10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2020

9. RAW Underground

Alexa Bliss Bray Wyatt
WWE.com

Shane McMahon saunters into the back door of the Performance Center, doing that little dance. Vince McMahon is inside blowing a gasket. The script sucks. The ratings suck. Goddamnit, he needs ideas.

Some droplets of sweat form a pool on the 33-page Randy Orton promo he is amending in red pen. He looks up. The prodigal son has returned. "I've got an idea, dad," he days.

"A sick idea."

The idea is an underground fighting club in which several wrestlers no casual fan has ever heard of fight for no stakes, no prize, no purpose. If you'd like to know who they are, then tough sh*t: the camera cuts are even worse than on the main show. The fights don't much resemble worked shoots. This isn't the UWF-i; this is a fairly cooperative ground and strike-based version of the WWE style MC'd by an incredibly enthusiastic Shane McMahon who screams, incessantly, "That's sick! Oh man that's sick!"

He does so in front of ring girls who disappear after a week when somebody reminds management that they decided to treat women like women five years prior - some 95 years after they were given the right to vote.

Shane also gets between the fighters when one is winning handily and says things like "Hey! Hey! It's over, you did good, you did good!"

Shane McMahon likes MMA. He thinks that sh*t is f*cking sick.

Contributor
Contributor

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 surefire Undisputed WWE Universal 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!