10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2018
Responding to utter, non-stop contempt in kind.
To top the dismal, shocking, lame, futile trolling that masqueraded as "booking" in 2018 next year, WWE would have to:
- Promote Matt Riddle and Aleister Black to the main roster as a strange bedfellows tag act, one that sees the King of Bros encourage the former Tommy End to look at the bright side of life, and culminates with Black joining in with the "Bro!" chants after various trips to f*cking Disney World melt his cold exterior.
- Plunge Becky Lynch's momentum after they learn she is actually writing her own tweets, and that will not do.
- Repackage The Revival as the New New Midnight Express, if in fact they're not there already.
- Book Kane to return and join the New Day, because everything is comedy that isn't funny.
- Separate Andrade Almas from Zelina Vega, for no discernible reason.
- Or just continue to not consistently book Almas, one of the best performers on the planet...
The title alone should let you, the reader, know what you're in for. This will be a N E G A T I V E piece, and unless you bear the name Stan Mark, you cannot in good faith justify any of WWE's brain-blasting misfires this year.
If you're looking to read more positive material, please, be our guest.
This isn't a positive article, and nor should it be. WWE had a right old Billy Gunn of a year; it was ass, and it sucked and blew at the same time.
10. Brock Lesnar Retains
Oh boy. What a total, all-out shambles this one decision caused.
WWE had already, to promote WrestleMania 34's main event, conditioned its audience to not care about Brock Lesnar, who approached the role with a method actor's conviction. The idea, and it was a risk in itself, was to make us so apathetic towards the Beast that we'd somehow care about Roman Reigns by virtue of him not being Brock Lesnar. The thing is, Seth Rollins also wasn't Brock Lesnar. Nor was Finn Bálor. This "lesser of two evils" pitch did not work, because WWE conspired to make the lesser of two evils the second most alienating performer on the roster.
And then, in a total shocker, Lesnar only went and defeated Roman in New Orleans. Less shockingly, nobody gave a f*ck.
As Roman Reigns found himself soaked in his own blood, fans, ignoring comprehensively any ingrained human sympathy, hurled beach balls around the Superdome. Even WWE's Guy couldn't get it done against a mercenary who couldn't give a sh*t. Roman looked like a loser - even more so, when he moaned about the shady deal as if it were all a worked shoot of sorts. The detached irony of April 8 escalated into a spring/summer/brand-wide resentment as RAW, devoid of its critical narrative focal point, turned into a parade of the rank-and-file doing unanimously meaningless and often very lame things.
And, since WWE's big idea to reheat Roman was to programme him with Jinder Mahal, we forgot "tedious".