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2020 has been a rocky year for almost all of us. This includes the Superstars of WWE who’ve had to protect themselves from the pandemic while continuing to entertain the WWE Universe.
During the year, we saw Braun Strowman win his first major title in WWE, then he went on to win the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. He wasn’t the only lucky Superstar, as Drew McIntyre also managed to win the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36.
Apart from major victories, the year also had a few major losses for the WWE Superstars in the squared circle. Some major upset victories of the year include Riddle’s SmackDown debut victory over AJ Styles and Lana’s Battle Royale victory on RAW. Apollo Crews also defeated Andrade to win the United States Championship in 2020.
In this article, we will look at the 5 biggest upset victories of the year from the Superstars of RAW and SmackDown in 2020.
#5 Sami Zayn pinned Braun Strowman at WWE Elimination Chamber (Mar 8, 2020)
Shinsuke Nakamura won the Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules in 2019 and held the title on his way into 2020. On the January 31, 2020 episode of WWE SmackDown, Braun Strowman defeated The Artist to win the title from him.
This led to Sami Zayn booking a match for himself, Cesaro, and Nakamura at WWE Elimination Chamber against Strowman. The Monster Among Men was booked to compete in a 3-on-1 Handicap Match against the heelish trio, and it seemed like WWE was looking to show off Strowman’s strength during the match.
However, some fans were shocked when Zayn was allowed to pin Strowman during the match. The Great Liberator ended up winning the Intercontinental Championship in the process. This was an upset victory as WWE could have allowed Nakamura or Cesaro, two men who were more established in the storyline, to pin The Monster instead.
Not only was this Zayn’s first match in 2020, but it was also his first Championship victory on the main roster. The upset allowed Zayn's fans to get what they wanted, and even though no one can question Zayn’s skills in the ring, it was an upset given the storyline and the circumstances. Strowman soon went on to defeat Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 to become the Universal Champion.
Zayn has since proven himself to be a great heel and a great Champion and has managed to win the title again after defeating Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles at WWE Clash of Champions.
#4 Tamina pinned Sasha Banks on WWE SmackDown (Apr 17, 2020)
Tamina has been seen as a real force for most of her career, but she has never been taken as a legitimate threat. She’s gone through several character changes in the past, but none have helped her reach the top of WWE. In fact, she has mostly been regarded as an enhancement talent in WWE.
However, Tamina had her eyes on the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship just before the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. To get what she wanted, Bayley told her to go through Sasha Banks first and defeat her if she wanted a shot at the title.
Tamina obliged, and surprised several fans by cleanly defeating Banks on an episode of SmackDown in April after delivering a couple of Superkicks. Taking into consideration where Banks sits on the SmackDown roster as compared to Tamina, this can be considered a pretty big upset.
Tamina was unable to defeat Bayley for the title at Money in the Bank, and she hasn’t been able to win a single match since her victory over The Boss. Banks, on the other hand, is now the SmackDown Women’s Champion.
#3 RETRIBUTION defeated Team RAW on WWE RAW (Nov 16, 2020)
WWE Survivor Series was scheduled for November 22 this year. Just a week before the event on Monday Night RAW, WWE decided to give RETRIBUTION a chance to compete against Team RAW on the Red brand.
Riddle, Keith Lee, Sheamus, and Braun Strowman took to the ring without their self-made captain AJ Styles to compete against Mustafa Ali, T-Bar, Mace, and Slapjack. While it seemed like WWE wanted Team RAW to flex their strength during the match, fans got a big upset result instead.
A fight broke out between the members of Team RAW, and Ali took advantage of the situation by pinning Riddle to pick up the victory for RETRIBUTION. This was the first and only victory for RETRIBUTION as a combined faction in WWE.
RETRIBUTION was introduced as a legitimate threat to the Superstars of RAW early on, but have been seen as enhancement talent ever since and have lost quite a few matches.
Keeping in mind that Lee, Sheamus, and Strowman have won all the top titles in the company amongst them, it was very surprising to watch WWE allow RETRIBUTION to go over Team RAW just days before Survivor Series.
#2 The Miz and John Morrison pinned Keith Lee on WWE RAW (Dec 14, 2020)
Keith Lee has had a phenomenal 2020. The Superstar started off by taking over WWE NXT and ended up becoming the first-ever Double Champion of the brand after he won the NXT North American Championship and NXT Championship.
After his debut on RAW, Lee immediately got into a rivalry against Randy Orton and even defeated the 15-time World Champion at WWE Payback. John Morrison and The Miz, on the other hand, have been used in comical roles for most of the year.
Even though The Miz defeated Otis to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, he needed help from Tucker to pull off the feat. Before his victory, Miz hadn’t won a singles match since early January, while Morrison’s last solo victory came at WrestleMania 36.
However, both men were put in a Handicap Match against Lee, and most fans expected Lee to pick up an easy victory over the duo. While The Limitless One started strong, he was outdone by the two men late in the match. They piled up on him and pinned him to pick up a huge victory.
There’s no doubt that Miz and Morrison are two of the best men on RAW today. However, their booking throughout the year made this win look like a major upset over a Superstar who defeated Orton, Dolph Ziggler, and Andrade just weeks earlier.
#1 Lana pinned Nia Jax on WWE RAW (December 14, 2020)
WWE built a storyline between Lana and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for weeks heading into WWE Survivor Series. Jax continued to mock Lana throughout the build-up and sent the Ravishing Superstar through the announce table a total of eight times.
However, Lana became the sole survivor at Survivor Series as Team RAW went on to win the match over Team SmackDown. On the December 14th episode of RAW this year, WWE gave Lana a big chance to prove herself against The Irresistible Force.
With some pep-talk from Asuka, Lana was able to counter a few moves from Jax early in the match. Finally, Lana escaped a Samoan Drop attempt and took out Jax’s leg. She delivered a double-stomp to Jax and then pinned her to pick up a huge upset victory.
This was arguably the biggest victory of Lana’s career, and one of the biggest upset victories of the entire year. While Lana suffered a vicious beatdown from Jax and Baszler after the match, she managed to alter the record books with a big win in WWE.
