5 Things WWE did right in 2018

In one of my previous posts, I talked about the mistakes that WWE had made in 2018 but let's be honest, even in a year like 2018 a lot of things didn't fall in place. It wasn't all bad, there were some bright moments which WWE could look back and pat themselves on the back for.

Sure, some storylines died for no reason (for instance, the strange Lashley-Reigns feud that ended at 1-1 and inexplicably made Roman the No.1 contender) while some amazing wrestlers (Nakamura, Balor, Bobby Lashley to name a few) never really got their rightful push there were others who did and made the most of it.

It was a bad year but even in this one WWE was able to strike gold once or twice and some pushes really reaped a whole load of benefit.

Looking back, after looking at the things which went wrong, let's look at the things which actually worked for WWE.

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#1 Pushing Becky Lynch to become the Champion

Becky Lynch became "The Man" in 2018

This has to be the best decision that WWE made in 2018 when they finally heard what the audience wanted and went ahead with it. Becky Lynch had been gaining momentum week after week after week by notching up wins on SmackDown and when she was finally part of the triple threat match against Charlotte Flair and Carmella the whole crowd chanted for Becky to win.

The subsequent outburst, the semi-heel turn (well... she was a heel that was cheered the loudest by the crowd) and title run have put Becky at the top of the ladder in the WWE women's roster.

So great her run was, that a potential Charlotte Flair vs Ronda Rousey match at WrestleMania is now rumored to have been made a triple threat match with Becky Lynch added to the fold. Her demeanor has a bit of Connor McGregor to it and she has certainly been "The Man" of wrestling in WWE.

#2 Turning Daniel Bryan Heel

The "New Daniel Bryan" was one of the highlights of 2018

Whether it was a stroke of luck or an act of desperation by Daniel Bryan (he himself suggested it) but the heel turn for Daniel Bryan has worked wonders for SmackDown Live. The timing couldn't have been better as after a year-long run at the top AJ Styles' championship reign had started getting a bit stale.

The New Daniel Bryan has been superb in generating a reaction out of the crowd every time. Whether it be him shouting that the "Yes! Movement" is over or shouting "Fickle" at the audience, Daniel Bryan has really taken things up a notch and is doing something that was badly needed at this time by WWE.

He has shown zero ring rust ever since he has stepped back into the ring and as a champion, he has taken the mantle from AJ Styles as the face of Smackdown and ran with it admirably.

#3 Signing Ronda Rousey

Ronda surprised everyone with the way she adapted to the squared circle

One thing everyone has to admit is that no one expected Ronda Rousey to be this good in the ring in her very first year. True, she's not as good on the mic as a Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair and she's still maybe not at the same level as a performer as those two women but it is undeniable that she carries a lot of charisma (and a pretty mean face to go along with that).

The best part though has been her matches in the ring where she hasn't looked out of sorts or like a fish out of water. In fact, she has put together some great matches. Her match against Nia Jax was Nia's best match of her career (props to Ronda for that) and Ronda's hard-hitting bout against Charlotte was one of the better women matches of the year.

With the star power she had even before stepping into the WWE and with her work inside the ring, Ronda has proven to be a pretty good wrestler and potentially turning into one of the best in the WWE given the right amount of time.

#4 Empowering the female Superstars

One of the highlights of the year was women wrestlers taking centre stage and main eventing PPVs

Among the many wrongs that WWE did in 2018 the one right that was probably one of the biggest shining light was how much women wrestlers were able to shine in the spotlight.

Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey are now megastars in their own right and arguably have a bigger star power compared to many male wrestlers on the roster. Becky was in fact (and rightly so) named the best wrestler in the WWE power rankings.

Women wrestlers have put in some of the best matches of the year with the Last Women Standing match between Becky and Charlotte ranking among the best of the year and even the most recent PPV featuring the SmackDown Women's Championship match.

There were slight scepticism earlier when there were talks about women main eventing Wrestlemania, but the way things have been this is not beyond imagination and looks highly likely that Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch will main event the Wrestlemania PPV.

#5 Drew Mcintyre's Slow and Steady rise

Drew McIntyre has slowly moulded himself throughout the year and could be a main eventer pretty soon

Drew McIntyre is earmarked to be WWE's star of the future. Everyone knows that. He is a complete package be it physically, in the ring or on the mic. He does everything to perfection.

But one thing that WWE has done correctly with Drew is they didn't push him in the main event scene too soon. With Roman Reigns it was almost a sense of entitlement whenever he marched into the ring which put everyone off and turned the crowd against him.

What WWE has done correctly with Drew is that they've let him win over the crowd. They've given him sufficient time in the mid-card for the audience to warm up to him and now he's ready to get that main event push, so much so that even the audience would be looking forward to what he can do when pushed into the deep end.