10 Worst Booked WWE Champions Of 2020
4. The Fiend/Bray Wyatt (WWE Universal Championship)
We're not sure what the worst thing about The Fiend's time as Universal Champion was: the way he lost the belt or that he ever held it in the first place.
Let's discuss the second point first. This writer is a big fan of Bray Wyatt's "children's entertainer possessed by a malevolent clown demon" character, and the fact that Wyatt got such a ridiculous persona over to the extent he did is testament to his storytelling skills. Unfortunately, the powers that be at WWE couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to fast-track The Fiend to the Universal Championship.
This made no sense - The Fiend is (apparently) the supernatural embodiment of the bitterness and rage felt by Bray over his ultimately disappointing first run in McMahon's company. Going after the belt was a totally unnecessary diversion for the character and one that transformed him from the most unique wrestler in the business into a generic title-chasing heel, albeit one with a penchant for mood lighting and aggressive chiropractic care.
Taking the belt off Wyatt was undoubtedly the right call but the way WWE went about it left much to be desired. Booked to face Goldberg at Super Showdown, Goldberg channeled 2010-era Cena and convinced WWE to have him overcome the Fiend to send the kids home happy (because that worked out so well for the Nexus). The match stunk out the joint, with Goldberg squashing the previously invincible Fiend in three minutes because that's all Goldberg is capable of these days (or any day, for that matter).
Speaking of pointless reigns that ended badly...