9 WWE Matches That Fell Apart On Live TV

4. Charlotte Flair Vs Nia Jax (Raw, August 30th 2021)

Jade Cargill
WWE.com

WWE's 2021 return to live crowds following the pandemic was, creatively, an unmitigated disaster.

Fans were glad to be back in buildings and wrestlers looked positively overjoyed to be free from the shackles of the ThunderDome, but Vince McMahon's rotting and rotten creative was as awful as ever and with no better direction to suit the circumstances, familiar problems bubbled to the surface. In this case, it was evident in the work of two performers who've never been shy of causing a bit of controversy. 

Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair were in the middle of a match on the September 30th edition of Monday Night Raw, until...they weren't. A breakdown of communication of some description resulted in several years of a professional relationship breaking down in front of everybody, all to the tune of a host of potatoes and sandbagging attempts. It was a bit like when a match isn't going too well and wrestlers attempt to work their way out of trouble, only nothing was a work and it was as if they were looking for some kind of surrender from the other before they returned to the regularly scheduled programming. 

The exchanges looked abysmal on account of them not being remotely collaborative, and they eventually pulled it around to the point where they were booked in a rematch the following week. That was the only saving grace; having generated almost zero buzz in the run-up to the Autumn series of shows, it took something that was fundamentally the opposite of pro wrestling for WWE to finally have something resembling a hot hand.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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