Everyone else is doing it, so why not me?
I didn't really want to do a Top Ten list of matches because that just doesn't sit well with me. There are matches that are amazing but I don't connect with them on an emotional level (Kenny Omega vs Kasuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom is a perfect example of that for me, because while I recognize the incredible work they're doing, I don't feel it as intensely because I don't watch more than an hour of NJPW every week... don't @ me, IWC), and there are smaller, low-stakes matches (Gargano vs Black at Takeover Wargames) that I absolutely loved at every conceivable level. So, basically rating matches is something I think doesn't have a whole lot of value to me.
So let's look at the talent that made me go crazy in 2018.
Fair warning: most of these are going to be WWE performers, so if you don't understand where I'm coming from, please go back to my very first post on this site.
Honorable Mention #1: Mustafa Ali
I love this guy. His cruiserweight title match at Mania 34 was one of the main reasons I tuned in. He has a move-set to die for, natural babyface charisma that is utterly effortless, and he can fucking go like no one's business. And if there's one match from 205 Live that I would absolutely consider to be a MOTY candidate, it would be his No DQ match with Buddy Murphy from July 3rd. It was hellacious, dramatic and so fucking solid. It was everything a great wrestling match should be, and more than likely, it'll be overlooked by many end-of-year lists.
Honorable Mention #2: Velveteen Dream
He is the pansexual unicorn in an promotion filled with shitty gay panic jokes. He has the skills to pay the bills and he's 23 fucking years old. He's 100% deserving of a higher spot on this list but he just didn't really get a great rivalry this year. Although his match against Tommaso Ciampa at Takeover Wargames was his best of this year, it was also the only really great match he had all year, which is why he only gets an honorable mention here. And I'm terrified of his call up and that Vince will totally fuck up everything cool about his personality.
Honorable Mention #3: Adam Cole
Here's a guy that I just can't get enough of when it comes to straight-up personality. His in-ring style is terrific, and his match against Ricochet for the North American title at Takeover Brooklyn was AWESOME. But this man plays his part to perfection. He's a chicken shit heel who is all swagger when he's with his Undisputed Era cohorts, but once he gets out there, he does have what it takes to walk away with the clean win, but any shortcut he can take is the way he'll do it. He's both a throwback talent and a future star.
Honorable Mention #4: A.J. Styles
It's not hyperbolic to count A.J. as one of the greatest talents that WWE has ever seen. But the reason he's not on the Top 10 for me this year is that his reign as WWE Champion felt too dominant and most of his programs had potential but ended up being rather standard as he faced off again and again against Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe for the strap. A.J. just kept coming out on top, and it just got tired. That's not to say that he didn't have some great matches in there, but none of them felt particularly dramatic, and as much as I love work rate, I need to get invested, and he just didn't really do it for me this year.
Honorable Mention #5: Will Ospreay
I've made no secret out of the fact that I fucking love Will. The only reason that he's not on the list proper is he was out for far too long. But he just had that beautiful tag match with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs The Golden Lovers and he'll have a singles match at Wrestle Kingdom 13 for the NEVER Openweight title has me breathless with antici... pation. That Robinson Special, man; goddamn, that thing puts me over the moon.
Okay, now for the actual list...
#10: Charlotte Flair
Charlotte is getting hated on this year, but also getting a lot of accolades as well. She was clearly the chosen one in the Women's division in WWE this year as she was the one who ended Asuka's undefeated streak at Mania 34, putting her in the driver's seat, and that was a problem for a lot of fans, myself included. I felt that they were giving her way too much. She was already a multi-time champion and she was the kind of beautiful blonde that WWE seems to keep on top because she's not only gorgeous but also a fantastic wrestler. But when the sea change in the Women's division occured at Summerslam and a certain Irish lass-kicker became the hottest thing in the world of pro wrestling, Charlotte didn't get the credit she deserved for that. A huge part of the reason that Becky got shot to the moon is because of Charlotte and how effectively she's been playing her part. And this isn't even really going into her wrestling abilities that much. Charlotte is one of the few players on the roster that works equally well as both as a heel and a face, so Charlotte has to get her due for everything that's happened this year.
#9: Shayna Baszler
For the most part in WWE over the years that I've been watching, aside from a very few outliers, there have been two distinct types of female heels: the standard heel who feels like they run the show, and do so in a vainglorious fashion (see: Charlotte, Paige, the Bellas) , and the "Mean Girls" heel, where their entire persona as a heel consists of being a cruel person who screams and shrieks when they don't get their way and talks shit behind other wrestler's backs (see: Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Alicia Fox) . But with Shayna Baszler, we're getting a new type of female heel: a truly dominant and brutal heel that backs up her words with deeds. To be clear, this is not a new type of heel, but it is a new type of female heel. Generally, this type of heel has been reserved for men in the WWE, so it's truly refreshing to see Baszler doing this type of work, and NXT allowing her to do so. She's also not afraid to be, for lack of a better description, un-feminine for WWE standards. And her matches are equally brutal. She's one of the first women I've seen in WWE that doesn't feel they need to create a distinctly female persona. She's here to kick everyone's ass, and you truly get the feeling that she doesn't care whose ass she needs to kick.
