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The WWE creative team have not had the best year, as their booking of storylines, superstars and their marquee flagship show of Raw has not pleased fans and critics. Even though this year has been full of ups and downs for the WWE, there hasn’t been a shortage of drama in the ring or backstage.
Those dramatic moments made for some shocking television throughout the entire year, as this year was filled with surprises and it seems like that was part of the company’s plan to keep their fans engaged. While some decisions were just plain terrible, others were genius on the company’s part, so let’s look to the most shocking decisions WWE made in 2018.
#1 Asuka's streak is broken
Asuka was one of the most important superstars to ever step foot in NXT. She was a wrestler like no other; hard strikes and vicious beatdowns on her opponents was Asuka's wrestling game. As she was a superstar that would destroy her opponents before putting them down for the count while in NXT.
Along with her excellent wrestling skills, Asuka showed a lot of unique charisma that made her a huge asset to the future of women’s wrestling in the company. But that all ended when Charlotte made her tap out in quick fashion at Wrestlemania 34, while Asuka vs Charlotte was great, it was shocking to see Charlotte break Asukas streak after so many better competitors tried and failed. Asuka has never been the same ever since and it is a moment WWE would want to forget.
#2 No plans for NXT standouts
NXT has been the breeding ground for WWE’s future main event stars, as World Champion’s such as Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt have all went through the NXT system to get to the pinnacle of their success, as these wrestlers developed their characters down in NXT before being brought up to the main roster with a purpose for them.
But it seems like instead of bringing talent up with a purpose WWE just calls up NXT talent with no goal for them to reach, as more and more NXT standouts are being wasted on Raw and Smackdown Live.
And this was never more apparent WWE brought Andrade "Cien" Almas, Sanity and the Authors of Pain to the main roster just to have them stay in the background for so long, and while AOP is finally being used, Almas and Sanity still have no momentum on Smackdown Live. Hopefully, WWE could devise plans for these superstars before they ruin their careers on the main rosters.
#3 Strowman being held back
Braun Strowman's career in WWE has been an impressive one, but when you analyze Strowman’s statistics for 2018, he is actually WWE’s biggest superstar that is also their biggest loser in big matches, as he has lost more big matches in his career which has really dented his credibility. Strowman came to prominence in 2017, and while he was white hot WWE kept feeding him to bigger stars on the Raw roster, and the main superstar that did damage to Strowman's credibility was Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar vs Strowman is a tale that has been told far too many times, as Strowman faced Lesnar at Summerslam 2017, No Mercy 2017, the Royal Rumble 2018 and even the Crown Jewel event which finally damaged Braun's career, as he was squashed by Lesnar without any hesitations from WWE.
WWE didn't care about whether fans will see the big man as a lesser force in the company or whether his popularity would take a huge hit, and now that Braun has one more chance to pick up his credibility and first Wolrd Title against Lesnar again at the Royal Rumble 2019, that is only possible if he can beat Baron Corbin at the TLC 2018 event, which seems unlikely at this point.
Whether or not Strowman becomes Wolrd Champion in the future, the fact will remain, Strowman isn’t the same badass we knew in 2017 and going into 2019 he is lesser of a monster and more of a pet project that WWE didn't fully utilize.
#4 The mishandling of Raw
There is no sugar coating it, Raw has been absolutely atrocious in 2018, as WWE has mismanaged very single aspect of the red brand to such an extent no narrative can fully thrive on the show.
From a poor main event scene to a tag team division that is basically non-existent, the writers of Raw have done no favours to the company with the awful decisions they made on every episode on Raw.
And while Raw's problems have crippled the brand, it has also affected the entire company as well, due to the fact that Raw is WWE's 'flagship' show. And whether or not Smackdown Live is ten times better, WWE still consider Raw the 'A show' in the company, so Raw is basically WWE's breeding ground for success.
With the responsibility of being known as the 'A show' in WWE, the top main eventers, the highly prioritized champions, the marquee main events match all come from Raw, which is the reason why most of WWE's pay-per-views have been unwatchable this year.
But the truth is that all of that could have been avoided if WWE just sat back and analyzed why their product was slowly declining during the middle of the year. WWE let themselves make some shocking decisions this year, which has stifled its own flagship product, which went on to indirectly made their pay-per-views bad.
#5 Shocking heel turns
The heel turn is one of the most convenient solutions that could be afforded to a writer of a wrestling show, as they can use it to revitalise a superstar's stagnant career, change the landscape of an entire product, or as a surprise no one saw coming to cap off a thrilling story.
This year WWE used the heel turn one too many times, as almost every underperforming star was turned heel, and while those heel turns were a bit surprising, there were a few heel turns that truly shocked fans this year.
The Undertaker turning heel on DX was an odd surprise, Charlotte Flair turning heel on Ronda Rousey was unexpected, Daniel Bryan low blowing AJ Styles was truly out of nowhere, but Dean Ambrose taking out Seth Rollins was possibly the greatest heel turn of the last decade. And the shock value of Ambrose's heel turn was a decision no one expected in the night Roman Reigns made his unfortunate announcement, some felt that it was too soon, while others felt it was the right moment. However you feel about it, no one really expected WWE to take that decision on a night like that.
#6 Daniel Bryan is cleared to compete
Daniel Bryan's career was done in 2016 after the former WWE Champion had to vacate his WWE Title due to his neck injury, many knew that Bryan's career was over, and it was. WWE rolled out the red carpet on Raw in 2016 and let Bryan deliver his final words to the WWE Universe before announcing his retirement, it was moving, it was emotional.
But just two years later and WWE shocked the world when they cleared Daniel to compete, it was a thrilling moment and very shocking as well, as many thought that due to WWE's strict concussion policies Bryan was done as a wrestler.
But WWE did not want to lose one of the biggest wrestlers in the world to other promotions if they didn't clear him, as Bryan was ready to step back into the ring and he didn't care which ring it was. WWE made the decision to let Bryan compete, and a few months later the man is the biggest heel on Smackdown Live and the WWE Champion, who would've thought?
#7 HBK returns to in-ring action
Shawn Micheals is one of the greatest wrestlers to have ever stepped foot inside a wrestling ring, and perhaps the reason why many consider Shawn the greatest wrestler of all time is due to his incredible work rate in every single one of his matches.
Technically gifted and owning the charisma of a rock star, HBK turned every single one of his narratives into history. That is why when the Undertaker retired Micheals in his prime at Wrestlemania 26, many knew they would never see HBK in a wrestling ring again lacing up his boots, but in 2018, WWE made the shocking decision to bring HBK out of retirement to wrestle again.
This was one of the most shocking moments of the year, as HBK was set on being retired as he wanted to go out as the greatest of all time, but his reemerge into the wrestling world will see him try and outdo his previous retriment match with the Undertaker, as WWE probably have huge plans for HBK moving forward.
#8 Brock Lesnar is still the Universal Champion
Everyone knew it was going to be Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania and while most rebelled against it, WWE was set on making Roman Reigns the top dog in the company this time, as he had been pushed form the main event scene due the fan backlash so many times.
We knew it was coming, it was Reigns' time, and fans were equally fed up Lesnar and his terrible run as Universal Champion, all WWE needed to do was take the title on Lesnar and start a new chapter on Raw.
But that didn't happen, Lesnar beat Reigns at Wrestlemania, Lesnar then went on to hold on to his title at the Greatest Royal Rumble, and while he lost it at Summerslam, he beat Braun Strowman to once again become Universal Champion. It is shocking that WWE is still intent on having Brock as champion, although Raw ratings are still lower than ever, and nothing has improved with Lesnar staying as the World Champ.
