World Wrestling Entertainment, thanks to the influx of ideas shared on the Internet, lately fails to meet the expectations of their fans, no matter how hard its creative team tries. Even Michael Cole acknowledged fans' discontent over the way in which WWE is being run in a YouTube segment with newbie AJ Styles. In addition, apart from the likes of Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, and The Undertaker, everyone at WWE looks poor rip-offs of the wrestlers fans once used to adore.
Despite widespread criticism, WWE still produces swashbuckling moments that keep its faithful fans from making other commitments on Monday nights. For a fervent WWE fan, only a few things come close to AJ Styles' Royal Rumble debut, Daniel Bryan's retirement speech, The Rock's promo, Shane McMahon's surprise return, Lesnar's F5s and German suplexes, Sasha Banks' booty or Vince McMahon's swagger.
However, there is no denying that WWE has been faltering for quite some time now, given the plummeting of ratings and the unrest of its fans, and it is safe to assume that WWE no longer musters the desired reaction from its fans. Roman Reigns – a supposed long-term John Cena replacement – always garners a chorus of boos and the fans went as far as cheering for Triple H – a narcissistic authority figure – when he dismembered him during February's penultimate Raw. It took Byron Saxton handing him blood pills, mysterious nose injury, graphical images and Hunter's eloquence to get the audience cheer for someone WWE desperately wanted its fans to get behind.
Though what currently seem poor booking decisions may turn out to be what is the best for the business, some moves have inflicted irreparable damage on WWE's reputation. The following will have you nodding in agreement as it takes you through top 15 blunders WWE has already made this year.
15 15. Not prioritizing sanitation
In his first promo in seven years, Shane O'Mac stated that his sister Stephanie McMahon and brother-in-law Triple H are running the company into the ground, but I am sure WWE makes enough to buy their Intercontinental Champion in Kevin Owens a razor.
During his entrances, KO proudly raises his arms to showboat his gold en route to the squared circle, but on doing so, he reveals hair in his inappropriate places, thereby making thousands in attendance and millions at home throw up. Of course, he operates as a heel, but there should be many alternative ways to make the audience hate him.
14 14. Scary jokers
With the Brothers of Destruction edging closer toward retirement, the Wyatt Family are the closest that comes to carrying the torch, but WWE is still uninterested in booking them strongly. With back-to-back losses against Kane, Big Show and Ryback, they seem weaker than the Social Outcasts. If WWE had wanted its fans to take the Wyatts seriously, they should have made them look strong against the aging wrestlers, who are now employed only to put young talents over.
Despite their abysmal record, leader Bray Wyatt continues to cut excellent promos, proving he has the potential to be more than just a jobber. The Wyatts are gradually losing their credibility as a dominant force thanks to WWE's continual mistakes.
13 13. Annoying 'nostalgic' segments
When Goldust first approached R-Truth to form a tag-team superbly named Golden Truth, fans chuckled, albeit just a little. However, the subsequent segments made the fans shrink their nose, cover their eyes, stuff cotton balls into their ears and whatnot. It will not be long before R-Truth aids Goldust in a match, making Golden Truth a thing in WWE, but the buildup has been cringeworthy.
With the annoyance factor already taken care of by Heath Slater, the Golden Truth segments only make the viewers change the channel. Watching the duo hold hands inside of the squared circle will certainly be nostalgic, but WWE should never have dragged this segment for this long.
12 12. Talented jobbers
Neville and Tyler Breeze debuted in Monday Night Raw to a huge pop thanks to their NXT tenures but have now sunk into mediocrity thanks to WWE's indifferent booking. The former features in meaningless matches alongside Lucha Dragons while the latter is nowhere to be seen after his feud with Dolph Ziggler came to an abrupt end. There is no doubt as to how talented the NXT alumni are, but they now seem irrelevant and are in line to become permanent tenants of Main Event. Hardcore NXT fans will now have concerns over the treatment of Sami Zayn, Enzo, and Cass on the main roster.
11 11. Misuse of fan favorites
Fans are already sick and tired of WWE forcing them to react for the entrances of the likes of Sheamus and Reigns while their favorites in Damien Sandow – who ranks sixth in our's top 15 criminally underused WWE wrestlers article– and Zack Ryder are still forced to job to the jobbers like the Social Outcasts in Main Event and Superstars. With the fans perpetually showing aversion to the product, it is amusing how WWE has never thought about giving them what they love seeing – a meaningful feud for Ryder and Sandow. It will not be long before WWE realize its mistake, though.
10 10. Height of desperation
Fastlane 2016 is an absolute joke for many reasons, but this one gets away with the prize. With the WrestleMania 32 bout for the Divas Championship to feature Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte, WWE creative decided to throw Brie Bella up against Charlotte for the gold hoping Daniel Bryan's retirement would hype the match. However, it turned out to be one of the least significant matches of the year so far, though marks chanted YES chants when Brie Bella mimicked her better half's kicks. WWE now pretends that this did not happen, and the exciting three-pronged feud involving former NXT divas for the Divas Championship helps fans forget the nightmare of a feud.
