Another year is in the books for WWE! This has been a fantastic year for the professional wrestling company on both the main roster and NXT. Given the fact that we’re in an era full of excellent matches, there isn’t a short list of them from this company. 

However, there have also been a couple of disappointing matches. This list narrows down the five most disappointing bouts in the promotion. Whether it was RAW, Smackdown, or even NXT, these five matches had the potential to be great but were extremely disappointing in the end. 

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Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar (Elimination Chamber)

It’s safe to say that the matches between these two beasts weren’t as great as we hoped. This has been a dream match for years, but Lesnar and Lashley just don’t have the chemistry for an excellent hoss fight. 

Still, their match at the Royal Rumble 2022 was good enough to get excited over their rematch. Unfortunately, it never lived up to the expectations of what it could be and the strange DQ ending made things worse. A rubber match at WrestleMania should’ve been the ideal direction because these two deserve a proper send-off, but it appears that that won’t happen anytime soon. 

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Hell in a Cell match: Finn Balor vs. Edge (Wrestlemania)

While the Prison Dom and Mami stuff was getting over massively, there wasn’t much going on character-wise with Finn Balor during this point. He felt and wrestled like the same guy before his heel turn, so his previous match against Edge didn’t feel all too different. It also didn’t help that Edge got his revenge against Judgment Day on multiple occasions.

This rivalry should’ve felt hotter going in because it was billed as the final bout between these two. Sadly, the Judgment Day/Edge saga went on too long for anyone to truly invest in it at this point. The match itself wasn’t bad by no means, but it didn’t stand out as something special and had a “been there done that” feel to it. 

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Tribal Combat for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Summerslam)

The build-up to this match was incredible. While this still doesn’t change the narrative that Cody should’ve won at WrestleMania, that doesn’t mean that WWE hasn’t done a good job with the Bloodline following the huge event. To see Jey beat Roman at Money in the Bank was huge, but realistically speaking, nobody brought into the idea that he would be the man to beat him at Summerslam.

So the match ultimately dragged on because there was never a moment where fans felt that Jey was going to win. It didn’t help that this match was slow; that’s typically the norm for Roman matches these days, but the crowd investment usually makes up for it. Even though there was a strong chance that Sami Zayn wasn’t winning, people genuinely felt that he could pull off an Eddie Guerrero from No Way Out 2004. 

But the tribal combat wasn’t compelling enough to warrant investment and it didn’t help that the finish was cheap and lazy. The rules specifically state that no one else could interfere. Yet, Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso did without consequence. Worst of all, Jimmy Uso's turn didn’t make any sense. He stopped his brother from winning the belt because he didn’t want Jey to turn into Roman Reigns; fast forward to a couple of months later, and Jey is desperately trying to get back into the good graces of Roman Reigns. Bad booking killed the momentum of the Bloodline and it still hasn’t fully recovered. 

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Women’s World Championship match: Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriquez (Payback)

Rhea has yet to have the same caliber of match that she had with Charlotte at WrestleMania. The reason this bout was so disappointing was because these two had incredible bouts during their time in NXT. Check out their Last Woman Standing match if you don’t believe me. Their main roster bout just wasn’t on the same level. 

A big part of that is due to the fact that Raquel is not over as a babyface. Her defining trait is her big back. Creative has never given fans a reason to care about Raquel Rodriquez. The build itself was fine, but it never deepened the layers of the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion. The chemistry just wasn’t there here, and the lack of crowd heat made the bout three times worse. 

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WWE Universal Undisputed Championship: LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns (Crown jewel)

This past year, there was always something extra when it came to Roman’s matches. Whether it was Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cody Rhodes, or Jey Uso, it wasn’t just about the championship. It was also the complex nature surrounding the character’s dynamic with Roman Reigns. The build to the match was solid, with Knight holding up his end when it came to the mic. 

But this suffered the same issues as the Jey Uso match; no one brought the idea that Knight was winning here. Add in the tired formula of Reigns needing Solo or Jimmy to win his matches then this bout was average at best. WWE NEEDS to stop having Reigns win in a chickens**t heel fashion. It is bad that the baby faces don’t try something to keep his Bloodline group in check, but this repeated formula has taken away the specialty in seeing Roman’s matches.