A lot can change in a year, and that is especially true when it comes to WWE. Characters or storylines can be changed on a whim, with releases, pushes, injuries, among other things, changing the trajectory of the weekly TV product. Sometimes, good things can be altered or even removed along the way.Over the last year, WWE has ruined several positive things in the company, with there being some striking differences between the landscape of WrestleMania 37, fast forwarded all the way to Mania 38. WWE has been dealt a lot of criticism in recent times, and that is sometimes warranted when they bring good things to an end.
10 The New Finn Balor
When NXT moved to the USA Network, WWE made some bold decisions to raise interest in the brand, and one of those was bringing Finn Balor back to NXT, after several years on the main roster. Balor had struggled to find his feet, and a return back home was welcomed from fans, especially when he developed a brand-new attitude.
Balor shed his happy-go-lucky babyface persona, replacing it with something more focused and aggressive, and it went down a storm. His character work, ring work, and entire presentation felt fresh, and it revitalized him. When he returned to the main roster in July of 2021, he stated that this was the new Finn Balor, which gave fans hope. However, WWE quickly stripped away everything he built up in NXT, and made him a clean-cut, bland babyface once again, taking away all his momentum and potential.
9 Edge’s Comeback Story
WrestleMania 37 was supposed to be the culmination of a decade’s story, where Edge regained a world title, when he was forced to relinquish his own in 2011. When he lost in the main event, it should have kickstarted a new journey to the top. However, after a brief absence, he returned to lose a title match once again.
This was followed by an enjoyable feud with Seth Rollins, and a not-so enjoyable one with The Miz. Edge has now inexplicably turned heel, and his goal of reclaiming what was his, has been completely lost. Edge is now yet another misused wrestler with an unconvincing gimmick, when so much could have been done with his character development following his loss last year.
8 Damian Priest’s United States Title Reign
At Mania 37, Priest was given a big spot when wrestling alongside Bad Bunny to defeat The Miz and John Morrison. Following this, Priest kept picking up wins, eventually winning the US Title. His reign was great, defending the title often, with the fans into him, possessing a natural popularity.
He was undefeated for nearly the entire year in singles action, yet this wasn’t acknowledged, and his first defeat came out of nowhere. This was followed up by even more losses, a gimmick change, a title drop, and a heel turn, all within the space of a few months, unraveling everything that was good about him. Priest could have easily received a main event push with his success, but that has been squandered.
7 Roster Depth
One year ago, despite already releasing many stars, WWE still boasted one of the deepest and talented rosters on the planet. However, the last year has saw big names such as Daniel Bryan, Adam Cole, and Jeff Hardy walk away from the company, and releases of the likes of Keith Lee, Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, and nearly one hundred others.
Raw and Smackdown are suffering from stale feuds and rematches, and a big part of this is down to not having strong depth, which has been brought on by WWE themselves.
6 Cesaro’s Singles Push
WrestleMania 37 saw Cesaro compete in his first Mania singles match, and he would defeat multi-time world champion, Seth Rollins. After many years, and countless calls from fans to give Cesaro the spotlight, it seemed like he was finally getting a long-awaited push. That ended up being false hope.
Cesaro would have one PPV main event, being defeated by Roman Reigns, and he fell straight back down the card. Cesaro was once again wasted, and he was stuck in midcard obscurity. He has now left WWE after letting his contract run down, and he will forever be a case of wasted potential.
5 Broke Baron Corbin
Baron Corbin has consistently been one of the most hated characters on WWE TV, even with him being a decent performer. His character had become incredibly stale, and fans didn’t want to see him. That was until he lost all his money and became broke, in perhaps his best stint of his entire WWE run.
Corbin developed a new character, desperate for money, downtrodden, and in some cases, even sympathetic. This got over hugely with the fans, who finally couldn’t wait to see Corbin on their screen, as his character was wonderfully comedic. However, WWE didn’t let it play out for long, instead giving him riches to become an obnoxious heel once again. This gimmick had serious legs, but they were swept away almost instantly.
4 Drew McIntyre As A Top Babyface
Mania 37 looked to be the night where McIntyre finally won the WWE Title in front of an audience, after that moment being stolen away from him in the past. In a shocking move, that didn’t happen, though there was potential to create an upwards climb for McIntyre to get that moment at some point.
However, he was instead given rematch after rematch for the title, all the while his babyface character was going down the goofy route, which hardly ever gets over with the audience. Before long, fans were sick and tired of McIntyre in the title picture, with his momentum at a low by this point.
3 New Rising Female Stars
WWE’s women’s division has been dominated by the Four Horsewomen for several years, but coming out of Mania 37, two new names in Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair emerged as champions. However, with uninspiring reigns, squash losses, and a switch of focus to the Horsewomen, many new names have been swept under the rug.
Over the year, promising talents such as Liv Morgan, Nikki ASH, and Toni Storm, were all given minor and fake pushes which served to only further the reigns of the likes of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. WWE is leaving itself with few options to build around when it comes to the women’s division.
2 Big E As WWE Champion
When Big E started his singles run, there was an expectation for big things. It took a little longer than expected, but he finally won the WWE Title in the summer of 2021, after cashing in his Money in the Bank. Whilst champion, he did a lot of media and mainstream work, making himself feel like a true champion.
However, when it came to TV, he would constantly lose, his feuds were lackluster, and he dropped the title with little fight to Brock Lesnar, before being moved straight back into the New Day. This was a disastrous run on top, and it could have been avoided. Big E should undoubtedly still be champion.
1 NXT
NXT was once the most popular show in all of WWE. However, after losing the Wednesday Night Wars and moving to Tuesday, WWE decided it was time for a change. Perhaps NXT needed a shake up, but WWE decided to completely overhaul the developmental brand.
NXT 2.0 was born, and it was unrecognizable to the old version, alienating a big chunk of the audience, and shunning popular names to the side. There are some positives, but they are largely outweighed by the negatives thus far.