Best of 2010: WWE's Top 25 Stories of the Year

Buzz M.Dec 31, 2010

Hello, Buzzers. Buzz is back.

Before I start, I'd like to wish all B/R members here happy holidays. I hope you're all having fun.

The end of 2010 is getting closer. No doubt this year was full of surprises and controversies.

In the next slides, I'll discuss the top 25 stories of the year in WWE. But before I go on, let me just inform you that I won't be talking about rivalries and feuds here.

In fact, the stories I'll mention will be more about news or incidents that caused a huge buzz among WWE fans.

I apologize beforehand if I forgot any story, and I'll be glad to read your thoughts. I did leave one slide to honorable mentions.

I'd also like to apologize for making the list exclusive to WWE events only, without including stories from other promotions.

All said and done, let the show begin.

25. Tiffany Arrested Following a Domestic Issue With Drew McIntyre

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On Aug. 8, Tiffany (Taryn Terrell) was arrested after being involved in a domestic issue with her real-life husband, Drew McIntyre (Drew Galloway) in west LA.

Following the incident, WWE suspended Tiffany and removed all her photos from the Smackdown opening theme. It was said that she'll remain suspended until she is officially cleared from all charges.

Unfortunately for Mrs. Galloway, she was cleared from all charges after two months but she never returned as it was obvious that WWE was reluctant about bringing her back.

On Nov. 19, the former ECW GM was released alongside five other superstars.

Now many people might wonder why I chose this story. Well, I mentioned it because it involved weird incidents.

The first question that came to all people's minds was why wasn't McIntyre arrested too? Wasn't he part of the issue?

Surprisingly, it was said that Tiffany assaulted him.

For the next two months, many fans wondered whether this incident will affect McIntyre. They also kept wondering if Tiffany would ever return.

Drew McIntyre said that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. As for Tiffany, she said that people made a big deal out of it.

Though this might not be one of the biggest stories of 2010, but it certainly caused a buzz for few days.

If you want to read more about the incident, click here and read the article I wrote following her suspension.

24. Aloisia Fired and Replaced By Kaitlyn

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WWE announced in early September that the NXT Season 3 show will be a special Diva edition. The show included some great and talented Divas like AJ Lee and Naomi.

However, one Diva seemed to be the main attraction of the show before it even started. This was the 6-foot-9-inch Diva, Aloisia.

Having a giant Diva was enough to attract the fans' imaginations and spark interest among them. Some people even called her the Great Khali of the Divas.

Unfortunately for the Amazon, she was released hours before the show. Her departure was put into a storyline (behind the scenes) where her mentor, Vickie Guerrero, fired her.

In reality, however, the main reason for the release was attributed to the sudden appearance of her erotic photos on the Internet.

She was replaced by Kaitlyn, a new hot Diva who quickly caught the attention of the hottest Divas list lovers.

Nothing major here until now.

But things didn't end here. As soon as Kaitlyn made her way to the show, erotic photos of her invaded the Internet too. So, you're assuming that this lead to her departure just like her former co-worker. Right?

Wrong! Nothing happened, and WWE officials just turned a blind eye to the whole issue. This made many people question the release of Aloisia.

Most of them felt that the real reason for releasing Aloisia had nothing to do with her photos, and that they were just used as an excuse.

Ironically, not only did Kaitlyn join the show, she even ended up winning the whole season!

The whole incident really had us lost for several days. It even lead to numerous debates about double-standards in WWE.

Fellow B/R featured columnist, Big Nasty, had an interesting interview with Aloisia following her release. You can check it here.

23. Undertaker Marries Michelle McCool

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For more than two years, rumors about Undertaker dating Michelle McCool were widely spreading among fans. During this time, McCool was beginning to shine in the Divas Division and was even winning Championships.

Of course, most fans attributed this push to her relation with the Dead Man.

Finally, they got married this past June. Undertaker was inactive at that time due to injury.

After this, many people speculated a long and successful career for the new Dead "Woman." She was already on top during this time, but she did become the first-ever unified Divas Champion, and she ended the year winning the Slammy Award Diva of the Year.

Unfortunately for Mrs. Calaway, however, things aren't looking good for her at the moment.

Whether you like them or hate them, whether or not you think that Taker is too old to marry McCool, I guess that this is their own choice in the end. All I can do is wish the couple the best in their life.

Of course, I do wish that backstage politics do not play a major role in McCool's career, especially that the Undertaker is one of the most respected superstars in WWE right now.

One more question before I move on. Am I the only one who thinks that it's weird to see Undertaker smiling?

Sorry, guys, I should end this slide right now because lights are already flickering in my room, and smoke is coming from underneath my couch! I guess you all know what's coming! Yikes!

