Booking decision that riled you the most

[wwefansince89]

"Funny, cos in the last 12 months I seem to remember Cena losing clean to HHH at NoC, Batista at SummerSlam, JBL in some type of hardcore match and at Mania he took the pin fall in the triple threat (although not one on one like you said). But that is another topic."


I think he meant that Cena has never lost the WWE/World Heavyweight Championships cleanly in 1 on 1 matches, which is true. Case in point:

Reign #1---Won WWE Championship from JBL at WM 21 and lost it to Edge at New Year's Revolution after Edge cashed in MITB once Cena successfully defended his championship in an elimination chamber.

Reign #2---Won WWE Championship from Edge at Royal Rumble '06 and lost it to RVD at ECW One Night Stand 2006 after Edge speared Cena through a table.

Reign #3---Won WWE Championship from Edge at Unforgiven 2006 and was forced to surrender it in October 2007 because of a pectoral tear injury (title went to Randy Orton).

Reign #4---Won World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Jericho at Survivor Series 2008 and lost it at No Way Out 2009 in an elimination chamber. While he did lose it cleanly, it was not in a 1 on 1 match.

So yeah, I believe that's what he meant, and he is right.

 

[Jordan adams]

Bret heart turning heel in wcw made no sense.

hogan vs warrior at halloween havoc

kevin nash vs bill goldberg and scot hall using the stun gun on bill goldberg to end goldbergs streak

wwe not having an ic title match at wrestlemania sense wrestlemania 18.

Brock lesnar vs Bill goldberg

Roddy piper vs hogan at starcade and the title was not on the line how stupid was that.
that all does anyone agree or disagree

 

[wwefansince89]

In no particular order:

- Vickie stripping Undertaker of the WHC title last year. It did nothing for the feud and Undertaker could have easily had a decent reign until One Night Stand. All that decision did was get some more cheap heat for Vickie (as if she needed it).

I agree...it made no sense

- Kane's 1 day title reign was pointless. Kane was a monster in the late 90's and was appeared to be a legit threat to anyone, including Stone Cold...until he won the title after Undertaker AND Mankind interfered and then lost it back to Austin the day later. I also agree with Kane and No Mercy 2002.

Yup...crappy booking by WWE making that decision.

- Edge cashing in the Money in the Bank on Cena just to lose it 3 weeks later. If they really wanted Cena vs HHH for WM, they should have had Edge cash in on WM. That would have given Edge so much more heat.

I disagree here. It provided that shock value element...the elimination chamber match at NYR '06 wasn't exactly memorable, especially considering the early eliminations of BOTH Kurt Angle and HBK. The match came down to Carlito, Chris "Masterpiece" Masters and Cena. WWE knew they had to have a really good way to end the show, and Edge winning just made sense, and it created some real good storytelling by both heading into the Rumble. WWE knew however Cena v Hunter at WM 22 was a lock, so Edge dropped the title. In the end, it worked out, as both Cena v HHH and Edge v Foley were two of the best matches WWE has ever put on.

- Hulk Hogan not putting over Randy Orton. Come on, Orton was a rising star at the time and gaining so much momentum with his "Legend Killer" gimmick. Orton going over Hogan would have been great for his career, but no, Hogan just had to win. What benefit was that to Hogan? He is already an established legend. If he is going to make in-ring appearances, it should be to put over younger talent, not hog the spotlight again.

My sentiments exactly. I lost a lot of respect for Hogan after that.

- Triple H winning the Undisputed Title only to drop it to Hogan next month. Triple H made a huge return from a career ending injury and had to job to a washed up superstar? Really bad booking there.

Again, I couldn't agree more. Hogan had a very lackluster and unmemorable reign as champion that ended in one of the worst WWE title matches at Judgment Day '02 against Undertaker.

