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“What if” is probably the most recurring phrase in the professional wrestling. The way in which the entire landscape can change with one event is the beauty of being a wrestling fan and there have been a lot of such situations throughout the time line.
The problem with this sensitivity is: anything can happen. Things with high potential might end up getting blown up to pieces irrespective of whether it is a career or a storyline. The latter category is the highlight of the list here as you would have guessed already so here is a look at some of those storylines that should have been epic but ended up being a mess.
Lesnar’s return
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The beast incarnated took a long break from the WWE back in 2004. Lesnar was a big star when he left the company and he came back as an even bigger one in 2012. Lesnar’s returning storyline had a lot of potential in it and when WWE paired him up with John Cena, it looked like Lesnar was going to be the new face of WWE.
However, WWE somehow figured out that it was better for Cena to win a match against Lesnar rather than letting the Beast go over as a monster heel. It certainly took a big toll on his credibility and if it wasn’t for the Streak, Lesnar would have still been struggling as an aftereffect.
Vince McMahon’s death
This story did not actually go downhill; it was cancelled due to the eventual death of Chris Benoit. Although a kayfabe death sounded a bit ridiculous, it would have been interesting to see how WWE unfolded this mystery.
There were some endless possibilities to this and from the looks of it, WWE was going to treat things as though it was a real death scenario. Sadly for them, whatever Vince had in his wicked mind never came out into the television and it was never picked up again as well. With the PG era in place now, the chances of WWE using it again are pretty low as well.
The Anonymous Raw General Manager
The light at the end of the tunnel is what makes us go through it. This was the situation of WWE fans when they were going through the Anonymous Raw General Manager Storyline. The laptop that made weird sounds and used Michael Cole as a spokesperson was simply too much for the fans to bear but they expected a big reveal at the end of all these.
WWE could have easily had a big name as the General Manager after such an angle but instead, they went with Hornswoggle. It was really a pathetic climax to all the pain that the WWE fans sat through and we really deserved something better from the creative.
Battle of the beasts
Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg, this match was good enough to draw a big crowd back in 2004 and WWE did a great job of building up the rivalry. It all started when these two crossed paths in a backstage interview. Lesnar then cost Goldberg his Royal Rumble match which then force Goldberg to cost Lesnar’s WWE title at No Way Out.
The to and fro action set up a match between the two perfectly at WrestleMania XX and if it was not enough, WWE added Steve Austin into the middle as a special guest referee. It could have been one of the greatest storylines of the era if that match went as planned but instead, it ended up being a disgrace to WrestleMania history.
Jericho’s pursuit of Goldberg
Another one involving Goldberg and for the sake of facts, this one is not exactly from WWE but is instead from WCW. Chris Jericho was rooted to the mid card during his stay in WCW while Goldberg was the hottest thing out there and was the reigning WCW champion.
Jericho to his credit saw a lot of potential in a feud between him and Goldberg and started verbally attacking the Champion.
The fans were head over heels to see the heel Jericho get beaten up by Goldberg in a pay-per-view match but instead, WCW and Goldberg felt that Jericho was not good enough to draw in such a match. it was a real shame that the feud got called off as it would have been a great match for Goldberg’s streak.
Sting’s debut and after affects
Sting’s debut is something that WWE fans wanted for more than a decade. His appearance at the 2014 Edition of Survivor Series was really a mark out moment for the fans but WWE really blew the entire angle up. The part where he came in and helped Team Cena to get a win over the Authority was some excellent booking.
According to the stipulation, The Authority was supposed to be out of business forever but all it took was some blackmailing from Seth Rollins to bring them back. Triple H and Stephanie coming back so soon after Survivor Series really hurt the whole angle although later WWE managed to make up for it.
Triple H up against CM Punk
Triple H and CM Punk had all the potential to replicate the magic that Steve Austin and Vince McMahon had back in the Attitude Era. Triple H was having a face run during that time and the face off against Punk would have easily catapulted his momentum into an entirely different level.
WWE however redirected the storyline into a twist direction afterwards thanks to the interference of Kevin Nash. All the entertaining promos that Triple H and Punk were having went in vain with the inclusion of Nash and Punk also was redirected into another feud. WWE did try to revisit the angle prior to WrestleMania XXX but Punk felt that it was better for him to walk out than feud with Hunter again.
Cesaro as a Paul Heyman Guy
The night after WrestleMania XXX saw some major changes in the WWE and Cesaro becoming a Paul Heyman guy was one of them. At the pay-per-view, he went on to win the inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and he had a lot of momentum on his side.
The only thing that was keeping Cesaro from becoming a main event player was his microphone skills and Heyman was supposed to solve this problem. Heyman did do a great job of endorsing his new guy but all of this came crashing down when they brought back Lesnar at Summerslam. Instead of letting Cesaro hang around with Heyman, they dropped the storyline with no proper explanation whatsoever.
The Nexus
The inclusion of this angle into the list is really a no brainer. Seven unknown guys coming in and taking over the WWE was simply poetic and it should have gifted WWE with seven future main eventers. The initial stages of the storyline went as planned but as it went into the ‘John Cena’ waters, things started getting a bit out of order.
The momentum died when Team WWE managed to defeat Team Nexus at SummerSlam and although the faction was still there, the potency they had in the initial run was not there to be seen. There were a lot of possibilities even after this loss but WWE did not care enough to try them out.
The Invasion
The Invasion angle had everything to be ‘the’ best storyline in the wrestling history. WCW was taken out of business by WWE back during that time and with all the new talent coming in, WWE decided to run an invasion angle.
The idea was to make money out of the WCW vs. WWE war which was still a hot storyline and though the storyline had a lot of promise on paper, in execution, it failed to live up to the hype.
WWE failed to get major WCW stars like Sting and Goldberg into the mix and at the end of the day, it ended up like a job fest for the WCW wrestlers. Vince McMahon seemed like he was enjoying the embarrassment of WCW once again and the invasion angle turned out to be an ego booster for the WWE Chairman.
