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2018 has been a rather successful year for WWE. Even though we have seen many ups and downs on all its brands, overall they have managed to achieve a lot to take forward into 2019.
WWE signed on some great talent in the year, and the brand rosters shuffle helped some stars while others fell apart. We saw many championship victories, many great matches, many injuries, and many revelations. Some of these were taken nonchalantly by fans, while others were rather shocking.
Keeping that in mind, we have created a list of the 5 biggest shockers of the year which made it even more memorable.
Take a look at the list and share your favorites in the comments below!
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#5 Braun Strowman’s Championship win
Braun Strowman is The Monster Among Men on the WWE main roster. That titles require him to crush, smash, break, and flip anything that crosses his path, to reach the top.
Surprisingly, Strowman has never won a championship in his entire wrestling career. Or he has won one if you want to count that as a win.
The Bar held the Raw Tag Team Championships when a battle royal was announced to determine their number one contender. While the other tag teams of Raw took to the ring for the Battle Royal, Strowman walked in alone and eliminated everyone in his path. Thus, he became the number one contender for the tag team titles alone!
He was asked to pick his partner to compete for the titles at WrestleMania 34, and he decided to pick out a fan at the event. The fan was none other than an 11-year-old Nicholas who was later found out to be the son of the match’s referee - John Cone.
The two won the tag team titles, marking Strowman’s first ever championship victory, and Nicholas becoming the youngest champion in the company’s history. This was a shocking moment for the fans as The Bar, who are a very good tag team, was forced to drop the titles in such a manner.
The two were forced to relinquish their titles on the night after WrestleMania. This led to the free-fall of the championship’s value in the months to come and since then the titles have become a joke.
This was also quite bad for Strowman's reputation as he was seen as a more serious and destructive wrestler.
#4 Dean Ambrose’s heel turn
Dean Ambrose suffered an injury at the turn of the year which kept him out of the ring for quite some time. He returned to Raw in August this year to assist his Shield brother Seth Rollins and even the odds created by Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre.
As much as his return excited fans, it also got them curious about his new look and attitude which made them speculate his heel turn from day one. As the days went by, The Shield reunited and the creatives kept teasing fans with Ambrose’s heel turn night after night.
He eventually turned heel on the October 22 of the show after winning the Raw Tag Team Titles from Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre with his buddy Seth Rollins. He punished Rollins after the match with vicious attacks and the rest is history.
The anticipation of his heel turn turned into shock because of the night he chose to turn heel. The night started off on a sad note, and most expected WWE to put off his heel turn for some time till fans and the show stabilized a bit. However, it happened that very night sending many fans into a shock.
#3 Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship
For weeks before Survivor Series, fans were eagerly waiting for round two of Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles at the event. Many believed that Styles would be able to beat The Beast this time around, or at least last even longer.
The match was set, the stage was set, and the previews were all ready. It seemed like nothing could go wrong. On the episode of SmackDown before Survivor Series, Lesnar’s advocate Paul Heyman made it to the show and slowly managed to ignite a match between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.
Unlike on the episode before Crown Jewel where Bryan lost his chance against Styles, Bryan turned heel and took full advantage of the opportunity to win the WWE Championship from Styles after his phenomenal reigns.
The title change before such a big event was shocking to many as they were mentally prepared for the Survivor Series showdown between Lesnar and Styles. However, it gave us a dream match between Lesnar and Bryan, and little to complain about.
#2 The WWE World Cup
WWE announced their second pay-per-view event in Saudi Arabia in the same year it enjoyed success in the country with the Greatest Royal Rumble. The second pay-per-view, called Crown Jewel, came along with a brand-new tournament called the WWE World Cup to determine the ‘Best in the World’.
Many fans believed that the tournament will allow wrestlers of different nationalities to get a chance to win the cup. Others wanted the best wrestlers in WWE today to compete for the event.
However, neither of the two happened. All eight participants of the tournament were billed from the United States, while on half of the men who compete could have been termed the best in the company.
That wasn’t all, as the worst was yet to come. In the finals of the tournament, Dolph Ziggler was supposed to face The Miz who suffered an injury before the match and was replaced by none other than Shane McMahon who went on to win the final match without even competing in any match before that.
Therefore, to everyone's surprise, Shane McMahon became known as the Best in the World!
#1 Roman Reigns’ Leukemia Announcement
October 22, the very same night that saw Dean Ambrose turn heel, started off on a sad note. Roman Reigns took to the ring which is quite usual for Monday Nights but had something different to say this time around.
Reigns relinquished the title and announced his hiatus on Raw, revealing that his leukemia had returned after 11 years of privately battling it and being in remission. The announcement was a bit too much to digest for most fans in attendance who usually loved to boo the superstar. Everyone got on the same page that night to cheer Reigns and his services to the world of wrestling.
Roman Reigns’ had spent the entire year, and a lot of time before that, fighting to get to the top of Raw and win the Universal Championship. However, it was saddening to see the superstar having to relinquish his title so soon after winning it which shocked almost everyone.
