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00:00 from being completely overshadowed despite boasting their most reliable firepower, to
00:04 not quite achieving what they clearly set out to do on the grandest stage of them all.
00:09 The following recent events can only be classified as WWE misfires in hindsight.
00:13 Gareth here from WhatCulture Wrestling and here are 10 recent things that didn't go
00:17 WWE's way.
00:18 And yes, we only chose 10.
00:20 10.
00:21 The Undertaker's last ride at Survivor Series Let's face it, for the most part, 2020 acted
00:25 as perhaps one of the most depressing and uninspiring periods in the history of WWE.
00:30 And think of what ground that covers.
00:31 And it was among this sea of dreariness that Vince McMahon was rather unintentionally hilariously
00:36 made to produce a final salute to his most loyal servants as The Undertaker's 30th anniversary
00:41 with the company coincided with his long-awaited official retirement within an undesirably
00:46 chilling Amway Center.
00:48 Trying their best to make demonic lemonade out of holographic lemons, a whole host of
00:52 legends such as The Godfather, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kane and many more cheered on Mark
00:56 Calloway.
00:57 Vince McMahon made a rare in-ring appearance, and even Paul Bearer rocked up via virtual
01:01 manifestation.
01:02 But little could change the fact that a global pandemic royally scuppered any and all original
01:06 respectful plans, no doubt leading to the increase in attention given to the Phenom's
01:10 Hall of Fame induction this year.
01:12 9.
01:13 The Fiend leads the demonic way Keeping with all things demonic and spooky,
01:17 and to the star seemingly destined to pick up the mantle of WWE's resident supernatural
01:21 moneymaker.
01:22 Yet despite a refreshingly compelling start, the inevitable habit of fumbling an innovative
01:26 cash cow made its presence known once again.
01:29 At his best, Bray Wyatt acted as a beacon of genuine creativity within the confines
01:33 of a company that attempts to thrive on carbon copies and doubling down on "the brand".
01:38 His Firefly Funhouse bits kicked off as a barmy hoot, his ferocious squashing legitimately
01:43 popped crowds out of the gates, and his disturbing fiendish getup was enough to disturb and inspire
01:48 in equal measure.
01:49 However, typically dumb booking paved the way for Wyatt becoming a parody of himself
01:53 in record time, equipping himself with a giant mallet as he pummeled his trusty rabbit puppet
01:58 into smithereens, pretty much symbolising what the boss would later do to his credibility.
02:03 Repeatedly dreadful, fiery feuds ultimately left WWE feeling as though they'd gotten
02:06 all they could out of a once-intriguing prospect.
02:09 And this demon clown waved goodbye to his funhouse before live fans were given a chance
02:13 to scratch their heads at him one more time.
02:16 8.
02:17 Vince McMahon's return to the ring The biggest comeback since the return of live
02:19 crowds.
02:20 The freakishly anticipated light at the end of the never-ending Thunderdome and crowdless
02:23 era tunnel finally became visible in the summer of 2021.
02:27 Thank the Lord.
02:29 Sure enough, WWE brought out all of their big guns in next to no time, calling upon
02:33 John Cena at Money in the Bank for a long-awaited in-ring return at Summerslam, and even unleashing
02:37 both a returning Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar on those lucky Allegiant Stadium attendees.
02:42 If it wasn't evident coming in, Vince McMahon wanted to be the talk of the live attendance
02:47 town after so long playing to virtual faces.
02:50 Tony Khan had other ideas, however.
02:52 As some seven years on from washing his hands with WWE and the wrestling world as a whole,
02:56 CM Punk strutted out in front of a rampant Chicago faithful at the first dance and produced
03:01 a noise so loud, Cult of Personality barely had time to resonate with those watching at
03:05 home.
03:06 Dwarfed in spectacle and emotion, if not size and scale, the voice of the voiceless return
03:11 to wrestling left the supposed big boys looking like the minor leagues during their biggest
03:14 weekend in years.
03:16 7.
