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WWE's Superstars compete in the squared circle almost every single day. Whether it's on Raw, SmackDown, NXT, 205 Live or in live events, they have to perform for the audience. Many Superstars travel on the road for over 300+ days a year, which is really tiring.
In such a tiring schedule, some wrestlers make mistakes and injure themselves. Sometimes, they recover in no time and in other cases, they go on hiatus for many months. However, injuries aren't the only serious problem to WWE Superstars as illness too are as critical as an injury. Unless a WWE Superstars recover completely, they can't perform in the ring. Since they happen without any prior indication, it forces WWE to alter their plans. The following are 5 WWE matches that didn't happen due to a Superstar's illness.
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#5 Mandy Rose vs. Naomi (SmackDown Live)
Last year, in December, former SmackDown General Manager Paige confirmed Mandy Rose vs. Naomi to take place during SmackDown Live. Both females were feuding, and WWE used Jimmy Uso as a reason for it. Mandy flirted with Jimmy on multiple occasions, which caused his wife Naomi to begin a rivalry with her. However, the match didn’t happen on the show despite being advertised for it.
In an exclusive interview, Paige said that The Miz made a match of his own without informing her, which is why the females didn’t get the opportunity to slug it out on SmackDown Live. She also said to wait until next week to see what is going to happen.
However, this wasn’t the real reason why Mandy didn’t take on Naomi. As per WrestlingNews.co, an illness caused WWE to cancel this match and book another instead.
#4 Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE Crown Jewel for the Universal Championship)
After winning the WWE Universal Championship, Roman Reigns quickly found a new rival in Braun Strowman. Strowman tried to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on multiple occasions, but he got interrupted every time.
He made a deal with Roman Reigns to cash in his briefcase at Hell in a Cell PPV, to which Reigns agreed. At the event, there were interferences during the match, but it didn’t stop Reigns and Strowman from fighting until Lesnar made an unexpected appearance.
The Beast destroyed both Superstars, which resulted in the match ending in a no contest. WWE then confirmed that Lesnar would fight for the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel against Strowman and Reigns. Few weeks before the match, Reigns announced his battle with leukemia and relinquished the title. It changed the match card, and the triple threat bout became a one-on-one match between Strowman and Lesnar.
#3 Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin (Monday Night Raw)
Apart from Mandy Rose, many other Superstars too got sick last December. That includes names such as Finn Balor and Alexa Bliss. When WWE pulled Balor from their South American tour, rumors suggested that he is injured. And WWE almost confirmed this rumor when he was removed from the Mixed Match Challenge tournament.
The former Universal Champion was also scheduled to face Baron Corbin on Raw, but he didn’t make it to the show, which caused Rollins to fight Corbin instead. Nobody was able to confirm what is going on with Balor until PWInsider reported that he is ill rather than being injured.
However, he recovered from his mystery illness in just a few days and competed at TLC against Drew McIntyre. Apart from Balor, rumors also indicated that other WWE Superstars are also suffering from an unspecified illness.
#2 Bray Wyatt vs Finn Balor (TLC 2017)
In 2017, Bray Wyatt was set to face Finn Balor on WWE’s final outing of the year, TLC. However, before the show, WWE pulled Roman Reigns and Wyatt from the show. As per rumors, both Superstars didn’t suffer any injury but were rather ill.
Roman Reigns’ illness caused him to miss being the part of The Shield’s reunion match, which caused Kurt Angle to make his return. On the other hand, Wyatt didn’t face his rival Balor, who then put out a great match with AJ Styles.
As per Dave Meltzer, Roman Reigns and Wyatt were suffering from viral meningitis. At that time, Bo Dallas was also suffering from the same disease, and it is believed that through him, it spread to other Superstars (including Wyatt). This infection caused both of them to miss multiple episodes of Monday Night Raw, live events and TLC too.
#1 Lars Sullivan vs. John Cena (WrestleMania 35)
After Elimination Chamber, multiple NXT Superstars made their main roster debut. It included names such as EC3, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black, Ricochet and Lacey Evans. However, one Superstar’s debut didn’t happen despite being advertised for a long time, and that Superstar was Lars Sullivan.
Lars was supposed to debut on Raw and take out John Cena, which would have booked a match between the two for WrestleMania 35. However, it didn’t happen, and Lars made his main roster debut after ‘Mania. As per rumors, Sullivan was suffering from anxiety attacks, which caused his debut to be delayed.
Not only his mental illness caused him to arrive late on Raw, but also it coerced WWE to cancel his match against John Cena at WrestleMania 35. Now that Sullivan has arrived on Raw; it will be interesting to see how WWE will book Sullivan from now on.
