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WWE 2022-2025: Making up for 20 years of lost time...
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00:00So I don't know how you are feeling today, but I, Simon Miller the bald idiot, thought I would take
00:04my positivity pipe and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
00:07That sounds terrible, but this is meant to be a good thing, because there's just so much doom and gloom,
00:11especially when you go on that there social media.
00:14So why don't we just jump back to some good times?
00:16Because that's right, on occasion, wrestling is the best thing ever.
00:20So here's 11 times where WWE literally just did that.
00:24Number 11, the best WrestleMania ever.
00:26So there is some recency bias here, and of course we'll wake up tomorrow and feel differently.
00:30But if you do go back and watch WrestleMania 39 now, and want to walk into my house and say,
00:34Hello dear Simon, I think that Mania 39 is one of the best WrestleManias to ever go down.
00:39I would sit down and have that chat with you, because good grief, it's brilliant.
00:43Now it absolutely helps that Cody Rhodes won at WrestleMania 40, we always have to make that caveat.
00:48Because if he never had finished his story, then yes, you go back to 39 and cry into your cornflakes,
00:53because it would have been the stupidest decision of all time.
00:56However, he did win, and that Batman game is good, because Batman's in it, so everything is fine.
01:01It was also really when I think a lot of people went,
01:03Oh yeah, the two-night WrestleMania can work, and look at some of the things we got on this damn
01:07card.
01:08I mean, the main event of Night 1 was a tag team match,
01:10which was crazy under Vince McMahon-controlled professional wrestling,
01:13and it saw Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn finally defeating the Bloodline,
01:17because they beat Jay and Jimmy Uso for the WWE Undisputed Super Wooper tag team titles.
01:22This match is also great, and it ends with you just feeling warm and fuzzy in your tum-tum.
01:27And given that the Night 2 main event was going to do the opposite,
01:30this was actually terrific top-tier booking.
01:32Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley is one of the best women's WrestleMania matches ever too,
01:36because oh my gosh, they absolutely whoop each other's ass,
01:39and even that tag team showcase they did.
01:41Nobody thought much of that to begin with,
01:43but you sit down and watch it now, my gosh, it's a barrel of laughs.
01:46Seth Rollins and Logan Paul also surprises,
01:49mostly because Seth Rollins is brilliant,
01:51and everything between Rey Mysterio and Dominic Mysterio,
01:54they hit a total home run,
01:55and it was yet another moment where lots of people scratched their heads and realised,
01:58oh my gosh, the condom is a brilliant, brilliant star.
02:01You also have the triple threat intercontinental title match
02:03between Gunther Sheamus and Drew McIntyre,
02:05which got five stars in the Wrestling Observer newsletter.
02:08It deserves every single one of them.
02:11That is a terrific match,
02:12and of course also helped continue to restore the importance of that belt.
02:15So if you are a brand new fan,
02:17you haven't got around to watching this yet,
02:19I give you permission,
02:20it totally rules.
02:21Number 10, the beginning of the beginning of the end for The Bloodline.
02:24So Sami Zayn's first night on screen with Roman Reigns came all the way back in 2022,
02:29and if you can believe it,
02:30this was meant to be a one-week thing.
02:33I believe Paul Heyman thought it would be funny,
02:35and everybody watched this skit and realised,
02:37yep, Sam needs to go into The Bloodline,
02:39because he just makes their chemistry even better.
02:41The big payoff came about a year later at the Royal Rumble 2023,
02:44when Roman Reigns and friends had totally destroyed Kevin Owens after their match,
02:49when the Tribal Chief gave Zayn a chair and said,
02:51to prove your love to me,
02:53you have to destroy your friend.
02:55Sami realised he didn't want to do that.
02:56He attacked Roman Reigns,
02:58and all you need to do is go and listen to the crowd response to this.
03:01People lost their minds.
03:03It was a genuinely awesome moment.
03:05You also get the whole hate to love trajectory with Sami Zayn and Jey Uso,
03:08which also added to this because you got the emotion.
