WWE year in review: Top 5 rivalries of the year

Roman Reigns has had his run-ins with The AuthorityAnother year has gone by, and it has been a big one. Younger wrestlers have shined, older wrestlers have given their all, and of course, there have been some great rivalries. What’s special about this year is that many of the rivalries went on for long stretches of time, which is always welcome in my book.That does mean, however, that there weren’t that many rivalries that stood out. Which also isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Of course, there were one or two spectacular ones, but for the most part, there was really no Daniel Bryan vs The Authority or SHIELD vs Evolution like there was last year.Read on, though, as the last entry on the list is indeed something special.Here are the top five rivalries in WWE in 2015 (opinionised).

#5 The Authority vs Sting

Could we see a chapter three in the future?

Technically, this rivalry also counts as one from last year, but I’ll count it in this list because most of it did take place this year.

Sting vs The Authority basically took place in two chapters, the first of which culminated with Sting losing to Triple H at WrestleMania and the second of which culminated with Sting losing to Seth Rollins at Night Of Champions.

That might seem stale, but it wasn’t. In both instances, the build-up was well done. The stakes were high – in the first case, it was Sting’s debut match, and in the second, it was for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The spectacle of seeing Sting gives this rivalry some extra points. He elevated both Triple H and Seth Rollins, and was genuinely fun to function watch. He terrorised both of them with mind games, which were both serious and goofy.

The reason this is so low because it happened for a short time at the start of the year, took a hiatus of a few months, then resumed for a month, only to end. If it was continuous, it could have been higher.

#4 Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose

Both men bring the best out of each other

It seems as if this rivalry has to make it onto the list.

In wrestling history, there are always two people in a generation that seem to bring the best out of each other – Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, The Rock and Stone Cold, CM Punk and John Cena; this generation seems to have found its own, with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

Continuing from their feud last year, Rollins and Ambrose battled again on a few occasions this year, but this time, for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.The two times that they faced each other one-on-one, two great things happen.

At Elimination Chamber, Ambrose thought he won the gold until he controversially found out he didn’t. The next time they met, the two put on a spectacular ladder match, proving their great chemistry, and Seth Rollins won clean.

This feud felt old school in the sense that everyone was behind the babyface strongly, and everyone was against the heel. That’s rare in the modern era. And it made the story even more special. To see Ambrose win the championship – although not officially – was a moment that genuinely made people feel good. It was all in the moments.

And one thing is certain: Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins aren’t done yet.

#3 The Authority vs Roman Reigns

Emotions were toyed with

Say what you want about The Authority, but they have had some good stories. This is probably the best of them this year.

Roman Reigns’ problems with The Authority goes a long way back, but his first pay-per-view match with anyone from it was at Extreme Rules against The Big Show, which he won. However, things got serious when he was in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at Payback, which he lost.

Reigns would then serve as a manager of sorts for Dean Ambrose when he was fighting for the title, but then he went elsewhere, which is looked at later.

Post Hell In A Cell, however, things turned on their head. Roman Reigns was made to be the Number One Contender for Seth Rollins’ WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and a great match was on the cards – until it wasn’t.

Seth Rollins suffered a knee injury in a live event in Dublin, Ireland (luck of the Irish?), and is out for six to nine months. His championship was vacated and a tournament was announced. Roman Reigns was offered a ticket to the final by Triple H, and he declined. That’s where things started to heat up.

Reigns won the tournament, but was screwed over by Triple H, and Sheamus cashed in his Money In The Bank contract to win. The Authority was on top yet again, and everyone sympathised with Reigns, which was a strong story arc. Many people who started the year booing him were now hoping for him to win.

In his rematch at TLC, he almost won, but was once again screwed, by the League of Nations.

This is where this rivalry gets extra points – the element of surprise. WWE could have easily dragged this on the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania, but they didn’t. The very next night on Raw, Roman Reigns was put into a life or death situation, and when he won the championship, it felt great. That’s something that Reigns needed. He needed to get right to the bottom in order to get to the top, and it worked.

#2 Kevin Owens vs John Cena

Kevin Owens has a future

John Cena also had a great resurgence this year. He ends the year with more people on his side than when he started it, and that’s largely thanks to his United States Championship Open Challenge.

Cena would consistently put on stellar matches with whoever would walk down the ramp and take him on, and one night, that was Kevin Owens. Owens didn’t challenge Cena for a match, however, rather he attacked him, and a non-title match was set for Elimination Chamber.

As expected, or perhaps more than expected, the match was phenomenal, but it was overshadowed by its ending. In his first WWE main roster match, against the biggest man in the industry, Kevin Owens won. Fair and square.

This prompted a rematch at Money In The Bank, and somehow it managed to be even better than the first match. Cena won, which prompted a rubber match between the two at Battleground, this time for the United States Championship. Unbelievably, their last match managed to top the previous two, and Cena won again.

This rivalry is important for Kevin Owens. He made his name big as soon as he came on the scene, and battled on with the biggest name in the company for a while. Though he lost every other time, that doesn’t matter, and it took Owens to new places too. He was Intercontinental Champion until recently, and now we have to see where he will go.

It’s certain that he will be a big name. This rivalry is on the list just for its match quality all because they were that good.

#1 The Wyatt Family vs Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose

Perfect

Essentially, this should be Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns, which it is, but I’ve decided to include the whole saga.

This rivalry was basically split into chapters. Chapter one was between Wyatt and Reigns; chapter two between Wyatt and Harper, and Reigns and Ambrose; chapter three between extended families; and chapter four being just like chapter one.

That made it unique. The story progressed with something new every time it moved along. Bray Wyatt got the upper hand at the start, but then Dean Ambrose joined forces with Roman Reigns and turned the tables completely, and it seemed like the Wyatts were falling back.

The next night, however, things changed completely when Braun Strowman was introduced, and there seemed like there could be no way back for Reigns and Ambrose, especially considering how badly they lost at Night Of Champions.

Then for the final chapter, things were exactly as they should have been, back to square one. Personal stories click, and that’s what happened when Roman Reigns made it one on one again.

That’s how things were meant to end, and inside Hell In A Cell, it made it much more intense. The babyface inevitably won the big one, but that was what was needed. It was a fitting end to a terrific story.

That’s how you book a rivalry. New things came up all the time and everyone was gripped from the get-go. It benefited both men greatly, and who knows? Maybe they will meet again.