The Year In Wrestling: Ronda points, All In announced, WWE signings

As you well know, a lot happens in a year especially in sports and entertainment. When I do my year-end MMA review shows, I am always amazed looking at all the little things that happened in a given month that ended up being bigger things later on.

But, we had never really done a comprehensive month-by-month look at the year that was in pro wrestling, so here we are. I tasked website contributor Josh Molina to help me out and that’s exactly what he did.

There was so much that happened that I had to split this up into four separate posts. We begin by looking at January, February, and March.

January

  • Enzo Amore was accused of sexual assault and was later released by WWE
  • Ronda Rousey made her official WWE debut after the end of the women’s Royal Rumble, had her first ‘point to the sign’ moment
  • Asuka won the first WWE women’s Royal Rumble while Shinsuka Nakamura won the men’s Royal Rumble. 
  • Rey Mysterio returned for the night in the Rumble match
  • Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas and Johnny Gargano put on an epic match at NXT TakeOver the night prior to the Rumble
  • Raw celebrated their 25th anniversary with a dual location show which was widely panned, especially from those at the Manhattan Center
  • Roman Reigns was tied to a $10 million steroid ring by an alleged dealer named Richard Rodriguez
  • Ricochet signed with WWE/NXT. He also lost the PWG title to Chuck Taylor.
  • In a match that at one point seemed improbable, Chris Jericho wrestled Kenny Omega at New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 12, the same event where Kazuchika Okada retained his IWGP title over Tetsuya Naito.
  • Jericho announced the ‘Talk is Jericho’ podcast and The Jericho Network were moving from Podcast One to Westwood One
  • Wrestling historian and former announcer Larry Matysik was hospitalized
  • British heavyweight wrestling champion Albert “Rocky” Wall passed away
  • Emily Dole, who played Mt. Fiji in the 1980s GLOW promotion, passed away
  • To the surprise of many, Vince McMahon announced the return of the XFL for 2020
  • Negro Casas beat Sam Adonis in a hair vs. hair match at Arena Mexico
  • The WWE Mixed Match Challenge series on Facebook Live debuted
  • Longtime TNA/Impact Wrestling employee Jeremy Borash left the company for WWE
  • Rich Swann was cleared of battery charges against then-girlfriend, pro wrestler Su Yung
  • Jonathan Coachman returned to Raw to replace Booker T on the announce desk
  • Austin Aries debuted at a set of Impact Wrestling tapings and won the company’s World title
  • WWE wrestler Jey Uso was arrested on suspicion of DUI

February

  • All Japan Pro Wrestling announced their own streaming service
  • The Miz signed a new four-year contract with WWE
  • Ricochet made his debut at the NXT TV tapings
  • WWE announced their highest annual revenue ever at $801 million
  • WWE’s YouTube channel became the second-most subscribed to in the world behind T-Series
  • Ronda Rousey appeared on Monday Night Raw for first time
  • WWE and Impact reached a deal to air “Broken” Matt Hardy” footage on WWE Network which led to the character coming back in full
  • The longest single match in WWE history (106:55) happened on Raw as Seth Rollins survived a gauntlet match
  • WWE announced the end to dual-branded PPV events
  • New Japan Pro Wrestling toured Australia
  • Roman Reigns won the men’s Elimination Chamber to set up a Universal title match at WrestleMania while Alexa Bliss won the women’s Elimination Chamber
  • John Cena challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania. He also returned to TV in-ring competition and picked up a win over old rival AJ Styles on SmackDown
  • Tammy “Sunny” Sytch was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving
  • The Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) reunited in New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • Taping began for the new Lucha Underground season
  • Apollo Crews briefly had to drop his last name because of the Parkland school shooter’s name (Nikolas Cruz)

March

  • Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were announced for WrestleMania
  • WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority agreed to a 10 year exclusive deal for major live events
  • Members of The Elite announced All In for September in Chicago
  • Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay at New Japan’s 46th Anniversary Show
  • Jonathan Coachman’s name came up as part of a sexual harassment lawsuit against ESPN
  • Katsuyori Shibata was named head coach of the New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles
  • Lucha Underground sent cease and desist letters to reporters who ran TV taping results
  • Eddie Edwards renewed his contract with Impact Wrestling
  • Ric Flair announced that he will appear in his first movie, “Uncle Steamroller and Champion Rabbit”
  • Jim Ross underwent eye surgery to remove a cataract
  • Hillbilly Jim was announced as a WWE Hall of Fame inductee
  • The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards were announced and Okada was named wrestler of the year
  • Jeff Hardy was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving
  • Rey Mysterio announceed he had a partially torn left biceps muscle and would miss some dates
  • Vader underwent open heart surgery
  • Konnan underwent hip surgery
  • Brian Lawler was severely beaten up by fellow pro wrestler Chase Stevens
  • Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat wrestled his first match in eight years
  • HBO debuted the widely acclaimed ‘Andre The Giant’ documentary
  • Kid Rock was announced for WWE Hall of Fame
  • Daniel Bryan was cleared to wrestle again
  • Due to scrutiny from sponsors and fans, WWE had to drop the Fabulous Moolah name from the women’s battle royal at WrestleMania
  • WWE attracted 13,000 people to Madison Square Garden for a house show
  • Mark Henry was announced for WWE Hall of Fame
  • Shane McMahon was diagnosed with diverticulitis
  • Jerry “The King” Lawler suffered a stroke
  • New Japan Pro Wrestling announced a July show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco

Up next: April, May, and June.