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Good Morning, Nigeria, Welcome To News Roundup Of Top Newspaper Headlines In Nigeria For Today Friday, 15th May 2020

1. MTN SIM: Court Rules Against DSS, Clears Hanan Buhari

A Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, on Thursday ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay N10 million to Anthony Okolie.

Naija News recalls that Okolie was arrested in July 2019 in Asaba for using the previous phone line of President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, Hanan.

2. School Feeding Programme Is A Scam By Buhari Govt – PDP

The President Muhammadu Buhari’s school feeding programme was on Thursday described by the Peoples Democratic Party as a big scam.

The main opposition party further stated that the programme even when schools are shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic was a scheme by the “corrupt All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and some officials in the Buhari Presidency to siphon a targeted N13.5 billion public funds to finance their wasteful lifestyle.”

3. APC Deputy Chairman And Daughter Kidnapped In Kaduna State

The deputy chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna state, Shuaibu Idris, has been kidnapped.

Naija News gathered he was kidnapped alongside his daughter by gunmen from their residence located along Zaria-Kaduna road.

4. President Buhari Meets Security Chiefs, Others Over Insecurity

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari held an emergency meeting with the National Security Council and others on Thursday.

According to the Personal Assistant to the President on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, the meeting was attended by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Service Chiefs and other heads of security agencies.

5. Kano Govt Quarantines 2,000 Almajiri Children

The Kano State Government on Thursday quarantined 2000 almajiri children to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

This was made known by the Kano Commission for Health, Aminu Tsanyawa.

6. Atiku ‘Bombs’ Buhari Govt Over Revised 2020 Budget

Former Nigeria’s Vice President Atiku Abubakar has faulted the federal government’s 0.6% reduction in expenditure in the revised 2020 budget, describing it as “grossly insufficient”.

Atiku, a 2019 Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said cutting expenditure by a mere N71 billion from N10.594 trillion in the revised budget shows that President Muhammadu Buhari‘s administration has lost touch with “current realities in the global political economy.”

7. Lagos Assembly Confirms Sanwo-Olu’s Nominees, Rejects One

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday confirmed three nominees of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the State Audit Service Commission.

Naija News reports that the Lagos Assembly, however, rejected one of the five nominees sent to it by Sanwo-Olu, with one nominee absent.

8. Oyo Commissioner For Environment, Kehinde Ayoola Dies

The Oyo State Commissioner for Environment, Kehinde Ayoola is dead.

Naija News learned that the Oyo Commissioner for Environment died on Thursday morning, May 14.

9. Biafra: IPOB Rejects ‘Members’ Arrested By Police In Delta State

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared that the people recently arrested by the Nigeria Police Force in Delta State are not its members.

It will be recalled that nine suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were arrested by the Delta Police Command and AK-47 rifles recovered from them.

10. Borno Suspends COVID-19 Lockdown, Permits Religious Gathering

The Borno State Government has suspended the lockdown imposed on the state to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

Alhaji Umar Kadafur, the Deputy Governor of the state and Chairman of the state’s High-Powered Response Team for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 made this known in a statement on Wednesday.

So That's It......Enjoy!!!!

Long before Big Brother Naija had Nigerians glued to their TV screens, there were other reality competition shows that were loved – Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Idols West Africa, MTN Project Fame, Maltina Dance All and others. Nigerians were hooked on other reality shows.

And just as Big Brother Naija creates stars out of its contestants every season, music competition shows like Idols West Africa and MTN Project Fame gave Nigeria some of the stars in the entertainment industry today.

Idols West Africa (popularly known as Nigerian Idols) was the West African franchise of the international Idols series created by Simon Fuller, following the success of the series in other parts of the world. The singing competition debuted in 2007 with ten contestants, but it unfortunately was short lived with only two seasons.

MTN Project Fame had a successful run for nine seasons. The music reality show launched in 2008, and was hosted by Joseph Benjamin and Adaora Oleh. Winners of the competition were entitled to cash prizes, vehicles, and production deals. And also end up becoming ambassadors for the telecommunications company MTN.

These shows have produced some big names in the Nigerian music industry.

Omawumi – Omawumi was a contestant on Idol West Africa in 2007. She contested alongside Timi Dakolo and was the first runner up in the competition. Omawumi impressed the audience and the judges with her powerful vocals and has since the competition become a force to be reckoned with in the industry.

