10 Most Anti-Climactic WWE Moments Of 2017

It seems churlish to ignore all the times WWE delivered in 2017, from Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania 33 showdown with Goldberg right down to the thrilling finale of January's UK Championship Tournament.

Whatever criticisms you can make of the modern-day product, there's absolutely no denying that this year has in fact been one of the better ones in recent memory in terms of quality in the ring.

There have, however, also been one or two moments that have left us feeling a little short-changed; the same kind of sensation you get when you've just eaten your dinner and yet still somehow aren't completely full up.

Anti-climaxes are actually fairly common in wrestling, to be fair, mainly because as fans we are often guilty of having hopelessly unrealistic expectations, holding today's shows up to the standards of yesteryear Attitude Era magic and setting ourselves up for a fall.

But this year we're not entirely to blame. On a number of occasions during 2017, WWE laid the groundwork for what promised to be a great pay-off, only to let us down at the last minute with lazy or else just ill-thought-out endings.

This is the first of three moments in the Randy Orton-Bray Wyatt storyline that will feature on this list, which perhaps tells you everything you need to know about their feud and how disappointing it ended up being after some early intrigue.

Perhaps we'd regard Orton's Royal Rumble triumph in a different light if it led to a more accomplished match at WrestleMania - but, then again, there were plenty of groans at the time at the decision to plump for such a safe choice, particularly when so much of the build-up had been centred around Lesnar, Goldberg and 'Taker.

Granted, none of those three were any younger or more deserving than the Viper, but at least they each represented something exciting, the Beast Incarnate being in the midst of an identity crisis, Goldberg back in the ring for the first time in a decade, and The Deadman perhaps preparing for his last ever 'Mania match.

By comparison, Orton had already won the Rumble in the not-too-distant past, and his opponent in Orlando was already pretty obvious to anyone who had been paying attention to the last few weeks of WWE programming. It made sense, of course, but perhaps a little too much.