10 Times WWE Completely Buried Ring Of Honor World Champions

9. Mom And Dad

Kevin Owens Pie
WWE.com

The former Tyler Black has had a pretty blessed tenure with Vince McMahon compared to numerous contemporaries that tried and failed before and after him, but the former Shield member and WWE Champion was victimised so heavily on television in the latter stages of his first run with the title that his painful November 2015 knee injury may have been a blessing in disguise.

'The Architect' was at first immune to the caustic 'support' of Authority figureheads Triple H and Stephanie McMahon having abandoned The Shield in 2014 to take the shortcut to main event supremacy.

However, mere months into his title reign, the power couple had reverted to type with their routine degradation of the company's so-called top heel.

It's a soul-destroying trope the company falls back on, ostensibly to 'motivate' said heel that in actuality makes them look like a pandering goon to tired bosses because...well, that's exactly what they are.

Week after week Rollins was eviscerated by his so-called associates, and even placed him in matches against the likes of Brock Lesnar and John Cena designed to disadvantage (or, 'test') him.

The injury soured an endgame to turn him for a WrestleMania match with 'The Game', presumably in protest to their relentless abuse, but that would have also flopped. Whinging at no longer receiving preferential treatment does not a good babyface make, and the company's inability to grasp that only made weeks of deeply flawed television that much more infuriating.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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