2020 has been an interesting year that has forced WWE along with the rest of the world to become new and different, and it has taken some getting used to. Some old, inefficient ways of doing things are beginning to fall away.
Roman Reigns has been on the best stretch of his career – finally turning heel – the Head of The Table – and becoming aligned with Paul Heyman. This comes after taking a five-month hiatus to take care of his newborn twins during the initial months of the pandemic. Speaking of Paul Heyman (Paul E. Dangerously in his earlier years), his client Brock Lesnar, who has participated in multiple WrestleMania main events with Reigns, is currently not under contract with WWE after dropping the WWE title to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36. The Beast, as Paul Heyman has said, will make his return whenever he deems the time is right. This quote was completely in character, so that leads me to believe Lesnar will be back in WWE by WrestleMania 37 in 2021.
Braun Strowman was trusted to carry the company in the first several months of the pandemic after being told in January 2019 by Vince McMahon that he was not yet ready to become a major world champion. It had to feel good for Strowman to be trusted with that big of a responsibility after being told he was not yet ready a little over a year ago – full-circle moment. Roman Reigns was originally scheduled to be put over by Goldberg and become Universal champion at WrestleMania 36 before deciding to step away for several months (totally understandable). When opportunity came knocking, Strowman was ready.
WWE effectively maintained the momentum of The Fiend and he became Universal champion again at SummerSlam (even though he only held the title for a week before dropping it to Roman Reigns). The Fiend is one of those supernatural characters like The Undertaker who doesn’t necessarily need a title to be relevant in the minds of fans.
Yet another turn of the event that was pleasantly surprising was the rise of Keith Lee. He became NXT North American champion on January 22 and held the title until July when he simultaneously defeated Adam Cole for the NXT title – becoming the first ever double champion in the black and gold brand’s 10-year history. Lee would drop the NXT championship to Karrion Kross at NXT Takeover: XXX on SummerSlam weekend in August (unfortunately, Kross had to relinquish the title less than a week later due to injury), only to be moved to Monday Night RAW the following Monday. The Limitless One’s presentation is a little bit different to say the least on the main roster, but he is still viewed highly by Mr. McMahon and is set to be a pivotal figure for WWE in the future (his biggest victory came against Randy Orton at Payback on August 31.
Drew McIntyre firmly established himself as a perennial main event superstar by defeating Lesnar for the WWE championship at the Showcase of The Immortals. This was not the only major accomplishment of McIntyre in 2020 – he also engaged in a long-term rivalry with Randy Orton from SummerSlam through the month of November. This feud encompassed three Pay-Per-View events, and it ended with The Scottish Warrior becoming a two-time WWE champion. Orton has also had the single greatest year of his career, establishing himself as a presence on the mic. The rivalry with Edge has been immensely beneficial to Randy because he has developed such a deep personal connection to Edge over the past 20 years (Edge is expected to return to action in WWE sometime early in 2021 from his triceps injury suffered in June – in The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever with Orton).
Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch became parents at the end of 2020 – Daniel Bryan also became a father for the second time. Bryan is in the midst of what he is thinking will be his final run in WWE – at least as a full-time superstar (the run will presumably end at Mania. It’s great that Big E is finally getting his renewed singles push (intuitive fans knew it was coming at some point), but it was a bittersweet moment because that means he will no longer be a member of The New Day. He will obviously always maintain a rate relationship with them, but his days of dancing with them and throwing pancakes are at least mostly over (it still might happen every now and then). On a positive note, Big E’s days of being a world champion may be fast approaching.
The Royal Rumble event this year was an excellent indicator of who was in line for major pushes throughout the year. Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Asuka, Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Edge, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and The Fiend Bray Wyatt were all spotlighted the most in this event, and the rest of the year ended up showing that these were the primary superstars that would be focused on. Particularly, the story involving Becky Lynch and Asuka has been rather poetic based on the events this year, which included an unforeseen pregnancy. Asuka won the Money in the Bank contract in May before realizing it was the actual RAW Women’s championship (she has been champion for most of the time since Becky announced her pregnancy.