10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2019
7. The Roman Reigns Murder Mystery
Before SmackDown jumped to its new home on FOX, fans were "treated" to one more parting shot on the USA Network. Over the summer, someone pushed scaffolding on top of Roman Reigns backstage and tried to smash a car into him in the parking lot. Who would do such a dastardly thing?
Erick Rowan, the same guy who's now fawning over a caged pet on Raw. That's who.
Problems hit the storyline immediately when Reigns weirdly bullied Buddy Murphy into leaking false information, then believed that heel Daniel Bryan had nothing to do with it without really questioning his character. Rowan was the culprit, end of story. One singles pay-per-view brawl at Clash Of Champions and tag match (with Luke Harper) at HIAC later, WWE moved on.
The 'whodunit' was a ratings ploy that didn't work. Fans spent most of the time ignoring the angle's attempt at a serious tone and clamouring for Bryan to turn babyface again instead. Meanwhile, Harper's big return was wasted.