10 Worst WWE Booking Decisions Of 2017 (So Far)
6. John Cena's 16th World Title
The WWE Championship has taken an absolute pounding this year. Pointless title switches, lowly champions, and poorly written feuds have damaged its credibility to the point where it no longer feels like SmackDown’s most prestigious title. Kevin Owens’ United States Championship has overtaken it, and given the state of that belt's prestige a few months ago, that’s quite remarkable.
The slide started at the 2017 Royal Rumble, when John Cena needlessly ended AJ Styles’ tremendous title reign. The match was outstanding, and probably the main roster’s best of 2017 thus far, but while Cena’s double Attitude Adjustment finish was exciting, the outcome existed only to write his name alongside Ric Flair’s in the history books.
The win saw Cena equal ‘The Nature Boy’s’ record of 16 world titles, and John lost the belt just 14 days later, having failed to make a single successful defence. This was one of the most egregious recent examples of WWE sacrificing storytelling and their top title’s credibility for the sake of "creating a moment", and we can probably look forward to a similar situation when Cena returns, as making the record his own feels inevitable at this point.