While we all know what to expect when it comes to watching WWE, sometimes, it can surprise us. That can be in a good way with something like Ronda Rousey’s debut at WrestleMania 34, but it can also be in a bad way, like Nicholas winning the Raw Tag Team Championships alongside Braun Strowman on the very same show.

What we’re trying to say is that WWE is prone to a mistake from time to time, and that makes sense. As a company, they’re the biggest dogs in town, and when it comes to testing things out in this business, there’s never a 100% guarantee of success.

Some will argue that they should be getting it right ten times out of ten given how long they’ve been at the top of the professional wrestling industry, but it doesn’t always work like that. So as we move forward into the rest of 2018, it’s time for fans to start preparing themselves for a few bizarre decisions or moments – because they’re coming.

15 Lesnar As Champion

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At WrestleMania, we saw Brock Lesnar defeat Roman Reigns in the main event to retain his Universal Championship. It was a shocking moment, to say the least, and while it made for an unpredictable conclusion to the biggest show of the year, we aren’t entirely sure that it’s what we wanted to see – and the WWE Universe agrees with that sentiment.

The bout outlined just how one dimensional Brock is these days, with his move set growing more and more tedious with every appearance that he makes. The fact that WWE is okay with keeping him as champion is a mistake because as we saw from the fan reactions in New Orleans, they don’t care for the Beast Incarnate any more than they do for The Big Dog.

14 Bryan Overkill

Daniel Bryan’s return to in-ring competition is a great thing, and you won’t find too many fans who’ll disagree with that statement. The leader of the Yes Movement clearly hasn’t missed a beat and as we look ahead to the immediate future of SmackDown Live, it’s clear to see that Bryan is going to be one of the faces of Team Blue.

Alas, given the booking on SD Live over the last twelve months, we’re a little bit apprehensive. Bryan’s dream matches need to be savoured and built up over time, and we shouldn’t be seeing them on a week to week basis. We’ve already seen him take on AJ Styles on free TV, and he’s barely been back in the ring for a month.

Take your time with him, or else the fans could get burnt out.

13 Too Much MITB

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As we all know, Raw and SmackDown Live will be taking part in co-branded pay-per-views from Backlash onwards. Aside from the cringe-worthy sing-a-long video they produced for it, there are certainly some benefits, but there are also negatives, with one of the biggest being the future of the Money in the Bank event.

The concept itself is a little bit past the sell-by date at this stage, and as we look ahead to the summer schedule, we can’t help but fear what’s going to happen with the show. In all likelihood, there’s going to be a men’s & women’s MITB ladder match for both Raw and SmackDown Live, meaning we could have four briefcase holders on our hands. How about some more diverse storytelling instead?

12 Rusev Burial

Some may say it’s a storyline, but the fact that WWE continues to undervalue Rusev as a performer is unbelievably frustrating. It feels like an enhanced version of the Ryback situation from a few years back, which is ironic given that they’re friends in real life. Sure, the Bulgarian Brute is getting the chance to face The Undertaker next week, but what is that worth these days?

He’s probably going to wind up losing, and from there, who knows where he’ll end up. WWE can’t seem to decide whether or not to portray him as a babyface or a heel, and when superstars start acting up on social media, it usually doesn’t mean great things for their future. Hopefully, he turns a corner in Saudi Arabia and he can start climbing up the card.

11 205 Live

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205 Live has certainly been on the rise under the guidance of Triple H for the last few months, but the problem is that the show itself still doesn’t need to exist. Most people don’t want to hang around after SmackDown Live, and even if you move the time slot, they probably still won’t get to the arena early in order to catch it.

The aesthetics of the division are fun enough with the purple and orange, but it feels wrong to just segregate the cruiserweights into one corner. The division should still exist, but WWE will likely continue to drag 205 Live out despite the fact that its shelf life isn’t going to be that long one way or another. It’s a fun show, but it’s just going to be a waste of money at this stage.

10 Mismanaging Wyatt

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Bray Wyatt has finally aligned himself with Woken Matt Hardy, in a move that we aren’t entirely convinced about yet. While it’s great to finally see Bray in something of a babyface role, the fact that he needed to lose to a 40+-year-old superstar once again in order to get there feels a little bit wrong.

Wyatt has been pushed on so many separate occasions that, at this stage, it feels like there’s just no reason to get our hopes up anymore. WWE will always find a way to destroy any kind of good work they do with the Eater of Worlds, and while they could prove everyone wrong, their track record speaks for itself. Hell, even Vanguard 1 has a more promising future at this point.

9 Breaking Up The IIconics

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The Iconic Duo, now known as The IIconics, provided SmackDown Live with a breath of fresh air last week when they debuted on the blue brand just 48 hours after WrestleMania. They dismantled former SD Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, to the point where Carmella was able to cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase and capture the title.

Now while that was all well and good, we can just feel Vince McMahon itching to break the two up somewhere down the line. Now while that may eventually be an inevitability based on the success or failure of their tenure in the next few months, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay work phenomenally well together and it’d be a shame to see them go their separate ways.

