The 2023 Rif Rasslin Awards

Welcome to the 12^th annual Rif Rasslin Awards. It’s that time of year where we look back at the best and worst of 2023. This is a blog I always look forward to, even if there’s a lot of time dedicated to it. I really want to thank you guys for helping to support my site. Your support is humbling beyond words and I really can’t thank you all enough.

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As always, this is a blog dedicated to the WWE over the course of this year.

These awards are based on my own personal choice. There were no polls or write-in votes. My name is on the awards, so I get to pick the winners. I don’t expect anybody reading this to agree with everything I write below, but I will do my best to explain all my choices. The awards are based on performance. It doesn’t necessarily matter if a person wins all their matches on television and titles really aren’t that important. It’s about the performance more than anything.

Superstar of the Year: GUNTHER (Runner up: Cody Rhodes)

Previous winners – 2012: CM Punk/ 2013: Daniel Bryan/ 2014: Dolph Ziggler/ 2015: John Cena/ 2016: AJ Styles/ 2017: AJ Styles/ 2018: Johnny Gargano/ 2019: Kofi Kingston/ 2020: Drew McIntyre/ 2021: Roman Reigns/ 2022: Roman Reigns

This was a tough call. There were other names in the running, such as Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Dominik Mysterio. But I just kept coming back to Rhodes and GUNTHER, however there can only be one winner and that man’s name is GUNTHER.

So why Gunther? He started the year off with a bang with an impressive showing in the Royal Rumble to all the title matches against the likes of Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Chad Gable, The Miz and so many others. Breaking Honky Tonk Man’s record as longest reigning Intercontinental champion certainly factored in my overall decision. And if memory serves me right, he hasn’t lost a TV match this year (via pinfall or submission).

I’m not sure when Gunther will lose the IC Title or to whom, but I know he’s going to be a featured major player in the years ahead. I look forward to seeing him get an even bigger push moving forward. I’m expecting him to hold a world title sometime in 2024.

Cody Rhodes made a step up to that top level this year as the Royal Rumble winner who main evented WrestleMania for the first time ever. Cody didn’t win the Undisputed WWE Universal Title from Roman Reigns, but he proved that he belonged in that spotlight. Losing a match like that might hurt a guy, yet in Cody’s case here we are eight months later and I think the guy is more popular than ever. Cody is relatable to lifelong fans who are 30s and 40s now, he’s a role model for the kids who sing his song and I think he’s performing as well as he ever has. The feuds with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar were great while the rest of the year he was busy with others like The Judgment Day leading into WarGames. I think the focus remains on getting that WWE Championship and I hope it happens at WrestleMania 40. When it comes to having star power, being a top draw, a good guy that’s easy to like, being somebody who has some of the best matches in the company, a strong promo guy and everything else, it’s fair to say Cody is the total package when it comes to being a WWE superstar in 2023.

Female of the Year: Rhea Ripley (Runner up: IYO SKY)

Previous winners – 2012: Eve Torres/ 2013: AJ Lee/ 2014: AJ Lee/ 2015: Sasha Banks/ 2016: Charlotte Flair/ 2017: Asuka/ 2018: Becky Lynch/ 2019: Becky Lynch/ 2020: Io Shirai/ 2021: Bianca Belair/ 2022: Bianca Belair

Rhea Ripley is my pick for female wrestler of the year. Like Gunther, she had an impressive showing at the Royal Rumble and then had the best women’s match of the year with Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39. In addition to that, The Judgment Day was featured heavily on television all year long with promos, segments and matches with Ripley at the center of it all. She really elevated her game a lot this year. Something that Ripley was missing this year was an epic rivalry. The match with Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 was amazing, but it was just a match and then they went their separate ways. I hope that happens for her in 2024. It’s probably going to happen with Lynch since they were kept apart for this year because I assume a date at WrestleMania 40 is the plan. What sets Ripley apart is her believability factor. If she says she is going to destroy somebody, it’s easy to believe it because she looks like a badass. She’s also great at selling moves and telling a story in a match. There are no holes in her game.

It was cool to see IYO SKY as the Women’s Money in the Bank winner and WWE Women’s Champion for the second half of the year. I’m such a huge fan of hers. She is so talented in a deep division, but she’s more than held her own.

