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The new year is upon us and it's the perfect time to sit down and look back at the year that was 2018. In many ways, WWE would want to make amends on what they actually did because it has just not been up to the mark when it comes to the ratings and the quality of content that was dished out in 2018.
Many wrestlers, be it Shinsuke Nakamura or Finn Balor had an underwhelming year where they were either not booked or pushed properly throughout the year. At the same time, there were others who were backed and were able to put on a good show. In this list, we rank the top 5 Wrestlers who had a great 2018.
Honourable Mentions: Both Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns have been excluded from the list because Brock has been a part-timer while Roman Reigns is suffering from Leukemia and missed a part of the year.
#5 Drew McIntyre
If there is one thing that Drew McIntyre and WWE have learned from their past stints, as well as past experiences, is that sometimes patience is everything. Everyone knows Drew McIntyre is the next big thing in WWE and for sure the next biggest Superstar but what WWE has been careful in doing is taking its time slowly and steadily with him.
He has not been shoved down the audience's throat as 'the guy' (no pun intended), rather he has been given his time for the audience to warm up to him. They've let Drew slowly grow in stature alongside Dolph Ziggler where sometimes it seemed like he was literally carrying the team on his shoulders.
And now it has reached a point where Drew is ready for his singles push. Will it culminate in a WrestleMania main event is still a far cry for now but Drew has shown that he's more than ready now to take over at the top.
#4 Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan is back!!! Christmas came early for WWE when he was finally medically cleared to return to the ring and good God it doesn't seem like he's missed a beat ever since he's gone.
Daniel Bryan throughout the year has shown that he has lost none of his skills and he's still a massive massive force in WWE. The icing on the cake though has been his championship win and heel turn which would have taken everyone by surprise.
The introduction of the new Daniel Bryan is also one of the best things that could have happened to SmackDown which was becoming a bit stale with AJ Styles at the top of the ladder for a tad too long.
The new Daniel Bryan has gained a lot of heat and is doing a great job in invoking reactions from the crowd, slowly but surely he's becoming the face of the SmackDown and has taken the ball from AJ Styles and ran with it.
#3 Braun Strowman
In some ways 2018 could be stated as a disappointment for Braun, he had a pretty meaningless match with a child(we miss you Nicolas) at WrestleMania. He was pinned by Roman Reigns at elimination chamber. He then failed to cash in the money in the bank to win the title after so many repeated failed attempts. Even after that, he was squashed by Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel.
Despite all of this Braun throughout the year has always been around the main event picture, he won the Greatest Royal Rumble, he won the money in the bank and will be main eventing Royal Rumble against Brock Lesnar.
Braun still lacks the final push to be the face of the company but he still is among the top echelon of wrestlers in WWE right now.
#2 AJ Styles
2018 has been a career-defining year for AJ Styles. He had a World championship reign that lasted more than a year. He pretty much carried the SmackDown brand on his shoulders for more than a year.
In many ways, he was living the dream by headlining SmackDown day in day out for almost a year (who would have thought this would happen when he was honing his craft in TNA a decade ago?).
AJ was one of the hardest workers in WWE and now he holds the distinction of being the Champion in each of TNA, WWE, and NJPW. Now after having lost the title and negotiating for a lighter workload in his contract, what AJ does next is still not clear but it would be interesting to see what's in store in 2019 for AJ Styles.
#1 Seth Rollins
2018 has to be Seth's year. He has slowly and steadily cemented himself as the Mr Monday Night Raw by day in and day out putting in the best match on the main brand of the WWE throughout the year.
At the beginning of the year there were still some doubts about Rollins getting over as a face but with regularity day in and day out he has put in some of the best matches of the year to really get over with the crowd.
His feud with Dolph Ziggler was one of the highlights of the year with both the wrestlers putting in highlight after highlight matches. It is rumored that Seth is gearing up for the main event push with a match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. If that happens it would be a just reward for the effort that he has put in throughout the year.
