Opinion

Cook’s Top 5 Revisited: WWE Stories of 2020

At the start of the year Cook took a guess at the top WWE stories of 2020. Let’s see how close he was!

Published

4 years ago

December 24, 2020

One of our annual traditions here at The Chairshot involves taking a look back. At the beginning of a new year, I like to try and guess what the top 5 WWE stories will be for the next 365 days. Honestly, I usually have a pretty good track record.

But, 2020.

Nobody predicted most of what happened this year. Things happened that had many effects that nobody could have foreseen. Not even me! So let’s look back at how wrong I was when I listed the WWE Stories of 2020…

5. The Network Tier System

“Ever since WWE Network debuted in 2014, there’s been speculation of when it would be more expensive than $9.99 per month. It’s a day that I’ve been dreading, because who wants to pay more money for something? It seems to be coming in 2020, kind of. There will be three tiers: one free with the live stream on it, the $9.99 tier, and a $14.99 tier that will feature more of…something. Apparently some EVOLVE, PROGRESS & some other indy stuff, and maybe they’ll move some other shows there. It’s all speculative right now.

The problem: Network subscriptions have been going down lately anyway. The current product is turning people off, there was a good number of people that tapped out over the Saudi stuff, and technical issues have been more prevalent since they changed hosts or whatever technical thing they did. Will a relaunch with tiers help business?”

What Happened: We wound up with a free tier of the WWE Network. They haven’t gone higher than $9.99 yet. I presume they’re waiting for the right time to make that move. There is some indy stuff on WWE Network now, but it’s mostly just random indy shows and Best Ofs of current WWE talent. I did watch the Best of Toni Storm in Progress. Couldn’t tell you about anything else there. A story still developing.

4. NXT on the Move

“NXT is reportedly contractually obligated to hold their Wednesday night shows at Full Sail University until the end of March. Beyond that, the debate starts. Should NXT take their TV show out on the road like everybody else does these days? On one hand, people are annoyed with the regular Full Sail crowd and some of the things they do. On the other hand, it’s easy to produce television there. It’s a generic looking venue, but it’s not a bad looking one. There’s also the fact that they don’t have a problem filling it. Will NXT weekly TV sell tickets the same way their TakeOver events do? And if they don’t, how many pictures of empty seats will we be subjected to?

I can see both sides of this argument, and I’m really interested to see which way it goes.”

What Happened: Nobody went on the road after early March! Yep, pretty much a non-event here. Nobody has any idea if NXT will go on the road whenever people can go on the road, and we have no idea when people can go on the road. All I can say for sure is that NXT has less buzz at the end of 2020 than it has since the days of NXT: Redemption.

3. Who Will Come Back?

“If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past several years, it’s that it pays to leave WWE. Brock Lesnar has reaped the biggest windfall from this policy, but are plenty of other part-time talents from back in the day making some serious bank working shows in foreign markets. Some of them come back full-time…Rey Mysterio went straight to main event angles after spending years outside the company. The time away made him fresh again. Heck, CM Punk came back in 2019 to be a panelist for an FS1 show. WWE wants to keep these people away from potential competitors that might have more liberal standards for clearing people to wrestle.

So who will be back in 2020? John Morrison, at some point. Edge keeps telling us he isn’t coming back, but nobody believes him. I keep waiting for Steve Austin to come back because he starts drooling whenever he hears about those Saudi show payoffs. Goldberg will probably squash somebody around WrestleMania time. And of course Undertaker will make his yearly appearance. The usage of old talent by WWE isn’t going away anytime soon. Will they be able to exploit it to its full potential?”

What Happened: John Morrison came back to be Miz’s sidekick. Edge came back for a feud with Randy Orton that some people actually liked. I wasn’t one. Steve Austin came back on March 16th to kick Byron Saxton in the kachenballs. Goldberg beat The Fiend for the Universal Championship LOLWTF, then jobbed to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania in front of no one. Undertaker had an awesome Boneyard Match and decided to retire.

