The Wrestling Examiner

It's January, so that can only mean one thing: it's time to Rumble. The Royal Rumble is my favorite match of the year. Not only does it mark the start of the road to WrestleMania, but the match itself is full of drama and suspense. Think about some of the greatest Rumble moments in history: Kofi Kingston walking on his hands to save himself from elimination in 2012, Shawn Michaels' foot touching the floor in 1995, and John Cena making a surprise return in 2008 to win the match. There is no match in WWE (except for possibly Money in the Bank Ladder matches) that are as exciting as the Rumble. However, there are other matches on the card besides the Rumble match, and in this article we'll preview and predict every match on the card. Let's get started. WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow- Miz and Mizdow are getting their rematch for the tag titles after losing them a few weeks ago. This should be a fun match especially, with the involvement...

Now that the year is over, we can look back at the entire year and determine what was the best of the best. We here at The Wrestling Examiner  decided to identify 24 categories and determine who led that category. Once we determined the best of the best, we decided to share our results with the world. And what better way to do that with the first-ever Wrestling Examiner  annual awards? Since we mainly cover WWE, most of these awards are WWE awards, unless specified. We do have a few specific awards for NXT and TNA. The only awards than look past company lines are Maneuver of the Year and Weekly Show of the Year. So, without further ado, let us look at the 2014 Wrestling Examiner  awards. Match of the Year: Team Cena vs. Team Authority at Survivor Series Some of you might be groaning at this pick, but it was the best match of the year. It had drama, suspense, and great wrestling. We saw the surprise heel turn of Big Show, the heroic actions of Dolph Ziggler, and th...

Being a WWE superstar is not an easy job. They have to put their bodies on the line multiple times a week in order to entertain a very fickle crowd. So, when a superstar manages to make an impression on the WWE  Universe, it is very impressive. That's how you know they were doing something right. Kudos to all fourteen of these superstars, as they truly excelled this year and set the bar high for others in their profession. Let's look at 14 of the top WWE and NXT superstars of the year. Hopefully, all of them will be on the list next year. 14. Sasha Banks- The Boss of NXT has certainly made a name for herself this year. She started a year as one of the BFFs, but she has emerged from the shadow of fellow BFFs Summer Rae and Charlotte. It started at WrestleMania 30, when she appeared during Tripe H's entrance. But Banks's stock really skyrocketed in September at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, when she began feuding with Charlotte, the NXT Women's Champion. Banks becam...

Now that 2014 is over, we can look back on the year in entirety. There were dozens of superstars and Divas, twelve pay-per-views, and hundreds of matches. The majority of these matches were average or less than that. Only a few of them could be considered anything more than that. So what makes a great match? It's hard to say exactly, but there are a few requirements. The crowd must be into the match, the match cannot be very short, and the wrestlers involved in the match must be giving it all they can. There were a lot of great matches in 2014, and the following 15 are examples. 15. El Torito vs. Hornswoggle (WeeLC Match at Extreme Rules )- When this match was announced for the Extreme Rules  pre-show, fans mostly groaned. After all, who really wanted to see El Torito take on Hornswoggle? It just seemed like Vince McMahon had made the match for his own personal amusement, not for the benefit of the fans. As a result, most fans tuned into the pre-show with very low expectations...

The WWE cannot always be exciting. There are bound to be (and there are) plenty of boring moments and matches that fall flat on their faces. So, when a rare big moment does happen, it's something special. These moments can be surprise returns, a shocking finish, or literally anything else. So what makes a moment great? It's hard to say exactly. One, the crowd has to react for it. A dead crowd can kill even the biggest moment. Another rule: the moment has to be a game-changer. That's what separates it from an every-day occurrence. Other than those two rules however, it's hard to define what exactly makes a moment great. Fortunately for us, there are plenty of examples from the previous year. 2014 was filled with big WWE moments, including the launch of the WWE Network and the Occupy Raw movement (neither of which feature on this list). Let's take a look at the biggest moments of this week. 10. The Miz and Damien Mizdow win the Tag Titles- Damien Sandow first c...