Someone else I feel deserves to be recognised is Tiffany Stratton. She’s had a terrific year. Stratton was the star of the NXT women’s division while also holding her own with Becky Lynch. That match they had at NXT No Mercy was outstanding and told people that Stratton is more than just a pretty face.

Tag Team of the Year: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (Runner up: The Usos)

Previous winners – 2012: Team Hell No/ 2013: Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns/ 2014: The Usos/ 2015: The New Day/ 2016: The Revival/ 2017: The New Day/ 2018: Undisputed Era/ 2019: Undisputed Era/ 2020: Street Profits/ 2021: The Usos/ 2022: The Usos

It’s rare to not have The Usos win this since they dominated this award the previous two years, but I think Sami & Kevin deserve it the most. As I mentioned in the Best Match award, the story of Sami & Kevin becoming a team that trusted each other again was masterfully told and it paid off with the big title win at WrestleMania 39. Zayn & Owens held the titles for 154 days, which is about five months before losing to The Judgment Day. Zayn & Owens were a lot of fun to watch. It would be cool to see them as champions again in the future, but it doesn’t appear to be something that we might see again in 2024 just based on where they are now.

Due to The Usos splitting up in the summer, it was hard to give this award to them. However, if you think about their year, that WM39 match with Zayn/Owens and the epic Money in the Bank main event beating Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa were two incredible moments for the brothers. Now it looks like Jimmy & Jey are on the path to becoming WrestleMania opponents, which should be awesome to see at WM40.

Feud of the Year: The Bloodline Led By Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens & Jey Uso (Runner up: Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar)

Previous winners – 2012: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan/ 2013: CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman/ 2014: Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority/ 2015: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley/ 2016: The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler/ 2017: The Usos vs. The New Day/ 2018: Tommaso Champa vs. Johnny Gargano/ 2019: Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano/ 2020: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley/ 2021: Edge vs. Seth Rollins/ 2022: Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch

I may be cheating myself a bit with how I named the winner, but I think the story from January to SummerSlam in August with Roman Reigns against his rivals was the best of the year. That moment at the Royal Rumble when Zayn hit Reigns in the back with the chair was epic because Zayn refused to take the chair to his best friend Owens. Zayn got his ass kicked moments later, but Jey Uso refused to join in and that set the wheels in motion. Zayn eventually got on the same page with Kevin Owens again while Jey remained loyal to The Bloodline. Post-WrestleMania, Zayn & Owens beat Reigns & Solo Sikoa to keep the Tag Team Titles while The Usos also went against Reigns & Solo, which was an epic moment. That led to an awesome tag team match at Money in the Bank with The Usos beating Reigns & Solo as Jey got the big win over Reigns. Roman ended up beating Jey at SummerSlam due to Jimmy turning on his brother to cost Jey, which should set up Jey against Jimmy at WrestleMania next year.

What I covered above took place over eight months. That’s the longest story of the year. You may not like Reigns due to working a reduced schedule, but the man has talked about elevating others and that’s what he did this year. Guys like Zayn and Jey especially are bigger stars than ever because they’re great performers, but being part of an epic, all-time great storyline like this has certainly helped them a lot.

That Cody Rhodes-Brock Lesnar rivalry elevated Cody after the tough loss that Cody suffered at WrestleMania. They had three matches over four months and Lesnar putting over Cody huge in the SummerSlam match really meant a lot for Cody.

Match of the Year: The Usos vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn – WrestleMania 39 (Runner up: Sheamus vs Gunther vs Drew McIntyre– WrestleMania 39)

Previous winners – 2012: Undertaker vs. Triple H – WrestleMania 28/ 2013: Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk – SummerSlam/ 2014: The Wyatt Family vs. The Shield – Elimination Chamber/ 2015: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley – NXT Takeover: Brooklyn/ 2016: Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura -NXT Takeover: Dallas/ 2017: Pete Dunn vs. Tyler Bate – NXT Takeover: Chicago/ 2018: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Champa – NXT Takeover: New Orleans/ 2019: Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano – NXT Takeover: New York/ 2020: Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles – Smackdown, June 12th/ 2021: Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER – Takeover 35/ 2022: Sheamus vs. GUNTHER – Clash at the Castle

For only the second time in the history of the RIF awards has a tag match been selected for match of the year. In the case of The Usos vs. Owens & Zayn it’s well deserved. It’s one of the best tag matches in history as far as I’m concerned.

