WWE's Worst Booking Decision Every Year For The Past Decade

WWE has been well renowned for making some bad creative moves over the course of their history, some more damaging than others. Through the ground-breaking moments, historic main events, and memorable eras, there are decisions made which dampen the product, and hurt the trajectories of stories and superstars.

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In modern-day WWE, weekly TV has come under scrutiny for lazy booking, squandering the momentum of popular stars, and producing poor content. It is difficult at times to pinpoint to worst decision from WWE each year, due to there being multiple candidates.

11 2011: Destroying The Summer Of Punk

CM Punk had become the most popular superstar in a very long time, topping merchandise sales, with fans chanting his name anywhere he went. He became WWE Champion in a period which was christened the ‘Summer of Punk’.

Punk defeated John Cena in the main event of Summerslam, with celebrations cut short with a returning Kevin Nash, a Money in the Bank cash-in, and months of terrible, convoluted storytelling, which saw Punk lose and lose, ending a great, albeit short, period of WWE TV. Nash’s involvement didn’t pay off, and it was a big waste of time.

10 2012: Brock Lesnar Loses His First Match Back

After eight years away, Brock Lesnar made his triumphant return to WWE. After establishing himself as a legit fighter in the UFC, Lesnar had all the momentum in the world upon confronting John Cena on the Raw following Wrestlemania.

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He would then lose his first match back to John Cena. It would take Lesnar a while to find his feet as a true threat following a nonsensical loss, and the victory did nothing for Cena, whose year was supposed to feature hardships in the build up to his rematch with The Rock. It made no sense from a storyline perspective and made Lesnar look weak.

9 2013: Big Show Ends Battleground In The Worst Way

Fans were rallying behind ultimate babyface Daniel Bryan in his pursuit to be champion. After losing the WWE Title quickly at Summerslam, he would continue battling Randy Orton on PPV. Meanwhile, Big Show was being tormented by Stephanie McMahon in one of the most embarrassing storylines in his career.

In retaliation, he would knock out both Bryan and Orton during the Battleground main event, with the match ending in a no contest, and total confusion. Fans rightfully felt robbed and chanted ‘We Want Refunds’ to close out the night. It was a dire storyline and ended the PPV in a complete farce.

8 2014: Batista Wins The Royal Rumble

Whilst Batista’s victory and fan revolt led to Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship in one of the best Wrestlemania moments of all time, it would have been better had Bryan won the Rumble in the first place.

Batista returned after a long hiatus, but fans wanted Bryan. He was the most popular superstar in the company, and in a tone-deaf move from WWE, Batista was booked to win the Rumble and main event Mania. The show ended in boos, disgust, and left fans furious.

7 2015: Roman Reigns Wins The Rumble

In a repeat of the year before in which fans wanted Bryan to win the Rumble, WWE didn’t give them what they wanted. Instead, the event ended in even louder protest, with fans turning on the product due to not thinking Roman Reigns was ready or popular enough to be pushed to the main event.

This was another ignorant move by WWE, who had to once again save themselves by changing plans in the Wrestlemania main event, but that didn’t excuse the fact that the decision was made in the first place. WWE claim that their product is intended to please fans, but this was a clear case of not listening to their fanbase, yet again.

6 2016: Roman Reigns Doesn’t Turn Heel At Wrestlemania

Despite over a year of fans not buying the Roman Reigns experiment, WWE persisted, and the main event of Wrestlemania was set up to be Reigns taking on Triple H for the WWE Championship. A Reigns victory was inevitable, and fans were resigned to this result. Many predicted that instead of closing out Mania on a celebratory moment in which fans weren’t happy, that WWE would turn Reigns heel.

Reigns’ storyline cousin, The Rock, was also on the show, so it would have been the perfect opportunity for Reigns to turn on one of the most beloved stars of all time to cement a necessary heel run. Instead, Reigns won with no post-match happenings, and that was that. Looking at Reigns’ current run as The Tribal Chief, WWE clearly made the wrong call.

5 2017: Roman Reigns Doesn’t Turn Heel, Yet Again

Reigns was once again in the main event of Wrestlemania, this time defeating The Undertaker in yet another move which angered fans. The following night on Raw, Reigns was drowned in a chorus of boos, and declared, ‘This is my yard now’. This was the perfect starting point for a heel turn and taking advantage of the fan hatred.

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Instead, Reigns continued being the bland babyface that people weren’t invested in. This would have another perfect chance for Reigns to turn on the people, yet WWE still pushed him as the top face.

4 2018: Constable Corbin Runs Raw

In the latter part of the year, Baron Corbin was given the role as a heel authority figure on Raw. His reign in charge would consist of terrible shows, ending the same way every week, with he and his faction members standing tall, with one of the most obvious examples of ‘go away heat’.

WWE would eventually bring out the McMahon’s to claim that the fans were entitled to feel that way, and that things would change. Corbin, despite being a character, was thrown under the bus. This didn’t change that fact that fans had to sit through a dure product and having to live through Corbin’s painful era in charge of Raw.

3 2019: Hell In A Cell Ends In A DQ

‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt was one of the hottest new gimmicks to hit WWE TV in some time. Fans were invested and intrigued in what the character had to offer. Instead of a steady build, WWE thrust Wyatt into the title scene. However, WWE booked themselves into a corner due to not wanting to take the Universal Title from Seth Rollins yet.

Their Hell in a Cell match ended in a disqualification to the complete shock and horror of fans. Cell matches were supposed to be no disqualification, yet Rollins taking a sledgehammer to the head of Wyatt was deemed too far. What made matters worse is that The Fiend popped back up anyway, unharmed. This ended a hot streak of a babyface run for Rollins, who lost the fans following this match, and it halted the momentum of Wyatt.

2 2020: Goldberg Squashes Bray Wyatt In Saudi Arabia

WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows have had their fair share of criticism, and rightfully so, but one downside is the push of legends who are long past their heyday. Bray Wyatt had managed to recover a little from the disaster of the previous year and reigned as Universal Champion. Beating Goldberg on the Road to Wrestlemania would have made a bold great statement.

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Goldberg won in under three minutes, taking the belt and irreparably damaging Wyatt’s character. This was to set up Goldberg taking on Reigns, which didn’t even end up happening. It was a terrible decision and ruined all the work that had been done to establish Wyatt as a star.

1 2021: Becky Lynch Squashes Bianca Belair

Bianca Belair had made history by winning the Smackdown Women’s Title in the main event of Wrestlemania, becoming one of the top babyfaces in the company. In a surprise, Becky Lynch made her huge return to a large ovation at Summerslam, to challenge Belair to an impromptu championship match.

Win or lose, Belair would have benefitted from working a high-profile match with someone like Lynch. That’s what people thought, but what followed was a disaster. Lynch defeated Belair in 26 seconds, starting a heel turn which no one wanted, and a fall from grace by Belair which was undeserved and unnecessary. WWE once again booked themselves into a corner and halted the momentum of two top stars.

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