The places where I've seen the worst middle managers are:

* VP hires a middle manager who's a bad fit, but VP doesn't want to admit it

* A manager is promoted into a higher role primarily as a retention mechanism, rather than because a true business need exists

* A manager is promoted into a higher role in an organization that rewards following processes over getting results

* A middle-management layer used to be necessary, and has grown less necessary, but the org is reluctant to do away with it

* There is a perceived need for the middle manager to prove themselves fast and hard both upward and downward, and there's an inherent conflict in how to do that

None of these necessarily reflect the skills of the middle manager; rather, they represent organizational problems.