10 Biggest WWE Creative Success Stories Of 2018

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.