Best Wrestling Storyline Every Year 1989-2024
23. 2002: Shawn Michaels Vs. Triple H
2002 was the year of desperation. It all went down the toilet.
Steve Austin bailed, the nWo bombed, the Hulk Hogan nostalgia act waned almost immediately, and Lesnar drew on top, but really, only relative to Raw’s dwindling numbers.
WWE tried literally everything to reverse its fortunes at the box office. Shawn Michaels Vs. Triple H hardly lit it up, but the acclaim and good will generated by the programme revealed an answer, if not the solution, to WWE’s woes: do good things, and the base takes care of itself.
A very simple but equally affecting tale, Triple H attacked Michaels and told him he was “weak”. To be generous, you could have interpreted this as a sign that Triple H, frightened over his spot, knew what everybody else did: Michaels was 1000x the worker.
A redeemed wrestler made an improbable, magical comeback - but sold his back to such utter, scary perfection that you almost didn’t want to see it anymore as the unbearable drama of the Unsanctioned SummerSlam match unfolded. He then defeated the increasingly dull heel that you’d grown to loathe.
In a year defined by cheap, increasingly desperate ratings ploys, Michaels Vs. Triple H was something of true substance (albeit for all of one match).
22. 2003: Chris Jericho Vs. Shawn Michaels
“You like to hear somebody is doing pretty good, but you don’t want to hear they’re doing better than you.”
Ric Flair said that, in his all-time great ‘Golden Spoon’ promo, and it’s one of the most profound and true things ever said in the fictional context of professional wrestling.
You could apply the relatable brilliance of Chris Jericho Vs. Shawn Michaels to countless real-life scenarios. In fact, through the rise of social media, and the glimpse into the cosy lives of people you may not even like very much, jealousy is more acute now than it ever was.
Chris Jericho was jealous of Shawn Michaels. It wasn’t just that Michaels, whom Jericho admired and patterned his act after, cast such an inescapable shadow over him as an influence; Michaels had returned, improbably, and outclassed Jericho as a peer.
The programme sparked into life at the Royal Rumble. In an ingenious spot, Christian cosplayed as Jericho to allow the real Jericho to attack Michaels from behind.
At WrestleMania, they delivered the expected classic, telling a wonderful mirrored story that rewarded your lifetime hobby - one of the first, great intergenerational tales that used your love and experience of the medium to drive it all forward.
21. 2004: Batista Breaks Through
Something of a cheat, this, since the key beats of the story unfolded across and generated record business in 2005 - but Triple H Vs. Batista developed serious intrigue in the final quarter of 2004.
It’s one of the more lame and obvious shortcuts in 2024 - and Paul Levesque walked it much too often as the booker of NXT years later - but it was electrifying when Batista, in backstage segments, subtly eyed Triple H’s World Heavyweight title. This device was popularised when Batista let it be known that he was a future megastar who no longer wanted to be held down. In parallel, Batista was booked as an explosive ass-kicker. His work in these flattering matches and angles was exhilarating, a primal thrill - and it helped, enormously, that it was so much more vital and exciting than Triple H’s drab in-ring fare.
By design and by accident, the slow-burn Batista push was a masterclass in pro wrestling booking.
Tony Khan was once called ‘Mid-South Tony’, affectionately, when he pulled off one of the better Dynamites. Given how often he has attempted to replicate the Batista push via Wardlow, ‘Ruthless Aggression Tone’ was just as apt.
20. 2005: Kurt Angle Vs. Shawn Michaels
In the monopoly era, Kurt Angle Vs. Shawn Michaels was the closest WWE came to an inter-promotional dream feud.
Angle had debuted when Michaels was thought forever retired, and when WWE adhered to a strict brand split, both men were divided between Raw and SmackDown. Even though it wasn’t, WWE did a remarkable job of making it seem like their crossing paths was inconceivable.
At the 2005 Royal Rumble, Michaels eliminated Angle, who returned the favour, and while this device has never made sense, the resulting feud was incredible.