 

[Queers and Steers]

Probably not of all time, but recently is has to be Matt Hardy storyline. Not because of Matt's actions (Which have been well explained!) but rather than them two having a singles match or a TLC match at WM Matt's got put in the MITB which just takes away any momentum of the feud and it'll be hard for the WWE to regroup after WM.

you are aware that they both arent in that match right/ r did u not watch/

mines would have to be cenas 12 month reign there was so many terrible matches and he rarely fought any good people. he was fightin umaga and khali and things like that and when he dsid fight any body worth whike it was bull shit i literally tried to quit watching wrestling! but i just love the wwe to much so it didnt last longer than a week. but i seriously remember ballin everytime he won! because every month it was some of the worst main events i ever saw! i mean i went from loving cena to hating him and praying that godd would kill him,. and its not hids fault it was Vince's for burying other people! i honestly don't think anyone needs the belt more than seven or maybe eight months. and even than that person should be heel, its makes wrestling better seeing the bad guy on top and the heroe keeps getting screwed or barely losing than he finally beats him at wrestlemania are another big ppv for sometimes a smaller one just to mix it up. but if faces are on top all the time instead of chasing than its no fun. because that way its a heel who gets the last laugh instead of the face! besides that no one man is bigger than the company i think the belt should be distributed equally to the top superstars in the company!

 

[ronbot09]

This doesn't make me mad it mainly just baffels me and that is...

The Undertakers undefeated streak at WM.

I like the idea don't get me wrong but it just confuses me how on the weeks sometimes even months leading into WM he gets pretty much beatin down every show and even loses those tag matches they put everyone in to hype up the one on one matches and he loses but the some how always manages to come out on top at WM in the same type of match if he can win at Mania why not any time before that if you want an example the matches he had with Tripple H (I can't remember the year off the top of my head) Hunter seemed to always be one step ahead the entire time and then bam loses it at Mania but a couple weeks after that seems to get ahead

 

[Tomm2x]

I have been a wrestling fan for 20 years, and there have been many booking decisions that have baffled me. The one that has most riled me, though, was the decision to push JBL. I have never been a fan of his work, as I found his promos forced and his ring work sloppy, but thought he worked well with Ron Simmons in the Acolytes/APA. Then, Ron Simmons is let go. JBL comes out in a suit, short hair, clean shaven, and a new last name and we're supposed to buy him as a viable contender for the Word Title? Frankly, I think you could've taken Bob Holly or any other veteran mid-card wrestler and you would have had the same results. JBL was and is nothing special and the World Title will forever be tarnished by his association with it.

 

[JohnCenaSucks316]

Tomm2x I agree with you on JBL. I was majorly pised when he came out that night cos being a wrestling fan for 20 odd years like you I knew where it was going. I was really pissed Eddie's WWE Title reign came to an end from JBL.

What they should have done was build JBL up but good ol' Vinny Mac dosent do that anymore but think back honestly who would you rather see fighting. JBL and Undertaker at Summerslam for the title or John "Hogan" Cena Vs The Great Botchli for the title. I hated JBL's title reign but I tried to give up wrestling during Cena's reign but I couldn't I loved it too much and I was reminded by someone that eventually it would pass. The whole of 2004 in my opinion was shit in wrestling. The only good things was Eddie and Benoit taking their thrones.

I don't think JBL will ever get another World Title/WWE Title reign but I'm a wrestling purest. I believe in wrestling not gimmicks and the one thing that sticks out from John Hogan, sorry John Cena and Justin Hawk Bradshaw was the fact Angle got buried during both those feuds.

People who havent watched wrestling for as long as us don't really understand why we complain. Look at years ago Piper was never a champ, Rick Rude was never a champ, Perfect was never a champ. Those guys are just a select few and Vince puts JBL's name on the belt and like you said it will be a big mark on the WWE Title history with JBL's name there.

 

[Phoenix]

If I had to put another championship booking on there, it would be Randy Orton's first World Title win. Yeah, I mean it's great he was the youngest WHC, but they literally messed it up (I heard something that Orton messed it up), but all it did was practically pass it to Triple H who just been spending months in failed attempts to win the title. Likewise it's been the same for RVD, Jeff Hardy, Punk, Edge, etc. Their first (and some cases only) title reigns are barely a month long as they lose it to someone like Cena or Triple H.