#8. Aleister Black
This hurts that I'm putting him this low on the list because he is absolutely one of my favorites, but because of his extended absence, it lowered his stock somewhat. But Aleister is one of the great bonafide badasses in all of WWE, and could have easily been a champ with a long title reign that began with his amazing defeat of Andrade "Cien" Almas at Takeover New Orleans during Mania weekend, but it seems like Hunter had different plans when he lost the title to Tommaso Ciampa. His unfortunate injury at a house show still left an indelible mark on NXT as it created one of the most intriguing and entertaining storylines in all of wrestling with the "Who Attacked Aleister?" mystery. Although, when he was clear to return, he wasted no time demolishing all who stood in his way. You know that you're a really big deal when your kayfabed injury causes people to talk about you on a weekly basis even though you're not on the show. Here's hoping that 2019 is even better than his 2017 when he would have easily been near or at the very top of this list.
#7. Tommaso Ciampa
If there was one wrestler in WWE that had fucking nuclear heel heat this year, it was the Psycho Killer himself. For a time, all he had to do was to step out in the ring, stand there with his crutch, and he would just get booed right out of the building without having to say a word. And this wasn't a one-time thing; this happened for months, especially with his ongoing torment of Johnny Gargano, his former best friend. But once he was ready to compete again, compete he did. He tore down the house with Gargano in their unsanctioned match at Takeover New Orleans, did it again with their Chicago Street Fight at Takeover Chicago and yes, did it again with their Last Man Standing match at Takeover Brooklyn. His unique brand of physical and psychological attacks on Gargano even caused the unthinkable; it caused Johnny Wrestling, the ultimate babyface underdog, to turn heel. He's the greatest pure heel in the business right now, and is the epitome of the heel you love to hate and hate to love.
#6. Seth Rollins
The iron man of Monday Night Raw, Seth once again proved that he didn't need The Shield to be the best thing to watch on Raw. His 60+ minutes in the instant classic Gauntlet match was more than enough to show that he had everything it took to be the top guy, and with his mic skills, move set and making the Intercontinental Title the most important Men's title on the main roster, it furthered his legacy as one of the all-time greats. But it all started to go downhill for Seth the character when Roman Reigns announced he was battling leukemia and had to step down, and of course, that same night, he and Dean Ambrose would take back the Raw Tag titles from Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre only to have Dean turn heel on him almost immediately after the win. And after losing the IC title at TLC, and no real friends left in his corner and abandoned by his brothers, Seth should be a shell of himself looking for redemption, and that booking may very well come. The real reason he's this low is that he's currently somewhat aimless from a storyline perspective, and the (in hindsight) terrible booking of the TLC match has taken him down lower than he should be.
#5. Ronda Rousey
In what has to be one of the most impressive rookie seasons of any wrestler in the modern era, Rowdy Ronda took the wrestling world by storm. When she came out at the Rumble and pointed at the Wrestlemania sign about 10 times, some were excited, and the rest of us were... I don't know if the word apprehensive is strong enough to describe what we felt. We were fucking petrified, really. This was either going to be a shockingly great match or a monumental crash-and-burn, especially considering how high-profile her signing was. As the weeks rolled up to Mania 34, knowing that she was going to be in a mixed tag match partnering with Kurt Angle against HHH and Stephanie McMahon, we couldn't have been less excited... at least, not until the match happened. And Ronda stood taller than we could have thought possible. And once she got over her apparent jitters, she had the rocket strapped to her back and took the Raw Women's title away from Alexa Bliss. Since then, it's been a steady stream of improvements. Of course, the only thing she really needs to improve are her promo skills and her social media game, because that's not really doing much for her. But in the ring, she's become a legit talent, and really looks to be in this for the long haul.
