WWE's 10 Biggest Falls From Grace In 2018

Not all fall... some are pushed.

Bobby Lashley Wwe
WWE

It's been said that the current WWE roster is the most talented group of in-ring workers that the company has ever had. And it's hard to disagree with that sentiment - you've got AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet, Konnor of The Ascension... the talent pool is simply unbelievable.

That being said, there is a lot more that goes into being a WWE superstar than having a good look or being slick between the ropes. You've also got to have charisma, you've got to be able to tell a story in both your matches and your promos, you need to have a well-developed character, a purpose, and so on and so forth. But even if you check off all of these boxes, even if you do everything right, you can still slide down WWE's proverbial totem pole in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes, this is because the boss (no, not Sasha Banks) simply doesn't see in you what the fans do. Other times, it's because the creative team is so baffled over how to utilize all of this talent properly that they just say "f**k it" and shoehorn you into some random storyline without a second thought. Unfortunately, these events can come at the expense of superstars who have or could have done bigger and better things for the company.

So, let's take a look at a few superstars who slipped farthest away from the "brass ring" in just one year's time.

10. The Authors Of Pain

Bobby Lashley Wwe
WWE.com

Akam and Rezar of The Authors of Pain are two serviceable big men in their early 20s, so to say it's too late for them to see any success would be utterly fallacious. However, they aren't exactly off to the best of starts.

After ditching legendary manager Paul Ellering upon their main roster arrival, the once-dominant team basically vanished from television. They resurfaced in the latter part of the year with 205 Live GM Drake Maverick as their manager, which makes absolutely zero sense from a storytelling perspective. Dropping Ellering, a man who has played a part in elevating a team of huge guys into the upper echelon of great tag teams throughout history, in favor of Maverick, a guy with little to no experience as a wrestling manager, is a mind-bogglingly stupid decision on anybody's part.

While they did capture RAW's Tag Team Championships with Maverick in their corner, they did so by defeating one guy (Seth Rollins). After Maverick turned the team into a walking pee joke at Survivor Series, they lost the title just over a month later to the hastily-thrown-together team of Bobby Roode and Chad Gable. And guess who got pinned in that match? You guessed it - Drake f***ing Maverick.

Case and point, AOP needs to drop Drake in 2019 or else they'll risk leaving an indelible black mark on their credibility.

Contributor

He/him/his. Born in 1992. Lifetime native of Massachusetts. Part-time columnist. Aspiring actor/singer. Black Belt. Twitch Affiliate. Drinks iced coffee all year round. Loves pro-wrestling and MMA.