10 Worst Booked WWE Champions Of 2020
3. Rhea Ripley (NXT Women's Championship)
Eight months on, we're still not sure what Rhea Ripley's NXT title run was supposed to accomplish.
When Rhea dethroned the seemingly insurmountable Shayna Baszler, the crowd (remember those?) were electric, blowing the roof off the arena in celebration of Ripley's accomplishment. Anyone watching would have thought WWE had found the next superstar to carry NXT's stellar women's division through 2020. Three months later, that superstar was left whimpering in the ring after tapping out in the biggest match of her career.
It cannot be overstated just how badly this hurt Rhea's momentum. The badass Nightmare was reduced to a weepy mess on the Grandest Stage of Them All, her aura shattered as months of character development went swirling down the drain. This wasn't like Ripley's recent loss to Io Shirai (arguably WWE's best champion of 2020), where the Nightmare looked like an absolute warrior even in defeat. Ripley's loss to Charlotte left her looking hopelessly out of her depth, another NXT call-up who couldn't handle the big time as McMahon continued his bizarre fetish for burying the black and gold brand at any given opportunity.
Unfortunately, Charlotte's subsequent title reign didn't exactly justify Rhea's WrestleMania sacrifice...