A year can be defined as 365 and a quarter days or one full rotation of the Earth around the sun. That’s roughly 52 episodes of Monday Night Raw, about 12 WWE Pay-Per-Views and approximately 15 Big Show heel and face turns. A lot can happen in a year, especially in the non-stop world of the WWE. With SummerSlam 2016 just around the corner, it’s time to look back and reflect on the things have changed since the last event. A year ago, Brock Lesnar faced off against The Undertaker, The New Day won the tag team titles for the second time and Seth Rollins became the first man to hold both the WWE and United States Championship at the same time after some help from Jon Stewart (maybe I should have left that one out). Since that day we’ve had debuts, retirements, championships change hands, championships retired, championships reinstated, a Royal Rumble that broke the records and that Brand Split thingy, too.

A lot has changed, but has all of it been good? Of course not, otherwise we’d have no list, idiot! In the past 12 months, so much has happened in the WWE, and here are some of the best and worst of those changes. Some changes, like Seth Rollins getting injured, might have badly affected the WWE at the time, but since then Rollins has returned as a top level star, so the change hasn’t affected the current WWE product that badly. Any changes like that will not feature on this list, but changes that are still affecting WWE in the build up to SummerSlam are fair game. So, set your GPSs for Memory Lane and put on your nostalgia caps, people, because it’s time to review the 7 worst and 8 best changes in WWE since last year’s SummerSlam.

29 15. BEST: New Day Rocks

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via hdwallpaper4u.com

We begin with, undoubtedly, one of the most popular tag team in recent years, but, until not that long ago, this was not the case. Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods entered SummerSlam 2015 as annoying, ultra-positive heels, chasing a second WWE Tag Team Championship win in a Fatal Four Way match also featuring The Prime Time Players, Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons. Following their victory in the match, the fans were less than happy; at this point, New Day’s Power of Positivity shtick was annoying and fans genuinely hated the trio, especially when they were champions.

What followed over the next year was a crazy transformation. After a series of defences against The Dudley Boyz, The New Day started to win over some of the audience with their heelish antics, ridiculous segments and team chemistry. After a stellar triple threat match against The Usos and The Lucha Dragons at TLC, fans really started to warm to the unicorn horn-wearing, trombone-playing, hip-gyrating team, especially after they defeated The Usos at the Royal Rumble, after which signs of a face turn started to show. After a confrontation with The League of Nations at Fastlane, The New Day entered a rivalry with the international J.O.B squad, during which the trigger was finally pulled on the turn and, by the time WrestleMania rolled around, New Day fully embraced the fans who had been cheering for them for months. A few more title defences and breaking the record for longest WWE Tag Team Championship reign of all time (previously held by Paul London and Brian Kendrick), The New Day are more popular than ever before and head into this year’s SummerSlam with all the momentum in the world.

Kofi, Big E and Xavier overcame what should have been a fatal gimmick to become of the greatest teams of this generation and in such a short space of time as well. Who knows where The New Day will be in another year’s time, but I can tell you for sure, it’s going to be epic. Why can I tell you that? BECAAAAAAAAUUSE.... nah, I’m not doing it.

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27 14. WORST: Down And Out In Dudleyville

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via primaryignition.com

As the old saying goes – out with the old and in with the new. And nobody knows this more than Bubba Ray and D-Von. After ten years away from the company, The Dudley Boyz made their grand return to WWE the night after SummerSlam 2015, interrupting The New Day in dramatic fashion, putting Xavier Woods through a table with their patented finisher, the 3D. The Dudleys’ return was met with huge support from the fans; the two were bona fide legends and had been responsible for some of WWE’s greatest moments in their battles with Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boys in the early 2000s. The Dudleys had a clear motive for going after the tag team titles; not only were they massive faces against The New Day’s heels, but also they were chasing a tenth tag team championship win in WWE, which is a nice round number to focus a story on.

However, despite a few matches for the tag titles on Pay-Per-Views and Network Specials, the Dudley Boyz fell down the card dramatically, being demoted to the pre-show on most Pay-Per-Views and jobbing out to The Usos of all people at WrestleMania 32, again, on the pre-show. Whilst I’m not saying that the aging Dudleys should be top of the tag division, the way WWE have treated these legends has been a little disheartening, especially considering how excited people were to see them the night after SummerSlam. Whether D-Von and Bubba Ray’s careers do pick up in the future remains to be seen, but at least they’ll always have TNA to fall back on. Actually, best not bank on that.