#4. Kenny Omega
Yes, Kenny Omega is likely the most talented and arguably the most important male wrestler in the world right now. He, along with The Elite, are quite literally changing the world (of wrestling, anyway). He's had more barn-burner matches than just about anyone, and if the rumors are to be believed, he could help to usher in an entirely new wrestling promotion that could compete in the big leagues. None of this can possibly be understated. He's a champion with attitude and swagger and he isn't afraid to queer up our wrestling as his renewed partnership with Kota Ibushi has proven (dude, they're called The Golden Lovers for a reason). His title match with Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 12 was one for the ages. So... why is he only at #4 on my list? As I stated at the opening of this post, as much as I enjoy watching New Japan, I only get to see it once a week for an hour and it's pre-taped by several weeks. If New Japan started a streaming service that I could watch through Roku or other smart TV services, I'd be a subscriber and probably be watching it right now. But since they don't, and I hate watching wrestling on my phone or tablet or computer, it'll have to be later.
#3. Daniel Bryan
On March 20th, already well on the road to Wrestlemania, Daniel Bryan came out that night and kicked off Smackdown Live and set the wrestling world ablaze with three simple words: "You are cleared". It had been just over two years since his retirement speech, and he came back with those three little words and he was ready to Go with a capital "G". And we were ready to have him back. He was one of the truest babyfaces that could ever be on that night and for the foreseeable future. The Yes Movement was back and in full effect. We were already fantasy booking his Mania 35 match even before Mania 34. Of course, we were worried for him. Could he still take bumps? Would we gasp in fear every time he hit his head? We did, but not long after those initial fears, he made it clear that nothing and no one could stop Daniel Bryan from becoming the one of the biggest babyfaces ever. Well, no one but The New Daniel Bryan. It was the Smackdown go-home leading into Survivor Series where we were looking at another standard sub-standard match between WWE champ A.J. Styles and Universal "Champ" Brock Lesnar when Bryan, in a title match against Styles, would hit the low blow felt around the world. This was Daniel Bryan, for chrissakes. This was the perennial underdog; the babyface to end all babyfaces, particularly after his comeback. We sat there in stunned silence as The American Dragon would take that low blow and become a fearsome, unhinged and maniacal heel champ and would also give Lesnar the best match I've ever seen him in. And it's led to a place that I'm totally on board to see where it will lead, because when something like this happens, it needs to be truly appreciated when WWE can still shock you.
#2. Johnny Gargano
I knew that when I got really close to the #2 and #1 spots on this list, I was going to have to make a choice as to who would make my top spot and I knew that either way, it was going to hurt. I didn't want to claim one was better or worse than the other, so I just basically went with how important each performer was to their respective brands, and I have to say that while NXT is absolutely my favorite, it's still not as important to the world of wrestling overall as the main roster is. But if there was one performer that encapsulated everything great about the world of NXT (and pretty much wrestling in general), it was Johnny Freakin' Wrestling. His time as a member of DIY was terrific and cemented him as one of the greatest natural babyfaces around, and this was only helped by the heel turn of Tommaso Ciampa at Takeover Chicago 2017. As 2018 crept into view, Johnny was a man on a mission, and that mission was getting the NXT championship title. And starting with Takeover Philadelphia in January, it seemed clear that he was being set up to take the title away from Andrade Almas, and in a bout that many are calling Match of the Year, they burned the fucking building down but Johnny came up short as Almas and manager Zelina Vega worked flawlessly together to screw Johnny over and pick up the dirty win. A clearly distraught Johhny sat with wife Candice La Rae at the top of the ramp only to get blindsided again by Ciampa and his trusty crutch. Then Johnny claimed that if he couldn't win the title from Almas, he didn't deserve to be in NXT, and that created the Title vs Career match in February. Again, when it seemed like Johnny would win, Ciampa reared his malicious head (and crutch) and cost Johnny the match and his career. Johnny would come back in spectacular fashion and have another MOTY candidate at Takeover New Orleans in the Unsanctioned match where Johnny got his career back, but this was nowhere near the end for Gargano and Ciampa, but we've already talked about those matches. The real kicker here for Gargano is not just that he was a MOTY machine all year long, but NXT took Johnny to a place we never expected him to go: they took him to The Dark Side, as was shown when he was revealed to be the one who attacked Aleister Black. And then he had another potential MOTY candidate match at Takeover Wargames against Black, and it was a fucking blast. But what really stood Johnny above and beyond was not just his amazing abilities in the ring, but his brilliant character work. We believed in him as a babyface and maybe more importantly, we understand him as a heel and this is why Johnny Freakin' Wrestling is the top male performer of the year for me.
