5 Wrestlers that had a horrible 2018

It's been a pretty up and down year for WWE. While there has been a consistent fall in the ratings, they have been able to sign some really good deals and venture into different countries like Australia with Super Show-Down.

On the other hand, even for some wrestlers, it's been a pretty good year. Wrestlers like Drew Mcintyre have really been able to make their mark and are slowly coming into their own. They could be getting ready for the much-awaited final big push for the title run.

For some wrestlers though, it's been a year to forget. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Some wrestlers have really plummeted down the rankings and have seen their stocks fall at a consistent rate. Let's look back and see who are the wrestlers who, when they look back would look at 2018 with a pinch of salt.

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#1 Finn Balor

It has been a year to forget for Finn Balor

The less said about Finn Balor's 2018 the better, because it has been a horror show for the first-ever Universal Champion in WWE.

Slowly but steadily right in front of the fans' eyes his stock has plummetted step-by-step as Finn has been gradually dropped from being a top draw to a mid-carder to now someone whose only reason of existence is to get beat up by Drew McIntyre or Baron Corbin.

The highlight of Finn Balor's year has been a 2-minute squash of Baron Corbin when finally WWE realized he also had an alter ego gimmick by the name of the Demon King.

Finn would be one of the wrestlers in WWE right now wishing for 2018 to just end and maybe reinvent himself in some way or the other because the current status quo is doing him more harm than good.

#2 Shinsuke Nakamura

It's kind of sad when giving a low blow to a fellow wrestler is your highlight of the year

Winning the Royal Rumble, then highlighting Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship in a mouthwatering match against his former New Japan Pro Wrestling mate AJ Styles to now being a US champion who hardly features once in a while on the live shows is a dramatic fall from grace for Shinsuke Nakamura.

What's more, it doesn't seem to be his fault either. Somehow the WWE management ran out of ideas for what to do with him. A lot of time was invested in Nakamura during and post-Wrestlemania.

He was turned heel post his loss to AJ Styles and was involved in an intense battle with him. His whole gimmick was transformed with a new edgy entrance track as well as a different demeanour. But after he lost his title match against AJ Styles it's been a bit strange. He was made the US champion and since then both he and the US title has been more off than on-air.

The heel persona almost seems outdated now and the whole gimmick has become stale which is hardly what you'd expect from Shinsuke Nakamura.

#3 Asuka

It all went downhill for Asuka after she lost her match against Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania

Asuka's story is quite similar to Nakamura, but maybe even worse, because it's tough to fathom why such a talent has been kicked to curb by the WWE. Fans have been left questioning why Asuka's push was suddenly stopped even though the WWE Universe still love her to bits whenever she makes an entrance in any arena.

Asuka was the winner of the Royal Rumble this year and headlined Wrestlemania against Charlotte Flair for the Women's championship. At that point in time, Asuka herself had an undefeated streak going on in WWE ever since she was promoted from NXT.

To the shock of everyone Asuka lost her match to Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania which killed the undefeated streak, then she was portrayed as a wrestler who couldn't even beat Carmella to get the title.

Just recently she has been added to the Triple threat match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair for the women's championship but it's more than likely that she'll be the one taking the pin rather than getting the pin in the match.

From possessing the coveted undefeated streak in women's wrestling, winning the Royal Rumble and almost winning the title at Wrestlemania to jobbing out to Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, it's just not been Asuka's year.

#4 Bobby Roode

The glorious superstar has gotten overshadowed by the crowded Raw Locker room

The glorious Superstar has been up against it the whole year. Bobby, after a slow start, had started making his way up the ladder in SmackDown and was able to win the US championship as well.

Things really started taking a downturn once Bobby was drafted to Raw and the WWE creative team almost forgot about him. One of the biggest issues at Raw is actually the plethora of wrestlers present and it seemed Bobby just got lost amid the crowd.

Currently, Bobby has been partnered with Chad Gable and the team has hardly had any significant presence and have been jobbed out to the Authors of Pain.

For an accomplished singles star like Bobby Roode, 2018 has been anything but good and he would surely be looking forward to 2019 with hopes of a possibly better run than what he got in 2018.

#5 Bobby Lashley

Bobby Lashley 2.0 is anything but impressive

It won't be too big a stretch to say that Bobby Lashley's 2018 return run has been much worse than his first run for the company.

During his first run, WWE had followed a simple strategy for Bobby Lashley. They knew he was not a good talker, he wasn't made to do any talking. They knew he could be a huge impact wrestler and that's what he was asked to do.

During his second stint with the company, neither Lashley nor the management has seemed sure of what they want to make of the character. He has hardly gotten into a high stakes feud. The best he has done has been his win over Roman Reigns (which was quickly nullified in the very next week).

Now that he has been turned heel and it's just putting on display what he lacks as a performer, such an ability to cut good promos on the mic, with Lio Rush having to step in instead of him for the purpose.

Lashley might have stepped into the WWE with the aspirations of facing Brock Lesnar someday for the title. For now, that looks like nothing but a distant dream.