12 Ups And 16 Downs For WWE In 2021

9. Belair’s Big Year

Bianca Belair Liv Morgan WWE Runner
WWE

Despite sputtering out in the latter four months of the year, Bianca Belair had a hell of a 2021.

First, she entered the Royal Rumble at #3 and won the damn thing, going on to WrestleMania 37, where she main-evented night one, beating Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Of course, the feud leading up to Mania was lackluster and downright embarrassing at some points, but that’s WWE for you.

Belair had a solid reign as champ, which ended unceremoniously at SummerSlam, courtesy of Becky Lynch, and then got lost in the shuffle. But she emerged from Survivor Series as the sole survivor for Team Raw, which showed the company has faith in her, and then she defeated Doudrop in their mini-feud, closing out 2021 on a high note.

Of course, it could have been an even bigger year for the EST, but we shouldn’t throw out the good for a couple negatives.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.