10 Totally Stupid Things WWE Has ALREADY DONE Since WrestleMania 33
7. Stipulation Backtracking
The stipulation for the Payback match between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens was hastily retconned - at first, the match was set to decide the brand on which the United States Title would call home. Then, it was quietly announced that the title would remain on SmackDown and that Chris Jericho would follow it if he managed to win. The whole affair was handled so poorly that even SD Live creative bod Road Dogg apologised for it on Twitter.
The House Of Horrors match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt was originally scheduled as a WWE Championship bout, which makes sense. Wyatt lost the gold at 'Mania 33 and per WWE lore was due a mandated rematch.
Soon, any mention of that was omitted from the event's promotional material. It became apparent even more quickly that the title stipulation was scrapped because it got in the way of some neat 50/50 booking. Bray Wyatt is destined for an early summer showdown with Finn Bálor, for which he needs to look strong. Losing two major matches consecutively was too much for Wyatt's aura to take - but having Jinder Mahal win the second on his behalf was fine.
Everybody has to look strong, but everybody ends up weakened. This paradoxical nightmare has been killing the integrity of and meaning behind the product for years.
WWE evidently has no real idea what it's doing from one week to the next - is it little wonder fewer people are watching from one week to the next?