TOP NEWS

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22. Survivor Series Cancelled and Revived

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WWE announced on Feb. 11 that they will cancel one of their biggest PPVs ever, Survivor Series.

With more gimmick PPVs introduced every year to replace other well-known events, it wasn't surprising to see another PPV dropped in favor of a new gimmick event.

However, the major upset came when people learned that Survivor Series was the new PPV suffering the same fate as other events.

This announcement was negatively received by fans as this PPV was considered a traditional event that most fans look forward to every year. It is considered as WWE's flagship PPV alongside Summerslam, Royal Rumble and the biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania.

Luckily for fans, WWE decided in June to add the PPV back to its schedule.

Unfortunately, Survivor Series wasn't an unforgettable PPV and the traditional elimination match was nothing more than a filler match.

21. Serena Released

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WWE Diva and Straight Edge Society (SES) member Serena was released by WWE on Aug. 24 for not living out her gimmick.

Following the release, WWE fans were divided on this. Some people thought that the reason for the release was so stupid, while others defended WWE's policy and thought that Serena was warned before.

Whether the reason given was right, the release sure sparked a fuss that continued for days. It was even considered as the final nail in SES' (which was already falling) coffin. The stable disbanded in the following weeks.

20. NXT Show Debuts

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Vince McMahon made an appearance at ECW on Feb. 2 and announced that the show will be going off the air and will be replaced with a new weekly program.

McMahon described this new show as the "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history."

One week later, the new show's name was announced as NXT. The concept of the show was to pair a "rookie" wrestler (originally brought from FCW) with a current pro wrestler from RAW and Smackdown. The show's first episode aired on Feb. 23.

Rookie superstars found themselves involved in weekly challenges and matches where they try to gain immunity and avoid elimination. The pros appear on the show as mentors to their rookies and as judges too.

Every week, one superstar is eliminated either by management decision or by polls. This continues until one superstar is left and declared as a winner, and thus as a new WWE superstar.

Even though the show's ratings weren't so impressive, but it did introduce new superstars who made a huge impact especially from the first season which lead to the Nexus invasion.

Of course, contracts weren't exclusive to the season winners only as more than one superstar joined the WWE roster after the end of the each season.

Many fans liked the concept of the show but they thought that the episodes were boring at certain moments, especially with the weird challenges.

The show even had a special Divas edition for its third season.

As I said, the show did introduce promising superstars like Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, David Otunga (I hope I don't get bashed for mentioning him), Michael McGillicutty, Husky Harris and others.

Unfortunately, not all superstars benefited from the show, even winners. Kaval, the winner of NXT Season 2, was released on Dec. 22.

NXT aired its last episode on Syfy on Sept. 28 before making way for Smackdown's move to the network.

Starting Oct. 5, NXT started airing as a webcast on wwe.com for US visitors. The show is still televised outside USA though.

19. The Spring Releases

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WWE released not one, but seven superstars on April 22 as part of what was called spring cleaning (I just read it here so don't ask me who gave it this name).

Those seven superstars were Funaki, Slam Master J (Jesse), Jimmy Wang Yang, Mike Knox, Katie Lea Burchill, Shelton Benjamin and Mickie James.

Some of those releases were not surprising as most of the superstars here were either barely making appearances or were misused. Many people did feel that talents like Knox, Burchill and Yang were wasted.

However, the two shocking releases that made the wrestling community go crazy were Shelton Benjamin and Mickie James.

Even though he was jobbing at that time, Benjamin was considered as one of the most athletic superstars in WWE. He was a great addition to the roster and who put on great matches. I guess that the release itself wasn't a shocker since he obviously had no direction, but it was saddening nevertheless.

As for Mickie James, her case is different. I consider her release as the most shocking release not only to IWC members, but to most WWE universe. She was in the main-event scene of the Divas Division.

She was the top face of the Division and she was feuding with LayCool in what was considered as a humiliating rivalry. She was always over with the fans during her run.

She was released while being in the midst of the feud against the BFFs, Michelle McCool and Layla. Fans never liked the news and "We want Mickie" chants filled the arenas after her departure.

Her release was considered as huge blow to the Divas Division especially that it was directly followed by the injury of Beth Phoenix.

Luckily for her, she's now headlining TNA's Knockouts Division and she still looks great. WWE sure wasted a good Diva with this release.

18. Michael Cole Turns Heel

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For years, Michael Cole has been nothing more than the same typical face commentator who was dissed by the other heel color commentators.

From his days with Tazz, and moving on with JBL, Matt Striker and King, he was nothing more than a normal announcer who nobody seemed to care for.

However, his character witnessed a major change in 2010.

