9 Times WWE Turned Treasure Into TRASH

6. WWE SmackDown's Isle of Misfit Toys Era

Rhyno Heath Slater SmackDown Live
wwe.com

The "Land Of Opportunity" was ultimately only ever a marketing slogan that inevitably couldn't be true forever, but for the first few months of SmackDown Live on Tuesday nights in 2016, a little bit of magic came the way of the blue brand. 

A revived Brand Split seemed to reinvigorate both shows at the time, but with SmackDown needing to actually become relevant again as a bankable television property, promotion and performers alike seemed keen to make the best of the unlikely situation. The main event scene featured new WWE Champion Dean Ambrose, his upcoming SummerSlam challenger Dolph Ziggler and and wrestling icon and relative WWE newcomer AJ Styles. Becky Lynch was The Horsewoman tasked with leading the women's division, but she kept good company with the returning Nikki Bella and Mickie James, NXT arrivals Alexa Bliss and Carmella and main roster regulars Naomi and Natalya. 

Even tag wrestling experienced two brief peaks - one with the unlikely duo of Rhyno and Heath Slater becoming adored fan favourites and Champions, and also when Fandango and Tyler Breeze made their "Fashion File" segments the weekly highlight of the show. A division that boasted American Alpha and a heel-turned Usos looked built to last too. Recap chat about the show became cult stuff; Renee Young and Daniel Bryan's Talking Smack was a joy to behold itself.

So much of this temporary boom is forgotten because of the scale of the bust. After strong stuff at the top of the card between Ambrose, John Cena and eventual Champion Styles, the belt slipped first into a free-falling rivalry between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, before disastrously landing in the hands of Jinder Mahal. 

Nothing spoke to "opportunity" quite like it, and Mahal gleefully answered when it knocked, but it came to represent the end of the good times. Match quality went off a cliff and the storylines and pushes that once gave the show so much promise evaporated in favour of nonsensical plots and - in Mahal's case specifically - reductive and low-rent slop.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. 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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.