The story going into this certainly played a part in my overall decision. That Zayn/Owens match with The Usos was the culmination of a very long storyline that took months to develop. We knew months earlier that the match was coming, but we had to wait for the story to develop with Zayn turning face, Owens trusting Zayn again and Jey remaining loyal to his brother Jimmy. They went on to have an emotional battle with so many great moments. When I rewatched it, I paid close attention to the fans reacting to everything. They were so into the story. To see Zayn & Owens come back after getting their asses kicked was tremendous and seeing them win the titles to end the longest Tag Team Title reign ever was an all-time great moment. It was one of the best non-gimmick tag team matches in WWE history.

The GUNTHER-Sheamus-Drew McIntyre match at WrestleMania 39 was also outstanding. It wasn’t as long as the tag team match mentioned above, but it was hard hitting, full of action and had plenty of close moments where it looked like anybody could win. Gunther ended up getting the pinfall, but all three guys should be so proud of it.

Pay Per View of the Year: WrestleMania 39 (Runner up: Elimination Chamber)

Previous winners – 2012: Extreme Rules/ 2013: SummerSlam/ 2014: WrestleMania 30/ 2015: WrestleMania 31/ 2016: Money in the Bank/ 2017: Royal Rumble/ 2018: Evolution/ 2019: SummerSlam/ 2020: Royal Rumble/ 2021: Money in the Bank/ 2022: Clash at the Castle

I think this was the best year in WWE PLE/PPV history in terms of the quality of the major shows that we got, but WrestleMania was head and shoulders above the rest.

WrestleMania 39 is one of the greatest WM’s ever due to the match quality, memorable moments and just how fun it was overall. The top matches like Zayn/Owens v Usos, Reigns/Cody, Ripley/Flair, Gunther/Sheamus/McIntyre, Rollins/Paul and others were among the best of the year. It’s really an all-time great WrestleMania. WrestleMania Saturday was better than Sunday, but both of them were really outstanding.

I thought Elimination Chamber in Montreal and Backlash in San Juan, Puerto Rico had two of the best WWE crowds I’ve ever heard in all of my years of watching. That helped both of those shows, but there were also plenty of great matches too.

NXT Premier Live Event of the Year: No Mercy (Runner up: Stand & Deliver)

Previous winners: 2018: New Orleans/ 2019: New York/ 2020: Portland/ 2021: Stand & Deliver/ 2022: Stand & Deliver

No Mercy was an easy winner thanks to the five-star Dragunov/Hayes match and Lynch/Stratton was incredible too. The other matches were all good to great. There was nothing bad on the show. Some stuff could have been longer with better finishes maybe, but I enjoyed most of it.

Stand & Deliver was a very good show with some outstanding matches that carried it. With it taking place over WrestleMania weekend, having a loud crowd also helped in its presentation.

Comeback of the Year: CM Punk (Runner up: John Cena)

Previous winners – 2013: Goldust/ 2014: Hulk Hogan/ 2015: The Dudley Boys/ 2016: Shane McMahon/ 2017: The Hardy Boyz/ 2018: Daniel Bryan/ 2019: Roman Reigns/ 2020: Edge/ 2021: Becky Lynch/ 2022: Stone Cold Steve Austin

This has to go to CM Punk’s WWE return at Survivor Series. The man literally got fired by AEW in early September due to a backstage fight and immediately after that, there were rumors about this return at Survivor Series because it just so happened to be in his hometown of Chicago. If it was in another city, would it have happened? Maybe…probably…but it wouldn’t have been as special because those fans in that city love CM Punk and he got one of the loudest crowd reactions I’ve ever heard in my life. I certainly thought it was possible, but until it happens, you don’t know for sure. I’m glad it happened and I’m happy for CM Punk being “home” in WWE. I look forward to seeing what he does in 2024 and beyond.

John Cena was around early in the year to cut a scathing promo on Austin Theory before losing to Theory at WrestleMania 39. In the fall, Cena was back on Smackdown in September & October and it was great to hear the crowds every week giving Cena huge ovations as a sign of respect. Cena lost decisively to Solo Sikoa at Crown Jewel and we don’t know when he will be back, Cena himself has recently said his time in WWE is coming to an end, but I enjoyed Cena being back in WWE for a couple of months.

