10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2022
2. The Failure Of Damage CTRL
This is another major test that Triple H has failed.
This was his first mission statement. While he inherited the SummerSlam match card, the group that would become known as Damage CTRL were very much his addition to it.
Two of the three members are woefully miscast. Bayley is one of the best babyfaces of her generation cursed to deliver awful, obnoxious "each and every one of you" drivel. Dakota Kai, another outstanding natural babyface, a role that WWE has badly struggled with all century, is also cringe-worthy when she tries to play a conniving heel. It simply is not her.
The unit entered the ring to a wildly generic rap/rock fusion theme, as basic as it gets, and simply regurgitated their thin mission statement - they wanted to take control of and save the women's division - in response to which Bianca Belair found the nearest two directionless babyfaces, Alexa Bliss and Asuka, who never seemed to develop any chemistry. They were an unconvincing narrative convenience with which Triple H could arrive at WarGames...
...before which Damage CTRL were hardly built as a threat.
Surely, the idea was to build a dominant heel stable that made the babyfaces resonate as all the more heroic for prevailing against. This didn't happen; leader Bayley lost a major PPV singles match, and Kai and IYO SKY went 50/50 in their pursuit of the Women's Tag Team titles.
Inscrutably messy booking from a man who was meant to bring the dry, tried-and-true basics back to WWE.