4 Recent WWE Storylines You Didn't Know Were Punishments

As most of you are bound to know, the WWE heavily relies on creating intriguing storylines to keep fans invested with the product, and while most storylines are simply put in motion to keep the "soap opera" of sports entertainment moving (with their talents best interests at heart), the WWE can truly be petty or unfair at times when it comes to storylines...

Not all of the WWE's on-screen ideas, rivalries, matches, booking, characters etc. are put into motion with the wrestlers best interests at heart, and sometimes, storylines played out on-screen are actually meant to be subtle punishments for Superstars who have done wrong in one way or another. The reasoning behind the punishment can vary from wrestlers pissing off key executives backstage, getting on the wrong side of other WWE Superstars backstage, acting carelessly out of the ring, or simply putting on underwhelming performances in the squared circle (among other reasons).

While many fans fault the WWE for some storylines being downright terrible or detrimental to the wrestlers involved (often referred to as "burying" the Superstars), fairly often, there is a reason behind this being the case most fans have no idea about. Today, we will take a look at 4 recent WWE storylines you didn't know were actually supposed to be punishments...

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#4 Big Cass Losing Repeatedly To Daniel Bryan...

Before his release from WWE, Big Cass went on a surprising losing streak to SmackDown's Daniel Bryan...

While Big Cass is long gone from WWE and doesn't look to be returning anytime particularly soon, once upon a time, the seven foot tall giant had an extremely bright future -- Vince McMahon was reportedly very high on Cass being a top tier Superstar in WWE. When Big Cass had returned from his lengthy knee injury months back, the future remained bright for Cass once he joined the SmackDown Live roster. Upon his debut on SD, Cass was thrust into a high-profile feud with Daniel Bryan, and though it seemed inevitable that Big Cass would be going over Daniel in the end, that certainly wasn't the case by any stretch.

In reality, Big Cass would go onto lose the feud with Bryan badly, as he suffered consecutive losses against Daniel Bryan in convincing fashion at the Money In The Bank and Backlash pay-per-views this year.

While we don't know the full story, it can be assured that Cass' repeated losses (which made Cass look very weak and unimportant) were meant as punishment for his poor behavior behind the scenes, as Big Cass had garnered severe heat with not only other wrestlers backstage, but important officials as well -- Cass was released within short order following his on-screen punishment...

#3 Baron Corbin Fails To Cash-In His MITB Briefcase Successfully...

Baron Corbin certainly looked like Vince McMahon's prototypical main eventer in WWE, however, things definitely have not played out for Corbin like most fans had originally anticipated. While Corbin is still somewhat in an important role on Monday Night Raw as the acting GM and "constable" Corbin, Baron's future was undoubtedly looking much brighter last year during his short run as the Money In The Bank briefcase holder. Although some fans were unimpressed with the WWE's decision of giving the MITB briefcase to Baron Corbin in 2017, most fans knew full well Vince had every intention of making Corbin a legitimate main event Superstar.

However, looking back now, plans changed rather drastically... Surprisingly, Baron Corbin would go onto lose his MITB briefcase following a failed cash-in attempt on Jinder Mahal (with Cena's help of course), and Baron has never fully recovered from what many fans coined a "burial" of sorts. It has been speculated that Baron's cash-in fail was intended to be on-screen punishment for Corbin, as Baron was reportedly in serious hot water backstage for his controversial behavior and negative altercations with WWE officials behind the scenes, and other wrestling figures on Twitter.

#2 Rusev And Lana Splitting Up On-Screen...

Vince certainly has not always been high on "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev...

Many fans are still scratching their heads to this very day as to why the WWE have never fully committed to pushing "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev, but to put things in perspective, Vince McMahon was never known to be high on Rusev at any point in his career. Apparently, Vince didn't feel as though Rusev was "worthy" of being with Lana, and McMahon decided to punish Rusev on-screen by breaking up the real-life couple -- this was during Rusev and Lana's infamous feud which also involved Summer Rae and Dolph Ziggler.

For those unaware of the situation, Vince was also reportedly furious with Rusev for making his engagement with Lana known to the public (via TMZ), as it conflicted with their on-screen rivalry -- McMahon was already unhappy about Rusev dating Lana to begin with... Following their split on-screen, Rusev was certainly never the same, and Rusev spent a couple years struggling as a glorified enhancement talent.

Rusev also apparently garnered heat backstage when he cut his hair last year without permission or letting WWE officials know prior. While Rusev has gained some momentum with his "Rusev Day" shtick as of late, it's clear the WWE are still not going to be utilizing Rusev to his fullest potential on SmackDown Live...

#1 Jinder Mahal's Using Old "Shanti" Gimmick Again...

When "The Modern Day Maharaja" won that six-pack challenge last year securing an opportunity at Randy Orton's WWE World Championship at Backlash last year, most fans were left speechless seeing this push came truly out of nowhere. However, fans would be shocked even more when Jinder would go onto capture the WWE Title from Randy, and Mahal ended up having a lengthy title reign where he feuded with the likes of Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, and AJ Styles.

While the general consensus was that Jinder Mahal wasn't remotely ready for his WWE Championship run, many will also go on record to state that Mahal was developing himself into a solid hand on SmackDown Live.

When he lost the title to Styles last November, many fans felt Jinder had solidified himself as an upper midcard and low-level main eventer. Following his surprise draft over to Raw during this year's "Superstar Shakeup", most of us had anticipated WWE to continue on with Jinder's push.

At first, this was the case with Jinder's feud with Roman Reigns, but reportedly, the WWE put the blame on Jinder for his feud with Roman being lackluster and for Mahal not coming across as a "star" to fans, and as such, Mahal has been punished lately with his midcard "Shanti" gimmick which he originally used in 2016 as an enhancement talent -- pretty unfair right?

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Edited by Rohit Nath