7 problems from 2014 that still affect the WWE today

Daniel Bryan Celebrating winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Every once in a while, the WWE comes across a specific point in time where certain decisions were made that either greatly improved the business or caused a decline. The Attitude Era would be an example of a great improvement as it led to a boom in professional wrestling and kicked off the legendary Monday Night Wars.

An example of something that led to a decline was the infamous heel turn of Stone Cold Steve Austin, which coincided with the Invasion storyline that was heavily scrutinised and signalled the end of the wrestling boom.

There have been many moments and years like these in the long and storied history of the WWE, but one of the biggest years in recent memory that reflects this ideology was the year 2014.

WWE in 2014 had a lot of things going for it and had the potential to create multiple stars like they had done during previous eras.

The Shield and The Wyatt Family were hot stables, Daniel Bryan finally got his moment, the end of undefeated streak of The Undertaker, and many other moments made it seem like 2014 was going to be a marquee year in the WWE.

Sadly, that’s not what would happen as the WWE would have a lot of issues preventing them from capitalising on these moments. Whether they were contract stipulations, health issues, or just plain old bad booking, the WWE lost out on a lot of good things in 2014 that greatly affect them even today.

So in order to prove this, this article will look at 7 Problems from 2014 that the WWE are still dealing with.

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#7 CM Punk Quit

CM Punk in his first fight at UFC 203

This was one of the earliest hits that the WWE would take as the year progressed, but it was definitely one of the most impactful in the grand scheme of things. Ever since 2011, CM Punk managed to become a huge star in the company and was only second to John Cena.

Following his 434-day reign as WWE Champion, Punk was kept in the upper mid card, but away from the title picture for the rest of 2013. In 2014, all signs pointed to a headlining match against Triple H at WrestleMania, but Punk would quit the company citing stagnation and injury following the Royal Rumble.

This initially wasn’t as big of a hit because The Shield, The Wyatt Family and Daniel Bryan were all gaining momentum and were in major feuds with the potential to make them into bigger stars, but almost all of them didn’t work out.

And with the brands now split and the star power not as strong, Punk’s presence would greatly help the WWE today.