10 Great Wrestlers Who Couldn't Have A Good Match Together

Booking a great wrestling match seems remarkably simple from an outsider's perspective. Take two outstanding performers, give them a reason to want to fight each other, then book the match. Job done, right?

Wrong.

Putting two wrestlers with great reputations in the same place at the same time is often all it takes, but wrestling, just like everything else, isn't always that straightforward. The wheels fall off potentially awesome matches all the time, and while this is often down to oddball booking and tiresome sports entertainment tropes, sometimes it's the intangibles.

Some wrestlers just don't mesh well. It sounds simplistic, but it's true. Countless 'dream matches' have fallen short of expectations over the years, and while the reasons are many (from a lack of in-ring chemistry to incompatible styles), their examples serve as proof that quality is never guaranteed, even in an environment as heavily controlled and coordinated as a wrestling match. Even the best performers in the world can leave crowds frustrated, and when it happens multiple times against the same opponent, it's safe to say they don't gel.

These pairings seemed foolproof at the time, but ultimately delivered disappointment in place of classic matches.

Kevin Owens and AJ Styles are two of WWE's most popular performers, and their respective track records suggested that they should've been able to produce a great series of matches without breaking a sweat. Sadly, their feud didn't come close to delivering to the extent it should have, and will ultimately go down as one of 2017's more disappointing rivalries.

Backlash was their strongest bout, but was mired by a lame finish that saw Styles, the consensus best wrestler in the company, get counted out after trapping his foot in the announce table. This was followed by a pedestrian midcard plodder with a horrendous botched finish at Battleground, a forgettable TV match on the 1 August episode of SmackDown, and a SummerSlam bout that was all about special referee Shane McMahon, not the participants.

The rivalry concluded with another bang average match on 22 August, and while rarely bad, the bouts didn't come close to meeting expectations. This was partly down to the booking, but remove this from the equation and you'd still be left with a string of disappointing performances. Though fine on a technical level, the Styles vs. Owens matches rarely broke out of second gear, proving that in-ring chemistry is never guaranteed, even between two of the world's finest.