Steve Cook is in the final stages of his trip down memory lane, with 2018 bringing up many not-too-distant memories!

Now we’re getting to the part of the countdown that everybody should be able to remember everything about.

The tricky part: Not enough time has passed to tell which events in 2018 will go down in history as the most important. We’ve got a pretty good idea, but who knows for sure? All I can say is that my status in the Internet wrestling writing world remains virtually unchanged since 2018. Could be worse!

Here are the top 5 events from 2018…

5. Gargano vs. Ciampa

Tommaso Ciampa had shocked the NXT world by turning on his tag team partner Johnny Gargano in May 2017. There was a slight inconvenience, as Ciampa suffered a ruptured ACL during the match leading to the turn that would put him out of action until 2018. Once Ciampa returned, it was time for what many call the biggest & best feud in NXT history. Ciampa was the biggest bad guy in the business, while Gargano was that plucky, never say die whitemeat babyface.

Gargano temporarily lost his NXT contract in a match with Andrade that saw some Ciampa interference. Johnny got his contract back by beating Tommaso in an Unsanctioned Match at TakeOver: New Orleans. Ciampa got the edge in a Chicago Street Fight, and beat Aleister Black to win the NXT Championship. Ciampa successfully defended the title against Gargano in a Last Man Standing match, temporarily giving him the advantage in the feud. The story wasn’t quite over when 2018 was.

4. Daniel Bryan Got Cleared

You knew it wasn’t going to be the end. Daniel Bryan would do whatever he possibly could to get back in a wrestling ring. He loved it too much to step away forever, whatever the doctors told him. Once he got cleared by enough doctors, he had to convince WWE’s doctors. It took a long time, but eventually Bryan got cleared to return to a WWE ring.

The guy didn’t take it easy! Bryan lasted 76 minutes in the Greatest Royal Rumble, setting a record that likely won’t be broken anytime soon. Bryan’s in-ring highlight in 2018 came when he turned heel and became WWE Champion again. He was indeed a New Daniel Bryan. He embraced his status as the Planet’s Champion, because environmentalists are evil in WWE.

3. A Deal With The Devil

WWE had run a number of events in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia earlier in the 2010s, those mostly flew under the radar due to the fact they weren’t televised. People took notice in 2018 when WWE announced a ten year multi-platform relationship between themselves & the Saudi General Sports Authority, which would feature two WWE Network events per year, and plenty of propaganda glorifying the Kingdom & its leadership.

It wasn’t a great look for WWE from a PR standpoint. It seems to have worked out pretty well financially, though reportedly not as well as they had originally hoped. Obviously they only held one show in Saudi Arabia in 2020 due to the coronavirus, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in 2019 where much of the crew had difficulties getting out of the country. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when things “get back to normal”.

2. Evolution

2018 saw WWE’s women doing a ton of things for the first time. The first Women’s Royal Rumble. The first Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. This all wound up leading to the first WWE all-women’s PPV event, which was right around a time when most of WWE’s male roster was in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis weren’t too keen on having women on their shows, so it made sense to give the women a show of their own.

It made sense to have Ronda Rousey & Nikki Bella go on last. After all, Rousey brought a ton of star power with her from her UFC days, while Nikki is still a reality TV show star. In the eyes of many observers, the real main event was the Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch Last Woman Standing match. Charlotte & Becky certainly thought it was the main event, and did everything they could to make sure their match was what people were talking about at the end of the night.

It was one of the best WWE events of 2018, and my personal favorite. No wonder they haven’t had another one yet.

1. All In

This might end up being the most important show ever done depending on where the wrestling business goes after 2020. Right now, it’s All Elite Wrestling’s version of WrestleMania I, except they don’t have the rights to it. AEW wasn’t a thing at this point except an image in the mind of Cody Rhodes, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page & whoever else was involved in this. It was a response to Dave Meltzer’s opinion that Ring of Honor or anybody else other than WWE couldn’t draw 10,000 fans to a building. Cody took that as a challenge, and the Bucks were on board, and they rounded up everybody they possibly could to create a card that could do big numbers on Labor Day Weekend in Chicago.

It was a damn good show! The main event got cut a little short due to satellite time, but that’s what happens when you book such a loaded card. ROH & the NWA had title matches on this show, and both went over pretty well. Everything went over pretty well, there isn’t one match on this show that I can say screwed the pooch. The seeds were laid on that night, and somebody with a large amount of money that happened to be a big wrestling fan and was able to make connections within the television industry noticed.

These boys went All In, and it paid off for them & the rest of us. Unless you’re one of those folks that only wants wrestling produced by one promotion.