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2018 hasn't even come to an end yet and there is already a laundry list of popular Superstars that have fallen victim to horrific booking this year. While some Superstars are able to shake it off and go on to high profile positions on the card again, other Superstars aren't so lucky and lose a great deal of the momentum they once had.
Unfortunately for these Superstars, they end up in very low profile or very meaningless positions and continue to do so until the company either decides to push them again or fire them. In the meantime, however, they are usually given very little focus and storylines that only hurt their character further.
With that being said, who had the worst in 2018 and what will most likely happen to them in the future? Although it's impossible to predict the future, it is possible to look at current trends in a superstars booking and make predictions from there. In the end, here are ten superstars WWE screwed over the most in 2018
#10 Bayley and Sasha Banks
Believe it or not, Sasha Banks and Bayley use to be women's champions and the cornerstone of the entire women's division. Of course, that's easy to forget about now that the two prominent women have become midcard fodder and have been knocked out of the title picture for quite a while now.
Beyond that, WWE did a very lackluster storyline about Bayley and Sasha Banks' friendship coming to an end, which only hurt them when they dropped the angle a few weeks later.
In the end, these two women used to be on top of the division and legitimate contenders for the title, but now they are nothing more than an excuse for a bathroom break.
#9 Matt and Jeff Hardy
Another group of guys that WWE did not utilise well was Matt and Jeff Hardy. Although their run started off prominently enough with them winning the tag team titles at WrestleMania 33, they lost the belts a few months later and soon found themselves sliding down the card.
Unfortunately for The Hardy Boyz, it would be months before the company got the rights to The Broken gimmick and even when they did, there was very little down with it. In fact, beyond a short storyline between Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt, WWE didn't seem interested in getting behind The Woken gimmick and just let it die out.
What made the situation even worse was when WWE decided to separate The Hardy Boyz in the Superstar Shakeup, which was only a few months after Hardy made an appearance during the match at the Hardy Compound. The appearance from Hardy was the first in months after an injury and DUI, but WWE quickly shifted him to Smackdown Live when he returned.
In the end, Matt went on to hold the tag team titles with Wyatt, which was a bit of a high point, but it didn't last very long and WWE didn't really explore the storyline very well.
#8 Naomi
It's no secret that The Queen of Glow was never going to set the world on fire, but she continues to be one of WWE's top talents and deserves a lot more than what she got in 2018. Think about it! We're talking about a multiple time women's champion that didn't even get a title shot this year.
If nothing else, that should show how much of a monopoly Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch have on the main event title scene and how expendable the company sees Naomi as. Sure, WWE had her win The Women's Memorial battle Royal and now she's teaming with Asuka, but she continues to be nothing more than midcard fodder.
What makes thing even worse is the rumors going around that Asuka will eventually turn on Naomi to start a heel run of her own, which will most likely leave Naomi lost in the shuffle once again. Maybe that changes one day and WWE starts to see the value of The Glow Queen, but they haven't in quite a while.
#7 Jinder Mahal
From WWE Champion on Smackdown Live to midcard fodder on Monday Night Raw, Jinder Mahal has been on a downward spiral for quite a while now and it seems to just be getting worse and worse. In fact, Mahal has recently been saddled with a relaxation gimmick and continues to job regularly to mid-card stars on Monday Night Raw.
Beyond that, he is getting less and less time on WWE television, which seems to be indicative of him being phased out eventually. Unfortunately for Mahal, that might mean he eventually is laid off from the company after Royal Rumble season or taken off of television and put on house shows instead.
Either way, the future does not look bright for Mahal and anyone associated with him at this point in time, but his fall is even more troubling when you consider how high up he was at the time. In the end, Mahal's championship run was very underwhelming to see at best, but he definitely deserved better than what WWE has given him since then.
#6 Rusev
Rusev's run in 2018 is absolute proof that no matter how popular you are and no matter how many times you get fans to scream, the company may never see you as anything more than a mid-card guy. Of course, WWE did give Rusev a world title shot this year against AJ Styles, but it was more of a stopgap than an actual feud
With that being said, WWE has kept Rusev in irrelevancy for so long that its hard to take him seriously anymore. It's almost the same thing as R- ruth. The fans love him and the fans love to see him, but the company never takes them seriously due to other superstars fitting the top role better.
In the end, it's not Rusev's fault that WWE officials are looking for something different in a top guy then what he offers, but the company is ruining him in the meantime. In fact, despite Rusev continuing to receive massive reactions from crowds, WWE continues to keep him stagnant or in feuds that hurt him more than help him.
#5 Bobby Lashley
For a guy that is supposed to look and smell like money, at least according to Lio Rush, WWE sure does book him pretty badly. In fact, beyond a win over Kevin Owens and a one against Finn Balor, Lashley has been largely unproven as a heel and is usually just stuffed into the midcard somewhere.
