WWE is the largest wrestling company in the world and stands in the unique position of serving a wider and more diverse population of wrestling fans than any wrestling promotion ever has. There are the marks, who may be dwindling in number, but who still accept pro wrestling as legitimate sport. There are smart fans who follow backstage news and rumors compulsively, and thus are nearly impossible to surprise.

There are more casual fans who can be lured in by something big, but don’t watch the product on the regular. There are die hard fans who may well consume more than ten hours of WWE programming per week via Raw, SmackDown, NXT, 205 Live, Main Event, and any specials or short run series WWE may introduce on the WWE Network or social media—and that’s not even getting into monthly PPVs. There are kids to consider, who often drive merchandise sales, and there are jaded old fans who’ve seen it all.

Given the many masters WWE serves, it’s little surprise that they wouldn’t be able to please everybody all the time. Whether it’s who wins or who loses, who gets pushed and who gets left off the card, or how WWE prioritizes its talents and angles, there are so many moving pieces, and so many opportunities for things to go awry. Still, as we step away from WrestleMania season, and begin looking ahead to summer, there are some key takeaways that the careful observer can take away, and some reasonable predictions we can make. This article takes a look at eight mistakes WWE made at WrestleMania and eight more we expect they’ll make by SummerSlam.

16 Mistake At WrestleMania: They Didn’t Make It A Happy Rusev Day

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It’s a rare thing for a WWE Superstar to get over in truly organic fashion. There are those talents who diverge, though. When Steve Austin started to show his personality, and cut his famous Austin 3:16 promo, he genuinely connected with the WWE fan base. Similarly, despite every indication WWE meant to push Batista en route to getting Roman Reigns over, Daniel Bryan all but forced a detour when he and his Yes chants caught fire.

While Rusev hasn’t generated the electricity of an Austin or Bryan, he is rapidly approaching the status of someone like Zack Ryder when his self-produced YouTube show got over, or Damien Sandow when his Mizdow run connected with the audience. He’s making things work in spite of not being given much material to work with. Still, WWE hasn’t cashed in on his momentum.

Whether there are politics at play, or there’s more than meets the eye, WrestleMania 34 seemed like an ideal opportunity to see how far Rusev could go. The United States Championship is both a big enough prize, and one with a checkered enough past for Rusev winning it to be only a moderate gamble, with the potential payoff of the Rusev Day faithful losing their minds at ‘Mania.

15 Mistake By SummerSlam: Not Pulling The Trigger On Braun Strowman

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Braun Strowman is clearly a pet project for the powers that be at WWE. He had the unusual path of mostly being kept off TV for NXT in order to make his main roster debut feel more like it was coming out of nowhere.

While a lumbering giant theoretically shouldn’t have gotten over in the late 2010s, fans were all too eager to jump on his bandwagon as the past year went by.

It’s clear that WWE recognizes Strowman as a draw, specifically for having positioned him in Universal Title matches with Brock Lesnar no fewer than three times this past year—more than any other performer in that same window. However, he has never actually captured the title. The conventional wisdom is that WWE was set on building to Roman Reigns challenging Lesnar at ‘Mania, and means to pull the trigger on Strowman on top down the road. The longer WWE waits, however, the more chance that fans will cool on Strowman as The Monster Among Men already seems to have less heat around him than he did last summer or fall.

14 Mistake At WrestleMania: Roman Reigns Vs. Brock Lesnar In The Main Event

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It’s understandable enough that WWE would slate Roman Reigns to challenge Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. Lesnar is a unique draw, Reigns is accepted as WWE management’s chosen one, and the two even demonstrated good chemistry at WrestleMania 31.

When we think about a WrestleMania main event, however, we’re talking about one of the matches that will be most remembered from any given year. Despite Reigns’s claims at being the best in ring performer in the world, the actual quality of his biggest matches has been severely uneven. Add that to Lesnar not looking particularly invested for a lot of the past year, and there was far from a guarantee that the two would match, much less exceed their work together from three years earlier. WWE also had to recall the specter of WrestleMania XX, and the very real possibility of fans rejecting another match projected to be Lesnar’s last, opposite a talent who wasn’t universally loved.