Welcome back Randy Orton at Survivor Series after missing 18 months. That’s a long time to be off, but major back surgery is no joke. Orton looked stronger than ever and the fans love the guy that was one of the top heels in the business for most of his career. I’m glad he made it back.

TV Show of the Year: Raw (Runner up: Smackdown)

Previous winners – 2012: Raw/ 2013: NXT/ 2014: NXT/ 2015: NXT/ 2016: NXT/ 2017: Smackdown Live/ 2018: NXT/ 2019: NXT/ 2020: NXT/ 2021: Smackdown/ 2022: Smackdown

It’s finally a win for Raw. Credit the booker Triple H for making good use of the three hours given to the show. The match quality on Raw is better than Smackdown most weeks because they have three hours compared to two. There have been so many outstanding matches on Raw this year. I also find myself rating a lot of matches around three stars or higher, which means good to great and when you get that consistently, it helps the show overall. I think they have done a nice job of pushing the major champions like Rollins, Gunther & Ripley and the Tag Team Titles while also telling stories with the roster they have. A key part of Raw’s success is the babyface depth with the likes of Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Sami Zayn (with Kevin Ownes most of the year), Jey Uso and now CM Punk. Drew McIntyre was a face for most of the year too. When you have so many good, likable wrestlers leading the way, the show is better and easier to watch.

Smackdown is still good most of the time, but with Roman Reigns appearing less often, it does hurt the show at times. It was better in 2022 as The Bloodline story was really evolving more with Reigns and The Bloodline being featured prominently. I also think in terms of match quality, Raw is definitely better due in part to being longer, but also the quality of the roster is probably better at this point.

Worst Feud of the Year: Bobby Lashley vs Brock Lesnar (Runner up: Bianca Belair vs Alexa Bliss)

Previous winners – 2012: Kane vs. John Cena & Zack Ryder/ 2013: Big Show vs. Triple H & Randy Orton/ 2014: Brie Bella vs. Nikki Bella/ 2015: Dolph Ziggler & Lana vs. Rusev & Summer Rae/ 2016: Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin/ 2017: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt/ 2018: Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn/ 2019: Shane McMahon vs. The Miz/ 2020: Nia Jax vs. Lana/ 2021: Eva Marie vs. Doudrop/ 2022: Kevin Owens vs. Ezekiel

This was a poorly booked feud. They had their third and final match at the WWE Elimination Chamber in PLE. There was a Bray Wyatt promo about how he was going to face the winner, so rather than book a decisive winner, they had a match that went 4:45 with a disqualification finish to give Lashley the win. Lesnar beat up Lashley and referee Chad Patton after the match even though Brock was the face. It was a weird situation while putting an end to an anticipated rivalry in a disappointing way. I don’t blame the performers. The booking was just weird. I know that it was done that way to set up Lashley against Wyatt, which didn’t actually happen, but I just think it could have been booked better.

That Bianca Belair rivalry with Alexa Bliss felt off leading to a match at the Royal Rumble. Bliss turned heel going into it, Belair got the win and we never saw Bliss again because she got pregnant. Bliss gave birth to her daughter recently.

Worst match of the Year: Baron Corbin vs. Gable Steveson – NXT Great American Bash (Runner up: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler – SummerSlam)

Previous winners – 2012: John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis – Over The Edge/ 2013: 10 Diva Tag Match – Survivor Series/ 2014: Batista vs. Alberto Del Rio – Elimination Chamber/ 2015: Eva Marie vs. Billie Kay – NXT TV/ 2016: Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose – WrestleMania 32/ 2017: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt – WWE Payback/ 2018: Braun Strowman & Nicolas vs. The Bar – WrestleMania 34/ 2019: Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend – Hell in a Cell/ 2020: Braun Strowman vs. The Fiend – Extreme Rules/ 2021: Alexa Bliss vs. Shayna Baszler – Hell in a Cell/ 2022: The Men’s Royal Rumble

WWE desperately wants to make A Thing of Gable Steveson. Even before the Olympian signed with the company, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was regularly peppered with talk of WWE’s admiration for the freestyle wrestling standout. SummerSlam 2021 saw Steveson make his first appearance amongst fellow gold medallist Tamyra Mensah-Stock. A few weeks later, Steveson’s WWE signing was confirmed, glamour shots with Triple H and Vince McMahon were splashed across the internet, and Gable was inexplicably drafted to Raw before even reporting to the Performance Centre.