#1. Becky Lynch
Here's something that, based on her positioning in WWE, I never thought I would think: Becky Lynch is the biggest thing in all of wrestling right now. Look back at this year, particularly at the beginning. What did she do? Well, frankly, not much. Sure she competed in the Women's Battle Royal and the first Women's Royal Rumble match. And she also was in the Money in the Bank match. But it seemed that her greatest successes had already come and gone as the inaugural Smackdown Women's champ back in 2016. Becky Balboa had been relegated to being a solid fan-favorite mid-card competitor, much like fellow Irishman Finn Balor. She had a lot of fun tag matches with partner Charlotte Flair, but otherwise, she was being booked as if she had already peaked. And once we hit the mid-way point of this year, that started to change. She went on a terrific undefeated streak and made her way up to facing then-champ Carmella at Summerslam. However, Charlotte, having just returned from... well, we know what actually happened but in kayfabe, it was an injury, and Charlotte had finagled herself into that championship match at Summerslam and suddenly it was two best friends having to compete against 'Mella in a triple-threat match for the strap, and like she had many times before, Charlotte came out on top by hitting Becky with Natural Selection while Becky had Carmella in the Dis-Arm-Her. And as Charlotte and Becky hugged it out post-match, it seemed like we were going back to the status quo. But much to the delight of almost everyone, that was not to be as Becky slugged Charlotte and beat her down badly and thus began the era of The Man. Now, to Becky's credit, she went with the company line and came out as the badass cheap-heat heel Becky for pretty much exactly one episode of Smackdown. She was berating the audience that they were never really behind her, but we saw right through that Vince bullshit and continued cheering the fuck out of her anyway. Why? Because Becky had been underused and undervalued for far too long while the Charlottes and the Alexas ran their respective brands. Admittedly, I haven't been watching wresting for that long, but Becky was the first performer I saw who got herself over in a totally organic way. There was no noticeable push, no Roman Reigns-esque positioning; Becky, like the force of nature that she is, just happened. And once WWE wised the fuck up, they let it happen. This would lead to Becky winning the title at Hell in a Cell, and then having what I consider to be easily the best women's match of 2018 in the Last Woman Standing match at Evolution as she faced off against Charlotte again, but by this time, Charlotte was working full heel again while Becky played the ultimate tweener. Don't get me wrong; Becky was getting babyface pops every time she came out, but she had settled into a true tweener role. But the very best moment was still to come, and despite its initial outcome, turned out to be the best possible thing for Becky. On the go-home Raw before Survivor Series, Becky led an invasion of Raw by the women of Smackdown that began with Becky putting none other than Ronda Rousey in the Dis-Arm-Her for a few minutes backstage, talking trash to her the whole while, then came down the ramp and seemed to stand alone against all the women of Raw. The Man had come around. Then the invasion began and Becky rushed the ring to fight the Raw women's roster, and fate stepped in. Nia Jax, a performer somewhat notorious for unsafe ring work, closed-fist punched Becky right in the face. Becky began bleeding profusely from the nose, but she carried on helping to clear the ring and then as Rousey made her way into the ring, Becky got in several good chair shots to the "Baddest Woman on the Planet", and we got the most iconic pro wrestling moment of 2018 as Becky stood outside the ring, arms outstretched, wearing a crimson mask and clearly not giving a single solitary fuck. She was the warrior woman that we always knew she could be. The immediate fallout from Jax's shot was that Becky suffered "a broken face" and a concussion and would not be cleared to compete at Survivor Series against Ronda, and Charlotte was tapped to go in her stead. This bummed us all the fuck out until we realized that if indeed WWE (read: Vince) was smart enough to really shatter the glass ceiling by having a women's match close out Wrestlemania 35, it would be Ronda vs, well, a TBD opponent and until that point, the natural selection (pun fully intended) seemed to be Charlotte. But if they could create an opportunity to have Becky drop the title and compete in and hopefully win the Royal Rumble, she could have her shot once again at Rousey and with that, you have the makings of a truly classic main event that hasn't been seen since Mania 30 and Daniel Bryan vs Batista vs Randy Orton. And create that opportunity they did as they created a triple-threat main event with Asuka, Charlotte and champ Becky at TLC. With some timely help from a vengeful Rousey, Asuka (much deservedly) got her first main roster title win, and Charlotte and Becky would be left to plan their revenge not just on each other, but especially on Rousey. But not all of Becky's battles would be fought in the ring; she brought her A-game to social media and outdid everyone with fantastic callouts and comebacks that were straight up savage AF. And again, with equal importance, Becky seemed to finally find her true voice on the mic and cut promos that would rank amongst the best we saw from everyone all year. So you take some instant classic matches, incredible character work, a truly charismatic persona, and the single most iconic image of anything that happened in wrestling all year, and you have the year of Becky Lynch.
And that's it for 2018! I'll have my standard recaps of Raw, Smackdown and NXT later this week as well as a look at Wrestle Kingdom, but since AXS TV is only going to be playing 2 hours of the show from what I understand this Friday and will probably parse out the show in its entirety over the coming weeks, I might just save it until I've been able to watch the whole thing.
Until next time, kids... Happy New Year!!
