5 Best & 5 Worst WWE Things Of 2018
2018 was a very noteworthy year for WWE not just because of what transpired in the ring but also everything that happened around it. The company's stock (which closed 2017 at $30.58) sky rocketed this year to a lifetime high of $96.73 on the back of the new FOX deal, only to come drastically down to $63.09 (as of November 21st) possibly due to their inability to capitalize on their strengths.
While the juggernaut in wrestling business received tremendous mainstream attention for one of their biggest talent signings ever in Ronda Rousey, the same company had to endure serious resentment towards its other decisions like proceeding with their controversy-marred Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia and naming a match at WrestleMania after The Fabulous Moolah.
With 2018 rapidly coming to a close, it's time for us to take a look back at the year to rank some of the Best and Worst things that transpired in the ring this year in Vince McMahon's wrestling empire.
#5 (WORST): AJ Styles' WWE Championship Run
Wait, don't get me wrong. The impressive 371-days WWE Championship reign of AJ Styles atop the Smackdown Live mountain was far from being the worst thing this year. In fact, this item is on this list not for how bad it was (because it wasn't), but because how much better it could've been.
While Styles had a great year at the very top of his brand, being booked strongly as the champion and gracing the WWE 2K18 game cover, one can't help but wonder how much more it could've been.
For starters, Styles' WWE Championship programs played second fiddle to whatever else was happening on the same brand for the better part of the year. Programs like Kevin Owens-Sami Zayn vs. Shane McMahon-Daniel Bryan, The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy and most recently Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte were pushed as the top programs of their time, positioning Styles' respective program at that time to the sidelines.
While having new blood in the world championship scene is always a good thing, did anyone come out of a WWE Championship program this year with more or even the same level of momentum they had going in?
Guys like Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Rusev are just a few names who lost much of their aura after a program with Styles. Now while that did put Styles strongly over as the legitimate champion, WWE could've avoided derailing Joe and Nakamura's momentum despite them losing (just like Joe was protected even after his loss to Lesnar for the Universal Championship last year).
Most importantly, Styles' WWE Championship reign was heavily marred by a lack of PPV main events this year, and almost all of his big matches ending in some sort of screwy finish, be it his match with Joe at Summerslam or with Nakamura at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
In addition, can we recall a single technically outstanding AJ Styles match this year? While he did have great matches against the likes of aforementioned competitors and Daniel Bryan, was there a single match out of these good enough to stand the test of time?
And that's saying a lot since his cracking main event matches with the likes of John Cena, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose were what got Styles over to begin with.