In 2023, WWE thrived under Triple H's creative leadership, breaking records and experiencing financial success. Sami Zayn's exceptional rise, LA Knight's surprising popularity, and Cody Rhodes overcoming challenges were notable highlights. Rhea Ripley's reign as Women's World Champion faced criticism for not meeting expectations. CM Punk's return added excitement, especially considering the backstory with Jungle Boy. The disappointing outcome of Edge vs. Finn Balor at WrestleMania and the decline of The Bloodline marked the lows. Jey Uso's successful singles stardom and The Judgment Day's rise were positive aspects. The overexposure of The Judgment Day and Ronda Rousey's underwhelming year were downsides. Celebrity appearances by Bad Bunny and Logan Paul brought a unique and entertaining dimension to WWE.
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You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#CMPunk #RomanReigns #Bloodline #LAKnight #WWE #Wrestling #Sportskeeda
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00:00 2023 overall has been a really strong year for WWE when you look at it.
00:05 Under Triple H's leadership, there's been a lot of really strong matches and storylines being built to,
00:11 and some underwhelming ones.
00:13 We'll get into it.
00:14 It's the best and the worst of WWE's 2023.
00:19 It's Sportskeeda Wrestling.
00:20 I'm Kevin.
00:21 Let us know your favorite and not-so-favorite things from WWE this year in the comments below.
00:26 Triple H has been largely responsible for the success of WWE with his team,
00:32 as they've continued to share records and revenue.
00:35 There's also been a big takeover of WWE, the entire corporate culture changing under the leadership of Endeavor
00:41 that now own a majority stake in the company,
00:44 and Vince McMahon taking more of a supporting role instead of a creative one.
00:50 It hasn't been perfect with the year now finished under Triple H.
00:54 Let's dig into what we liked and what we didn't like.
00:57 The best, Sami Zayn's incredible rise up the card.
01:02 Looking at the better side of WWE starting off with the best of Sami Zayn and his incredible rise.
01:10 Sami Zayn has long been earning the trust of fans over the years,
01:15 but this year may have been the biggest of his career.
01:19 Sami Zayn was a breath of fresh air in the Bloodline storyline in 2022,
01:25 and he's probably had an even bigger 2023 coming out of it.
01:29 Starting off with the incredible trial of Sami Zayn's segment,
01:33 the Bloodline falling apart with him.
01:36 Starting off with the incredible trial of Sami Zayn's segment on the Raw 30th anniversary episode,
01:43 we got one of the best moments in Royal Rumble history
01:46 when he refused Roman Reigns' orders to assault his old friend and foe, Kevin Owens,
01:54 and turned on the Tribal Chief instead by smacking him in the back with a steel chair.
02:00 You could feel the air sucked out of a stadium.
02:04 Many people thought Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens was going to be the main event of Royal Rumble,
02:10 and that meant The Rock was appearing,
02:12 but everybody forgot that when we got one of the tensest moments in Royal Rumble history instead.
02:20 Not only did Sami Zayn compete for the undisputed Universal Championship
02:24 in his hometown of Montreal against Roman Reigns,
02:28 a roaring reaction with it,
02:30 but he also headlined the first night of WrestleMania 39
02:33 in a groundbreaking tag team title main event,
02:37 once again aligning himself with Kevin Owens to end the record-breaking 622-day-long streak
02:45 of The Usos as undisputed tag team champions.
02:49 It was an absolute five-star classic,
02:52 and one of the best tag team matches WWE has presented ever.
02:56 In a fitting moment, Sami Zayn pinned Jey Uso,
03:00 the person he long had conflict and alliances with within the bloodline.
03:06 As the night closed with his music at the splendor of WrestleMania,
03:12 Sami Zayn had the entire bloodline story fall to his feet,
03:18 once again aligned with his former friend,
03:21 now friend once again, to close out WrestleMania.
03:26 It may be the highest you can get in the wrestling business,
03:30 and he got to go there.
03:32 While the rest of the year wasn't as memorable as the first half for Sami Zayn
03:36 while holding the tag team titles,
03:38 it was still an incredible 2023 for Sami Zayn.
03:43 Some of the worst of 2023,
03:45 and we got to talk about the decline of the bloodline.
03:49 There's no doubt the first six months of the year were awesome.
03:52 The bloodline story carried WWE and roared into 2023 out of 2022.
