10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2018
The desert forgets, but we won't.
In spite of the plethora of flaws which besiege WWE, you can't ever say that following them isn't perpetually fascinating.
In any given year, the company is guaranteed to make a cornucopia of clangers which have execs fishing out the Neuralyzers. Their boardroom must be populated with as many mice as it is men, given how often their best laid plans go awry.
In 2018, WWE seemed to go out of their way to metaphorically p*ss themselves (including asking talent to literally do the same). Though the company managed to snare a billion-dollar deal with FOX to air SmackDown starting next October, you can only assume it was the consequence of blackmail. The decisions WWE made throughout the year betray this evident business acumen.
A partnership with an oppressive regime for a multi-million windfall may have seemed just about worth it in the short term. Doing it again, after the troublesome bedfellows had drawn global condemnation for alleged extrajudicial execution was the wrong side of bonkers.
So was dragging their finest ever performer out of retirement to prop up the show. And this was just November.
WWE probably assumed, like everything terrible they do, that they'd simply wash their hands of the blood and hope everyone would forget. Nice try.
10. The Royal Rumble Winners
The year's first Royal Rumble might as well have taken place in a parallel universe. A competently booked card from top to bottom, the two marquee matches ended with an uncharacteristically self-aware WWE leaning on historical disgruntlement as bait, before two fan darlings swept to underdog victories.
What's more, both were Japanese. Believe it or not, even in 2018, this fact is significant when it comes to this company.
Mouths gaped at the prospect of Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka heading to WrestleMania in prized positions, but not as wide as the imagination of the possibilities to come. Seemingly, 2018 had began by establishing a whole new era - for real, this time.
It's only wrestling fans who are a hundred times bitten but not once shy. By this point, how could they not see how this'd go? Come the big show, Asuka's undefeated streak was predictably sacrificed - and her whole aura - for the benefit of the most protected woman on the roster. Shinsuke Nakamura had to settle for second billing to the fourth Roman Reigns WrestleMania main event in a row. Obviously, he lost. A few months later, WWE hosted another Royal Rumble - presumably to erase the memory of this one.