Across 2023 and 2024, WWE was a white hot babyface promotion in the midst of a genuine boom period.
Cody Rhodes flat-out no-sold the Rock’s botched interference spot to finish the story at WrestleMania 40. He was positioned as the greatest babyface of the century. He vanquished Roman Reigns with the help of those he had wronged - and the Undertaker, since Stone Cold Steve Austin didn’t fancy making the trip - in a brilliant, feel-good flex of Triple H’s storytelling muscle. Every detailed, overlapping narrative thread converged to craft a thrilling season finale of Triple H’s first era as the main roster booker. As the year unfolded, WWE fans lived through what are now the good old days.
Rhodes was such a great champion and talisman that it didn’t matter that his stuff was a bit rote and predictable. It helped that Levesque, in parallel, booked the most personal-feeling saga in years between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre.
Underneath, countless wrestlers became stars. Rhea Ripley was a babyface sensation so well-liked that her tormentors Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan ascended to a level nobody had thought possible under Vince McMahon. Gunther was operating at such an awesome level that WWE was taking AEW to a broadway of match quality. IYO Sky, already phenomenal, developed into a superstar through WWE’s packaging magic. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were the Randy Savage and Bret Hart types of this ‘Renaissance Era’; artistic greats whose drawing prowess is all too often overlooked.
Now, WWE more closely resembles the dismal days of the late 2010s than the place to which CM Punk shockingly returned at Survivor Series 2023.
What happened…?
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