There are plenty of wrestling feuds where audiences are left disappointed by who gets the overall victory, and while there are moments when that is simply down to personal taste, there are other situations when it is obvious that the wrong person got the win overall in the storyline.
This is down to bad booking, where a wrestler can be damaged in the long run after not winning a feud, with their momentum being completely taken out by the wrong calls getting made. This has happened plenty of times over the years in WWE history, where Vince McMahon has backed the incorrect talent.
10 Triple H Defeating Sting
The rivalry between Triple H and Sting only lasted for one PPV match, but the fact that this was the WWE debut of The Icon did make this a surprising result overall. The company turned it into a WWE vs. WCW storyline, which is not how it began as Sting was originally coming in to take down The Authority.
WWE had Triple H win because they wanted to keep him strong or a planned match between him and The Rock one year later, which never happened. But it was the wrong result, as it instantly started Sting's journey in WWE on the wrong foot as it didn't make him look like a big star.
9 Randy Orton Defeating Christian
The storyline between Randy Orton and Christian is one of the most memorable in SmackDown's history and it helped to make the World Heavyweight Championship a huge deal because of the great matches that they put together. Every time they competed it was special, and while Captain Charisma did get some moments, it wasn't enough.
Orton was already established as a singles main event star, but this was the time to put over Christian to the point where he could have stayed in that spot forever. However, that isn't what ended up happening, and instead Orton got to win the feud in the end, which left Christian falling down the card.
8 Alberto Del Rio Defeating Dolph Ziggler
Another storyline for the World Heavyweight Championship that WWE got wrong was when Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio feuded. This should have been the time Ziggler truly established himself as a main event player in WWE, rather than being the guy just below that level.
However, the company had Del Rio come out on top in the end, which was the wrong call to make and Dolph never truly recovered in the same level after this point, which was a shame as his talent deserved more.
7 John Cena Defeating Wade Barrett
One of the most famous examples of the wrong person coming out on top during a WWE feud was when John Cena and Wade Barrett went into battle. The Englishman had just arrived on the main roster as the leader of Nexus, and he got the entire wrestling world talking with his work.
However, while he caused a stir and got a lot of attention, WWE completely wasted his potential by having Cena destroy not only him but the entire of Nexus, which was a bizarre call in terms of booking.
6 Hulk Hogan Defeating Randy Orton
While Randy Orton would overcome this defeat, him losing this feud could have derailed his momentum, which was all down to backstage politics and Hulk Hogan not wanting to put a younger talent over. Having the Hulkster defeat a young Orton who was a man on the rise was the wrong call at the time.
Even though he was an arrogant heel, the audience wanted to see him go over and get his big moment, in order to keep pushing the future, rather than focusing on a name from the past, but that wasn't to be in this one.
5 AJ Styles Defeating Shinsuke Nakamura
The storyline between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura is something that wrestling fans were excited about happening, but when WWE finally pulled the trigger on it the outcome was all wrong. Nakamura was massively over at the time, and the decision to turn him heel after the first match was the wrong call.
Following that up by him not winning the WWE Championship was not the right move, as WWE had the chance to create a brand new main event star in the King Of Strong Style, and instead they killed all of his momentum.
4 Alexa Bliss Defeating Bayley
While babyfaces can't automatically come out on top in every feud or things would become predictable, there are certain storylines when it obviously needs to happen. That was the case when Alexa Bliss had a rivalry with Bayley and she went all out to run down the Hugger verbally and physically.
Fans wanted to see Bayley get her revenge when it came to their matches against each other, but for some reason that never ended up happening. Instead, Bliss won their exchanges and Bayley was left in
3 Mark Henry Defeating Ryback
While Ryack may have become an internet meme at times with fans as of late, at one point in time he was incredibly over with the WWE Universe, having the potential to become the next big thing in the industry. While he was pushed too early, the company had the chance to get him back to that level again.
He was placed into a storyline with Mark Henry, who was still a good threat at that point but not a main event player, and it seemed obvious that Ryback should win, yet for some reason WWE went in the opposite direction, which truly put a nail in his chance of being a big star.
2 John Cena Defeating Bray Wyatt
There have been plenty of occasions over the years when John Cena has booked to come out over the top on upcoming stars, but Bray Wyatt was a time when that decision shouldn't have happened. WWE was developing a monster star in Bray, and this was the first major test for him.
Rather than focusing on the upcoming star and giving him a big victory over Cena to establish him as a major player, WWE opted to give the standard victories to Cena, which wasn't the right call in pushing talent, and Bray didn't get to that level again without a major shift to being The Fiend.
1 Triple H Defeating Booker T
The storyline between Triple H and Booker T was all designed to give Booker his big moment as a babyface, overcoming the top heel in the business. Triple H had pulled out all the dirty tricks, said all the necessary things to get tons of heat, and it was tailor made to help Booker.
Yet for some reason WWE went in the complete opposite direction by having Triple H pick up the victory and dominate this feud, which was the wrong call overall. It didn't serve any purpose or help anybody to get over, which was never a good idea when it came to creative.