Steveson eventually appeared on NXT for a short program with Baron Corbin in July 2023. Unfortunately, his Great American Bash bow was not what WWE expected.

Corbin, theoretically, is a safe choice for a first match. He’s an effective heel that crowds enjoy rooting against and has more ability then what he gets given credit for. It speaks to this match’s failure, then, that the audience was all over Steveson, utterly rejecting the new golden boy by the end, drowning Gable with jeers whiles showering Corbin with cheers.

The Kurt Angle comparisons were unfair and cursed from day one, but by entering a listless performance devoid of fire, energy, and personality, Gable revealed himself far closer to green than gold.

If you piped in some crowd noise to Rousey v Baszler, it wouldn’t have been half-bad. However, when you watch this with the pin-drop silence that filled the stadium at SummerSlam 2023, this becomes one of the hardest watches of the entire year bar none.

Rousey and Baszler tried their best to put on a technical showcase with some stiff moves and hard-hitting strikes, but the lack of interest from the crowd exposed all their mistakes and made it feel far worse than it was. A terrible way for Rousey to bow out of WWE.

Best talker: LA Knight (Runner up: Cody Rhodes)

Previous winners – 2012: CM Punk/ 2013: Paul Heyman/ 2014: Paul Heyman/ 2015: Kevin Owens/ 2016: Chris Jericho/ 2017: The Miz/ 2018: The Miz/ 2019: Daniel Bryan/ 2020: Randy Orton/ 2021: Roman Reigns/ 2022: Kevin Owens

This is another tough category because there are a lot of people I could pick. When I think about LA Knight’s rise in WWE this year, it’s because of his promo ability and his charisma. While Knight is a solid in-ring performer who has some good matches, it’s not like he’s blowing people away with his matches. It’s his promo ability and charisma that won over the fans. They love chanting “YEAH” during his matches/promos, they love saying “LA Knight” when he sets them up for it and they enjoy that “Let Me Talk To Ya” line to start promos too. I was also impressed by Knight’s promos with top guys like Roman Reigns, John Cena & Randy Orton as Knight proved that he is where he belongs at the top of the card.

Cody Rhodes is a more cerebral talker who sounds like he’s taking his time before he says anything. During the run-up to WrestleMania, Cody had some memorable promos and I’d imagine he’ll have more memorable promos leading up to WrestleMania 40.

The ‘Next Big Thing’: Grayson Waller (Runner up: Trick Williams)

Previous winners – 2012: Wade Barrett/ 2013: Roman Reigns/ 2014: Bray Wyatt/ 2015: Bayley/ 2016: Big Cass/ 2017: Rusev/ 2018: The Velveteen Dream/ 2019: Keith Lee/ 2020: Bianca Belair/ 2021: Bron Breaker/ 2022: Logan Paul

Grayson Waller has yet to hold a title in WWE, but I do think his partnership with Austin Theory has legs and they could both greatly benefit from it long term. Potential tag team champions? I wouldn’t rule it out. I’ve enjoyed seeing him get more of a spotlight on Smackdown even though he usually loses to the bigger names, but as I say, his alliance with Theory could raise his stock.

Trick Williams can be a breakout star in WWE. He has taken advantage of more TV time and improved a lot in every area. I’m excited to see what Trick does in 2024 and beyond.

Face of the Year: Cody Rhodes (Runner up: Becky Lynch)

Previous winners – 2012: John Cena/ 2013: Daniel Bryan/ 2014: Dolph Ziggler/ 2015: John Cena/ 2016: Dean Ambrose/ 2017: AJ Styles/ 2018: Becky Lynch/ 2019: Kofi Kingston/ 2020: Drew McIntyre/ 2021: Big E/ 2022: Bianca Belair

Cody Rhodes fits the mold as the prototypical wrestling babyface in the modern era. He carries himself as a professional, he takes on anybody that comes after him, he sells tickets, he sells merchandise, he is beloved by the young fans who want to be given his leather belt before a match and he has become a bigger star even after losing in the main event of WrestleMania. Cody isn’t that much ahead of Seth Rollins, in my opinion.