Bad enough JBL's only reign was 7 months long, but anyone who was a first time is not given enough credibility as champion of late.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Talk about squandered oppurtunity, despite having both Sting and Brett Hart on the sidelines with injuries, WCW was red hot in early 99, twice drawing above a 5.0 rating on Nitro DESPITE going directly against Raw. Flair's return and the surprise re-formation of the REAL NWO (Hogan, Nash, Hall, gettig rid of the B-Teamers who filled out the group's roster and dilluted their worth) were both huge. WCW had finally turned the tables on the NWO and put WCW (with Flair as President) in control but the NWO had stolen (again) the World Title.

Now remember, Kevin Nash had just cheated to end both Goldberg's title run and his undefeated streak then turned heel and helped Hogan re-form the group (and put the belt on Hogan in the process). So of course a Goldberg vs Nash rematch would have been huge. Also, back in the summer of 98 Goldberg won the title with a clean win over Hogan, and now Hogan was back on the scene and holding the belt. Goldberg was the hottest property the company had, Flair was more over than virtually any other veteran, and the NWO was easily the top heel faction in the company. Did WCW push Goldberg against Nash and Hogan in his quest for redemption ? No, they buried him in midcard matches against Scott Hall and pushed Flair against Hogan.

OK, legend vs legend, Mr WCW vs Mr NWO, wrestling's greatest champion vs wrestling's biggest superstar, Flair's redemption against Hogan, what did WCW do, they buried Flair, put Hogan over AGAIN, and eventually turned Flair heel and used Goldberg/Nash II as a mid card match on a spring time PPV. WCW fans were so turned off that ppl were tuning out in droves by late spring, even though now Hart and Sting were about to return. Wasting Goldberg and burying Flair was a complete mistake. And of course, in three months WCW broke up the NWO too, effectively destroying the best heel group they had. This was the equivalent of a quarterback who loses six turnovers in one game.

It's no wonder that by the summer of 99 Raw and WWE had effectively moved ahead for good. This is really where the Monday Night War was lost for WCW, and the company never recovered.

 

[klunderbunker]

I'm going with HHH's winning of the title from Randy Orton to open No Mercy. Seriously, did he need to have a two hour title reign that nothing ever came from? In the middle of the show he beats Umaga in a throw away match, only to lose to Orton later that night. Now I'm usually a HHH supporter, but this was absurd. He has to show that he can beat Orton in a one on one match, but the loss later on only ocmes after Umaga has worn him down? It seems to me that all you had here was a way to get HHH another reign and keep him looking strong while making Orton, the champion, look weaker. Just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[Scott Free]

Talk about squandered oppurtunity, despite having both Sting and Brett Hart on the sidelines with injuries, WCW was red hot in early 99, twice drawing above a 5.0 rating on Nitro DESPITE going directly against Raw. Flair's return and the surprise re-formation of the REAL NWO (Hogan, Nash, Hall, gettig rid of the B-Teamers who filled out the group's roster and dilluted their worth) were both huge. WCW had finally turned the tables on the NWO and put WCW (with Flair as President) in control but the NWO had stolen (again) the World Title.

I remember that deal, I agree 100%, I was furious about that too, they went and started the Flair/Hogan feud with Hogan as the heel, at one point the NWO kidnapped Flair and after beating him half to death, they dropped him off in some desert, next show, Flair was turned into a lunatic in a hospital and suddenly, Hogan was the face again. Match played pretty much like all of their matches before, Hogan getting put over and Flair getting buried. That wasn't the only time WCW booking riled me up, remember when they added Kurt Hennig to the new 4 Horsemen by having Arn invite him in ?
Rebuilding the 4 Horsemen was a great idea, but of course, WCW booking dropped the ball again.

 

[JohnCenaSucks316]

Oh, Gawd I remembered that Hogan/Flair shit.