Reigns vs. Lesnar was a fair match to book, and the resulting match was OK.

Considering, however, that the show also included AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura, Charlotte Flair/Asuka, John Cena/Undertaker, the debut of Ronda Rousey, and the return of Daniel Bryan, there was no shortage of main event alternatives, any one of which probably would have played off better than this one.

13 Mistake By SummerSlam: A Face Turn For The Miz

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The Miz spent the time between WrestleManias 32 and 33 cementing his place as an elite heel presence on SmackDown, particularly through his sharp mic work (he did particularly well on the less heavily scripted Talking Smack WWE Network show). Many critics were wary of his move to Monday Night Raw, but he beat the odds and shored up a spot as a truly elite mid-card heel there.

In the lead up to WrestleMania 34, The Miz showed flickers of face-like behavior. This included talking lovingly about his newborn daughter, and sending his Miztourage lackeys to the back wo they couldn’t help him for his WrestleMania match itself. WWE is in a tricky spot, because The Miz is legitimately respected these days, and in this era of backstage news and social media, there’s no keeping his family life a total secret. Consider, too, that he’s signed on for a new reality TV series and it’s understandable WWE might want to push him as a good guy. Unfortunately, his face run from earlier this decade confirmed that he’s much, much better in a heel role, where his exceptional efforts on the mic can cover for his middling work in the ring. Hopefully things shift courses, but for now another run as a face seems to be his destiny.

12 Mistake At WrestleMania: Going Too Long On Ronda Rousey’s Debut

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Make no mistake about it—Ronda Rousey looked terrific in her WWE debut at WrestleMania. She was in tremendous shape, and did a wonderful job of synergizing her trademark MMA style with pro wrestling work to look credible and execute smoothly.

The main trouble with her WrestleMania match however, was that the bout stretched too long.

It’s understandable WWE would want to attach some bells and whistles to such a high profile encounter, but the level of offense Triple H and Stephanie McMahon got in, not to mention the false finishes that felt more climactic than the actual finish, the match felt less decisive and clean than it probably should have. The contest probably would have been better served to have wrapped up about five minutes sooner than it did.

11 Mistake By SummerSlam: Not Pushing The Iconics

iconic duo smackdown live debut video

After largely disappearing from NXT television in recent months, there were plenty of rumors that Peyton Royce and Billie Kay were on their way to the main roster. This proved true on the SmackDown after WrestleMania, and the fact that they debuted by beating down Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair boded well. However, it was interesting how quickly the newly re-dubbed Iconics became afterthoughts, as Carmella cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase right after their attack.

One could argue that The Iconics benefited from being associated with a title change, and are immediately lined up for a feud with Flair. However, there’s also a very real risk in them being booked against their brands top face that they’ll each get defeated soundly, while WWE focuses more on Flair chasing Carmella to get her title back.

10 Mistake At WrestleMania: Short Changing The Tag Team Champions

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WrestleMania 34 had the rare distinction of featuring not just one but two tag team championship matches. Each match had some buzz behind it, too, as the SmackDown tag title scene has been built nicely, and there was at least a fair level of intrigue around Raw and whom Braun Strowman would reveal as his partner in challenging The Bar.

Unfortunately, neither match got much time bell to bell, clocking in at just under six and four minutes respectively. Strowman’s search through the crowd to find his partner Nicholas may well have taken as much time as the match itself.

To be fair, WrestleMania did feature eleven main card matches which is a lot to program in. However, given the quality of the teams at hand for SmackDown, and the impressive body of work The Bar assembled on Raw this past year, it’s a real shame that neither tag title got a proper spotlight at the biggest show of the year.

9 Mistake By SummerSlam: Pushing Bobby Lashley To The Top

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Bobby Lashley has all the trappings of a star player for WWE. He’s a hugely imposing physical presence with a lot of power and athleticism, and has the combined credibility of a background with the military, amateur wrestling, and mixed martial arts.