I didn't really want to do a Top Ten list of matches because that just doesn't sit well with me. There are matches that are amazing but I don't connect with them on an emotional level (Kenny Omega vs Kasuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom is a perfect example of that for me, because while I recognize the incredible work they're doing, I don't feel it as intensely because I don't watch more than an hour of NJPW every week... don't @ me, IWC), and there are smaller, low-stakes matches (Gargano vs Black at Takeover Wargames) that I absolutely loved at every conceivable level. So, basically rating matches is something I think doesn't have a whole lot of value to me.
So let's look at the talent that made me go crazy in 2018.
Fair warning: most of these are going to be WWE performers, so if you don't understand where I'm coming from, please go back to my very first post on this site.
Honorable Mention #1: Mustafa Ali
I love this guy. His cruiserweight title match at Mania 34 was one of the main reasons I tuned in. He has a move-set to die for, natural babyface charisma that is utterly effortless, and he can fucking go like no one's business. And if there's one match from 205 Live that I would absolutely consider to be a MOTY candidate, it would be his No DQ match with Buddy Murphy from July 3rd. It was hellacious, dramatic and so fucking solid. It was everything a great wrestling match should be, and more than likely, it'll be overlooked by many end-of-year lists.
Honorable Mention #2: Velveteen Dream
He is the pansexual unicorn in an promotion filled with shitty gay panic jokes. He has the skills to pay the bills and he's 23 fucking years old. He's 100% deserving of a higher spot on this list but he just didn't really get a great rivalry this year. Although his match against Tommaso Ciampa at Takeover Wargames was his best of this year, it was also the only really great match he had all year, which is why he only gets an honorable mention here. And I'm terrified of his call up and that Vince will totally fuck up everything cool about his personality.
Honorable Mention #3: Adam Cole
Here's a guy that I just can't get enough of when it comes to straight-up personality. His in-ring style is terrific, and his match against Ricochet for the North American title at Takeover Brooklyn was AWESOME. But this man plays his part to perfection. He's a chicken shit heel who is all swagger when he's with his Undisputed Era cohorts, but once he gets out there, he does have what it takes to walk away with the clean win, but any shortcut he can take is the way he'll do it. He's both a throwback talent and a future star.
Honorable Mention #4: A.J. Styles
It's not hyperbolic to count A.J. as one of the greatest talents that WWE has ever seen. But the reason he's not on the Top 10 for me this year is that his reign as WWE Champion felt too dominant and most of his programs had potential but ended up being rather standard as he faced off again and again against Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe for the strap. A.J. just kept coming out on top, and it just got tired. That's not to say that he didn't have some great matches in there, but none of them felt particularly dramatic, and as much as I love work rate, I need to get invested, and he just didn't really do it for me this year.
Honorable Mention #5: Will Ospreay
I've made no secret out of the fact that I fucking love Will. The only reason that he's not on the list proper is he was out for far too long. But he just had that beautiful tag match with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs The Golden Lovers and he'll have a singles match at Wrestle Kingdom 13 for the NEVER Openweight title has me breathless with antici... pation. That Robinson Special, man; goddamn, that thing puts me over the moon.
Okay, now for the actual list...
#10: Charlotte Flair
Charlotte is getting hated on this year, but also getting a lot of accolades as well. She was clearly the chosen one in the Women's division in WWE this year as she was the one who ended Asuka's undefeated streak at Mania 34, putting her in the driver's seat, and that was a problem for a lot of fans, myself included. I felt that they were giving her way too much. She was already a multi-time champion and she was the kind of beautiful blonde that WWE seems to keep on top because she's not only gorgeous but also a fantastic wrestler. But when the sea change in the Women's division occured at Summerslam and a certain Irish lass-kicker became the hottest thing in the world of pro wrestling, Charlotte didn't get the credit she deserved for that. A huge part of the reason that Becky got shot to the moon is because of Charlotte and how effectively she's been playing her part. And this isn't even really going into her wrestling abilities that much. Charlotte is one of the few players on the roster that works equally well as both as a heel and a face, so Charlotte has to get her due for everything that's happened this year.
#9: Shayna Baszler
For the most part in WWE over the years that I've been watching, aside from a very few outliers, there have been two distinct types of female heels: the standard heel who feels like they run the show, and do so in a vainglorious fashion (see: Charlotte, Paige, the Bellas) , and the "Mean Girls" heel, where their entire persona as a heel consists of being a cruel person who screams and shrieks when they don't get their way and talks shit behind other wrestler's backs (see: Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Alicia Fox) . But with Shayna Baszler, we're getting a new type of female heel: a truly dominant and brutal heel that backs up her words with deeds. To be clear, this is not a new type of heel, but it is a new type of female heel. Generally, this type of heel has been reserved for men in the WWE, so it's truly refreshing to see Baszler doing this type of work, and NXT allowing her to do so. She's also not afraid to be, for lack of a better description, un-feminine for WWE standards. And her matches are equally brutal. She's one of the first women I've seen in WWE that doesn't feel they need to create a distinctly female persona. She's here to kick everyone's ass, and you truly get the feeling that she doesn't care whose ass she needs to kick.
