7 long-term storylines in WWE that were ruined with a bad ending

Long-term storylines in WWE are commonplace, and they happen almost every year. While many long-term storylines and partnerships are now used to culminate at WrestleMania, that hasn't always been the case.

This article looks at some of WWE's long-term storylines that were squandered because of bad endings:

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#7. Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt's feud post-WWE Draft 2016

It was 2016 and WWE was arguably having the best year of the PG era from a storyline quality standpoint. Despite the highest-attended WrestleMania in history underwhelming with a flat main event and an overall weak card, what happened post-that was incredible.

All of a sudden, the direction of storylines and the quality of matches started to improve. Admittedly, WrestleMania 32 was plagued with quite a few top stars having injuries — many of whom returned after the grandest stage of them all.

Apart from good storylines from end-to-end and great matches and pay-per-views, WWE fans rejoiced when it was announced that the brand split was being reintroduced that year.

Labeled by WWE as a "brand extension," the Draft system was reintroduced after years and the stacked talent pool meant that the company would benefit from having two separate rosters.

One of the superstars who instantly benefited from a draft to SmackDown was Bray Wyatt. While he lost to Dolph Ziggler in an attempt to secure a WWE title shot against Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) at SummerSlam, it was uphill from there.

Bray Wyatt was quietly the most pushed and protected superstar on the SmackDown brand, hardly losing at all. He experienced his first championship success in WWE during that time as well.

It was his storyline with Randy Orton that caught the eye of fans. Looking back at it, it's a shame how things were handled because it started with such promise. Once Randy Orton turned heel and aligned himself with Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper, they became the most destructive trio in WWE.

Bray Wyatt stood as the sole survivor in the RAW vs SmackDown Men's Survivor Series match — one that many consider the greatest in history. It was followed with Wyatt's victory of the SmackDown Tag Team titles at TLC 2016, followed by his first World Championship at Elimination Chamber 2017.

Soon after, Randy Orton (who won the 2017 Royal Rumble), turned face and challenged Bray Wyatt for the WWE title. It all went downhill from there. Many fans felt that Bray Wyatt should have retained the WWE title against Orton at WrestleMania, but what ensued was an underwhelming (and weird) match where The Viper triumphed.

While that was the climax of their feud, the ending was arguably worse. By this point, Wyatt was moved to RAW in the Superstar Shake-up, where he faced Randy Orton in a half-cinematic, half-in-ring match known as "The House of Horrors".

The WWE title wasn't on the line, and Wyatt won the bout thanks to interference from Jinder Mahal — the man who went on to dethrone Orton at Backlash 2017. Overall, it was a poor payoff to an otherwise intriguing story.

#6. WWE's Anonymous General Manager storyline

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon introduced the Anonymous RAW General Manager in mid-2010, and Michael Cole was the spokesperson for all the emails. The presence of the Anonymous RAW General Manager happened through a laptop, and it played into WWE's storylines more often than not.

WWE quietly phased out the Anonymous RAW General Manager a year later in July 2011, with Triple H and John Laurinaitis being used as the two primary authority figures.

Another year had passed, and on RAW 1000, Santino Marrella of all people did an investigation and revealed that Hornswoggle was, in fact, the Anonymous RAW General Manager.

It was undoubtedly an underwhelming payoff after the emphasis WWE had put on the anonymous RAW General Manager for over a year. Former WWE creative writer Kevin Eck revealed that he pushed for Kevin Nash to be in that role, but that didn't work out (more on what played out later).

Strangely, Hornswoggle got the spot only because he joked backstage that he should be the one in the Anonymous GM role, referencing Vince McMahon's "illegitimate child" storyline from a few years before.

Hornswoggle also said that there were plans for him to be a serious "mob-boss" type of character who had a "Napoleon Complex." It would have been interesting to see if WWE pulled that off.

From what we understand, WWE never had any serious or concrete plans for who the GM would be.

#5. WWE's Invasion angle in 2001

WrestleMania X7 in 2001 is largely considered the greatest pay-per-view in wrestling history, but the year that followed saw the dominance of an underwhelming storyline.

We are, of course, talking about the infamous invasion storyline. After WWE had purchased WCW, fans were drooling at the prospect of some of the latter company's top names mixing it up with top WWE stars in dream matches.

The likes of Sting, Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, etc. all would have made for an incredible addition to the roster. Instead, contractual issues meant that WWE only got WCW's midcarders and lesser main event talent.

Diamond Dallas Page was arguably the biggest name to come into WWE at the time, but the company's handling of him left a lot to be desired. DDP has since admitted that he regrets how it played out, and in hindsight would've pushed for a "People's Champion vs People's Champion" feud against The Rock — a feud that would have drawn a lot of money.

Instead, the Invasion angle was filled with questionable booking decisions, and Austin (Team Alliance) vs The Rock (Team WWE) would be the main focus in the highly-important Survivor Series match to end the storyline.

