10 Stupidest Things WWE EVER Promoted

5. WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns Vs Adam Pearce

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WWE

Early 2021 was a strange time for the world and an even stranger one for WWE.

The grip the global pandemic had on the world wasn't exactly loosening, but there were reasons to be optimistic for the first time since it first took hold. The Twitter timeline refreshes suddenly worked - vaccinations were happening, the most vulnerable were suddenly a little less so, and the prospect of everything eventually opening back up was looking likely.

Deep into the ThunderDome era, WWE were permitted to have one eye on putting WrestleMania in front of a socially distanced crowd, but they were stuck with at least one Royal Rumble happening in front of those wretched screens. As a result, when this graphic flashed up and Michael Cole's "it's official" rubber-stamped it, the prospect of unstoppable 'Tribal Chief' Roman Reigns fighting a feckless authority figure at the second biggest show of the year

Letting this breathe as the actual clash for an entire week was amusing in hindsight, but the real contest being just another rematch (Reigns' Rumble opponent Kevin Owens had already lost a Championship match) foreshadowed many of the problems WWE later had booking the 'Head Of The Table'.

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