2022 was a chaotic year for professional wrestling. COVID-19 is no longer a blight on promotions trying to operate, but backstage issues wound up plaguing the two biggest promotions in the world and fans were often left dealing with with the fallout. It still led to some jaw-dropping moments and legitimately great matches, many of which we’ll talk about in this series or in this year’s Golden Issue Awards. But the stories that spawned from them wound up being some of the biggest of the year.
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As December wraps up, we’re going to dive deep into the five biggest stories that dominated the pro wrestling world in 2022. But before we can get to the countdown, a separate list of honorable mentions is in order.
Sami Zayn in The Bloodline
Zayn has consistently been one of WWE’s best performers for years, but it wasn’t until 2022 that he finally got the chance to shine on the biggest stage. His addition to The Bloodline as the “Honorary Uce” has breathed new life back into the faction and Roman Reigns’ main event run as “Tribal Chief,” turning every segment involving the group into must-see television. His legitimate enthusiasm over wanting to be accepted by Roman and Jey has generated a groundswell of support from fans, ironically making him one of the company’s most beloved babyfaces despite working right alongside its biggest villain. Not to mention his character work has forced everyone else in the group to step up their acting chops.
We have a pretty good idea of where this is all heading next year, but moments like him getting tossed the “Honorary Uce” t-shirt and the final moments of the WarGames match will be talked about for years.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s Return
You know 2022 was crazy when Steve Austin got back in the ring for a match at WrestleMania 38 and it doesn’t even crack the Top 5 stories of the year.
Tony Khan Buys Ring of Honor
There were a few months there when it looked like Ring of Honor was on its way out the door. Despite being commended for how it handled the pandemic, company officials announced in October 2021 that the promotion would be going on hiatus following Final Battle 2021 and all of its wrestlers were free to sign with other promotions. It reportedly would then stick around by using non-contracted talent like smaller independent promotions, a far cry from just a few years prior when it was arguably the second-biggest promotion in the US.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Tony Khan swooped in and announced on the March 2 episode of AEW Dynamite that he was purchasing the company, including its massive tape library stretching back to 2002. And what has come since has been… a bit complicated. The ROH pay-per-views have consistently been solid and it has elevated plenty of people like FTR, Samoa Joe, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia and even Chris Jericho (who is arguably having his best in-ring run in years as “The Ocho”). But between the new talent signees filling up AEW’s already-loaded roster, the introduction of ROH’s championships and the need to promote ROH feuds and pay-per-view on AEW programming, it has effectively overstuffed AEW’s three hours of weekly television.
A lot of this can be resolved with ROH getting its own television deal or getting moved to a streaming service, but after waiting for most of the year for some kind of update fans were recently given the news that a weekly ROH show would be on the revived Honor Club streaming service instead of TV.
Khan certainly can’t be blamed for buying ROH and the promotion’s continued existence could prove to be valuable for AEW and the business as a whole. But for a good chunk of 2022, it felt more like a boulder AEW was forced to carry around.
FTR’s Banner Year
True story — there was a strong argument to nominate FTR for Tag Team of The Year and Dax Harwood for Wrestler of the Year during this year’s Golden Issue Awards. Even though they had accomplished plenty before 2022, this year was unquestionably the banner year for Harwood and Cash Wheeler. As a team, they concurrently held the AAA, IWGP and ROH World Tag Team Championships while putting on Match of the Year contenders against the likes of The Briscoes, Young Bucks and Aussie Open. But then Harwood took things a step further by putting on technical master classes as a solo wrestler in bouts with CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Will Ospreay and even against his own tag partner.
The unbridled passion for the wrestling business the two exude made it impossible for them to be anything less than fa- favorites. No matter what comes in 2023, the “Top Guys” have built an emotional connection with fans that will follow them for the rest of their careers.
The Ups and Downs of Jeff Hardy
What a strange year for “The Charismatic Enigma.” 2021 ended with Hardy getting booted from the WWE after walking out of a house show match and refusing to enter rehab. But fans who have been with Jeff through all of his past trials and tribulations truly wanted to believe his release was a mistake. Maybe WWE really did jump the gun and Jeff had found a way to escape the midcard purgatory Vince McMahon had inexplicably thrown him in?
And for a few months, it felt like all of Jeff’s issues were behind him. He reunited with Matt in an emotional fashion on an episode of Dynamite. The two then proclaimed that the Hardys were back for one last run to prove their status as the greatest tag team of all time (and space). We saw him tear it up with Darby Allin, leap off arena walls and take down The Young Bucks on pay-per-view en route to what looked like a run as AEW World Tag Team Champions. But just before the two were set to challenge for the gold in a ladder match, it was all derailed as Jeff was arrested for DUI.
Jeff’s future in AEW and the future of The Hardys as a tag team is now very much up in the air. He’s suspended until he can prove he can maintain his sobriety and his legal issues with the arrest are still ongoing. But if he does get the green light to come back, how will the fans embrace him? Will he and Matt (who has already bounced back with a pretty good storyline involving Private Party and The Firm) be able to pick up right where they left off? We can only hope 2023 will have those answers.
Forbidden Doors
2021 was all about crossovers between promotions. And while 2022 didn’t have anything quite as impactful as Kenny Omega becoming “The Belt Collector,” it did finally make things official between AEW and New Japan with the Forbidden Door event. The sold-out show was arguably AEW’s best pay-per-view of the year, even if the roster was plagued with injuries at the time.
WWE has also started to get in on the action. Mickie James competed in the Royal Rumble as the Knockouts Champion, Karl Anderson is entering Wrestle Kingdom still holding the NEVER Openweight Championship and Shinsuke Nakamura is heading back to Japan for a match with The Great Muta. And now that Paul Levesque is calling the shots, this all still feels like just the beginning.
NXT’s Kinda, Sorta Reboot
The much-maligned NXT 2.0 reboot in September 2021 saw a sharp drop in quality for WWE’s developmental brand. Fans were suddenly given a spark of hope a year later when the “2.0” title was dropped and a new white and gold logo was introduced, possibly signifying a return to the type of presentation that made the brand WWE’s gold standard for the latter half of the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before Shawn Michaels threw cold water on that idea in interviews, and while there are some undeniable bright spots on the brand it’s still saddled with weekly sports entertainment goofiness.
Mandy Rose
This one is brand new but still feels worthy of a spot on the list. Mandy Rose’s sudden firing from WWE over her FanTime account has caused quite a bit of debate online. But for all of the backstage reports, we’ll likely never know the full story until Rose is willing to explain her side on the record. It has brought up debates of WWE sexualizing their female talent, the views major corporations and sponsors still have toward certain kinds of online content and the consistently looming debate of just how flimsy WWE’s claim of its wrestlers being independent contractors often seems.
Rose is walking away from this whole thing pretty well given how much money her profile is reportedly driving in, but this feels like an issue WWE deal with again in the future.
There Goes The Money
Shane McMahon was effectively given the boot from WWE after his reported actions surrounding the booking of this year’s Royal Rumble match. It still feels like there are more details to the story we’ll get in shoot interviews years down the road, but this somehow wound up being one of the least-dramatic stories involving The McMahon Family from 2023.