See I respect Hogan for what he did in the business but I hate him for his "creative control". Creative control is why he beat Flair that night. Creative control is why he buried Randy Orton. Creative Control is why he BEAT anyone he wanted even if it was right to lay down. I was amazed he took a clean finish for Goldberg.

I would love to see Hogan of WCW time Vs Triple H of WWE today. Battle of creative control. Hogan would win but Triple H would have to hit his bald ass with a sledgehammer after the match to keep him strong. Oh, wait Does that ring a bell?

I agree with Goldberg being the strong wrestler at that time. Goldberg whether people like it or not on a popularity level was WCW's answer to Austin. You think of Goldberg's actual WCW Title reign it lasted from July to December that really annoyed me and when Nash beat him I could've got on a flight to that arena and kicked the shit out of Kevin "Oh my quads went I'm out for 8 months" Nash. It was stupidity for WCW to allow Nash too book that.

The only thing I have against Goldberg is that he came to the WWE. I don't think he should have for one reason which he himself has said numerous times. He didn't really wanna be there.

On the Flair Hogan note. Like FlairFan2003 said. Could you imagine MR WCW and MR n.W.o what a feud that would've have been if correctly booked but in WCW there was no chance of that happening.

Last thing I have seen alot of similarities in WCW's booking and WWE's booking as of late. The keyword in this being = SHIT

You sit there thumping your bible, you say your prayers, and didn't get you anywhere. Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16........Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass! - Stone Cold Steve Austin

 

[TheBoyWonder]

im not sure if many of you remember but i think back in 2000 tazz was with the wwf but went over to ecw and won the ecw title in a deal done between the wwf at the time and ecw. tazz then came to smackdown with the title and fought triple h the wwe champion in a non title match.
triple h winning the match was the most stupid thing they could do. tazz should have been booked to win that match to show his credibility as the ecw champion, but oh no. triple h had to win as he is the wwf champion and the wwf is better than the ecw.
tazz should have won, and i think later on many within the company have said the same.
bad booking decision!

 

[Tully Blanchard]

IMO, the worst booking move was bret hart debuting in wcw as the hottest free agent only to be fighting in the midcard in just a few weeks. You look at all that happeend to bret in wwe , than all the hype bischoff put into it on those nitro promos, and even having him reverse the descision in the sting/hogan starcade match you'd of thought they had huge plans for him right away. But no, he's in the NWO a few weeks later and defending the U.S. title against DDP or Booker or someone. To me it was such a waste of an oppritunity to get wcw to move out of the nwo shadow

Starrcade 97 should have marked the year long build for Hogan-Hart at Starrcade 98 with the nWo turning on Hogan at the 98 event and christening Hart as the new leader simultaneously. Sting could have made the save and 99 could have featured several Hart/Nash vs. Sting/Hogan matches

 

[Hacksaw Highway]

Boogeyman beating Booker T at WreastleMania (21?) was painful to watch. Booker was never the top dog in WWE, but he was always an upper mid-carder or main eventer. Despite this, he never had a singles win at the big show, and to have him job to a crappy wrestler with a 3rd rate stupid gimmick was just terrible.

 

[jellmoo]

1) Hogan and the Warrior on WCW. Having Hogan freak out that Warrior is in the mirror, while Bischoff is standing there, unable to see anything was absolutely ridiculous.

2) Rey Mysterio booked in any of his David vs Goliath matches. It's overdone and ridiculous. I can suspend disbelief as much as the next guy, but having Rey Rey pose as a credible threat to somebody a foot and half taller and 200 pounds heavier than him is just too much.

3) Hulk Hogan as Mr America. Why?

4) Unmasking Kane. Okay, his mask comes off and... His face is dirty and he is missing a lot of hair. Next week, he has no hair and all of his "scars" (which had previously been seen by others causing them disgust) are actually psychological. Oh, and the whole thing with the unmasking pretty much halting his career...

