10 Horrible Decisions That Gave Us Great Wrestling

When McMahon gives you lemons, make lemonade.

The Streak Brock Lesnar Undertaker
WWE.com

Despite former WWE chief financial officer George Barrios' long-running insistence that "super-serving" the audience is one of the company's top priorities, it's safe to say that Vince McMahon and his band of executives don't always go out of their way to appease their own fanbase.

The argument that the Chairman is out of touch isn't without merit. He often seems deaf to the audience's desires, and some instances makes it seem as though deliberately going out of his way to trigger certain types of fans.

Whatever his motivations, Vince's every decision comes under immense scrutiny, particularly in the social media age. See Jinder Mahal's ropey WWE Championship reign for an example of what usually happens in situations like this: 'The Maharaja' completely failed to get over throughout his five-month run, and SmackDown's main event scene plummeted. This is par for the course, but sometimes, even what look like boneheaded, incompetent decisions create solid gold.

There's often no telling how something will pan out until it's put into practice, and while each of these ideas seemed awful at the time, each worked out in the end.

Not even Attitude Era soothsayer Mideon could've foreseen these staggering turnarounds...

10. John Cena's 2015 US Title Win

The Streak Brock Lesnar Undertaker
WWE.com

'The Face That Runs The Place's' current character direction leans heavily into the idea that's no longer the big star in WWE, and must fight for every main event opportunity, but Cena started cycling down from 'Franchise Player' status several years ago.

It began in 2015, when the company decided to remove John from World Title contention as a means of allowing younger talent to take the spotlight and shine. A solid idea, but unfortunately, WWE used it as a way to derail the surging Rusev.

'The Bulgarian Brute' was 146 days into his United States Title run when Cena swept in, pulled out his star-spangled shovel, and took the gold away. In doing this, WWE nuked a potentially marketable heel commodity. Rusev was never the same thread, living out the rest of his WWE tenure on the midcard, but Cena's title run turned out excellently.

His US Championship open challenge series was a triumph, bringing fresh, exciting Raw matches with the likes of Cesaro, Neville, and Sami Zayn. The belt's prestige went through the roof, and while Rusev's burial stunk, the strap's rebirth was an acceptable silver lining.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.