10 Worst WWE Matches Of 2021 (So Far)

8. Damian Priest Vs Elias (Monday Night Raw, March 1st)

Alexa Bliss The Fiend
WWE.com

WWE can't book.

It's a truism so evident at least once a week that it barely needs justifying with examples anymore. The machine's inability to effectively craft an entire wrestling show (as opposed to a series of identikit matches and lame skits that scan as an objective success because they keep oligarch paymasters happy) is clear in the good stories let alone the bad ones.

Damian Priest is in the midst of a push in 2021, but you'd be forgiven for missing that entirely. The success of such a thing - especially when relating to an NXT call-up - can basically be judged on how quickly a performer becomes normalised by the shackles of the system, and Priest's mostly avoided the worst of it since his January arrival.

And yet. And yet and yet and yet.

Not only does he feature twice in this list in spite of all that, but in this case it's because WWE offered way, way too much of him for absolutely no f*cking reason on a random Monday Night in March.

Between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, Priest beat The Miz in 4:25, Angel Garza in 3:45 and 6:15 and Jaxson Ryker in 0:35. Absolutely ideal stuff for him, had the run not been poleaxed by the inexplicable 15 minute bout with Elias.

Sinfully dull, this simply couldn't have existed with crowds in attendance. They'd have sh*t on it from all heights. This was just one of the endless hypotheticals to consider during a quarter of an hour that failed spectacularly to capture or keep the attention.

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett