9 Worst WWE matches of 2018 so far

It's a credit to WWE's depth of talent that despite very poor writing and storylines in the first half of 2018, the actual wrestling has been overwhelmingly solid, with a notable few exceptions. The stinkers this year have been infrequent, but notorious in their profile, and, even more than last year's stinkers, emblematic of WWE's bankrupt creative regime.

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Like its companion list, this isn't yet a ranking. That will come at the end of the year, after we get the stickers from the back half, too. Instead, these matches are detailed in chronological order.

#1 Braun Strowman and Nicholas vs. Cesaro and Sheamus (WrestleMania 34)

For some silly reason, despite his being the hottest star from the past year, WWE decided that Braun Strowman wasn't going to get the main event at WrestleMania. It was impossible, however, to just shunt him into the battle royal again. WWE needed to come up with something. It did so by inserting the breakout star of 2017 into the tag team division by having him single-handedly win a #1 contender's battle royal.

This left open a number of intriguing possibilities. Could Braun Strowman hold both tag team belts by himself and defend them in handicap matches? That would at least keep the spectacle around his character. That idea was quickly nixed, as Kurt Angle said that Braun Strowman needed a tag team partner.

Who would it be? Would it be a big return? An NXT call-up? Perhaps an odd couple pairing with Elias that would guarantee some entertainment?

It turned out to be none of those options. Instead, Braun Strowman decided that he would team up with a 10-year-old child, Nicholas, and proceeded to squash one of the best acts of the past year, Cesaro and Sheamus.

While this wouldn't ordinarily be bad, the fact that Braun Strowman and his unlikely partner relinquished the titles the next night made it thoroughly pointless. The tag team division has been dead ever since.

#2 Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 34)

This match was built for an entire year, and for that entire year, it had disaster written all over it. It wasn't a rematch that fans who buy tickets to WWE's shows were particularly keen on seeing. WWE added to this atmosphere by shifting attention to the shortcomings that had made many fans sick of Brock Lesnar long before the build started.

The example of WrestleMania 20 loomed large throughout the year as a doomsday scenario. The one saving grace was that the original match at WrestleMania 31 turned out to be very good, so that's what fans were hoping would be repeated. It was not to be.

Instead, we got WrestleMania 20 all over again.

In addition to the terrible reception, it got from the crowd right from the get-go, the match was badly worked without even an ounce of an effort put into the psychology of the contest. The same four moves and kickouts were repeated on loop until Brock Lesnar busted Roman Reigns open the hard way. No one cared.

Brock Lesnar's win was certainly unexpected and carried shock with it, but it was shock value for the sake of shock value, and as subsequent events would prove, it damaged Roman Reigns beyond repair, because, in addition to the previous hate he received, he now looked like a choke artist and a whiner. It's probably the runaway worst booking decision of the year, and arguably one of the worst ever made.

#3 Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (Greatest Royal Rumble)

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns steel cage — Just make it stop.

The same zero-psychology formula from the WrestleMania disaster was on repeat as the four-move loop continued. The only benefit this match had was that the Saudi crowd wasn't hostile. It didn't particularly care for the contest, though.

The steel cage didn't factor into the match too much, except on two occasions. The first was when Paul Heyman hit Roman Reigns in the head with the door as he tried to escape. The second was in the infamous finish, where Roman Reigns speared Brock Lesnar through the cage wall and the latter was declared the winner by virtue of hitting the ground first.

The controversial finish didn't add to anything, and it again sullied Roman's reputation.

#4 Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss (Backlash)

The match at WrestleMania didn't turn out to be the disaster I expected, but the rematch at Backlash did. It was obvious that taking two of the worst workers in the women's division and putting them in a big title match would eventually produce a stinker.

This match went on at least five minutes longer than it should have, with terrible, botched action that stretched suspension of disbelief even by wrestling standards.

What really put this match over the top was the terrible post-match promo that Nia Jax cut about not being a bully and being a star. That transparent, awfully delivered speech killed all of her heat and she hasn't recovered it since.

And now we're getting a three-peat at Extreme Rules. Aren't you excited?

#5 Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair (Backlash)

Carmella vs. Charlotte Backlash — Charlotte deserved better.

Putting the SmackDown Women's Championship on Carmella was highly questionable, and this match proved why. Another boring affair that lasted far longer than it should have, Carmella put Charlotte in resthold after resthold, but nobody took her seriously as a threat to the Queen, resulting in a dead crowd.

The 10 minutes of Carmella's sloppy offence was capped off with a terrible looking superkick to Charlotte's knee after a moonsault gone wrong, resulting in a clean victory for the former, in what will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst booking decisions of 2018.

#6 Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (Backlash)

This match started hot with Joe's assault, but it all deteriorated afterwards. It was resthold city late into the evening as Newark voiced its displeasure with the match. Infamously, many of the fans in attendance left the arena before the match ended.

It was a horribly misplaced main event that made the typically electric Samoa Joe work a style reminiscent of Jinder Mahal as the entire match was done to build up to Roman's big comeback that no one in attendance wanted to see.

Roman won with the spear and immediately sent the remaining crowd out of the building.

All in all, it was a terribly laid out match that did a major disservice to both performers, who'd already proven that they could have much better contests.

#7 Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn (Money in the Bank)

Blissfully, this match was short, but a terrible build did it no favours. No one in the crowd cared as Sami Zayn seemed to try his best to avoid Bobby Lashley. Eventually, we got the tired cookie cutter babyface formula where there needs to be a comeback.

Bobby Lashley beating Sami Zayn was inevitable, and even though it was wisely kept short, there was nothing here to care about. If Lashley did a routine that resembled Goldberg's, maybe it would have been something more.

#8 Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal (Money in the Bank)

Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal. In Chicago.

If that tagline doesn't have the word "disaster" written all over it, then I'm not sure what this company thinks does.

We knew what we'd get going in. Before any action even began, the crowd showed its disdain and disinterest, which didn't help matters when the match was structured like a typical Jinder Mahal match is structured. Channelling the worst of the Joe vs. Roman match at Backlash, it was chinlock city as the match built to a babyface comeback for a star that the crowd just didn't accept as a babyface.

As is often the case, Sunil Singh and the bump he took was the sole highlight.

#9 Carmella vs. Asuka (Money in the Bank)

Asuka Carmella James Ellsworth — Astoundingly stupid.

If the Charlotte match at Backlash was strong evidence, this was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Carmella is incapable of having a good match. As I predicted, not even Asuka was able to carry her to something passable, and this is the reigning SmackDown Women's Champion. Let that sink in.

Carmella's terrible, sloppy offense controlled most of it, and then to follow up their abominable booking from Backlash, the company decided to bring back James Ellsworth, have Asuka look like a moron standing in shock for a minute, not follow up on Carmella's vulnerability, and eat her first pin to the champion's terrible superkick.

It's another booking decision that will surely populate any worst 10 lists at the end of the year.

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