Becky Lynch is a hard-working, likable babyface that has had the fans behind her for over five years. There’s not much of a gimmick with her other than having that fighting spirit, not backing down and making people care about everything she does. Becky elevates everybody around her.

Heel of the Year: Roman Reigns (Runner up: GUNTHER)

Previous winners – 2012: Daniel Bryan/ 2013: Paul Heyman/ 2014: Stephanie McMahon/ 2015: Seth Rollins/ 2016: AJ Styles/ 2017: The Miz/ 2018: Tommaso Champa/ 2019: Daniel Bryan/ 2020: Randy Orton/ 2021: Roman Reigns/ 2022: Roman Reigns

For the third year running Roman Reigns is my pick for Heel of the year. I should also mention The Bloodline because it’s the power of the entire group. This is the year where we saw Sami Zayn split away from the group while Jey Usos also broke free. Due to the presence of The Bloodline, those guys became bigger stars. As I have mentioned elsewhere, there were eight months of stories this year that were really built around Roman, The Bloodline and the fracturing of this group. This is an all-time great pro wrestling stable and storyline for over three years. It’s been incredible when you think about how it started to where it is now.

GUNTHER has been the Intercontinental Champion for over 500 days and throughout 2023. Everybody that has stepped up against him has lost. It makes him a dominant champion who also looks vulnerable during his matches because he knows how to sell so well. Just like with Roman Reigns, when he loses, it’s going to be such a big deal.

Most Memorable Moment: CM Punk returns at Survivor Series (Runner up: Sami Zayn hits Roman Reigns with a steel chair at Royal Rumble)

Previous winners – 2012: Brock Lesnar Returns/ 2013: Bruno Sammartino inducted into Hall of Fame/ 2014: Undertaker loses at WrestleMania 30/ 2015: Seth Rollins cashes in at WrestleMania/ 2016: AJ Styles debuts at the Royal Rumble/ 2017: Jinder Mahal becomes WWE Champion/ 2018: Ronda Rousey debuts at the Royal Rumble/ 2019: Roman Reigns beats cancer/ 2020: Edge returns at Royal Rumble/ 2021: Fans return to live events/ 2022: Undertaker Hall of Fame

I think CM Punk returning at Survivor Series was the most memorable moment just because it took him nearly ten years to come back to WWE. A lot of people thought it would never happen, yet the phrase “never say never” applies once again. A great moment that we’ll never forget.

The other things mentioned were happy babyface moments for Sami Zayn when he nailed Roman Reigns with a Steel Chair at the Royal Rumble to show how Sami wasn’t going to take it from Reigns any more. That would lead to the moment of Sami & KO winning the Tag Team Titles from The Usos at WrestleMania 39, which was my pick for Match of the Year.

Biggest news story: Endeavor purchases WWE and forms a company with UFC called TKO Group (Runner up: Vince McMahon removed from creative)

Previous winners- 2013: Darren Young comes out/ 2014: Ultimate Warrior passes away/ 2015: Hulk Hogan’s racist comments/ 2016: Roman Reigns fails wellness policy/ 2017: Rich Swann arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and battery/ 2018: Roman Reigns has Leukaemia/ 2019: CM Punk returns….on WWE Backstage/2020: COVID-19/ 2021: WWE mass releases/ 2022: Vince retires

As soon as this news broke I knew what my winner in this category was going to be. Crazy when you consider that so much went on behind the scenes in 2023.

Early in January and the news came out that Vince McMahon was pushing his way back into WWE as the Executive Chairman. Shortly after that, we found out that Vince was back to try to sell the company. I always figured it made business sense to sell, but you never know if it would actually happen. Vince’s return also led to him editing some of the WWE TV shows, which sucked because the product was better in the second half of 2022 with Triple H as the Chief Content Officer. On the day after WrestleMania 39, Vince and WWE announced that Endeavor would be acquiring the company to form TKO Group with the UFC, which Endeavor also owns. That same night, Vince tweaked a bunch of things on the Raw after WrestleMania and it was the worst Raw episode of the year. Anyway, the fact that somebody other than Vince McMahon and his family now own this company is not just the biggest story of this year, but probably the biggest story of this decade. It was a huge story.

