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 2021 review is the Greatest Wonders of the Year from WWE.
As with the other list (and pretty much any opinion piece), 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. In no particular order…
RK-Bro
Matt Riddle has been one of the absolute highlights of 2021 on his own, but he’s been made that much better by being alongside Randy Orton.
Odd Couple pairings either work really well or not at all. Super Brutality (Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H.) isn’t working for me, as it all feels manufactured and fake. Zoey Stark and Io Shirai keep acting like they don’t get along, but it’s not particularly fun to see them interact.
Orton, on the other hand, gives off a vibe that he genuinely likes working with Riddle. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this was his idea. He spoke highly of Riddle in the past and how he could see a version of himself in him, so I bet he requested this program.
It’s saved his year, too. He had just gotten out of that god awful storyline with Bray Wyatt and did a total 180 to become a more comedic character. As the straight man of this pair, he gets to have some great reactions while allowing Riddle to be the focal point. That means Riddle gets boosts in his star power by having Orton sell for his comedy, but Orton can also be part of the fun as the adversary who sometimes can’t help but to go along with it, too.
RK-Bro is an actual tag team name. They have some matching iconography and music. How rare is that, these days? Typically, WWE is so afraid of tag teams that they just announce the two singles names and that’s it. Hell, it’s even happening with Super Brutality. Have you ever heard them referred to by that name, or are they just Rhea and Nikki?
This has worked so well, from the setup to the tag title reign, that I just assume the inevitable split in 2022 that leads to a WrestleMania match will be awesome, too. Hats off.
The Way
Another group I’ve enjoyed a lot this year was NXT’s The Way. Johnny Gargano has been among my absolute favorite Superstars in general for the past few years, Candice LeRae was perpetually underutilized, Austin Theory’s a guy I immediately saw potential in, and Indi Hartwell is someone I’ve really warmed up to.
Playing around with their heel characters and their dysfunctional family had its fair share of moments. Not the least of which was the addition of a new member to the team in Dexter Lumis.
On paper, it sounds so ridiculous and like something that wouldn’t get over, nor be something to cheer about. Lumis—the creepy stalker guy—was pure babyface in his mutual attraction to Indi, leading to pseudo-dad Gargano and pseudo-mom LeRae scolding her for this unapproved relationship while pseudo-brother Theory was just a dipshit meathead.
Absurd, but it somehow worked. Even the wedding, which normally doesn’t go well, just ended with them “married”, and it not only wasn’t a letdown for “going nowhere”, but it felt like a positive. That’s exceedingly rare. Just as Miro.
It was sad to see this group split, but among all the chaos of this year, they managed to keep some of that exit going well enough that I’m okay with it. Candice is pregnant, so obviously, that’s a rational excuse for her to be off television. Gargano is now out of NXT, sadly, so if we don’t get references for him going forward, it’s understandable, and he was even written off with an attack. Theory moved up to the main roster, so that’s his reason for going away, kind of like when parents watch their kids go off to college after graduating high school. Indi is still together with Dexter, meaning InDex continues, and she has her best friend (Persia Pirotta) as a new teammate, after bringing her in via the bachelorette party. Persia, meanwhile, has been treated like a star in the making, which is nice to see. Then, you’ve got Gargano and Lumis getting along, giving each other thumbs ups and Gargano defending him as his son-in-law.
So much of this year was a mess, but this was one of the fun messes.
Bianca Belair
Back in NXT, Bianca Belair was clearly a star in the making. She didn’t manage to reach the mountain top there, but that ultimately doesn’t matter. Instead, she had a much better 2021 than damn near any other woman on the roster, which more than makes up for it.
Winning the Royal Rumble is already awesome. I’m a big fan of when someone new wins that match and goes on to win their first title at WrestleMania. It’s my go-to strategy that I would love to see WWE employ even more often and properly build to at least every other year, considering there are 4 titles (2 winners) to potentially do this with each shot.
Admittedly, her feud with Sasha Banks was trash. WWE spent months basically saying “We don’t care enough to put effort into this. You know you’ll like the match. Just shut up and wait until Mania.”
