Our 10 most-read pro wrestling stories of 2019
Now that 2019 is officially a wrap, let’s look back at what were the top ten most-read non-event results stories on this here website. In terms of actual news value, these weren’t necessarily the most important but these were the ones that got the most views for us.
10) First women’s match in Saudi Arabia booked for WWE Crown Jewel
A day before the event, WWE announced that Natalya and Lacey Evans would have the honor of the first women’s match in the country at Crown Jewel, their fourth show there. A bit further down the list, we’ll relive part of the journey to get here.
9) ‘Straight Up Steve Austin’ coming to USA in summer 2019
I got to admit, this being in our top 10 surprised me a lot. I never saw an episode of the show, nor did I hear anyone really talking about it. Nevertheless, our readers were interested in what was going on with the WWE god himself.
8) WWE releases statement regarding Ashley Massaro sexual assault claim
Less than a week after the sad death of former WWE wrestler Ashley Massaro, WWE legal foe Konstantine Kyros released an affadavit that included a claim she was sexually assaulted during a 2007 WWE tour of Kuwait. WWE released a statement both denying it and discrediting Kyros.
One of the biggest stories of the year has been the “Wednesday Night Wars” between AEW and NXT. This was a fairly big missile fired by WWE as NXT got a two-hour primetime slot on USA opposite their new competition and we learned about the premiere date: two weeks before the launch of Dynamite.
6) WWE releases King of the Ring brackets
Wrestling fans love tournaments and really love brackets for said tournaments.
5) New title being introduced on WWE Raw
So much for that Wild Card name, eh? Let’s move on.
4) WWE hits new non-holiday record low Raw rating
Mind you, this was published back on April 30th. They would set new records throughout the year including recently.
3) Vince McMahon calls for SmackDown rewrite, Kingston vs. Styles champion vs. champion match set
Anytime Vinny Mac gets upset, it’s newsworthy. In late-July, McMahon decided to rewrite a SmackDown episode and changed the lineup several times before settling on then-WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. U.S. Champion AJ Styles in a non-title champ vs. champ match. Why the urgency with shaking things up a few months before the move to Fox? Who knows.
2) Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya not approved by Saudi Arabian government
Told you we’d get back here. In June, WWE had hoped to have Bliss vs. Natalya as the first-ever women’s match in Saudi history at Super ShowDown, but the government decided to not allow that. As you can expect, this got fans pretty riled up but it helped pave the way for the aforementioned Natalya-Evans match at Crown Jewel.
1) PAC vs. Adam Page off AEW Double or Nothing due to creative differences
This was our top story by nearly double what Bliss-Natalya did. The two did a match in Manchester, England, which surprised some people who thought DoN was the first time they would see PAC and Page do their thing.
From Dave Meltzer at the time: The official word from AEW is that there were creative differences regarding the match and PAC won’t be on Saturday’s show. With PAC’s regular matches in the U.K., it’s known that because he takes his status as world champion with Dragon Gate seriously, he has not agreed to any losses since winning the Open the Dream Gate title and to protect that has done 30:00 draws with Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay. On the flip side, AEW wants to present a sports-like atmosphere and had their own direction for what they wanted.”
Honorable Mentions
I did want to throw out a few honorable mentions that barely fell outside the top 10, especially the most surprising one to me. For some reason, Rhyno’s appearance at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary show was very, very interesting to our readers. I’ll save the “Did our post outdraw their PPV buys?” joke, but feel free to use that at your next party.
Other big stories just outside the top 10: New Japan announcing their G1 Climax participants and blocks, WWE talent was stuck in Saudi Arabia due to plane issues, WWE congratulated AEW on the Dynamite premiere, Dynamite’s premiere had some good numbers in specific markets, and Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair was a go for SummerSlam in Toronto, Canada.