10 Times WWE Booked The Wrong Guy To Win

2. Mabel Beats Savio Vega - King Of The Ring 1995

Cena Bloody Mouth
WWE.com

King Mabel is the reason many perceive 1995 as being the lowest ebb in WWE's celebrated history.

That isn't strictly true - midcard brilliance was in abundance, from unlikely sources in Jean-Pierre Lafitte to the ascendant Shawn Michaels - but Mabel's positioning as monster heel du jour was a tiresome experiment in both cloth-eared concept and deathly-dull execution.

He wasn't Giant Gonzalez-level garbage. He was deceptively mobile and projected a semblance of menace. Regardless, he was barely over and demonstrably incapable of sustaining audience interest even over the span of ten minutes - his SummerSlam 1995 main event with Diesel was somehow as equally atrocious as the previous year's dismal Undertaker Vs. Undertaker debacle.

His push was also much too sudden - it was desperate and derivative, so closely was he modelled after the fading Yokozuna.

Bam Bam Bigelow was sat there doing barely anything following his awesome work at WrestleMania XI, bouncing around the midcard with no consistency. A far superior big man - that is a rote understatement, actually - Bigelow should have challenged Diesel instead of squashing the irredeemably terrible Henry O. Godwinn.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!