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While 2018 gave us some very good matches indeed, when this year was bad, it was BAD. There were numerous stinkers in the year, and while they probably weren't as bad as last year's worst, they were decidedly higher in profile, with numerous pay per view main events, unfortunately, need to make the list. I think we can say with certainty that 2018 was the year when the aura of the "part-timer" finally died.
Maybe that was just the price that needed to be paid for the future of the company.
Without further ado, let's take a look at some of this year's Razzies.
#10 DX vs. The Brothers of Destruction (Crown Jewel)
A sad, legacy-destroying match, it ranks tenth only because Shawn Michaels managed to make it passable whenever he got involved in the "festivities." The other three...not so much. Plus, it was way too long - about 30 torturous minutes in the ring and a lot more than that counting entrances. Add more when you consider all the time spent on Raw trying to hype this match.
It was just an incredibly sad sight to see in every way.
Afterwards, you could see Shawn Michaels visibly saying "we're too old for this," and it was the exact truth. Shawn Michaels probably regrets that he came back for this match, even if the Saudi money was too good for him to pass up. It will nevertheless be a sad black mark on his career when he retired in the best way against Undertaker in one of the best matches in WrestleMania history.
A lot of people were interested to see if Shawn Michaels could still go with AJ Styles or Daniel Bryan afterwards, but I think it would be best to try and forget this comeback as much as possible.
#9 Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman (Crown Jewel)
In another testament to WWE's inability or unwillingness to build new talent, Braun Strowman again fell short to Brock Lesnar in another embarrassing match. Sure, Baron Corbin got involved, but that didn't erase the perception that there's one thing Braun Strowman can't smash through - the ceiling hanging above his head.
It was another boring, formulaic, two move Lesnar match as soon as Corbin knocked Braun Strowman with the title. There were some F5s and three minutes later, Brock Lesnar was again Universal Champion, much to the chagrin of everyone watching outside Saudi Arabia.
The black hole at the centre of Raw returned and we were in store for some of the worst episodes in the show's 25-year history. Only now do the higher-ups seem to be realizing that they have made numerous errors. This match was a monumental one.
#8 Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (Backlash)
The decision to headline Backlash with this match over the WWE title was questionable to begin with, but Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe are good in-ring competitors, so the match should be at worst OK, so we all thought.
What we got instead was a long, plodding match full of rest holds and arm drop spots at 11 PM, after watching hours of an atrocious pay per view beforehand.
The attempts were obviously to get Roman Reigns over as a fighting babyface, but Newark was having none of it. In one of the most infamous scenes of the year, fans were leaving early. Others were shouting "beat the traffic!" Still, others bolted out of their seats as soon as the final bell rang.
Manifestly wasteful use of both men's talents, this was an embarrassment of the main event.
#7 Braun Strowman and Nicholas vs. The Bar (WrestleMania 34)
This is how you bury a division. Indeed, the Raw tag team division, with only one brief spurt in September-October, hasn't recovered since.
It was an embarrassing way to use Braun Strowman and The Bar. All three superstars had amazing 2017 campaigns. This is how they were apparently rewarded. It was an insult to Strowman in particular, given that he was the hottest act in the company in 2017.
The weeks of speculation about Braun Strowman's tag team partner were rendered moot. Indeed, the title win was rendered moot, because Nicholas had to vacate since he had to go back to the 4th grade.
A showcase of WWE humour at close to its worst (though still not worse than the toilet humour), this is a match that hopefully will be forgotten about in the annals of time as much as practically possible.
#6 Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (SummerSlam)
The SummerSlam main event wasn't quite an embarrassment, but Vince McMahon needed to get a lot of smoke and mirrors involved in the process to make sure it wasn't. Braun Strowman came to the ring to declare he would cash in his Money in the Bank Contract on the winner, but it was soon revealed that he just stood there to get people anticipating that outcome.
He was quickly disposed of by Lesnar. When Lesnar returned to the ring, he ate a surprise spear from Roman Reigns, who won the title.
It was an anticlimactic and convoluted way to end a 500-day title reign. It was even more anticlimactic when you consider that this is the coronation WWE had been building to for four years, ever since Lesnar ended Undertaker's fabled streak at WrestleMania 30.
