WWE: 10 Biggest Mistakes Made Since 2011

On next week's Raw, Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon returns. This comes as a bit of a surprise, seeing as how storylines forced him to resign from the position.

Now, suddenly, "The Boss" returns.

It's a bit confusing, but with the WWE, a short lapse in time usually means that everyone should "forget" past angles. We have seen a great deal of this over the past decade or so.

Although 2011 gave us a year-long feud with the Rock and John Cena which wasn't too bad of a build, the creative staff also gave us many things at which to shake our heads.

Here are the top 10 mistakes made since 2011.

10. Christian Heel Turn

At Extreme Rules 2011, Christian defeated Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match. Afterwards, he and Edge had a very emotional celebration, having won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

Less than a week later, Christian lost the WHC on SmackDown to a newly defected Randy Orton. A few weeks later, Christian turned heel on Orton after being special referee in his match against Sheamus.

After a very short second reign as World Heavyweight Champion via DQ victory at Money in the Bank, Christian just wasn't that interesting as a heel.

Similar to every other singles heel run he had, it reached a glass ceiling.

We saw a slight atonement when he became babyface at the Over the Limit PPV and won the IC Title. Hopefully, he has one last legit World Title run to end his career on a well-deserved high note.

9. Sheamus Beats Daniel Bryan in 18 Seconds

To this day, there still has not been a legitimate reason why this happened.

Daniel Bryan falls on the short end of the shortest World Heavyweight Championship match in WrestleMania history, losing to Sheamus in 18 seconds.

This was just poor booking, and the shock value left many in utter disgust.

The decision to book the match how it transpired indeed left a mark on the career of Daniel Bryan. Other than giving World Champions a run for their money, it doesn't seem like he will gain that coveted prize anytime in the near future.

Let's not forget: The WWE has purposely (and near-successfully) tried to diffuse the "Yes" craze, which could have further catapulted his career.

8. Squash Matches

No longer are the days when fans watch an episode of Superstars circa 1990 and see a main star squash a jobber, or "enhancement talent."

At least, that's what we thought.

Brodus Clay and Ryback have somehow brought back these days that weren't even worth watching in the first place. It was definitely something that should have stayed where it rested.

These squash matches are boring, unproductive and simply a waste of time. Neither Clay nor Ryback has gained wide fan-support by squashing talent for a span of time that has been entirely too long.

And now, Ryback is squashing two jobbers as if this really gains popularity to his character. Honestly, that doesn't help either.

If it wasn't for Brodus Clay's entrance and Ryback's potential, both of them would be totally pointless.

7. Alberto Del Rio Wins 2011 Royal Rumble

2011 presented the first—and possibly only—40-man Royal Rumble. It was a concept that enhanced the level of intrigue of who the winner will be.

At the end of the match, the last man standing was Alberto Del Rio.

In one of the most meteoric pushes in WWE history, ADR was one step closer to his self-proclaimed "destiny." Unfortunately, his push started to fade, and he fell deeper into the upper mid-card level of talent.

After his loss against Edge at WrestleMania 27, ADR started to look more and more out of place in the main-event division. Towards the end of the year, he became WWE champion on two different occasions but did absolutely nothing to gain interest in the product.

It does not seem that he will ever regain that main-event level of notoriety, even if he is currently involved in the WHC picture.

In retrospect, maybe a different person would have been a better choice to win the Royal Rumble.

6. Cena/Kane Ambulance Match Headlines Elimination Chamber

This is actually one part of a series of mistakes the WWE made concerning John Cena. He was way overbooked and was put in main events that were improperly placed.

This entire year, neither the WWE nor World Heavyweight Championships have been featured in the main event. However, with the exception of the Royal Rumble, John Cena was involved in all of them.

His match at Elimination Chamber against Kane was the worst of them all.

Not only did it make any sense that Cena vs. Kane was the main event over two Elimination Chamber matches, but that they headlined a gimmick-themed PPV with a different gimmick match.

What's next? A stretcher match main event at Money in the Bank PPV? Wouldn't surprise me.

5. Raw WWE Title Tournament

To say that the WWE Championship Tournament—created to name a new champion after CM Punk left with the title at Money in the Bank—was confusing would be an understatement at the very least.

It seemed like there was absolutely no point in the tournament, except maybe some on-the-fly booking which is hardly ever effective.

Rey Mysterio defeats the Miz in the finals of the tournament and becomes WWE Champion. Later on that night, the tournament becomes null and void due to Mysterio losing the title to John Cena and sets up a champion-versus-champion match against CM Punk at Summerslam.

Could we have done without the tournament and just had Cena win the title? Absolutely.

4. Miz/Alex Riley Split

The split between the Miz and Alex Riley truly was a big mistake.

Although it seemed to have some potential for Riley to become a breakout babyface and Miz to keep his main-event status as a heel, the only thing it did was make both of their careers less relevant.

The tandem of Miz and Riley definitely was the best pairing of 2010 going into 2011. Riley played the apprentice to the Miz's rise as a top star.

After the smoke has cleared, it would be an uphill battle to argue against the claim that Alex Riley was a great contribution to the Miz's continued success.

Alex Riley has the main-event music, look and mic-work to be a top guy. Unfortunately, the WWE doesn't think so.

As far as the Miz these days, well, I guess it could be worse. Not much worse, though.

3. Brock Lesnar Booking

Almost immediately after his return to the WWE, Brock Lesnar has became an afterthought.

Upon his return, he created a ton of buzz throughout the wrestling world and MMA communities. That buzz fizzled almost as quickly as it started.

Maybe it was the limited dates; maybe it was the thrust into a major feud followed by a subsequent loss; maybe it was a realization that Lesnar just isn't "that guy" any more in the WWE.

Whatever it is, his return has flopped. Creative has a difficult challenge in regaining the same interest people had for Lesnar when he F5'ed John Cena as Raw closed the night after WrestleMania.

2. Lord Tensai Debut

There is really not much more to say than what has already been said about this major flop. Each week, Tensai is getting more and more excruciating to look at.

Yes, he is no longer "Lord" Tensai. But relatively speaking, does that really make much of a difference? Not at all.

The WWE reluctantly pulled the plug on Tensai being a top guy for the company. All the hype about him being John Laurinaitis' henchman, feuding with John Cena and feuding with CM Punk for the WWE title have now dissipated.

Now, he's just a weird-looking guy with Japanese markings on his face who is utilized either on Superstars or to put main-eventers over.

I see a return to Japan for Tensai as soon as his contract is up.

1. Chris Jericho Losing Royal Rumble

This was indeed the start of a dismal return for Chris Jericho. Being runner-up has never been so costly.

With many predictions of Jericho being the winner of the 2012 Royal Rumble match, it seemed that his "Third Coming" would be as successful as the two that preceded it. Unfortunately, we witnessed the fan-paved path of Jericho totally reconstructed.

Sheamus became the winner, and Jericho has yet to win a pay-per-view match since his return. With his current suspension, there has to be a drastic change to his direction.

Even with his loss to CM Punk at WrestleMania, at least a RR win would have made his return worthwhile. Instead, we see Chris Jericho: A Jobber to the Stars.

We will discuss this topic, as well as weekly WWE, TNA and ROH recap and analysis this Tuesday night (06/05/12) on the Pancakes and Powerslams wrestling talk show at 11pm ET. The number to call live is [phone].

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