10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2018
1. Several Dishonourable Mentions
Had we delved back throughout the year and poured through the minutiae of RAW, it's no exaggeration to state that we could have stretched this list to 50.
At least.
But, to preserve our sanity while at the same time fairly reflecting what was possibly WWE's worst ever creative year, let's make the following dishonourable mentions:
- Bobby Lashley's babyface push. Portrayed as the new, all-smiles, no-sweat John Cena, Lashley was asked to simply smile in the face of Sami Zayn as the Underdog buried the man's family Underground. Maybe if he'd, you know, immediately destroyed Zayn, we'd have, you know, believed in him.
- Breaking up Titus Worldwide and Rusev Day. Both acts wavered in popularity, but now, both are united in anonymity. They had nowhere to go but nowhere, so let's just send them on their way, eh?
- The continued babyface non-push of Bobby Roode. Paired with Chad Gable, it seemed WWE had something in mind for the act. A break-up, a turn, something. But no. If plans don't change in WWE, are those plans then the worst plans of all time?
- Kevin Owens and his annus horribilis. No match for AJ Styles, even with Sami Zayn in tow, he was also no match for a diverticulitis-ridden Shane McMahon, who did all the graft at WrestleMania 34 as his body was boiling itself alive. And then Braun Strowman sent him crashing from a combined height of 40 feet across Money In The Bank and Extreme Rules. Sick of it all, he quit! And then returned next week.
- Finn Bálor and his annus horribilis. Dante scripted Bálor's hellish year, in which he was pasted by various big men all the time, and asked to smile throughout.
- The "dream" feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, which boasted weirdly subdued action and two gaping plot holes. Why didn't AJ Styles wear a cup? And how Strong could the King possibly be, when his ball-first strikes didn't land him the WWE Title over four attempts?
- The resurrection of the Brothers of Destruction and DX. WWE here conspired to make us all resent 'Mania's part-timer season months and months before even the Royal Rumble.
And there we have it. We've probably missed loads, let's face it.