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Year in Review: Scaling the Good & Bad of WWE’s 2015

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PWP Nation’s guest columnist Jamahl Reynolds examines the good and bad from WWE in the year of 2015. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This has been by far the strongest year WWE has booking wise in literally a decade. Although there are still some issues to address within a company, I can honestly say that in terms of intentions, storytelling, even wrestling, I cannot recall any year that came close to WWE 2015.

It’s like a breathe of fresh air from previous years of repetitive main event booking, underdeveloped storylines and characters, and predictable outcomes.

In this article, I will rank some of the best and worst of WWE 2015. With 10 being a perfect score and 1 being an absolute failure (or zero if I have extreme issues on the subject.)

NXT

 

Honestly whether or not NXT is perfect is up for debate, but I cannot think of anything for WWE’s NXT to improve on. It’s like watching Ring of Honor before Jim Cornette got involved with the company.

It’s Lucha Underground with a PG rating but with an equal idea of keeping wrestling central to its product. I love the talent in NXT; I dig the hell out of the matches on NXT and most importantly, I look forward to their shows every week.

If I were to name the weakest shows in NXT 2015, I would count them with one hand…which is almost as much as the number of good matches/moment in any year in WWE, prior to 2015. If there is any optimistic evidence of WWE creating a great product when Vince McMahon passes it on to Triple H, NXT is the proof.

Score: 10/10 

Triple H

I think it’s best that I give credit to the man I’ve detested since I started watching professional wrestling at the age of 10, Triple H. The year of 2015 had his fingerprints all over it: NXT’s fantastic booking, Seth Rollins being the company champion and Roman Reigns‘ WWE World Title push.

I seriously doubt Vince McMahon would’ve thought half of the cool stuff that occurred this year. I have to say thank you to the “Game” for making the “Game” a lot more interesting in 2015. 

Score: 9/10

Seth Rollins

This year was built around the most reviled heel in recent memory. The man who betrayed his members of the Shield, the man behind “The Heist of the Century” at Wrestlemania 31, and the man who has fans anxiously waiting for his triumphant return from injury: Seth “The Architect” Rollins. This is the heel WWE should always market; someone who is good on the microphone and talented in the ring.

Honestly, who would’ve guess Seth Rollins’ WWE World Title push would work out this well? When he betrayed the Shield on June 2014, I suspected Seth Rollins would drown in the roster by the weight of bad booking (and Randy Orton). Thank God I was wrong and instead we had one of the best WWE world title reigns ever. He has beaten wrestlers we wanted to become champion or don’t want to become champion (thanks again, John Stewart for screwing John Cena).  

Rollins’ heel heat grew in ways that heels are SUPPOSE to gain heat! No cheap tricks; just stealing victories from fan favorites! The method is old fashion yet consistent and effective! The booking behind the reign was carefully plotted and would’ve ended on an extremely satisfying note if Seth didn’t go through that freak accident. I sincerely hope Seth gets well and goes on to reclaim the title (hopefully from Reigns just to continue the storyline). Thank you Seth Rollins for being “The Man” WWE needed and get well soon!

Score: 9/10 

John Cena and the United States Championship Open Challenge

Aside from staying the hell away from the WWE World Title this year, John Cena did us fans the unexpected favor of making the United States Championship relevant after ending Rusev’s reign at WrestleMania 31. This title reign was effectively booked and gave the mid-card title the spotlight it desperately needed. Like Seth Rollin’s world title reign, John Cena’s reign had a simple premise: defend the title on every show it appears.

It also helps when the challengers feature a variety of opponents including Rusev, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. In fact, this is perhaps Cena’s best year in terms of in ring performance as he and Owens competed in their epic trilogy of feuds. This is what WWE should do with main eventers who cannot or should not win the top prize.

After being on the top 15 times, it’s great for Cena to step aside and bring prominence to WWE’s weak area that is maintaining the value of mid card titles.

