'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
For much of the past year, we've documented right here at Sportskeeda as much of the WWE botches as possible. Most episodes of WWE Raw, a fair share of the WWE SmackDowns, and almost every pay-per-view have been followed by a rundown of the biggest slip-ups from the show.
After chronicling so much information, it's apropos that as 2017 comes to a close we offer again some of the most memorable highlights that Vince McMahon might prefer we forget about.
Featured in the following thirty entries are dental debacles for Jeff Hardy and Cesaro, wardrobe malfunctions for The Miz and Charlotte, and whatever that was that the Ball family was doing on MizTV. The highlights get bigger and better as we journey all the way to the biggest botch to happen on WWE's main roster programming this year.
So sit back, get comfortable, and prepare to cringe a little as you relive your favourite sports entertainers trying to get through uneasy situations.
#30 Not so smooth Tornado DDT
AJ Styles took on Brock Lesnar in an unexpected dream match at Survivor Series. Styles abruptly defeated Jinder Mahal just before this show for the WWE Championship, earning the right to represent his brand as the top guy in his inter-brand non-title match.
While AJ was successful in giving us the best Brock match in quite some time, there was one thing he couldn’t do: give The Beast a Tornado DDT. It simply looked like Lesnar didn’t rotate his body as smooth as Styles was hoping for here. This resulted in an awkward stall, then a sudden turn that caused AJ to faceplant on the mat.
#29 Struggle for the Powerslam
Overall, Braun Strowman’s 2017 was well executed. If he didn’t convince you of his monster status after flipping an ambulance, breaking the ring with a Big Show superplex, and surviving being trash compacted, then you are very hard to please.
One botch that worked against this larger than life aura was this badly executed Powerslam against Big Show. He avoided a 500 lbs splash off of the second ropes and visibly struggled to get the giant of a man into position. He did eventually connect with the move but with noticeable strain.
#28 Randy Orton's face is priceless
Randy Orton provided one of the best facial expressions of 2017 when he surveyed the back body drop he just delivered to one of the Jinder Mahal’s lackeys at Backlash. His face clearly portrayed the reaction of a man who realized good and well what he just did. And what he did was dump Samir Singh directly on his head on top of an announce table.
Despite completely manhandling Jinder’s cohorts, Randy Orton lost the WWE Championship here to Mahal. He would not reclaim it in subsequent challenges.
#27 Face to knee
Nia Jax these days has her love jones dialled in on the Certified G, but earlier in 2017 she was in the mix against the top talent in her division on Raw. During this April match against Charlotte, she performed a variation of the shoulder breaker that could easily have required dental work for Ms. Flair.
Instead of Charlotte’s shoulder taking the impact, she went face-first onto Nia’s knee. No serious injuries resulted from this botch but it looked awfully painful.
#26 Not enough rotation on the East River Crossing
The WWE landscape was way different at the start of January 2017. Jinder Mahal was merely the lackey to Rusev, Big Cass was primed for a big push, and Shawn Michaels was randomly around. The Heartbreak Kid gave The Bulgarian Brute a superkick, distracting his buddy during his match.
Michaels’ actions on the outside set up Cass for the East River Crossing, followed by the Empire Elbow for the victory. The first move in this sequence was clearly botched but still enough to put away the future WWE Champion.
#25 No Samoan Drop
The Big Dog must love secondary titles in the winter time. The current day Intercontinental Champion wrestled Chris Jericho during a January 2017 edition of Raw, hoping to regain his recently lost United States Championship. This attempt at one of his signature moves did not help his cause.
Reigns didn’t get Y2J hoisted onto his shoulders properly, then struggled with his leg in an attempt to cover up the botch. Kevin Owens tried to cover for his then-best friend while on commentary, cheering that he needed to “fight it off.”
#24 Bloody Gulak
This botch didn't seem too bad at first viewing. Cedric Alexander kicked Drew Gulak from the apron, causing Enzo Amore's buddy to reel backwards a little. As the match went on, it was evident that Drew was bleeding from this snug strike.