03:17 A monumental Royal Rumble leaves a sour taste
03:19 And with the return of capacity crowds also came with it the continuation of WWE's increasing
03:24 love of cramming 40,000+ folks inside of a venue for one of their other Big Four Premium
03:30 Live events outside of the show of shows.
03:32 Pulling off such an accomplishment is no mean feat, I might add.
03:36 However convincing that many people to pay their hard-earned cash to show up and watch
03:39 is one thing.
03:40 Giving them an event capable of making them want to return is something else entirely.
03:44 Royal Rumble 2022 was not that event.
03:47 Mired by the bizarre decision to give away the majority of the field in both titular
03:51 matches, contest fame for their unpredictability, things also weren't aided by the blockbuster
03:55 title contest being settled under dodgy circumstances.
03:58 A one-time can't-miss spectacular reduced to nothing more than lazy predictable setup
04:03 for mania showdowns next to nobody had any desire in witnessing.
04:07 WWE royally crapped the bed inside of the dome, and that's without even mentioning
04:10 Shane O'Mac's surreal Rumble power trip either.
04:13 6.
04:14 Nikki Ash doesn't click post-cash-in
04:16 Producing a set of pops to rival just about anything WWE has served up since welcoming
04:20 back their much-missed audience into stateside arenas, a character that looked destined to
04:25 flounder somehow managed to inspire waves of genuine support for about 5 minutes.
04:30 Cashing in her Money in the Bank contract, WWE couldn't believe their luck as their
04:33 resident wannabe superhero Nikki Ash erupted the Monday Night Raw crowd on the back of
04:37 seizing the Red Brand's Women's Championship off of Charlotte Flair.
04:41 Yet the bloom quickly came off this rosy light as fans soon remembered that WWE hadn't
04:45 done all that much to convince them of Ash's upper card credibility, and it wasn't too
04:49 long before the likes of Rhea Ripley and the aforementioned Queen were nudged back into
04:52 the spotlight instead.
04:54 Said rejection from the WWE Universe would open the door for an equally disappointing
04:58 heel turn down the line, and what now appears to be a rethink of the almost-a-superhero
05:02 experiment as Kross looks poised to start taking things more seriously.
05:07 5.
05:08 NXT 2.0 drops the multicolour ball
05:11 Looking at the absolute state of Tuesday night compared to the electric developmental super
05:15 indie Triple H and his pals were certain could sink the All Elite competition makes for a
05:19 painful examination for those who once bled black and gold.
05:23 A much-needed escape from the tired and stubborn main roster, super workers were given the
05:27 freedom to craft pulsating narratives and showdowns, but said traits were soon shared
05:32 by the aforementioned newcomers, and the second it became clear that Tony Khan's team were
05:35 leaving NXT in the dust, Vince McMahon's finger slamming down hard on the panic button
05:40 was as inevitable as a mad titan snapping his damn fingers.
05:43 In the place of effortlessly cool, current and charismatic displays from well-versed
05:47 performers was the new vision, hulking mountains of youthful green that fit the mould of WWE's
05:52 superstar and supposedly appealed to a younger audience.
05:55 Sure enough, the in-ring quality dipped, the cartoonish gimmicks boomed, and sex soon reigned
06:00 supreme.
06:01 NXT 2.0 hasn't crossed over the 700,000 viewer mark since October, and the 16-49 demo
06:07 hasn't bobbed over 0.20 since September.
06:10 What a success.
06:11 4.
06:12 2NightMania38 doesn't quite do the numbers desired
06:15 Turns out trying to obliterate the made-up heights of the previous dance inside the home
06:19 of the Dallas Cowboys isn't as easy as sticking Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey on a poster
06:23 and producing mindless TV for a few weeks.
06:26 Who knew?
06:27 Before long, a lack of interest in comparison to what was expected resulted in Vinny Mac
06:30 pulling out his checkbook, along with his own tank top, and handing a Texas rattlesnake
06:35 what he needed to dust off his knee braces.