It all started on NXT Season 1. During this show, Cole started showing more heel antics while calling the show alongside Josh Mathews. He started showing more support to the Miz, and more hatred towards his rookie Daniel Bryan.

This led to Bryan attacking him and solidifying his heel character. Bryan described Cole as a poor replacement for JR.

Cole continued with the heel commentary on NXT 2 where he attacked Kaval and called him the Internet darling (weird). He even started showing his heel character on RAW too where he started dissing all faces and supporting all heels.

Things got worse when a new anonymous RAW GM was hired. Michael Cole was the one who received the emails from the GM and "quoted" them to the crowd.

He even became more annoying on NXT 3 where he attacked the whole show and insulted all rookie Divas and all pros with the exception of Vickie Guerrero and Maxine (I heard that he was sad for her loss).

Right now, Cole is crazy supporter of the Miz as he praises everything he does. He even interfered in his match against King and helped him retain his WWE Title.

It's no secret that this heel turn made Michael Cole more popular among wrestling fans. Many people liked this turn, while others still think that he's the worst commentator ever.

With everything he's doing, there's still one weird thing about Cole. He still supports John Cena and praises him in his matches. We all know that they are friends backstage, but people find it weird since Cole is supposed to be heel.

Whether you like him or not, no one can deny that Cole took a complete new direction with this turn and that he's now garnering more attention than ever before in his career.

17. Smackdown Moves to Syfy

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WWE announced on April 12 that Smackdown will be moving to Syfy after spending two years with MyNetworkTV.

WWE were already with Syfy as they aired other shows like ECW and NXT on via that network too.

WWE hyped the move for months. Many people believed that this will benefit Smackdown and that it will increase its ratings.

The show finally debuted on Oct. 1 in a special live show featuring superstars from RAW and Smackdown.

Unfortunately for the blue brand, its ratings didn't witness any major increases. On the contrary, they did drop on few episodes, but overall, it's still scoring 1.7 and 1.8.

It's no secret that WWE did try their best to push Smackdown. Many people even believed that they wanted it to make it more like RAW (hopefully not).

For me, Smackdown was the better show this year. It always had better and various stories, in addition to better matches. I guess the problem lies in the fact that the show is pretaped on Tuesday.

Many people read spoilers before the event and thus they rarely watch it. Furthermore, many people do not even care for the show and only watch RAW.

Last week, Smackdown aired a special Tuesday live Christmas episode on USA Network. The show featured superstars from both RAW and Smackdown. It scored 2.5.

Let's wish Smackdown a great year in 2011.

16. Rumors About Title Unifications and Merge Of Rosters

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Sometime in 2010, rumors about WWE willing to unify the titles at Wrestlemania 27 floated and were spread among fans.

Until now, people are divided on this and I can't tell whether the majority likes the idea.

WWE extended their brand in 2002 due to the crowded roster they had after WCW and ECW guys joined them.

After this, RAW and Smackdown had two separate rosters with separate championships.

Two years ago, WWE decided to unify the World Tag Team Championships and WWE Tag Team Championships. None of the titles were dropped and the Champions carried both belts.

However, on August 16, 2010, new WWE Tag Team belts were introduced and were called the WWE Tag Team Championships, thus leading to the retirement of the World Tag Team Championships. The champions were able to appear on both brands to defend their titles.

Similarly, WWE took the same direction with the Divas' belts. On Night of Champions, the Divas' Champion (co-champion with Layla), Michelle McCool, defeated the Women's Champion, Melina, and unified the belts.

On the following night, the Women's Championship was retired in favor of the new Divas' Championship. Just like the tag team champions, the Divas champion can defend her title on both shows.

Until now, it's not clear if WWE will do the same thing with the other titles left. The rumors are suggesting that Vince wants to unify the US Title with the Intercontinental Title and the World Heavyweight Title with the WWE Title.

Of course, if this happens, it will definitely lead to rosters merge where all superstars can feud for the titles and appear on both shows. This will take us back to the same moments prior to the brand extension.

Many people like this idea and they think that this will bring back prestige to the titles. On the other hand, many other people think that this idea is horrible because we still have many superstars and the merge will lead to the misuse of many talents.

15. The Partial Return of Monday Night Wars

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Who can forget the Monday Night Wars in the mid 90s? Who can forget how WCW almost put WWE out of business after beating their ratings for 84 consecutive weeks? Who can forget how WWE retaliated and destroyed WCW in the end?

Whether you were a WWE or WCW fan, no one can deny how essential such wars were on Monday Nights.

The wars officially ended in 2001. After nine years, however, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff decided to revive the wars again.

Hogan and Bischoff signed a contract with TNA on Oct. 27, 2009. This was considered as a huge move, and TNA President, Dixie Carter, made it clear that their goal is to become the biggest pro wrestling promotion in the world.