During the backstage segment that followed, WWE decided to haphazardly bandage the master of the Powerpoint Presentation when he approached the leader of the Zo Train. It was shocking that WWE utilized this real injury in this era of no blood.
#23 Over the top
Enzo Amore already has a rough history with the ropes, so it's no surprise that they were involved with an entry of his on this list. Facing off against Cesaro, Amore was thrown into the ropes with the hopes that he'd go over the top and out of the ring. That isn't exactly how things worked out for him.
Enzo quickly bounced back away from the ropes but was committed to his exit. He then voluntarily jumped over the top rope, bumbling like he was still leaving not on his own will. It probably would've made more sense to exit slightly more gracefully, choosing to opt for a breather or a timeout.
#22 Just hanging around
While we're already on the subject of having trouble going over the top rope, Kalisto upped Enzo Amore in this regard while coming down the ramp for his match on the Survivor Series kickoff show.
He's normally much more graceful after bouncing off a trampoline for his flippy entrance into the ring. However, he caught the top rope and just hung there for what was only a couple of seconds but felt way longer.
Kalisto went on to lose to Amore in his bid to reclaim the Cruiserweight Championship. Nowadays, he's teaming with Gran Metalik and trying his best to avoid debris from jerk fans.
#21 Dean vs. tables
Even though Dean Ambrose had Kane, The Miz, The Bar, and the monstrous Braun Strowman opposite him in his Survivor Series match, his biggest enemy turned out to be a piece of furniture. Twice, Ambrose was on the wrong end of a table bump. On both occasions, the table stubbornly refused to work with him.
The first table bump resulted in almost no give whatsoever after a Crucifix Powerbomb by The Bar. The second bump saw a table flip out from underneath Ambrose at the top of the entrance ramp. Shortly after, a little bit of blood was noticed on his elbow while being carried lifelessly by Cesaro.
#20 Goldberg's head blood
Bill Goldberg’s return to WWE and brief run with the Universal Championship was unexpectedly fun. Who would’ve guessed that he’d be received so well as a main eventer in 2017? Despite the success, he did have one awkward night showcasing a perplexing head injury.
Apparently, Goldberg headbutts things to prepare himself before heading to the ring. On this night in January, the locker that he chose caused him to randomly bleed a substantial amount of blood. The night ended with an awesome staredown between Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, and himself, so the segment wasn’t totally lost.
#19 Pinfalls happen inside the ring
Alicia Fox had an eventful 2017. She had a relationship with Noam Dar on 205 Live, WWE offered merchandise of her, and she even captained a Survivor Series team. Creative keeps finding things for Ms Fox to do on screen, which is great for her.
One thing she probably wished she hadn't done this year happened on the TLC pre-show in a match against Alicia Fox. After a pretty sweet tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on the outside of the ring, she got a little ahead of herself and went for the cover right there. Since this wasn't a Falls Count Anywhere contest, the ref paid no mind.
#18 Avoiding Randy's DDT
During a tag match between Jinder Mahal & Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Randy Orton during an August episode of SmackDown, Randy kept trying to get the WWE Champion into his draping DDT to no avail. There were at least a couple of attempts that Jinder evaded, one time in particular thanks to the distraction of the Singh Brothers.
Finally, Orton got Mahal set up in his signature manoeuvre at the end of the contest and it even looked like he was going to get the payoff he was building towards. That was the plan, but it didn't happen. Either he pulled Jinder out too far or the former 3MB member simply lost his balance.
Randy pulled him up right after this and gave him a regular DDT instead.
#17 Couldn't lift Kane the first time
Brock Lesnar recently found out that he'll be battling both Kane and Brock Lesnar as he defends his Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. He met both of his opponents inside the ring recently on Raw, but initially failed to hoist the Devil's Favorite Demon on his shoulders for an F5.
He executed his finisher on a second try, so it wasn't a total fail here. Kane set up from the attack about a minute later, so he should be fine. The botch was scrubbed from playback on WWE's YouTube video of this segment.
#16 Trouble with the elbow drop
Let’s hope that fans remember more from Bayley’s Raw Women’s Championship run than this elbow drop. Bayley completely messed up her first running go at Charlotte, who was upside down in the Tree of Woe. She tried once more but completely whiffed.
