10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2016
2016: a year of terrible ideas.
Things haven't always gone WWE's way this year, but they've had an extremely eventful 12 months. 2016 has been a year of strong pay-per-views, excellent in-ring action (thanks, AJ Styles), and all-round diversification. With the revived Brand Split, Cruiserweight Division, and a refreshed main event scene full of IWC favourites, WWE have put great effort into reviving their product since January, and 2016 will end as one of the most notable years in modern wrestling history.
As is always the case with WWE, you have to take the good with the bad. AJ Styles, Goldberg's return, and the Women's Revolution have been roaring successes, but Roman Reigns, WrestleMania 32, and the ratings crisis? Not so much.
The company's viewership took a significant hit this year, and while figures have been on a steady decline since 2001, September saw Raw hit an all-time low. There are unquestionably a number of external factors influencing this, but the bulk of the blame lies with WWE, and specifically those charged with holding the audience's attention in the first place.
WWE's creative team have given us some fantastic television this year, but they've also delivered more than their fair share of duds. For all WWE's desires to be treated as a serious entertainment company, they regularly deliver some of the most laughable stories imaginable, and 2016 has been a minefield of bad ideas.
Here are the 10 biggest WWE creative mistakes of 2016.
10. Feuding Over A Teddy Bear
The Bayley vs. Alicia Fox feud only kicked off on Raw last week, but its foundations are more than dumb enough to warrant a place on the list. Bayley and Alicia aren’t feuding over a difference of opinion or even for competition’s sake, but because Bayley gave Cedric Alexander a teddy bear on last week’s pre-show, and Alicia’s jealous about it.
Fox has a crush on Alexander, Bayley gave him a gift, and now they’re presumably feuding for his affections. It’s a woefully thin storyline, and one that’s borderline insulting at a time when women’s wrestling has never been more important to WWE. Charlotte and Sasha Banks are treated like two of the company’s most important athletes, but everyone else on Raw is completely disposable, and this story proves it.
It’s good that they’re finding airtime for women outside the title scene, but surely the creative team could’ve come up with something better than this? At a time when WWE fans are crying-out for realism, the company are promoting a story that’d be better suited to Saved By The Bell. Add her last feud with Dana Brooke into the mix, and Bayley’s main roster run looks like misstep after misstep despite her enduring popularity.