Which WWE Superstar Had the Greatest 2019?

The year 2019 brought with it several career years from some of WWE's top Superstars.

From championship victories to personal conquests, the men and women of WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands told their stories to great success. But which one stood head-and-shoulders above the rest, the undisputed top star in sports-entertainment over the last 365 days?

Was it The Man or The Architect, The Beast or The Big Dog?

Who made history, altered the course of their careers and WWE as a whole?

Who figures to make 2020 an even more successful year?

Find out with this recap of 2019, told through the eyes of its top competitors, ranked in accordance to their triumphs, effect on WWE programming and historical significance.

10. AJ Styles

For anyone else, AJ Styles' 2019 would have been a hell of a run. For a Superstar who has spent so much of his WWE career at the top of the company, The Phenomenal One's year was something of a disappointment.

Styles knocked off Randy Orton at WrestleMania and joined the Raw brand during the Superstar Shake-Up in April. The change of scenery helped freshen things up for the Georgian, who instantly found himself in a Universal Championship program with Seth Rollins.

While he was unsuccessful in dethroning The Architect, the loss was the emphasis for a much-needed heel turn.

Styles captured the United States Championship by defeating Ricochet, then realigned himself with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, reforming The O.C. and leading the trio to run roughshod on Raw. Despite sparring with top babyfaces and appearing regularly in high-profile matches and main events, Styles and Co. did not manage many definitive victories.

As 2019 comes to a close, Styles is without the U.S. title that he lost to Rey Mysterio amid a rivalry with Randy Orton that saw him eat an RKO on the December 16 episode of the flagship.

Whether Styles can re-establish himself as a main event competitor, in the title picture alongside the likes of Rollins, Brock Lesnar and Kevin Owens, will determine how successful he and his stablemates will be as a faction.

9. Rey Mysterio

The minute-long defeat at the hands of Samoa Joe at WrestleMania 35 would have been a major setback for any other Superstar on the roster. However, Rey Mysterio, one of the greatest to lace a pair of boots, is not just any other Superstar.

Mysterio struggled throughout the first half of the year and even contemplated retirement. That is, until his son, Dominick, talked him into sticking around, if for no other reason than helping him to achieve his dream in the rings of WWE.

That father-son talk sparked a renewed purpose in Mysterio, who turned his career around. In September, he suffered a brutal beatdown at the hands of Brock Lesnar and watched as The Beast did the same to Dominick. Fueled by vengeance, he found himself involved in his highest-profile feud in years.

First, he brought former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez into WWE. From there, Mysterio fought Lesnar for the WWE title at Survivor Series. Despite a double 619 with Dominick, Mysterio was unable to wrest the title away from his foe, but he did not let the loss deter him.

Within 24 hours, he defeated AJ Styles to capture the United States Championship and as the year comes to an end, he finds himself a central figure in Seth Rollins' heel turn and partnership with the Authors of Pain.

Who knows how long Mysterio will continue to compete, but his momentum as 2020 arrives gives him potential for one last truly great run.

8. Daniel Bryan

This year was a tale of two Daniel Bryans.

He entered 2019 as the WWE champion and an eco-friendly villain. Dubbing himself "The Planet's Champion," he lashed out at fans whom he believed were the cause for the decimation of Earth. He debuted a hemp championship, cheated his way to wins and crushed the dreams of many a Superstar trying to elevate himself to the next level of competition.

At WrestleMania, he put Kofi Kingston over strong as a main event star, dropping the title to the career-long midcarder in a magical moment that mirrored his own 'Mania success five years earlier.

While others might have lost momentum following such a high-profile defeat, Bryan aligned himself with Erick Rowan and captured the SmackDown tag team titles, going on a strong run that saw the tandem spar with Heavy Machinery in a particularly entertaining title defense at Stomping Grounds.

The disintegration of their partnership came in the fall, when Rowan was revealed as the culprit behind the sneak attacks on Roman Reigns. From there, Bryan became a full-fledged babyface again, standing alongside The Big Dog in battles with Rowan and the returning Luke Harper.