A short time after, on Dec. 5, 2009, Hogan announced that TNA Impact will go head to head against WWE RAW on Monday Jan. 4, 2010. It was obvious that Hogan and Bischoff were trying to do the same thing that Bischoff did 15 years ago, when he moved WCW Nitro to Monday nights.

They said that if the ratings proved successful on Jan. 4, Impact could be moved to Monday nights permanently.

On Jan. 4, TNA aired a three-hour special edition of Impact. This episode witnessed shocking debuts and returns. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy (who actually wrestled before on TNA) made their surprising appearances alongside other new superstars.

Sting, Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett were among other superstars who made a shocking return. The show scored 1.45 rating. This was the highest rating ever for Impact.

WWE RAW countered by promoting the return of Bret Hart who made his long awaited appearance and confronted Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. The show scored an impressive 3.7 (the highest since August 2009).

Even though, RAW came out victorious, but no one can deny that TNA did impress the wrestling fans with their ratings which were enough to make Spike feel confident.

TNA announced on Feb. 15 that they will decided permanently move Impact to Monday nights on March 8.

Unfortunately for them, the move turned out to be a big failure. Many people didn't even acknowledge what happened as a war.

WWE RAW's ratings weren't even slightly affected by TNA's Impact move to Monday nights. They continued scoring their usual ratings they scored before.

As for TNA's Impact, their ratings horribly dropped. They weren't even able to reach 1.0.

Two months later, and after scoring their lowest rating ever, 0.5, TNA decided to move Impact back to Thursdays, thus ending the so-called war.

As I said, many people thought that there was no war and that TNA couldn't live up to the hype.

14. The End Of ECW (WWE Version)

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Unfortunately for ECW fans, they'll never see the end of this.

Vince McMahon announced on Feb. 2 that ECW will go off air in few week. The show aired its last episode on February 16 after four years of running on Tuesday nights.

After the successful One Night Stand PPV at 2005, WWE decided to revive ECW and make it part of their other shows. The show debuted on June 13, 2006 following another One Night Stand PPV.

At first, the show was successful. However, many problems emerged quickly before we even celebrate the its first anniversary. Paul Heyman left. ECW extremists were slowly replaced by WWE superstars.

WWE's influence on the show became more apparent week after week and all ECW elements were slowly removed.

At the end, it became more of a developmental show for WWE involving young or mid-card talents.

Finally, we witnessed the inevitable end of the show. We witnessed the death of ECW, again.

While most ECW roster joined either RAW or Smackdown, few of them like Gregory Helms and Paul Burchill were released after the end of the show. Of course, the ECW Championship was dropped too.

That was sure a bad ending for ECW as it did nothing to the original promotion other than destroy its legacy.

Don't worry, ECW was revived again on TNA's Hardcore Justice and the inevitable death is coming soon, again.

13. Batista Quits

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After five years of dominance, the Animal, Batista, decided to leave.

Whether you like him or not, Batista was considered as one of the best and most successful superstars in WWE. No one can deny that he enjoyed a great career that was full of achievements. He is a six-time World Champion and four-time Tag Team Champion.

He was also the winner of the Royal Rumble match at 2005. He has the longest World Heavyweight Championship reign that lasted for 282 days.

At certain moments, Batista was considered as the face of Smackdown similar to John Cena being the face of RAW. He was over with the crowd as a face and his looks helped him a lot. He had impressive victories against most top superstars available.

At the beginning of 2010, a heel Batista attacked Cena who was trying to help the returning Bret Hart against Vince McMahon. Later, he beat him directly after and elimination chamber match for the WWE Title.

This set a feud between the two that lasted for several months. Unfortunately for Batista, he lost to Cena at Wrestlemania 26, Extreme Rules and Over the Limit. During their last match, Cena tossed Batista off the car and though the stage via an Attitude Adjustment.

On the next night, Batista made his way to the ring on a wheelchair. After bashing the fans for few minutes he screamed, "I QUIT!" Of course, that was expected by many people.

Prior to the Wrestlemania, many rumors were flying left and right about Batista considering departure after his match against Cena. However, Batista never left and got another chance to regain the WWE Title at Extreme Rules.

Again, we started reading the same rumors prior to the event, and many people expected the he'll lose and leave for real this time. After his loss, however, Batista didn't quit. This made all fans question such rumors, and some of them began thinking that Batista wasn't going anywhere.

Surprisingly, Batista won a number one contender triple threat match on RAW and got himself another title shot against Cena at Over the Limit. Batista failed to capture the title for the third consecutive time after losing in an "I Quit" match where the infamous incident mentioned above occurred.

This time, Batista finally announced his departure and left. It was said that he left because he didn't like the direction the company was going in.

Now it is said that he's interested in performing for Strikerforce (MMA).

12. Chris Jericho Takes Hiatus From WWE

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Two weeks before Night of Champions, Chris Jericho lost his spot in the six-pack elimination match at the PPV after losing to John Morrison.

For Jerichoholics (Jericho fans), this wasn't shocking to say the least. Most fans already knew that his contract was coming to an end in few weeks and that he didn't discuss any renewal.

It was believed that he was going to leave very soon. However, Jericho was added back to the match one week later and the Internet fans questioned all rumors about him leaving. Some of them even predicted a victory for him.

Yet again, Jericho teased a departure when he said that he will leave if he doesn't win the WWE Championship.

For the third time, Jericho fans started whining about their darling leaving.

In the end, we all learned that Jericho will not leave WWE, and that he will only take hiatus so he can tour with his rock band Fozzy.

Unsurprisingly, Jericho was the first to be eliminated at Night of Champions. On the following night, just when we thought that Jericho has left, he made an appearance and puzzled all the fans. Again, IWC started acting as pundits and they suggested that he's going nowhere.

With all those rumors, Y2J got tired of hearing the same thing so he decided to blast the internet fans.

He tweeted the following:

"Hey Internet...Im a heel. Heels lie, therefore if I say something boastfully and reneg on it, it's not an official stipulation. Smarten up! Hello Internet experts. Allow me to explain something to u kiddies. Winning and losing means nothing if you do it properly. I would be happy to lose to every single one of you and watch your faces as I walk out of the arena with more heat than before. Watch and learn children. Sit back and let the real experts work our magic as we make u behave like the puppets that you are. Cheers!"

Weirdly enough, no one was offended by Jericho's words and some fans even said that they were proud to be owned by him.

Jericho, however, did leave in the end. During his final match, Randy Orton hit the punt on Y2J and took him out. Jericho was taken away via a stretcher.

Until now, nobody knows when Jericho will return. But it is said that he might return at the beginning of 2011.

2010 was definitely a controversial year for Jericho. He was arrested on Jan. 27 with Gregory Helms in Fort Mitchell, Ky., after leaving a bar. The incident was resolved shortly after.

He was able to win the World Heavyweight Championship at the Elimination Chamber match.

However, after losing the title to Jack Swagger, he went on jobbing to most superstars including mid-carders before jumping back to the main-event scene.

It would be an amazing moment once "the best at what he does" returns.

11. Death Of Former WWE Superstars

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Unfortunately, sad incidents will always be part of our lives.

This year witnessed the death of numerous former WWE superstars. Luna Vachon, Giant Gonzales and Lance Cade all passed away this year.

As usual, many people took a shot at WWE and partially blamed them for this.

Lance Cade, in particular, died due to a heart failure at the age of 29. The medical examiner at San Antonio, Texas, ruled his death as accidental. According to the examiner, the death occurred due to accidental ingestion of mixed drugs.

As I said, many people partially blamed WWE and their tough schedule for the death of superstars. They were also blamed for superstars being on steroids.

Now, we can't blame WWE completely for everything especially that they introduced the wellness policy program in 2006. However, no one can deny that the mortality of superstars is debatable for sure.

A few weeks ago, R-Truth suffered pneumonia and his fellow wrestlers rushed him to the hospital. Doctors said that Truth could have died haven't he been directly rushed to the hospital.

As usual, many people, especially rivals and former employees, took jabs at WWE and blamed them for all these deaths.

When Linda McMahon, who was in the middle of her senate race in Connecticut, was asked about Lance Cade, she said, "I might have met him once."

10. Matt Hardy's Tweets and YouTube Rants Leading To His Release

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Matt Hardy was once part of one of the best tag teams in WWE, the Hardy Boyz (with Jeff Hardy).

Alongside other teams, they were able to rebuild the tag team division again and revolutionize ladder matches.

After their split, Jeff Hardy enjoyed a better singles career in WWE especially in the past few years.

No one can deny that Matt was over with the crowd and that he was one of the most popular superstars in WWE. However, he wasn't able to make his way to the top due to several circumstances.

At the beginning of 2010, Matt Hardy started posting YouTube videos stating that this will be his year. Unfortunately for him, nothing changed and his jobbing status increased.

During his final months, he was criticized for being out of shape and some fans disrespectfully began calling him names like "Fatt Tardy" or "Fatt Lardy."

On September 12, WWE sent Hardy home from a European tour. Following this incident, Hardy started posting YouTube videos bashing WWE and asking for his release. He also tweeted this on Twitter.

During this time, many people questioned Hardy's mental health because he did look weird in some videos. Even Paul London, a former WWE superstar, bashed him in a video of his own.