The first Raw for 2021 is being hyped as a “Legends Night” with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle and many others. So this will always be a thing. We will always wonder who will come back to pop a rating.

2. The Re-Birth of the Roman Empire

“Last week in the 2019 Revisited column we talked about how Roman Reigns didn’t quite have the in-ring year we’ve come to expect. He spent a lot of time tooling around in the mid-card with the likes of Shane McMahon & King Corbin. Some Shield stuff. Reigns was easing his way back into things after returning from leukemia, which is understandable. You wanna make sure everything’s going well and not quite go full-speed into the fire.

2020 feels like a different story. Reigns will be featured on FOX on New Year’s Eve. He’s the betting favorite to win the Royal Rumble. It seems like the time for the Big Dog to return to the top of the card. Will the WWE Universe approve of it this time around? Personally, I’d like to think so, but one never knows for sure.”

What Happened: Roman was smart enough to stay away for several months. He knew he was more at risk to the coronavirus and he took it more seriously than many of the dolts employed independently contracted by WWE. He waited until the right time, and he came back in the right way. As the heel we always wanted him to be. At the end of 2020, Roman Reigns is the most interesting person in WWE and I don’t know who comes close.

1. Outside Distractions

“I’ve always believed that a major part of the reason that the WCW/ECW Invasion failed and the Attitude Era began to tail off was the fact that Vince McMahon was consumed with too many things. At the same time all this stuff was going on, he was trying to start a football league. The XFL was a disaster that also had the effect of taking Vince’s attention off of what should have been a license to print money. While Vince could have been thinking of ideas to utilize WCW talent, he was trying to figure out how to keep the XFL up & running.

The XFL returns in 2020. Allegedly, Vince has more help this time, with Oliver Luck as the CEO & Commissioner. He’s a former NFL quarterback, his son is named Andrew, he has experience in the sports executive field. Whether he needs Vince’s help or not, he’s going to get it. Do we really think a control freak like Vince isn’t going to be right in the middle of every single XFL decision? While still being right in the middle of every WWE decision? That’s a lot for a man of Vince’s age to handle.

Put it this way: I don’t expect the XFL to have a positive impact on WWE business-wise or creatively. Unless Vince completely goes away from the wrestling side and the young folks get some time to build things…but that sounds highly unlikely.”

What Happened: As much as people wanted to tell me this new version of the XFL was actually good, it didn’t trend well and ended up shutting down during the pandemic. On the bright side, Vince got his buddy Dwayne Johnson to buy the enterprise, and one could actually have some hope in a football league owned by Dwayne and friends once things “get back to normal”.

As far as anybody could tell, the whole enterprise didn’t take Vince away from the wrestling side of things. Oliver Luck got scapegoated for the whole thing, which he probably should have seen coming. So, yeah. A complete non-issue, especially since Dwayne helped his buddy Vince out on the financial end.

I usually have a better percentage with these things! I’m not expecting the non-WWE stories to go much better, but join me next time when we look back at those.

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Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Money In The Bank

Extra, extra read all about it… Chairshot Staff picks are in!!!

Published

1 week ago

June 6, 2025

PC Tunney

Sing it with me… money money money money moneeeeeeeeeyeeeeee… everybody’s got a price! MONEY IN THE BANK is here!!! How money will our staff picks be?!?

AJ – Roxanne Perez
Andrew – Stephanie Vaquer – *Bubba Sparxxx Impression* I don’t tell stories, I let them tell theyself.
Dave – Guilia – A stacked field but I just like her here.
DJ – Naomi
DPP – Roxanne Perez
Jason – Alexa Bliss
Patrick – Roxanne Perez
Rey – Naomi – If Naomi loses, we riot!
Rob – Naomi
Greg – Alexa Bliss – Bliss has had huge reactions since returning and is moving a ton of merch. While I can see them wanting to build Roxanne Perez, Giulia, or Stephanie Vaquer, I think Alexa Bliss.

Tunney’s Take: Rhea Ripley – I’ll make my case short and sweet… Mami in the Bank! You can’t leave that money on the table.