Score: 8.5/10

WWE’s Tag Team Division 

The United States Championship wasn’t the only title WWE would actually try to make us fans give a damn about. The Tag Team Division feels legitimately competitive for the first time in years.

This year, it isn’t one team feuding one team while other teams are just decorations. Every team in WWE roster is clawing after the WWE Tag Titles and all of them feel relevant and identifiable. Seriously, in previous years, you need considerable effort to even remember a tag team title feud.

This year, we had New Day taking on Lucha Dragons, Dudley Boyz, Prime Time Players, and the Usos. What’s even better? The WWE Tag Team Titles are central to the division! It’s not like previous years where you have over stables/tag teams holding no gold or if they held the gold, the titles aren’t relevant.

Score: 8/10 

Kevin Owens 

After the whole Shield booking is done with, I expect the man to become a monster heel World Heavyweight Champion. Seriously, Kevin Owens isn’t even in WWE for a year yet and he’s one of the most over talent on the roster! He’s a great wrestler, with (as mentioned before) his epic trilogy against John Cena. Owens brought interest to RAW when he came and challenge U.S. Champion John Cena while still on his NXT Championship reign!

After his big feud with Cena, Owens captured the Intercontinental Championship, and would cutting some of the most funniest cynical promos/backstage skits I’ve seen. I can only hope for big things out of Owens in 2016… although I am doubtful of him feuding with Brock Lesnar all the way to WrestleMania (yes I want to see it happen, but no, I don’t want a squash match).

Score: 8/10 

Roman Reigns 

Here’s a question: What do you do with a man who has the look, lacks the mic, moves fast like hell, but isn’t a technical wrestler? You book him as a freakin’ badass and not like a second John Cena! Seriously! If it weren’t for the closing segment at the 2015 TLC pay-per-view, Roman Reigns wouldn’t become the star the WWE wants us fans to invest in.

Up to December, 2015 has been abysmal for Reigns: despite getting over in the 2014 Royal Rumble, the fans gave Reigns heat in 2015 Royal Rumble; The fans cheered as Brock Lesnar suplexed him almost 10 times during their match at WrestleMania 31; and fans didn’t especially care for his first title win at Survivor Series.

Before his single run, fans were content with Reigns being the muscle of the Shield. Yet, it was predictable who among the three Shield members will get the most attention: the muscle, and member of the legendary Anoa’i wrestling family.  

We as fans want one good reason to care about Reigns and the WWE finally gave it to us at TLC: Roman Regins beating down Triple H is the best thing the WWE could do to get him over, and it paid off in dividends. The WWE title match that occurred 24 hours later still had an over Roman Reigns, and he is still over as of last night’s RAW. After a hectic year of missed opportunities in getting over and getting a world title run, Roman Reigns (and WWE creative) accomplished both objectives in two wrestling shows! KUDOS! 

Score: 7.5/10 

The Wyatt Family 

Yes, they are not champions yet (which is why I haven’t given them an 8 or a 9) and yes they are playing the same fiddle, but I love this stable. Bray Wyatt never loses interest, and I sincerely wished he were on the winning end of his feud with the Brothers of Destruction.

However, Seth’s freak accident threw a wrench on everything so what one can do? I hope 2016 is a hit for Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family. Hopefully they will win gold and solidify their status as this generation’s new Four Horsemen (League of Nations don’t got jack over the Buzzards).

Score: 7/10 

WWE’s Divas Division 

The biggest thing WWE did with their Divas Division was upgrading Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks from NXT to the main roster. Right here is when intrigue in the division began to resurge. After losing AJ Lee this year, the WWE needed more faces and better matches in the Divas division (something that they recently sabotaged, ironically).

The three NXT divas I’ve mentioned made me look forward to diva matches again. Or at least until I’ve noticed the WWE booked just about the same matches every week between the 3 Diva stables: Team BAD, PCB and Team Bella.