Lashley wound up leaving WWE in 2007 out of some combination of injuries and political differences. In the meantime, he starred for Impact Wrestling, and quite arguably grew as an all around performer. So what to do with him now?

Lashley is an interesting case for being such a physical phenomenon, but for it also not being clear how he fits with the current WWE roster.

He’s not necessarily a great fit for matchups with the likes of smaller stars like AJ Styles and Seth Rollins. So does WWE push him straight to the top, to work with his size peers like Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman? Lesnar-Lashley seems to be the dream match the company wants to make sure it books while both guys are on the WWE landscape, but it would be a mistake to immediately push Lashley as a dominating force over loyal talents, particularly before he’s proven he’s with the company for the long haul.

8 Mistake At WrestleMania: Not Giving Charlotte Flair Vs. Asuka Enough Time

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Quite a few critics have labeled Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka the best match of WrestleMania 34, or at least in close contention for that spot. The initial shock of Asuka’s streak coming to a close bothered some, but the choice hasn’t had the same residual heat of The Undertaker’s streak ending the last time WrestleMania was in New Orleans. A lot of that owes to match quality, and the fact that Charlotte had the credibility, status, and presumptive future within WWE to make sense as the one to beat The Empress.

The main factor detracting from this match? It only clocked in at 13 minutes bell to bell, and there’s a very real argument that Asuka’s submission was too abrupt, without enough focus on her knee leading up to it. In a show that saw the mixed tag match run too long, the other women’s title match arguably going longer than it should have, and the main event feel like a repetitive slog, it could have done wonders to have reallocated five to ten minutes more to this match up, and to have really let it arrive as the instant classic it might have been.

7 Mistake By SummerSlam: Only Half Buying Into The Woken Universe

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It’s an unlikely outcome that Impact Wrestling let go of its intellectual property claim to Matt Hardy’s Broken Universe, and all the more so that Vince McMahon is letting Hardy run with the concept in WWE. Ultimate Deletion was an unexpected ratings and social media hit, and with Hardy winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (with Bray Wyatt’s help, no less) it would seem WWE is going to push the concept harder.

The funny thing about Hardy’s unique gimmick and the world he’s built around it is that it tends to be all consuming. It’s why he got multiple matches, and finally a whole episode of Impact Wrestling from his Compound. WWE embarked on Ultimate Deletion with hesitation, including Michael Cole offering an apologetic disclaimer before it started, and opting to cut the segment from the Hulu version of Raw. Intertwining Wyatt with Hardy, and the battle royal win suggest more faith moving forward, but it’s hard to imagine WWE really buying in to the extent that the Woken Universe can take flight the way the Broken one did in Impact.

6 Mistake At WrestleMania: Bringing Back Bray Wyatt Too Soon

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The aforementioned Ultimate Deletion saw Matt Hardy win by knocking Bray Wyatt into the water on his compound, only for Wyatt to disappear. The so called Lake of Reincarnation had, in Impact Wrestling, led to wrestlers reverting to previous gimmicks, in a transformation that was probably a little too campy for WWE’s tastes. However, Wyatt’s disappearance did suggest that WWE would take the lake seriously, and may well consider repackaging the worker out of his stalled out gimmick. But that wasn't the case.

Wyatt returned at WrestleMania, less than a month after his disappearance.

As a marginally bigger surprise than his return, Wyatt returned now seemingly aligned with Hardy, with the suggestion he may have been brainwashed. There’s some intrigue there for sure, but not the reboot many fans were hoping for and, in classic WWE fashion, not enough time away for the Eater of Worlds to really be missed, much less build a new mystique around him.

5 Mistake By SummerSlam: Splitting Aiden English From Rusev

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A part of Rusev’s explosion in popularity must be credited to his sicdekick/hype man, Aiden English. Left directionless when his Vaudevillain tag team partner Simon Gotch left WWE, English took on a singing gimmick he had toyed with earlier. Pairing him with Rusev to sing The Bulgarian Brute into the arena wound up being the star turn each man needed.

But will WWE keep the two together?

