10 Times WWE Booked The Wrong Guy To Win
9. Mark Henry Beats Ryback - WrestleMania 29
All sorts of nonsense to extrapolate here.
The decision to turn Ryback heel in the wake of this debacle was puzzling; before the NXT era, there was hardly a surfeit of Superstars primed to supplant or compete with Cena as a top WWE draw. Ryback's patient push, an aberration in those ADHD times, hadn't yet petered out. He retained fan support despite being subjected to a series of groan-inducing interference-laden finishes which nonetheless did protect his then still-glowing aura.
This match, on the surface, seemed to serve one purpose: reinforce Ryback's herculean act by having him smash the elephantine Henry with his Shell Shocked finisher, creating a microlevel Hogan Vs. Andre 'Mania highlight reel moment in the process.
Instead, WWE booked Henry - whose Hall of Pain persona had long since lost its lustre - to go over Ryback, whose impending heel role was dead before it began. It was a typically frustrating example of the rote 50/50 booking philosophy - in protecting Henry, WWE were left with a challenger who had zero momentum before engaging in what was already a fairly predictable series.
It could be argued that Ryback's loss served as motivation for his subsequent turn - but it hardly positioned him as the cracked mirror Cena doppelgänger necessary to imbue their feud with must-see stakes.