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2018 has been a fairly good year for wrestling in WWE for the most part. Barring the final few episodes of RAW to close out the year, all three brands have performed up to the fans standards to deliver the best product that they possibly can.
However, the ugly head of botches reared its head once again like every other year. Botches are the result of either a wrestler messing up one or more sequences of a move, the sequence of a match, or fumble with their words while delivering a promo. Most of this happens due to the inexperience of a performer. However, many times even the most experienced professionals fall prey to botches.
We saw many great performances and dream matches in 2018, but many of them were marred by botches which either made the match fall apart, or became the most memorable part of the match.
Because of that very reason, we decided to come up with a list of the most memorable botches of 2018 to showcase how even the most skilled performers can mess up at times and disturb the sequence of a match.
Take a look at the most memorable botches of this year and share your favourite or not-so-favourite ones in the comments section below!
#13 Carmella
Battle Royals are usually extremely botchy affairs since so many Superstars take to the ring at the same time and so many spots are being performed that many a time things get out of hand.
Speaking of things getting out of hand, the Evolution pay-per-view saw things getting out of hand for Ember Moon for no fault of her own. The former SmackDown Champion Carmella is definitely one of the most athletic women in WWE. However, she’s not the most gifted when it comes to wrestling.
During the Battle Royal at the event, Carmella went to deliver head scissors to Ember Moon which didn’t work too well. Carmella wasn’t able to grab hold of Moon’s head between her legs and the two started twirling around without Carmella being in position.
Moon tried several times to lift Carmella up so she could grab a hold of her head but the same didn’t happen. Finally, Moon tired out and slammed Carmella back first into the mat while pretending like head scissors had been delivered to her.
Things seemed a bit too ugly and thankfully both women were able to get back into the match without any injuries.
#12 Sin Cara
Sin Cara is no stranger to botches. Actually, he may be the most botch-prone wrestler signed to WWE today.
Sin Cara met his former friend Andrade “Cien” Almas in the ring at Extreme Rules 2018 after weeks of build-up. The match was seen as a good start to the event as it was scheduled for the Kick-Off show.
In the middle of their match, Almas was found standing on the apron outside the ring and Sin Cara decided to deliver an aerial manoeuvre to the former NXT Champion.
Sin Cara scaled the turnbuckles to deliver the Huricanrana to Almas and miscalculated the distance he had to jump. The result was a terrible botch which resulted in Sin Cara overshooting Almas a bit and not connecting the move properly.
Thankfully he as competing against one of the best wrestlers on the main roster and Almas still managed to sell the move and both the wrestlers came out of it without any injuries.
The result saw Almas picking up the win in a better than expected match-up.
#11 Finn Balor
At Survivor Series, Team Raw took on Team SmackDown for the battle of supremacy which saw Raw dominate SmackDown throughout the event.
One of the high points of the event was the men’s 5-on-5 elimination match between Team Raw and Team SmackDown. The match was quite decent and had some very high spots, but also had a few low spots.
One of the low spots was in the face of a botch which involved Raw’s Finn Balor and SmackDown’s The Miz. As the two men battled each other, The Miz found himself on the mat with Balor ready to deliver his signature double-foot stomp on the former WWE Champion.
Balor delivered his signature move a bit too high on The Miz’s chest and slipped in the process driving both feet into The Miz’s face while falling on top of him. Thankfully both men made it out alive and without any injuries otherwise, the botch could have proved costly for The A-lister.
#10 Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks is no stranger to botches either. Actually, she can be the female equivalent of Sin Cara when it comes to being the master of botches.
2018 saw the first ever all-female pay-per-view event in the face of Evolution. The highly anticipated and hyped event did not disappoint fans and hopefully, it will become an annual event going forward.
In one of the matches, The Riott Squad took on the team of Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Natalya. One of the most memorable spots of the match was a botch by Sasha.
As the trio of heels was positioned outside the ring to take a flying backflip from Sasha who was inside the ring, Sasha came running towards to ring to deliver the same.