WWE used the storyline to constantly look good over their old competitors, and the actual potential of the angle was never fulfilled. There were a lot of enjoyable moments, but team WWE's win at the end was never in question.

#4. Erick Rowan's mystery box angle before his WWE release

In the 2019 WWE Draft, Erick Rowan moved to RAW not too long after his storyline with Daniel Bryan ended. Around November 2019, Rowan began a storyline where he carried a cage that was covered.

The storyline wasn't the best one, but the anonymity of the angle led to some organic interest over what the reveal would be. In hindsight, fans shouldn't be surprised at how WWE handled it.

Erick Rowan was on a good run and had a few squash matches as well in between. It seemed as though he was steadily getting a push, with the cage being covered until March 2020.

Interestingly, current AEW star Fuego Del Sol was once an enhancement talent who took a peep into Rowan's cage before the creature inside attacked him, causing his face to be covered in "blood".

In March 2020, No Way Jose asked Erick Rowan what was in the cage, and Big Red said that all he was waiting for was for someone to ask him nicely. He revealed a big furry spider to be in the cage.

A week later, Drew McIntyre defeated Rowan and squashed the spider in the cage RAW, and a month later, WWE released Big Red from his contract as part of the April 15th cuts.

#3. WWE's choice of Rikishi as Steve Austin's attacker

This WWE angle was described by 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin as the worst storyline he was a part of. The originally scheduled main event of Survivor Series 1999 was a Triple Threat WWE Championship bout between reigning champion Triple H, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, and The Rock.

In recent times, WWE advertised Bianca Belair vs Sasha Banks as the SmackDown Women's title match for SummerSlam, knowing well that Banks wasn't going to compete on the pay-per-view. It was only announced at the very last minute after Belair emerged that Banks was unable to compete.

A similar situation happened in 1999, but WWE used an angle for it. Austin had to deal with severe neck injuries that caught up to him and was medically unfit to compete. To write him off, WWE had an angle where he was hit by a car — with the mystery attacker being a big focus later on.

Big Show would take his place, but in 2000, commissioner Mick Foley launched an investigation, revealing that Austin's attacker was, in fact, Rikishi. This was supposedly meant to elevate Rikishi to top star status, but the story fell flat as it was destined to.

While Rikishi enjoyed a heel run and had pay-per-view bouts against the likes of Austin and The Rock, the storyline had a disappointing ending. To cover it up, WWE later had Triple H reveal himself as the mastermind, with Rikishi doing his bidding and saying that he "did it for The Rock."

#2. WWE ruining the summer of Punk with Kevin Nash

While former WWE writer Kevin Eck wanted Kevin Nash to be the Anonymous RAW General Manager in 2010, there was a problem — Kevin Nash was still contracted to TNA (now Impact Wrestling).

He was cleared from his duties with TNA in early 2011, freeing him up for a WWE return. This happened right in the early stages of WWE's Summer of Punk. No superstar in the world of wrestling was hotter in 2011 than CM Punk, and his WWE title win over John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011 will forever remain an iconic moment.

WWE squandered CM Punk's momentum numerous times in that run. At SummerSlam 2011, CM Punk controversially defeated John Cena but was attacked post-match by the returning Kevin Nash. This allowed Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to become the new champion.

Kevin Nash claimed he did it for Triple H, who supposedly sent him a text ordering the assault. Triple H denied it, and for some reason, we got CM Punk vs The Game at Night of Champions 2011.

CM Punk was furious over the fact that Triple H came out victorious. While Punk went on to regain the WWE title in November at Survivor Series, the payoff for the storyline was poor.

To add to that, WWE culminated the Kevin Nash storyline at TLC 2011 that year, where the legend faced...Triple H. None of it made much sense at all.

#1. WWE's handling of The Nexus

The Nexus is perhaps the biggest "what if" storyline of WWE in the past decade. It was back in 2010 when NXT was still a game show and not a development territory like it is today.

The first batch of NXT stars "graduated" to the main roster, but as one unit. There were no mentors, and it was just a fresh set of young faces who essentially took over WWE.

Their first target was the face of WWE John Cena, and their debut on the main roster saw them wreak havoc in the ring and at ringside — announcing their arrival. It first culminated in a SummerSlam main event, where The Nexus, led by Wade Barrett, took on the John Cena-led team WWE.

WWE fans felt that The Nexus needed the win to establish themselves as the top faction of the company, and also skyrocket Barrett into potential superstardom. That didn't happen.

Unfortunately, John Cena had cold feet about the idea of The Nexus winning. Instead, he lobbied for the finish to see himself facing the odds in a numbers game before eventually triumphing. It's a decision that seems to be unanimously viewed as a bad one, possibly even by John Cena himself in hindsight.

The second culmination of their feud saw John Cena defeat Wade Barrett at TLC 2010. In that main event, the night ended with Cena dropping a lot of chairs on Barrett to end their feud and almost literally "bury" him.