If WWE Was Being Honest About 2019
An embarrassment of a year.
Where to begin?
Seriously: where the f*ck to begin?
If an attempt is made here to cover WWE's wretched 2019 chronologically, this will become a dissertation. Were WWE not propped up by desperate TV money, it might become one of the latter chapters of the Rise and Fall of WWE. So let's put forward a simple question that seeks to answer the most important remit of any pro wrestling promotion: will any top 'Superstar' WWE promoted exit 2019 in a better position than they entered it?
Brock Lesnar entered 2019 as an in-theory mega drawing card, with little influence over declining ratings, who was only conditionally brilliant. Nothing changed. Becky Lynch entered 2019 as the hottest act in the industry. After a mixed year, she will exit 2019 as a star only capable of siphoning a fraction of WWE's core demo to NXT. She can siphon, retain- maybe - but not grow viewership. Seth Rollins turned himself heel through excusing his dire booking and, incredibly, putting it over as something not just amazing but superior. Daniel Bryan entered 2019 ablaze with his creative, captivating 'New' character. At time of writing, he's doing his best to extract something tangential to reality with the Fiend, but it's not landing. His awful summer has not helped.
Braun Strowman is directionless. Kevin Owens has momentum, but that was true in the summer. AJ Styles is the same upper midcard presence he was 365 days ago. Ditto Randy Orton. WWE hasn't worked out how to use that made aura to make anybody else. It seemed impossible to not capitalise on the profound respect WWE fans developed for Roman Reigns, but it has been said that anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation!
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