10 Biggest WWE Creative Success Stories Of 2018
***** developments in this -***** era.
2018...wasn't a great year for WWE.
Even the in-ring standard, something we once held onto as something of a bargaining tactic, plummeted: tag team wrestling either diminished (SmackDown) or was treated as a total joke (RAW); to either get Roman Reigns over as a face, or Baron Corbin over as a heel, the 1980s rest hold is somehow back in vogue; even very good matches suffer in this era of so many wretched non-finishes...
As a result of all this, honourable mentions were sparse - and, on top of everything else, absolutely f*ck this company for ruining easy intro fodder. Introductions are really hard to write. To be kind, 205 Live has improved exponentially, but let's be realistic here: the hard graft put in by the likes of Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali is more Sisphyean task than inexorable rise. Mirroring the main roster viewing experience, WWE's D Brand is as futile for the performer. Elias has acquitted himself to well to an inhospitable environment. Shame about his matches.
WWE produces an infinite stream of content, and through sheer probability, some of that content was pretty bloody good.
Less facetiously, some of it was unreal.
10. The Men's 2018 Royal Rumble Match Layout
Subjectively, this was the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time.
WWE knows its audience, despite how at odds the product is with them. And WWE played them like a fiddle - or a violin - throughout all one hour and five minutes of it. Look at the number at which Shinsuke Nakamura entered: 14. Conspiracy theorists believe it to be cursed, and a quick scan of Wikipedia lends credence to this wild theory. The #14 slot yields jobbers (Stardust, Jinder Mahal) and the soon-to-be-released (Chris Masters, MVP, The Berserker, Jacob Blu, Rikishi). WWE preyed on this anxiety by unleashing the King of Strong Style, who entered his best main roster performance yet, particularly during a pulsating, manipulative, agonising finishing sequence as simplistic as it was clever: WWE had the man fans most wanted to win battle the man they least wanted to see win.
The whole thing was as much of an all-cylinders firecracker; instead of one too many diminished surprise entrants, we were treated to an arena-sized Adam Cole "BAY-BAY"; Rey Mysterio delivered an electric, unexpected cameo; even the funny bits were good, as Heath Slater's punching bag bit followed comedy's rule of repetition with aplomb.
This was WWE atoning for years of antagonism. If only they could have atoned for the equally poor record of the subsequent, WrestleMania payoff.