Who is better/worse off compared to the start of the year?

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Nov 29, 2022 10:16:30 GMT -5 saneiac said:

Sami Zayn went from a comedy feud with Johnny Knoxville to a guy people want to see main event Wrestlemania.

That said, the Knoxville feud was also great, largely due to Sami putting in his best efforts to make it great.

[PTBartman]

Better
Comentary
Worse
Dana Brooke's Dreams

[Some Baritone guy IS REDEEMED!]

Dom and Rhea.

Rhea was able to become one of the absolute best parts of Raw and a memetic badass throughout this year, in large part thanks to her constant torment of Dom and her insane energy of being willing and able to fight everybody with no f***s given.

Dom went from just another body to be put next to his dad, to a masterful slimy weasely heel. Putting him next to Rhea has really done wonders for his confidence. She's such a big presence in giving him something to play off of and put over what he's doing that he seems more willing to try new stuff and find what works and what doesn't

[Hypnosis]

Better:
Judgment Day
Brawling Brutes
Bloodline
Schism
Liv Morgan
Dolph Ziggler
Cody Rhodes
Kevin Owens
Nikki Cross
Shotzi

Worse:
Drew McIntyre
Matt Riddle
New Day
Mustafa Ali
Doudrop
Alexa Bliss
Madcap Moss
Cameron Grimes
Lacey Evans
Sarray

[chazraps]

Biggest improvement of the year has to specifically be Michael Cole. Dude is going to have a renaissance of showing how good he is and people appreciating it. Super happy for him.

I'm happy how much better Shotzi, LA Knight, Dominick Mysterio and Mia Yim are doing right now.

Nov 28, 2022 21:44:43 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

Drew McIntyre. this year might have become the first person to kick out of The End of Days, but dude choked in Cardiff to add to his awful post WM37 PPV record and it looks like his days as a main eventer are over.

I disagree on Drew. I think as a character and talent his connection with fans is the strongest it's been since Royal Rumble 2020, and a big part of that is he's freely being himself and a lot closer to the Drew that got so much good will on the indys.

[theironyuppie]

Nov 29, 2022 22:47:52 GMT -5 Hypnosis said:

Better:
Judgment Day
Brawling Brutes
Bloodline
Schism
Liv Morgan
Dolph Ziggler
Cody Rhodes
Kevin Owens
Nikki Cross
Shotzi

Worse:
Drew McIntyre
Matt Riddle
New Day
Mustafa Ali
Doudrop
Alexa Bliss
Madcap Moss
Cameron Grimes
Lacey Evans
Sarray

I'd argue Alexa and Liv are complicated. Alexa's opportunities to show her character work had already disappeared while Vince was still in charge, basically doing nothing but the occasional match after Elimination Chamber. (It looks like she's finally going to get a storyline now, but it's taken quite a while to get there.) Liv got a MITB cash-in and a title run, but I get the impression her reign didn't impress as was hoped, and the current 'Extreme Liv' gimmick seems like a difficult one to work with, especially when there's only so many stunts she can do and it's not a style that suits her.

[Nosnorb]

Nov 29, 2022 22:51:51 GMT -5 chazraps said:

Nov 28, 2022 21:44:43 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

Drew McIntyre. this year might have become the first person to kick out of The End of Days, but dude choked in Cardiff to add to his awful post WM37 PPV record and it looks like his days as a main eventer are over.

I disagree on Drew. I think as a character and talent his connection with fans is the strongest it's been since Royal Rumble 2020, and a big part of that is he's freely being himself and a lot closer to the Drew that got so much good will on the indys.

Dude still has lost almost every important match on PPV since WM37 and hasn't gotten any payback on Solo Sikoa almost 3 months after CatC. Sure, dude is over but it feels like he is a long way from the title at this point.

Another dude I would put in the worse off is Lashley, for two reasons, the first he's now fighting over the US title instead of one of the World Titles and MVP isn't his manager anymore. It doesn't help that it seems WWE doesn't want to commit to booking him as a heel and it's getting that bit harder to invest in him when you don't know where he stands (though the issues with allignment were an issue back in the fall of 2021 starting with Big E cashing in).