Following the breakdown of the worst things that happened this year with the Biggest Blunders list, let’s give credit where it’s due with the best things. Part 2 of this 2020 review is the Greatest Wonders of the Year from WWE.
As with the other list (and pretty much any), this is subjective and I may have even forgotten about things that should be added. You may have other ideas of what else should be listed here. In that case, I invite you to post your own lists in the comments below to keep the discussion going!
Keep in mind that this won’t be an individual maneuver that took place or a single promo or anything like that. Rather, this is more on the broad scale of things.
With that being said, let’s begin…
Honorable Mentions
- Becky Lynch announcing she’s pregnant is a fantastic moment. Among the best. It’s a shame what came out of it was a bad run for the Raw Women’s Championship and that she couldn’t drop the belt to Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania to begin with, but at least that particular “I’m off to be a mom” promo was heartwarming.
- AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan for the Intercontinental Championship was among the best matches of the year. So good. Go back and check it out if you missed it.
- Chad Gable isn’t Shorty G anymore! Hooray!!!
- Braun Strowman finally won both the Intercontinental Championship and the Universal Championship. Now that he had a midcard and a world title reign to go with his tag title reigns in the past, he crossed the threshold into becoming a Triple Crown Champion. That’s wonderful. I’m a big fan of the guy.
- Legado del Fantasma rocks. When El Hijo del Fantasma unmasked as Santos Escobar and breathed new life into Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde, that was great and they’ve been consistently cool ever since.
Tribal Chief Roman Reigns
For over a decade, fans begged WWE to turn John Cena and Roman Reigns heel. Vince McMahon perpetually refused. Every excuse under the sun was mentioned, with some just downright saying the fans don’t know what they want.
Then, Roman turns heel, becomes the Tribal Chief character and lo and behold, we were right all along.
This is by far the best character work he’s ever done. There’s no question about it. He is awesome as this mob boss style villain.
He hasn’t sacrificed an ounce of credibility like when WWE falls into the rut of making all heels cowards. If anything, he’s gained more, now that he’s added a submission to his repertoire.
His treatment of Jey Uso has turned his cousin into a bona fide singles star. Imagine how great it might be when Jimmy is back and this tag team wins the gold to make a triumvirate of champions.
Everything with this “head of the table” gimmick is rad and I hope he stays at the top for a long while.
Edge Returns and So Does The Legend Killer
How amazing was it to see Edge make his return? He loves wrestling so much and it was taken away from him. Now, he has the ability to rewrite his ending on his own terms.
He’s not some shell of his former self who can barely move, either. Granted, Edge isn’t the spry superstar he was in his 20s, but it’s still wonderful having him back.
In league with that return came the resurgence of The Legend Killer version of Randy Orton. Much like Reigns as Tribal Chief, this is Orton’s best work as a heel in a long, long while.
Taking out Ric Flair and Christian and such was fun to see go down. That even made it so technically, Christian’s last match is with The Viper, which makes sense given the whole “one more match” gimmick from back in the day.
WWE is currently taking Orton in a direction I’m not happy about, as I don’t think he should feud with Bray Wyatt by any means. However, what they’re doing now doesn’t negate all the good we got earlier this year out of Orton, who stepped up his intensity and seemed to mature so much this year.
Pat McAfee Steals the Show
HOW. GOOD. IS. PAT. MCAFEE?! Seriously, the guy has no formal training in wrestling and he shows up 90% of the roster!
Somehow, he’s both better on the mic and in the ring than far, far too many superstars. They’ve been doing it for years and they can’t hold a candle to his promos. Then, he goes into the ring and executes flawless moonsaults and such.
How does that just happen? This dude is amazing and I’m at a point where I wouldn’t even mind if he won the NXT Championship. He’s easily one of the biggest and most welcome surprises all year long.
Imagine if Gronk would have turned out to be even 1/5th as entertaining and valuable as McAfee has proven himself to be.
The Ascension of Drew McIntyre
It took many years and a long, arduous journey to go from The Chosen One to the actual top of the division. Somehow, after all the winding roads that included 3MB and being fired, this year, Drew McIntyre accomplished his goal.
