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2019 has been one of the most interesting ones for the business as well as the millions (and millions!) of WWE fans all across the globe. There was a lot to like about the WWE programming this year. From two well-deserved fan favorites winning the Royal Rumble to the Women's Division reaching new heights, to the birth of a creatively genius gimmick and the rise of NXT, WWE had its fair share of successes.
As is the case with everything, however, there was the other side of the coin that saw the company make some horrible mistakes that did hurt them or could hurt them in the future. With the emergence of their biggest rival in years in All Elite Wrestling, WWE will likely want to learn from these errors in an effort to produce a better product in the coming year.
What mistakes are we talking about? Well, let's dive deep into seven of the biggest mistakes WWE made in 2019. Feel free to comment down below and let us know if we missed anything that should have been here.
#7 Wild Card Rule
The Internet Wrestling Community has been very vocal about their displeasure towards many of Vince McMahon's decisions over the years. While the WWE CEO wasn't seen on WWE TV very much this year, one of his RAW appearances made highlights for all the wrong reasons.
What was hyped up as a special announcement this May on RAW turned out to be one of the biggest disasters of the year! The Wild Card Rule, as he named it, allowed 3-4 Superstars each week from both RAW and SmackDown to appear on the other brand. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before this new Vince McMahon special started to rip apart the very essence of a brand split.
Many were of the thought that this rule was made to assure top Superstars like Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns, etc would appear on both brands to keep the ratings in check. Dual appearances from these top stars meant lesser opportunities for others. Moreover, this rule got out of hand soon thereafter as even 6-7 Superstars were seen jumping brands on a weekly basis.
Thankfully, SmackDown's move to FOX brought an end to this rule!
#6 Poor booking of the Women's Tag Team Titles
The past few years have seen the Women's Division reach new heights and the announcement of the Women's Tag Team Championships looked to be another step in the right direction. Expectations were high and fans were hopeful that the introduction of the new twin belts would allow the division's most talented Superstars another avenue to compete on a high level.
Hopes were raised further when Sasha Banks and Bayley became the inaugural champions and promised to defend the titles on every brand. Unfortunately, the Boss 'n' Hug Connection lost the titles at WrestleMania 35 to The IIconics and soon afterward the titles began to lose credibility.
While 'Becky 2 Belts' was at the height of stardom and making the RAW and SmackDown Women's Championships seem like the most prestigious titles in the company, WWE somewhat forgot about their newly created Women's Tag Team Championships. It was common to see the The IIconics taking the pin regularly on RAW and SmackDown, which made them and the entire division look weak.
With Asuka and Kairi Sane (The Kabuki Warriors) as current champions, the division looks to be in better hands, but with rumors of Asuka taking on Becky Lynch for the RAW Women's Champion at the Royal Rumble, the titles are at risk of becoming an afterthought once again.
#5 Shane McMahon everywhere
If you are a regular follower of the Best and Worst articles of my colleague Riju Dasgupta, you would have noticed Shane McMahon making the "worst" list almost every time this past summer. Thankfully, Kevin Owens rescued us all from him on the inaugural episode of SmackDown on FOX.
As mentioned previously, the Wild Card Rule was taking away opportunities from many well-deserved Superstars, who found it difficult to get TV time. The saddest part about the rule was Shane McMahon appearing on both RAW and SmackDown each week to raise hell on Roman Reigns or some other Superstar.
Of course, a great heel makes people hate him, but the sight of 'Shane-o-Mac' everywhere was just too much to handle. Add to it the fact that WWE made a monster like Drew McIntyre his sidekick, and it is clear why it was a big mistake. 'The Scottish Psychopath' lost most of his credibility since his return and is yet to become a top Superstar again.
WWE did make the right call in the end though, as Shane was fired from the company after losing a match to Kevin Owens on SmackDown. This victory made the former Universal Champion a fan favorite - if he already wasn't popular enough.
Remember the huge pop Shane got when he returned in 2016? Well, what's the saying? You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain!
#4 Disastrous end to KofiMania
The rise of KofiMania was arguably 2019's most unexpected storyline. While fans were already demanding Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch to have major WrestleMania moments, we received a bonus that many of us never even knew we wanted so badly!
It all started on the SmackDown before Elimination Chamber. Kofi Kingston replaced Mustafa Ali in a Gauntlet Match due to an unfortunate injury. Kingston put on a performance for the ages. It wasn't long before the WWE Universe got behind the man's dream to win the one championship that had eluded him for so long.