Considering Alexa Bliss would present her “This is your life” segment for Bayley a couple of months after this. It appears that 2017 wasn’t the kindest year for this Hug Life athlete. Let’s hope for a botch free 2018 for her.
#15 Please avoid those broken freakin' necks
Kurt Angle's neck woes are no secret. He even won a gold medal a long time ago while it was broken. After years away from a WWE ring, this image was the last thing anybody wanted to see from our returning Olympic hero.
After Roman Reigns fell victim to a virus that briefly ravaged the locker room, Angle announced that he would be the substitute Shield member at TLC. He backpedalled away from The Miz during this spot, rolling out of the ring. His head caught on the edge of the apron and he gave himself a couple of mini-piledrivers on his way to the floor.
#14 Security stopped Gronk's run-in
If WWE wanted to allow a surprise celebrity run-in during their biggest show of the year, it's probably a good idea in hindsight to make sure security is aware. This security lady was only doing her job when the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski hopped over the front barrier to help out his buddy Mojo Rawley. She was eventually wised up that he was part of the show. We got this awkward interaction as a memorial of this moment.
It’s also worth pointing out the strange booking of this pre-show Battle Royal. Both Braun Strowman and Big Show were eliminated fairly quickly and the final three combatants were Mojo, Killian Dain, and a pre-main eventer Jinder Mahal. Rawley eventually won the coveted trophy
#13 Watch the ref
The wrestling move featured here is not a botch, in regards to the two wrestlers involved. This ring collapse spot after Braun Strowman superplexed The Big Show off the top of the rope went exactly as planned… except if you happened to be referee Jon Cone.
On the right of the above gif, Cone can be seen attempting to lean against the ropes as he took his bump. Since the ropes gave out as well, he had nowhere to fall except out of the ring.
#12 Bloody Braun
Braun Strowman truly is the monster among men that WWE keeps saying that he is. But if you hit him with the pointy side of the steel steps, he'll bleed just like anybody else. This one's the fault of Roman Reigns, who for some reason decided that nailing Braun with the flat side of the steps in this SummerSlam main event wasn't Big Dog enough.
Brock Lesnar defended his Universal Championship in this 4-way match that also featured Samoa Joe. Brock retained in this mega-hoss of a match.
#11 Too close to The Shield
It doesn't matter how awesome a Shield reunion may be, do not attempt to walk down the steps alongside them. But seriously, the guy in the blue shirt may have been innocently trying to squeeze back to his seat and didn't realize why there was such a commotion. He didn't look like someone acting maliciously in the brief amount of time he was on national television.
The event security team didn't care what this guy's story was, he was too close to the action and they weren't having any of it. He was promptly removed from the area while the three Hounds of Justice largely ignored the incident happening inches behind them.
#10 Couldn't stop the pinfall
Dean Ambrose had his shoulders on the mat while Cesaro pinned him in this big 8-man tag match on Raw from September. Even though his shoulders never came up after what would've been the count of three, the ref stopped the count anyway.
It was apparent that Matt Hardy was supposed to break up the count but failed to get to Cesaro in time. The ropes caused him to stumble, but the ref was nice enough to stop counting anyways. Corey Graves tried to cover for the soon-to-be-Awoken Matt by remarking that the ref stopped the count because he saw Matt coming out of the corner of his eye.
#9 Charlotte's full moon
Half of this SmackDown audience in Toronto were shown more of Charlotte than they expected. Lana went for a sunset flip on The Queen, hooking her legs in hopes of rolling her up. Her body must've pulled down on her tights because they slid downward, exposing Charlotte's bare behind.
I haven't searched to find alternative angles or fan footage (and I don't plan on doing so). To the best of my knowledge, no R rated images or video of this wardrobe malfunction exists. This will forever be a special moment solely for Charlotte and this crowd of Canadians who happened to be seated on the hard camera side of the arena.
#8 The Miz split his pants
From one wardrobe malfunction to another...
Heath Slater found himself fighting The Miz this past summer for the Intercontinental Championship. The winner was set to face off against Dean Ambrose at Great Balls of Fire, so this match had big implications. Too bad Miz was wearing a nice white pair of slacks instead of his normal ring gear.
Miz's pants became a casualty in this battle, as seen above. They completely split where Miz's butt meets his seat during these moves. Despite this mishap, Miz retained his title.
#7 Cena got dropped on his head
John Cena has made only sporadic appearances for 2017 in WWE. On an August episode of SmackDown, he competed in a darn good match against Shinsuke Nakamura. Cena looked like he was about to put away Nakamura with an AA, but the move was countered into an inverted exploder suplex. The landing was rough for John, who was dumped right onto the back of his head and neck.
Shinsuke's face showed concern as the match came to a close. He even mouthed "I'm sorry" to his opponent as the two shook hands after it was over. Thankfully, Cena was perfectly fine and made sure to give The King of Strong Style props.
#6 Sheamus kicked Jeff Hardy's tooth out
There was plenty of good tag team action in WWE throughout 2017. Two pairs that kept things exciting on the Raw brand were the returning Hardyz as well as Sheamus & Cesaro a.k.a. The Bar. During their match at Payback, Sheamus showed Jeff Hardy just how stiff he could be with a kick straight to the teeth.
The Hardyz successfully defended the Raw Tag Titles on this night. However, brother Nero required medical attention because he legitimately lost a tooth from this too-snug strike.
#5 Harper was robbed
The ending to a battle royal can be tricky if you’re trying to make it close. The 2005 double elimination between John Cena and Batista in the Royal Rumble was the best too-close-to-call spot, and that wasn’t even on purpose.
During a late-February SmackDown battle royal to determine Bray Wyatt’s challenger for the WWE Title at WrestleMania, an AJ Styles victory did not go as planned.
Luke Harper must have wanted AJ to land on the apron, stopping his opponent's body from hitting the floor first. The problem here is that Styles completely missed the apron, definitively landing on the ground first. Harper ultimately never got to compete against Bray for his title, even though it would’ve made perfect sense in regard to his character arc at the time.
#4 JBL tripped (twice)
JBL proved on two separate occasions how ungraceful he is these days on his feet. It should be noted that these trips were combined to create a supersized entry from everybody’s favourite former SmackDown colour commentator.
The first trip happened on a January edition of SmackDown. John wanted to be there for his buddy Jerry Lawler, who was just Superkicked in the chest by Dolph Ziggler. JBL’s heart was in the right place, even though his feet clearly were not. The second trip happened while making his way to the ring for February’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
#3 The Ball Family on MizTV
This is the one botch on this list that's hard to pinpoint in a single moment, so here's Lavar Ball running around the ring shirtless during a segment that went completely off the rails on Raw.
The most taboo moment of this infamous MizTV angle happened when LaMelo Ball said the N-word on a live mic, but that's a moment that can't be gif-ed for this family-friendly article.
After several minutes of The Miz proving how much of a king he is as a promo guy, Dean Ambrose came out in a Big Baller Brand shirt in an effort to end this mercifully.
#2 Cesaro's gruesome ringpost collision
The Bar’s removal of Jeff hardy’s teeth during their Raw Tag Team Title match at Payback turned out to only be the first dental botch of the year. In September’s No Mercy, Cesaro found himself to be the recipient of a painful-looking ring post spot.
With his front two teeth visibly shoved deeper into his skull, Cesaro amazingly continued to wrestle in this match for many minutes afterwards. On top of the busted mouth, he and Sheamus also failed to win back their titles in this gutsy performance.
#1 Tombstone gone wrong
Only two men in history have defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania. The first was Brock Lesnar, who shockingly ended the famous Streak. The second was Roman Reigns, and he did so in the main event of this most recent WrestleMania.
Even though the post-match ‘retirement’ was a cool spectacle, the match beforehand was not. One spot that will probably be remembered above most of the other moments from this match was when The Big Dog tried to Tombstone The Deadman. As hard as he tried, he just couldn’t lift him up.
Thanks for checking out some of the wildest WWE botches of the year! Did we miss any? Let us know about more great botches from this past year in the comments below!