9 9. Sticking with Stardust
Cody Rhodes splits opinion, but Stardust clearly does not. Stardust hardly ever connects with the fans. Despite the former Intercontinental Champion hinting about a probable scraping of the Stardust gimmick, he still continues to don the awful attire to the ring. The gimmick neither appeals to the fans nor does it propel Rhodes' WWE career to the next level. The only way to revive Cody's career is to start a feud against the Bizarre One. Otherwise, WWE should accept their defeat soon, and utilize him promptly as fans would love getting behind him for obscure reasons.
8 8. Joke of a title
The Intercontinental Championship has now become the Hardcore Championship, with the belt holding little to no significance whatsoever, as it is tossed around among half a dozen wrestlers. In addition, the feuds surrounding the belt usually are short-lived – even by WWE standards – with wrestlers, who lose it never showing any intent to regain it. In addition, nobody ever knows whom Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler and the other IC title hopefuls are feuding with thanks to incomprehensible WWE creative decisions.
7 7. Ignoring the Boo-fest
One of the biggest blunders of this year has to be having Roman Reigns as champion back in January, holding the title in a cringeworthy fashion; however, this booking decision ranks at seven as almost everyone – I mean, everyone – saw that one coming. Babyfaces, who hold the title are destined to be booed, but fans absolutely hated WWE's attempts to make him look strong. The chorus of boos whenever he made his unorthodox entrance explain why it was a huge mistake to promote him to Stone Cold and John Cena heights.
6 6. Talented clowns
Despite the undoubted talent of League of Nations, they are horribly underutilized – or some would say stupidly overused – by the WWE creative team. Whilst they are credible enough to chase tag team glories at the very least, WWE makes them stand in J&J Security or batter Lucha Dragons for no apparent reason. By the looks of things, one might even be forced to think it is Vince's way of punishing contract rebel in Wade Barrett and former dressing room menace in Alberto del Rio. WWE's booking decisions have made League of Nations look irrelevant.
5 5. Silent Indy darling
Signing AJ Styles is arguably the best business WWE will ever make this year, but one of the major mistakes also revolves around the Phenomenal One. While his in-ring abilities could make even Vince Russo admit the importance of wrestling moves, he hasn't been given a meaningful promo yet. By making the Miz and Chris Jericho do the talking for him, WWE is trying to belie his weaknesses, but they could have avoided the WHAT chants and humiliating internet trolls if they had found him a mouthpiece in the first place.
4 4. Another valueless title
Kevin Owens has been safeguarding Intercontinental Championship's glory with his remarkable performances on and off the ring despite WWE's poor booking decisions, but United States Championship is yet to find its savior. Barring meaningless 6-man tag matches between Lucha Dragons (and an irrelevant face) and League of Nations, there has never been a decent buildup for the Kalisto-Alberto del Rio feud so far this year. The fact that the two out of three falls match for the U.S. Championship between the Mexican wrestlers was moved to preshow instead of the R-Truth versus Curtis Axel match sums up how directionless WWE has been in 2016.
3 3. The Abomination of Fastlane
Though Shane McMahon and the Undertaker returned shortly after Fastlane, February's PPV failed to meet the expectations of the WWE faithful as no title changed hands. The whole PPV was bland as it produced predictable results. You know a highly anticipated wrestling show did not offer much when a normal match between an aging Chris Jericho and AJ Styles was the most talked about moment of the night.
Thanks to the exceptional talent of Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Y2J and Dolph Ziggler, WWE escaped flaks. On the booking aspect, however, Fastlane 2016 was an absolute joke.
2 2. Most random moment
When the Wyatt Family targeted and eliminated Brock Lesnar in Royal Rumble, fans were expecting a feud between two superstars, whom they absolutely love. However, WWE never followed up what was a turning point in the Royal Rumble this year, much to the dismay of its faithful fans. The only possible explanation for the Wyatts costing the Beast Incarnate his fifth WWE singles world title reign could be the Wyatts avenging the elimination of Luke Harper, Braun Strowman, and Eric Rowan.
Their Roadblock bout only makes the decision more random. The decision made everyone involved look weak, and WWE creative's incompetency was again exposed.
1 1. Keeping Roman Reigns a Face
For unexplained reasons, fans have been perpetually begging WWE to make their top babyface go through a heel turn, but their judgment on Roman Reigns was right on the money as he possesses no traits that could make him a likable wrestler. WWE should have made him a heel during the buildup to the triple threat match for the number one contender for Triple H's WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and they only won the wrath of the fans by not doing so.
The Nashville audience cheered for him during Hunter's desperate promo, but we all know that fans would turn on him soon.