The conventional wisdom is that they probably should, as each man has been much more over since their union than he was before. However, rumors abound about Rusev either turning face or becoming a more serious heel, and either case involves the suggestion of him parting ways with his partner in crime.

4 Mistake At WrestleMania: Paying Too Much Attention To John Cena In The Crowd

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Ask hardcore fans about their biggest WrestleMania annoyance and the consensus may well be cutting to John Cena in the crowd. He played the gimmick of not being sure if he’d have a match with The Undertaker, and demonstrating his willingness to sit back and enjoy the day by sitting amidst the audience through the pre-show and first two matches of the main card. WWE, accordingly, insisted on cutting to him for reactions throughout that period, often distracting from matches themselves. Worst of all, in the fall out to Charlotte Flair ending Asuka’s streak, Cena gave the proceedings a disjointed feel but getting out of his chair and sprinting to the back, presumabl on news The Undertaker had arrived.

So, WWE took away from other matches, particularly involving rising talents, in favor playing up Cena’s antics as a fan, and his star power. While seeing Cena between matches was fun enough, when it came as a detriment to younger stars, and particularly Asuka, it felt like a big misstep.

3 Mistake By SummerSlam: Keeping Jinder Mahal In The Spotlight

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For all of the things fans will remember from WWE’s 2017, one of the main ones may well be the failed experiment of Jinder Mahal. WWE plugged him in as WWE Champion. Theories about the move centered on trying something new, and aiming to appeal to the budding audience in India. However, Mahal didn’t really rise to the challenge of being so heavily featured, and the house show market domestically suffered. Meanwhile, even ticket sales for two big planned events in India did poorly enough to cancel one of them. The main takeaway? Mahal had not worked on top.

It's fair enough for WWE to have kept Mahal around as the logical number one contender to the WWE Championship into December, and for him to remain an upper mid carder for continuity’s sake into WrestleMania season.

It’s baffling,, that WWE chose him to win the United States Championship over the far more over Rusev, Bobby Roode, or even an establishment guy Randy Orton.

The mistake WWE is likely to carry forward? Keeping that US title on Mahal, and even edging him back toward world tile contention. With such a stacked roster, these choices are largely beyond comprehension, and doing WWE no favors at all.

2 Mistake At WrestleMania: Not Booking Sasha Banks Vs. Bayley

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WrestleMania had a stacked card, featuring a total of 14 matches (including the pre-show) and no fewer than four of those matches featured female talent in the ring. It’s understandable why WWE wouldn’t want to add yet another match to the bloated card. It’s also understandable why the company would want Sasha Banks and Bayley’s star power (not to mention the intrigue of their budding rivalry) for the first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.

Still, Banks and Bayley are top talents for WWE. While they don’t have the concerted push or pedigree behind them of Charlotte Flair, and may not have been as hot going into WrestleMania season as Asuka or Alexa Bliss, they nonetheless rate as some of the best pure talents the women’s locker room has. Moreover, their NXT rivalry proved that they have tremendous in ring chemistry, having produced two legitimate NXT TakeOver classics together.

Banks vs. Bayley will surely happen at other shows in the months ahead, but it’s a true shame for two star performers, capable of so much together to have gotten short shrift when, at minimum, they probably could have told a more compelling story than Nia Jax vs. Alexa Blis.

1 1. Mistake By SummerSlam: Under Utilizing Finn Balor

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Finn Balor was a top player in NXT and had a rocket strapped to him when he first debuted on the main roster. His initial run on Raw included winning a tournament to crown the first Universal Champion, defeating no lesser names than Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins along the way. However, he wound up getting injured in his title match with Rollins and since returning, has not been featured the same way. The last year saw him trapped in an anticlimactic feud with Bray Wyatt, and largely squandered in a directionless upper mid card role.

The top of the card is quite crowded for WWE right now, and not everyone can be a main eventer.

Balor at minimum deserves meaningful storylines he can really sink his teeth into, and really does have the chops—not to mention the very much over Demon King persona—to deserve main event consideration. If recent history is a predictor, though, Balor is as likely as not to remain in the shadows through summer.