
The Worst
Nobody Matters and Everybody is the Same
Joke’s on me for watching all the TV WWE produces, but I really can’t think of a better way to sum it all up. There is a creeping reluctance to make anybody but like six people seem important or interesting, and while I appreciate the “WWE style” for all its consistency it doesn’t allow anybody to really get a character over in the ring. These problems have always been around, but with such a stacked roster and more TV time to fill it’s become a lot more outrageous.
A lot of wrestling is about, “that would be cool.” I find myself saying that a lot these days, but the cool thing doesn’t not just happen but I am taunted for months on end with boring pointless carefully scripted TV that makes me dislike the original idea in the first place.
WWE is capable of great runs here and there, but the long game seems flawed now.
Too many NXT acts that seemed like sure things haven’t translated to RAW and SmackDown, Shawn Michaels made a single return to the ring for a paid show in Saudi Arabia, and SmackDown is being promoted on NFL games then offering viewers up THE FIEND. KofiMania aside, is it safe to trust that these dummies are even capable of delivering anymore?
What a weird vaguely public bunch of contract disputes we saw in 2019, with WWE playing this weird bad guy that also wants to pay their employees hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dean Ambrose had a very public exit interview (a quote from it is the title of this post), Luke Harper and Sin Cara left the nest, wrestlers got stranded on a plane in Saudi Arabia, and The Revival and Sasha Banks re-signed contracts only to seemingly embrace being super rich unmotivated wrestlers. Do your job, Canyon Ceman! Also, Oney Rules.
This really just seems like a poorly run corporation with bad communication and a lot of naturally crazy personalities underneath a legendary and irritable final say guy. You can see it all the time, from the Jordan Myles t-shirt mess to writer RD Evans being blamed for Bret Hart bringing up Vince McMahon in the Hart Foundation’s Hall of Fame induction speech. Right foot, left foot, blah blah. They’re printing money, but their corporate presentations sure are filled with a lot of metric fluff. It’s an organization that says out loud they are selling to a mass audience but a very niche forgiving audience seems to be the only one watching.
Just… everything. Signing a deal with the folks is one thing – well, it’s the worst thing – but spending weeks of TV building up what are now always an awkward and mailed-in shows really takes a dump on large chunks of the year.
I can’t believe this happened this year because it feels like a distant relic of some wasteland past. After WrestleMania, there was a Superstar Shake-Up that sent a few RAW guys to SmackDown and vice versa – but the TV still sucked. So Vince McMahon came out and said wrestlers can appear on other shows now, but only 3 a night. Or 4. Or 6. It kept changing and it just made everything more stupid and meaningless before they did another WWE Draft in October. The idea of bringing fresh names to a show is to make it better, not worse. Somehow they did the latter.
Maybe the eventual Becky vs. Ronda singles will be something worth waiting for, but there just had to be a darkness hovering above what felt like lightning in a bottle from January to April. It didn’t do Charlotte herself any favors either.
After ending 2018 failing to win the Universal Title again, Braun Strowman began 2019 being the last one eliminated from the Royal Rumble by Seth Rollins. Then he did this: sketch comedy with Colin Jost and Michael Che for WrestleMania season, a halfway decent feud with Bob Lashley, another failed challenge for the Universal Title against Seth Rollins, lost by countout to Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia, and danced with The New Day. I thought he was a contender…
Love the idea of a dominant, rarely seen champion. Love it. Doesn’t work. Or at least it’s not working. Protecting the top title is a great idea, but completely closing it off like they have is counterproductive: the TV grinds to a halt and everybody comes off as a loser because they’re too scared to even challenge The Champ. Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston’s title reigns didn’t light the world on fire, but that’s a separate issue – at least they were around and able to feud with a variety of guys.
205 Live lost Buddy Murphy, Cedric Alexander and Drew Gulak in 2019, but gained Lio Rush, Angel Garza, and Raul Mendoza. Kind of. Sometimes. I don’t know. They’re mostly on NXT. Respect to the boys but the cruiserweight show still sucks.
Honorable Mentions: Dean Ambrose’s Awkward Exit, SmackDown on FOX Sucks, Shane McMahon Keeps Going, Women’s Division Midcard Hollows Out, Dog Food
I’m Really Not Sure
Firefly Fun House
A re-invention for Bray Wyatt, a new supernatural character in WWE… very cool. It all started so well. Real weird. Eventually captivating. That last minute and a half of the 9/16 RAW that was just an upside down loop of the title screen and theme song was special. Is it funny? Is it scary? Is it working or just a general embarrassment to not just wrestling but television in general? I think WWE Jigsaw Killer might only work if it’s not WWE.
This happened. It was this year.
Mike Kanellis seemed to finding a little role for himself on 205 Live and maybe even Monday Night RAW before he again disappeared from any possible relevance in WWE. The RAW material with his wife getting pregnant was bad, but this guy was TRYING, and his matches on 205 Live are some of the only ones this year where you can feel through the screen a guy throwing his everything at making something significant.
Roman Reigns returned early in 2019 after a brief battle with leukemia and it was as inspirational and heartwarming as it can get. He had a low key average match with Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania, then spent the rest of the year hidden in tags and crappy angles, showing only fleeting glimpses of the greatness that is The Big Dog. He’s still over though, and I respect a man who takes it easy – he deserves it if anyone does.
On one hand, NXT UK has a quality roster and their three big championship matches this year were as epic and quality as anything in pro wrestling. On the other hand, their TV doesn’t just move at a snail’s pace – it only seems to have direction a few weeks out from the two TakeOver specials they run a year. The roster is strong, the brand is building, WALTER is a great champ, but everything still feels underutilized, awkwardly produced, and ultimately just boring.
There was something sweet about WWE just GOING with it and giving these two babyfaces long runs with the top championships from WrestleMania to October. Kofi and Seth aren’t all-time great in-ring wrestlers but they were capable WWE Champs that had goodwill from the fans, if not always big crowd heat. The feuds could’ve used better hooks than Kofi’s Midcard Monster of the Month or Seth having to beat Brock again, but if WWE didn’t always try at least they embraced it.
Kofi’s run came off more like a great IC Title run more than anything, but I will still appreciate that he was headlining and repeatedly going over Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton. Seth’s run felt lackluster and eventually led to fan resentment, but again it was nice to see them invest in a guy and have him dominate AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman.
I wouldn’t say these were ideal final matches for either of these guys, and at the same time it seems like both got exactly what they wanted – Batista even said it best: GIVEMEWHATIWANT! Batista had one final forgettable big gimmick match with his pal Triple H, while Kurt Angle went out like Jushin Thunder Liger all low key – he put over Drew McIntyre, had a few short matches with young undercard guys and old TNA rivals, and lost at Mania to… Baron Corbin.
Wrestling could use more shocking, crazy moments, and I think Becky got her revenge. Also, this might have been bad.
The former Chris Hero had a plethora of good and quality but also tedious and not ready for mass appeal matches on the NXT brands in 2019 with a variety of opponents, and it’s something I respect and occasionally enjoy even if it doesn’t always hit and is very much an acquired taste. Also, just… the wrestling gear, man. The wrestling gear.
The Revival and Randy Orton, The Revival and Corbin and Ziggler, The Revival with Shane, Drew and Elias… it’s gonna stick one of these days, fellas! Meanwhile, The Undisputed Era carries NXT and Imperium carries NXT UK – hmmm.
Honorable Mentions: Sami Zayn is Annoying Now, The Mass NXT Call-Up Video, Bobby Lashley & Lana vs. Rusev, The Commentary Booth, Mojo Rawley & The Mirror