Vince McMahon was removed from the creative team officially after Endeavor’s WWE acquisition was official in September. Triple H is the main booker who also has control over the roster and Vince is no longer part of WWE from a creative standpoint. After 40+ years, it’s a major change. It’s also a change for the better. I’m certainly happy about it. I respect what Vince had accomplished in the past but change was needed.

The death of Bray Wyatt hit me hard. I don’t know the man, but I followed his whole career over the last decade and admired him for his creativity. When he died, a lot of his friends in WWE spoke about how nice of a guy he was, he always had a smile on his face and always helped people in the company. He will never be forgotten and will be missed forever. I certainly hope WWE honours him at the Hall of Fame in 2024, but if the family feels like it can wait for another time in the future then it’s important to honour their wishes too.

The wrestling world also lost some other wrestling legends this year including Terry Funk, The Iron Sheik, Jay Briscoe (not a WWE guy but a tragic loss), Bushwhacker Butch, Droz and more. May they all rest in peace.

Announcer of the Year: Michael Cole (Runner up: Wade Barrett)

Previous winners – 2012: JBL/ 2013: William Regal/ 2014: William Regal/ 2015: Corey Graves/ 2016: Corey Graves/ 2017: Corey Graves/ 2018: Mauro Ranallo/ 2019: Nigel McGuinness/ 2020: Corey Graves/ 2021: Pat McAfee/ 2022: Wade Barrett

I think I was pretty fair in terms of my previous choices, but this year Michael Cole fully deserves it. Cole just seems better this year without Vince McMahon around yelling in his ear and telling him what to say. I think Triple H and his team gives Cole more freedom. You can tell Cole is having more fun out there. When Vince was producing the show, Cole would have to say silly stuff at times. These days, Cole seems more comfortable at his job.

Wade Barrett is my favorite color analyst. Wade has gone from NXT to Smackdown and now Raw. He supports the heels, he has jokes when needed and I like how enthusiastic he is at times.

Vic Joseph is the next best play-by-play guy other than Michael Cole. On the one hand, I would like to see Vic get a shot at Raw or Smackdown again. However, if he remains in NXT that’s cool too because he is connected to that show now.

Overall Year Rating (out of 10): 8

Previous ratings – 2012: 7/ 2013: 7/ 2014: 5.5/ 2015: 6/ 2016: 6.5/ 2017: 6/ 2018: 6/ 2019: 6.5/ 2020: 5/ 2021: 6/ 2022: 7.5

I’m going with an 8 out of 10. It’s the highest grade I have given a WWE year in the last 12 years of covering this company.

When I think about the three main shows all being good to great most of the year, I think that’s a testament to how consistent the WWE product is right now. Triple H is a better pro wrestling booker in 2023 than Vince McMahon has been for at least the last decade if not more. A lot of Vince’s booking over the years was repetitive. With Triple H booking, fans might complain about some title reigns being too long and things like that, but when it comes to creating big moments and putting on Premium Live Events, the product is definitely better.

The current WWE roster is also loaded from top to bottom. There are more top male babyfaces that are believable main eventers than perhaps at any time in company history. I’m not saying that the top guys are better than Steve Austin and The Rock at their peak. I’m just saying in terms of depth, they have a lot of options and that’s why the quality of PLEs were way up this year.

Looking at WWE from a business perspective, nearly every Raw & Smackdown taping is sold out while PLE events sell out within minutes. They are doing more overseas PLE shows and selling out stadiums just because they can. The new Smackdown TV deal is an increase over the last deal they got and Raw will likely be higher than it was in the past too. Business wise, the company is as successful as ever with a deep roster and new owners who are going to grow the brand as much as possible. The on-screen product is very entertaining too.

I’m very optimistic about the WWE product moving forward. I think now that Triple H has had a full year booking the shows and we know Vince McMahon’s creepy mustache won’t be involved, the product is going to get even better next year. I’m looking forward to the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber in Australia, WrestleMania 40 in Philly and everything else beyond that.

Here’s to 2024.