From there, he challenged Bray Wyatt's The Fiend for the Universal Championship and fell just short of capturing the gold at Survivor Series.

As the year draws to a close, Bryan has undergone a physical transformation, losing his trademark beard and long hair and reverting back to the more cleanly shaven babyface he was at the beginning of the decade.

As long as Bryan can avoid injury, 2020 is set up to be another magnificent year for him. Firmly entrenched as a top star on SmackDown, he has the potential to find a new audience on network television and become even more recognizable than he has to this point.

With the Yes Movement back in full force, do not be surprised to see him re-emerge as the most beloved star on the roster and a face of the company.

7. Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns' return from leukemia treatment on the February 25 episode of Raw ranks as one of the most emotional moments of 2019.

The Big Dog's announcement that his cancer was in remission was met with a thunderous ovation from the fans in attendance and an outcry of support across social media.

If Reigns did not wrestle a single match in 2019, that would have been enough to warrant inclusion on this list. But he did.

He had a steady, if unspectacular 2019, spending a large chunk of it battling Drew McIntyre, Elias and Shane McMahon. When he finally wrapped up that program, he turned his attention to an unknown assailant later revealed to be Erick Rowan. After dispatching Big Red, he moved on to King Corbin, whom he fell to at TLC, thanks in large part to the interference of Dolph Ziggler and The Revival.

In what was almost certainly a strategic move on the part of management, Reigns stayed out of the title picture and away from the main events. He worked with fresh faces who could benefit from sharing the ring with WWE's perceived top star. It worked, keeping the fans on The Big Dog's side for the most part.

The question now is whether WWE feels comfortable pushing Reigns back into a title program, because a date with Bray Wyatt and The Fiend is almost certainly waiting for him come WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, Florida.

6. Bayley

For so long, Bayley was the afterthought of NXT's Four Horsewomen. Yes, she captured championship after championship on the main roster, but inconsistent booking and a lack of credibility in comparison to Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair always plagued her.

That changed in 2019, thanks to renewed efforts by management to push her and a heel turn late in the year that completely rejuvenated her career.

She started the year by becoming one-half of the first women's tag team champions alongside Banks. In July, she won Money in the Bank and immediately cashed it in to dethrone Charlotte. This earned her the distinction of becoming WWE's first women's grand slam champion (Raw, SmackDown, tag team and NXT titles).

The September 2 episode of Raw was a pivotal one in Bayley's career as she turned heel for the first time in her career, joining Banks for a beatdown of Becky Lynch. From there, she would cut her hair, destroy the Bayley buddies that accompanied her entrance and debut a new attitude straight out of 2002 Hot Topic.

Since then, she has become a breath of fresh air in the women's division and is poised to combat Lacey Evans over the SmackDown women's title sooner or later. The champion for the second time in 2019, she figure to be the face of women's wrestling on Fox for the foreseeable future.

Not bad for a competitor left to toil in midcard obscurity and mediocrity not that long ago.

5. Bray Wyatt

No Superstar underwent a character transformation the likes of which Bray Wyatt did.

Fully aware his previous character had run its course, thanks in large part to a number of booking missteps by WWE Creative, Wyatt disappeared from television and reappeared in 2019 with a whole new take on his persona.

Gone was the Cape Fear-inspired cult leader, and in its place was a split personality: part Mr. Rogers, part horror icon.

Wyatt introduced fans to the Firefly Fun House in a series of pretaped vignettes that caught the wrestling world by surprise. From there, he gradually introduced The Fiend, a mask-wearing psychopath who would pop up at random, taking some of the biggest names in wrestling down with his vaunted Mandible Claw. Kane, Jerry Lawler, Braun Strowman and Finn Balor all felt his wrath.

At Crown Jewel on October 31, Wyatt's Fiend persona defeated Seth Rollins to capture the Universal Championship and take the title to SmackDown. Now the top dog on the blue brand, he continues to unleash horror on the WWE Universe.