Daniel Bryan played the perfect heel and ensured that Kingston's crowning moment at WrestleMania 35 was special. The emotions were real, as he became the first African-born WWE Champion in the company's history.
Unfortunately, it all came tumbling down at the hands of a man who is known to conquer things. After holding the title for nearly 6 months, Kofi Kingston lost it to Brock Lesnar in disastrous fashion on the inaugural episode of SmackDown on FOX. The biggest disappointment was the way his reign ended, as 'The Beast Incarnate' took him out in under 10 seconds in embarrassing fashion.
Another fact to note was that Kofi Kingston never headlined any PPV during his 180-day long reign!
#3 Hell in a Cell finish and the downfall of Seth Rollins
2019 will be remembered as the year Bray Wyatt finally managed to reach his potential. Wyatt came back to WWE with a new gimmick and made us all fall in love with his creative intelligence. His dual gimmick of a friendly talk show host and a sadistic creature called The Fiend made him the hottest act in all of Sports Entertainment.
It wasn't long before WWE decided to involve him in the title picture as The Fiend set his sights on Universal Champion Seth Rollins, leading to a Hell in a Cell match between the two. By this time, fans were so behind Wyatt that the only option the company had was to allow him to win the match and walk out with the Universal Championship.
Unfortunately, the company decided to make a controversial decision as the match ended with a referee stoppage when Rollins went berserk on The Fiend. The finish made The Fiend look weak and led to fans turning on Rollins, who was a credible babyface before that. WWE did ultimately put the title on Wyatt at Crown Jewel, but the HIAC finish had done its damage. It would have made more sense to let Wyatt challenge for the title at Crown Jewel only, but WWE seemed to run out of patience looking at the success of this new character.
The HIAC finish was termed by many as one of the worst finishes of a match in recent memory. What followed was some confusing booking of 'The Beastslayer' that led to his stock taking a nosedive. With Rollins finally turning heel, hopefully, there are good days ahead.
#2 The Rusev-Lana-Lashley Love Triangle
We are in that era of Sports Entertainment where the word kayfabe doesn't mean much anymore. Gone are the days when kids used to believe The Undertaker and Kane are brothers and that wrestlers fight each other inside the ring for real. We know it's scripted, still, we watch because it's fun. But there's a limit to the WWE Universe's patience.
In what seemed like an attempt to bring back the feel of the Attitude Era, WWE started the love triangle storyline between Rusev, Bobby Lashley, and Lana. While it did ensure Rusev received some much-deserved TV time and earned natural babyface sympathy, the segments were just too painful to watch.
Out of nowhere, Lana appeared on stage with Lashley and started showing her affection toward him in a not-so PG manner. What followed were even more baffling segments and accusations that soon caused fans to lose interest. Unfortunately, it has been nearly three months now and WWE does not look to be ending the storyline anytime soon.
Both Rusev and Bobby Lashley are two exceptionally talented WWE Sueprstars who could have been utilized in a better way. We are yet to get a Lashley-Lesnar feud, and Rusev Day is so over that fans would even love to see him win the 2020 Royal Rumble. No matter how much they try to make us believe it, we know it's a storyline and by all means, it needs to end soon.
#1 WWE Draft 2019
The move of SmackDown to the FOX Network was one of the biggest positives of the year, and the announcement of a draft taking place made it feel even more special. Having separate rosters was the correct step, especially after the Wild Card Rule had nearly ruined the brand split. Unfortunately, there was a lot that left a sour taste in the mouth of the fans at the WWE Draft 2019.
WWE tried to have an NFL style draft, but the attempt to make it look more realistic backfired badly. The backstage "war rooms" of both RAW and SmackDown looked like nothing more than a parody and we were not sports entertained by any of it. I mean, what was a robot doing there? Another major mistake was Stephanie McMahon announcing the draft picks, which certainly wasn't the most interesting way to go with it.
Adding to that, there were many confusing decisions made. WWE Champion Brock Lesnar was drafted to SmackDown and so was Bray Wyatt. With the former winning the Universal Championship soon thereafter, there were two World Champions on the same brand. The solution to this wasn't the best one either as Lesnar just "quit" SmackDown and joined the RAW roster.
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross also changed brands from RAW to SmackDown after the original draft. Superstars changing brands in this way did undermine the importance of the WWE Draft and came out looking as hastily made mistakes - something WWE was trying to correct.
