12 Ups And 16 Downs For WWE In 2018
1. Brock Retains, Disappears, Wins Again
Dear UFC, please take Brock Lesnar back. Have him drop the WWE Universal Championship off at the door. Love, WWE fans.
What else can you say about Brock’s 2018? By the time New Year’s Day rolls around, Lesnar will have held the Universal Championship for 290 days of the year. Only a 64-day title reigns by Roman Reigns and an 11-day vacancy broke up his calendar-year run with the title.
And Brock’s reign coming into 2018 was a disgrace. After winning the title from another part-timer, Goldberg, at WrestleMania 33, Lesnar was the part-timer whose “heat” came from not showing up to defend the title. Reigns railed on that for weeks, only to then get his title shot at WrestleMania 34 – and lose.
No, seriously. After building up a coronation for Roman for an entire year, WWE pulled the rug out from under him at Mania. Then Lesnar retained at Greatest Royal Rumble in the most contrived way possible. Finally, Reigns defeated Lesnar in a circus of a match at SummerSlam, only to surrender the title two months later.
Then, when WWE had the opportunity to go in a different direction at Crown Jewel, they opted to put the title back onto Lesnar, which he will finally defend for the first time at Royal Rumble.
So your top title on Raw is all but absent from WWE TV and PPVs, save for a handful of major shows. Just awful.