Daniel Bryan and The Miz were the most recent victims, and it seems only a matter of time before Wyatt sets his sights on Roman Reigns to reignite their intense rivalry.

4. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar entered 2019 as the reigning, defending, undisputed WWE Universal champion, won the Money in the Bank contract in shocking fashion, regained his title and added another reign as WWE champion to his resume.

For a part-time performer at best, he padded his resume and further established himself as one of the top stars of 2019.

Despite two high-profile losses to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania and SummerSlam, The Beast Incarnate remained a face of the company and made his impact felt on the debut episode of SmackDown on Fox, defeating Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship in just eight seconds.

From there, he headed to Saudi Arabia and tapped out Cain Velasquez in a minute to retain the title, and as the year comes to a close, he remains on top of the wrestling world.

Lesnar will have as great a year as he wants to, thanks to his part-time status. As 2020 draws near, expect The Beast to smash, pummel, break and defeat those put in his path.

Whether you like it or not.

3. Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston's 2019 ranks among the most emotionally satisfying in WWE history.

A journeyman who had won every prize there was in the company outside of the top two titles, he was a good hand who had remained consistently over but was never seen by management as a main event guy.

Then came a breakout performance in a gauntlet match prior to Elimination Chamber in February in which Kingston competed for an hour before being knocked off by AJ Styles. He built on that momentum, coming within seconds of dethroning Daniel Bryan in the unforgiving steel structure. The fans believed in him, cheered for him and made it very apparent they would support the New Day man in a main event role.

At WrestleMania, Kingston's destiny to be one of the most inspirational champions in company history culminated with him defeating Bryan to capture the WWE Championship in a tear-inducing moment.

From there, Kingston would defend his title for 180 days, defeating the likes of Samoa Joe, Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton before succumbing to the unstoppable force that is Brock Lesnar.

Though his title reign did not end the way most would have liked, there is no denying the impact he had on WWE in 2019 and the feel-good story he provided fans looking for a reason to invest emotionally in the product again.

2. Seth Rollins

Usually, winning the Royal Rumble, capturing the Universal Championship on two occasions from Brock Lesnar and serving as the face of WWE's flagship show would be enough to earn anyone Superstar of the Year status.

For Seth Rollins, those accomplishments earn him a spot at No. 2, if only because there was another Superstar who had an even more impressive and historic run.

Still, The Architect grabbed 2019 by the throat and made it his, enjoying his greatest professional success to date, even if WWE Creative failed him miserably.

Despite superb in-ring performances and a legitimate Match of the Year candidate against Lesnar at SummerSlam, Rollins struggled to win over audiences as 2019 advanced. Some of that can be attributed to his less-than-stellar social media habits, while the rest can be chalked up to creative material that tried way too hard to make him a rah-rah babyface that he simply isn't.

As the year comes to a close, he feels rejuvenated by a heel turn that has him aligned with AOP's Akam and Rezar and ready to re-establish himself as the top dog on Monday nights. Even if he has to take out all of your favorites to do so.

Look for more great things from Rollins in 2020 as WWE continues to present him as one of the faces of its promotion heading into the new decade.

1. Becky Lynch

There was no Superstar who grabbed the proverbial brass ring in 2019 and ran with it quite like Becky Lynch.

Building on the momentum she ended the previous year with, she won the women's Royal Rumble match, captured the Raw and SmackDown women's titles in the first-ever women's main event of WrestleMania, became the first woman to grace the cover of WWE's video game series, got engaged to real-life boyfriend Seth Rollins and closed out the year by headlining consecutive pay-per-views.

Oh, and she never lost the Raw women's title she won all the way back at The Showcase of the Immortals.

Lynch transcended the women's division, becoming arguably the top star in all of WWE and forever changing the role of female sports entertainers in the process.

As 2019 comes to an end, The Man shows no signs of slowing down. Still one of the faces of WWE, she is poised to continue her streak of excellence into 2020 and beyond. That is a very good thing for Vince McMahon's company, women in the sport and fans seeking an alternative to the same bland, underwritten male characters that have plagued WWE television for too long.