5 WWE Superstars who had backstage power to choose their opponents

Regular WWE viewers will know that Vince McMahon ultimately makes the big decisions on WWE match outcomes and storyline developments, but he still has a team of over 20 writers who pitch ideas on a weekly basis.

On top of that, there have been certain Superstars throughout WWE history who have had so much backstage power that they have been allowed to choose their own opponents.

In some cases, these Superstars were only able to select a handful of opponents, while others had creative control over their characters and future matches.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at five people from WWE history who had a say in the Superstars they faced.

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#5 John Cena chose his WWE WrestleMania 36 opponent

John Cena’s on-screen WWE character was allowed to choose his own opponent at SummerSlam 2013. He selected Daniel Bryan, prompting huge “Yes!” chants from the WWE Universe, and the two men went on to headline the event.

In reality, while Cena worked as WWE’s top guy for over a decade, you only have to look through a list of his opponents to know that he did not have complete creative control over his matches during his full-time run with the company.

Since becoming a part-time performer, however, it seems that WWE’s higher-ups have taken a different approach with the 16-time WWE World Champion.

In February 2020, WrestleVotes reported that WWE allowed Cena to choose his WrestleMania 36 opponent. He opted for Bray Wyatt – the man he defeated six years earlier at WrestleMania 30 – and they ended up creating another ‘WrestleMania moment’ by competing in WWE’s first Firefly Fun House match.

Regarding John Cena and WrestleMania, I’ve been told they let Cena decide what he wanted to do completely. I would think since he’s coming back this month, he will wrestle on the show.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) February 12, 2020

It has been implied on other occasions that Cena has had more say in his WWE opponents than most colleagues throughout his career.

For example, Seth Rollins revealed on Edge & Christian’s Pod of Awesomeness in 2019 that he made a comment to Cena about possibly being added to his match with Brock Lesnar at the 2015 Royal Rumble, making it a Triple Threat.

Cena discussed the idea with WWE officials and Rollins was added to the match.

#4 Edge created his WWE storyline with Randy Orton

Edge made his return to WWE as an in-ring competitor at the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble. He initially formed a brief alliance with his former Rated-RKO tag team partner, Randy Orton, before they became involved in a heated rivalry that lasted for the next six months.

After almost nine years out of the ring, Edge’s ‘WWE 24’ episode on the WWE Network showed the veteran having a backstage meeting with members of the company’s creative team in late 2019.

Edge specifically asked to come back at the Royal Rumble, which showed that he had more influence than many other Superstars upon his return, and the man himself confirmed that to be the case during an April 2020 interview with Inside The Ropes.

“We have been left alone, and that's because I've been doing this for twenty-five years, Randy's been doing it for twenty. Nobody is going to write a promo for me, that's all there is to it. I don't work well that way, and I think everybody understands that.”

The WWE Hall of Famer has listed various dream opponents who he wants to face after the Orton storyline, including Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura.

#3 Brock Lesnar has backstage power in WWE

From John Cena and The Undertaker to Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar has faced a variety of opponents during his second run with WWE.

In January 2020, it became clearer than ever that Lesnar has a say in his future opponents when details emerged about a backstage conversation that he had with Matt Riddle at the WWE Royal Rumble.

Riddle has repeatedly said in recent years that he aims to retire Lesnar one day, but “The Beast” told him to stop discussing a possible match against him because it will never happen.

Three months before that conversation, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Lesnar “is the one who calls the shots” when he talks business with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.

He added that Lesnar “isn’t going to do anything he doesn’t want to do” in WWE, including facing certain opponents.

Drew McIntyre told talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy in 2020 that his WrestleMania 36 opponent “went above and beyond” to make him look like a star ahead of their ‘Mania main event, which suggests Lesnar might have also had a say in how the Scot was portrayed before his WWE Championship triumph.

#2 Kurt Angle chose his final WWE opponents (except Baron Corbin)

You might be surprised to see Kurt Angle’s name on this list. After all, the man himself has confirmed on numerous occasions that he wanted to face John Cena at WWE WrestleMania 35 but Vince McMahon told him he must take on Baron Corbin in the final match of his career instead.

The Olympic Gold medallist makes this list due to the period of his career in the build-up to WrestleMania 35, which saw him face Superstars including Apollo Crews, Chad Gable, and Samoa Joe on WWE RAW.

It was reported by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer that Angle was allowed to hand-pick his final opponents in the latter stages of his WWE career, even though he was not given permission to select who he wanted to face at WrestleMania 35.

The WWE Hall of Famer has said since announcing his retirement that he was due to retire at WrestleMania 36 against Cena, but he asked McMahon if he could end his legendary career one year early.

McMahon felt that the storyline with Corbin needed to come to an end at WrestleMania 35, which is why Angle had to face his fellow WWE RAW authority figure on the show.

#1 Hulk Hogan had backstage power in WWE and WCW

In 2015, Kevin Nash reminisced with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso about his time in WCW as the promotion’s booker. Although he had a good relationship with Hulk Hogan as co-workers, Nash admitted that it was difficult to book for the WWE Hall of Famer due to his creative control.

“Hulk would come in and say, ‘That doesn’t work for me, brother.’ ‘Well, Hulk, it’s 5.45 pm and you’re in three segments, so I have rewrite those three segments, time them out, get them to sheets, then get them to the trucks, and we’re going live in fifteen.’”

One of the most famous examples of Hogan choosing his opponent in WWE came in 1993 when he refused to drop the WWE Championship back to Bret Hart after WrestleMania IX, even though “The Hitman” had been promised another title reign by Vince McMahon. Instead, Hogan agreed to lose to Yokozuna before leaving WWE for WCW.

Yeah, that doesn’t work for me, Brother.

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) July 22, 2019

As you can see above, “That doesn’t work for me, brother,” has become an iconic Hogan quote. Becky Lynch even used it on Twitter in response to “The Hulkster” after he suggested that WWE legends could take over the company at the WWE RAW Reunion in July 2019.