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2018 saw a series of very noteworthy events take place in the WWE. "Unexpected" would be the word to describe this year in hindsight as several of these events returned results that we couldn't have seen coming from a mile, to say the least.
Both AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura and The Miz vs Daniel Bryan feuds unexpectedly under-delivered when given a chance. Speaking of Daniel Bryan - he unexpectedly got cleared to return to the ring and then unexpectedly turned heel to recapture the title he won in the main event of WrestleMania 30. Roman Reigns lost clean in one of the longest planned main events of WrestleMania 34 to finally ascend him to the top.
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With all that has happened in 2018, it's now time to look ahead to the year that follows and talk about some of the things that absolutely need to happen in the WWE before 2019 ends.
#7 AJ Styles Explores His Darker Side
AJ Styles was the WWE Champion for 371 days - a reign starting in 2017 and covering almost all of 2018. It's easy to see that after spending 3 full years with the WWE, Styles has found his long-term character which is the face that runs the place. He is a beloved babyface at the top of Smackdown Live mountain and consistently delivers as a true main eventer does.
But therein lies the problem. Because of this one-dimensional character that Styles played in 2018, it was hard to see him as the biggest star on the brand even when holding the top prize in sports entertainment for that long. Styles is too good to settle in a comfortable role and among all the top stars on both the brands, he is the most in need of a character tweak.
Fortunately for the fans, mere seconds before the final edition of Smackdown Live in 2018 ended, Styles punched the chairman of the company - Vince McMahon, right in the face - signalling the start of a new attitude and a much-needed boost. Only, this won't be the first time we would see something like this from Styles.
Styles is known to snap in a quick rage of anger and perhaps Shane was referring to the beating he received at the hands of The Phenomenal One when warning Vince about the "real AJ Styles" on Smackdown.
Throughout his career to this point in the WWE, the Phenomenal One has consistently been referred to by his rivals as a short-tempered, hot-headed maniac. This is what his entire feuds with Samoa Joe was based on. Even building towards his dream match with Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania, the main story that was being pushed was how Styles is the more emotional one out of the two.
It's high time, we start seeing that emotional side of Styles on a more regular basis that lead him to disqualify himself from his Summerslam 2018 match after beating Joe with several chair shots. This will not be a heel turn at all, just a transition from being a babyface performer to a hot-headed badass who takes no prisoners.
#6 The Undertaker Retires
Please...let Mark Calaway retire already. The Undertaker has had so many unofficial retirements and moments that were supposedly his last in the ring that at first, it was frightening to watch him make his in-ring return amidst the hip surgery news after getting his streak broken at WrestleMania 30.
Nonetheless, he returned and it was plain sad watching him trying and miserably failing to perform a move-set he has mastered over the years (a la his match with Reigns at WrestleMania 33).
As we speak, The Deadman has taken part in some extremely high profile bouts in 2018 alone but none of them was good enough for an honourable mention. At this point, it doesn't matter if he stays or leaves. The Undertaker's stock has considerably fallen in the long-term fans' eyes and the only reason why he has to retire and open the main event slot for someone like Finn Balor.
The guy has done it all in the squared circle and gained everyone's respect in doing so. It's high time WWE realizes that The Phenom has long over-stayed fans' emotional connection with him and they see right through his recent appearances at events like Crown Jewel and Super-Showdown being nothing more than a few lucrative paydays.
#5 Rehab Bayley & Sasha Banks
Okay, this is a no-brainer. We all know this is going to happen sooner or later and 2019 has to be the year to do so. The Hugger and The Boss have spent years floundering in nothing segments on RAW and they're just too valuable to be doing nothing.
For starters, it's quite evident that the company is expecting to base its entire women's division around the WWE's version of four horsewomen and the MMA's version of the same group. These will be the few women to lead the women's division (if not the entire company) in the future with all others getting to play under them.
Bayley and Sasha are no exceptions - together alongside Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, they complete the WWE's version of the group, which means they will have an extremely important part to play in the inevitable war that awaits them when the current NXT Champion Shayna Baszler joins her fellow MMA group member Ronda Rousey on the main roster, alongside WWE's most recent MMA recruits - Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke.
2018 was a painful botch for Banks and Bayley who started the year with an intriguing split story but over the time, fell victims to a lack of sincere creative direction. Their rehab can start with - what looks to be - an almost guaranteed win for the first ever women's tag team championships.
It's currently speculated that the women's tag champions will work cross-brand to defend their title on RAW, Smackdown and NXT. If Banks and Bayley manage to secure the titles for themselves, fans may be treated to the best storyline Banks or Bayley have been a part of in a very long time. Getting to lock horns with talent from all brands and being booked like strong champions will do wonders for the duo.
The inevitable Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen feud may also officially kick-start with the news of Bayley and Banks having to defend their tag titles against Duke and Shafir at the upcoming NXT Takeover event at that time. Whatever route WWE takes, 2019 appears to look terrific for The Boss and The Huggable One.
#4 Owens returns as The Prize Fighter
Kevin Owens has played many characters over the short span of his WWE main roster career and it's safe to say the best of them all was how he made his debut back in 2015. Owens was an instant star in WWE, being portrayed as an evil equivalent to John Cena.