03:10And do not forget what happened going into the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view
03:14that was meant to be a B-show.
03:17People actually wanted Sami to end Roman Reigns' massive title run,
03:20because that's how flippin' invested they were.
03:23WrestleMania be damned.
03:24You also had all those great segments leading up to this,
03:26with Sami Zayn making The Bloodline break in the ring,
03:29because he was genuinely funny.
03:30So when you do get to the Rumble,
03:31and Sami decides he can't take any more of this,
03:34well, it's exactly the type of thing that WWE especially should always be building to.
03:39They're so damn good at sports entertainment nonsense,
03:41and they can make you feel something with these moments.
03:44You just don't want to overdo them or rely solely on them.
03:47But when they get it right, well, there's nothing quite like it.
03:50Of course, it's also set up that tag team title night one main event for WrestleMania 39,
03:54which we've already talked about.
03:55And really, everything from January 2023 all the way to April,
04:00well, it's WWE at its very best.
04:02Maybe something they want to look at some evidence right now.
04:05Number nine, the war of the supergroups.
04:07Let's jump forward to the summer of 2023,
04:09because once again, WWE was still firing on all cylinders.
04:13A lot of fans called it a creative dreamscape.
04:16I mean, that's a bit lardy-dard, but good for you.
04:18This was never more apparent, however, than on October 23 edition of SmackDown,
04:22as Roman Reigns and Tarnas Paul Heyman were gaining back some control from WWE,
04:26following the losses of Sami Zayn and Jey Uso.
04:29You'll remember this scene.
04:30It's when the wise man struck a deal with Rhea Ripley,
04:33and all of a sudden the Judgment Day were going to help out The Bloodline.
04:36It all went down before a Fastlane show that was co-headlined by Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso,
04:40working together to dethrone Finn Balor and Damian Priest for the tag team titles.
04:44So here, when the baddies looked like they were going to beat up LA Knight and John Cena,
04:48all of a sudden the locker room opened,
04:51we got recruits, and we got one hell of a brawl.
04:53Now, we didn't know that at first,
04:54because it looked like Heyman and Rhea Ripley had figured this out,
04:57because I think it was five on two,
04:58but every single time a babyface did run down to help out,
05:02well, the pops just got louder and louder,
05:04and you could feel the energy in the room.
05:06Of course, the singing of Cody's theme when he entered,
05:08well, it was quite frankly ridiculous,
05:10and the whole thing ended feeling totally white hot.
05:12The devil really wasn't the detail as well,
05:14because this had built throughout the entire show,
05:16and at the end of it, Paul Heyman also held Sola Sokoa back,
05:19until he knew the odds were in his favor.
05:22He didn't want his brand new toy to be upstaged.
05:24That's also when we got the one-on-one confrontation between Cena and Solo as well,
05:28so once again, we were building stories for the future.
05:31Of course, Cody and Jay then did win those tag team titles,
05:34which set the bar even higher,
05:35so I'm just gonna say what I said a minute ago.
05:37If you've never seen this, go watch it now,
05:40and then maybe compare it to WWE at the moment,
05:43and you're allowed to scratch your head.
05:44Number eight, The Rock bloodies Cody Rhodes in the rain.
05:47And the best thing about the final boss when he does return to WWE
05:50is that he can do whatever the flub he wants.
05:52It's why he cut all those Instagram promos,
05:55where he also dropped the iconic line,
05:57off is the direction you can flub.
05:59Obviously, he didn't say flub,
06:01but I like to see this as a family show.
06:02It's only one defeated Cody Rhodes being the absolute man in WWE 2,
06:06so when these two behemoths came together,
06:09my gosh, they were allowed to push the envelope
06:11more than WWE had done in years.
06:13It meant that as we got towards the end of an episode of Raw,
06:16we did see Rocky and Cody fighting in the back,
06:18when all of a sudden,
06:18The Great One dragged Cody to the outside when it was raining,
06:22and I tell you, my friends,
06:23he beat the holy hell out of him,
06:25and even whipped him with his belt.