8 Bullying Booth

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If you’ve sat through an episode of Monday Night Raw recently, you’ll know that Jonathan Coachman is back on the commentary desk after many years with ESPN. You’ll also know, courtesy of Michael Cole and Corey Graves, that he’s apparently so incompetent that they feel the need to berate him and put him down at every available opportunity.

For a company who pride themselves on anti-bullying campaigns, this feels a little bit off. It’s the same kind of thing that we’ve seen with Byron Saxton ever since he was called up to the main roster, and it’s getting a little bit tiring. Why can’t there just be three hours of analysis as opposed to Graves and Cole putting themselves over as the biggest heels on the roster?

7 Overdoing Matches

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How many times have we seen Bayley vs Sasha Banks and Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn at this stage? A lot. Obviously, whenever these two pairings get together they often create magic together in the ring, and there are many other examples of this, but it feels wrong to just use them and water down the rivalry for the sake of WWE being lazy.

They often throw these bouts out there because they can’t think of more complex storylines on a week to week basis, and that’s just sad. There are enough superstars on both Raw and SmackDown Live to make new and interesting match-ups, but WWE just doesn’t seem interested in enhancing their creativity. If you make us wait for these showdowns, they automatically feel more important as a result.

6 Business Transactions

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When it comes to WWE, we all know that they sometimes like to prioritise financial gain over what’s right. So for the rest of 2018 and likely beyond, you can expect part-time stars to continue taking up spots that should otherwise be reserved for full-time talent. Beyond that, however, there’s an even deeper issue which we’ll see unfold over the course of the next few weeks.

On Friday, April 27th, WWE Greatest Royal Rumble will broadcast live from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – and there will be no women’s matches on the card. This represents a huge step back for the company in what has been such a progressive time period for female wrestling in the last few years, and while it may not be all their fault, this once again proves that business triumphs over everything else.

5 Professional Maverick

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Since being introduced as the new general manager of 205 Live, Drake Maverick, formerly known as Rockstar Spud, has been great. His simple yet effective role has allowed him to ‘hide in plain sight’ in many ways, as he resembles William Regal in regards to the professionalism he maintains in his current run.

With that being said, it’s not something we want to see carry on forever. Those who know of Spud’s work prior to WWE will be aware that his comedy work is fantastic, and beyond that, his in-ring abilities should also be appreciated it. If they don’t have him either compete or have a handful of comedic sketches in the next few months, then they’re definitely leaving money on the table in the cruiserweight division.

4 Three Hour Raw

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Monday Night Raw needs to be two hours long again and there aren’t too many new ways in which we can say that. While the revenue generated means that we’ll have to sit through three hours for the foreseeable future, that doesn’t mean it has to be enjoyed by the fanbase. The ratings speak volumes, and people tend to check out after hour number two.

It’s the same premise as WrestleMania being seven hours long – it’s just too much for most people. They need to find the right balance because, contrary to popular belief, bigger isn’t always better, and that’s something they don’t seem to want to admit. If they booked the show correctly then it’d be fine, but somehow after nearly six years, these problems are still around.

3 No Paul & Ronda

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Ronda Rousey’s in-ring debut was better than anyone could’ve anticipated, as she proved to the world that she’s unbelievably well suited to the world of professional wrestling – much like her Mania partner Kurt Angle was back in the day. However, we continue to see her weaknesses on the mic, and they aren’t going to go away anytime soon.

The idea of putting her with Paul Heyman isn’t exactly a new one, and it’s not like it won’t happen someday – but they should strike while the iron is hot and make the partnership before 2018 is done. If it doesn’t work out then you could always just turn Ronda into the silent assassin again, but for now, let’s go with the obvious (and best) option.

2 Tag Team Mismanagement

When you consider that a 10-year-old named Nicholas is now a former Raw Tag Team Champion, you can understand the reasoning behind this post. The tag divisions on Raw and SmackDown Live feature some of the best wrestling in the entire company, and yet, the storytelling doesn’t live up to that for whatever reason.

Take The Revival and The Club for example. These are two teams full of potential, and yet, they’re stuck facing off against one another in pointless matches. When a thrown together team of Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt is on the verge of winning the titles you know something is wrong, and the landscape of tag wrestling deserves more than to just be known as the land of crowd-popping showdowns in the middle of the card.

1 NXT Predictability

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An NXT superstar gets hot and picks up fans – they go on to win the title. They hold it for a few months before losing the title, and then get called-up to the main roster either before or after their contracted rematch, and it happens the night after a big pay per view. The Takeover specials all take place during the weekends of pay per views in order to fit in with the travel packages.

Sound familiar? NXT is starting to become a little bit too ‘paint by numbers’, despite the fact that the product itself is still a lot of fun to watch. We’ve heard the figures about how much money the brand is losing, and while it’s good for the overall future of the company, something needs to change in order for it to be sustainable for many years to come.