WWE's Most Baffling Booking Decisions of 2025 So Far

It's been decades since WWE's creative direction was so consistently strong, largely thanks to Triple H taking over for Vince McMahon at the helm in July 2022.

The business side of things being as hot as it has been is proof that The Game's vision has been a smashing success. Numbers wouldn't be up across the board otherwise, yet faults remain with the weekly product that can still be improved on.

Raw, SmackDown and WWE as a whole are far from perfect at the moment, and there are plenty of valid criticisms that should be addressed without being written off as fans complaining simply for the sake of doing so.

The company's growing roster is stacked with star power and has led to new blood being infused into the mix on the main roster. However, that has simultaneously caused several Superstars to be de-emphasized, benched or outright released, in addition to storylines suffering from not being furthered on a regular basis.

For as much as there has been to enjoy about WWE in the first half of 2025, there have been a fair amount of baffling booking decisions that have plagued the product and should have been avoided all together.

John Cena 'Sells His Soul' to The Rock

Above all else, WWE's attempt to turn John Cena heel for the first time in over two decades has been its biggest disappointment in 2025.

The moment itself was exceptionally executed and will be forever remembered by fans. The fallout, however, has left a lot to be desired, even nearly three months later.

The bottom line is that Cena clearly isn't comfortable in the heel role and is having an issue finding his footing—or so it appears, anyway. His promos come off as forced, he's limited with what he can do in the ring and his appearances are sparse.

It's fun that WWE took such a risk with the character at this stage of his career, but it hasn't panned out the way the audience hoped. Of course, there's still time for him to turn things around, but that would require The GOAT and the company to not coast and to put actual effort into rehabilitating this run.

The Rock orchestrating Cena's betrayal in storyline has been all but forgotten about and has easily been the worst aspect of the angle. There was no reason for him to get involved in the first place, especially if there were never any plans for him to appear at WrestleMania 41 to ensure his presence was felt.

Travis Scott Ruins WrestleMania 41 Main Event

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WrestleMania 41 as a whole was entertaining and featured enough above-average matches and moments for it to be considered a thumbs-up event. But it's unfortunate that it had to end in one of the worst ways possible.

All of the hype surrounding John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship gave fans high hopes for their match, but it turned out to be nothing special. The subpar quality of their contest could have been overlooked had it not been for the terribly flat finish.

Travis Scott, who was also questionably present for Cena's shocking heel turn at Elimination Chamber, resurfaced in the finals few minutes of Cena vs. Rhodes to aid The GOAT to victory. His involvement was expected to be the beginning of the end for The American Nightmare, not the sole reason why he lost.

Sure enough, the rapper getting laid out by a Cross Rhodes—a receipt for legitimately injuring Rhodes at Elimination Chamber—was immediately followed by Cena hitting The American Nightmare with the belt and scoring the three-count. Cena becoming champion was the logical outcome, but the execution was abysmal.

PWInsider recently reported Scott would be back for Money in the Bank in Los Angeles on June 7 to team with Cena and Logan Paul against Rhodes and The Usos, but that has seemingly been scrapped unless he gets added in the next two weeks.

Shinsuke Nakamura's United States Championship Reign

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Shinsuke Nakamura rarely defended the U.S. title during his most recent reign.

LA Knight was well on his way to becoming one of the better United States champions WWE has had in recent years when he suddenly dropped it to Shinsuke Nakamura at Survivor Series 2024.

Nakamura had returned from a lengthy hiatus mere weeks earlier and was repackaged with a new, darker persona. It was a fresh coat of paint for The King of Strong Style, but under no circumstance should he have dethroned Knight for the star-spangled prize.

None of Nakamura's midcard title reigns in WWE have been remotely memorable and this one was no exception.

He was practically put on the back-burner with the belt for the first month or two of 2025 before being dusted off in time to lose it right back to The Megastar on SmackDown in early March, begging the question of what the point was of him having to lose it in the first place.

Knight was only ever intended to be a transitional champ so he could drop it to Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania 41 and that's totally acceptable, but he should have held it from last year's SummerSlam to The Show of Shows in one singular reign instead of it being interrupted without explanation.

Women's Midcard Titles

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Chelsea Green has made the most of her role, but the booking hasn't always been ideal.

To WWE's credit, the booking of the newly introduced women's midcard championships has improved as of late, but that doesn't excuse the lack of attention and creative focus they were getting to start the year.

Chelsea Green was the perfect first person to hold the Women's United States Championship and WWE was wise to feature her consistently on SmackDown shortly after winning it. The issue was that her rivalry with Michin had zero depth because all they ever did was trade wins and crowds wouldn't care.

The presentation of Lyra Valkyria as the inaugural women's intercontinental champion prior to WrestleMania was significantly worse.

She won the title in the finals of a tournament by beating Dakota Kai but was barely showcased on Raw from that point forward. She'd have the occasional defense, but without any build or storyline support, fans would sit on their hands for her matches.

As noted, WWE has thankfully gotten the belt back on track by booking a heated feud between The Valkyrie and the returning Becky Lynch. They stole the show at Backlash and are on track to do so again in their inevitable rematch.

Lynch taking the title and losing it back to Valkyria down the road would do a lot to give it a much-needed boost.

Failing to Capitalize on Karrion Kross' Momentum

Regardless of whose regime it's been under, WWE has always encouraged talent to get over on their own if they're confident in their abilities and believe they deserve to be positioned better on television or afforded more opportunities.

Many fail, but Karrion Kross is among an elite few who has actually broken through that glass ceiling and connected with fans through his exemplary work on social media and in vignettes and promos.

