Stupidest Wrestling Business Decisions

Like any business, there are all sorts of decisions you can make in order to move the business forward. Sometimes those decisions seem to make sense at the time but wind up not being sensical at all. Others are completely the right move and everyone knows it and loves it.

With the beauty of hindsight, we know how these decisions ultimately turned out. But many of these seem not just terrible – but completely dumb the moment they were made. The instant these decisions happened (or shortly afterward), it was easy to see how foolish they were.

11 WWE Mishandles Several Possible Breakout Stars

A lot of OG NXT Call-Ups Got The Shaft

• NXT Call-ups started gaining prominence in 2013-2014.
• Names like Rusev were heavily pushed and then brought back down the card.
• Other call-ups like The Ascension never stood a chance.

Over the years there has been a prevailing theory that if Vince didn’t create it, he won’t push it. But that was usually directed towards the competition. But then in 2013, the call-ups from NXT started to happen. From names like Finn Balor to Rusev to, of course, Bray Wyatt – it seemed that if you were on top in NXT, you got humbled and humiliated right around the time they got really close to getting over. Some might claim that’s some sort of test – but if the machine isn’t behind you while the crowds clearly love you, then someone rigged The Kobayashi Maru.

10 WCW Hires Vince Russo

Along With Ed Ferrara, The Powers That Be Tried To Save WCW

• Vince Russo left WWE for WCW without any notice.
• To this day the rumor persists that McMahon sent Russo to WCW to ruin the promotion.
• Russo’s booking of WCW is almost universally thought of as terrible.

When Vince Russo absconded away along with his partner Ed Ferrara to WCW, it sent a shockwave throughout the industry. After all, Russo was at this time considered the driving force of The Attitude Era. How quickly the fans all realized that it was a crock and WCW got sold a bill of rotten goods.

Say what you will about McMahon, but at this point in history, The Chairman knew how to refine stories. Russo didn’t have anyone to do that for him in WCW, and he ran amok.

9 Ole Anderson Doesn’t Sign The Undertaker

The Cantankerous Ole Had Zero Interest In Mark Calaway

• Ole is one of founding members of The Four Horsemen.
• He is actually the only member of any Horsemen ever to have not gone to WWE for any stint.
• Ole was part of the GCW booking team when it was sold to WWE (the infamous “Black Saturday” incident).

Admittedly, the early days of Mean Mark Callous weren’t much to write home about. But he clearly had potential and a move set better than most big men. Fans would also come to learn he had a heluva work ethic. All things that WCW head booker Ole Anderson should have seen and been able to work with. But the crotchety Ole was blind to all of this and felt that Calaway wouldn’t be able to ever draw a dime. He was partially right – Mean Mark couldn’t draw a dime, but The Undertaker practically became a legend almost immediately and just kept building on that legacy.

8 Butts In Seats

Tony Schiavone Inadvertently Delivers One Of The Death Nails For WCW

• Since the beginning of Nitro, Eric Bischoff had constantly reveal Raw results on Nitro.
• “Butts In Seats” is also the title of Schiavone’s autobiographical graphic novel.
• Bischoff told Schiavone to spoil the results. Tony thought of the line.

When Eric Bischoff started Nitro, he had a goal in mind – to overtake WWE. In order to do that, he thought of ways he could sabotage Raw – by letting fans know about the results! That was a true party foul in every sense of the word and no one can really say it was statistically a good idea as far as viewers. But karma certainly came calling for Bisch’ on January 4, 1999. He had instructed Tony Schiavone to let viewers know that Mankind was going to win the world title on the other show and delivered the now infamous line – “that’ll put butts in seats.” He couldn’t have been more right – practically everyone watching Nitro clicked over to Raw to watch Mick Foley finally win the big one.

7 The Fingerpoke Of Doom

The Coffin On Roller Skates Really Got Going

• The idea for this angle was to reunite the nWo and give Goldberg a new major enemy to fight.
• The Fingerpoke Of Doom was on the same day as Mankind’s WWE title victory.
• Painting Goldberg as a womanizer didn’t go over well with fans or Goldberg.

Heading into 1999, WCW was reeling from a lackluster fourth quarter that involved Hulk-Warrior II and the abysmal end to Goldberg’s Streak. In trying to pull the nose up, the first Nitro of the year was geared towards reforming the nWo with Hogan and Nash together again. But the plot to paint Goldberg as a stalker, preying on Miss Elizabeth to keep him from the big rematch, instead, pulling off The Fingerpoke Of Doom was just plain poor execution.

