WWE WrestleMania 2016 Results: Worst Booking Decisions from PPV

Chris RolingApr 4, 2016

WWE broke records Sunday night in Arlington, Texas, and got plenty right at WrestleMania 32, but what the company got wrong sticks out worse than usual on such a major stage.

The good? Steve Austin came back. The Rock had a flamethrower. WWE listened to fans and went with Zack Ryder as intercontinental champion. Baron Corbin, one of the roster's most improved Superstars of late, got a win in the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy.

But overall it seemed like heels took wins more than usual. Dean Ambrose going down at the hands of Brock Lesnar couldn't be helped, but the match didn't even reach the 15-minute mark or leave the ring area in a Street Fight. It's a small example compared to the worst booking decisions, though.

AJ Styles Goes Down in Debut

A debut 15 years in the making, AJ Styles put on a classic with Chris Jericho in what many might call the match of the night, despite its early placement on the card.

Something seemed amiss with the result, though.

It made sense for Styles to take a loss at the hands of Jericho if WWE views them both as world-renowned veterans on the same footing. Then, Styles won't be hurt much by taking a loss. Maybe there's even a dash of promotional angst there, like when DX managed to take down New World Order because WWE wants to flex a muscle.

The problem is, that's not how it works here. In the eyes of most fans, Styles is a new guy, older and experienced or not. Taking a loss in his WrestleMania debut doesn't make sense, and especially not to a guy whose only job upon recent returns was to put new talent over in the first place.

In fact, a heel walking away cleanly over a debuting face like Styles doesn't make sense. Styles has been the top guy around the world in any promotion he's graced, so a straight loss to a part-timer (whether Jericho sticks around longer this time or not) was an odd decision.

Then again, it was an odd feud to begin with, based on borderline creepy atonal chants from both men based around a silly premise. Maybe this feud will continue and Styles will pick up a win on Raw, but it'll be a case of too little, too late.

Roman Reigns' Moment

Everyone knew the result going into Sunday, but that didn't stop what sounded like the majority of fans in attendance from letting WWE know how they felt about Roman Reigns winning the strap from Triple H.

It wasn't hard to predict that this one wouldn't end well. Stephanie McMahon cut a promo for five minutes dissing WWE's fans to make people hate them, only to watch from ringside as every Triple H offensive maneuver got cheers and Reigns' positives got booed.

No swerve, just a clean win for a booed face and a potential, "Hey, Reigns speared Stephanie so we can technically strip him of the belt to continue this underdog storyline on Raw tomorrow night" spot.

Maybe that's a stretch, but if folks felt the audio on their streams went goofy after Reigns won, it's more likely WWE had to accommodate for the negative reaction, as NoDQ.com suggested:

Maybe WWE thought that booking so many heels to come out on top would make the fans thirsty for a face win and cheer Reigns. But that's out of touch with reality, a reality in which casual and hardcore fans continue to mesh into one entity through the further use of technology.

Granted, Reigns gets one of the biggest reactions of any full-time member of the company. Triple H's going over would have incited anger for a part-timer win, too. The problem is that the aforementioned Baron Corbin seemed to get more cheers Sunday than Reigns while playing the character Reigns should probably play.

But it raises the question: If Reigns is getting top-level reactions all heading in one direction, why in the world does WWE keep pushing him in the opposite way?

Shane McMahon Fails to Make Change

The downright strangest match of the night (pretend the non-build for the United States Championship fight between Kalisto and Ryback after John Cena spent half a year building the title up never happened, please) was at least an entertaining one.

Folks knew what to expect from Shane McMahon. He came out with his kids playing the legacy angle, got in some sweet kicks and put his body on the line more than anyone else probably would:

Why have this match for this result?

Recall the stipulation: If Shane won, he would have taken control of Raw, which essentially means control of WWE, though it was never really clear if it was just control of the company in the first place. Then the shoehorned-in "if 'Taker loses you're fired" angle was added to the mix.

So Shane lost, of course. Instead of a yearlong struggle for power leading up to this time next year, Shane took a loss, and that was it. It had nothing to do with Undertaker's stipulation, either, because let's be honest: If Shane's in control, he's not going to let him hang up the boots based on a stipulation Daddy made, anyway.

Maybe there's more to this. But WWE made fans care about this angle for months, only to have a finish with no major implications. Heck, Vince, after all his involvement in the build, didn't even make an appearance.

It's just odd, but maybe that was the theme of this year's WrestleMania—in a match with company-wide change as the theme, nothing changed at all.