WWE's 10 biggest missed booking opportunities of the decade: Part I (2010-2014)
With the 2010s nearing its conclusion, the WWE Universe will look back with some fondness. A lot of significant moments happened, along with some breathtaking matches as well as groundbreaking decisions.
2020 will look a lot different to 2010 in terms of the WWE landscape, as well as pro wrestling in general. However, fans cannot help but feel that it could have been better.
While the decade as a whole was a big positive for WWE, the company missed a lot of huge opportunities to enthral the fans with some bold moves or exciting storylines. This also brings us to the fact that there is only a handful of current full-time WWE Superstars who are genuine stars. A lot more could have been created over the years, particularly in the first half of the 2010s.
This was a time where WWE needed to build new megastars as an entire era of talent finished up on their full-time careers, aside from a couple like John Cena and Randy Orton. Some of them eventually worked out, but the company did disappoint fans in handling the trajectories of various Superstars. Every year has seen WWE forgo a few huge booking opportunities.
Here is their biggest one from each year, from 2010 to 2014.
2010: The Nexus
After the likes of Triple H, batista" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Batista and The Undertaker left WWE full-time in mid-2010, eight NXT "rookies" sparked some much-needed intensity to the product. Led by Wade Barrett, the Nexus looked to dominate the place that treated them like jokes. They took out everybody in sight, especially John Cena and even Vince McMahon. The new group of supervillains faced Cena's squad of WWE defenders at SummerSlam in a 7-on-7 Elimination Match. A win for the Nexus would put them on the map and on course to cement their legitimacy, right?
John Cena won, defeating Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett with relative ease. This derailed the Nexus' momentum and even a victory for Barrett over Cena did not help in any way. The Cenation Leader buried the Nexus at every opportunity, even after being forced to join them. Barrett could have been a major star in WWE had he emerged victorious at SummerSlam, or even managed to keep John Cena at bay in the Nexus. However, his reign of dominance was killed once and for all in a Chairs Match against Cena a little over six months after debuting.
This was disappointing, as WWE had an opportunity to move away from the status quo and build some new stars from nothing. Instead, they went with the same old names. Wade Barrett was super hot as the leader of the Nexus and he would, unfortunately, never reach the level he did during this angle. He should have held the WWE Title for at least some time in the fall of 2010. Booking the rising stars to lose at SummerSlam was a bone-headed decision. Chris Jericho and Edge, both members of Team WWE, thought the same thing.