The result was that what should have been monumental moment years in the making felt like an afterthought at best, and an insult at worst. Vince McMahon sacrificed a lot to make sure that fans wouldn't boo.
#5 Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss (Backlash)
The disaster I had been dreading didn't quite materialize at WrestleMania 34, but it did come a month later. Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss had a sloppy, overlong match that revealed both of their limitations. Is it any surprise that the women's division improved radically when neither of them was titleholder?
The rancid cherry on top, though, and the thing this match will most be remembered for, was Nia Jax delivering one of the worst promos of all time after the sloppy affair. In a cynical ploy that was 100% virtue signalling, the company had her talk about not being a bully and being proud of being different, and that bullies would always get their ass kicked.
The fans in Newark weren't having it and booed it out of the building before it even finished.
To make matters even more comical, Nia Jax started bullying people weeks later to build her match with Ronda Rousey, proving Alexa Bliss right.
#4 Carmella vs. Asuka (Money in the Bank)
After witnessing Carmella's abysmal performance against Charlotte at Backlash, no one had any high hopes for this match. Indeed, it further went on to prove that Carmella's title reign was an abomination that should never have taken place.
What made it even worse was the "shocking" return of James Ellsworth, which succeeded only in giving Asuka the worst case of Dumb Babyface Syndrome ever recorded. It was something no one was asking for.
Standing there looking like a moron for what seemed an age, it allowed Carmella to superkick Asuka and retain her championship, scoring the first WWE pinfall victory over the fallen Empress.
Despite it being the hottest item in the company as the year entered its home stretch, women's wrestling was at a low point in the spring and summer. Unfortunately, this would not be the nadir.
#3 Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 34)
Few people were interested in this rematch from the time they knew it was coming after Goldberg won the title from Kevin Owens all the way back at Fastlane 2017. Even with that said, it was hard to imagine this would turn into the disaster that it became, given that their previous WrestleMania match was very good.
Fans were having none of it as soon as the bell rang, being more interested in beach balls and Rusev Day than the action going on in the ring, but it's important to note that even without the fan hostility, the match would still be terrible.
A psychological mess from the get-go, there was nothing but four moves and half a dozen F5 kickouts. Both guys didn't look interested to be there. Instead, they looked like they just wanted to go through the motions. Lesnar busted Reigns' head open the hard way and no one cared. A final F5 ended the pointless affair.
Truly one of the worst WrestleMania main events of all time.
#2 The Undertaker vs. Triple H (Super Show-Down)
There are legacy destroying matches and then there's this. A total embarrassment that went on for 30 long minutes not counting the overlong entrances, people were immediately calling this match "Super Slow-Down." That was an apt description indeed because Undertaker and Triple H both looked like they were fighting underwater.
Suspension of disbelief is an important component of professional wrestling. This match threw it all away immediately, leaving the viewer with a half hour illusion that was as broken as the two men he used to love watching in the ring.
Truly a black mark on both men's long and illustrious careers, we can only hope that they look back on this and come to the conclusion that they have overstayed their welcome as in-ring competitors. Sadly, that probably won't turn out to be the case.
#1 Carmella vs. Asuka (Extreme Rules)
As soon as the shark cage stipulation was announced, we knew we were going to be in for something bad, but no one could have imagined it would be quite this awful. Rivalling Bayley vs. Alexa's kendo stick on a pole match for the title of the worst match of the "women's revolution epoch," the match was more about James Ellsworth's shenanigans than it was about the female competitors.
The only thing it succeeded in doing was destroying whatever shred of credibility Asuka had left following her WrestleMania 34 defeat and her already embarrassing loss to Carmella a month prior, where she looked like an idiot.
This was a burial of the highest order.
The only redeeming quality we can find when looking back on this farce is that at the end of 2018, all three people are back where they belong.
Asuka managed to salvage her year and career with her Holiday season rebirth, culminating in her title win at TLC. This match is thankfully far behind her now.
Carmella is in a side role doing dance breaks with R-Truth.
James Ellsworth was released. Given the controversy he's gotten himself involved in, we can probably rest assured that it's permanent this time.
The universe just has its ways of delivering cosmic justice.
