WWE is entering the new decade and it seems to be another exciting year. 2019 was full of memorable moments though. No one will forget KofiMania: veteran Kofi Kingston won his first-ever WWE Championship. CM Punk returned to WWE for the first time since 2014 as an analyst and reporter. SmackDown has moved to Fox and NXT has moved to live television on the USA Network. Speaking of NXT, they have cemented themselves as the true third brand for the company and ran over Raw and SmackDown. Big names have left the company (Dean Ambrose, Sin Cara, Harper) but there are new faces to replace them (Cain Velasquez, Scarlett Bordeaux). At WrestleMania, the women headlined for the first time ever when Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch competed in a Triple Threat match. 2020 is only a few days old but there could be so much in store for WWE this year. The bolder, the better.
Punk surprised the entire WWE Universe and most of the personnel when he returned to WWE just a few short months ago. It was in the form of an analyst on WWE Backstage on FS1 and is signed with Fox and not WWE, but it is a start. Punk has stated that he won’t be wrestling and is happy with that decision, but there is a saying in WWE: never say never. One of the company’s top stars, Seth Rollins, has issued it out to Punk for a WrestleMania match. If the opponent is big enough, as well as the paycheck and royalties, Punk could dust off the boots for one retirement match.
In 2019, the women of WWE had another slew of first-time moments. Rousey, Flair, and Lynch were in the main event of WrestleMania. Lynch, Flair, and Shayna Baszler were in the main event of Survivor Series. Becky Lynch held both women’s titles at one point. Since the first Evolution pay-per-view in 2018, there has been much buzz about a second. It never happened in 2019, but it was a busy year. That’s understandable. There are many new established women in WWE and many more on the rise. A show just for them to shine will only improve the overall product.
For the first time since he entered WWE, Cena was not featured on one pay-per-view match all year. There have been rumors that Cena could return to the ring for at least WrestleMania this year. Most people assume it’ll be his farewell match, but not so fast. Cena was the face of the WWE for most of the last decade. Sure, he’s off making a career acting now, but WWE is in his blood. He won’t be walking away for good anytime soon.
This is nothing personal, there is just tons of traffic around the world titles. Brock is bound to lose the title soon and Cain and he will enter a rivalry. He may get title shots but Brock will intervene every step of the way.
Vince McMahon is said to be high on both of these men and wants them to team up and make a run. Both of them are in a highly-anticipated feud but they will team later this year. Now is too soon. When they do, they will capture the titles and run as champs for the rest of the year.
Styles recently signed his “likely” last wrestling contract. The former WWE Champion is 42 and has stated he can already feel his body losing a step. He is still one of the bigger stars and will have plenty of airtime this year. That could spell doom. His style is high-flying and quick and all it takes is one hard bump and Styles could be kept off TV for a long chunk of time.
Rollins is currently one of the top heels on Raw and has teamed with AOP as protection. The issue is it’s a stale gimmick he has had before. AOP is much better than J&J but they will run their course as bodyguards and get back to chasing the tag titles.
Andrade is currently the US Champion and had quite a 2019. People backstage are very high on him and his push will continue past the mid-card picture. He will see a world championship and it’ll be around the time of MITB, in which he will enter a long feud with Mr. MITB.
When Black and Buddy finally team up, the Profits will have earned the belts. It’s a fantastic matchup on paper alone. The Profits will end up losing and giving the new team their first title run.
Things seemed to be changing for the better for the love triangle storyline. Then the wedding happened and the pipebomb by Liv Morgan. By the time this story ends, it will have been a waste of every person involved.
The Major Brothers saw a run as Raw Tag Team Champions in 2019 but that seems so long ago. Since then, they seem to be back on the bench, working house shows and dark matches. Sadly, it’ll remain such a thing for 2020 for them.
Drew McIntyre had a quiet 2019 but 2020 is a fresh start. Lesnar has announced he will enter the Rumble as champion as #1. He will have to outlast every single person in the Rumble to retain. Sadly for Brock, Drew will be the last man standing.
Owens made a brief stint in NXT for WarGames. Joe is back from a long injury and the two have teamed up against Rollins and AOP. Once that angle is over, the two of them could both go back down to NXT and get a restart to the decade.
It’ll be in NXT though. Mojo has been lost backstage on Raw for far too long. A refresher with NXT can actually give him traction and rebuild him.
Orton has had a Hall of Fame career and still looks as dangerous as ever. After the Rumble/WM storylines wrap up, Orton is prime to jump back into the title picture.
It’ll happen at the hands of his son though. Pretty bold, right? Dominic has been part of Rey’s rivalry against Brock Lesnar and has been at the PC training. The best path for Rey’s retirement would be to put over his own son.
He’s at 30 now and has been the reason for this title being relevant. The 24/7 title is seen less on TV now though but R-Truth has proven he can make any storyline work with this title.
Heel Rollins is the best Rollins. He’s been the babyface for quite some time now and this keeps him trending. He will have a title run at some point and battle some of the younger faces in the company along the way.
The Kabuki Warriors are a powerful tag team and Asuka is also rivaling Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch. After WrestleMania, Asuka will have two belts around her waist.