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WWE's creative team often creates storylines that run for months in advance and when talent is contracted to the company, there is no reason to think that they would be unable to play their part.
That being said, WWE presents their product live under normal circumstances and so has to account for injuries or suspensions as well as any other issues stars may have with playing that role.
In recent years, the company has been handed a number of blows when it comes to talent not being able to be part of storylines that were written for them. The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused more issues for WWE than ever before, so many of the company's top stars have been replaced in the storylines instead.
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Here are just 10 different occasions where the company has been forced to rewrite a storyline with a different Superstar.
#10 Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura replace The Forgotten Sons in WWE Tag Title Feud
This is the most recent occasion on the list and if reports are to be believed, The Forgotten Sons have been taken out of the title picture with The New Day because of Jaxson Ryker's recent politically-charged comments.
The former NXT star faced backlash from many WWE stars for his tweet and his teammates even distanced themselves from his views, but they have still been dropped from the story. Last night on SmackDown it was made clear that they had been replaced by Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.
#9 Finn Balor replaces Jason Jordan
Jason Jordan was drafted in to replace Dean Ambrose when the former Shield member was forced onto the sidelines at the end of 2017, but he was then handed his own bad luck later in the year when he neck injury forced him out indefinitely.
Jordan was in a storyline with Seth Rollins at the time and had to be replaced by Finn Balor in Tag Team matches at WWE house shows. Balor and Rollins worked well together and there were reports that he was the man that the company originally wanted to team with Rollins following Ambrose's bicep injury.
#8 Elias replaces Samoa Joe in WWE Mixed Match Challenge
Samoa Joe is a former NXT Champion who had a wealth of experience before he came to WWE, but his time on the main roster has been plagued by injuries. This run on both Raw and SmackDown has seen WWE scrap a number of original storyline ideas as well as replace him in intended feuds.
One of the best-known switches came back in January 2018, the Mixed Match Challenge was hit by so many injuries throughout that many teams were completely different by the end. One of these teams was Samoa Joe and Bayley since Elias had to step in when it was reported that The Samoan Submission Machine suffered an injured foot.
#7 Mickie James replaces Trish Stratus
Mickie James left WWE back in 2010 but returned just six years later when WWE called the former Women's Champion back to the company to compete on the NXT brand. James went one-on-one with Women's Champion Asuka at NXT Takeover: Toronto, but as you can imagine, she wasn't the company's first choice for an opponent.
In Toronto, there is only one woman that WWE would have been looking to bring back, but at the time Trish Stratus was pregnant with her second child, a daughter whom she later called Madison. This allowed James to make her way back to the company and the Virginia native later returned to the company on a full-time basis at the beginning of 2017.
#6 Nikki Cross replaces Alexa Bliss at WWE Money in the Bank 2019
Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss have been quite the formidable tag team over the past year, and are even former WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, but it's interesting to look back and see where their alliance began.
Nikki replaced Bliss in the Money in the Bank contract ladder match back in 2019, even though she didn't win. A replacement that occurred because the company didn't want to put Bliss into that kind of match given her history with injuries. The two women have since been able to make quite a compelling storyline out of the switch.
#5 Austin Theory replaces Andrade
Andrade was suspended from WWE earlier this year when he violated the company's wellness policy for the first time. Rather than keep Zelina Vega off WWE TV, the company allowed her to bring in a new client, Angel Garza. The storyline surrounding the two men has continued even though Andrade has come back, but the United States Champion was later replaced by NXT's Austin Theory in his match at WrestleMania since he was unable to compete through injury.
Theory was then promoted to Monday Night Raw and is currently part of Seth Rollins' faction whilst Garza and Andrade have remained under the guidance of Vega.
#4 Shane McMahon replaces Elias
The WWE 2019 King of the Ring tournament was definitely one that was filled with controversy, none more so than when Elias went down with an injury and forced the company to cancel the match between The Drifter and Shorty G in the semi-final.
According to reports, the original plan was for there to be a battle royal to determine Elias' replacement, but Vince McMahon stepped in and decided to add Shane McMahon directly. Of course, McMahon went on to lose the match to Shorty G, who later lost his final match to Baron Corbin, who is now known as King Corbin.
#3 Kofi Kingston replaces Mustafa Ali at WWE Elimination Chamber
It was the beginning of his journey to become WWE Champion, but Kofi Kingston wouldn't have made it to WrestleMania if it wasn't for the fact that he replaced Mustafa Ali at Elimination Chamber at the beginning of 2019.
Ali suffered a concussion ahead of the show and WWE decided to give Kingston the nod to step into the match after his incredible display in the gauntlet match on SmackDown ahead of the show.
Kingston went on to ride the wave all the way to WrestleMania where he was able to lift his first-ever WWE Championship.
#2 Braun Strowman replaces Roman Reigns in WWE Universal Title Match
Perhaps one of the best-known replacements on this list, since Roman Reigns opted to pull out of WrestleMania 36 and cleared the path for Braun Strowman. The Monster Among Men wasn't supposed to win the Universal Championship but WWE had no choice but to hand it to him and allow him to become the face of SmackDown.
Strowman has since been able to step into a number of interesting feuds most recently with Bray Wyatt. Reigns made the decision based on his own health given the COVID-19 pandemic and at present, it is unknown when he will return to WWE.
#1 Jason Jordan replaces Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose suffered a torn tricep at the end of 2017, even though he was able to win the RAW Tag Team Championships with Seth Rollins on Christmas Day. This meant that Rollins needed a tag team partner and interestingly, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle offered up his son Jason Jordan.
As already noted earlier in the list, Jordan has then injured himself later in the year and replaced by Finn Balor. The Demon was the man who had originally been pitched to align himself with Rollins on WWE TV, but the company thought that Jordan would be a better idea.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