That’s never good enough, so they need to be held accountable for that. However, how lucky were they that that match actually delivered and did indeed erase many people’s memories about how terrible February and March were for this feud?
Seeing Belair and Banks crying at the start of their match is one of my favorite moments of the year. Checking off that historic main event idea to begin with is already a positive, but to see the genuine emotion behind them just made it so much better. Had Banks won, it would have soured the whole situation, so it was great Belair took the title, too.
While she had to job out to Becky Lynch because WWE couldn’t resist the temptation to put the belt back on The Man, it’s nice to see Belair hasn’t fully lost steam since then. Her run at Survivor Series is proof of that.
To a lesser extent, I wish I could put Rhea Ripley on this list as a copy/paste of Belair. She was the runner-up in the Royal Rumble and did go on to win the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania, but WWE’s done a worse job with her than Belair.
WWE just would not let Ripley beat Charlotte Flair, for whatever reason. Not even after the huge mistake it was to do that outcome at WrestleMania 36. Ripley wasn’t even supposed to beat Asuka at Mania anyway, clearly, so it seems like she lucked her way into that position after a year’s worth of WWE botching her character, rather than WWE actually acknowledging their mistake and trying to correct it.
Hopefully, 2022 is equally kind to both Belair and Ripley and they stand tall as two of the most dominant women in the division and regain championships.
Damian Priest
Among the WWE Superstars with the best track records in 2021 was Damian Priest. He was starting to gain some real traction in NXT as North American champion before being brought up to the main roster, so I naturally assumed he would fall victim to the same problem WWE has run into time and time again: a guy is great in NXT, so they change everything about him, make him lose all the time, then fall out of favor and wonder why he isn’t working out well. Then, they fire them.
While that sadly happened to a bunch of talent this year alone, that couldn’t be further from what happened to Priest, thankfully. Instead, he was given a prominent spot at WrestleMania teaming alongside Bad Bunny against The Miz and John Morrison. After that point, instead of WWE growing tired of him and figuring his usefulness was over, he continued to be successful.
Priest has held the United States Championship since August 21 (over 117 days). He’s wrestled 59 matches at the time I’m writing this article and won 53 of them. Those 6 losses have largely been inconsequential, too—a tag team match, a disqualification, the Royal Rumble, a loss to Karrion Kross back on January 6th when Kross was still an unstoppable killer, a handicap match and a battle royal that he almost won.
How good is it to see someone actually get a solid push like that?
Tribal Chief Roman Reigns / Babyface Brock Lesnar
The continuation of Roman Reigns as a heel has been something that will define his legacy in WWE. He’s already reached legendary status with previous accolades, but this is the achievement he’ll be able to put above all the rest, as he’s likely going to hold the title past even WrestleMania 2022. Maybe even 2023.
As time passes, Reigns grows in confidence. This version of The Tribal Chief is the best so far, where he’s always talking about how he’s going to smash the competition and then, delivers.
Watching him face Brock Lesnar is something I didn’t think I’d say would be on my “best of” list, to be honest. After YEARS of seeing that feud and being so incredibly exhausted by it to the point where I flat out stopped addressing it on many occasions and even created a “Brock Lesnar Rule” on my podcast to avoid talking about it anymore, it’s refreshing to see that the dynamic was switched up.
Babyface Brock is fun!! Watching him mess with Sami Zayn got some chuckles out of me, for instance. I actually don’t even mind that they’re fighting a second time in such a short while at Day 1.
Granted, I don’t want to see them fight again at Royal Rumble, let alone to spend another 3 months building up to ANOTHER match at WrestleMania, so I’ll probably sour on this in due time, but at the moment, Reigns is great, Lesnar is great and I’m down for it for the first time since 2015. That’s saying a lot.
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley
Finally, after all these years, Bobby Lashley reached the summit. It took the creation of The Hurt Business (which WWE never should have disbanded) and a nigh-unstoppable streak in 2020 to get there, but boy was I happy when it finally happened.
The Miz’s Money in the Bank situation coming out of Otis was more than flawed. All of that could have been much better in so many ways. But at least the execution of his handover of the belt was fun.