Chairshot Pick – Tie – Naomi 3 & Roxanne Perez 3 (Alexa Bliss 2, Giulia 1, Rhea Ripley 1, Stephanie Vaquer 1)

AJ – LA Knight
Andrew – El Grande Americano – Feels correct given his push and the fact he’s over.
Dave – Seth Rollins – Got to push that new faction.
DJ – LA Knight
DPP – El Grande Americano
Jason – LA Knight
Patrick – Solo Sikoa
Rey – LA Knight – Looks like another push, and he does have history with Cena.
Rob – Solo Sikoa
Greg – Seth Rollins – This company is extremely high in the El Grande Americano gimmick, but this match comes down to Seth Rollins or LA Knight. Given the Rollins storyline, it’s his briefcase to win.

Tunney’s Take: El Grande Americano – Picture this: Chad Gable wins the AAA Mega Championship and El Grande Americano wins MITB! WHAT A SATURDAY in LA!!!

Chairshot Pick – LA Knight 4 (El Grande Americano 3, Seth Rollins 2, Solo Sikoa 2)

AJ – Becky Lynch – Sadly
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I still don’t care about Lyra.
Dave – Lyra Valkyria – Starting to warm up to her and Becky has a lot to do with that.
DJ – Lyra Valkyria
DPP – Becky Lynch
Jason – Becky Lynch
Patrick – Lyra Valkyria
Rey – Becky Lynch – Put some fire on the Irish Beef.
Rob – Becky Lynch
Greg – Becky Lynch – I don’t think you do a rematch here just to have Becky lose again. Unless Bayley shows up to help Lyra.

Tunney’s Take: Becky Lynch – A big part of me feels that winning this title checks off a major box for Becks in her HOF career.

Chairshot Pick – Becky Lynch 8-3

AJ – Cena & Paul
Andrew – Rhodes & Uso – Easy way for Cena to lose without eating the pinfall.
Dave – Rhodes & Uso – Get the QB back on the winning track.
DJ – Rhodes & Uso
DPP – Rhodes & Uso
Jason – Cena & Paul
Patrick – Cena & Paul
Rey – Rhodes & Uso – Heels usually lose these kinds of matches. Logan takes the pin.
Rob – Cena & Paul
Greg – Rhodes & Uso – I hope Jey isn’t an afterthought here like Cody was last fall when he was paired up with Roman. I think Cody pins Cena to set up Cody-Cena 2 at SummerSlam.

Tunney’s Take: Cena & Paul – I don’t think Cena is involved in another loss until he loses the WWE Championship. I also think Logan Paul is NOT done trying to capture Jey Uso’s World Heavyweight Championship. …Travis Scott in the house?

Chairshot Pick – 6-5 Rhodes & Uso

In closing I want to thank everyone on the panel for participating with their picks! You can follow each prognosticator/podcaster on X @ the handles below. We all enjoy Pro Wrestling so remember three things… be respectful of others, comparison is the thief of joy and HAVE FUN!

AJ – @PhenomenalAJB
Andrew – @IWCWarChief
Dave – @AttitudeAgg
DJ – @TheMindlessPod
DPP – @itsmeDPP
Jason – @JediFett
Patrick – @WrestlngRealist
Rey – @itsreycash
Rob – @rbonne1
Greg – @gregdemarco44
PC – @PCTunney
TheChairshot.com – @ChairshotMedia

prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – a PLETHORA of GREAT designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!

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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

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About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Backlash St. Louis

Chairshot Staff picks!!!

Published

1 month ago

May 9, 2025

PC Tunney

May is upon us and with that, so is Backlash from St. Louis! What does the first PLE after WrestleMania have in store for the WWE Universe? Let’s see if the Chairshot Staff can properly interpret the crystal ball of rasslin’ future.