Of course, it's obvious that the idea is to build him up slowly and then insert him into the title picture, but WWE is doing everything possible to undermine him in the process. Think about it! How seriously is the WWE Universe supposed to take Lashley when he has a loud mouth manager and can't seem to have an interesting match to save his life.
Let's be honest here, if WWE had any intention of Bobby Lashley being a big deal in the company, they would be focusing on his strengths and not his weaknesses. That's not to say Lashley's self-absorbed attitude isn't a step in the right direction, but it is instantly undone by his uninteresting storylines and his blowhard manager
In the end, it's WWE that has saddled him with this gimmick and it looks like they aren't taking it very seriously either. Maybe that will change in the next couple of months or when Royal Rumble season starts, but how can anyone take Lashley seriously or even be entertained by him if WWE continues to magnify his faults.
#4 Shinsuke Nakamura
The King of Strong Style has had an interesting run in WWE.
While that run started off with a decent feud with Dolph Ziggler and a few title matches against Jinder Mahal, it quickly hit a brick wall after he won the 2018 men's Royal Rumble match in January. In fact, he started hinting at a heel turn against AJ Styles, which sounded good on paper, but would become very disastrous with how WWE planned things out.
Unfortunately for Nakamura, he won lose the dream match for The WWE title and then outright turned heel on Styles after the match. Nakamura then went on to battle Styles throughout the spring months, but never won when it counted. As if that wasn't bad enough, he quickly found himself out of the title picture altogether with no momentum to speak of.
WWE then had him beat Jeff Hardy for The United States title, which was originally met with cheers from fans, but quickly lost footing when WWE did next to nothing with him afterwards. Furthermore, WWE tacked on the United States of NakAmerica gimmick and while it also originally sounded cool, it wasn't really followed up on either.
In the end, Nakamura deserved to beat AJ Styles for The WWE Title at WrestleMania 34 and when it didn't happen, it killed his legitimacy with fans. Of course, things only got worse with his Nakamerica gimmick, especially since WWE would keep him off television for long periods of time, but WrestleMania is still the starting point of what did him in.
#3 Asuka
How do you go from undefeated to midcard fodder?
Believe it or not, it started with Asuka taking a loss to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34, which was supposed to be The Empress of Tomorrow's crowning moment in the company. After the jaw-dropping loss, WWE waited a few weeks before bringing Asuka back on television and things only went downward from there.
Unfortunately for Asuka, she then suffered her second loss on the main roster a few weeks later in a tag team match and then went on to face Carmella for The Women's title again. Of course, some saw this as the beginning of something big for Asuka, but WWE once again gave up on her and had her loss two straight matches to Carmella
Beyond that, it was two of the screwiest finishes The WWE Universe had seen in The Women's division in quite some time, which only hurt Asuka's credibility as time went on. Interestingly enough rumors are circulating that the only thing preventing Asuka from getting pushed is her refusal to better her English, but who knows if that's even true.
In the end, Asuka is currently tagging with Naomi and the two seem to be jelling as a formidable tag team on The Smackdown Live roster. Furthermore, this pairing could also set the stage for the heel turn that The WWE Universe has been waiting for, but who knows if that is still even WWE's plan.
#2 Finn Balor
Let's be honest here, WWE's booking of Finn Balor in 2018 has been downright criminal and while the company did give him a Universal title match the night after Summerslam, they only did so in order to send him to the back of the line. Beyond that, WWE let him do his Demon King gimmick a whopping one time, which was very disappointing to watch
Add in the fact that he failed to win The IC title at WrestleMania 34 and went on to lose in multiple rematches with Seth Rollins and you start to see the downward trend that Balor has been on this year. Furthermore, WWE has continued that downward spiral with putting him in the mixed match challenge and a very one-sided feud with Bobby Lashley
Whether things will get better or not remains to be seen and will be dependent on how much value WWE actually sees in him, but it's obvious that right now they don't see very much of anything in him right now. Again, maybe things will change, especially with Roman Reigns out for a while, but it would probably be foolish to get your hopes up right now.
#1 Braun Strowman
Bruan Strowman should have been the Universal champion by now and while the company has always booked him to come close to achieving that goal, they are notorious for not pulling the trigger on it. In fact, Strowman has come up short in trying to nab the big red belt so many times that he is starting to lose legitimacy as a main event star.
Of course, some of that might have to do with the rumors of him having backstage heat with Vince McMahon, but there are others who claim Strowman is dealing with two blown out knees at the moment. Either way, WWE is continuing their trend of not putting the title on him and it looks like he's not going to get another title shot in the near future either.
With that being said, Strowman deserves so much better this nonsense and is just another example of the company dropping the ball on someone that was a raw talent. Not only is that evident by how over Strowman his with the WWE Universe, but also by the fact that Strowman is honestly the only superstar that can replace Roman Reigns right now.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