#8. Aleister Black
This hurts that I'm putting him this low on the list because he is absolutely one of my favorites, but because of his extended absence, it lowered his stock somewhat. But Aleister is one of the great bonafide badasses in all of WWE, and could have easily been a champ with a long title reign that began with his amazing defeat of Andrade "Cien" Almas at Takeover New Orleans during Mania weekend, but it seems like Hunter had different plans when he lost the title to Tommaso Ciampa. His unfortunate injury at a house show still left an indelible mark on NXT as it created one of the most intriguing and entertaining storylines in all of wrestling with the "Who Attacked Aleister?" mystery. Although, when he was clear to return, he wasted no time demolishing all who stood in his way. You know that you're a really big deal when your kayfabed injury causes people to talk about you on a weekly basis even though you're not on the show. Here's hoping that 2019 is even better than his 2017 when he would have easily been near or at the very top of this list.
#7. Tommaso Ciampa
If there was one wrestler in WWE that had fucking nuclear heel heat this year, it was the Psycho Killer himself. For a time, all he had to do was to step out in the ring, stand there with his crutch, and he would just get booed right out of the building without having to say a word. And this wasn't a one-time thing; this happened for months, especially with his ongoing torment of Johnny Gargano, his former best friend. But once he was ready to compete again, compete he did. He tore down the house with Gargano in their unsanctioned match at Takeover New Orleans, did it again with their Chicago Street Fight at Takeover Chicago and yes, did it again with their Last Man Standing match at Takeover Brooklyn. His unique brand of physical and psychological attacks on Gargano even caused the unthinkable; it caused Johnny Wrestling, the ultimate babyface underdog, to turn heel. He's the greatest pure heel in the business right now, and is the epitome of the heel you love to hate and hate to love.
#6. Seth Rollins
The iron man of Monday Night Raw, Seth once again proved that he didn't need The Shield to be the best thing to watch on Raw. His 60+ minutes in the instant classic Gauntlet match was more than enough to show that he had everything it took to be the top guy, and with his mic skills, move set and making the Intercontinental Title the most important Men's title on the main roster, it furthered his legacy as one of the all-time greats. But it all started to go downhill for Seth the character when Roman Reigns announced he was battling leukemia and had to step down, and of course, that same night, he and Dean Ambrose would take back the Raw Tag titles from Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre only to have Dean turn heel on him almost immediately after the win. And after losing the IC title at TLC, and no real friends left in his corner and abandoned by his brothers, Seth should be a shell of himself looking for redemption, and that booking may very well come. The real reason he's this low is that he's currently somewhat aimless from a storyline perspective, and the (in hindsight) terrible booking of the TLC match has taken him down lower than he should be.
#5. Ronda Rousey
In what has to be one of the most impressive rookie seasons of any wrestler in the modern era, Rowdy Ronda took the wrestling world by storm. When she came out at the Rumble and pointed at the Wrestlemania sign about 10 times, some were excited, and the rest of us were... I don't know if the word apprehensive is strong enough to describe what we felt. We were fucking petrified, really. This was either going to be a shockingly great match or a monumental crash-and-burn, especially considering how high-profile her signing was. As the weeks rolled up to Mania 34, knowing that she was going to be in a mixed tag match partnering with Kurt Angle against HHH and Stephanie McMahon, we couldn't have been less excited... at least, not until the match happened. And Ronda stood taller than we could have thought possible. And once she got over her apparent jitters, she had the rocket strapped to her back and took the Raw Women's title away from Alexa Bliss. Since then, it's been a steady stream of improvements. Of course, the only thing she really needs to improve are her promo skills and her social media game, because that's not really doing much for her. But in the ring, she's become a legit talent, and really looks to be in this for the long haul.
