The superb range of articles on WhatCulture.com reviewing 2018 have thus far all been bound by one common thread - 2018 was everything.
It was the best and worst of times, featured the best and worst of wrestling, the best and worst of sports entertainment and even the very best and very worst of Vince McMahon himself. For better and worse, nothing was off the table - WWE probably should have cancelled at least one show this year and instead brought back one iconic retiree and one problematic exile amidst the chaos.
A megastar wrestler reversed an injury-hit retirement. A megastar wrestler made it into office. A megastar wrestler wasn't even a wrestler at all when 2017 came to a close. SmackDown Live played to half empty buildings whilst WWE ran buildings four nights in a row on pay-per-view weekends.
It had exactly as much good as bad, so rather than just assuming everything is awful, let's take the rough with the smooth and see exactly how it all levelled out...
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, 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. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
