10 Ways WWE Has Shot Itself In The Foot In 2026
WWE's biggest enemy in 2026 has been... WWE.
When Vince McMahon announced his first "retirement" in 2022, fans were praying for a new golden age under the guidance of Triple H. It looked like that's where things were going, especially following the emotional ending to WrestleMania XL.
Unfortunately, ever since Cody Rhodes hoisted the WWE title above his head, things have steadily gotten worse. Now, there are some people who want Vince to come back. Those people are mad, but they do exist.
2026 has been a perfect microcosm of everything that is wrong with the TKO version of WWE. Glacial booking, a lack of original ideas, and shamelessly naked corporate greed have all compounded to make it very hard to root for the promotion anymore.
With the year only half over, there have already been plenty of examples of how WWE has been its own worst enemy. There's every chance that they could turn things around between now and December, but right now, it's difficult to look at what they're doing and describe it as anything other than embarrassing.
Can it possibly get worse? Stranger things have happened...
10. Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
In theory, a debuting wrestler defeating a top star at WrestleMania should be a good thing. This is exactly what happened when Oba Femi took on Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42. He left The Beast laying in the ring and beat him so badly that he 'retired' from wrestling altogether.
This should have been the launchpad for Femi to go right to the very top. However, in modern WWE, nothing ever happens when it should.
The former NXT Champion spent the next few weeks having entertaining, but ultimately pointless squash matches on Raw. Everyone suspected this would continue for a few months before Lesnar returned to set up a proper retirement match at SummerSlam, which was taking place in Brock's home state of Minnesota.
Instead, Lesnar came back on the May 18th edition of Raw, laying out Femi and challenging him to a match at Clash in Italy. He then defeated The Ruler to level the scores in their feud, which did the young monster no favours.
Femi is almost certainly going to win the rubber match, but this should have just been a one-and-done.