10 Storylines WWE ENJOYED Ruining
A legacy of letdowns.
It shouldn't and probably isn't in WWE's DNA to ruin great wrestling.
Their product, for better and worse, is a show that never ends. Their structure is one that affords, justifies and actively encourages this ludicrous schedule. When it comes to audience, theirs is a vocal-but-patient and loyal one, even though 2019 marked the first year that they wouldn't be responsible for over half of the company's revenue. As a business, it is a system that shouldn't function so successfully from a financial point of view whilst it fails so profoundly and producing common sense creative and well-structured storytelling as an end product. Indeed, in spite of best efforts (or...some efforts at least), fans and television executives want to spend money on WWE, and WWE thus don't want to ruin the reason way.
Apart from when they do.
It can't have escaped your attention that Ricochet's recent loss to Brock Lesnar was stark in how brutal and basic it was. 'The One & Only' beat every big man on Raw and was then hauled into a studio to give a bit of a "and I'm gonna beat Brock too" speech for a video packages ahead of the eventual squash. And this was a squash. He lost again a few days later on Raw in what might yet prove to be the start of a redemptive arc, but imagine not needing that redemption in the first place.
Sometimes, the decision makers honestly just can't help themselves...
10. Christian's Return From TNA
Vince McMahon gave so little of a sh*t about Chrisitian when he had hold of him that he wanted to cover his face up with a blue dot, and yet as soon as 'Captain Charisma' made the life and career move to give upstart promotion TNA a crack, The Chairman marked his cards,
Christian's February 2009 return to the fold was, by most trusted accounts, due to come as part of the ongoing storyline between Edge and Jeff Hardy. This made sense - both men had deep connections to Christian's past, and with Matt Hardy being carefully included as a babyface, could have made for a prosperous four-way future with WrestleMania on the horizon.
Common sense booking dictated this, which is why fans vocally predicted it around Royal Rumble weekend during a Hardy/Edge WWE Championship clash. Allegedly raging with the "leak", McMahon swerved everybody and put a heel-turning Matt in the spot, leaving Christian to...debut unannounced on depleted third brand ECW.
"It's...Christian" was Todd Grisham's offensively understated response, while Matt Striker announced (!) that he was speechless. If only, and if only we hadn't lost the inevitable Hardyz/Edge & Christian reboot some 10 years on from their inaugural wars.