5 WWE storyline ideas that were rejected

With over 20 writers working behind the scenes at WWE these days, dozens of storylines are suggested to Vince McMahon & Co. every year but end up not being used.

One of the most famous rejected ideas in recent years was revealed by former creative team member Kevin Eck, who wrote in 2017 that Dean Ambrose could have fictionally met AJ Lee in a mental asylum and debuted on the main roster as her boyfriend.

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That idea, of course, didn’t come to fruition, and there have been plenty of other storyline plans throughout the years that were scrapped before making it to television.

In this article, let’s take a look at five ideas that were pitched but ultimately rejected by WWE’s key decision-makers.

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#5 Edge could have been a ‘deaf mute’

Edge's promo ability was questioned early on in his career

Edge is an 11-time WWE world champion, 14-time Tag Team champion and a Hall of Famer, but would any of that have been possible if he didn’t possess the ability to hear or speak?

As crazy as that might sound, the idea of “The Rated-R Superstar” being a ‘deaf mute’ character really was pitched to him before he started to make his name in the business in the late 90s.

As Edge revealed on Talk Is Jericho, former WWE writer Vince Russo came up with the storyline as an alternative suggestion when his initial idea to have the rookie team up with Val Venis – making them a new version of The Midnight Express – was met with disappointment.

"Russo wanted to write me as a deaf mute because he didn't think I could talk. It was his idea, so obviously he didn't think I liked his [tag team] idea and thought ‘I'd screw with this kid’. [The idea would have made me] dead in the water."

#4 Cody Rhodes and Stardust could have been on separate brands

Vince McMahon apparently didn't like the idea

Since leaving WWE in May 2016, Cody Rhodes’ career has gone from strength to strength and he is currently preparing to challenge Nick Aldis for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at the ground-breaking 'All In' event in September.

However, things could have worked out very differently if major plans for a 2016 storyline had gone ahead.

The former Intercontinental champion told 107.7 The Bone in California that there was an idea for him to work on both Raw and SmackDown – performing as Cody on one show and Stardust on the other – and he “absolutely wanted to do it”.

The majority of the creative team were in favour of the storyline, except for one person who Cody didn’t name but said “has the main vote”, presumably referring to Vince McMahon.

#3 Chris Jericho wanted to tattoo CM Punk

CM Punk was happy to get 'CJ' tattooed on his body

Remember Chris Jericho’s rivalry with CM Punk over the WWE Championship in 2012? Much of the background for the storyline surrounded Y2J mocking Punk’s family, specifically his father’s alcoholism.

However, the original plan, as Jericho revealed in an interview with Arda Ocal in 2013, was for him to tattoo his 'CJ' initials on Punk.

The idea was initially approved by Vince McMahon but he changed his mind when somebody told him that blood could be involved.

“If I tattoo my initials on him, it doesn't matter if he's got 1,000, he's always going to see that and remember it. Vince didn't like it, changed it around so then we had to kind of sit down and literally right before the show we were going to do the tattooing, where do we go? We kind of went into the whole Punk's dad had alcoholic issues.”

#2 Wade Barrett wanted him and Neville to have a dog!

Imagine Bad News Barrett and Neville as a duo!

Wade Barrett revealed during an interview with the Gorilla Position podcast in August 2016 that he was constantly pitching storyline ideas during his final two years with the company.

One idea he had was for him to capitalise on the popularity of the Bad News Barrett gimmick by teaming with fan favourite – and fellow Englishman – Neville when the former NXT champion became a member of the main roster.

Barrett was a big fan of The British Bulldogs when he was younger and he wanted to replicate part of their memorable act by having him and Neville walk to the ring with an English Whippet dog.

Sadly, as the five-time Intercontinental champion recalled, "they turned it down and put me in a Toys ‘R’ Us plastic crown and made me lose to R-Truth every night!".

#1 Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno could have aligned with Daniel Bryan

The duo later debuted with Roman Reigns as The Shield

As previously mentioned, former creative team member Kevin Eck published a blog for PressBox in 2017 which included multiple storylines that were pitched during his time with WWE but never made it to television.

One of the most interesting ideas was for ECW legend Tommy Dreamer to return to WWE in summer 2012 in a fictional role as the head of the company’s scouting department.

On the 1000th episode of Raw, Dreamer would have introduced FCW stars Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno to the roster as babyfaces. That night, they would have won a six-man tag against three heels before turning against Dreamer by attacking him in the ring.

The next week, the three newcomers would have cemented their heel status by saying they used the head of scouting as a stepping stone to make their way to WWE, and they would then reveal that the leader of the faction was none other than Daniel Bryan!