5 Worst WWE Matches of 2018

2018 will be remembered as a history-making year in WWE as it featured the first ever Women's Royal Rumble, the first all-female pay per view event, the retirement of Paige, the signing of MMA and movie star, Rowdy Ronda Rousey and the return of Daniel Bryan to the ring after a three year absence and also Shawn Michaels, who ended his eight-year retirement in October.

2018 also delivered plenty of sterling action between the ropes as top stars such as Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Dolph Ziggler and others delivered incredibly entertaining matches on its pay per views and weekly television shows.

However, the action wasn't all good in 2018. There were plenty of dud matches contested in WWE as well.

The company's desire to push Roman Reigns as it's number one babyface failed and his matches with heels often failed to deliver inside the ring due to the lack of psychology with the WWE Universe booing his every move against the dastardly bad guys. This was no more evident than when he was pitted opposite Brock Lesnar; a man with whom he had little in-ring chemistry.

Another downfall for WWE was their decision to promote matches with long past their prime veterans; in particular Kurt Angle, Triple H, The Undertaker and Kane. Angle and the "Game" performed admirably at Wrestlemania 34 but not recapture that same magic in their other contests throughout 2018.

Shawn Michaels made his long-awaited return to the ring at Crown Jewel. Although the veteran did not disgrace himself inside the ring, the same cannot be said of the three other participants in that match.

In this year ending slideshow, Sportskeeda looks at the five worst matches in WWE in 2018.

#5 Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns - Wrestlemania 34 (April 8, 2018)

Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns: Match was booed out of the building

Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. The match WWE continually wants to promote and the encounter that the WWE Universe does not wish to witness.

The ultimate heel Lesnar needs a strong babyface foil to compete against to make his matches work and Reigns, despite WWE's insistence is not that competitor.

Their title encounter at Wrestlemania was an unmitigated disaster. The fans loudly booed the bout from the offset through to the surprising finish, which saw Lesnar surprisingly defend the Universal Championship successfully versus the number one contender.

The bout lacked psychology with finishing move after finishing move and not much else delivered on a maddening loop, each with lessening impact and crowd engagement.

No one cared and no one was entertained. The WrestleMania 34 main event is a strong contender for worst Wrestlemania main event of all time. Really, the headliners of Wrestlemania VIII, IX and 13 are the only ones that come close to this disaster.

#4 Braun Strowman vs Kevin Owens - Summerslam (August 19, 2018)

Braun Strowman versus Kevin Owens: Didn't go long at Summerslam

Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens don't have great chemistry together and contested some duds in 2018. There was none worse than their two-minute encounter at SummerSlam. Owens entered the encounter with a severe knee injury and was barely mobile throughout the bout's brief duration.

This in essence then, was a glorified squash match. It was a burial of Owens and did nothing for Strowman's credibility either. To make matters worse, Strowman made Owens make look worse as after he had decimated him here, he himself was battered far too easily by Brock Lesnar during the main event when he had attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase.

For these reasons, this match and everything around it was an unmitigated disaster. Strowman and Owens' stars fell further than just about anybody's in 2018.

#3 Carmella vs Asuka - Money in the Bank (June 17, 2018)

Carmella boots Asuka in the face at Money in the Bank

If you can forget the booking, the Carmella and Asuka title bout at Money in the Bank was a complete mess.

Carmella, the opening card act had been stunningly shunted into the title picture when she cashed in Money in the Bank to defeat Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women's title. From there she was inserted into a Championship feud with Asuka.

Asuka, who had been portrayed as a killer who had remained undefeated for well over two years spent an eternity on the defensive versus Carmella at Money in the Bank. If the booking wasn't bad enough, Carmella's offence was sloppy and unconvincing. She looked bad and she made her opponent look worse.

The clash descended into bad comedy when light relief character, James Ellsworth interfered to hand Carmella the win. Better best forgotten this match. Oh wait, you already had! Moving on.

#2 Triple H vs The Undertaker - Super Show-Down (October 6, 2018)

Triple H and the Undertaker's final battle underwhelmed

Triple H and The Undertaker have contested many entertaining contests, most notably their Wrestlemania trilogy at Wrestlemania's X-7, 28 and 29. All three of those battles were white hot encounters. But, in 2018, with 'Taker now in his fifties and Triple H, now 49 years of age, the pair had nothing left in the tank for what was billed as their last ever match-up.

In all fairness, the build to the bout was strong with some electric promo work from Undertaker, Triple H and Shawn Michaels as they leant on Michaels's 2010 retirement due to his defeat to Taker at Wrestlemania 26 as motivation for the contest.

If the match had lasted 10 minutes or less, it may have been acceptable. But at 28 minutes duration, this collision between the two veterans had zero chance of working. The pair wrestled in slow motion as the crowd sat on their hands. The match was an interminable mess.

#1 D-Generation X vs The Brothers of Destruction - Crown Jewel (November 2, 2018)

Shawn Michaels's long-awaited comeback bout was a disaster

I wonder what all those Shawn Michaels fans who were yearning for him to end his eight-year retirement made of his return match, a tag team encounter pitting he and D-Generation X comrade, Triple H versus the team of The Undertaker and Kane.

The feud leading up to the bout was sound. Michaels had honoured his retirement vow following his loss to Undertaker in the main event of Wrestlemania XXVI and did so out of respect. However, when 'Taker disrespected Michaels and called him a coward for staying retired he lit a fire inside the "Heart Break Kid" who decided he wanted another shot at the "Deadman."

Given this was his first match back in almost a decade and he is now 53 years old and the limitations of the even older Undertaker, WWE wisely elected to make this a tag team encounter. However, someone made the unwise move to book the match to last an epic 28 minutes, learning nothing from the Super Show-Down mess.

Even putting aside the controversial setting of the Saudi Arabia based event, this headline bout was a disaster. Triple H tore his pectoral muscle in the opening minutes of the match and wrestled for over 20 minutes with one arm.

Kane's mask fell off his face on numerous occasions; the first time in memory that had happened unplanned, and at least three of the men in the match had no business being inside a wrestling ring in 2018.