The year hasn’t been one of those which are worth remembering for the WWE. The business looks plummeting and the creatives are failing miserably to engage the fans in anything other than the main events.
The rich in history mid card looks almost dead now with the push of the writers going wrong beyond the limit. Many of the wrestlers fell throughout the year when some of the fortunate ones got it right and got to the shore before drowning. But many didn’t have this luxury and was just floated out into irrelevance due to a plethora of reasons. So here is a look at the names in the company who took the fall this year and etched their name into flops of the year.
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5. Ryback
I still don’t get why Ryback gets comparisons with Goldberg and I definitely don’t know what the creative are thinking when they have a prospect of pitting Goldberg against this guy at WrestleMania.
Ryback started the year on a good not being in the last two of Royal Rumble. He also got many title opportunities and had numerous matches with many main event talents like CM Punk and John Cena. Ryback even had a brief stint with Paul Heyman but at the end of the day, Ryback still hasn’t found his foot in the company and fails to woo the fans with the power and muscles that he has.
His team with Curtis Axel seems like heading nowhere and the creative team have to pull out a rabbit from a transparent hat if they have to establish him as a top star.
4. Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler is the prime victim of the poor booking that the creative have been doing throughout the year. Despite having the looks, mic skills and the in-ring ability, Ziggler still hasn’t got any storylines to work on after losing his World Heavyweight Championship.
After Daniel Bryan, Ziggler would be the only superstar who gives more than a cent percentage on every match. The fans love him, the pundits love him and why doesn’t the creative love this guy? If he was in TNA or something he would have been their face by now purely based on the skill he possesses.
When superstars like John Cena and Randy Orton gets rematch for each and everything, Ziggler is someone who cannot say that he got a good another shot at his title. Hopefully, he would return to the main event scene because that’s where he belongs.
3. Fandango
The dancing star gimmick was touted to be the handpicked one by none other than Vince McMahon. The rumor seemed to be right when the character generated so much fuzz as he headed to WrestleMania to face Chris Jericho. The debut win against a seasoned veteran seemed like the first step to success for Fandango but the creative failed to utilize him after that.
He was tied in a short feud with The Great Khali which looked more than ridiculous; they even had a dance-off, which made us realize that the creative had no plans to get him into an upper card scenario. And till today he isn’t involved any storylines and the only job he has now is to make the fans dance and be the occasional jobber.
2.The Miz
The WWE fans still doesn’t have an idea whether this guy is heel or face.
From main eventing WrestleMania to rotting in the undercard, Miz had a horrible year this time around. The creative has no idea on what to do with him and he is still stuck there below the pit without finding a way to get into the main event scene which lacks quality players now.
From the looks of it Miz was going to be heel by the winter start and work his way up the ladder for WrestleMania but the company’s obsession with outside publicity led the creative to swap his turns more than twice in the span of a couple of weeks. All these hit him hard and Miz would turn into another Zack Ryder if he fails to pick up his career next year.
1. Curtis Axel
Rob Van Dam, Dudley Boys, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit , The Sandman, Brock Lesnar and CM Punk, these are just some of guys who were transformed into superstars by an evil wrestling genius called Paul Heyman.
And if that guy can’t get you anywhere in this business, then no one can. That pretty much sums ups the story of Curtis Axel. He looked like he was the next big thing when he had Heyman on his side and the Intercontinental Championship on his waist. But ever since Heyman left, Axel’s career has been spiraling downwards.
He then lost the Intercontinental championship and was paired with Ryback to form “Rybaxel”, a team which is created on the tag of “Former Heyman guys”. From a future prospect to a dropping star, Axel is the biggest flop of this year and Heyman’s decision to leave him is being substantiated every week.