She has since released three albums and won the 2009 Headies Best Vocal Performance award for her hit single ‘In The Music’.

Omawumi in Idols West Africa

Timi Dakolo – The ‘Iyawo mi’ singer appeared on Idols West Africa in 2007 and emerged winner of the competition. While in the competition, Timi was consistently in the lead and it came as almost no surprise when he finally emerged victorious in the competition. Dakolo released his debut album Beautiful Noise in 2011 and has continued to build a successful career for himself since.

In 2019, the singer signed a Virgin EMI record deal and released his first album under the label, Merry Christmas Darling. The album featured collaborations with British singer-songwriter Emeli Sande and Grammy awards winner Kenny G. Some of Dakolo’s famous hits include Iyawo Mi, The Vow, Wish Me Well, among others.

Timi Dakolo winner of Idols West Africa Season One

Chidinma – Chidinma Ekile first appeared on the third season of MTN Project Fame in 2010. She won the competition as well as a cash prize of N2.5 million naira and a production deal. She released Chidinma, her debut studio album in 2011 that featured producers including Cobhams Asuquo, Tee-Y Mix, WazBeat and Oscar Heman Ackah.

Later that same year, Clarence Peters directed the visuals to Jankoliko, her single that featured Sound Sultan. In 2012, she released Emi ni Baller with Illbliss and Tha Suspect under CAPital Hill Records, which won the 2013 Headies award for Best Pop Extra Video.

In 2012, she won the Best Female West African Act at the Kora Award. She has appeared on several stages and performed in numerous countries across the world – Republic of Benin, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Niger and Ghana.

Chidinma Emerged Winner of the Third Season of MTN Project Fame

Iyanya – Iyanya won the first edition of the MTN Project Fame competition in 2008 and started out his career. He released My Story in 2009 after the competition, but it was in 2013, after the release of Kukure which was accompanied by the Etighi dance, a cultural Calabar dance that Iyanya hit national recognition.

In 2014, he won the Headies Artist of the year award. His album Desire and his hit single Ur Waist were also nominated in the same year. In 2016, Iyanya became one of the artists signed to the Mavin record deal. In 2018, he announced that he was now signed to Temple Music.

Niniola – The Maradona singer started off as a contestant on the sixth edition of MTN Project Fame in 2013. In 2014, she released Ibadi, her hit single produced by Sarz. It wasn’t until 2017 that she received wide acclaim for the release of Maradona. The single earned Nini nominations at the 2018 BET Awards and SAMAs.

In 2019, Niniola’s Maradona was sampled in Beyoncé’s ‘Find Your Way Back’, a song off her soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift. Nini is also credited as one of the track’s songwriters and composers.

In April 2020, she received her Grammy nomination certificate for her work as a composer on The Lion King: The Gift. The singer known for her energetic live performances, has released hits like, Designer, Boda Sodiq, Omo Rapala and others.

Praiz – in 2008, Praiz came close to winning the first Edition of MTN Project Fame against Iyanya, coming second place. Since the competition, the R&B singer has released ‘Rich and Famous’ ‘Sisi’ and ‘I Love You’.

He combined forces with Bez on his 2011 single, ‘That Silly Song’, which made a world premiere on BET’s 106&Park.

In 2014, Praiz released his Rich & Famous album and in 2015, he won the Nigerian Entertainment Award for Best Pop/RnB Artist of the Year.

Praiz has been associated with acts like Wizkid, Chidinma, Seyi Shay, Cobhams and others.

Ayoola Ayolola – in 2012, Ayoola won the fifth edition of MTN Project Fame. He has transitioned from music into acting, since 2015, he has been appearing as Mide in the Ndani web series Skinny Girl in Transit. He has also featured in drama series The Men’s Club and landed roles in movies like – The Bling Lagosians, Isoken, If I Were President and others.

Below we have some images of well known celebrities taken when they were much younger. You probably won recognize them

Jay attended attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn. He hung out in the school's cafeteria where he practiced rapping while pounding the tables and battled other students. Picture: Seth Poppel

Iggy Azalea looks barely recognisable in her high school picture! Going by the name Amethyst Amelia Kelly back then, the 'Fancy' rapper grew up in Mullumbimby, Australia, before later heading to the US in pursuit of her rapping dreams.

