5 Biggest Missed Opportunities From WWE Super ShowDown 2020
Should have, would have, could have. Didn't.
The Showcase of the Immortals may be on the horizon but that wasn't enough to deter WWE from putting on another WrestleMania-sized PPV in the buildup to the real thing. Yup, that's right, the superstars of Raw, SmackDown and even some from NXT arrived in Saudi Arabia as the company put on its third-annual Super ShowDown event.
Like we've seen in the past with these super-sized shows, this year's edition once again featured a semi-retired part-timer in a main event match as Goldberg - a man all too familiar with Super ShowDown after his infamous battle with The Undertaker last year - challenged 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship. Elsewhere, Brock Lesnar put his gold on the line against WWE's resident superhero Ricochet and Roman Reigns attempted to bring his never-ending feud with Baron Corbin to a long overdue close inside a steel cage.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself one times too many as Super ShowDown 2020 suffered from a number of familiar issues that has plagued the company in recent years. Granted, it wasn't the worst that these 'international house-shows' have offered, but it was far from the best as the creative team missed quite a few opportunities to put on a much more enjoyable show.
5. The Wrong Order Of Participants In The Opening Match
In theory, the gauntlet match should have been an entertaining way for WWE to open Super ShowDown because it could have been a fun gimmick to get the crowd riled up and allow the event to start on a high, but unfortunately they only went and messed it up with the dullest order of combatants possible (bar the last two obviously).
While R-Truth was successful in getting a rise out of the audience, he's not exactly known for working the most high-quality match-ups these days, so it was only a matter of time until the pace dragged. Unfortunately, it wasn't helped by the fact that he was paired with Bobby Lashley - who the crowd just didn't care about. To top it all off, the creative team came up with stupid ways of making him advance to the next round, meaning that he was also paired with the likes of Andrade and Rowan - both of whom the crowd weren't interested in either.
Granted, Rey Mysterio couldn't have come out due to the planned Styles/Undertaker angle, but if they had come up with a creative way of allowing Styles to get involved earlier - or even let him and Truth have some real fun together in the ring - the opening bout might not have been such an unexpected drag.
For all its faults, Super ShowDown could have opened with a great match. Safe to say that didn't happen.