WWE's Best and Worst Trends of 2018
2018 was a year to remember - for both good and bad reasons. For a while, it looked like the bad would outnumber the good, but WWE managed to do a decent job in getting its act together as the year headed toward its end - for the most part, anyway.
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Some divisions in the company had a stunning surge in 2018 and some regressed. Some title reigns or pushes were excellent and some were drags on the programming, to put it kindly.
Without further ado, let's look at the trends that rocked the year and those that sucked it into quicksand.
Best: The main roster's women division
We might as well start with the obvious. On the main roster, 2018 was the Year of the Woman. Most of the highest points of the past 12 months involved them.
It started off strong with a very good women's Royal Rumble match in January. It was a proper mixture of a tribute to the past and a build to the future, with the right winner in Asuka. Though she wasn't in the match, Ronda Rousey made her maiden WWE appearance afterward. The Road to WrestleMania was thus on, and the ending of that Royal Rumble culminated in the Show of Shows' two best matches in Asuka vs. Charlotte and Ronda Rousey's thumping of the Authority.
From there, the division went into the typical WWE post-WrestleMania slump, and for a while, it looked like the good work to start the year would be erased, as it was suffering under the doldrums of Carmella, Nia Jax, and Alexa Bliss as champions.
The ship was righted at SummerSlam, with Ronda Rousey capturing Raw's title and the beginning of the Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch feud, with the latter ultimately rising to become "The Man." Evolution was a smash success, and then, to put a cherry on top, a resurgent Asuka finally cast aside her demons and captured the gold in another match of the year candidate at TLC, one in which Ronda Rousey again made herself felt.
The women are easily the biggest box office item on the last day of the year and have earned a main event at WrestleMania 35.