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25 13. BEST: Rusev Crushes His Past

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via wwedivadeluxex.tumblr.com

Rusev had the world at his feet in 2015 – United States Champion, unpinned or submitted and he had Lana, which is makes all his other accomplishments meaningless in comparison. But then things went downhill pretty quickly for the Bulgarian Brute, all thanks to one of the greatest forces of destruction known to mankind – John Cena. After losing to Cena numerous times, Rusev was in dire straits heading into SummerSlam. He was knee-deep in a cesspool of a storyline with Lana, Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae and fought the show-off to a double count-out at the Biggest Party of the Summer. He then lost to Ziggler at Night of Champions, lost again in a six-man tag match at Hell In A Cell and then got injured, shelving him for a month.

After returning as a part of the League of Nations alongside Sheamus, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio, Rusev continued to flounder in the boring group before it split up in April 2016. Then, just when things looked bleak for Alexander (remember when he was called Alexander? That was fun), at Extreme Rules 2016, Rusev destroyed Kalisto in a United States championship match, winning the title for the second time in convincing fashion. Rusev has remained dominant ever since, crushing Titus O’Neil and Zack Ryder and heading into SummerSlam with a full head of steam. Whilst the Bulgarian has yet to have a credible opponent as US, you can bet the WWE have something big planned for him in the future and it could all start at SummerSlam.

When you think of how far Rusev has come in a year, you have to applaud the Super Athlete; his talent, athleticism and dedication have proven to the WWE that he deserved much better than the damn Love Quadrangle. However, whilst Rusev has risen up WWE’s standings since last year, it’s a shame the same can’t be said for his other half...

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23 12. WORST: Lana’s Career Gets Ravished

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via cagesideseats.com

Oh, Lana, what did you do? Did you eat Triple H’s sandwiches by accident? Did you forget Steph McMahon’s birthday? Whatever you did, it must have been pretty damn bad, because you got well and truly screwed over. Lana made her name in WWE as the manager of Rusev, impressing fans and management alike with her skills on the mic, commitment to kayfabe and, of course, her enormous... charisma. What did you think I meant? You’re disgusting.

Anyway, what began as a managerial career looked like it was becoming a promising wrestling career when it was announced that Lana was undertaking training to become a wrestler. Over with the fans as manager and, later, rival to Rusev, Lana as a wrestler looked like sure fire money and it’s highly possible that the entire Love Quadrangle was set up to introduce Lana to wrestling gently. Then it all fell apart. And bad.

On October 11th 2015, American media vultures, whoops, I mean “journalists”, TMZ, reported that Lana and Rusev were engaged after Lana posted a picture of the wedding ring online. Now, as all us sensible people know, wrestling ain’t real. However, if your name is Vince McMahon, sometimes you have trouble remembering that concept and this was one of those times. Lana and Rusev being engaged completely ruined the current storyline WWE had for the two and so it was scrapped. As punishment it would seem, Lana’s push was cancelled and she was demoted back to Rusev’s manager and love interest, only with not nearly as much mic time and character development. Even whilst managing the champion, Lana only gets a few lines on the mic each week, taunting the crowd about how Rusev is “the only man who can have her”, which is a massive waste of Lana’s potential and is pretty insulting to C.J. Perry, the performer who worked so hard to create the Lana character fans know and love today.

Lana and her husband have completely reversed fortunes since last SummerSlam and it’s a real shame that something as silly as a TMZ article could be to blame for such a promising talent suffering so badly. Let’s just hope Lana gets back on track soon, because not only is she incredibly talented, but also, as she’s stated in the past, quite friendly with Vladimir Putin. And we all know what he’s capable of.

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21 11. BEST: NXT Is The Place To Be

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via wwe.com

NXT is the one of the greatest wrestling brands in the world and, without a doubt, is the best one without the letter “W” in it. Last year, NXT was a pretty incredible place, but it was really around SummerSlam weekend in 2015 where the show as we know it today started to take shape. At NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, the day before SummerSlam 2015, Finn Balor defended the NXT Championship for the first time against Kevin Owens in a ladder match, Apollo Crews debuted and a little known female performer won the Women’s Championship, Bayley, I think her name was...

At Takeover: Brooklyn, NXT as the world leader we know it today started to take shape and from there things could only get better. So many high points have come from the past year; Finn Balor’s incredible title run, the Iron Woman match between Bayley and Sasha Banks at Takeover: Respect and the amazing show that was Takeover; Dallas, NXT’s version of WrestleMania. However, perhaps the greatest thing to happen to NXT since SummerSlam last year is the massive influx of outside talent that has flooded NXT from around the world. International stars such as Andrade “Cien” Almas, Asuka and (of course) Shinsuke Nakamura have all made their way to NXT, joining incredible American talent such as Austin Aries and, more recently, Bobby Roode (whilst we’re on the subject of Roode, if you haven’t heard his new entrance theme, check it out, it’s so good).