WWE seemed to be taking notice going into WrestleMania when he was shown stalking Sami Zayn backstage and got involved in AJ Styles' storyline with Logan Paul, going so far as to cost The Phenomenal One the win against Paul by encouraging him to cheat, but none of it has amounted to anything so far.

That includes Kross teasing that he had unfinished business with the YouTuber in a backstage segment on the post-WrestleMania Raw, only to not be featured on the show in any meaningful capacity since then.

Kross may not necessarily be a future world champ in WWE, but for the company to not capitalize on his current momentum and give him even the slightest bit of screen time is asinine.

Pairing Carmelo Hayes with The Miz

The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal having no true value has been one of WWE's worst-kept secrets among fans for the last decade, but it's still an accolade that can be used as a vehicle to elevate whoever wins it.

That should have been the case with Carmelo Hayes, who won this year's installment after not making the 'Mania card. But he was instead saddled with a storyline where The Miz is supposed to be serving as his mentor.

The A-Lister has done it all throughout his illustrious career, but he's also been so devalued to a point where he actually drags down anyone he's working with. That includes Hayes, who should be slotted on a much higher level than Miz these days.

The former NXT champion was SmackDown's first overall draft pick in 2024, yet he has little to show for it aside from his stellar series of matches with Andrade last summer. It's high time he was given a serious singles push in the midcard on the blue brand, rather than being utilized as a stepping stone for others and doing unfunny comedy with Miz.

It's been more miss than hit with Melo on the main roster and that's through no fault of his own.

Drew McIntyre's 'Bloodline Hunter' Storyline Goes Nowhere

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After wrapping up his rivalry with CM Punk inside Hell in a Cell at Bad Blood, Drew McIntyre returned to Raw in December to set his sights on Sami Zayn and the rest of the O.G. Bloodline at the tail end of 2024. It was a logical direction for him to go in given their checkered past.

He blamed The Bloodline for the role they played in his downfall, starting in 2022 when they cost him the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. He knocked off Zayn in multiple matches before transitioning into a mini feud with Jey Uso, who beat the Scot on Raw's Netflix premiere.

McIntyre then lost to Jimmy Uso decisively on the Feb. 21 edition of SmackDown. He later avenged that loss, but the angle was effectively over.

The end goal should have been The Scottish Warrior getting his hands on Roman Reigns and giving him his comeuppance, ideally at WrestleMania 41, but there wasn't another mention of the storyline once he rekindled his rivalry with Damian Priest heading into The Show of Shows.

This had the potential to be incredibly compelling and could perhaps still materialize, but it doesn't look likely.

Bayley vs. Roxanne Perez Gets Dropped

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Roxanne Perez found great success in NXT and appeared to be on the verge of finally being called up following her loss of the NXT Women's Championship at the onset of 2025.

It was telling that she showed up on SmackDown prior to the Royal Rumble to start a storyline with Bayley. That led to more interactions between the two on SmackDown, Raw, NXT, in the women's Rumble match and again inside the Elimination Chamber.

However, their angle never had a proper conclusion before it was abruptly dropped post-Chamber.

Perez stuck around in NXT for a few more months to spin her wheels while Bayley failed in her pursuit of the Women's Intercontinental Championship and was ultimately left off the WrestleMania 41 card. They could have just as easily had a match at Stand & Deliver and blown if off there, regardless of the outcome.

Perez was officially promoted to the main roster in the wake of WrestleMania by forming a short-lived alliance with Giulia and attacking Iyo Sky on Raw. She has since branched off on her own and qualified for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Bayley remains sidelined, but one can only assume WWE will revisit this rivalry when both are available.

The Disappearances of Alexa Bliss and The Wyatt Sicks

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The recent returns of Alexa Bliss and The Wyatt Sicks are encouraging signs that they'll be factored into WWE's plans going forward, but their unexplained absence from television for the first half of 2025 was disappointing, nonetheless.

The Wyatt Sicks were in a program with The Final Testament last year when they randomly disappeared from Raw. It was later revealed they were traded to SmackDown, but they sat on the sidelines until the May 23 episode and lost a majority of their momentum as a result.

Meanwhile, Bliss resurfaced in the women's Royal Rumble match after two years away and received a raucous reaction. She went on to compete in the women's Elimination Chamber and planted the seeds for something with Liv Morgan, but there was never any follow-up.

Injuries and other extenuating circumstances presumably played a role in them being off WWE TV for as long as they were, but surely there was a way the company could have kept them in the fold or at least addressed their absence.

Bliss is bound to be connected with The Wyatt Sicks before long, but many of the teases have gone nowhere and there isn't an obvious endgame. With The Wyatt Sicks specifically, if one or two members were out injured, it wouldn't have been difficult for the rest of the group to have a presence on the show so they weren't forgotten about entirely.

The New Day's White-Hot Heel Run Cools Off

Triple H was responsible for booking one of Raw's greatest segments of all time in Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods' heartbreaking betrayal of Big E. He's also responsible for dropping the ball on it big-time.

The segment itself was tremendous and left the audience eagerly anticipating the next chapter of the story. The (new) New Day proceeded to get booed out of every building they appeared in, and it was refreshing to see them back to being heels for the first time in a decade.

They traded wins with The LWO coming into 2025, but it quickly became clear WWE had nothing substantial planned for them in the long term. They managed to make the 'Mania card and won the World Tag Team Championship from The War Raiders, but even that was an afterthought, much like their title reign has been since then.

The Raw tag team division in general has been a bust this year and The New Day being at the helm should pack more of a punch.

If Big E isn't going to be cleared imminently (or ever), WWE must explore other routes for Kingston and Woods to redeem their run as heels and make them as interesting as they were in the final months of 2024.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.