AJ – Pat MacAfee – Gunther has to start losing control and who better than an announcer.
Andrew – Pat MacAfee – Goldberg getting involved does seem correct here.
Dave – Gunther – He’s not losing to a broadcaster.
DJ – Gunther – Pat is sent to the shadow realm until football season is over.
DPP – Gunther – Post match beat down leads to Pat time off.
Jason – Gunther – One massive spot and or bump from Pat.
Patrick – Gunther
Rey – Gunther – RIP MacAfee, t’was a good life.
Rob – Gunther
Greg – Pat MacAfee – Why? Goooooldbeeerrrrrgggggg!

Tunney’s Take: Gunther – Seems like the right pick here. Pat may be getting some time off and Gunther needs more heat.

Chairshot Pick – GUNTHER 8-3

AJ – Lyra Valkyria – Becky’s hopefully putting her over, still mad about Dakota.
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I have no real interest in Lyra currently.
Dave – Becky Lynch – Lyra is boring AF!
DJ – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley interferes.
DPP – Becky Lynch – Becky cheats and steals the title.
Jason – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley costs Becks.
Patrick – Becky Lynch
Rey – Becky Lynch – Story needs to jump up a bit, Becky Charlotte’s Lyra.
Rob – Lyra Valkyria
Greg – Becky Lynch – It’s been fun, Lyra. (It kinda hasn’t)

Tunney’s Take: Lyra Valkyria – Bayley’s interference should set up some type of program with Becky as we head towards Summer(Slam).

Chairshot Pick – BECKY LYNCH 6-5

AJ – Jacob Fatu – Great way to put him over w/ two former WHCs and LA Knight.
Andrew – Jacob Fatu – He’s Jacob Fatu!
Dave – Jacob Fatu – Too soon to pull the belt off him.
DJ – Jacob Fatu – Priest and LA can’t decide who’s is bigger.
DPP – Jacob Fatu – Your hardcore match, tables and chairs involved.
Jason – Jacob Fatu – The Champ retains due to or in spite of Solo.
Patrick – Jacob Fatu
Rey – Jacob Fatu – All gas. No brakes. Ain’t losing.
Rob – Jacob Fatu
Greg – Jacob Fatu – Someone from The Samoan Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Jacob Fatu – Uncle Mo is on Fatu’s side and other than Knight, I don’t see Drew or Priest holding the US title in the current circumstances of this title’s landscape.

Chairshot Pick – JACOB FATU 11-0

AJ – Dominic Mysterio – Judgement Day shenanigans just leading up to Finn turning on Dom later.
Andrew – Penta – Dom’s fine having a short reign, could also work for pushing AAA.
Dave – Dominic Mysterio – He’s probably more over than Penta.
DJ – Dominic Mysterio – Dirty Dom takes home the gold and the girl.
DPP – Dominic Mysterio – Big Head helps Dom pull out the win.
Jason – Dominic Mysterio – By hook and crook.
Patrick – Dominic Mysterio
Rey – Dominic Mysterio – Latino Heat keeps burning. Finn gets closer to the edge.
Rob – Dominic Mysterio
Greg – Dominic Mysterio – Someone from The Guerrero Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Dominic Mysterio – That belt looks good with the king of chicken tendys. I can see Penta and Rey reforming as a tag team sooner than later.

Chairshot Pick – DOMINIC MYSTERIO 10-1

AJ – John Cena – Why? Cena wins, lol.
Andrew – John Cena – Shenanigans ensue so it’s not a clean win.
Dave – John Cena – The last time is now.
DJ – John Cena – Randy hears voices telling him he needs an Attitude Adjustment.
DPP – John Cena – Cena tries to cheat but the ref doesn’t call for a DQ.
Jason – John Cena – Nefarious means, Randy not ready for Evil John Cena.
Patrick – John Cena
Rey – John Cena – Cena just counting down the dates. Should be fun though.
Rob – John Cena
Greg – John Cena – You know they want Cody to be the hero in the end.

Tunney’s Take: Randy Orton – Once upon a time Randy got himself intentionally disqualified and it cost John. Saturday, history repeats itself with a 180-degree twist. Cena retains via Orton DQ victory. This time, Travis Scott’s appearance takes care of that task.

Chairshot Pick – JOHN CENA 10-1