06:26But Cody started to bleed,
06:28and nobody ever saw the red stuff in WWE,
06:31so if you wanted to start getting a little bit uncomfortable,
06:33well, that was the entire point.
06:34It was also full-on aura and cinema,
06:36in other words, that people like to use in 2025.
06:38Of course, it was all building to a WrestleMania match as well,
06:41which totally worked.
06:42It got you so damn invested,
06:43and it really did make The Rock feel like the biggest heel in the business.
06:47Like, there was a sense in the air that he may kill Cody Rhodes
06:49unless somebody was gonna step in,
06:51and there was also that awesome footage after the fact,
06:54when The Rock was like,
06:55do you think I'm going to stop whipping this guy's ass
06:57just because Raw is finished?
06:59Nope, I'm gonna throw his stupid head into the concrete,
07:02and the rain's gonna make him wet.
07:03It also helped the American Nightmare,
07:05because he was meant to be the company's top babyface,
07:07and how the hell could you feel anything but sympathy for him?
07:10He'd essentially just been assaulted by his actual boss.
07:14It also allowed him to show more edge going into WrestleMania,
07:17not Adam Coatland, because he went to AEW,
07:19and he needed that too.
07:20And do not forget, when we got to that tag team match,
07:23The Rock was allowed to walk around saying,
07:25uh, excuse me, I make the rules because I am in charge,
07:27and all of those seeds came back to this point.
07:30I would argue this was the peak of WWE over the last five years.
07:33It was absolutely bloody, quite literally, brilliant.
07:37Number seven, the return of AJ Lee.
07:38So we all know how powerful nostalgia is,
07:40and it's why WWE likes to bring many an old wrestler back.
07:44The problem is, you can only do this for so many years,
07:46when eventually you look around and go,
07:48well, we're out of individuals, we're out of bodies,
07:51there's nobody left.
07:52It's why we all fantasy booked the return of AJ Lee,
07:55but nobody deep down thought it was going to happen,
07:57because she had come out time and time again and said,
07:59nope, that's not for me, I'm retired,
08:00and there's nothing else to prove.
08:02But of course, this is sports entertainment,
08:04you never say never,
08:05and given that CM Punk had returned in WWE,
08:08the door was always going to be open.
08:10When we got to the summer of 2025,
08:12and AJ Lee was back.
08:13It all went down in Chicago too,
08:15which of course was always going to be a foothold for her,
08:17and all you really need to do is go listen to this comeback pop.
08:21It's one of the loudest things you're ever going to hear,
08:23and Becky Lynch selling it like she was going to be murdered by AJ Lee.
08:26Well, if we're talking about the modern times,
08:29this is one of the best returns you are likely to see.
08:32So many fans came out in droves as well,
08:33and said how inspirational Lee had been to their childhood,
08:36and how happy they were that she had returned,
08:38and that's what it's all about, my friends.
08:40Wrestling is meant to make you feel something,
08:42and do not forget as well in her first promo,
08:45she talked about mental health.
08:47What a flippin' hero.
08:48If nothing else, it was a situation that felt impossible,
08:50so the fact we were able to work it out was totally nuts.
08:53I really liked this one,
08:54and I really liked AJ Lee.
08:56Long let it continue.
08:57Number six, Ussie.
08:58So we mentioned Sami Zayn breaking the bud line
09:00during many a segment on WWE television,
09:03and I would imagine if you were going to ask most fans
09:05for them to give you their number one of these,
09:07they would point to the time that every single member of the group
09:10stood on the ring on SmackDown,
09:12and Sami Zayn went around and said,
09:13you know what, Roman?
09:14Don't be too hard on Jey Uso.
09:16He hasn't been feeling very Ussie lately.
09:18And the reason you should watch this
09:19is because poor Jey Uso was not prepared for that,
09:22and he has to hold on for dear life.