Nicki attended the prestigious LaGuardia High School in Manhattan where she initially planned to study music. However, she lost her voice on the day of the audition and ended up studying drama instead. She was known for sticking up for friends, occasionally getting into scraps to defend them. One former classmate said of her in an unauthorised biography that: "You could tell at LaGuardia what someone's major was based on their behaviour, and Nicki was definitely a drama major." Pic: Beyonce.com

Snoop was a golden child, he sung in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church and was classically trained as a pianist. He begun rapping in sixth grade and towards the end of his time at Long Beach Polytechnic High School got into some trouble over cocaine possession. Picture: Idols/Photoshot

Drake dropped out of high school, ironically, to star in the high school TV series 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'. But he finally got his high school diploma in 2012 - aged 25 - after taking some time out to study with a private tutor. He scored an impressive 97% on his final test. Picture: octobersveryown.blogspot.co.uk

According to one biography, Will got his Fresh Prince stage name at high school. He was the class clown but was charming enough that he could get out of trouble. So his teachers nicknamed him "Prince", as in Prince Charming. He later added "Fresh" to it because, well, it sounded cool. Picture: Idols/Photoshot

From her 9th year of school at the Houston School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Beyoncé found fame during her high school years with Destiny's Child. Picture: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library.

The Game attended Compton High School. He was a natural sporting talent, earning a position as the point guard on the basketball team and later joining the track team. Picture: Yearbook

Tupac went to Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He acted in Shakespeare plays and even took on the role of the Mouse King in the ballet The Nutcracker. Unsurprisingly, he had already earned a reputation as a gifted rapper winning many competitions at school. Picture: Yearbook

50 was a talented boxer from a young age, competing in the Junior Olympics. During his senior years, he got into trouble for selling drugs and was sent to a boot camp, rather than prison, where he earned his high school qualification. Picture: Yearbook

Eminem didn't have a happy childhood and was reportedly once beaten up so badly in school, he spent over one week in a coma. Marshall went to Lincoln High School in Warren, Michigan but used to sneak into neighbouring school Osborn High for rap battles.

Puff attended the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Michael Academy in 1987. He was a skilled football player and his team even won the high school league. Picture: Yearbook

When asked about his high school days, Ye revealed that "I got A's and B's. And I'm not even frontin'." He attended Polaris High School in Illinois where from an early age he developed a talent for rap and musical compositions. His first rap song, which he wrote aged thirteen, was called 'Green Eggs and Ham'. He Picture: Seth Poppel

2 Chainz attended North Clayton High school in College Park, Georgia (where he was classmates with R&B singer Monica) and graduated second in his class. From there, he went on to Alabama State University. Picture: Yearbook

Pharrell was a member of his high school's marching band. He was discovered at a high school talent show, where he performed as The Neptunes, then a four-piece. Picture: Idols/Photoshot

Missy Elliott was actually moved up two grades in school because of her above average intelligence, graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1990.

Back in 1987, Cube famously wore jet black curled locks as a senior in high school at the Phoenix Institute of Technology. Soon after, his rap career took off with NWA and the rest is history!

It's hard to imagine Lil Wayne without his famous face tattoos but the rapper looked very different in 8th Grade of High School. Weezy went to McMain Magnet in his hometown of New Orleans.

Bray Wyatt has been part of two PPV cinematic bouts. One worked masterfully while the other was a huge swing and a miss.

The most talked-about “match” of WrestleMania 36 was the Firefly Fun House Match, wherein Bray Wyatt (and his alter ego The Fiend) subjected John Cena to a rundown of his own career (among other things) in an absurdist short film that involved numerous parodies of wrestling tropes and a Vince McMahon puppet. It was groundbreaking, but it wasn’t the first “cinematic” match Bray Wyatt was involved in.

At the 2017 Payback pay-per-view, Wyatt took on Randy Orton in a no-DQ bout called the House of Horrors Match, which started in a creepy house and ended at the arena. It was way less acclaimed than the Firefly Fun House Match, so let’s look at the two and evaluate why one works and the other doesn’t.