Having a weasel like The Miz only beat Drew McIntyre because he had gotten Lashley’s help to take him out and capitalize on it, only for MVP to reveal that they did that as part of a deal for Lashley to get a title shot, knowing he’d definitely beat The Miz, was great. Following it up with The Miz trying to weasel his way out of it, only to suffer a prompt destruction by Lashley was the logical next step.
Had Lashley dropped the title back to McIntyre at WrestleMania, I think we’d have looked back on that as a mistake. That sucks for Drew, but it meant more for Lashley to keep it longer than that. Dropping it with the Money in the Bank cash-in from Big E, too, is a bit poetic.
At this point, I wouldn’t mind seeing Lashley as champion again. The All Mighty sold me.
The Ultimate Show
With the essential death of the WWE Network, the company stopped producing 99% of its content for that platform. No longer are there shows like Table for 3, Ride Along, WWE 365 or anything of that sort.
Thankfully, though, this year saw the creation of a new program called The Ultimate Show. Starring Matt Camp, Ryan Pappolla and Sam Roberts (as well as a fourth guest, sometimes), these guys sit down and debate fantasy dream matches and structure a pay-per-view card based on all-time Superstars to pick from.
I do this all the time on my own, so to see fellow nerds geeking out over fantasy booking scenarios and to have it be an engaging hour or so each time means I look forward to every edition. Whenever I see “The Ultimate Survivor Series” or something on the lineup, I know that I’m going to hear some fantasy ideas I never imagined, but now want to see, and that it will spark my creativity to think of my own in response.
If you’re into that sort of thing, I highly recommend not only that, but my own fantasy booking podcasts and such.
King Xavier Woods / Queen Zelina Vega
More often than not, if something feels too good to be true in WWE, it usually is. I’ve been waiting for the King of the Ring tournament to return for quite some time. While Baron Corbin had some good stuff with it (I still think he’s underrated; shoot me), it felt like a new king needed to be crowned.
Since I had known that Xavier Woods has talked about wanting that crown for years, he was my favorite to win before they announced the tournament would come back. The guy mentioned it more than any other accolade. Most people talk about wanting to win the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania, which only few can do, but this guy was humble enough to just want that KOTR crown. It was something WWE could easily do, which meant there was practically no way in hell it would actually happen.
But then, KOTR was announced to return, for real. Then, Woods was announced for the tournament. And he actually won it!! Easily one of my favorite parts of this year.
On top of that, people have asked for a Queen of the Ring for years. That name doesn’t rhyme and ring the same, so switching it to Queen’s Crown was a suitable enough (albeit a bit underwhelming) substitution. But I’m a big fan of how it did actually come to pass, instead of just being the KOTR by itself.
Kudos to WWE for having it in Saudi Arabia. Bonus points for Zelina Vega winning, as she hasn’t achieved anywhere near the success I would like to have seen her reach.
Cameron Grimes
Cameron Grimes won me over this year. Even in 2020, I wasn’t the biggest fan. I remember one of my first impressions of him, during the NXT Breakout Tournament in 2019, was “I really hope they don’t give the win to THIS guy.”
In 2021, his babyface turn and the random ass GameStop stock investor storyline leading into a program with Ted DiBiase and the Million Dollar Championship was rad. Some legitimately funny moments, two title reigns (albeit more symbolic than anything else) for a star like LA Knight (who I like) and Grimes (who I grew to like), and the return of an icon with an iconic title was so good.
The best thing was that they ended the story damn near exactly how I would have done it. I wanted Grimes to give the belt back to Ted DiBiase out of respect, only to find out that DiBiase grifted him in some way so he could say “that damn Ted DiBiase” to round it all out, and that’s what happened. Perfect.
Honorable Mentions
- Edge wins the Royal Rumble from the #1 spot. Cool.
- More of an AEW win than anything else, but we got Christian returning!
- Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER from TakeOver 36
- Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods had Green Ranger and White Ranger ring gear. How awesome was that?
- Seeing fans in attendance was so needed. Thankfully, we’re at a state where that has been the majority of 2021.
What do you think were the best things to come out of WWE this year? Tell us your list in the comments section below!