09:24What I mean by that is he's aware he can't laugh,
09:26he's not meant to laugh,
09:28and yet all he really wants to do is laugh.
09:30This also gets Roman as well,
09:31who has to build his own chuckle into his speech
09:33as if he planned to do this,
09:34but that is not the case,
09:35and poor Jimmy Uso in the background has also broken down.
09:38I genuinely think this is one of the best segments
09:41you were ever likely to see in the history of wrestling
09:43because it's real and it makes you feel good
09:46and like everything's going to be all right.
09:47It also ties into that Royal Rumble thing we mentioned
09:50because seeing the positive vibes to Sami Zayn
09:52made you want them all to be together forever,
09:54when you remember,
09:55oh yeah, this head of the table,
09:57he's a manipulative asshole,
09:59and somebody is eventually going to have to whip his ass,
10:01and hopefully it'll be Mr. Zayn.
10:03So ultimately, this is just a bunch of wrestlers
10:05corpsing in the ring,
10:06but because they weren't all top stars,
10:08well, it was like watching movie bloopers,
10:10but in real time,
10:11because of course with pro wrestling,
10:12you have no safety net.
10:14It would also remind you
10:14why you fell in love with wrestling to begin with,
10:17and really it's an intangible quality
10:19you can't even explain.
10:20It's just great, man,
10:22and I would defy anybody to watch it
10:24and not feel the same.
10:25It is an all-time hit.
10:26Number five, Raw is 30.
10:28A commercial-free first hour
10:30kicked off the celebratory 30th anniversary edition
10:32of Monday Night Raw,
10:34and by 2023,
10:35this was all perfectly normal,
10:37and actually,
10:38when you got to these kind of shows,
10:39well, they often sucked,
10:41kind of came and went,
10:41and nothing really landed home.
10:43I mean, you can go back to Raw 25 2018,
10:45which was absolutely lambasted by the fans,
10:48mostly because all of the new young wrestlers
10:49had to come out
10:50and be insulted by the older generation,
10:53who of course weren't going to be on next week's show.
10:55It meant when Raw 30 rolled around,
10:57people were desperate for something different,
10:59and given that Vince McMahon had exited,
11:01and WWE was on fire,
11:03well, they absolutely found their momentum.
11:05The real big smash hit was the trial of Sami Zayn,
11:07which did fill in this first 60 minutes,
11:09and honestly,
11:10if you want to see how sports entertainment can be done
11:13when you don't have a wrestling match,
11:15this is absolutely what you should go to.
11:17It also saw psychopath Roman Reigns
11:19pinning every single mistake and mishap
11:20that had happened on Sami Zayn,
11:22and telling him to defend himself.
11:24Jey Uso also saved Sami from a solo Sokoa spike attack,
11:28and all of a sudden,
11:28and that got you going too,
11:30how the hell was Jey ever going to stay in the bloodline?
11:32He also had evidence of his own, though,
11:34to prove that Sam was a benefit to the stable,
11:36and can you believe it,
11:37it actually moved Roman,
11:39and he started to agree.
11:40You also got a brilliant tie-in later,
11:42because there was going to be a tag team match
11:44later in the show,
11:45and after Jimmy Uso got hurt,
11:47somebody was going to have to step in
11:48as the honorary use,
11:50and of course it was Sami Zayn,
11:51and he did the job,
11:53and once again curried favour
11:54with the big bad boss Roman Reigns.
11:56So it really was the best of the best booking,
11:58with the tightest plotting in over two decades,
12:00and if you want to call this the new peak
12:02of the brand new era,
12:03you ain't going to get any argument from me.
12:05Number four,
12:06Bad Bunny Comes Home.
12:07So to continue on talking about the brand new WWE,
12:10and what they were able to accomplish,
12:12if you want to focus on a one-night show
12:13that somehow ticked every single box,
12:15even though nobody saw it coming,
12:17well you should probably go to Backlash 2023.
