WWE's 10 biggest missed booking opportunities of the decade: Part II (2015-2019)

The 2010s are almost over and as we move into a brand new decade, we cannot help but look back at the past few years and contemplate certain situations and what could have been. The same goes for wrestling fans, who always look back either with fondness or frustration.

There were many great matches and moments in WWE, evenly split throughout the decade. Having already looked at the first half of the 2010s, the past five years have seen WWE attempt to build a host of new stars.

While some have hit nicely, not everyone receiving a push made good of it. WWE certainly missed the wave on a few massive opportunities which could have helped in building the new stars that the company really needs.

Right now, WWE seems to be in a steady condition and has a decent amount of main-event players including the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt, but even those three could have felt even bigger. Much like the first half of the decade, the last five years have seen some huge booking opportunities squandered by WWE.

Here are WWE's biggest missed booking opportunities from 2015-2019.

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2015: The Survivor Series WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament

This should have been so much more.

After Seth Rollins blew out his knee and vacated the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the company decided to hold a tournament to crown the succeeding champion at Survivor Series. This brought much excitement among fans, following the success of the 'Deadly Game' tournament in 1998. What twists and turns were we in store for in this tournament?

The answer was absolutely nothing. WWE booked the most generic tournament possible with no guest stars or NXT entrants. It was a disappointment from a booking standpoint, considering the potential this idea had to be something special. The most memorable moments of the tournament were a fun Roman Reigns vs Cesaro match and Wayne Rooney slapping Wade Barrett.

The tournament ended with Roman Reigns on top, before Sheamus cashed in on him to win the title. An extremely disappointing outcome to two weeks worth of programming that should have had the WWE Universe hooked. They could have even reached the same outcome, with a different path. Instead of Finn Balor and Chris Jericho, we got Big Show and Titus O'Neil. How exciting!

2016: Seth Rollins' Return

He was so over.

Seth Rollins returned from his aforementioned knee injury at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view in May 2016. He instantly attacked Roman Reigns to stake his claim to the title he never lost. Fans were completely on Rollins' side, cheering for days when he ran out at the end of Extreme Rules. It looked like WWE's next big babyface star had arrived. However, 'The Architect' cut a heel promo on fans one night later, which was incredibly disappointing.

Immediately, WWE squandered a whole lot of Seth Rollins' goodwill and momentum following his return by establishing him as a heel. If there was ever a perfect time to turn him babyface, this was it. His WWE 24 documentary released a couple of days later painted Rollins and his return from in injury in a positive light, causing fans to root for him even more. Especially considering Rollins was set to face the ever-polarizing Roman Reigns, he should have been a good guy instantly.

This was certainly a more organic way to turn him face than when Triple H gave him a Pedigree on RAW. It really tinkered with his momentum, leaving 'The Architect' lost for a very long time. Had he turned face in May 2016, he would have been the most over man in WWE, but the turn four months later seemed extremely forced, especially considering that 'The Game' wouldn't be seen on WWE TV for five more months.

One way to kill your biggest star's momentum is just like that. Rollins would hardly ever be this over throughout his entire babyface run over the past couple of years

2017: Bray Wyatt As WWE Champion

He had the whole world in his hands.

The storyline of Randy Orton infiltrating the Wyatt Family had been seen before with Daniel Bryan, but this was a more long-form version of it. Orton had genuine fun playing a heel again, with he, Bray Wyatt, and Luke Harper ruling over SmackDown Live. Orton won the Royal Rumble Match, while Wyatt won the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber. The story between the two had enormous potential.

It looked to be one of WrestleMania's most exciting matches in 2017, but the booking let it (and fans) down. Bray Wyatt had won the WWE title from John Cena, defeating the 16-time champion and AJ Styles to reign supreme. Had this strong booking persisted for a while, Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion would have been a positive experience for everybody. Instead, WWE decided to give the belt to Randy Orton, as a babyface.

WWE could have either prolonged this story or executed it after a few months. Bray Wyatt had tremendous potential as the top champion on the Blue Brand with readymade storylines against Luke Harper and even AJ Styles. Unfortunately, WWE threw it away and went with 'The Viper' instead. This was possibly a favor after Orton had his skull caved in by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, but he certainly would have had more fun in telling a more effective story. It's not like Bray Wyatt did anything on RAW after WrestleMania, anyway.

2018: Dean Ambrose's Heel Turn

Total bust.

When Dean Ambrose returned to come to the aid of Seth Rollins in the summer of 2018, it was a matter of when (not if) he would turn heel on his Shield brother. It was like a ticking timebomb. After another Shield reunion, Roman Reigns gave the WWE Universe some sad news by announcing that his leukemia had returned. To pile on the emotions on that very night, Ambrose turned heel on his best friend and considering the highly emotional circumstances, it was one hell of a turn.

On the night when their brother announced he had to step away from the ring, the two of them captured the RAW Tag Team Titles and then in front of an emotionally spent crowd, Dean Ambrose executed the most heartless character change in a very long time. It was perfect. Unfortunately, everything that followed was far from perfect. Ambrose did not give a proper explanation for attacking Rollins, despite it being so easy to write.

Vince McMahon insisted on him doing the vaccination skits and name-dropping Roman Reigns in a vile manner. There were several outrageous ideas that were likely classed by the chairman as "such good s***." The storyline with Seth Rollins ended up flopping so badly when it was the easiest thing to get right in a whirlwind time on the Red Brand. Even their matches failed to click. This eventually led to Dean Ambrose leaving the company in April.

The alignments were seemingly perfect and the story was so easy to tell, but WWE utterly botched one of the most exciting heel turns of the decade. Bizarrely, Daniel Bryan turned into a villain a few weeks later and it was perfectly executed. This was such a wasted opportunity at a time when WWE needed some good programming more than ever.

2019: Roman Reigns' Return

This should have led to better things.

In general, WWE did not do a great job in booking Roman Reigns following his return from battling leukemia in February. Sure, the Shield reunion and program with Drew McIntyre did well, but after WrestleMania, at a time when 'The Big Dog' was over as ever, he was saddled in a feud with Shane McMahon. He even took a pinfall loss against the non-wrestler. That's a good way to ruin your top face's momentum. How did WWE let this happen?

After that feud was over, Reigns started getting attacked by a mystery assailant. He had some scaffolding fall over him, as well as a car ram into his own vehicle. This story had a lot of potential, with twists and turns expected. It was the story of the summer. Daniel Bryan, Buddy Murphy, and Erick Rowan were all very involved in proceedings, but it ended up being one of the most disappointing storylines of the entire year.

After the reveal of a Rowan lookalike on one episode of SmackDown, the attacker was revealed to be... Erick Rowan himself. This came to Bryan's surprise, destroying the week-on-week continuity of the story. Rowan received a month-long push as a monster, picking up a singles victory over Reigns at Clash of Champions. It eventually led to a face turn for Bryan, while Rowan is now having weekly squash matches on RAW.

This could have been a bigger deal, as Roman Reigns' entire comeback obviously should have been.