For years, WWE has struggled to get some of the biggest talent from other promotions through their doors, but, thanks to NXT and its incredible success, it seems like WWE has the perfect bait to lure in some of the world’s greatest competitors. Hopefully NXT’s rich array of talent will go on to make some incredible memories when they ascend to the main roster. Whenever that happens. I mean, it’s not like there’s just been a draft or anything...

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19 10. WORST: Breeze Gets Blown Away

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via wwe.com

Stars down on NXT often make a big splash when they finally debut on the main roster. Kevin Owens beat John Cena is his first match, The Shield cost Ryback the WWE Championship and Finn Balor beat Roman Reigns, which was a great way of getting him over. However, being a big name on the yellow show doesn’t necessarily translate to main roster success. Exhibit A – Tyler Breeze.

Breeze was a huge name down on NXT; challenging for the NXT title numerous times, main eventing a Takeover show and even fighting Japanese legends, Jushin Thunder Liger, in his only WWE appearance to date. When Tyler made his main roster debut in September 2015, fans of the Sultan of Selfies were ecstatic to see such a talented performer finally ascend to the big stage. Then they realised it was happening on Smackdown. And it was going to be as a follow on to the Dolph Ziggler-Rusev feud. And it was happening on Smackdown!! R.I.P Tyler’s career. Despite an initial push, including a win over Dolph Ziggler on his first Pay-Per-View appearance, Breeze found himself a certified jobber within weeks of the Ziggler feud, losing over 20 matches on TV in early 2016, all traces of his stellar NXT run completely eradicated.

Breeze is getting a little bit more attention now that he’s in a team with Fandango, but his stock has been so badly damaged by awful booking that it’s hard to see Prince Pretty regaining anywhere near the amount of momentum he had in NXT, which is a real shame as he is an amazing talent. Breeze’s fall from grace has been a struggle to watch for fans of the Superkicking Supermodel. Let’s just hope Breezango actually comes to something. We’re gonna need a lot of hope.

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17 9. BEST: Kevin And Sami – Fight Forever

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via youtube.com

WWE’s history is littered with best friends behind the scenes who put on amazing rivalries in the ring. Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, some of WWE’s greatest enemies have really been the best of pals in real life and the latest in this long line of warring friends is “The Underdog from the Underground”, Sami Zayn, and “The Prizefighter”, Kevin Owens. Zayn and Owens made a big splash in NXT with their incredible feud, beginning when Owens attacked Sami straight after he won the NXT Championship at Takeover: R Evolution. Owens would defeat Zayn for the belt at Takeover: Rival and would kayfabe injure Zayn (in real life Zayn had a legitimate shoulder injury), putting him on the shelf for months.

Owens ascended to the main roster a few months before SummerSlam, engaging in a great feud with John Cena and defeating Cesaro at the event itself. Owens would go from strength to strength, winning the Intercontinental title twice and having a great feud with Dean Ambrose. However, it would be at the Royal Rumble at which his old rivalry would reignite. Sami Zayn was a surprise entrant in the Rumble and eliminated Owens from the match. He then cost Owens the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania and the two have had two amazing singles matches at Payback and Battleground, as well as featuring in a number of other fantastic matches with one another.

Having Zayn and Owens on the main roster has been a real treat for WWE fans; the two can put on an amazing match every single time they step into the ring and old and new fans alike have warmed to both men, which looks very promising indeed for their long term careers. Whilst it looks like this feud might be on a break for now, you can be sure that it is far from over. Just, please, no more Michinoku Drivers onto ladder please, lads? It looked great and all, but I’d rather you both had working spines. Sorry to be a killjoy.

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15 8. WORST: Farewell Sting And Daniel

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via youtube.com

All good things must come to an end. Original ECW, The Attitude Era, Triple H’s long hair; all classic wrestling establishments that disappeared and, since last SummerSlam, the world of WWE has lost two amazing talents. The first being Sting, who was injured in his match with Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015, the Pay-Per-View following SummerSlam. After months out of action, Sting was announced as the first inductee in WWE’s Hall of Fame class of 2016, which was the first hint that his legendary career was over. A neck injury (possibly sustained during a ridiculously dangerous table spot) ended Stinger’s incredible career and, unfortunately, it wasn’t on the highest of notes. After avoiding WWE for years, Sting lost his first match at WrestleMania 31, disappeared for months, then lost his next Pay-Per-View match to Rollins, ending his career a loser. Sting should have been treated far better in WWE and his Hall of Fame induction was the one saving grace of his time under McMahon.