Then they booked unnecessary heel turns with Paige and Charlotte, thus leaving Becky Lynch and Natalya as the only faces in the entire Divas Division. Wow, talk about one step forward, two steps back…. oh, well…. maybe it’ll get better in 2016…. or worse… who knows? At least the divas division isn’t designated piss breaks anymore.

Score: 7/10 

WWE Intercontinental Championship Booking

Well….it could be better. I mean, the WWE did good giving Daniel Bryan the title, but he had to relinquish the title due to injury and surgery (again). Ryback getting the I.C. title was perfect because I want to see an over face talent get tested for a WWE main event push. Ryback could’ve been booked as a strong face champion taking on all sorts of villains in all forms.

But instead the WWE decides to abort that idea and give the title to Kevin Owens. Sad to say I vaguely remember anything of interest except “Hey! Kevin Owens is champion! Great!”

However, the potential of an enraged Kevin Owens feuding new champion Dean Ambrose is decently high.

Score: 6/10 

The Cosmic Wasteland 

Okay, HOW this stable isn’t as popular as say… The New Day… is baffling!! Seriously! I know not everyone’s a fan of the Ascension, neither am I, but I do feel sorry for this team. Here’s a team that has gone from being NXT Tag Team Champions, to jobbers within a week because they tried to go over as heels.

After claiming to become better than say the Dudley Boyz or Road Warriors, the fans and commentators gave them shit for it! Seriously? ONE remark of being better than classic tag teams and they are in the doghouse? This attempt in gaining heel heat has been done to death and fans are mad that THIS team claims they are better than Demolition? Double standards I swear… anyways!

Much like how he tried (and succeeded) to keep himself relevant after the Legacy bombed, Cody Rhodes, now Stardust, adopts the Ascension and formed the Cosmic Wasteland! The team would feud with Neville and the Lucha Dragons (and Green Arrow for a bit).

I liked the idea behind this stable, and I hate how WWE just disregard it completely! Seriously, Cody Rhodes did great work this year… in fact, Stardust/Cody Rhodes gets Rank 7.5 for doing better creatively than WWE creative even though he’s nowhere near their list of future main eventers.

Score: 6/10 

The New Day 

I seriously want to dock points from this joke of a stable but the fact of the matter is the New Day MADE this tag team division of 2015. Much like Seth Rollins, they are the most over heel of the stable. Although I dislike the Freebird Rule, at least it’s used to keep a disregarded division relevant. However, I still hate the New Day! I despise the idea of having African Americans put together to form a joke tag team. Especially if these black wrestlers DO NOT need this stable to get over.

The New Day could’ve been a smart stable something like Damien Sandow before the WWE paired him with the Miz; Or they could’ve been a badass stable like the Shield! Instead we have (and I say it again) a Minstrel show! We had Sexual Chocolate, Shelton Benjamin be Momma’s boy, R-Truth and Little Jimmy and now…THIS?! Good lord, am I skeptic of the future of NXT’s Apollo Crews… While fans eat this up, I’ll be following stables that have a strong lacking of freakin’ unicorns…. like… I dunno…. the Buzzards!

Score: 6/10 

Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar 

Put the torches and pitchforks down!

I am NOT saying Brock/Taker’s matches were bad! Their feud was fine and I’m glad the right guy won the feud. I just don’t think we need to watch Undertaker cheat death through fighting Brock Lesnar. Brock’s clearly more powerful, and is still in his prime, but Undertaker’s getting old.

That being said, Undertaker performed better in his Hell in a Cell match against Brock than previous matches. Still, I’d like to see one of my childhood heroes retire in one piece instead of taking another tour through Suplex City.

Score: 5/10 

Sheamus’ Money In The Bank Cash-In

See, Seth Rollins’ cash in worked because there was a lot of backing behind his cash in. The whole cash in was in good hands upon execution. Sheamus on the other hand, felt totally unnecessary and nobody was into it. Sheamus was not involved in any major angles or created a major stable. The man has the looks and the skills, but like his first WWE title reign, has no build up.

