Best Of 2019: Worst Wrestler Of The Year
IMG Credit: WWE
This one is usually pretty fun and will likely include some familiar faces. There are a lot of names that come up who drive fans crazy and really, I can’t say I blame them. Some of these people just leave you in awe of how horrendous they can be, either just in the ring or when it comes to putting you to sleep from boredom. This is going to be a combination of that as being uninteresting is a heck of a lot worse than not being able to do a bunch of moves.
Michael Nakazawa
Why does this guy exist? Other than being Omega’s friend, what is the point in having this guy on the roster? He wrestled a handful of times and either got destroyed most of the time, had a nightmarishly bad match at Fyter Fest and then was the damsel in distress over and over again for the sake of Pac tormenting Omega. That’s someone they need to keep around?
My bigger issue here though is how worthless he was in the ring. The baby oil deal got annoying in a hurry and it didn’t help when Nakazawa seemed to be there for little more than comedy/because Omega wants him there. He didn’t do anything important all year and was a glorified prop. When you add in that Fyter Fest match, he deserves at least a mention.
Dolph Ziggler
You’ll see Ziggler’s name come up on lists like this a lot of the time and while I get it, I can’t say he’s the absolute worst. Ziggler can still wrestle a very good match, but he has a lot more going against him than his in-ring work. My issue with Ziggler is that you know exactly what you’re going to get. I can’t remember the last time he changed things up a bit and it feels like everything you see from him is the same thing that you’ve seen from him for years.
The bigger problem though is Ziggler being someone you get thrown in because he has to be there more than anyone that someone might actually want to see. I don’t need to see Ziggler most of the time but he’s ALWAYS there. Maybe it’s more frustration than anything else but whenever Ziggler comes running out, it’s “here we go again” because Ziggler gets thrown into various feuds and stories when it could be a bunch of others getting a shot. Ziggler is certainly good in the ring. The problem is there’s a lot more to it than that.
Dana Brooke
This is a situation where it’s not on the wrestler, at least for the most part. I’m not going to make any suggestion that Brooke is some great in-ring performer or character or anything like that. She isn’t very good in the ring and clearly needs A LOT more training to get to the point where she’s on Raw every week. That being said, I can give her a lot of sympathy for being put in a bad situation.
The problem for Brooke is that she was not ready for this level when she was called up and WWE left her hanging out there to dry. She belongs down in NXT where she can learn a lot more, but instead she’s stuck out there on Raw, losing to everyone in sight and slowly getting better (which she is doing). What matters is she is trying, but it’s a long road to get where she needs to be and she wasn’t given a proper chance.
Baron Corbin
I have said it before and I’ll say it again: Corbin is not that bad. When you put him in the midcard and don’t put him any higher than that, Corbin is perfectly serviceable. The problem is WWE doesn’t know how to hold themselves back with him and he gets one main event run after another, no matter how tired people are of seeing him. They push him to the moon and he winds up all over the show, which kills it every single time.
The King gimmick has helped him out a lot and he was fine beating people up in the midcard. Then it all fell apart because we got to the dog food feud. I can’t stand Corbin most of the time but it’s another case where he doesn’t belong in the spot he’s in. There is a place for Corbin, but WWE doesn’t know what it is and keep pushing him WAY higher than he belongs.
It’s time for an old favorite.
Shane McMahon
Yeah I can’t stand him either. Much like Corbin, it was a case of putting someone in a place where he didn’t belong, but the problem here is Shane has no business being in a ring most of the time. Between the embarrassing punches and some of the reddest faces I’ve ever seen on a wrestler, I don’t want to imagine what would happen if he kept going.
The bigger problem with Shane is how much he won. There was a stretch where he did not lose a match for months, all while beating several former World Champions. We reached the point where he should have been the #1 contender to the World Title and it just never stopped. Kevin Owens FINALLY got rid of him but it took far too long to get there. Shane was all over the shows far too often and it was a disaster far more often than not, putting him on the top of this list.
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At best if you put in video game terms Corbin is not the final boss to beat to complete the game He’s the final bosses top henchman.