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Finally, 2018 has come to a end and we are into 2019. Just like every year, WWE was good as well as bad, best as well as worst and positive as well as negative. But 2018 was truly something different.
I still believe this year was one of WWE's most shocking years, as there were so many surprises, returns, reunions and heel/face turns in 2018.
Before the ten reasons why 2018 is one of the most shocking years of WWE, here are some honorable mentions.
Daniel Bryan returned to action, Roman Reigns lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34, Enzo Amore and Big Cass were released from their contracts, Team Hell No reunited again, Batista returned on SmackDown 1000, Jeff Jarrett was inducted into WWE Hall of Fame 2018, Rey Mysterio returned as one of the entrants in Royal Rumble matchm and so on...
Now, let's get back to ten of the best shocking moments of WWE in 2018...
#10 The Youngest Champion in WWE
Yes, you read that right - WWE fans saw the youngest champion in the history of the company in the year 2018.
Before WrestleMania 34, the biggest mystery surrounding the event was who will be teaming up with Braun Strowman to face The Bar for Raw Tag Team Championships. Will it be a superstar returning from injury? Will it be a legend? Or would it be an NXT Call-Up?
Everyone was so curious and excited to know, but Strowman ended up picking a kid from the crowd named Nicholas (real life son of WWE referee John Cone, who was also officiating this match) and made him his tag team partner. Nicholas didn't get physical in the ring. Instead Strowman begin and ended the match by himself.
After the match, Strowman and a 10-year old kid became the new tag team champions. While it was one of the most absurd ideas ever, it was also one of the shocking moments we never expected to happen in 2018.
#9 The Shield Reunited... Again!
The Shield reunited in WWE once again in 2018 after they reunited a year before in 2017. Their reunion in 2017 didn't work out because before they could compete in their first match together, Reigns suffered viral meningitis, and later on, Dean Ambrose suffered a triceps injury.
Last year, Reigns was set to be crowned the Universal Champion by conquering Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34, but as we mentioned earlier in one of the most shocking results of 2018, Lesnar beat Reigns clean to retain his title.
Another match happened between the duo at Summerslam 2018, where Reigns defeated Lesnar with some assistance from Mr. Monster in the Bank Braun Strowman, who was waiting at ringside to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.
The following night on Raw, Braun again seemed set to cash in on Reigns after the new Universal Champion beat Finn Balor in a fun title match. Just as the match was set to begin, The Shield's entrance music played, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose arrived in Shield gear, and they rushed to the ring to assist their former brother.
Despite efforts from Strowman to fight them off, he was triple powerbombed through the announce table. Later on, Strowman joined forces with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre to feud with The Shield in the following pay-per-views.
But suddenly on October 22, 2018 episode of Raw, Reings announced that he was suffering from leukemia and would relinquish his Universal Title. On the same night, Ambrose and Rollins won the Raw tag team titles from Ziggler and McIntyre, after the match Ambrose turned on Rollins, bringing a disrupting end to another Shield reunion.
#8 Asuka's Streak Came to an End
Asuka was undefeated for 914 consecutive days in WWE and winning 244 consecutive matches (surpassing Goldberg's record of 173-0) with 510 consecutive days of being NXT Women's Champion until she vacated the title. All these facts and figures were important before WrestleMania 34.
But after the event, all these records turned into nothing when Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka for SmackDown Women's Championship. It was one of the biggest shocking moments at WrestleMania 34, ending her remarkable streak inside the very same building where The Undertaker's streak came to an end.
It was always believed before this match that Asuka would win her first main roster title at WrestleMania, since WWE had really made her a huge star as she was the first-ever women's sole survivor at Survivor Series 2017 and also she was the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match winner.
There were also rumors that Asuka would win the title and keep it for a year until defending it against Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35. All of those wins and plans didn't happen. But still, it was technically the best match at WrestleMania 34 and it got the highest rating by Dave Meltzer.
#7 WWE Crown Jewel: WWE's Most Controversial Show
WWE Crown Jewel took place on November 2, 2018 at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event was part of WWE's 10-year deal to host events in Saudi Arabia. Similar to the previous show in Saudi Arabia, The Greatest Royal Rumble, the company was again criticized for working with a country with a bad reputation.
