10 Things Wrestling Fans Fully Expected To Happen In 2020 (That Still Haven't)
Business-changing partnerships, major returns and title wins; 2020 was supposed to be great.
2020 hasn't been the best of years, an understatement if ever there was one. The year started with high hopes of life-changing events and unprecedented success; it ends with worldwide lockdowns and nearly nine months of empty arena professional wrestling, arguably the lamest type of pro wrestling.
Predicting what is going to happen in a pro wrestling year is a practice as old as the sport itself, but the global pandemic has seen even the most obvious of events thrown out the window. 2020 has been one of the most unpredictable years in recent memory, the uncertainty of the situation throwing up all sorts of matches, pushes and championship wins. At the turn of the year not a single person would have predicted Otis winning the Money in the Bank briefcase, let alone losing it to The Miz thanks to a Tucker betrayal, after all.
But there is more to these non-events than the stark reality of coronavirus. It takes more than a virus to stop the inevitable from taking place, but pro wrestling does meddling and politics better than most, not to mention the industry's in-built commitment to changing things at the last minute. Predicting things in pro wrestling might seem easy, but this clearly isn't the case.
10. Miz Breaks Jericho's Intercontinental Championship Reigns Record
The Miz started the year (and remains) in a nostalgia tag team with John Morrison, winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at Super ShowDown before getting bizarrely obsessed with Otis and his Money in the Bank briefcase. Miz now holds that case, a state of affairs that is a damning indictment of WWE planning.
Miz might be Mr. Money in the Bank once again, but does anyone see him as a world champion? Miz may have been one of the most consistent presences in WWE for years, but the former WWE Champion fits his niche in the busy corridors of the midcard. He shouldn't be anywhere near the top title, but he is a more than viable contender for the Intercontinental Championship, a title he has held on eight occasions.
Only Chris Jericho has held the IC title more times, reigning as Le Champion on nine occasions. WWE is nothing if not obsessed with its own history, so what price Miz passing Jericho's record sooner rather than later? That would have been high on the predictions ledger for 2020, but we end the year with Miz eyeing Randy Orton and his WWE Championship.
The more things change...