2020 WWE Year In Review Roundtable
What was your favorite moment of the year?
Ernesto – As a big Roman Reigns fan, it was definitely his return at SummerSlam. Not gonna lie, I reacted so viscerally I may have scared myself. The Strowman/Wyatt feud that had previously peaked was closing the show, so what better way to inject some life into the main event than by involving Reigns?
The most satisfying aspect of the return was that it was clearly not the same Reigns of the last few years. This Roman Reigns had a nasty attitude, an attitude that was only a taste of what was to come in the remainder of the year.
Granger – It is really easy to say that Edge returning at the Royal Rumble was my favorite moment of the year. However, I expect that there will be a ton of people who would say the same exact thing. So while yes, Edge returning is my favorite moment of the year, I will provide my second. My second favorite moment of the year was Roman Reigns winning the Universal Championship and becoming “The Tribal Chief.” We have seen a completely different side of Reigns in 2020.
Samantha – Roman Reigns heel turn (which also gave us new teeth & no shirt). I have been clamoring for him to turn heel AND be paired with Paul Heyman since 2015 (I have receipts on Twitter).
So far, this has been even more incredible than I could have possibly imagined. Everything has been gold & I can’t wait to see where it goes, although when his title reign ends (after he’s held the title for a year), I want it to be Big E that ends it.
Max – Roman Reigns returns to destroy The Fiend and Braun Strowman. You’ve seen my favorite match, so you can probably guess my favorite moment right? I was bored with Braun Strowman’s reign as soon as he won, which hurts me because I really like Strowman. I didn’t want to see Fiend as Universal champion, which hurts me because I really like The Fiend. I did want Roman Reigns to return, and I further wanted heel Reigns to return. Did I believe it would happen? Not a chance, I expected the Kevlar wearing Samoan Sufferin Succotash Superman to return. But he didn’t.
Instead, we got Reigns destroying Strowman and Wyatt, I mean technically it was nothing we hadn’t seen before, but it felt different. Donning a t-shirt that said “Wreck everyone and leave” he did exactly that and gave Smackdown the well-needed adrenalin shot it required, as well as bringing relevance, prestige, and direction to the Universal title. Starting 2020 I never thought I’d say this but I tune into WWE for Roman Reigns, if that doesn’t make a top moment I’m not sure I could say I was a wrestling fan.
Honorable mention: Drew McIntyre wins the Royal Rumble
2021 won’t bring an end to all that ailed us in 2020, but we can still look ahead and hope that the upcoming year will bring improvements to the WWE on-screen product.