10 Firefly Fun House: Entirely Cinematic

The Firefly Fun House Match begins in the WWE Performance Center with a fake-out John Cena entrance before immediately transitioning into the actual Fun House and getting down to absurdist business. It’s a match that entirely depends on set dressing, editing, sudden costume changes and shifts in visual style to tell its story, thus justifying its “experimental” format. If they tried to do it with a live audience and Michael Cole and JBL talking over it, it wouldn’t be the same.

9 House of Horrors: Too Much of a “Real” Match

Despite all the creepy smash cuts to mangled dolls and dilapidated walls, House of Horrors is just two wrestlers having an Extreme Rules match with a different background -- all pummeling and throwing one another into furniture. What is the difference between this match and the Orton/Edge match at WrestleMania 36, besides length? It’s alright for what it is, but what leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth is that the competitors have to make their way back to the arena and win the match in the ring, giving the whole experience a watered-down feel.

8 Firefly Fun House: Perfectly Produced

With its myriad post-production tricks, stock sound effects, and use of worn-down old WWE props like the rusty blue steel cage bars and the old Smackdown set with the fist, the Firefly Fun House Match is a perfectly produced piece.

It all looks pretty great, except for the parts where it’s intentionally supposed to look not great, and makes superb use of one of the best production crews in pro wrestling to make something exceptionally weird for WWE. It’s like David Lynch was hired to make Southpaw Regional Wrestling.

7 House of Horrors: Not That Well-Produced

Aside from the aforementioned “disturbing” insert shots spliced into the footage, the House of Horrors Match isn’t as slick as it should be. It feels like the set designers did their best to dress a kind of crappy looking suburban house to look like something out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it’s hard to get past the presence of carpet (!) on the floors and an extremely normal kitchen where someone scrawled FOLLOW THE BUZZARDS or whatever on the fridge. Plus, it’s shot like a regular WWE backstage brawl, complete with trademark needlessly jerky camera movements and parts where you can see the cameraman’s shadow.

6 Firefly Fun House: Self-Aware

When it comes to tone, most WWE content is either deadly serious or a MadTV sketch. The Firefly Fun House is, to quote Bray Wyatt himself, “the color red in a world of black and white” thanks to its strong sense of self-awareness. It has more in common with something like the Final (or Ultimate) Deletion. The Firefly Fun House match is focused and has a serious intent, but also knows its execution is playful and silly.

5 House of Horrors: Not That Scary

There may be no commentary over the cinematic parts of the House of Horrors Match, but you can sort of feel the whole thing try to convince you that it’s a harrowing experience, like when vanilla commentators say stuff like “This is a truly disturbing display” when there’s a regular beatdown with a kendo stick happening on the entrance ramp. It may be because of WWE’s PG restrictions on content, but there’s nothing all that horrific about Bray Wyatt pushing a dirty refrigerator on top of a guy.

4 Firefly Fun House: Great Use of Character

The Firefly Fun House match may go down as one of the best kinds of things WWE’s ever produced thanks to its bold deconstruction of the John Cena character. In recent years, WWE’s come to acknowledge that Cena’s years on top of the company have turned him into a divisive figure, and here WWE finally embraces that by having Bray Wyatt use it all against him -- his dopey debut against Kurt Angle, his rapper gimmick, his often heelish behavior as a face -- all while comparing him to the biggest secret heel in wrestling history, Hulk Hogan.

Plus, the fact that John Cena’s promise to expose the most “overhyped” and “entitled” wrestler in WWE history turned out to be ultimately in reference to himself is an incredible revelation.

3 House of Horrors: Could Have Been Anyone

Bray Wyatt is such an all-time great wrestling villain because he’s not only a physical force but also a psychological threat whether or not you decide to buy into the supernatural powers. Randy Orton is a psychopath who’s closer to being a serial killer than he is to being John Cena. There’s a story to be told in having the theatrical Wyatt and the uncaring Orton clash, but the House of Horrors did not do that. As it is, you could have switched out Randy Orton for Roman Reigns and it would have been the same exact match.

2 Firefly Fun House: John Cena Lost -- Hard

The ending to the Firefly Fun House match is wild. After deconstructing John Cena’s entire wrestling persona for 15 minutes, The Fiend finally appears and takes him down with a Mandible Claw. The Fiend stands triumphant over Big Match John, and Cena simply vanishes, as if deleted in the Matt Hardy style. Cena hasn’t been seen on WWE television since and has hinted at retirement on social media. More than just a novelty match, it was a match that felt like it mattered because it was about the characters as much as it was an Adult Swim flavored spectacle.

