10 Worst WWE Booking Decisions Of 2017 (So Far)

10. Dolph Ziggler Defeats AJ Styles

Once a consensus pick for WWE’s most under-pushed worker, Dolph Ziggler’s interest levels have never been lower than they are today. ‘The Show-Off’ has been abandoned by all but his most ardent supporters, and while this is primarily down to years of bad booking, he is one of WWE’s most pointless wrestlers in 2017.

That hasn’t stopped the company persisting with him as a moderately well pushed wrestler, and Dolph has been the focus of a couple of confusing booking decisions this year. At Backlash, Ziggler was granted way too much offense in a match that was supposed to put Shinsuke Nakamura over as a star. He lost, but it was him, not Nakamura, who felt like the most important wrestler coming out of the bout, thus defeating its purpose.

Then, nine days later, Ziggler inexplicably defeated AJ Styles on an episode of SmackDown. Putting him over the brand’s franchise player made zero sense on paper or in practice, given their contrasting positions within the hierarchy, and to make matters worse, Ziggler didn’t even benefit from the win. AJ avenged his loss the following week, making it even more confounding that he was booked to lose to such lowly opposition in the first place.