10 Biggest Promises WWE Broke In 2020

8. "Rhea Ripley's Creative Will Make Sense"

Bray Wyatt Hack
WWE.com

This is an incredible thing to consider in December 2020.

AEW Dynamite just thrashed NXT 995,000 - 659,000 this week, and is creeping up on RAW's key demos like Bray Wyatt doing his "He's behind you!" panto bullsh*t. Probably because Bray Wyatt does "He's behind you!" panto bullsh*t on RAW.

But in December 2019, Rhea Ripley wasn't just the next big thing in WWE's Women's division. On the strength of her awesome NXT Women's Championship - and key demo - win over Shayna Baszler on the 18th, she was the Queen of Wednesday nights across USA and TNT. She was the Demogoddess.

But you see, WWE already has a Queen!

And so she was jobbed out to/put over via osmosis by being in the exalted presence of Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36. She cried in the aftermath and failed to reclaim the title at TakeOver: In Your House, following which she was demoted to a comedy feud with the Robert Stone Brand. After a dire programme that seemed to want to get the brick sh*thouse warrior over as an obnoxious WWE-style face, she lost clean in the middle to Io Shirai, didn't turn heel, and lost in WarGames, advantage be damned. NXT, insanely, plotted (and botched) a redemption arc after she'd already gotten over big. Triple H promised, on the post-In Your House conference call, that the "finish was done tonight the way it was done for a very specific reason. Three to four months from now, people will see why we did that."

"A wizard did it," Triple H shrugged months later, when nobody saw why they did it.

Meaning Road Dogg.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!