Unsurprisingly, Sasha did not have enough momentum and got caught in the top rope which could have caused a bad injury to the superstar had she fallen down onto the floor. Thankfully, the heels turned face for a moment and all three caught Sasha in an attempt to save her and make it look like a planned move.
#9 Ronda Rousey
Ronda loves punching her opponents, doesn’t she? The former UFC Champion has actually transitioned into a pretty good wrestler and is improving day by day. However, there is still a lot of ironing out left to do.
Earlier in December, Ronda teamed up with Ember Moon to take on Nia Jax and Tamina. The unlikely duo did well in their match which resulted in a victory for the Raw Women’s Champion and Moon.
However, there was a notable spot in the match which was very noticeable on television and turned the match a little ugly. Ronda decided to go for her signature punches on Jax who had her arms up to defend like a little girl.
To ensure that Ronda doesn’t actually hurt her opponent or hit her too hard, she held back by delivering the punches from a bit further to sell them but make the impact lesser. Ronda found herself too far away from Jax and it was noticeable that she was far away from her opponent and actually just shadow boxing while Jax was in defensive mode.
Ronda kept stepping back after each sequence only to be pulled out of the ring by Tamina to end the terrible sequence.
#8 Jeff Hardy
One of my favourites from 2018. Jinder Mahal faced Jeff Hardy for the United States title which the former was holding. The match took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the Greatest Royal Rumble PPV.
The match can be termed one of the most memorable matches of the year. Not because of the quality of the match, but because of the botch that made the match stand out.
During the latter half of the match, Hardy climbed the turnbuckles and attempted to deliver one of his signatures moves called Whisper In The Wind. As Hardy climbed the ropes, Mahal decided to rise to his feet and get a bit out of position while Hardy’s back was turned for the move.
Hardy then backflipped for the move, only to find no-one home and landed flat on the canvas with The Modern Day Maharaja just inches away from him. Jinder still tried to sell the move and fell off his feet as though a connection was made after a pause of about a couple of seconds.
#7 The Undertaker
WrestleMania is no place to end up delivering botches, especially if you’re in the early half of your career. But if you are someone like The Undertaker or John Cena, then you can do whatever you like!
After weeks and weeks of watching Cena come out and demand a match against The Undertaker, we got to watch what Cena wanted at The Grandest Stage of Them All.
It was nothing more than a squash match for The Undertaker which made it not too memorable, but one of the best spots from the match was a Big Boot which never met its recipient.
The Undertaker bounced off the ropes and delivered The Big Boot to Cena’s face, but Cena was a bit too far for The Deadman to reach and Cena fell flat on the mat even before a connection was made. Cena was inches from the Undertaker’s boot, but sold the move anyway which clearly shows his class, doesn’t it?
While the match was short, it was still a dream match for the WWE Universe who even got to see the most experienced men in the business botch up a move or two.
#6 Kelly Kelly
The first Women’s Royal Rumble was a breakthrough achievement for WWE as the successful match had a lot of great spots and a dominant winner. To hype up the match, and also fill some of the 30 spots, WWE decided to bring back some female stars of yesterday.
Trish Stratus, Lita, Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, and Kelly Kelly were some of the superstars who returned to the ring for the event.
However, things didn’t go as smoothly as the creatives would have imagined. Kelly Kelly, the former Divas Champion, was never the smoothest wrestler in the ring anyway. Her main spot of the match was supposed to be a running head scissors in the middle of the ring to take down Michelle McCool.
Known as one of the tougher and more athletically demanding moves in the ring, Kelly wasn’t able to deliver the move as desired. Firstly, she came off the ropes with too little momentum. She then struggled to complete the head scissor, forcing Michelle to awkwardly hold her in place while she adjusted. Then, McCool was left twirling herself around without being in position and with Kelly dangling, before they both fell to the mat.
#5 Aleister Black
The development brand of WWE known as NXT is extremely famous because of the wrestlers involved and the high standard matches they produce. Aleister Black is one man who at the forefront of the roster leading the yellow brand.
Aleister Black took on Lars Sullivan in Chicago in one of the biggest matches of the night. The two had quite a decent bout which saw a few high spots which stood out.
