10 Wrestling Matches That Ruled With Builds That Sucked

8. John Cena Vs The Fiend (WWE WrestleMania 36)

Shaq AEW
WWE.com

The Fiend looked about a foot tall as he pointed at the WrestleMania sign behind John Cena's back on the 28th February 2020 edition of SmackDown, and it was more than just a framing and composition issue.

Bray Wyatt's alter ego and been humbled and humiliated by a Super ShowDown Universal Championship loss to Bill Goldberg 24 hours earlier. Just weeks before the entire world would be brought to a standstill, so too would The Fiend's fear factor. Wyatt had been hobbled by WWE's booking yet again, with this match against 'The Champ' looking as much like a marriage of convenience make-good as a long-awaited rematch.

It got no better as the pandemic tightened its grip either - Cena had to cut promos on puppets in the empty Performance Center before ethering Wyatt in a speech so close to the Goldberg defeat that it almost felt like part of a permanent binning of the gimmick.

WrestleMania's stunning FireFly Fun House match changed that of course. For like a week.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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