However, we all know that he was doing all this just to get released.

Hardy's videos ridiculously increased to an extent that you were able to find a new video for him every day. In the end, WWE had no choice but to release him.

Many superstars were released this year. But Hardy's release was definitely one of the most interesting compared to other release stories.

9. Daniel Bryan Fired and Rehired

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Wade Barrett made his way to the ring on June 7 with all the other NXT Season 1 rookies and attacked all wrestlers and announcers (Except Michael Cole! - ED.).

During the angle, Daniel Bryan strangled ring announcer, Justin Roberts, using Roberts' tie. Unfortunately for him, the spot was shown on camera.

Two days later, WWE dropped the shocker and announced that Bryan was released. Those news were negatively received by Internet fans, and it caused a riot among them. Even WWE superstars spoke in support of Bryan.

In the next days, he was the only main story of every discussion.

Of course, we all know that Bryan was the Internet indy darling before he joined WWE.

After two months, Bryan made his shocking return to the show and helped Team WWE take out Team Nexus.

Bryan is doing well now, as he's the current US Champion. He has been putting great matches ever since his return.

This story was definitely among the most talked about stories this year.

8. Bret Hart Returns To WWE

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After more 13 years, Bret Hart finally returned to WWE.

Hart was one of the most popular and most successful superstars in WWE during the 90s. During his final months, WCW were able to sign a deal with Hart who was the WWE Champion at that time.

Due to him being worried that Hart would take the WWE Title with him to his rival promotion, Vince McMahon had plans of his own. Few days later, we witnessed the Montreal Screwjob in 1997. Since then, WWE's relation with Hart became one of the worst relations ever.

Of course, we all know that Bret Hart resolved some issues with McMahon nine years later, and that he was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. But that seemed the only thing we could ever see from Hart in WWE again.

However, on December 2009, Vince announced that Bret Hart will return.

Hart returned as the special guest host on Jan. 4. During the show, he confronted his biggest nemesis during the 90s, Shawn Michaels. Both men shook hands and hugged. This was definitely one of the best moments in WWE.

Bret Hart got involved in short feuds against Vince McMahon, Miz and Nexus (as part of Team WWE). He was even hired as RAW's GM for few weeks only.

Right now, it is said that his contract expired. But regardless of whether he will return or not, his appearance after all these years was really a great moment for all WWE fans who cheered for him since the 90s.

7. Undertaker's Career (injuries) and Paul Bearer's Return

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Now before you start ranting about this title, let me tell how essential it was.

As I said before, Undertaker missed most of this year, but his news didn't. Unfortunately for the Phenom, this was considered as one of his worst years in WWE.

Undertaker had to leave more than once during this year. Many incidents occurred during his hiatus and partial return.

After his epic match against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 26, he took his usual time off. He only appeared once on RAW during his hiatus.

As soon as he returned, he suffered a concussion and a broken orbital bone during his match against Mysterio. Due to this injury, we witnessed the famous vegetative state story.

On June 4, and in a previously taped Smackdown episode, Kane announced that he found Taker in a vegetative state after being attacked.

As soon as fans learned about the story, numerous lists of suspects filled the wrestling sites. Kane started accusing and attacking every superstar before he was finally revealed as the attacker (it was obvious).

This story had a big impact that changed the face of Smackdown for the whole Summer.

First, Rey Mysterio, who was supposed to take some time off, had to return and replace Undertaker in the Fatal Four Way PPV. Surprisingly, he ended up winning and capturing his second World Heavyweight Championship.

One month later, Kane won the MITB ladder match at Money in the Bank. He cashed it on the same night against Mysterio and eventually won the World Heavyweight Championship. This lead to a feud with a returning Taker who revealed that Kane was the attacker.

Kane was able to dominate Undertaker in most parts of this feud. During the rivalry, another top story occurred when Paul Bearer returned. Bearer helped Undertaker at first before turning on him and joining Kane.

In the end, Undertaker (he suffered another injury) lost against Kane in a buried alive match at Bragging Rights. It was said that this match should have taken place at Survivor Series, but they had to make it at Bragging Rights instead because Taker's injury got worse.

Now I know you're asking why I chose this story and how essential it was.

First, this story lead to many changes and included many other stories. Mysterio won the World Title. Kane also won the World Title after years of struggling and made his way to the top again.

He incredibly kept the title for five months making it the third longest World Heavyweight Title reign behind Batista and HHH, and the longest reign in four years.

Many people questioned Undertaker's condition during his return and believed that his career is coming to an end soon. Paul Bearer's return made their claims more believable. They thought that his return is a sign of Taker's coming retirement.

All rumors are now suggesting that Undertaker might even miss Wrestlemania.