It was due to restrictions on women not being allowed to perform at WWE's events in Saudi Arabia that WWE introduced its first-ever all women's pay-per-view, WWE Evolution. But another big controversy surrounding the event was the murder of political dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
WWE faced calls from the U.S government to cancel the event, many big stars such as John Cena, who was set to compete in WWE World Cup, and Daniel Bryan, who was facing AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, both refused to work the show. WWE continued to promote the show, but erased all references to Saudi Arabia as the event's location.
The show itself was a big flop, receiving negative reviews from critics. Brock Lesnar squashed Braun Strowman to win the Universal Championship again, Shawn Michaels came out of retirement to team up with Triple H against The Brothers of Destruction for an ugly main event match, Shane McMahon won the WWE World Cup to become "The Best In The World" out of all the current roster superstars, and finally a controversial superstar named Hulk Hogan made his return.
#6 The Undertaker Returned for One More Match
When Roman Reigns defeated The Undertaker in the main event of WrestleMania 33, Undertaker left his coat and hat in the middle of the ring, kissed his real-life wife Michelle McCool, and walked out of the arena. All the wrestling fans realized that this was indeed the final chapter of the deadman's career.
Every fan in the stadium was chanting "Thank You Taker" and even many former as well as current WWE superstars celebrated his journey by wishing him well in their social media accounts.
Before the match itself, rumors begin circulating that this would be Undertaker's last WrestleMania, due to him getting a hip surgery which would put an end to his in-ring action. Also it would help WWE to establish Reigns as a main-event star.
Suddenly all of these things became meaningless when John Cena challenged Undertaker for a match at WrestleMania 34. Even after that challenge nobody knew whether Undertaker would return for another match after a perfect send-off at last year's event.
The following weeks there was no response from Undertaker and John Cena decided to watch Wrestlemania as a fan by buying a ticket and sitting with the crowd. An official ran towards Cena to whisper something in his ears which led to Cena running backstage.
A few moments later, Cena comes out in his gear and starts waiting for Undertaker. He gets interrupted by Elias, and he takes him down with his signature moves. Soon he begins to walk back with disappointment and then the gong hits, and out comes The Undertaker.
The entire match was just 2 minutes and 45 seconds, with Undertaker getting an easy win over 16-time World Champion John Cena. But still, Undertaker returning was a big mystery, and when the gong hit, it brought excitement for every fan watching the event.
#5 Even Shawn Michaels Returned for One More Match!
For 8 long years, WWE fans have been screaming out of their lungs for one more match whenever Shawn Michaels showed up for an appearance. But every single time Michaels would refuse an in-ring return since he believed he had the most perfect send-off.
Vince McMahon announced that Undertaker will face Triple H for the last time ever in the main event of WWE Super-Show Down held in Melbourne, Australia. Then, Michaels returned to Raw to announce that he will accompany Triple H in this bout, and later on Kane added himself in Undertaker's corner.
At the event, Triple H defeated Undertaker with some assistance from Michaels. After the match, the four men showed mutual respect to each other. However, as they began to leave, Undertaker and Kane attacked Triple H and Michaels.
The following night on Raw, Michaels informed the fans that he would finally come out of retirement to team up with Triple H and challenge The Brothers of Destruction at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. The team of DX beat the team of The Brothers of Destruction in the main event, but that match was really criticized as a very dull contest as many critics believed it would have been better if Michaels would have stayed retired.
According to rumors, Michaels' return from retirement was already planned, because of the money WWE was getting for the Saudi event. After WWE Crown Jewel, it was expected that Michaels would face Undertaker in one more match after losing to him in his last match at WrestleMania 26.
Now, whether that match will happen or not is still unknown, but Michaels return was one of the most shocking things that no one expected to happen in 2018.
#4 Ronda Rousey Debuted in WWE
Before 2018 no one would have even guessed that Ronda Rousey would make her debut in WWE this year. She was a major star in UFC, having a 12-0 unbeaten streak at the beginning of her MMA career and also making a career into Hollywood.
At Royal Rumble pay-per-view, after Asuka won the Royal Rumble match, then SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and then Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss joined her in the ring. Suddenly music hits and out comes Ronda Rousey, surprising all the fans.
She points at the sign of WrestleMania and then looks through all the three women in the ring, moves out and shakes Stephanie McMahon's hand, who was commentating the match. From there, she shows up at Elimination Chamber pay-per-view where Triple H and Stephanie McMahon approached her to sign her WWE contract.