12:20It's mostly going to be remembered
12:21for an atmosphere so incredible,
12:22that topping it has become something
12:24WWE tries to actively encourage,
12:26but really even to this date,
12:28not necessarily has been able to top.
12:30It all came down to the fact
12:31that we were in Puerto Rico,
12:32and Bad Bunny was going to take on Damien Priest,
12:35and as it turned out,
12:36the Naughty Rabbit was an absolute hero
12:38of the country,
12:39so when he made his entrance,
12:40oh my gosh,
12:41these people went absolutely nuts.
12:44Even when the camera cuts to Priest,
12:45you can see he's trying not to smile as well,
12:47he was taking it all in.
12:49The two also engage in a street fight,
12:50this is where Damien has to get all the praise,
12:53I'm not saying Bad Bunny didn't put the effort in
12:54because he most definitely did,
12:56but this is an absolutely excellent match
12:58with somebody who is essentially still a novice.
13:01Having 18,000 people just cheering it on
13:03makes it even more special,
13:05and we essentially test ran the ending
13:06to WrestleMania 40 here,
13:08De Savio Vega comes out,
13:09Carly was here too,
13:10and his nostalgia pop was so big,
13:12he got a flipping contract off the back of it.
13:15So it really was just a special moment in time,
13:17and vitally everybody experiencing it knew,
13:19and I actually think even retroactively,
13:22you can still get something from Backlash,
13:24it's a special pay-per-view,
13:25and that's never gonna change.
13:27Number three, Damien Priest cashes in.
13:29So the WrestleMania 40 opener
13:30between Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins was excellent
13:33because they are two excellent professional wrestlers.
13:35Most people are aware that Drew
13:37was gonna have to win the championship here
13:38because the story dictated it,
13:40and when CM Punk took his seat at ringside for commentary,
13:43all of a sudden we did raise our eyebrows.
13:46What kind of narratives are we about to tell?
13:48Well, it turned out some great ones
13:50because after McIntyre had won the belt
13:52with the Claymore and started celebrating,
13:54he decided he would goad CM Punk,
13:56who he was essentially having a feud with.
13:58After all, it was the Scottish warrior
13:59who had injured CM Punk at the Royal Rumble,
14:01and he wanted to let him know he didn't care.
14:04Punk felt the same, however,
14:05so tripped McIntyre on Ali in the announce table
14:07and beat the crap out of him,
14:08and I suppose Damien Priest must have been walking backstage.
14:11Somebody gave him the word,
14:13his music hit.
14:14Philadelphia crowd went totally nuts
14:16because they wanted to see a Money in the Bank cash-in,
14:18and they got it.
14:20Now, regardless of what you think about Damien Priest now,
14:22he totally deserved this moment
14:23because he was on fire during this period,
14:25but look what else we achieved too.
14:27Drew McIntyre the heel could now be twice as big of an asshole
14:30because he had been screwed,
14:31and CM Punk could walk around like he was the cock of the walk
14:34because he had finally got one over his enemy,
14:36and he wasn't able to wrestle here
14:38because he was still recovering from a tricep problem.
14:40So the fact that WWE sat down
14:42and ensured that three people
14:43would be able to use something from this,
14:45well, once again, that's just good booking.
14:46It helped Seth Rollins as well
14:48because he would limp into that main event
14:49in order to help Cody Rhodes.
14:51So I tell you, man, this is great, great stuff.
14:54I apologize for repeating myself,
14:55but something that WWE needs to get back to,
14:58it's just so flippin' layered.
14:59Number two, the return of CM Punk.
15:02So even after CM Punk returned to AEW in 2021,
15:06I still don't think people believed
15:07he'd ever go back to WWE.
15:09There was just too much bad blood there.
15:11We all know what happened in All Elite Wrestling
15:13that eventually saw Punk shown the door,
15:15and then a few weeks later at the Survivor Series in 2023,
15:19hell froze over
15:20because the Survivor Series in Chicago came to a close
15:23and a very familiar theme song started to play.