03:59 Roman Reigns walked in and out of the year as undisputed Universal Champion,
04:05 and we got a lot of moments that were rightfully dubbed cinema.
04:09 Whether it was the trial of Sami Zayn, the Royal Rumble main event,
04:13 the WrestleMania 39 main event against Cody Rhodes,
04:16 Jimmy and Jey turning on Roman,
04:18 and Roman even getting pinned for the first time in three and a half years.
04:23 So why are we labeling it on the worst side of things?
04:26 Because what was so good has certainly dropped off quite a bit.
04:32 When things began to drop, it was a bit of a steep decline.
04:36 It really began with the main event of SummerSlam
04:38 when Jimmy Uso turned heel to help his brother Roman Reigns defeat Jey.
04:43 A move that still makes no sense
04:45 since Jimmy got the entire Uso's breaking away from Roman thing going months earlier.
04:51 Why would Jimmy change his mind less than three months
04:54 after being the first person to break the bloodline apart?
04:57 It's logically incoherent.
05:00 He's even become a bit of a comedy character now,
05:03 a side role to Solo Sokoa and Roman Reigns,
05:07 but his success has paled in comparison to his brother,
05:10 who's still main event yeeting over on Raw.
05:14 Oh, you haven't gotten to the comments to debate this yet?
05:17 Well, let us know what you think. Get down there.
05:19 Come on. We're waiting for you.
05:20 Let's jump onto the best side of things.
05:22 We mentioned the yeeting going on on Raw and it's all because of Jey Uso.
05:27 When Cody Rhodes declared Jey Uso as the newest member of the Raw roster
05:31 after he said he "quit WWE", there was instant hype.
05:36 For most of the Uso's WWE career,
05:39 which has been quite long, fans have always seen them defined as the brother tag team.
05:44 Twin brothers is a tag team. Could they ever work as singles?
05:48 Well, it's working for Jey.
05:50 All that changed with the Bloodlines storyline when Jimmy was injured
05:54 and Jey became Roman Reigns' right-hand man.
05:57 Apart from the fact that they now completely have different hairstyles,
06:01 different looks, Jey became more popular among the two brothers
06:05 and he's thriving as a single star on Raw.
06:09 He just has a whole different energy about him
06:12 and he's become WWE's most popular baby face,
06:15 rising up the card in the process. Don't lie.
06:18 You do the hand thing too when he gets out there on the turnbuckles bouncing it up and down.
06:23 One of the worst parts of 2023 has been the disappointing wrap-up of Ronda Rousey's run with WWE.
06:31 Ronda fell off in a major way in 2022,
06:34 but in 2023, she seemed like she had already kind of just seen the door open to leave the company.
06:41 While she was praised in her first year for the rapid improvements,
06:45 that amazing debut alongside Kurt Angle at WrestleMania,
06:50 her 2022 run really just deteriorated that momentum that she had
06:55 in being a part of the first women's main event on a WrestleMania.
06:58 By 2023 rolling around, she shifted her focus to the women's tag team division,
07:04 which needed her help and star power and eventually won those titles with Shayna Baszler.
07:09 There was nothing memorable about her time though in WWE outside of this.
07:13 She called it quits after losing to Shayna Baszler at SummerSlam
07:17 and joined Ring of Honor for a sporadic one-off match,
07:21 some different things here and there, but no big word sums up her year more than just disappointing.
07:27 This is Ronda Rousey, one of the biggest superstars from the UFC in WWE.
07:33 It felt like it just should have been bigger, right?
07:36 The positivity continues with WWE and the rise of the Judgment Day.
07:41 All rise for the JT. With the bloodline facing some natural decline this year,
07:48 the purple and black has really stepped up into the spot of being the faction that moves the needle.
07:55 It hasn't been all perfect and we'll get to some of the things that didn't work,
07:59 but overall they've been an important part of WWE this year.
08:04 It hasn't been all perfect and we'll talk about the parts that are bad a little bit later in this video,
08:09 but overall this group has really raised the stock of everyone involved.
08:14 Rhea Ripley became the face of the women's division
08:17 and had one of the best women's matches of the year with Charlotte Flair.
08:21 Dominic Mysterio has grown into his own character, easily one of the most despised people in WWE
08:28 and maybe one of its biggest workhorses.
08:30 Damian Priest found a lot of success and headlined a pay-per-view in Puerto Rico to massive success.
08:38 Oh, yeah, he's also Mr. Money in the Bank, a two-time Undisputed Tag Team Champion
08:43 and let's not forget that Finn Balor is still going out there and kicking ass every single week.