06:37 And despite WWE's announcement of over 77,000 fans a night in attendance over the course
06:41 of the weekend, the more realistic numbers of around 65,000 per evening, while still
06:46 pretty damn impressive and sitting as the most attended event in company history apparently,
06:50 likely didn't fully satisfy the record-hungry WWE chairman.
06:53 3.
06:54 The baddest woman on the planet flatters to deceive
06:57 And while on the subject of this year's show of shows, a somewhat rushed but still
07:00 highly anticipated comeback, clearly fuelled by the bright lights of a 2Night's stupendous
07:05 extravaganza has ultimately fallen rather flat, hasn't it?
07:08 The sight of Ronda Rousey bursting into the dome recently as she set her sights on winning
07:12 a big one at Mania 38 acted as the smallest glimmer of hope exiting an already-discussed
07:17 damp squib of a Royal Rumble.
07:19 The baddest woman on the planet has been made to feel like anything but that.
07:23 Shuffled into the standard brand of mediocre storytelling and run-of-the-mill back-and-forths,
07:27 the speed of the former UFC Bantamweight Champion's loss of gloss and star power has been alarming
07:32 to say the least.
07:33 2.
07:34 Edge's Brood 2.0
07:35 Edge's recent run as an adored babyface on the back of a return that shouldn't have
07:39 ever been possible had run its course, let's be honest.
07:41 So why not lean into his more nefarious qualities in the lead-up to an incoming dream match
07:45 with AJ Styles at Mania 38?
07:47 It made all the sense in the world.
07:49 Clearly instead of offering a new coat of devilishness or a logical reason for turning
07:53 his back on the fans, the Rated-R Superstar has relied on the age-old trope of blaming
07:57 those who had cheered his name for his decision to take a walk on the dark side.
08:01 In the end, the glimpses of being pushed to a violent and borderline uncomfortable limit
08:05 throughout his admittedly enjoyable feud with Seth Rollins were overlooked, in favour of
08:09 cheap reliance on moody lighting and blasting the crowd for being lemmings.
08:13 Perhaps his newly formed alliance with Damien Priest and some rumoured additional members
08:17 will bear gothic fruit down the road and all will be forgiven.
08:21 But as of this moment, file this monologuing Big Bad Brood 2.0 leader under SKIP.
08:26 1.
08:27 Roman Reigns' epic undisputed crowning
08:29 Billing any match as the biggest WrestleMania match of all time was always bound to be a
08:33 recipe for an underwhelming end product.
08:35 But WWE gonna WWE, I suppose.
08:37 And as depressingly expected, despite WWE's continual efforts to make you give a damn,
08:42 the oversaw bout that closed out the latest showcase of the immortals failed to deliver
08:46 on that dumb promise.
08:48 In all honesty though, all signs were at least pointing to an intriguing blow off, what with
08:52 the Tribal Chief character refusing to surrender his strap at any cost, and Cowboy Brock Lesnar
08:56 surprisingly becoming the hottest babyface in the company.
08:59 Yet easily the contest given the most care and attention heading into WWE's biggest
09:03 show in years wound up becoming a carbon copy of the Reigns vs Lesnar match you've seen
09:07 countless times before.
09:09 Numerous suplexes, F5s, Superman punches and spears, Paul Heyman squirming throughout,
09:14 and even yet another attempt to steal the win via title shot to the skull, but hey ho,
09:18 at least we get to enjoy the head of the table sporting two shiny belts for the foreseeable,
09:22 and point at the sky some more.
09:24 Yay.
09:25 And that's our list!
09:26 Know of any other recent things that didn't go WWE's way?
09:29 Let us know all about them in the comments section right down below and do not forget
09:32 to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're here.
09:35 Also if you dig this sort of stuff then head on over to whatculture.com and find some more
09:38 awesome articles just like the one this video you're watching right now is based on and
09:42 I would know because I wrote it.
09:44 Yeah.
09:45 I've been Gareth from What Culture Wrestling, thank you very much for clicking on this video
09:47 today and I'm sure I'll see your faces very, very soon.