25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2021
Highs and lows for WWE and AEW as pandemic restrictions ease and wrestling returns to..."normal"
2021 was a weird year in general, and that was reflected across the landscape of pro wrestling. The world was still finding it's feet after the chaos of the global pandemic, WWE's ThunderDome still dominated the first part of the year, and AEW was still learning the difference between bad taste and completely unacceptable behaviour. And that's before getting to the spooky shenanigans of Alexa Bliss, 'The Fiend', divine forces messing with Finn Balor, and WWE deciding a zombie infestation was a viable creative decision.
Yes, the year that crowds came back to wrestling had it all. From superhero world champions to Cleopatra's golden egg, to exploding rings that didn't explode in the slightest. It's hard to fathom that it was just five years ago that fans around the world were having to discuss black goo coming out of people's mouths and faces, but that's just how it was in 2021.
Some of these wrestling mishaps can be filed under comedically bad storytelling, but there were some altogether darker days, too. These are the worst things to happen across WWE and AEW in the year 2021.
25. Nikki A.S.H.
The Hurricane may have made this gimmick work back in the crazy days of the Attitude Era, but the concept of a grappling superhero best fits a time in wrestling's past when everything felt far more cartoonish than it does in the modern era. Social media is a pretty unforgiving landscape, with fans more cynical than ever, so spare a thought for Nikki Cross as she embodied Nikki A.S.H.
Nikki A.S.H. (that's Nikki Almost a Super Hero, if you need reminding) was intended to be a lovable babyface who'd get over with WWE's family audiences. In truth, she came off more Dumb Ass than Kick-Ass in a gimmick that felt entirely out of place in the company's post-women's revolution landscape.
Nikki would have been easy enough to ignore if she'd been a fixture of Main Event or a bit-part player on Raw and SmackDown, but she won the 2021 Money In The Bank before cashing in on Raw the next night to become the women's division's de facto leader. This couldn't be more tone-deaf to WWE's audience, and she dropped the title to Charlotte Flair 33 days later. The madness didn't stop here, as Nikki A.S.H's 2021 also included a run with the tag-team titles with her partner, Rhea Ripley.