5 Wrestlers that were booked wrongly in 2018

There are a lot of things WWE gets right. Braun Strowman's booking over the past year is a testament to this fact.

However, the WWE has a number of balls to juggle, with a crowded roster and a jam-packed schedule to deal with. Due to this, some wrestlers end up being underutilized and underappreciated, or just fall victim to terrible booking.

Most of the time, Superstars recover from these lulls, but there are cases where irreversible damage is done to a wrestler and they are just never able to recover.

There are a number of Superstars on the main roster that has been mismanaged in 2018, but there are a few who have possible undergone damage that will leave a scar for the rest of their careers.

Hopefully, things can be salvaged, but if they aren't, if would not be the biggest surprise in the world.

Let's check out the five wrestlers the WWE has booked wrongly in 2018.

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#5 Andrade 'Cien' Almas

Where art thou?

Lest you forget, Andrade 'Cien' Almas is a member of the main roster on Smackdown Live. It is very easy to forget that he made the jump to the main roster because he has been missing for most of his run.

If you have asked yourself, 'Where is Andrade 'Cien' Almas?', you would not be alone, as he has barely been a presence on TV for quite a while now.

He squashed a few jobbers upon his arrival and he seemed to be heading into a rivalry with Sin Cara that ultimately led to nothing.

The Sin Cara story was never resolved and he never moved onto bigger and better things. Instead, he disappeared completely, the Sin Cara story vanished without a trace, and Almas now has absolutely nothing to do.

There were rumours that Almas was being slated to face-off against Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship, but his position has gone to Shinsuke Nakamura, leaving Almas in limbo for a little while longer.

It's a shame because WWE hyped Almas' arrival to the main roster a lot and it's likely he will recover from this lull, but as of now, Almas is nothing on the main roster.

#4 Bobby Lashley

Has this return gone wrong?

Big things were expected of Bobby Lashley after he made his return to WWE on the Raw after Wrestlemania 34.

He immediately laid out Elias and made his way to the back, while soaking up the adulation from the WWE Universe. Lashley had a ton of momentum behind him and all of that led him to a feud with Sami Zayn.

The less that is said about the Lashley-Zayn feud, the better. The segments involving the two went from bad to worse and the stink of the segment involving Lashley's 'sisters' will not wear off any time soon.

However, WWE seems to be trying to steer Lashley in the right direction, by positioning him as one of the top contenders to Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship, but there's no denying that WWE has done serious damage to Lashley's character over the last few months and only time will tell if there's any coming back from that or not.

#3 Kevin Owens

Will The Real Prizefighter please stand up?

Kevin Owens' charisma and ability on the mic will ensure that he will always have a sizable fan-base.

However, he has spent the last year fighting an uphill battle against the WWE Creative that has insisted on neutering his character and placing him in situations that cause harm to The Prizefighter at every turn.

KO was fast-tracked through NXT and made a huge impression when he first arrived on the main roster by scoring a huge victory over John Cena.

He was cold, calculating and vicious. But above all else, he was a nuanced and interesting villain.

Owens was an immediate star and his 'Prizefighter' gimmick was a massive success. While he still does show flashes of that character from time-to-time, he is primarily tasked with being the cowardly heel whose natural instinct is to flee, rather than fight.

He has now become Strowman's whipping boy and is being tossed around like he's nothing.

The Prizefighter deserves much better and it hurts all the more because if WWE wanted, they could turn him back into his old self overnight, and everyone would buy it, no questions asked.

#2 Finn Balor

A watered-down Demon King

There is no doubt that Finn Balor deserves a lot better in the WWE. There was a time when the WWE saw him as one of their top guys (he was the first Universal Champion, after all), but all that has changed now, as he has just become another generic babyface who puts over main-event talent, instead of being in the main-event himself.

WWE has had nothing substantial for Balor ever since he returned from injury and he has been stripped of everything that made his character so special.

The Demon King is no more and the cool aura around Balor has dissipated, as he is just another smiling good-guy who always comes up short against the elite stars.

It's really a shame because Balor should be mixing it up with the best and headlining shows. Instead, he will probably lose to Baron Corbin at Extreme Rules and as things stand, he will go down as one of the biggest 'what-ifs?' of the modern era.

#1 Asuka

The Empress of Yesterday

Asuka's fall from grace has been shocking. Once the most unique, captivating and fearsome performer on the entire roster, she is now no longer any different from any other member of the Smackdown Live Women's Division.

Superstars tend to experience growing pains when they transition onto the main roster from NXT, but Asuka's momentum has fallen off a cliff in recent weeks.

Her loss to Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania 34 could have easily been salvaged if WWE had booked her right.

Instead, she has been fed to Carmella and a returning James Ellsworth. Imagine someone telling you a year ago that Carmella would be the first woman to pin Asuka. You would call them insane.

But that is exactly what happened after she foolishly got distracted by Ellsworth decked out in her costume. Asuka's ship has sunk and will probably take more damage as she will most likely lose to Carmella at Extreme Rules as well.

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Do you think any of these Superstars can have a better second-half of 2018? Who else has been seriously messed up by the WWE? Share your views in the comments below!