5 WWE storylines that were written for someone else (and why the plans were changed)

WWE often changes their plans at the last minute. No one knows exactly what’s going to happen next (not even Vince McMahon) because this is wrestling and several things could change at the last minute.

Also read: 5 WWE Superstars who made apologies to fellow wrestlers (and the reasons why)

For instance, a wrestler might get injured before his big match and as a result, the wrestling promotion will have to change their plans and replace that Superstar with someone else. In other cases, this could also happen due to some backstage incidents.

Whatever the case may be, a change always hurts the fans in some way, but it could also benefit a wrestler (more on that later). Here are 5 WWE storylines that were meant for someone else.

#5 Seth Rollins turning heel in 2014

Seth Rollins betrayed The Shield in 2014

When Seth Rollins turned heel in 2014, the fans were left in shock. We never thought that The Shield would disband so soon, although WWE did tease it, still, it was one of the most shocking decisions taken by them.

Since this heel turn, Rollins has managed to become WWE Champion, US Champion, Intercontinental Champion and currently, he is the RAW Tag Team and Universal Champion. However, The Architect revealed in an interview that he wasn’t supposed to break up The Shield. In fact, the stable was originally supposed to split a few months back.

“I remember that was the plan, we were gonna break up and [Dean] Ambrose was gonna turn, and it was just gonna be, almost, thrown away. I remember we went to Hunter, or Vince, or somebody – we talked to somebody that makes decisions, and we were like, ‘We can’t do this, we’re not ready for this right now. It’s not the right time and we’ve got so much more to offer. It’s not the right time! We need to pull back on this a little bit.’”

#4 Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan

Kofi Kingston’s WrestleMania 35 victory is one of the best things that happened in WWE this year. The current WWE Champion is enjoying his first-ever World Championship reign and there’s no doubt that he deserves it. However, Kingston wasn’t supposed to face Daniel Bryan at ‘Mania for the title. The original plans were to let Ali face Bryan and then, Kevin Owens would return to challenge Bryan to a fight for the title at WrestleMania 35, which didn’t happen because the WWE Universe wanted Bryan vs Kingston instead.

Just like what happened in 2014, Vince McMahon had to change the WWE Championship match because of the fans and he did a great job playing the heel character. He put roadblocks in Kingston’s path to the championship and we’re glad it happened. The New Day Superstar won his match at the Grandest Stage of Them All but we can only wonder what would have happened if Owens had faced Bryan instead. Would WWE have allowed him to beat the former WWE Champion or let him win his second top-tier title?

#3 Becky Lynch and Charlotte in WrestleMania main event

Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte

The rise of Becky Lynch changed the women’s division of WWE. We never thought Lynch would ever get to main event a pay-per-view, let alone WrestleMania, after all these years of being in the mid-card. However, when Charlotte beat Carmella and Lynch for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, the fans turned against The Queen (even though it was The Irish Lasskicker who actually turned heel).

It led to the creation of ‘The Man’ gimmick. At that time, Ronda Rousey was the biggest female star in WWE but Lynch surpassed her as the ‘face’ of the women’s division. Lynch main-evented WrestleMania with Charlotte and Rousey where she beat the latter to win the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Title.

However, a report states that WWE originally wanted Natalya to lock horns against her friend Ronda Rousey at the main event of WrestleMania but the plans were nixed when Jim Neidhart passed away.

#2 Brock Lesnar breaking The Undertaker’s streak

Brock Lesnar is called The Beast for a reason. He works as a part-timer for WWE but despite that, he makes millions out of a few matches (and appearances). In 2014, the company took many out of the box decisions and one of them was deciding to break The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak.

The former Universal Champion was upset with WWE’s decision of removing him from the title picture, so he decided to create history and conquer The Deadman by breaking his ‘Mania streak. The Undertaker didn’t fear Lensar and he accepted his challenge. Fans thought this would be another victory for him but they were proved to be wrong when Lensar shockingly broke the streak and conquered The Undertaker.

However, this wasn’t the first time WWE had decided to break The Undertaker’s streak. Before Lesnar, wrestlers like Randy Orton were offered this job, but for some reasons, it didn't happen.

#1 Brock Lesnar winning the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel

Strowman was going to win the Universal Championship at Royal Rumble

When Brock Lensar won the Universal Championship for the second time in Saudi Arabia, the fans were upset (even more than they were before). It happened because Roman Reigns had to relinquish his championship due to leukaemia, which caused WWE to make the then-triple threat match at Crown Jewel a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman.

Shockingly, The Beast won the Universal Title for the second time in his career and went on to have a long title reign before losing it to Rollins. The fans were happy when this happened but you may not know that this wasn’t Vince McMahon’s original plans for the Universal Championship.

According to a report, he wanted to have Drew McIntyre face Braun Strowman for the title (which the latter would’ve won against Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2019) but those plans were dropped.

Edited by Amar Anand