As usual the contract signings never end without chaos, Kurt Angle exposed the real truth of Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, of how they were going use her after what she did with them at WrestleMania 31. This lead to Rousey crashing The Game through the table.
Rousey's first match was at WrestleMania 34 to team up with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon where she put up a great performance which was appreciated by the critics as one of the best debuts in WWE's history.
#3 Daniel Bryan Turned Heel
Nobody could have believed that 2018 will be the year that will see Daniel Bryan return as an in-ring competitor. After being cleared by several third party doctors, a clearance from WWE's doctor was the only thing left to happen.
Two years after giving his unfortunate retirement speech, WWE doctors finally cleared Bryan for in-ring action. That itself was one of the most shocking decisions in 2018. Then Bryan competed in his first match at WrestleMania 34 by teaming up with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Bryan and McMahon were victorious.
Then Bryan left his duty as the General Manager of SmackDown to resume his wrestling career. He was first involved in a feud with Big Cass, and later he teamed with his former tag team partner Kane to compete for SmackDown Tag Team Titles in a losing effort, and finally the most anticipated rivalry with The Miz occurred.
Bryan defeated Miz at WWE Super-Show Down to become the new #1 contender for the WWE Championship. In the most shocking turns of the year, Bryan low blow and defeated AJ Styles to become the new WWE Champion. It wasn't what fans could have ever expected from WWE, due to the popularity of Bryan.
"The New" Daniel Bryan is currently one of the biggest highlights of SmackDown. He will be facing AJ Styles in a rematch at Royal Rumble 2019 and could possibly move into WrestleMania 35 as WWE Champion.
#2 Becky Lynch = "The Man"
This year has been a grand success for Becky Lynch, and nobody would have thought that Lynch would be the best part of the men's or women's division going into 2018.
All of this began at Summerslam 2018, when Carmella defended her SmackDown Women's Title against Lynch and Charlotte Flair. Flair pinned Lynch to become the new SmackDown Women's Champion, and after the match Lynch turned on Flair and attacked her.
That turn received a thunderous reaction from the fans of Brooklyn, as if they were happy for Lynch turning heel. The following weeks, Lynch kept getting positive reactions from WWE fans despite being a heel.
Finally, Lynch defeated Flair to become SmackDown Women's Champion at Hell in a Cell 2018; the win wasn't a big surprise since fans had been constantly supporting her. It was just because fans were sick of seeing Flair win the title so many times again and again.
Then came the most anticipated match between Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch at Survivor Series 2018, but it didn't happen due to Lynch getting injured one week before the event.
The SmackDown women invaded Raw before Survivor Series. Lynch attacked Rousey backstage and then came out to attack the other women, but then Nia Jax hit Lynch with a closed fist and broke Lynch's nose.
The Lass Kicker continued the assault and smashed Rousey with chair shots, then exited from the crowd area, that toughness proved that "The Man" moniker completely suits Lynch's personality.
Flair replaced Lynch to face Rousey at Survivor Series, only to brutally assault Rousey in the match and get disqualified. At the very next pay-per-view, Asuka defeated Lynch and Flair in the first-ever women's TLC match when Rousey pushed both Lynch and Flair off the ladder.
It is rumored that Rousey, Lynch and Flair will be involved in a Triple Threat match for Raw Women's Title in the main event of WrestleMania 35. Now, whatever happens in future is unclear but one thing is clear that Becky Lynch has transformed herself by taking her promos, tweets and in-ring action to next level.
In short, she has become "The Man" of the year 2018.
#1 Roman Reigns Revealed his Battle with Leukemia
Finally, after conquering Brock Lesnar to become Universal Champion at Summerslam 2018 and The Shield reunion on the following night on Raw, it seemed The Big Dog was back owning his yard.
On October 22, 2018 episode of Raw, Reigns shocked every WWE fan after revealing that he was diagnosed with leukemia. The disease had returned 11 years later after going into remission. It was really one of the saddest promos in WWE's history.
The entire crowd who used to jeer Reigns was chanting "Thank You Roman" at the top of their lungs as Reigns relinquished his Universal Championship and promised that he would recover from his disease and win this title back.
He was later joined by Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose on the entrance ramp for a final Shield fist bump, there was also a video of backstage WWE Superstars hugging and appreciating for his efforts in this company.
It is really strange that some fans kept calling this man a cancer for wrestling and when he was diagnosed by cancer we started thanking him for his efforts.
Get Well Soon Roman.
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