1 House of Horrors: Did Not Affect Its Characters

Conversely, what was gained from the House of Horrors match? Bray Wyatt dominated in the cinematic portion and Randy Orton dominated in the in-ring portion -- that is, until the Singh Brothers and Jinder Mahal interfered, allowing Wyatt to hit a quick Sister Abigail for the pin. So ultimately, this elaborate horror movie cinematic match didn’t really accomplish anything narratively except to help Randy Orton pivot into a title feud with Jinder Mahal. That’s just regular WWE stuff, man.

The best rivalries in wrestling are those that see the lines blurred between storyline and reality, and WWE has excelled at that in recent years.

With all the programming the company produces, quality wrestling in WWE can be found on virtually any night of the week. Great feuds, however, are much harder to come by unless the story comes together organically and the right pieces are in place.

Amazing wrestling rivalries aren't solely defined by the chemistry two or more individuals have in the ring. It also accounts for their promos, fans investing in the characters, and the reason for the rivalry to be happening in the first place.

When the bad blood reaches a boiling point, the excellence that ensues makes for must-see television. The better the feud is, the more likely it is that it will be revisited down the line and fans will still be clamoring for more.

Regardless of whether it's WrestleMania season or NXT, an engaging rivalry can occur anywhere at any time. WWE has proven over and over again that they are fully capable of creating magic and crafting some spectacular stories whenever their backs are up against the wall and the following feuds are proof of that.

Since 2010, a number of rivalries have left an indelible mark in the WWE history books, but these seven lead the list.

Honorable Mentions

Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose: Having come up in the WWE ranks together as part of The Shield, Rollins and Ambrose were obviously thicker than thieves whenever they were aligned and the worst of enemies whenever they were feuding. They contested countless matches against each other from 2014 through 2016 and every one of their encounters felt more intense than the last.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston: The simple story of Kingston having to overcome every obstacle in front of him en route to winning the WWE Champion was exciting enough to hook fans. Bryan was the perfect person for that role considering he was in a similar spot five years earlier. This wasn't as long as some of the other rivalries on this list, but it was easily among the highlights of last year's road to WrestleMania. Plus, the payoff could not have been better.

The Usos vs. The New Day: Tag team wrestling hasn't been a priority to WWE in many years, yet The Usos and New Day managed to raise the bar with their fantastic feud over the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in the summer of 2017. Although the titles changed hands far too often, fans could expect a war whenever these two tandems shared the ring together.

John Cena vs. AJ Styles: Styles wasted no time in targeting "the face that runs the place" mere months into his WWE tenure back in 2016. It was a rivalry WWE fans never thought they'd see, but once it finally came to fruition, it did not disappoint. Cena and Styles constantly brought the best out of each other and Styles winning their first two matches was what solidified him as a star early on.

Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey: It's a crime Rousey and Lynch didn't headline WrestleMania 35 on their own, if only because of how heated their feud was heading into the event. Rousey successfully turned the crowd against her, Lynch was hitting her stride as The Man, and their exchanges online were never anything short of captivating.

7. The Rock vs. John Cena

Few rivalries in the last decade in WWE have felt more real than The Rock vs. John Cena.

Dream matches in WWE are nearly nonexistent nowadays, but this was one of the last of its kind. Rock and Cena long had beef in the entertainment world and had taken shots at each other in various forums, but it wasn't until early 2011 that they interacted on WWE TV for the first time.

Their war of words was the talk of the town on the road to WrestleMania 27, not Cena challenging The Miz for the WWE Championship. Rock laying out Cena at the Show of Shows set the stage for them to do battle at the next year's installment, which was confirmed a night later on Raw.

It would have been easy for fans to lose interest in their rivalry in that one year, but to their credit, both icons did an exceptional job of keeping their bad blood alive. When it came time for them to heat things up again at the onset of 2012 right before their bout at WrestleMania 28, they had no problem doing so, and everything they said hitting home merely intensified matters.

That first Rock vs. Cena match was far from a technical masterpiece, but because the build was so good, it had the same big fight feel Rock vs. Hulk Hogan did a decade earlier. In other words, it was everything it needed to be and more.