Sheamus wasn’t booked well enough to warrant a title run and so when he cashed in, nobody was invested in the idea. Yes, the Money In The Bank cash-ins are meant to be a surprise, but they can only work with wrestlers who have a smidgen of interest from the fans. Sheamus didn’t provide interest except for a small number of fans. Too bad having a small number of fans is not enough to justify Sheamus’ cash in.

Score: 5/10 

Sting 

Bring in the biggest name to never compete in WWE and he gives you a dozen reasons why he waited this long to get into WWE. Seriously, he lost every single big match this year, is out on injury, and prolonged the highly desired dream match against Undertaker.

No, I am not impressed WWE, not at all…. I get why you’re probably doing it, and I am certain Sting’s okay with it, but this is a guy who never watched WCW during their heyday and watching old matches of you is only making things worse! Hopefully after he heals we’ll get that damn dream match!

Score: 5/10

WWE’s Mid-Card 

And when I mean midcard, I mean anyone not involved in any major storyline or feud in the past year! Seriously this is what WWE needs to work on next year and have all of their wrestlers become stars of the show! I do not want to see decent talents like R-Truth and Jack Swagger serve as jobber fodder despite having legitimate wrestling skills that would work best if they were feuding for midcard titles.

Why should Zack Ryder be over as a tag team on NXT, but still jobbing every week on RAW/Smackdown? Outside the ring, Titus O’Neil is doing good things with the homeless, and yet he’s barely featured in the tag team division! Either get PTP feuding with New Day, or give Titus a huge single run, WWE.

As long as he’s not New Day member #4 though; there’s enough dancing black men on your roster. Also when Cesaro comes back, I expect him to be a major player and not regulated as jobber fodder or something equivalent to Shelton Benjamin when WWE gave up on him for no reason! As good as 2015 was this year, there were a lot of repetitive matches on every show!

How about taking midcarders and give them time in the sun? This way there will be different matches with different stories on every show! Even if they do not become champions, at least make things interesting, except for Cesaro; push him to the moon WWE! You know what now I think about it. 

Score: 4/10 

Cesaro’s Booking

WWE, Vince McMahon, creative, anyone, when Cesaro returns, please throw your ego out the window and put him in the best matches possible and build him up to be world champion and then follow through and give him a world title reign. 

He’s the closest thing to having a Brock Lesnar in terms of speed, strength, and technique. He has a following of indy fans and kids LOVE a good guy capable of throwing someone like Big Show with ease. Yes, Roman Reigns was a big payoff, but good lord many of us want Cesaro as face champion!

Score: 4/10 

Handling of Babyfaces and Heels 

2015 has been the year of over heels but not a lot of over faces. Even though the year closed as Roman Reigns as WWE champion, and Dean Ambrose as Intercontinental Champion, the WWE has recently added 2 new heel stables (League of Nations and Social Outcasts), the Divas Division has at most two face divas and tell me fans, how man faces (not injured) are on the roster that are over enough to feud for championships? Not a lot; WWE needs to fix this.

Score: 4/10 

WWE’s Injury Bug 

Good lord this was a bad year in terms of injuries and WWE has to do a lot to prevent this from reoccurring. Yes, some of their talents like Daniel Bryan and Cesaro, competed in so many wrestling matches, that something was bound to break.

However, Jey Uso and Seth Rollins are victims of accidents. In the case of Seth Rollins, entire angles were damaged due to his injury. Cesaro is also damaging because here’s (as stated before) a potential face world champion who gets injured and thus leaves WWE a man down who can perform impressive matches despite not being a main eventer. I hope WWE pays attention and find ways to protect their wrestlers.

Score: 0/10 

2015 was an extremely good year for WWE and I really, really, REALLY hope 2016 proves better! I hope more unexpected talent get into the spotlight, names become relevant, titles retain value, and storylines become worth discussing and analyzing. Although I don’t expect perfection I at least expect a superior sequel year.

Thank you for reading, everyone! 

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