However, the fact that WrestleMania will never host Sting vs The Undertaker, even though the chance to do so was right there, will leave a bad taste in many diehard wrestling fans that can never be erased. Then there’s Daniel Bryan. Oh, Daniel. Reoccurring neck injuries and concussions forced Bryan to forfeit the Intercontinental Championship he won at WrestleMania 31 and, by SummerSlam 2015, Bryan hadn’t been seen on WWE TV for months. Whilst some still had hope for Bryan’s return, this was confirmed as impossible when, on 8th February 2016, Bryan formally announced his retirement, ending that evening’s episode of Raw with a heart-felt retirement speech that would have left every wrestling fan in the world with a tear in their eye had it not inadvertently got Titus O’Neil suspended. Both Sting and Bryan will never wrestle again and that feels deeply wrong. Whilst both men’s legacies live on in the memories on the fans, it’s just not the same as seeing the two men compete in the squared circle. Not at the same time, I mean, that would be a weird match. Might be fun though. Play it on 2K17.

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13 7. BEST: The American Dragon Flies Again

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via bleacherreport.com

The WWE likes money. Daniel Bryan on TV equals money for the WWE. How anyone was surprised by his return is beyond me. The return of the brand extension not only split the rosters in WWE, but also the opinions of WWE’s fans. One thing, however, that everyone is behind is the return to WWE programming of a certain Mr. Daniel Bryan. Forced to retire for the reasons I stated above, Bryan was off WWE TV for months. However, once you taste the spotlight, you always want more and Daniel Bryan had gorged himself on the spotlight as a wrestler.

On the episode of Raw before the WWE Draft, both Stephanie and Shane McMahon announced their new General Managers; Steph had Mick Foley, Shane went with The American Dragon. Yes, it was a pretty easy guess and yes, it was actually leaked, but Daniel Bryan returning was like Christmas Day to the WWE fans; they knew exactly when it was coming, but they were just so excited for it that it didn’t make a tiny bit of difference. Bryan returning to WWE TV as the General Manager of Smackdown was amazing; not only was Bryan back, but he would be back permanently and the fans could see him every week. Smackdown may have been given the short straw in the actual draft and with its time slot, but having Bryan on board would have been more than enough to secure viewership. Bryan is one of wrestling’s most beloved figures – now and of all time – and his presence on WWE programming is a welcome return. This great moment might have only come from a terrible one in Bryan’s premature retirement, but his return is still one of the feel good stories of the year and it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. God bless you, Daniel, welcome back. I don’t actually know why I put that, there’s no way Daniel will actually read this. I can dream...

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11 6. WORST: Sandow Gets The Boot

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via wwe.com

Every year, WWE undergoes what some have termed “spring cleaning”; the releases of numerous wrestlers in an attempt to make more room on the roster. This year’s round of cuts featured numerous big names: Santino Marella and Christian were released from their performers’ contracts, Wade Barrett was sent packing and, perhaps worst of all, the WWE had to say goodbye to the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses, Damien Sandow. For over a decade, Aaron Haddad wrestled on and off for the WWE, working a number of characters and gimmicks, but really finding fame in 2012, when he debuted on the main roster as Damien Sandow. This was a really original gimmick that allowed Sandow to pick up some decent wins and plenty of support.

After winning Money In The Bank in 2013, everyone had high hopes for Sandow to become World Champion. Then John Cena happened. Cena defeated Sandow in his cash-in match – the first time a briefcase holder had been pinned during their cash-in match – and Sandow’s career flashed before his eyes. Sandow’s career went downhill rapidly after this defeat, but, the plucky performer would manage to salvage some success of nothing when he started appearing as “Damien Mizdow”, stunt double to The Miz. Through his impersonations (both in and out of the ring) and hilarious partnership with The Awesome One, Sandow genuinely became one of the most over guys on the roster, leading to fans chanting “We want Mizdow!” and popping like mad when he did wrestle. As Mizdow, Damien won his first WWE titles – the Tag Team Championships with Miz at Survivor Series 2014 – and had a major WrestleMania moment when, after months of suffering, he eliminated his bullying mentor, The Miz, in the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal at WrestleMania 31. Ok, maybe he didn’t win the whole thing, but it was still a great moment. Damn Big Show. Anyway, following this, everyone wanted a Mizdow vs Miz and everyone wanted Mizdow to win. Instead, they had one match, on Raw, and Miz won. After this, Sandow was demoted back down to jobber status and was finally released May 6th 2016 after being thoroughly ruined by WWE.

An absolute star in the making, Sandow’s chances of the big time were devastated and through no fault of his own. John Cena, Big Show, The Miz, hell, even Hulk Hogan ruined The Meta Powers and he’d been retired for years! Sandow’s release was a real shame and, despite never amounting to much in terms of championships, he will always hold a special place in the hearts of many WWE fans. What a guy.

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