08:49 But there is a bad side. One of the worst parts of WWE this year
08:55 may have been the overexposure of the Judgment Day. Don't rise for the Judgment Day.
09:01 There's been a major JD problem in WWE.
09:04 We've addressed it in a whole lot of other videos here on the channel. On Raw,
09:08 it's really become the Judgment Day show, but in essence,
09:12 we spoke about how much they've overexposed them a bit on Raw,
09:16 which is part of the good problem you have when something's good.
09:20 We went right into the numbers to reveal how they've headlined most episodes of Raw since June of this year.
09:27 That isn't to say that they don't deserve this critical role that they've enjoyed and embraced so well this year,
09:33 but it's just a natural part of the thing, right?
09:37 Nobody wants to see all rise for the Judgment Day every single week and we can boo Dominic all the time.
09:44 That's fun. I don't think that's going to change,
09:46 but maybe they just need a clever spin on what they've been doing.
09:50 That's all. Maybe it's not even the worst, just a little annoying. Is that fair?
09:55 We're taking out the tweezers. We know we're plucking with this one
09:57 because another critical factor of WWE bringing in more mainstream eyeballs
10:02 or fans that haven't watched WWE in a while is the use of celebrities.
10:08 Bad Bunny and Logan Paul specifically.
10:11 Logan Paul isn't your traditional wrestling celebrity anymore for two reasons.
10:16 One, he's not the guy just coming in for a cheap pop here and there.
10:20 No, he signed a contract. And two,
10:22 he's better in the ring bell to bell than most celebrities who's ever done WWE.
10:27 Floyd Mayweather may have had a huge match at WrestleMania back in what, 2008?
10:32 But Logan Paul has already proved himself to be a better athlete in the ring than him in the world of pro wrestling.
10:38 He's had an incredible year in WWE,
10:40 even though he only wrestles a few matches, has a few appearances here and there.
10:45 They're meaningful and progressive. Whether it was his clash of bodies midair with Ricochet at the Royal Rumble,
10:52 his bout against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania,
10:55 his antics at Money in the Bank in SummerSlam, or his United States Championship win in Saudi Arabia,
11:02 Logan Paul has established himself as a bona fide figure in the wrestling world,
11:07 having just a fraction of the experience of some of the people he performs with.
11:11 Also, WWE has made the right calls with Logan Paul creatively.
11:15 He's a natural heel. He's the Gen Z villain you wanna boo.
11:21 And guess what? He loves being booed. As for Bad Bunny,
11:25 who is one of the biggest music stars in the world, WWE struck hot with him.
11:30 This isn't a star that's on the decline outside of WWE, but at the peak of it.
11:35 So bringing him in with that momentum meant a lot.
11:39 Another memorable run by a celebrity in WWE this year. Rather than teaming once again with Damian Priest,
11:46 he found himself on the opposite side of his former tag team partner and fellow Puerto Rican at Backlash,
11:53 a massive event Puerto Rico wanted WWE for a long,
11:58 long time. And the San Juan Street fight between them goes down in the books
12:04 as maybe one of the best celebrity matches that WWE's ever produced for the sheer reaction it garnered alone.
12:12 Bunny may have had the best entrance of all time.
12:15 The crowd went bonkers. Though we can't call it one of the worst feuds of the year,
12:21 there was a critically questionable decision made by WWE with a superstar that's no longer in the company in Edge,
12:30 Adam Copeland. At WrestleMania 39, coming out to a grand entrance with Slayer and Fire and Pyro,
12:37 Hal and a Sal, he's finally gonna get revenge on the Judgment Day and Finn Balor.
12:42 Or is Finn Balor gonna get his crowning moment at the show of shows and elevate his stature to what it should be in WWE?
12:51 You think the latter should be what you do since, you know, Edge is already a Hall of Famer.
12:56 But WWE opted to go with Edge being the victor in that match,
13:00 something that in retrospect with him now out of the company doesn't make much sense.
13:06 It's not the worst thing of the year, but once again, WWE had a pretty strong year overall.
13:11 I saw that match live. It was pretty good. Too many people have been hard on it.
13:15 But the ending? Yeah, we're still scratching our heads about that one.
13:19 Edge's final match, though, with WWE on SmackDown against Sheamus was a highlight to end on.