Rock's shocking victory sent Cena's career into a tailspin, and the only way he could redeem himself is if he avenged that loss at WrestleMania 29. Sure enough, he knocked off The Great One and had the torch officially passed to him, even if their original encounter was noticeably better.

At the rate WWE is pumping out once-in-a-lifetime Superstars like Rock and Cena, it may be a while before we see a matchup of this magnitude again.

6. Edge vs. Randy Orton

Ideally, the time to do an Edge vs. Randy Orton feud would have been in the late 2000s when both men were still at their physical peak, but no one could have ever anticipated them doing some of the best work of their respective careers just this year.

Edge had been retired from the ring for almost nine years when he made his triumphant return at the Royal Rumble back in January. It took all of one night for him for his grand comeback to be ruined at the dastardly hands of Orton, who obliterated his former friend with a sickening con-chair-to.

The Rated-R Superstar was then kept off TV for the next six weeks while Orton cut great promo after great promo, sometimes letting his actions do the talking for him. It was the most range he had shown as a performer in years.

Meanwhile, Edge held up his end of the bargain quite well when he resurfaced in early March. The passion he incorporated into his promos was powerful, especially in the empty arena setting at the Performance Center.

The only thing preventing this feud from ranking higher on the list is that their Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36 fell well below fans' expectations. Granted, Edge got the redemption he was looking for, but the bout itself could have been handled a bit better.

We may soon see the next chapter of this rivalry based off recent advertising for their upcoming returns to Raw next week, but even if not, the stuff they accomplished earlier this year was enough to leave fans satisfied.

5. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens

Whether it's been in Ring of Honor, NXT or on WWE's main roster, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have always been the bane of the other's existence, and WWE fans wouldn't have it any other way.

Literally the same night Owens debut in NXT at TakeOver: R Evolution, he betrayed Zayn moments removed from Zayn's NXT Championship victory. They went on to feud for the next five months on the black-and-yellow brand, and it was their promos more so than their matches that really exposed them for the exceptional talents that they are.

The best part of their program in NXT is that Zayn's injury left the door open for them to revisit it down the road on the main roster. Less than a year later, Zayn rekindled his rivalry with Owens the first night he resurfaced on Raw and it was off to the faces from there.

The main crux of their feud was that Owens despised everything Zayn did and that he was envious of his former friend signing with WWE before him. That inspired him to do unimaginable things to Zayn and others, but when he finally got his comeuppance at the hands of Zayn at Battleground 2016, it was a thing of beauty.

They've crossed paths countless times over the years and their careers will forever be intertwined, for better or for worse. However, their best work was from 2014 through 2016 and spawned many top-notch matches and moments.

4. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H

After CM Punk's meteoric rise to super stardom in 2011, it was unknown who would be next to follow in his footsteps and break out as WWE's most popular commodity. Daniel Bryan was already a man of the people with his signature "Yes!" chant in 2012, but it was his WWE Championship win over John Cena at SummerSlam 2013 that truly elevated him to main event status.

Minutes later, he had his moment stolen from him by Randy Orton courtesy of an opportunistic Money in the Bank cash-in as well as some assistance from Triple H. That kicked off one of the hottest feuds fans had seen in years up to that point.

Technically, the story pitted Bryan against the entire Authority, but that would also include Bryan's matches with Randy Orton in late 2013 and none of those were remotely memorable. Bryan was away from the title picture for a few months before resetting his sights on Triple H after CM Punk pulled out of WrestleMania 30.

The dynamic HHH and Bryan had was exceptional because of how they were polar opposites. The Game had just moved into a full-time corporate position with WWE, whereas Bryan was the ultimate underdog who fans desperately wanted to see succeed.

The brawls they were having leading up to their anticipated clash at WrestleMania were almost uncomfortable to watch at times because of how brutally HHH would beat down Bryan. However, those attacks only endeared Bryan to the audience that much more and led him to prevailing over the COO of WWE on the grandest stage of them all.

Needless to say, the sheer thought of Bryan beating Triple H a year or two earlier would have been laughable, but it was now a believable reality after all the hard work Bryan and HHH put into making their story so enthralling.

3. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks

Trish Stratus vs. Lita was the first and only women's rivalry for a long time that fans could latch onto because of how it broke barriers for the ladies of WWE and ushered in a new era of women's wrestling. Unfortunately, it felt like everything they built went to waste following their respective retirements, as the "Divas division" was largely slept on for the better part of a decade.

To no fault of their own, the women constantly busted their tails yet weren't getting the same opportunities as the men. That changed once women's wrestling experienced a resurgence in NXT thanks to the emerging foursome of Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch.

Flair and Banks had their first high-profile match at TakeOver: R Evolution where Flair successfully retained her NXT Women's Championship. They went on to wrestle in the main event of NXT TV months later with the gold up for grabs before being called up to Raw on the same night (along with Lynch).

The "Divas Revolution" wasn't as important as the eventual feud between Banks and Flair was the subsequent summer. Their chemistry was already undeniable in NXT, but the big stage gave them the platform they deserved to show the world just how amazing women's wrestling could be.

Not only were their matches some of the best in the main roster's history, they were always one-upping each other in every stipulation imaginable. They fought in the first-ever women's Hell in a Cell match, a Falls Count Anywhere match, and even an Iron Man match.

It was also during this period that they became the first women to main event a pay-per-view and the first women in many years to main event an episode of Raw. Banks vs. Bayley and Becky Lynch vs. Flair were fun feuds as well, but this one in particular was revolutionary in many ways.

2. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

The seemingly never-ending Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa rivalry bares a lot of similarities to that of Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens, except that it's been a tad bit better for a few different reasons.

The two former independent standouts have crafted a beautifully-told story over the last five years, starting with them coming into WWE together as teammates in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Within a year, they became a top tandem in NXT, captured the NXT Tag Team Championship in what was the Match of the Year for WWE in 2016, and went their separate ways mere months later upon Ciampa betraying Gargano.

Ciampa getting seriously injured the same night he stabbed his best friend in the back ended up being the best thing for their feud. It allowed Gargano to emerge as the brand's lead babyface in the months that followed, and by the time they finally clashed at TakeOver: New Orleans, fans were ready to see them rip each other apart.

Little did the audience know that their five-star clash on that show would only be the beginning of something much bigger between them.

Their next two matches that summer (the Street Fight and Last Man Standing match, respectively) were equally entertaining but didn't have definitive conclusions. That was because NXT planned on revisiting their rivalry in time for WrestleMania weekend in 2019 before Ciampa went down with an unforeseen neck injury.

Despite that, their story went full circle with Ciampa congratulating Gargano following his NXT Championship victory at TakeOver: New York. They feuded one final time earlier this year, only with the roles reversed.

The quality of their matches is one thing, but their ability to thrive regardless of whether they're positioned as faces or heels will always be the most impressive part of their rivalry. It's all about personal vendettas with the former DIY partners and that's why their wars will never lose their luster.

1. John Cena vs. CM Punk

Monday Night Raw was perhaps at its most must-see (at least in the last decade) when John Cena and CM Punk were feuding over the WWE Championship in the summer of 2011.

Every week leading up to the Money in the Bank pay-per-view was something fresh and exciting. It had been years since the show had been so suspenseful with fans anxiously awaiting what would happen next.

Whenever Punk had a mic in his hand, fans listened. Cena also held his own during all of their exchanges and was the perfect company-man foil for the anti-authority Punk.

Punk's "pipe bomb" promo and the ripple effect it had on WWE at the time is well-documented, as is their outstanding encounter in Chicago. Punk promised to leave the company had he won the title, which made his hard-fought victory that night that much more memorable.

Although Punk should have legitimately taken time off after that and returned down the road, WWE wanted to quickly capitalize on his momentum and opted to bring him back sooner than expected to resume his rivalry with Cena. The two faced off in a rematch at SummerSlam where The Voice of the Voiceless again emerged victorious.

Had that been the end of their feud, it would have been an all-timer. What made it better was how they picked up right where they left off one year later with Punk turning heel on Cena and the two contesting another series of stellar matches for the top title.

Their final match on the February 25, 2013 edition of Raw was perhaps their best ever and saw Cena score the win. With their chemistry never ceasing to translate to marquee main events and phenomenal promos, it's hard to argue against Punk vs. Cena being the greatest rivalry in recent memory.

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