12 Times WWE Buried Their Own Champions

2019 was not a good year for WWE creative, but things surely dipped to the lowest of lows when Seth Rollins met Bray Wyatt's alter ego 'The Fiend'. Their feud was torture to sit through, and it was clearly torture for Seth to work. He's admitted that he wanted to throttle Vince backstage following events at Hell In A Cell.

There, Rollins and 'Fiend' infamously went to a non-finish inside the titular Cell. It was a disgraceful call, one that made Seth look like a chump as champ. Later, he lost the Universal Title to Bray at Crown Jewel in another match that suffered from WWE's cartoonish desire to present 'The Fiend' as otherworldly.

In truth, Seth had been overexposed as a babyface before bumping into Wyatt, but WWE certainly didn't need to go out of their way to make things worse. Some of the going nowhere promos that Rollins cut on TV did enough damage, and yet he had credit in the bank with audiences due to inspired wins over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 35 and again at SummerSlam.

The feud with 'Fiend' was a nosedive moment for Rollins in 2019.

He bumbled his way through clumsily-produced segments at the 'Firefly Fun House', and the story lacked that gritty underdog reality he'd worked vs. Brock. Suddenly, suspending one's disbelief enough to enjoy the show became impossible. HIAC knackered the rivalry, then Crown Jewel smacked Seth around the chops for daring to think that he could become the man around these parts.

The less said about Rollins teaming up with real-life flame Becky Lynch the better too.