Watching him win the Royal Rumble was awesome. I’ve always been a big fan of wrestlers winning that match and then going on to beat a heel champion to win their first world title at WrestleMania, too. Since that happened with Brock Lesnar, major points all around. It’s such a pity it didn’t happen in front of a crowd.
After that, McIntyre won a series of matches that kept him looking strong. He dropped the title temporarily to Orton and I was worried that was a sign WWE lost faith in him and it would ruin the Survivor Series card in some ways. Then, WWE pulled the switch back and all was right again.
Now, the guy even has a better entrance with his sword, looks like a million bucks and is building an angle with Sheamus that I’m very interested in. Wins all around.
The Hurt Business Saves 4 Careers
At the beginning of the year, MVP wasn’t even in WWE. Then, he popped up at Royal Rumble and wrestled a garbage match with Rey Mysterio and said he was done.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. He eventually went on to form The Hurt Business and save not only his career, but the careers of three others, too.
MVP resurrected Bobby Lashley from the atrocious stuff he had been doing since his return to WWE. They had saddled him with a crappy feud against Sami Zayn revolving around his sisters. Then, he teamed up perpetually with King Corbin and Drew McIntyre for no reason. After that, he was in an atrocious storyline with Lana that had nothing good about it.
Associating with MVP turned him around. Then, they brought in Shelton Benjamin and saved him from obscurity. Following that, Cedric Alexander joined the group and went from being an oversight to an integral member of the team.
The Hurt Business is among the best factions in WWE today and I absolutely love the group. I’m hoping this sticks around for a while and they win some more gold.
WWE ThunderDome and Capitol Wrestling Center
As bad as it has been without crowds, it’s kind of a miracle WWE was able to pull off as much as it has, given the circumstances of this pandemic. Even at the start, watching shows in the WWE Performance Center were more of a struggle and I don’t know how much longer we could take.
Creating the ThunderDome and adjusting the PC to incorporate elements of that by turning it into the Capitol Wrestling Center was a game changing shift. The screens brighten things up considerably, allow for a much better visual showcase, and WWE has gotten better at the audio mixing to make it feel a little closer to normal.
Comparing this to WrestleMania is night and day. It’s still not as good as the real thing, but it’s as good as they can probably get and I’m very grateful for some of these tweaks.
Keith Lee Makes Major Strides
One of my absolute favorite people in WWE today is Keith Lee. I think he’s got every element of what it takes to be “the next John Cena” in so many ways. He’s deceptively athletic, incredibly fun to watch, cuts engaging promos even if his dialogue is stilted and despite how he doesn’t have an outlandish character, I’m invested in what he’s going to do next.
Seeing him win the North American Championship was awesome. Watching him hold onto that and beat Adam Cole to win the NXT Championship and become a dual champion was even better.
Going up to the main roster, I had my reservations they’d crap all over him and he’d be screwed. However, even though there was a setback with his gear and entrance music, even that is turning around.
His new theme rocks. It seems Vince McMahon is a big fan of him and is starting to trust him even more. There’s a good chance we’re talking about Lee being a world champion in 2021 and I’m all for it.
It’s been great to see him go so far this year and I hope next year sees even bigger steps forward.
Drake Maverick Signs an NXT Contract
After Black Wednesday when so many people lost their jobs, one of the most heartbreaking was Drake Maverick. He seemed so happy to be a WWE Superstar and so utterly devastated at losing his position in the company.
When they announced he would be able to compete in the rest of the tournament, I didn’t have high hopes anything would come out of it. I thought WWE was just trying to milk him dry of a few losses where he’d get squashed and they’d boot him out the door.
Then, when he was presented with an NXT contract by Triple H and re-signed with the company, that was among the most uplifting and happy moments of the year. Maverick seems like such a nice guy and I’m very, very glad his dream hasn’t come to an end.
What do you think were the best things to come out of WWE this year? Tell us your list in the comments section below!