In other words, Undertaker's career was a top story of 2010.

Many speculations can be made here. Bearer and Taker are both out now. Will they return together? Will he retire soon? Only time will tell.

6. Nexus

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Again, I know what you're thinking but I guess it's not a hard choice. I won't make it long here.

As we reached the conclusion of one of the worst RAW episodes (viewer's choice on June 7), NXT season 1 rookies stormed the arena and attacked every single WWE employee inside and outside the ring, leaving the WWE universe in a complete shock.

They went on to feud with RAW superstars (mainly Cena) in the following weeks.

No need to give you a history lesson about the rest of the story. Many people thought that the invasion was great but the story got boring later, while others still like it.

Whether you like it or not, whether you think it became stale or not, no one can deny that this was WWE's main story all Summer and Fall. If you think otherwise, then you probably weren't watching WWE.

Nothing more to add.

5. The Rise Of Miz

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No other superstar created the buzz that Miz did this year. Where do I have to start? His US Title reign? His Unified Tag-Team Titles win? His Money in the Bank ladder match win? Or of course, his WWE Title win?

No one can deny that Miz was one of the most successful WWE superstars this year.

Before he joined WWE, Miz was know from his appearance on MTV's "The Real World."

Years later, as soon as he made it to WWE, no one even thought that this guy would make it to the top. He just didn't seem to posses the factors needed for a successful WWE superstar.

However, the Miz worked hard and made his way steadily to the top. He was able to capture the Tag-Team Titles with John Morrison in 2007. Later, he feuded with Cena and this helped him become a bigger heel.

At the end of 2009, he was able to capture his first singles championship ever in WWE, when he defeated Kofi Kingston for the US Title. He was able to keep the title for 224 days.

During this reign, he teamed with Big Show and formed the ShoMiz team. They were able to win the Unified Tag-Team Titles on February 16, making the Miz a triple champion (he still had the US Title).

The tag-team titles didn't last long and the reign ended after two months. After the bout, ShoMiz ended when Big Show knocked Miz out.

Before winning the MITB, Miz lost his US Title for few weeks before regaining it. He was also part of NXT 1 as Daniel Bryan's mentor and NXT 2 as Alex Riley's mentor.

After winning the MITB, his road to the top officially started. However, it seemed that Miz-ter Money in the Bank was about to lose all momentum built in the following months.

He lost his US Title to Daniel Bryan, and his team lost against Big Show's team at Bragging Rights. He wasn't looking good in most of his feuds.

Just when things started looking worse for Mr. Awesome, he shocked the WWE Universe on Nov. 22, when he cashed his MITB contract against an injured Randy Orton and captured the WWE Title.

This was considered as one of the most shocking moments of 2010. Who can forget the hilarious looks on the kids' faces? Or who can forget the fired debates that flooded the wrestling sites?

Until now, Miz was able to retain his title against King and Orton. All signs show that WWE officials are happy with Miz's work. Some of them are even comparing his work ethic to John Cena.

I guess it's still too early to give predictions about the future, but Miz definitely had a great 2010.

4. John Cena Joins Nexus and Gets Fired From WWE

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Before you start ranting about the story, let me tell you that John Cena topped the list of the most searched for pro-wrestlers and MMA fighters of 2010. Do you need more explanation?

Cena was definitely the main buzz for most part of this year whether for his charity work, interviews or his new movie, Legendary.

However, no one can deny that his feud against Nexus in particular has been the main story for the past six months. The rivalry reached its climax when Cena put his status online in a match against Wade Barret at Hell in a Cell. At the end of the event, Cena lost and was forced to join Nexus.

Following this, many IWC pundits speculated that the seeds were planted for a coming heel turn. As the story went on, however, it became obvious that this heel turn is still impossible. Cena was bullied by Barrett most of the times, and in the end Barrett and Orton were booked for a match at Survivor Series with Cena as the special referee.

Barrett added a stipulation to the match. If he wins, Cena will be free. If he loses, Cena will be fired.

During the match, Cena called the match down to the middle, and at the end of the event, Orton was celebrating his victory while Cena was probably enjoying his final moments in WWE. Before he left, he delivered an emotional speech that was worth a real farewell speech.

However, his departure never lasted long. In fact, he returned on the same night and attacked Barret. He didn't miss any single RAW episode. WWE even introduced a new character for the house shows. That was Cena's Mexican cousin, Juan Cena.

Cena was rehired few weeks later. He won the slammy award superstar of the year, and at TLC, he destroyed Nexus and their leader.

Even though most fans thought the story was lame, but nobody can deny that Cena joining Nexus and getting fired were interesting angles that fans looked forward to seeing.