#4. Kenny Omega
Yes, Kenny Omega is likely the most talented and arguably the most important male wrestler in the world right now. He, along with The Elite, are quite literally changing the world (of wrestling, anyway). He's had more barn-burner matches than just about anyone, and if the rumors are to be believed, he could help to usher in an entirely new wrestling promotion that could compete in the big leagues. None of this can possibly be understated. He's a champion with attitude and swagger and he isn't afraid to queer up our wrestling as his renewed partnership with Kota Ibushi has proven (dude, they're called The Golden Lovers for a reason). His title match with Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 12 was one for the ages. So... why is he only at #4 on my list? As I stated at the opening of this post, as much as I enjoy watching New Japan, I only get to see it once a week for an hour and it's pre-taped by several weeks. If New Japan started a streaming service that I could watch through Roku or other smart TV services, I'd be a subscriber and probably be watching it right now. But since they don't, and I hate watching wrestling on my phone or tablet or computer, it'll have to be later.
#3. Daniel Bryan
On March 20th, already well on the road to Wrestlemania, Daniel Bryan came out that night and kicked off Smackdown Live and set the wrestling world ablaze with three simple words: "You are cleared". It had been just over two years since his retirement speech, and he came back with those three little words and he was ready to Go with a capital "G". And we were ready to have him back. He was one of the truest babyfaces that could ever be on that night and for the foreseeable future. The Yes Movement was back and in full effect. We were already fantasy booking his Mania 35 match even before Mania 34. Of course, we were worried for him. Could he still take bumps? Would we gasp in fear every time he hit his head? We did, but not long after those initial fears, he made it clear that nothing and no one could stop Daniel Bryan from becoming the one of the biggest babyfaces ever. Well, no one but The New Daniel Bryan. It was the Smackdown go-home leading into Survivor Series where we were looking at another standard sub-standard match between WWE champ A.J. Styles and Universal "Champ" Brock Lesnar when Bryan, in a title match against Styles, would hit the low blow felt around the world. This was Daniel Bryan, for chrissakes. This was the perennial underdog; the babyface to end all babyfaces, particularly after his comeback. We sat there in stunned silence as The American Dragon would take that low blow and become a fearsome, unhinged and maniacal heel champ and would also give Lesnar the best match I've ever seen him in. And it's led to a place that I'm totally on board to see where it will lead, because when something like this happens, it needs to be truly appreciated when WWE can still shock you.
#2. Johnny Gargano
I knew that when I got really close to the #2 and #1 spots on this list, I was going to have to make a choice as to who would make my top spot and I knew that either way, it was going to hurt. I didn't want to claim one was better or worse than the other, so I just basically went with how important each performer was to their respective brands, and I have to say that while NXT is absolutely my favorite, it's still not as important to the world of wrestling overall as the main roster is. But if there was one performer that encapsulated everything great about the world of NXT (and pretty much wrestling in general), it was Johnny Freakin' Wrestling. His time as a member of DIY was terrific and cemented him as one of the greatest natural babyfaces around, and this was only helped by the heel turn of Tommaso Ciampa at Takeover Chicago 2017. As 2018 crept into view, Johnny was a man on a mission, and that mission was getting the NXT championship title. And starting with Takeover Philadelphia in January, it seemed clear that he was being set up to take the title away from Andrade Almas, and in a bout that many are calling Match of the Year, they burned the fucking building down but Johnny came up short as Almas and manager Zelina Vega worked flawlessly together to screw Johnny over and pick up the dirty win. A clearly distraught Johhny sat with wife Candice La Rae at the top of the ramp only to get blindsided again by Ciampa and his trusty crutch. Then Johnny claimed that if he couldn't win the title from Almas, he didn't deserve to be in NXT, and that created the Title vs Career match in February. Again, when it seemed like Johnny would win, Ciampa reared his malicious head (and crutch) and cost Johnny the match and his career. Johnny would come back in spectacular fashion and have another MOTY candidate at Takeover New Orleans in the Unsanctioned match where Johnny got his career back, but this was nowhere near the end for Gargano and Ciampa, but we've already talked about those matches. The real kicker here for Gargano is not just that he was a MOTY machine all year long, but NXT took Johnny to a place we never expected him to go: they took him to The Dark Side, as was shown when he was revealed to be the one who attacked Aleister Black. And then he had another potential MOTY candidate match at Takeover Wargames against Black, and it was a fucking blast. But what really stood Johnny above and beyond was not just his amazing abilities in the ring, but his brilliant character work. We believed in him as a babyface and maybe more importantly, we understand him as a heel and this is why Johnny Freakin' Wrestling is the top male performer of the year for me.
