10 Ways 2018 Was WWE's Craziest Year EVER

by Michael Hamflett

1. The New Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan AJ Styles
WWE.com

'The New' Daniel Bryan may already be one of the highlights of the entire product thanks to the former 'Yes' Man's ability to effortlessly adapt to just about any pro wrestling persona, but few fans at the start of the year could have foresaw any of the events that followed, let alone how his 2018 concluded.

Bryan was just a hyperbaric chamber enthusiast and frustrated authority figure as the year commenced, with his mind-blowing WrestleMania 34 return a poisoned chalice for the New Orleans audience so excited to welcome their adopted hero home.

The shoddy writing was on the wall. WWE felt like they needed to give recovering diverticulitis victim Shane McMahon the bulk of the match in order to drum up sympathetic heat for Bryan, and followed through on that by using the former WWE Champion in a failed Big Cass salvage mission. From there it was on to flogging bad t-shirts and worse injury angles alongside Team Hell No partner Kane, and the nightmarish collapse of a dream feud with The Miz nearly a decade in the making.

Daniel Bryan had "fought for his dreams", but WWE ripped just about every single one away. His heel turn may yet to prove to be one of 2019's biggest triumphs - but nothing summed up the unmatched madness of 2018 quite as succinctly.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.