It’s been a truly global year for WWE, with the brand taking its premium live events to arenas and stadiums around the world, including Saudi Arabia and the UK, after an absence of 30 years.
Here are Arab News’ top 5 moments of the year.
5. Steve Austin returns at WrestleMania
WrestleMania 38, AT&T Stadium, Arlington Texas, April 2
With the tagline of “The Greatest Two-Night Event in WrestleMania History”, the main event of the first night of WrestleMania featured the in-ring return of “Bionic Redneck” Steve Austin.
That evening his opponent, Kevin Owens, came out to host a special edition of the “KO Show” with Austin as his special guest. This was Stone Cold’s first WrestleMania appearance since 2016, which took place at the same venue.
During the segment, Owens said that he lied to him about being a guest in order to lure him into a “No Holds Barred” match. Austin accepted.
Backed by the crowd, Austin taunted his opponent the entire time and performed his signature move, a Stone Cold Stunner on Owens to win the match.
Afterwards, Austin performed a second Stunner on Owens, who was later escorted by Texas police.
Austin then celebrated with commentator Byron Saxton, after which he performed a flippant on him. Austin then celebrated with his brother to end the night at WrestleMania.
4. Elimination Chamber comes to Saudi
Elimination Chamber, Jeddah Super Dome, Jeddah, 19 February
This year’s road to WrestleMania was an international one, with the first stop being Jeddah.
In the main event of that evening in Saudi Arabia, Bobby Lashley defended the WWE Championship against AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Riddle, Austin Theory and Seth Rollins in the Premium Live Events marquee attraction, an Elimination Chamber match.
Theory and Rollins started the match. Rollins performed a Buckle Bomb on Theory into the pod on Lashley. The impact resulted in Lashley requiring medical attention, and the referee removed him from the match due to concussion protocol.
The third entrant was Riddle followed by Styles. The fifth entrant was supposed to be Lashley, however, since he had been eliminated from the match, Brock Lesnar broke his pod and entered the match in his typical impressive fashion.
Lesnar performed F5s on Rollins, Styles and Riddle to eliminate them. Lesnar then performed an F5 on Theory from the top of a chamber pod.
He then pinned Theory to win the WWE Championship for the seventh time.
3. Gunther and Sheamus clash in Wales
Clash at The Castle, Principality Stadium, Cardiff, 3 September
Austrian Intercontinental Champion Gunther and Dublin powerhouse Sheamus stunned the show with their bout at Clash at The Castle in Wales.
While it would have been an exciting face-off regardless of the venue, being at the first WWE stadium show in the UK in 30 years added even more energy and passion.
Due to their aggressive styles, Gunther vs. Sheamus was touted as a dream match, and since they are two of the top European wrestlers, it was fitting that Wales was the setting for their clash.
Their long-anticipated matchup lived up to the hype, with a back-and-forth battle that featured several near-falls and brutal offense from both wrestlers.
Sheamus came close to locating the champion, both receiving marks on their chests and salutations from bearing each other’s offense. Gunther managed to retain the title, and extended a reign that may eventually go down as one of the most dominant Intercontinental Championship runs in recent history.
2. Wargames are at the center
Survivor Series WarGames at TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, November 27
The 36th annual Survivor Series featured two WarGames matches, one for men and one for women.
The women’s WarGames match kicked off the WWE Thanksgiving event, with Team Belair – consisting of Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Mia Yim and Becky Lynch – facing Team Bayley, consisting of Bayley, Dakota Kai and Io Skye. Nikki Cross was involved. and Rhea Ripley.
Lynch hit a double diving leg drop on Kai and Sky through a table and pinned Kai to win the match for Team Belair.
The Men’s WarGames match was the main event of the evening, where Roman Reigns’ Bloodline faction, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), Solo Sequoia and Sami Zayn, along with Paul Heyman battled against the Brawling Brutes – which included Sheamus, Ridge, and Joey. Holland, and Butch and his partners Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens.
Jey Uso hit a Flying Usa on Owens to win the match for The Bloodline.
1. Logan Paul steals the show in Riyadh
Crown Jewel at Mersool Park, Riyadh, 5 November
In the highly anticipated Crown Jewel bout in Riyadh, Roman Reigns defeated Logan Paul by pinfall to retain his WWE Undisputed Universal Championship.
In a video posted on Instagram by Logan and WWE, Logan could be seen standing on the top rope while cameras were filming him.
Logan tells the Saudi crowd that this is what they want and yells at Roman that he is going viral.