5) The Big Show. Here we have an absolute massive man. The next coming of Andre. Only, he is inconsistently booked, and instead of coming off as an unstoppable monster, he is beaten cleanly by just about every flavour of the month. (The fact that he has a moronic name and has consistently the worst theme music in the company doesn't help either).

6) Switching over to TNA for a moment... Joe vs Angle in an MMA shoot style match. Not that the match was horrible (though I'd rate it fair at best), but having this type of match headline a card where every other match was the typical worked style made the event look slightly ridiculous.

7) The Radicals debut in WWE. They bring in this group and almost immediately they get buried to the point where they are barely scraping the mid card. Benoit had just won the WCW title, and he gets punked by HHH. Momentum lost.

8) Owen Hart after Bret left the WWE. The dude was OVER big time. Doing run ins in street clothes, taking it to DX. He was playing the role perfectly and the fans were eating it up. The next natural step was of course a heel turn and joining the Nation.

9) Billy and Chuck. If you are going to go ahead with a "gay" angle, at least have the stones to follow through with it, rather than having it lead nowhere.

10) EVERYONE and their mother joins the NWO. Sure they built a lot of anticipation and got viewers hooked wanting to see who would join next, but oh my god did it get ridiculous. When the list of people NOT in the faction is shorter than the list of people IN the faction, you know there's trouble.

 

[Sean Valjean]

1. Hornswoggle as Vince's son- Kennedy gets suspended so instead of replacing him with another WRESTLER, they give it to a midget. Yay?

2. The constant burial of Cryme Tyme- The most over team in the WWE and they can't win a tag title because Shad is less than perfect in the ring. Khali must be Bret Hart because he got a world title. Speaking of which....

3. Khali wins the world title- Edge gets injured right before facing the #1 contender, Kane. Instead of just letting Kane, Batista, or even Rey win the battle royal, they go with the worse wrestler on the roster. Then at the ppv, it's Khali/Kane/Batista? How the fuck did Batista get added to the match? Kane was screwed, big time.

4. All of Kane's storylines since spring 2004- Like a ******ed Enegizer bunny: They get dumber and dumber

5. The McMahons vs HBK and God- this was beyond ridiculous. I didn't think they take it that far where they actually had the match. Good thing I'm not religious because I'd have more to be pissed about than just the sheer stupidity of that angle.

6. Hulk Hogan as Mr. America- I was actually excited about Mr. America. I didn't know what to expect because not much was said about him and he seemed promising, so the night he debuts, Hulk Hogan comes out in a bootleg Captain America outfit. I can't tell you how disappointed I was.

7. Eddie/Rey/Dominick angle- They both want custody of the kid, so they settle it in a ladder match with the winner becoming the legal father. Yeah, what great parents. A custody agent would've taken Dominick from both of them for that shit. I liked the Eddie/Rey fued, but this portion of it was ridiculous to me.

8. The Spirit Squad win the tag titles- Kane and Big Show were DOMINATING as champs. When the Spirit Squad beat them, I was shocked. I don't care if it's 5 guys, it's Kane and the fucking Big Show. Then all 5 of them are considered the champs and any two could defend the belts? Wait, what?

 

[Hip2bsquare]

One booking attempt from WCW that has always riled me was the booking of the first blood steel cage match between Hollywood Hogan and Ric Fliar that took place at Uncensored in 1999.

I mean before the match Flair tells Charles Robinson not to stop the fight for little scratches and to let he and Hogan fight it out. But then during the bout Flair is wearing a massive crimson mask. His head is completely covered in blood and as the match goes on it gets worse. However Robinson doesnt stop the contest and lets it go on as Fliar conti ues to bleed like a stuck pig.

How goes the First Blood match end? By pinfall when Flair pins Hogan, yup the change of stipulations midmatch made real sense!

 

[AgeOfOrton]

Kanes 24 hour reign was definitely booked poorly. Kane had been pushed heavily as this monster at the time and dropped the title the next night which really sucked it would have been really interesting to see the twists Creative could come up with for a Kane title reign back in the day as the monster not the jobber Kane we're seeing today.

