Best Year of the 2010s

[ragecutter]

What was the best year of the preceding decade? I've heard good things about 2013 and 2016.

[thegame415]

2016. It felt like there was promise.

[ejm olmos]

2016 just for Smackdown from June through the end of the year.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

IDK I guess 2018? I feel like the top three are definitely 2014, 2016, and 2018 in that they are the only three I would say were good while the rest kind of stunk. And even those three I wouldn't say were great years either. Or maybe they were all better then I'm giving them credit for and I am just becoming an old grouch.

[agent817]

Was there any good to come out of the early-to-mid-2010s, despite the whole Authority angle? (Sigh) I wasn't watching as much at the time, but even I, like many other fans, have a lot of negative things to say about them.

[A Little Doo Doo]

Yeah, my pick is 2016 just because Litdown was so damn good from the draft through the end of the year.

2018 would be my next choice because, again, SD had a really strong year (after coming off a garbage 2017).

[DZ: WF Legacy]

I like a lot of things about 2013, especially in the first half of the year.

The tag division that year was experiencing a bit of a renaissance with the refreshed Usos, The Wyatts, Primo/Epico, Cody/Goldust, Team Heck No, and others. It would continue into the next few years after that, but 2013 is where it really amped up. Most notably, The Shield were having their big run that year, and they were being booked as three fresh young guys with actual potential who actually won matches. They got to work with a lot of veterans (Taker, RVD, Cena, Christian etc.) and felt pretty special.

There were also a ton of great tv matches that year, and many of them were featuring Chris Jericho who had recently came back; lots of first-time-evers for him. Cesaro was having excellent matches left and right on whichever show he was on, beginning the year as the ironic US Champion with what I would consider to be one of his best runs (and easily his best attires/jackets). The Kofi/Cesaro match from Main Event (the first one in May - Kofi's in blue) is one of my favorite matches ever. CM Punk was still around, and he and Cena had that incredible match on Raw before Wrestlemania. There's also the SummerSlam match against Brock, which is one of the best matches he ever had. Christian had an IC title run that was solid, and it was one of his last runs before the concussions/injuries started happening. Daniel Bryan and Kane separated as the year went on, and Bryan became impossible to ignore with the reactions he was getting. He wrestled Cena at SummerSlam, beating him for the title in a brief moment of celebration. It was frustrating later that year when it was clear they weren't going with Bryan for real, but we all know that it worked out in the end as 2014 went on.

It wasn't perfect or anything, but there was still a lot to love in 2013. Basically, The Shield's original run (late '12 to mid-'14) is probably the last time I really felt connected to the product as a whole, warts and all. There's good stuff after, heel-to-face New Day and their record-breaking title run for example, but I had a lot of fun watching overall during the duration of The Shield.

[Bo Rida]

It's difficult because I don't think there was a year everything was firing on all cylinders.

However 2014 comes close. Mostly for NXT, the Bo Dallas to Neville to Zayn title story was brilliant and led to some great moments.
WM30 is generally considered one of the better ones and you have the best parts of the Yes movement. The Shield at their peak against the Wyatts and Evolution before the betrayal. The women's division continued to improve.

But even then you had AWOL champion Lesnar, the mess at the rumble, insulting fans for buying PPVs when they hadn't made the network availible everywhere, Cesaro being ruined by Heyman, the streak ending in an arguably underwhelming way and Punk leaving amongst other things (like Del Rio existing).

In many ways it was the year things began to change as they moved on from the stars of the previous decade (or earlier) but was also the year it became clear Vince lost the benefit of the doubt, from being out of touch to being actively antagonistic to fans after caving in on Bryan.

[drougfree]

2016 imo

-Jericho list run
-Jericho and Owens friendship
-HHH Winning the RR was a great moment
-Ambrose rise to the main event
-AJ STYLES awesome 2016
-Women getting more exposure
-Miz was on-fire
-Ziggler had some great promos against Ambrose and Miz
-AJ vs Cena feud and matches
-Orton in the wyatt family
-Outside wwe : he broken matt hardy stuff

[fw91]

2014. We had the one world title which was nice refresh that we hadn't had in some time. The Yes movement, Mania 30, the rise of Face Shield, the end of the Shield, Final Super Boss Lesnar when the idea was newer and fresh. Sting's debut.

