10 Best Wrestling Storylines Of 2018
When love and hate collide.
2018 was another year in which pro wrestling surpassed itself. Again.
For all the depths WWE discovered during their descent into the Banter Era, the uneasy sense of foreboding that engulfed a previously-vibrant United Kingdom scene, and the divisive IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign of Kenny Omega, the business continued to push everything forward even at the expense of itself.
Match-of-the-year candidates were contenders for best of the decade, or in rare cases, of all time. The wrestlers themselves tore up rulebooks (or, in WWE, manipulated them when allowed) to again change the questions just when fans thought they had all the answers. A rookie effortlessly stole the spotlight from her peers before a p*ssed off veteran somehow stole it back in 280 characters or less.
These were the things that - amidst those aforementioned addendums - made the industry so utterly irresistible. But what of the glue between the grandiose? Storylines were at times necessary evils rather than nascent necessities; a reflection of the churn and grind of the build rather than the action and drama of the end product.
But when they were great, they were 2018 great...
10. Samoa Joe Terrorises The Styles Family
In the hands of the wrong performer, the massive prop bedtime story book Samoa Joe clung to as he threatened AJ Styles' children with the dismemberment of their Dad would have been "worst" list fodder from the company best at producing it. But WWE are also, on occasion, brilliant at the daft b*llocks too. And the 'Samoan Submission Machine' is so good at that that he somehow made the silly sound sinister and very, very serious.
'The Phenomenal One' was well beaten before his matches with his former TNA frenemy, which in turn served to reflect just how good he was when the bell rang to work through the wounds Joe had ripped open.
Lurking at every corner like the monster he was morphing into, Joe was always ready with a cutting assault that targeted AJ (and sometimes Wendy and the kids) where it hurt most - Styles' own insecurities as a husband and father. Was he so good because of his beloved family, or in spite of them?
His tactics criminally didn't deliver the WWE Championship to his door, but served AJ the stature-enhancing programme he desperately needed after disappointing disputes earlier in the year.