#1. Becky Lynch
Here's something that, based on her positioning in WWE, I never thought I would think: Becky Lynch is the biggest thing in all of wrestling right now. Look back at this year, particularly at the beginning. What did she do? Well, frankly, not much. Sure she competed in the Women's Battle Royal and the first Women's Royal Rumble match. And she also was in the Money in the Bank match. But it seemed that her greatest successes had already come and gone as the inaugural Smackdown Women's champ back in 2016. Becky Balboa had been relegated to being a solid fan-favorite mid-card competitor, much like fellow Irishman Finn Balor. She had a lot of fun tag matches with partner Charlotte Flair, but otherwise, she was being booked as if she had already peaked. And once we hit the mid-way point of this year, that started to change. She went on a terrific undefeated streak and made her way up to facing then-champ Carmella at Summerslam. However, Charlotte, having just returned from... well, we know what actually happened but in kayfabe, it was an injury, and Charlotte had finagled herself into that championship match at Summerslam and suddenly it was two best friends having to compete against 'Mella in a triple-threat match for the strap, and like she had many times before, Charlotte came out on top by hitting Becky with Natural Selection while Becky had Carmella in the Dis-Arm-Her. And as Charlotte and Becky hugged it out post-match, it seemed like we were going back to the status quo. But much to the delight of almost everyone, that was not to be as Becky slugged Charlotte and beat her down badly and thus began the era of The Man. Now, to Becky's credit, she went with the company line and came out as the badass cheap-heat heel Becky for pretty much exactly one episode of Smackdown. She was berating the audience that they were never really behind her, but we saw right through that Vince bullshit and continued cheering the fuck out of her anyway. Why? Because Becky had been underused and undervalued for far too long while the Charlottes and the Alexas ran their respective brands. Admittedly, I haven't been watching wresting for that long, but Becky was the first performer I saw who got herself over in a totally organic way. There was no noticeable push, no Roman Reigns-esque positioning; Becky, like the force of nature that she is, just happened. And once WWE wised the fuck up, they let it happen. This would lead to Becky winning the title at Hell in a Cell, and then having what I consider to be easily the best women's match of 2018 in the Last Woman Standing match at Evolution as she faced off against Charlotte again, but by this time, Charlotte was working full heel again while Becky played the ultimate tweener. Don't get me wrong; Becky was getting babyface pops every time she came out, but she had settled into a true tweener role. But the very best moment was still to come, and despite its initial outcome, turned out to be the best possible thing for Becky. On the go-home Raw before Survivor Series, Becky led an invasion of Raw by the women of Smackdown that began with Becky putting none other than Ronda Rousey in the Dis-Arm-Her for a few minutes backstage, talking trash to her the whole while, then came down the ramp and seemed to stand alone against all the women of Raw. The Man had come around. Then the invasion began and Becky rushed the ring to fight the Raw women's roster, and fate stepped in. Nia Jax, a performer somewhat notorious for unsafe ring work, closed-fist punched Becky right in the face. Becky began bleeding profusely from the nose, but she carried on helping to clear the ring and then as Rousey made her way into the ring, Becky got in several good chair shots to the "Baddest Woman on the Planet", and we got the most iconic pro wrestling moment of 2018 as Becky stood outside the ring, arms outstretched, wearing a crimson mask and clearly not giving a single solitary fuck. She was the warrior woman that we always knew she could be. The immediate fallout from Jax's shot was that Becky suffered "a broken face" and a concussion and would not be cleared to compete at Survivor Series against Ronda, and Charlotte was tapped to go in her stead. This bummed us all the fuck out until we realized that if indeed WWE (read: Vince) was smart enough to really shatter the glass ceiling by having a women's match close out Wrestlemania 35, it would be Ronda vs, well, a TBD opponent and until that point, the natural selection (pun fully intended) seemed to be Charlotte. But if they could create an opportunity to have Becky drop the title and compete in and hopefully win the Royal Rumble, she could have her shot once again at Rousey and with that, you have the makings of a truly classic main event that hasn't been seen since Mania 30 and Daniel Bryan vs Batista vs Randy Orton. And create that opportunity they did as they created a triple-threat main event with Asuka, Charlotte and champ Becky at TLC. With some timely help from a vengeful Rousey, Asuka (much deservedly) got her first main roster title win, and Charlotte and Becky would be left to plan their revenge not just on each other, but especially on Rousey. But not all of Becky's battles would be fought in the ring; she brought her A-game to social media and outdid everyone with fantastic callouts and comebacks that were straight up savage AF. And again, with equal importance, Becky seemed to finally find her true voice on the mic and cut promos that would rank amongst the best we saw from everyone all year. So you take some instant classic matches, incredible character work, a truly charismatic persona, and the single most iconic image of anything that happened in wrestling all year, and you have the year of Becky Lynch.
And that's it for 2018! I'll have my standard recaps of Raw, Smackdown and NXT later this week as well as a look at Wrestle Kingdom, but since AXS TV is only going to be playing 2 hours of the show from what I understand this Friday and will probably parse out the show in its entirety over the coming weeks, I might just save it until I've been able to watch the whole thing.
Until next time, kids... Happy New Year!!
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