25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2024

19. Bayley Vs Nia Jax (WWE Bad Blood)

Chris Jericho
WWE

Bayley and Nia Jax had a passable match at SummerSlam, and it did boast an exciting ending and a title change. Jax winning the WWE Women's Championship felt like the company's meritocracy once again gracefully coinciding with some longterm storytelling - a case of a character getting over, putting obvious work in to stay there, and being rewarded as such.

They'd also had what many consider to be Jax' best ever match all the way back at TakeOver: London in 2015. Nearly a decade on and with all the right experience in all the right ways about how to maximise their minutes, there wasn't too much concern about how their Bad Blood sequel would go. The assuredness was misplaced.

Realistically the Champion's worst match since she made her surprisingly successful return and one of the 'Role Model's poorer Premium Live Event efforts, the two had chemistry issues throughout and were a little too ambitious in the assemblage of particular spots - most notably Nia hurricanrana'ing out of a Bayley powerbomb attempt.

It was amateur stuff from two proven pros. Sometimes, the attempt is worth applauding, but as one of several stumbles in the clash, it set and secured the tone as a negative one. 

Contributor
Contributor

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