13:25 One of the best parts of this year has been Seth Rollins as a true workhorse,
13:30 building a new World Championship title.
13:33 Rollins was without a doubt the right pick to become this new World Heavyweight Champion in 2023.
13:40 With Roman Reigns wrestling fewer and fewer matches than he's ever had in his WWE career this year,
13:45 a new World Champion was finally introduced on Raw and it makes sense,
13:50 though it does feel secondary and they're working on changing that perception.
13:55 The visionary thrived in 2023 and has been one of the best in-ring performers across the board and all of pro wrestling.
14:03 He's been a reliable company man who still delivers banger after banger.
14:08 And now we get the potential fulfilling of a long brewing issue in the ring between two massively proud men,
14:18 with Seth Rollins defending what he feels is the true heart and soul of WWE
14:24 against the man who betrayed it in CM Punk, who recently returned.
14:29 It looks like that's what we're getting for WrestleMania,
14:32 and it's something fans have wanted for years and Seth Rollins deserves to go on that ride.
14:39 One of the more disappointing parts of this year for 2023 has been Austin Theory
14:44 and his not so memorable reign as United States Champion and how it plays into John Cena of all people.
14:52 Austin Theory may be one of the few,
14:54 if only superstars in WWE history, who is not better off after defeating John Cena.
15:02 He beat him at WrestleMania of all places.
15:05 This is John Cena. You only get him now and then nowadays,
15:08 and you get to be the guy who kicks him back to Hollywood and you're not a bigger star because of it.
15:14 To make it worse, most people probably forget that Austin Theory was the US Champion for most of the year.
15:20 Sure, he's had segments with The Rock and a pairing with Grayson Waller that has been all right,
15:25 but it feels like a lot less than what he was doing when Vince McMahon was at the creative helm of WWE.
15:32 Maybe it's just a matter of Theory getting lost in the WWE shuffle,
15:36 which is getting more and more competitive in those mid card slots.
15:40 Speaking of someone breaking out of the mid card,
15:43 one of the best parts of this year has been LA Knight.
15:47 Yeah, nobody would have expected that LA Knight would have become one of WWE's most popular rising stars this year.
15:55 His year didn't start too well after a loss at the hands of Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble.
16:01 He sadly lost Bray Wyatt and that would be one of his last big matches with the company.
16:05 But breaking out of the Max Dupree character,
16:08 he truly came into his own in his late 30s, early 40s.
16:14 He was the favorite to win the Money in the Bank briefcase in London and WWE played off of that.
16:19 And if you watch the match, he got the biggest reactions of the night,
16:23 even for hitting something as simple as a suplex.
16:26 But 2023 was a bigger year for the Megastars career so far,
16:31 and it hasn't translated into championship gold just yet.
16:36 Still became one of the few superstars to tag team along John Cena
16:41 and had a dedicated run with him and had to main event at pay-per-view alongside John Cena.
16:46 But he also got to challenge Roman Reigns and get to be one of the many people
16:50 who gets cheated out of winning the Undisputed Universal Championship.
16:54 He got really, really close. If you were to tell me a TNA fan a few years ago
17:00 that Eli Drake would be headlining an international pay-per-view stadium event in WWE with Roman Reigns,
17:06 it probably would have been hard to believe.
17:09 But the guy known as Eli Drake, now known as LA Knight, is always exceeding expectations.
17:16 Maybe he'll continue to do that in 2024.
17:19 Someone who was also trying to fight their way out of the mid card
17:23 and had a very weird year was Karrion Kross.
17:27 Karrion Kross unfortunately lost a lot of momentum,
17:30 even relevance in 2023 by just being featured irregularly.
17:35 His most significant momentum in 2023 was his feud with AJ Styles and he suffered defeat there too.
17:42 He was presented as a credible threat even to Roman Reigns when he returned last year,
17:48 but he's just not felt nearly as impactful and dangerous as he did then.
17:54 There isn't a lot of interest in what he's doing now,
17:57 but WWE seems to be refreshing him with Scarlett at his side.
18:02 Maybe it's sink or swim, but this guy still has jaws and he can still be a real shark in WWE.
18:09 Don't write off Karrion Kross.
18:11 He can sneak up on you and put you to sleep really quick.
18:14 Yep, even more good stuff from WWE this year.
18:17 EO Skies Rise and Damage Control finally taking shape.
18:22 Damage Control was handled though in a wonky way creatively.