 

[LamaNamaneumi]

I can not even look a a hummer to this day and not wounder who was the driver and why did WCW never tell us

 

[Doctor_What]

Jeff Jarrett attacks Hogan on TNA television... Then we never see Hogan in TNA again!

 

[highdroGrizz]

Another one that comes to mind is when Hulk Hogan won the belt after Bret Hart lost it to Yokozuna, i think you could say that bret got screwd there first, it was just wrong.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Yokozuna Wins.. for a Minute: Without a doubt this would rank up there with one of the worst decisions, to me, in Wrestling history. They built Yokozuna as this unstoppable force, this incredible monster. Undefeated and everything. Hadn't even been knocked off his feet, even.

Bret Hart, the future of your industry, fights him and gives him his greatest Challenge, but just can't defeat the undefeated monster. Yokozuna becomes the World Heavyweight Champion.. for a minute, until somehow Hulk Hogan comes out, gets an unsanctioned and unscheduled World Heavyweight title match.. all because he's "in the right place, and the right time" and (again, in under a minute) wins the World Heavyweight Championship.. defeating, the monster that'd been built up so huge.

This disrespected Bret Hart in being the future, (face) Yokozuna in being the dominate heel, and the entire company, by giving the title to a guy who was beyond his "Glory Days". Bad move all around.

Hornswoggle McMahon: So because Kennedy was originally scheduled to be the guy, but got caught up in steroids, the entire story gets switched to a midget? You go from future Main Eventer.. to midget?

So you take a storyline with great potential, and turn it into a pure joke. One, I might add, that continues on for some few months. Sometimes, while you never like to admit failure.. it's just a better thing to cash out and take the loss.

Indy Punk - World Champ: This is another random case of "right place, right time". Because the Company apparently didn't think ahead of time about having two World Champions on one Brand, they had to think quick and the end result was a miserable run on a fluke Champion.

I'll agree that C.M. Punk deserves to be a World Champion, someday. I even agreed that when he won MITB he deserved to become Champion.. if built properly. But the thing is, he was jobbed to everyone and anyone, for months. He lost to EVERYONE, literally.. then falls into the Heavyweight title, by defeating an unconscious Edge.

W.C.W. Heavyweight (Movie) Champion: Placing the Championship on an undeserving mid-carder is one thing. Placing it on an Actor, is a whole other issue. David Arquette won the title.. but instead of stopping there, they actually put him in the debut of a gimmick match. (The Triple Tier Cage) In the Main Event, of a Pay per view that was actually a big deal to your Company.

I would've loved to seen how this plan got worked out. It's as if they took every Epic Fail they had, and rolled the entire shitfest into one giant fuck you ball.

 

[TakeAdooKie]

To me it has to be Kane's 24 hour WWE Championship reign. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was the right thing to do to put the belt on Kane at King of the Ring by beating Austin, but to me it was pointless in the end considering that they gave the Title back to the same man Kane won it from (Austin) only one night later.

If they still wanted Austin to be the champ then they should have never let Kane win it in the first place. IMO I don't even think they wanted Kane to be the champ anyway, be it for one day or even one hour. Now so many years later they still haven't allowed Kane to win it again even though he has had a few shots that were all for null.

That's why when April 5th rolls around and the dome in Houston is rocking, I will be praying and begging that Kane wins the MITB (even though no one thinks he has a shot).

 

[zags]

Overall bad booking decisions- Theconstant burial of the IC title and the brand split having the same type of titles on each show. The tag division is short to begin with but lets have 2 sets of tag champs. Brilliant. We don't need 2 women champions either. Those titles along with the IC title should be on both RAW and Smackdown. It's fine to have a WWE and WHC, but when you don't have enough depth on a roster to decently book title reigns and matches you shouldn't have 2 sets of that same title. Top notch bad match booking- David "Dewey" Arquette becomes champion.