10 Worst Decisions We Have Made As The Authority Of WWE
8. Only Selectively Put An End To The Automatic Rematch Clause
This was key to rehabilitating our brand image.
WWE has never offered so much product, and the product has never felt so over-familiar. The endless rematches almost dared the audience to stop watching, because the audience had effectively watched the exact same show the week prior. And so, they did not watch, ratings tumbled, and we became the Authority.
The very first thing we did was assuage the concerns of the audience by outright telling them that, look, the whole automatic rematch thing is antiquated. The second thing we did was announce, with no storyline cause, an Asuka Vs. Becky Lynch SmackDown Women's Title match for the 2019 Royal Rumble on Twitter.
Oops!
To correct this, but to also effect absolutely no meaningful change whatsoever, we simply shoved Becky Lynch into a No. 1 Contender's match, which she won, obviously. We liked this trick - it filled TV and pay-per-view time, and with so little effort! - and so we repeated it with AJ Styles.
Much like WWE, we are unable to conceive of personal, emotional grudges that may divide our Superstars and set them on a collision course. For example, we are not going to book Samoa Joe Vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 35, even though both men debuted in the same feeder league and entered WWE having taken the most divergent paths imaginable - something that perhaps might irritate Joe, the heel with a penchant for attacking people.