10 Recent Mistakes That WWE MUST Learn From
Three months of constant missteps.
2017 hasn't been a good year for WWE creative. It has brought great moments like the Kevin Owens/Chris Jericho split and Neville's rise as 'King Of The Cruiserweights,' but each of these highs are tempered by at least two or three lows, and the company's failings are many.
From the horrific Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley feuds to Jinder Mahal's sudden ascent and James Ellsworth stealing history at Money In The Bank, the past eight months have been rife with missteps. It'd be a stretch to call this a creative crisis, but this is one area in which they're falling woefully short of their goal of "super-serving" the audience.
The problems have been particularly pronounced over the past few months. SmackDown is slumping, Raw is as inconsistent as ever, and WWE's declining PPV quality reached a nadir at Battleground. These are all products of their own shoddy decision-making, and while WWE obviously can't please everybody at once, it's frustrating to see a company with so many great assets floundering.
The McMahons aren't known for their self-awareness, but WWE will be setting themselves up for a rocky end to the year if they don't learn from these mistakes.
10. Mike Kanellis' DOA Debut
Mike Kanellis' WWE run has been a perfect example of how not to book a debuting superstar.
The former TNA and ROH man arrived with wife Maria at Money In The Bank. It was a cold, confusing debut segment that played up the duo's affection for each other, and saw them promising to bring "the power of love" to SmackDown. Mike entered a brief feud with Sami Zayn over the coming weeks, and after a series of listless backstage segments, it ended with a tag match loss on 25 July.
Kanellis hasn't wrestled since. Him and Maria couldn't be colder at the moment, which is primarily down to the lame, dead on arrival gimmick they've been lumbered with. It's roughly the same shtick they were using on Impact, and with no character depth outside of "he really loves his wife," Mike has no hope of getting over.
The follow up has been equally poor, with Mike and Sami going 1-1 in singles bouts prior to the tag match. Now, he just isn't being used. WWE have buried him beneath 2017's most ineffectual debut, and they must take measures to ensure these errors aren't repeated with other new arrivals.