18:27 They were introduced at SummerSlam in 2022 to a big response
18:31 with Bayley coming back, EO Sky and Dakota Kai at her side.
18:35 Still WWE persisted to make them be a faction that worked hard
18:40 and paid off while still being booed.
18:42 And EO Sky fell short to Bianca Belair at Backlash,
18:46 but it was a clear-cut favorite from the red-hot Puerto Rican audience.
18:51 People loved that match.
18:52 She went on to win the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase in a very weird scenario
18:58 that showed some dissension between her and Bayley.
19:01 Apart from her becoming Women's Champion at SummerSlam,
19:04 the Damage Control faction story around her has taken a lot more shape
19:09 with the return of Kairi Sane and Asuka. Dakota Kai,
19:13 while being injured the entire time, has become the mastermind of Damage Control,
19:18 which is a creative use of her as she's not in the ring.
19:22 It's an exciting way to keep characters involved with Bayley
19:26 somehow feeling like a secondary player in the group that she started.
19:30 It's an interesting dynamic. She's been a heel for over four years now.
19:34 Maybe it's time for Bayley to pop that side ponytail back on
19:38 and get the wavy, wacky, inflatable arm tube guys back and go back to being a good gal.
19:44 But who knows? One of the worst parts of this year is Bobby Lashley taking an almighty backseat,
19:50 and it may just be more bad luck for the God of Thunder.
19:55 Bobby Lashley hasn't had the year he should have.
19:59 While he finally rose to become a bonafide World Champion in 2021,
20:04 he became one of the most popular good guys in 2022,
20:08 and every match saw the crowd cheering for Bobby. Bobby.
20:12 2023 just wasn't as good. His WrestleMania feud with Bray Wyatt was cut short
20:17 when Wyatt got injured and the health for him got worse.
20:21 But after Lashley was drafted to SmackDown,
20:24 he wasn't really featured that much in a way that you would remember.
20:28 WWE took a little bit too much time establishing his alliance with the Street Profits,
20:33 even though the combination has turned out to be quite a good one.
20:36 There's a lot more to explore there. Lashley's popularity has seen the crowd turn him back
20:41 into a de facto babyface, even though he's in a heel group.
20:45 He's in this in-between phase, right?
20:48 And sometimes it's really easy to get lost by the fans
20:52 and maybe even the WWE machine itself when you're in that in-between spot.
20:57 The good continues to outweigh the bad for WWE this year with Cody Rhodes overcoming the Beast Incarnate
21:04 and delivering again in 2023. The American Nightmare has been another reliable guy for WWE to say the least.
21:13 He won his first ever Royal Rumble, which in retrospect was really,
21:17 really good. Headlined WrestleMania against Roman Reigns
21:20 in one of the best matches of the year for the company,
21:23 but unfortunately fell short in a very, very compelling story.
21:28 I was there. LA wanted to see it happen. Even still his cries of burial were quickly silenced.
21:36 Yeah, you don't get buried when you headline WrestleMania. Quit abusing that word.
21:40 That's one of the worst things I've seen this year. You wrestling fans out there not knowing that Cody Rhodes
21:45 is still one of the biggest superstars in the company
21:48 because he immediately got to feud with Brock Lesnar. Brock frickin Lesnar.
21:52 You don't get put in that spot for no reason. The series of matches between them was two
21:57 and one in Cody's favor and at SummerSlam,
21:59 he even earned the Beast Incarnate's respect in an unscripted endorsement post-match.
22:06 These are some of the best matches that Brock has had in quite some time
22:09 and a fresh dance partner for Brock proved to be something really exciting for him too.
22:14 One of the worst parts of WWE's year may have also been one of the best.
22:19 Hang in there. Rhea Ripley's reign as world champion.
22:22 Yes, she has been brutalizing the women's division.
22:26 As we mentioned her match at WrestleMania out of the win at the Royal Rumble was absolutely fantastic.
22:34 Maybe one of the best women's matches overall in all of wrestling this year,
22:39 but her reign as world champion itself hasn't been that great
22:43 and most of that could be depending on injury. WWE not wanting to lose the momentum that Rhea has gotten
22:50 with a lot of fresh fans coming to the business and saying,
22:53 "Ooh, I like her. I like the badass goth girl."
22:57 I've had a lot of fans who aren't even really big wrestling fans ask me about Rhea and WWE understands that.
23:04 So even though she had some injury issues coming out of WrestleMania,
23:07 they still had her defend the title and conquer names like Natalya,
23:11 Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark.
23:14 And there's been a lot left to be desired with the reign as champion itself.
23:18 It seems quite clear that WWE is delaying the inevitable Rhea Ripley-Becky Lynch match for a bigger stage,
23:24 maybe WrestleMania, and the women's division is on hold while Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch wait to get there.
23:31 But everything else feels kind of on hold.
23:35 Rhea Ripley playing more of a supporting role with the leadership of the Judgment Day
23:39 seems to be much more of the focus than maybe sometimes her defending the championship in those matches we already mentioned.
23:46 You're probably talking more about her doing stuff in the Judgment Day than her defending the title, right?
23:51 I know it's maybe not the worst thing, but it's the negative side of a more positive situation.
23:57 Yeah, as we mentioned, the good outweighs the bad this year with WWE.
24:02 Maybe one of the absolute best things this year for WWE has been Gunther.
24:07 Yes, Gunther, his inarguable, outstanding reign, record-breaking,
24:13 holding the longest reign of all time as the Intercontinental Champion.
24:18 That's right, you're history, honky-tonk man.
24:21 Go bang a guitar over the past because Gunther, the Ring General, has reigned supreme.
24:28 And every match where someone challenges him feels like a big deal.
24:33 What's also incredible about his Intercontinental title reign, away from just Drew McIntyre and Sheamus,
24:40 he hasn't faced the top, top tier of names in the company.
24:44 He's managed to have bangers after bangers with some of the best mid-card superstars in WWE,
24:50 and in the process has raised the stock of names like Chad Gable, The Miz,
24:55 Shampup Mustafa Ali, Xavier Woods, and Bronson Reed.
24:59 All of those guys, they feel like bigger deals because they got to be in the ring with Gunther.
25:04 Let the return of returns. Yes, the cult of personality is back in WWE.
25:11 CM Punk is back in WWE.
25:14 It's wild to think that a backstage fight in All Elite Wrestling, WWE's arch rival,
25:21 at their biggest show of the year, which could have been a huge game-changer
25:25 and really is a game-changer for them at All In,
25:28 a Stadium Mobile event, the real headlines coming out of it were something that fans didn't get to see
25:35 but took place backstage with CM Punk getting into a real altercation with Jungle Boy Jack Perry.
25:42 That led to Punk's very controversial dismissal from AEW,
25:47 allowing him to come back to WWE and potentially headline a WrestleMania for the first time in his career.
25:56 Let me just say that I was at the Allstate Arena.
26:00 I know I keep bringing up matches I was at in person,
26:03 but the reaction, the sheer volume and energy in the room in Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon,
26:12 the Allstate Arena, is something that could power the world if we could put it in a jar.
26:18 CM Punk hasn't moved the needle. He broke it, and they're going to have to build a new one.
26:25 The numbers, the metrics, the social media, the merchandise, the hype, the speculation
26:31 is boiling over for WWE coming out of Survivor Series into 2024.
26:38 The greatest thing you can have in entertainment is anticipation for what you do next,
26:44 and everything about CM Punk right now is about anticipation.
26:50 WWE, to keep things low-key as possible, announced Randy Orton for the Survivor Series WarGames main event beforehand,
26:58 making sure that those expectations of CM Punk were certainly watered down.
27:03 There was no confirmation, and the end of the show came with the good guys standing tall over the Judgment Day in a very strong match.
27:11 And it's a shame that Randy Orton's return was overshadowed, but WWE simply could not avoid this situation.
27:20 CM Punk in one of the biggest wrestling cities in the world, making his return that the entire wrestling world was anticipating,
27:28 and they knew they would go berserk for, and they did.
27:32 When Triple H posted a picture alongside his old real-life adversary in CM Punk with the caption,
27:40 "It's a cold day in hell," social media went insane.
27:46 There's no denying that this was by far the biggest moment for WWE this year in terms of returns,
27:53 a year that saw Punk signed to a Raw-exclusive contract,
27:58 and it looks like he could be set to have that dream match with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40.
28:04 It's been nothing short of a fairytale return.
28:07 You can debate whether or not the things CM Punk said in the past taint the return,
28:12 but the numbers don't lie.
28:15 The anticipation is there, and everyone is excited to see what happens next.
28:23 2023 has set up a really strong 2024 for WWE.
28:29 What do you expect?
28:30 What are your massive predictions for WWE this year?
28:34 Let us know in those comments below.
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