NFL
By: Jon Blayne
As we are set to close out 2022 in a few weeks, I thought it would be the most appropriate time to reflect on the year from the world of pro wrestling. It seemed like no matter what month we were in, the professional wrestling world had both good news and bad news. We also ended up seeing a lot of firsts as companies were still coming out of the pandemic. Let’s begin this trip back in January.
On New Year’s Day, the WWE held the Day 1 event in Atlanta, Georgia. This event saw Brock Lesnar win the WWE Championship again. What makes this a significant event was this was the first time that WWE held a PPV on New Year’s Day. Also in January, we would see New Japan Pro Wrestling hold their Wrestle Kingdom 16. This was significant for two reasons. The first one was that this was the first Wrestle Kingdom to be held over three nights. The second reason is that one of the nights was not in Tokyo, Japan.
Another big event to happen in January occurred when GCW held a show at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. What made this event special was that it was the first time a wrestling event was held in that building since 2019. Also, this was the biggest stage that GCW had been on. In March, NJPW would end up holding their 50th anniversary show. In April, the WWE held their annual WrestleMania event in which we would see Stone Cold Steve Austin and Cody Rhodes make their long-awaited returns to the company. Also, this was where Roman Reigns would end up beating Brock Lesnar and hold both major titles in the WWE.
All Elite Wrestling held their annual Double or Nothing in Las Vegas for the first time since the pandemic. What made this a significant event was CM Punk would end up defeating Hangman Adam Page for the AEW World Heavyweight title. We would also see AEW founder Tony Khan announce that they are now owners of Ring of Honor. Vince McMahon would end up retiring from the WWE after reports came out about his involvement with hush money. WWE NXT UK and 205 Live would stop running. Sasha Banks and Naomi would both walk out of the WWE. Finally, Nick Aldis had a major fallout with Billy Corgin and the NWA. This saw him announce that he left the company and is a free agent in 2023.
In my opinion, Vince McMahon retiring from the WWE was the biggest moment of the year. You have a guy in Vince McMahon who has been in charge of the WWE since the mid 1980’s when he took it over from his father It never crossed my mind that we would have a wrestling world where Vince McMahon wouldn’t be in charge of the WWE. It was a changing of the guard that no one saw coming and to be honest, it’s been a blessing in disguise.
Let us know in the comments below what was your biggest moment in 2022 in the world of professional wrestling.
