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Cook’s Top 5: 2019 Wrestling Memories

Steve Cook looks back at 2019–which was literally just last year! It doesn’t feel that way, trust me you’ll feel it when you read this.

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Kofi Kingston WrestleMania 35

Steve Cook looks back at 2019–which was literally just last year! It doesn’t feel that way, trust me you’ll feel it when you read this.

Doesn’t 2019 feel like at least a decade ago?

So much has changed since then. The coronavirus wasn’t even a thing. People were attending wrestling shows. Multiple federations seemed on the way up. Wrestling looked to have a bright future, and while it still seems kind of bright, 2020 has definitely taken a chunk out of things.

Let’s look back one year ago, shall we?

5. ROH & New Japan Sell Out Madison Square Garden

 This was a pretty big deal for these two promotions. As we all know, MSG was the McMahon family’s home arena for most of the promotion’s existence. Almost every major event throughout the 1960s, 70s & 80s happened at MSG. The company has moved away from using the arena more than once or twice a year lately, favoring Brooklyn’s Barclays Center because it’s cheaper to run.

The Garden still means a lot to wrestling fans and to wrestling promoters. So when New Japan wanted to run a major show in America on WrestleMania Weekend, MSG was the obvious choice. ROH came along for the ride, and the show drew well enough to be the first non-WWE wrestling event to sell out MSG.

New Japan felt well enough about it to make bigger plans for their American presence going forward. Unfortunately, well, we know what happened from there…

4. Feel the Powerrr

It was easy to assume that nothing would come of Billy Corgan purchasing the National Wrestling alliance in 2017. Some folks had tried doing things with the NWA throughout the twenty-first century. TNA Wrestling used the NWA World Heavyweight & Tag Team Championships as their main titles in their early years. Adam Pearce would get the championship into Ring of Honor on an intermittent basis. New Japan did some stuff with them. Still, the NWA was still nowhere near the force it was in its prime. Will it be again? Probably not. But Corgan had some ideas, and he made a YouTube show to get them out there.

NWA Powerrr debuted in October 2019, and was a glorious throwback to old school studio wrestling. Nick Aldis was a tremendous NWA Worlds Champion and had a nice little group with him. You also had folks like James Storm, Eli Drake, Eddie Kingston, Homicide, Aron Stevens, Question Mark and a cast of thousands. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express! Just a basic, good ol’ wrestling show. The NWA seemed to be heading towards big things in 2020, but then 2020 happened.

3. KofiMania

Kofi Kingston wasn’t originally scheduled for a WrestleMania run to a WWE Championship reign. When he was inserted as an injury replacement into the Elimination Chamber, the fans bought into it. They wanted Kofi to be champion. Ironically enough, Daniel Bryan was now in the position of facing somebody that the fans powered into the main event role.

Kofi had a lengthy reign, though the list of challengers wasn’t particularly impressive. He lost the title to Brock Lesnar in mere seconds, and has been nowhere near the main event since. At least he can look back on KofiMania with fond memories.

2. The Man

If you had told me thirty years ago, or even twenty years ago, or even ten years ago, that women would main event WrestleMania, I would have said you were out of your mind. The North American landscape didn’t make it possible for most of my time as a wrestling fan. Eventually the talent got there, the fanbase demanded it, and WWE came around to the idea.

You have to give Rona Rousey a lot of credit. She brought the name value and her skills translated well to pro wrestling. Charlotte Flair deserves a lot of credit too. However, it was Becky Lynch’s morning. (That’s how long WrestleMania goes now.) Becky had the skills and presented a character interesting enough to be taken seriously at a main event level. After winning the belts at WrestleMania, Lynch continued to dominate the scene up until taking maternity leave in early 2020. As it turned out, she couldn’t have picked a better time to do that.

1. The Wednesday Night War Begins

The birth of All Elite Wrestling was undoubtedly the biggest thing to happen in 2019. Many different AEW stories could have made this list, but I decided to combine it all here up top.

AEW getting a deal with TNT was huge. Wrestling promotions have been working through TV deals ever since WWE became the only game in town in 2001. None of the networks these companies made deals with were on the level of TNT, and certainly none of them had the connection with wrestling history that TNT had. It was a big deal for AEW, and has continued to be a big deal for them. Of course, TNT also airs NBA games on Thursday nights, with the occasional Tuesday night. Wednesday is an ESPN night, so it was a good night to put AEW on.

As it turned out, NXT aired on Wednesday nights on WWE Network, and somebody thought it was a good idea to move that show to USA and give it two hours. From a competitive standpoint, it wasn’t a bad idea. NXT was the brand most likely to appeal to people looking for a WWE alternative, and had received a lot of goodwill from fans over the years.

One can argue whether it’s been the smartest move resulting in the best outcome for all involved. All I can say for sure is that it’s been fun to watch.

Chairshot Radio Network

Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!

 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) 

THURSDAY - Nefarious Means

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)


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Opinion

Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

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Wyatt Sicks WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions, 

The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight. 

This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail. 

The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions. 

After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama

gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania. 

It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company. 

We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!

Chairshot Radio Network

Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!

 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) 

THURSDAY - Nefarious Means

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)


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Opinion

Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns 

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WWE Jacob Fatu Roman Reigns Backlash

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call. 

Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story. 

The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line. 

 In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years? 

Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus. 

I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?

Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!

Chairshot Radio Network

Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!

 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) 

THURSDAY - Nefarious Means

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)


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