15:26It, of course, was CM Punk,
15:27and all you really need to do
15:28is go and listen to that return pop,
15:30because no matter how many comebacks you do watch,
15:32you are gonna struggle to find something
15:34that compares to this.
15:35It's like every single person in that arena
15:37had been told you're millionaires now,
15:39as long as you scream for around about 10 minutes straight.
15:42It's just one of those things in wrestling
15:44that you can't actually explain
15:45and does something to your brain.
15:46And let's not also forget
15:48there was a story of Drew McIntyre walking out,
15:50there was Seth Rollins losing his mind,
15:52so we were also planting seeds for stories going forward.
15:55That's what WWE was so good at doing
15:57during the latter part of 2023.
15:59They thought about literally everything.
16:01Of course, there was a bunch of questions as well,
16:03especially how was CM Punk gonna get on with Triple H?
16:05And as of me talking to you right now,
16:07the answer was, well, super duper well.
16:09It was the aftermath of all this as well,
16:11because everybody just wanted to talk about it,
16:13and in turn wanted to talk about WWE too.
16:16So if you have that kind of power in your hands,
16:18and then you do make this big of a splash,
16:21well, how can you say it's not brilliant?
16:23Even if you're the most ardent CM Punk hater,
16:25surely even this must have made you raise an eyebrow.
16:28It's truly brilliant,
16:29and really is never gonna be able to replicate it.
16:31You would have to leave wrestling for around about a decade.
16:34Number one, Cody Rhodes finishes the story.
16:37Now you can roll your eyes and go,
16:38Simon, that is just way too obvious,
16:40but that is why it's brilliant.
16:42Wrestling is always at its best
16:44when it feeds you a simple narrative
16:45and tells you that it is gonna come good,
16:47and at WrestleMania 40,
16:4812 months after he failed in round one,
16:51Cody Rhodes did win the WWE title,
16:53and brought to an end the 1,316 day of Roman Reigns.
16:58I mean, it was absolutely excellent.
16:59The match itself, too, is a barrel of laugh,
17:01especially because you get that Avengers finish
17:03when the Undertaker John scene of The Rock,
17:05Solo Sokoa, and everybody else runs down.
17:07And even though deep down in your tootsie toes,
17:08you knew Cody was probably gonna be victorious here,
17:11I still think WWE did a grand job of going,
17:13oh, yeah, but don't forget WrestleMania 39,
17:15maybe we're gonna screw you and do it again.
17:17Not even The Rock was able to stop that,
17:19which did make Cody feel like a bigger star,
17:21and after he'd hit that final crossroad
17:23to get the 1, 2, 3,
17:25every single babyface under the sun
17:26comes out to celebrate with him,
17:28and it just makes you feel warm and fuzzy
17:30in your tum-tum.
17:31I know I've said that twice,
17:33but I'm saying it a third time.
17:34And do not forget,
17:35this is what Cody had wanted
17:36ever since he did leave in 2016.
17:39So he had just sent a message out
17:40to wrestling fans and wrestlers all over the place,
17:42if you want to achieve your dreams,
17:44well, you've just got to put the work in.
17:46I really do think it's one of the best things
17:47that WWE has ever done full stop,
17:49because you put the babyface over
17:51on the biggest stage,
17:52and you could see he was so damn happy about it.
17:55He's also now rode that way
17:56for about two years
17:57to become the biggest star in the industry,
17:59so just tick that box all around,
18:01give it a golden up.
18:02This was absolutely fantastic.
18:04Know of any other times
18:05that WWE was better than literally everything?
18:07Well, make sure you get some positivity
18:08in those comments below
18:09before you like the video,
18:10share the video, and subscribe.
18:11You can also click the video on the screen
18:13to get even more love in your life,
18:15or some words to that effect,
18:16but otherwise, my friends,
18:17I appreciate you,
18:18and I will talk to you again very soon.
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