3. Shawn Michaels Has Left The Building

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How can this story be missed? How can the streak vs. career rivalry be excluded from the top stories of 2010? How can we miss the Heart Break Kid's retirement?

In 2009, and particularly at Wrestlemania 25, we witnessed one of the best matches in WWE history. This match featured Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. Undertaker was able to win and improve his streak to 17-0.

At the beginning of 2010, HBK demanded a rematch at Wrestlemania 26. The Dead Man (then World Heavyweight Champion) refused the challenge and thought that they should move on.

The only chance for Michaels to face Taker was to win the Rumble match. Unfortunately for him, he failed.

However, this only made Michaels more frustrated and more eager to make the match official. This led to his interference in the Elimination Chamber match and cost Undertaker his World Title.

Of course, Undertaker had no choice but to accept the challenge after what HBK did. But he had one condition. If Michaels loses, he should retire. HBK had no problem and the match was on.

In the following weeks, most WWE fans wondered if HBK will leaving for real and if Undertaker's streak will finally end.

No need to remind you of their match and how great it was. I'm sure most of us agree that it wasn't better than the WM 25 match. But the fact remains that it was another great match that is considered by most people as the match of 2010.

At the end, Undertaker was able to win again and thus end HBK's career. After the match, the two superstars shook hands as a sign of respect.

On the following night, HBK delivered an emotional farewell speech. During his promo, Undertaker made an appearance and tipped his hat to HBK.

Michaels ended the speech saying his famous sentence with tears in his eyes "Ladies and gentlemen, The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels, has left the building."

The whole feud was emotional to all HBK fans. No doubt that this was a top story in 2010.

2. Undertaker Confronts Brock Lesnar at UFC Event

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Again, Undertaker is on the list.

This has to be one of the most interesting inter-promotional stories in years. It is a story that hasn't ended until this date. I know you got tired of hearing it, but this incident did pull our attention for a while.

Undertaker was attending the UFC 121 event with his wife, Michelle McCool, on Oct. 23. The main contest of this event featured then UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, against Cain Velasquez.

In an almost shocking result, Lesnar was destroyed by Velasquez who ultimately won and captured the Heavyweight Title.

After the match, Undertaker gave a rare interview to MMAfighting.com. During the interview, Lesnar passed by Taker who locked eyes with him an asked him, "You wanna do it?"

This incident made all MMA and wrestling fans shake their heads in surprise. At first, no one knew whether it was a planned shot or not.

However, It was revealed later that Vince and Taker did plan for this confrontation but in a different way. But still, the confrontation occurred, and the Phenom was able to send his message.

Few days later, we learned more about the issue, and it was announced that WWE sent an offer to Lesnar to appear at Wrestlemania 27. Rumors even said that Lesnar was offered a huge paycheck for this.

Until now, rumors are still floating through wrestling sites even though UFC president, Dana White, said on different occasions that Lesnar isn't going anywhere as he's still under a contract with the company and he can't appear on other promotions.

It is said that Vince is still interested in signing Lesnar for one night, and that he'll keep his hopes for as long as he can.

1. Linda McMahon's Senate Run (Stand Up For WWE and More)

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What other story can top this story? How can we forget all the controversy that surrounded the whole run? How can we forget the $50 million spent by Linda on her campaign?

Who can forget the "stand up for WWE" campaign? Now some people might disagree that this campaign was done to support Linda's senate run, but let's get real here.

Linda McMahon announced her candidacy for U.S. Senator from Connecticut on Sept. 16, 2009. She also announced that she'll be financing the campaign from her own money.

Since then, many fans linked the continuity of PG with her win or loss. Many people thought that if Linda wins, then PG will stay for a long time, while others thought that PG is more of a business decision (I agree).

Unfortunately for Linda, being part of WWE never helped her. Despite all plans she talked about, it was obvious that the media's only focus was on WWE. To make it worse, several former superstars died during her run.

Furthermore, many rivals and former WWE employees took jabs at Linda. Chris Benoit's father was also part of the critics. Even U.S. President, Barack Obama, bashed Linda for being part of WWE.

WWE was also under investigation by the state of Connecticut for classifying their superstars as independent contractors.

Vince McMahon decided to counter all critics and he launched the famous "Stand up for WWE" campaign. It was a campaign where all WWE fans were invited to stand up for their organization and support it. Of course, all WWE superstars were part of the campaign.

Linda was able to win the primary on Aug. 10. However, she ultimately lost the general election to Richard Blumenthal by an 11 percent margin.

Even during the elections, rumors stated that voters were not allowed to wear any WWE-related merchandise.

No one can deny that this was the story of the year. When Linda lost, fans speculated a near end of the PG Era. Of course, this doesn't seem possible at the moment.