10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 2015
WWE is no longer the land of the dinosaurs as NXT takes over and Bill DeMott takes off.
2015 felt like one of the last years where WWE could rely relatively regularly on actual, bonafide stars.
Brock Lesnar had two Network specials centred almost entirely around his matches, with July's "Beast In The East" and October's "Live From Madison Square Garden" both considered on the same level as a monthly B-show thanks to his face on the marquee. His eight matches throughout the year was the most he'd worked since returning years earlier.
The Undertaker's burials of Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania and Survivor Series partially betrayed his spirited series with 'The Beast'. Taking on a heelish edge in the feud just to survive, the bold battles between the two served as solid send-offs for 'The Deadman' as a regular.
Meanwhile, John Cena's WrestleMania 31-to-SummerSlam 2015 United States Championship reign was a thing of unexpected beauty. A series of matches that made good on everything the wrestlers used to say about 'The Champ' more than what we could always see, Cena's in-ring selflessness aided just about everybody he faced. Including WWE Champion Seth Rollins, who briefly became a double titleholder and even bigger superstar heel as a result.
These were men from Then who were fine for the Now but couldn't last Forever. It's perhaps why things finally looked like they were improving on the developmental front. NXT got more attention than ever in this transcendent year, and with good reason, even if things weren't smooth sailing for everybody...
10. The Ascension Only Won Four Matches On Raw All Year
The Ascension, fittingly and tragically, were the first NXT call-ups to flop on the main roster with the same level of conviction they'd succeeded with on the black-and-gold brand.
This stark opposite was the deepest sadness as the heart of Konnor and Viktor's damaging year. Their arguable limitations hadn't previously mattered, but their trajectories once determined by productive and motivated Triple H were now in the hands of an already-bored Vince McMahon.
The now-familiar tale wasn't yet so well known, but after the duo took a senseless battering from The APA, The New Age Outlaws and New World Order in January, they were easy pickings for the Raw regulars for the rest of the year.
Nobody ever accused the duo of being the best all-rounders on the show, but what with wrestling not being real this shouldn't have ever mattered. They were presented as unstoppable once before and it routinely worked Full Sail regulars into a frenzy. WWE informed its wider audience, rapidly, that these clowns were of no such similar concern.