2015: Truly Bad Or Misblamed?

I've mentioned 2015 being a year many people look back at with unpleasant thoughts back in my poll on which year was worse. But a part of me always wondered as to whether or not it was really as bad as year as we thought it was.

Today, I broke down and looked up old KBwrestlingreviews on shows before WM 31 and during November-December and Cageside Seats. The moments where WWE was at the low point for that year. And I was conflicted to say the least.

On one half, I could understand how people felt about this year. This was far from an amazing year for WWE. Oh sure; there was some good, (WM 31 will go down in history as my personal all time favorite WrestleMania) but when things got bad...hoo boy. I don't think WWE got this rough up to this point. It got to a point where there were legit wonders if WWE was turning into WCW during it's final years.

Now thankfully, WWE is in a much better place now than it was three years ago: But given everything that happened then and everything that's happened now, I have to ask. Was 2015 truly the worst year of the modern WWE age (and i'm talking 2008 to now) or was it a victim of two really bad stretches?

I'm all for people choosing their own tastes in wrestling because it is subjective by its very nature. But I don't think WrestleMania 31 even cracks the top 5 for me. I know you're 17 but have you, honestly now, watched all of the previous Mania events? There are so many greater shows out there for you to watch. I think it's universally accepted that X-Seven was the best WrestleMania of all time. I'll assume you've watched it but if you haven't that's an amazing place to start.

As far as 2015 goes, it was a very poor WWE year. But the fact remains that Mania 31 was a pretty high put on an otherwise lousy year.

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Originally Posted by Dave

I'm all for people choosing their own tastes in wrestling because it is subjective by its very nature. But I don't think WrestleMania 31 even cracks the top 5 for me. I know you're 17 but have you, honestly now, watched all of the previous Mania events? There are so many greater shows out there for you to watch. I think it's universally accepted that X-Seven was the best WrestleMania of all time. I'll assume you've watched it but if you haven't that's an amazing place to start.

As far as 2015 goes, it was a very poor WWE year. But the fact remains that Mania 31 was a pretty high put on an otherwise lousy year.

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I've actually watched WrestleMania 17. Not in it's entirely per-say, but I've watched Rock vs Austin II.

Some of the best storytelling in the history of WWE in my opinion.

Legit wonders if wwe was turning into WCW? Thats exaggeration. WWE has a near monopoly of the industry

31 was a good Wrestlemania because it was top to bottom a balanced show with nothing that was "bad" but at the same time, outside from the Rollins cash in during the main event, nothing stood out as being memorable or mattering for long. Nothing came of Big Show winning the ARMBAR, or Sandow breaking away form Miz. The tag division continued to be overlooked. Bryan would vacate the IC title a short time later. The big clusterfuck Sting/Triple H match was just WWE sticking it to WCW one last time. Orton got no real push after his win. AJ Lee retired a few days after Mania. Undertaker fucked off for a few months. The Cena US Open Challenge and Rollins run as champ were the only things that lasted.

2015 had some high points. The Sami/KO NXT feud was still going. Roman got a very fun match out of Big Show at Extreme Rules. Rhyno had that underrated NXT run. Bayley and Sasha killed it in NXT. The tag team EC match was a beautiful hot mess. Beast in the East had a couple good matches and showed that Network Specials could work.

The issues were that the bad were truly bad. The super prolonged Brock/Undertaker feud. Failed Roman push #3. Del Rio's US Title run. SummerSlam was shit. The Rusev/Ziggler/Lana/Summer Rae bullshit. Sting at 50 years old challenging for the World Title. Ryback as IC champ. "The Women's Revolution." The KOTR farce. Sheamus with MITB. Undertaker's stupid Survivor Series match. Roman's Royal Rumble win.

I just remember 2015 as the year that NXT was the only really watchable thing on WWE and I didnâ??t even watch it, I decided to sit through the pain of Raw and Smackdown. NXT was just doing great thing after great thing and WWE was forcing Reigns down our throats. He had a cool feud with Bray and then just ruined Sheamus like infinity times as wel as Rusev, Del Rio and Barrett. The only good things I can remember are Sethâ??s Rollins cash in and title reign, as well as the woman finally standing out more than anytime in history up to that point, pretty much thanks to Stephanie ;). New Day only started blossoming about mid way through the year. Tyson Kidd got injured and that forced the best tag team at that time to split up. Undertaker and Lesnar while cool, was predictable and not fresh. I donâ??t know, I see a lot of negatives from 2015 more than I can for 14,16 and 17. I think it was a bad year but it probably does get a little more shit on than it deserves.

People are exaggerating a little on how bad the product was - without a doubt there were major issues with the shows such as the Rumble, the atrocious build to Mania, the push of Kane as Rollins major nemesis, people wondering around aimlessly in the midcard in dreadful stories (Zigger/Rusev, Stardust/Neville, whatever either Sheamus or King Barrett were up to) not to mention the just dreadful last two months of TV after Rollins got hurt.

However there were many positives too; Mania 31 was shockingly great with that main event being a masterclass in booking, the Dudleyz returning the night after SummerSlam, New Day's ascent to the team we know and love today, the US Open Challenge produced some of the finest work of John Cena's career and debuted Kevin Owens in three stellar matches, the Undertaker/Brock feud was a mixed bag, but produced two shockingly great fights, women's wrestling had its Steamboat/Savage moment and there was that ridiculous triple threat at the Rumble.

Where's the poll? I quite liked 2015 and Seth Rollins was at the top of his game. 2016 was much worse.

The other big thing that 2015 saw, which definitely impacted booking, was injuries. So many of the top names like Rollins, Cena, Cesaro, Orton, etc. were going down with bad injuries that resulted in the pretty bad Wrestlemania 32. This also highlighted that WWE didn't have a Plan B and give some of the midcard a case to attach a rocket to them and make some new stars, leading us to get stuck with Sheamus and Reigns for the end of the year. 2016 had some improvement with less key injuries happening, outside of Finn Balor, but when the top tier had no backup and no willing pushes were made, they set themselves up for a poor result in 2015, especially when NXT outshined the main roster.

Positives - WrestleMania, Rollins title reign, Taker/Lesnar feud, New Day, Reigns/Sheamus feud, Owens debuting and beating Cena, NXT in general, US Open Challenge, The Dudleys return

Negatives - Kiss Me Arse, The IC Title Chamber match, Ziggler/Rusev feud, Damien Sandow being wasted, Alberto Del Rio's run, Tater Tots, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins' injuries, The actual Royal Rumble match, Rollins vs Lesnar

There's a lot of bad and a lot of good, and I think it just about evens out. It's the story of WWE the last few years. Tremendous in-ring wrestling brought down by subpar booking.