Holding the NXT Championship, Owens won his debut match against then US Champion John Cena and found himself becoming the top heel on the main roster in a few short weeks since his debut. He was a star right out of the gate and solidified even more with a Universal title win in 2016.
Owens is one of the best talkers in the business and a tremendous worker. What lessened him physically, he more than made up for by the way he carries himself. Owens has been the best Universal Champion out of the short list of men who have held that title but he wasn't doing much prior to his injury earlier this year.
The former Universal Champion was regularly jobbing to the likes of Strowman and Lashley on RAW, and when it looked like he was on the verge of doing something meaningful (when he quit WWE) - the plans were immediately dropped and he returned to WWE programming the next week.
Owens has to make a statement upon his return and immediately be inserted into the main event. Due to the lack of top-tier stars on the red brand right now, WWE should look at capitalizing on Owens' talent and star power as much as possible. Avenging his treatment prior to the injury by costing Strowman his Royal Rumble title match should do the trick - followed by besting The Monster in an extended feud.
#3 Finn Balor Moves to Smackdown Live
In a previous article, I discussed how Balor has floundered on RAW ever since returning from injury in 2017. Few things are better for him at this stage of his career than a move to Smackdown Live during the annual Superstar Shake-up or prior to that. This should've happened post-WrestleMania 34 but for some reason, Balor was made to stick around on the red brand which had its main event picture taken hostage by Lesnar and Reigns for the majority of the time.
Besides, whoever he could feud with on RAW, Balor has done so. Fans who are still expecting him to face The Beast at some point are probably in for a disappointment. On the other hand, the blue brand offers an entirely new horizon for Balor to finally redeem himself and come across as a legitimate star again.
From renewing his NXT rivalry with Shinsuke Nakamura or Samoa Joe to finding himself in a high profile blood feud with Randy Orton to a possible showdown against the reigning WWE Champion Daniel Bryan; Balor's new year can be the best of his career so far.
However, nothing on Smackdown quite matches the prospect of him reuniting with his fellow Club members - Gallows and Anderson, possibly feuding with AJ Styles or aligning with him.
This year may possibly be the one when Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era finally makes its main roster debut and what better way to welcome them then a showdown with The Club - considering all these guys' intertwined history outside of the WWE as part of The Bullet Club.
#2 Rollins beats Lesnar
With Roman Reigns out for the foreseeable future, RAW has suffered immensely due to a vacuum of stars in the main event. It's not certain if Lesnar is going to go back to UFC any time soon, but he absolutely needs to drop that Universal title to someone available full-time on the red brand, and that man is.....not Braun Strowman!
Strowman will get his umpteenth chance to capture the top title from The Beast at Royal Rumble this month but he should not be the one to put Lesnar away. This is because Strowman has lost so many times against The Beast (and that too in such decisive fashion) that it's hard to buy him as the guy to finally dethrone The Conqueror at this stage.
In comes Seth Freakin' Rollins - who ended 2018 as arguably the best year of his WWE career and one that will be celebrated for years to come. Starting things off with his epic wins over Reigns and Cena in the infamous Gauntlet match on RAW, Rollins only saw his star rise as the year progressed.
Also, he's one of the few guys who were not creatively botched in favour of pushing Reigns all these years. While Reigns was main eventing his multiple WrestleManias, Rollins too was featured in some pretty high profile matches himself on the show over the years, against the likes of Randy Orton and Triple H.
Rollins is by far, the best guy to beat Lesnar at WrestleMania once and for all, and begin his rightful ascend to the top of the men's division on RAW and possibly become the face of the entire company as a whole - only, there's another stronger contender for that position today...
#1 Becky Lynch Ascends the Throne
Becky Lynch wants to be the face of the company - as simple as that! She wants to be the front and centre on all of the WWE posters and represent the brand outside of the wrestling business, just like Cena has done for the past decade and a half. With such clear motivations, The Man has put up a heck of a case for herself in a span of just a few months.
Lynch is - without a doubt - the biggest asset at WWE's disposal right now. She carries herself like a true star and is on the verge of gaining massive mainstream stardom thanks to her insistence for exposure outside of the squared circle - be it her brief twitter exchange with fellow "Irish brother" Conor McGregor or being named Sports Illustrated Female Wrestler of the Year.
Whereas 2018 was much more than just a breakthrough year for Lynch, 2019 is poised to be even better with Lynch currently rumoured to main event the biggest show of the year - WrestleMania; against one of the most influential women in combat sports history, Ronda Rousey.
Their Survivor Series match - which was already shaping up to be the biggest women's match in WWE history - had to be scrapped due to an ill-timed (or should I say perfectly-timed) injury Lynch suffered at the hands of Nia Jax during one of the most iconic moments in WWE all year. It can be argued that the injury was the best thing that happened to Becky all year since her inevitable showdown with The Baddest Woman on the Planet may very well main event WrestleMania now.
If that ends up being the case, it's the biggest sign of WWE's commitment to promoting Lynch as the new top star of the company. In addition, Cena himself returned to Smackdown Live in what turned out to be a confrontation with The Man in his absence and that's the beauty of Lynch; she is not the biggest female star in the company, she's the biggest star period - and hence; The Man.