[Cvslfc123]

2013 was great

The rise of Daniel Bryan
The Shield dominating
The Wyatts debuting
The Authority were enjoyable.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Definitely 2016 pretty much entirely for Litdown, though even then as much as people like to point to Jinder as being where the cracks in that started forming you could really see it first happening around November or December with the giant fart the Miz / Dolph storyline ended on and how much they beat the Ellsworth stuff into the ground.

[schma]

Litdown was fantastic in 2016.

I also loved the rise of Becky to "The Man" as it was lightning in a bottle that coincided with the Evolution PPV that was legitimately the best PPV that year. I remember being at Smackdown a couple weeks after the Summerslam triple threat when she laid out Charlotte and the whole arena was chanting 'you deserve it'. I genuinely felt bad for Charlotte but at the same time was loving it.

[schma]

Jun 3, 2024 3:28:10 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Definitely 2016 pretty much entirely for Litdown, though even then as much as people like to point to Jinder as being where the cracks in that started forming you could really see it first happening around November or December with the giant fart the Miz / Dolph storyline ended on and how much they beat the Ellsworth stuff into the ground.

I think that might also have been around the time that Alexa's reign of terror got going.

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

2016, I miss litdown so much.

[chazraps]

The "Power to the People" Raw through Hell in a Cell 2011 were the only time that decade that Kevin Dunn wasn't at the helm production-wise and it made for a MUCH better week-to-week television viewing experience.

In that time you had:

- heel R-Truth
- The Pipebomb
- Hall of Pain Mark Henry
- Sheamus' face turn
- Christian wanting "one more match"
- unhinged face Randy Orton
- Daniel Bryan winning MITB

I think 2014, awful Rumble build and show aside, holds up for the most part when you consider the health limitations of the roster.

-----------------

It's hard to pick full years because so much was generally bad for chunks of each of them. Smackdown 2016 is rightfully hearalded, but Rumble-through-and-including-Mania is just f***ing dreadful.

The last few months of 2013 with every attempt possible to douse the Daniel Bryan flame took down the whole show.

Rumble 2019 through Mania 2019 is a great build to a pretty good/above average show, and (lacey evans push aside and "the man's man" weirdness) it's at least promising what's happening with Kofi having a great reign and NXT getting really hot, but then in one weekend Kofi is squashed by Lesnar and all red Hell in a Cell ends in a DQ and shit gets sooooooo dire.

2018 is a top to bottom terrible year through. 2017, for all its issues, there's at least an undercurrent of hope and trying things. 2018 is, yearwide, more misses than hits and there's not many WWE years before they you can really say that about.

[Bo Rida]

So Litdown was great in 2016 but I can't remember much about the other brands. What were the high an lowlights?

What i do remember was one of the worst WMs and Zayn vs Nakamura.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

For me at least, 2013 and 2016, with strong moments in ‘14 and ‘15. There wasn’t a flat out perfect year, and 2017 to maybe the second half of 2021 was a long stretch of NJPW getting super hot and then the early adventurous years of AEW which led to my general indifference towards WWE.

But I’ve got fond memories of Owens/Jericho, Team Hell No, early Shield, Bo Dallas and Sami in NXT, Cena’s US Open challenge, the Wyatts, the Bryan/Orton matches which did eventually lead to Bryan’s WM30 payoff, Cena vs Styles, Bayley and Sasha killing each other, Litdown as a whole, etc.

[thegame415]

Jun 2, 2024 17:01:11 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

It's difficult because I don't think there was a year everything was firing on all cylinders.

100 percent this. I feel like there are a few exciting periods. For example, I enjoyed the period from the pipe bomb in 2011 until Extreme Rules 2012, WrestleMania 29 until SummerSlam 2013, Royal Rumble 2014 until the Shield split, and Litdown (as mentioned).

[crowley1986]

Enjoyed personally following periods - not everything was gold but i found stuff enjoyable

- Raw after Mania 27 to Extreme Rules 2012 - Rock/Lesnar returns/CM Punk's rise/ D Bry's heel turn/ Mitb 2011 and Summerslam 2011 were good and no real stinker ppvs iirc
- Summer 2013 - Summerslam 2014 Daniel Bryan's run, few bits on way were groaners but enjoyable - NXT consistently good around this time too
- Smackdown 2016 to where Jinder becomes champion 2017 - entertaining show

Generally NXT between 2014- 2019 was consistently must watch for me