6 Gagne Doesn’t Book Hogan As AWA Champion

Hulkamania Started In AWA

• While he didn’t actually try out for Metallica, Hogan really does play the bass.
• Hogan got his start in Florida, working around The Coconut Loop.
• Big In Japan – every Hogan fan owes it to themselves to check out Hogan’s Japan career.

Whether or not Hulkamania would have ripped through Minnesota and put the AWA on the global map is debatable.

But Verne Gagne’s short-sightedness to push Hogan through the roof is primarily what caused Hogan to call WWE. Gagne simply trusted his stalwart champion Nick Bockwinkel and continued to have him as his champion above all sorts of reasons.

McMahon Wanted To Unite “The Five Families.”

• Vince went against his father’s wishes and took the WWE national.
• Several big Territories didn’t just say no to working with WWE, they decided to compete.
• WWE would simply buy up syndication time to put the competition out of business.

There are several old-timers who have equated the Territory Days to the mafia. At some point shortly after McMahon purchased WWE, he had a meeting the “heads of the five families (the heads of the other The Territories).” He had essentially told them all his plans to go national, and it behooved them all to work with WWE and share the wealth. Some did (The Briscoes, for example), plenty opted not. They couldn’t see McMahon’s vision and, even worse (for them), they tried to compete with WWE, and we all see how that went for each and every promoter.

4 Tony Khan’s Handling Of CM Punk

Tell Him When He Was Telling Lies

• Thanks to the All Out brawl and injury, Punk was gone from AEW for almost a year.
• Collision was initially designed to be “CM Punk’s Show.”
• After being let go by AEW, Punk very quickly rejoined WWE.

At AEW: The First Dance, the unthinkable happened. CM Punk returned from his self-imposed exile. For his first year in the company, plenty seemed to go right (see the feud with MJF). But the very moment he won the AEW World Title, not only did things go downhill for Punk, but the way owner Tony Khan handled the situation was even more professional than the way Punk spoke during the media scrum. Fast-forward to another year and a backstage skirmish that he was fired over. While in any other job, that was the right move – in wrestling, you generally shouldn’t fire your biggest draw and let him waltz off right back to WWE. Which is exactly what Tony Khan did – plus not building off the heat Jack Perry would certainly have for his part in the ordeal.

3 Herd Fights With Flair

Flair’s Not Spartacus

• Before running WCW, Herd was the Manager Of Pizza Hut.
• Jim Herd was WCW President from 1989-1992.
• Flair wasn’t the only Superstar Herd had problems with, plenty of others have spoken out against him.

Speaking of letting your top guy go and head straight to the competition, submitted for your approval – the saga of a former Pizza restaurant manager who consistently fought with Ric Flair. Flair wasn’t just the tippy top guy for WCW, he was one of the tippy top guys in the entire industry. He was already well on his way to GOAT-Status, if not already there. But for whatever the reason, Herd wanted to update Flair’s already iconic look; which Naitch vetoed vehemently, and walked out of the company with the title no less straight Up North.

2 AEW Mishandles Cody’s Booking

The Biggest Star In WWE Was Mediocre In AEW

• AEW was founded thanks to Cody, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega.
• Cody’s booking in AEW caused the fans to sour on him.
• The American Nightmare left AEW to return to WWE in early 2022.

In case you haven’t noticed, Cody Rhodes is the most super over babyface in the wrestling industry right now. He could have had that in AEW, too. But instead, the company booked him to lose to then AEW champion Chris Jericho with the stipulation that Cody could never challenge for the AEW title ever again.

What are the fans watching him for if he can’t ascend to the mountaintop. Getting placed in cruddy angles with the likes of Anthony Agogo didn’t help him either. As evidenced by his WWE run, the fans love Cody and want to cheer him on. They just weren’t allowed to in AEW.

1 Crockett Tries To Go National

Jimmy Crockett Aims Straight For The Sun

• JCP was founded in 1931 and lasted until 1988.
• The company helped to form the original NWA.
• In 2022, JCP returned for the “Ric Flair’s Last Match” event.

When the WWE went national to expand from sea to shining sea and beyond, there were very few other Territories – if any – that could attempt the same feat. Jim Crockett Promotions was the only one that in theory could have competed. However, Crockett, which had always made its money in the Southeast tried to move too far too fast to gain a foothold over WWE. Those moves ultimately left Crockett’s coffers depleted, and they had no choice but to sell to Turner as the groundwork for WCW.