However, one of the spots that stood out but for all the wrong reasons was a match-ending Black Mass kick that Black was supposed to deliver to Sullivan.
Aleister Black delivered The Black Mass kick while Sullivan was about six feet away from him. This resulted in him kicking thin air and no connection being made at all. However, the monster sold the kick regardless and fell down as if he took all of it. The commentary team who tried to cover the botch by exclaiming their favorite line: "he didn't get all of it."
Thankfully, that missed kick did not end the match and Lars kicked out, otherwise, the botch would have received a lot of heat for the competitors and the company.
#4 Jeff Hardy 2.0
Jeff Hardy had a tough year in wrestling. However, he has still competed in a lot of matches and even become the US Champion in 2018.
In June, the Charismatic Enigma took on Eric Young from SAnitY in a dark match after an episode of SmackDown Live. The other two members of SAnitY were also at ringside to help out their leader.
As the match progressed, it was evident that the two superstars were having a bit of difficulty while competing against each other due to the lack of chemistry between them.
Hardy went for his signature move the Twist of Fate in the closing moments of the match which did not work out well. Eric wasn’t positioned correctly for the move and Hardy couldn’t get his hands around Eric’s neck properly. Eric was probably not expecting Hardy to deliver the move.
As Hardy delivered the move, Eric was nowhere near where he should have been and it seemed like Hardy delivered the move to thin air. Eric still tried to sell the move and fluttered down to the ground as if the move had been delivered correcting. This resulted in one of the funniest botches of 2018.
#3 Ronda Rousey 2.0
Ronda Rousey took on Nia Jax at Money in the Bank 2018. What was supposed to be a highly anticipated match got memorable for one of the funniest botches in recent times.
As Ronda tried to regain balance and get back up to her feet to take on Jax, she decided to take help of the ropes to get back up.
As he went back to rest her back against the ropes to gain support, she did so between the space of the two bottom ropes and fell outside the ring at a time when she was regaining momentum in the match. The entire sequence was disturbed due to this small mistake and gave the fans a chuckle in a hard-fought serious match.
Thankfully enough Ronda did not get injured while falling face first onto the floor while spilling from the ring and it did not cost her the match.
#2 Brie Bella
You guys were all waiting for this one, weren’t you?
One of the biggest botches of 2018 involved none other than one half of The Bella Twins, Brie Bella.
Brie has had a rocky return to WWE and had been the reason for many botches in a span of a couple of months. The biggest and most lethal of her botches came during the September 24 edition of Raw.
The Bella Twins teamed up with Natalya to take on The Riott Squad to build hype for the Evolution event.
During the match, Brie decided it was time to bring out the YES kicks to Liv Morgan, a signature move of her husband Daniel Bryan. After a couple of kicks, Brie increased the pace but took her eyes off Liv Morgan while delivering the kicks.
The move almost proved lethal as she ended up kicking Liv twice in the face instead of the chest as it seemed like Liv was bending forward and not in a position to take any further kicks. The second kick completely knocked Liv Morgan out, and Brie had to pull her to her partners’ side to make a tag after pinning her for an unsuccessful count of 3.
The unfortunate incident left Liv with a concussion and unable to compete for several weeks.
#1 Titus O’Neil
It was Saudi Arabia where Titus O’Neil decided to take his brand Worldwide! He made headlines for his entrance at the Greatest Royal Rumble which resulted in his most reported spot in history.
The headlines were made for all the wrong reasons though. Entering the match at No. 39, Titus made the biggest impact on the match outside the ring. As he ran down the ramp to make his entry into the match, he tripped at the bottom of the ramp and fell flat, and his momentum carrying him all the way under the ring.
Yes, you read it right folks! He slid all the way under the ring before managing to stop himself. Thankfully there were no weapons under the ring which could have possibly resulted in an injury for the veteran superstar.
He got up like a professional and entered the ring for the competition as though nothing ever happened. However, everyone outside the ring and in the crowd couldn’t help themselves from laughing and the moment became one of the most iconic ones to come out of the first pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia.
If there was ever a grading system for botches, this would surely get all the stars!
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