Based on the idea that Angle thought he could do everything Michaels could - but better - the premise extracted the complete, ingenious range from the antagonist. In cosplaying as Shawn and horrifically battering his old valet, Angle was a goofball and a killer: the man who in fact could do it all. Michaels subverting the premise and outwitting Angle in the early amateur wrestling exchanges was another superb idea. That story beat only further coaxed the lunatic within.
The initial WrestleMania encounter was one of the best ever matches in the history of wrestling’s biggest ever show, so invincibly great that WWE devised a worthy sequel to the greatest finish of all-time - Austin passing out in the Sharpshooter - when Shawn agonised over the decision to tap for a full minute.
19. 2006: Ring Of Honor Vs. Combat Zone Wrestling
Quite possibly the best example of the all-important contrast, and certainly the best inter-promotional storyline ever.
ROH was the uppity sanctimonious technical league. CZW was the head-drop-happy plunder festival. One aspired to be a vaunted puro league, the other was happy to have the outlaw mud show stigma attached to it. Both shared the same turf in Philadelphia.
The last echo of a territory world, the most believable of conflicts. This was an unrecoverable moment in time.
The programme also explored the inherent flaw in the inter-promotional premise to brilliant effect. Existing conflicts on either side shouldn’t simply be dropped, and they weren’t. Bryan Danielson tried to screw over team ROH in the legendary blow-off by taking out upcoming opponent Samoa Joe at the knees.
ROH Vs. CZW was so perfect that, through the spectacular Cage of Death climax, the programme yielded the only outright classic WarGames update.
In it, Chris Hero f*cked around and found out. Lounging arrogantly on the turnbuckle, deliriously smug that Danielson had handed him the win, he then sold bug-eyed in an ostensible death scene when ROH folk hero turned fork hero Homicide repeatedly punctured his forehead.
Fighting fire with fire against all odds, this Homicide push was one of the best babyface moments of all-time.
18. 2007: The Undertaker Vs. Batista
The programme that rehabilitated Batista, who, after his incredible 2005 breakthrough, was plagued by injury and piss-poor creative. He was the main event of WrestleMania 21; on the eve of WrestleMania 23, it was thought that John Cena had lapped him. Several times over.
This was an opinion held by the office (who relegated ‘Taker Vs. Batista I to the midcard) and the fandom (very few of whom expected the match to be good). Batista was the guy who needed Triple H to make him look good; ‘Taker was the guy who had worked too many limited hosses to generate much enthusiasm.
With pure defiance, ‘Taker and Batista stole the show with a heavyweight prize fight bomb-fest, destroying one another and the ringside environment with a lean, no-frills, high-impact war. It was, to borrow a phrase from Tony Schiavone, an ass-kicking match.
The rivalry unfolded in a familiar way - draws were booked to drag it out before the gimmick match show-down - but the match quality always rocked and it was a blast to watch Batista, one of the coolest wrestlers in a lame decade, at his very best.
17. 2008: Chris Jericho Vs. Shawn Michaels
Chris Jericho Vs. Shawn Michaels II was even more well-received than their first programme.
The performances were expert. Jericho accused Michaels of enjoying the fact that he had retired Ric Flair. He then (fairly) accused Michaels of cheating to win a match against Batista. This was inspired; it drove the conflict between Jericho and Michaels, and allowed Jericho to dial up his smug conviction and self-belief. The face versus heel dynamic wasn’t ruined, however; fans loved Shawn so much that he in effect was allowed to get away with it. Hey, that’s just how Shawn is.
Jericho of course resented that, driving Shawn into the “glass” screen of the JeriTron - a lovely, karmic subversion of the infamous Rockers split angle.
Across several matches, each, importantly, distinct from the last, Jericho and Michaels elevated WWE into timelessly great pro wrestling concern for the first time, really, since 1994.
At SummerSlam, infamously, Jericho accidentally punched Shawn’s wife in the face. This only intensified the animosity between the two characters.
It ended in an all-time great ladder match - a feud so brilliant that the World title was stripped of CM Punk to juice it up.
Punk used this as motivation to…