WWE has been the leader of the pro-wrestling industry for more than three decades now. There are various factors behind this astonishing success. But if one must pick the most crucial reason behind this success, it has to be the stories has WWE told.
WWE has created some of the most exciting stories in pro-wrestling. Examples include the Austin-McMahon Feud, The Summer of Punk, and the ongoing Head Of The Table storyline.
WWE is basically like a soap opera, but unlike TV Shows, which record their episodes in advance, WWE is streamed live. Therefore, allowing WWE to change the course of a storyline in the event of an injury or poor public reception.
As a result, several storylines in WWE have been dropped completely without warning. In this list, we will take a look at five such storylines.
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#5 Why Nexus buried WWE legend The Undertaker?
The Undertaker and Kane had their final feud for the World Heavyweight Championship in 2010. To end this feud, a Buried Alive match was set up at the Bragging Rights PPV. The match itself was fine but it was the ending that got everyone talking.
The shocking end to the match featured Nexus coming out of nowhere to help Kane bury The Undertaker. What made this move even more surprising was that Nexus was on RAW back then, and the Brothers of Destruction were on SmackDown.
Barrett informed the WWE Universe on the following episode of Raw that their attack on The Undertaker was part of a larger scheme. Everyone began to speculate that Barrett might be Undertaker’s opponent for WrestleMania.
But that never happened. Instead, Barrett was thrown out of Nexus by CM Punk, and there was no follow-up on that attack. Ultimately Barrett's 'larger scheme' amounted to nothing and we never found out why Nexus attacked The Deadman.
#4 WWE never revealed the identity of the person behind GTV
GTV was introduced in early-1999 and was one of WWE’s biggest storylines during the Attitude Era. For a period of time, a series of black and white hidden camera videos began airing on TV, capturing Superstars in compromising scenarios.
These segments continued for several months, and they played an interesting role in several storylines. GTV videos revealed many humiliating videos including Eddie Guerrero cheating on Chyna and Val Venis stuffing his trunks with a sock.
As GTV played an essential role in several storylines, everyone wanted to know the identity of the person behind GTV. But WWE surprisingly never revealed it; they just ended GTV segments one day with no explanation.
#3 Who was the father of Maria Kanellis's baby?
Last year, as part of WWE's budget cuts, Mike and Maria Kanellis were released from WWE. But before their release, they were involved in a major storyline revolving around Maria Kanellis's pregnancy.
In September of 2019, Maria Kanellis shocked the WWE Universe when she hinted that her husband, Mike, wasn't the father of her child. WWE teased different Superstars like Ricochet and Rusev (aka Miro) as the father. But they never confirmed who the father was and, after some time, dropped the angle completely.
After her release, a fan asked Maria about this storyline. He asked her who was meant to be the father to which Maria responded that it was supposed to be Mike.
Admittedly this means we do have a resolution to this storyline, albeit one that we'll never see play on WWE television or even acknowledged by WWE.
#2 Who "killed" WWE Chairman Vince McMahon?
The shocking end to the June 11th, 2007 episode of WWE Raw featured Vince McMahon slowly walking past wrestlers before entering his limousine. Just after Mr. McMahon closed the car's door, the car exploded, and it seemed like Vince McMahon died in the explosion.
This storyline received global attention. It even resulted in WWE's stock prices dropping a bit due to investors truly believing that Mr. McMahon had passed away. This storyline got a lot of people talking but unfortunately could not be followed up.
What prevented the story from running its course was the unfortunate death of Chris Benoit and his family. After this incident, WWE decided that running a storyline involving Mr. McMahon's fake death would be in incredibly poor taste. So, the storyline was dropped immediately.
#1 Who attacked Hideo Itami?
Hideo Itami was supposed to compete in a triple threat match with Finn Balor and Tyler Breeze. The match was set up at NXT Takeover: Unstoppable to determine the No.1 contender for the NXT Championship. But, unfortunately, Itami suffered a shoulder injury at that time and couldn't participate in the match.
To write him off TV, WWE ran a segment in which Itami was shown lying down in the parking lot after a brutal attack. The identity of the attacker was not revealed at the time. So, it was assumed that Itami would confront his attacker after he returns.
But surprisingly, that never happened. Instead, Itami just returned and acted as if he had forgotten all about the situation, and the attacker's identity was never revealed.