5 times fans forced WWE to change major plans

One of the most important factors in professional wrestling is writing. Wrestling companies hire writers to churn out storylines for their weekly programming, which result in wrestlers acting out the script on TV and coupling the same with pre-planned wrestling matches inside the squared circle.

WWE has produced a bunch of memorable storylines over the course of the past several decades. There have been many of those that fans didn't approve of, but the company went ahead with them despite criticism.

On the other hand, there have been occasions when fan reactions forced the company to change major storyline plans and give them what they wanted. In the following list, we'll take a look at 5 instances where WWE modified or completely changed huge plans after fan backlash or criticism.

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#5 Baron Corbin is removed from the Raw GM position

Baron Corbin as Raw GM

By the end of 2018, Baron Corbin's reign as Raw GM had flopped horribly, and the fan outrage on social media didn't go unnoticed by WWE. More importantly, the ratings for WWE's premier show were declining at a rapid pace. These two factors forced the company to change their plans with respect to Corbin, and strip him off the position of Raw GM.

An episode of Raw saw the entire McMahon family come out and accept that they haven't been doing a good job lately, and that starting that moment, things would change for good. Soon after, McMahons took control of both the shows and Corbin's reign as Raw GM came to an end.

Corbin's character as a heel authority figure, who held back a bunch of babyfaces on a regular basis, didn't work one bit and the fan response all over social media and during the weekly shows played a major part in WWE dropping the entire angle.

#4 Dean Ambrose's tasteless shots at Roman Reigns

Ambrose and Reigns

After Roman Reigns left WWE to fight leukemia last year, WWE turned Dean Ambrose heel and a feud kicked off between former Shield members Ambrose and Seth Rollins. The Architect was the babyface this time, contrary to their feud from 2014, when he had betrayed The Shield.

One promo on an episode of Raw saw Ambrose lashing out at Reigns, and stating that "he'd have to answer to his maker for all of his past misdeeds as a member of the Shield."

The promo didn't sit well with the WWE Universe and resulted in massive fan outrage. This forced WWE to tweak Ambrose' character in a hurry, which led to him getting immunized in a doctor's office, and coming out to the ring wearing gas masks. The character only turned worse from that point.

#3 Becky Lynch inserted into WrestleMania main event

Lynch and Rousey

The original plan for the first-ever Women's main event in WrestleMania history was for Charlotte Flair to meet Ronda Rousey in a one-on-one encounter. The seeds were planted immediately, when Rousey made her thunderous WWE debut at last year's WrestleMania.

The event also saw Flair ending Asuka's undefeated streak. At SummerSlam, Becky Lynch turned heel and received a loud pop. She soon turned into a ruthless anti-hero that further increased her popularity among the fans.

By the time Survivor Series came along, Lynch got injured due to an unsafe punch by Nia Jax on Raw. By this point, Lynch was possibly the most over Superstar in WWE. The original WrestleMania plans were immediately changed and Lynch was inserted into the mix. The massive fan reception she got on Twitter and WWE's weekly shows did the trick and Lynch went on to win the first-ever Women's main event in WrestleMania history.

#2 Kofi Kingston gets a WWE Title opportunity

Kofi wins WWE Title

On an episode of SmackDown Live, days before the Elimination Chamber PPV, Kofi Kingston delivered a heroic performance in a Gauntlet match, which suddenly turned him into a hot act.

Kingston repeated the same performance inside the chamber, but failed to win the WWE Title. This resulted in the WWE Universe coming up with a fan movement named KofiMania. The movement saw WWE fans getting behind Kofi like they had never before.

The original plans for WrestleMania 35 didn't include Kofi Kingston by a long shot. Instead, a returning Kevin Owens was set to wrestle Daniel Bryan at The Show of Shows. The plans changed in a matter of weeks and Kofi was put into a storyline where Vince McMahon did everything in his power to put him out of the title picture. Kofi didn't budge one bit, and went on to win the WWE Title for the first time in his career.

#1 Daniel Bryan bags a chance at glory

Bryan wins the main event of WrestleMania 30

Back in early 2014, fans had gotten behind Daniel Bryan, despite WWE doing everything to keep him out of the main event picture. The Royal Rumble PPV saw Bryan not being included in the free-for-all.

As soon as Rey Mysterio came in at #30, the arena exploded into boos and the entire remaining match was heavily slammed by the live crowd. It came to a point where WWE had to pull the plug on original plans for The Show of Shows, and insert Brayn into the mix.

CM Punk's exit played a major part in this too, as he was scheduled to defeat Triple H at WrestleMania 30. Bryan replaced Punk and defeated Triple H in the opening match, followed by submitting Batista in the main event of the night to win the WWE World Heavyweight Title.