10 Disastrous WWE Booking Decisions Triple H Has Already Botched

8. Getting The SmackDown Women's Championship Away From Ronda Rousey

Sami Zayn
WWE.com

It took Ronda Rousey almost 12 months to have a match that closely resembled the magic of her 2018-2019 maiden run, and in frustratingly familiar fashion, what immediately followed it brought the curtain down on a Championship reign.

'The Baddest Woman On The Planet' was defeated by a returning Charlotte Flair in a matter of seconds after she'd survived a punishing defence against Raquel Rodriguez. This, despite the fact that she'd played a bully heel alongside Shayna Baszler for months and beaten 'The Queen' clean as a sheet to take the title all the way back at May's WrestleMania Backlash.

Flair, meanwhile was positioned as a babyface in this exchange, which revealed the whole thing as a rather lazy and transparent attempt to generate more buzz for a SmackDown that also featured John Cena, and take Rousey out of the title picture before WrestleMania season kicked off real. She was booked not to give a sh*t either - no Rumble appearance followed by a fairly understated return two weeks out from February's Elimination Chamber PLE was deadeningly lowkey.

She's still one of the wrestlers who simply cannot be left of the biggest show of the company calendar, but nothing else on the horizon currently looks particularly appealing for either side.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett