Denied! Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and 3 more WWE Superstars who rejected storyline ideas

So, what's a must-have for every great WWE rivalry?

If your answer was "a great storyline idea", you're either a long-time wrestling fan, or you've read the title of this article and taken a not-so-wild guess.

Storyline pitches play a vital part in building up anticipation and hype not only for a match but for a superstar's character as well. Moreover, even the most beloved fan favorites can't always salvage a wonky storyline idea.

Without further ado, here are 5 storyline ideas that were rejected by current WWE Superstars.

---

#5 Roman Reigns turned down the offer of reverting back to being a protagonist

Roman Reigns was once known as a polarizing babyface, a man who was unceremoniously booed out of nearly every wrestling arena he entered. Nowadays, that same man is arguably the best heel in the business despite the adulation from fans the second his theme starts to play.

It seems The Tribal Chief wants to keep it this way, as Ringside News recently tweeted that he has no plans of going back to being a good guy any time soon.

Moreover, it appears that both The Tribal Chief and The Wiseman Paul Heyman are keen on the former remaining heel at the moment. If there was ever a time to use the term "if it isn't broken, don't fix it", this would be it.

---

#4 Randy Orton refused to break The Undertaker's streak at WrestleMania 21

Long before he was known in the wrestling world as The Viper, Randy Orton was famous for being The Legend Killer.

During this era, the 14-time world champion rose to prominence by being the same cold, merciless snake we'd soon see him transition into. The only difference was that his main targets were WWE legends.

At WrestleMania, The Legend Killer came face-to-face with The Undertaker; a bout that was reportedly meant to mark the end of The Undertaker's legendary winning streak at the event.

Word has it that Randy turned down the opportunity to defeat the Hall of Famer, and thus the streak continued.

---

#3 WWE Hall of Famer Edge reportedly didn't like the idea of The Judgement Day going supernatural

If you feel that Edge's sudden departure from The Judgment Day seemed abrupt, that might have to do with the fact that it wasn't initially planned for the rest of the members to turn on him.

From the jump, Judgment Day was a stable meant for superstars who'd been overlooked and forgotten; a modus operandi that the stable still lives by to this day. This is seemingly the way The Rated R Superstar wanted it to be.

However, once pitches were made about adding special powers and sorcery to the mix, Edge reportedly wasn't feeling it, according to Fightful.

"We’re told that WWE had mentioned taking Judgment Day a “supernatural” route, which Edge was said to have been opposed to."

---

#2 John Cena and the heel turn that never happened

If John Cena is scheduled to appear at a WWE event, one thing is certain to happen: he'll be greeted with love and praise from virtually every fan in attendance.

Back in the day, this wasn't always the case. Half the audience would be rooting for Cena while the other half chanted the two-word catchphrase, "Cena sucks".

If you were asking yourself why they didn't just turn Big Match John into a big-time villain, you might be surprised to find out that Cena himself wasn't in favor of turning heel if he couldn't be a full fledge bad guy.

On the We Watch Wrestling podcast, ex-WWE writer Matt McCarthy explained that John was willing to portray an antagonist. Vince McMahon was on board, but there was one problem.

"Vince kept trying to figure out how do we do like a Bret Hart thing? Where he’s a heel in some places, but he’s a babyface in the rest of the places. Cena was like, If I’m going heel, I want to go full heel."

---

#1 Brock Lesnar didn't want to work with Jinder Mahal in 2017 (though it wasn't personal)

In what may have been the most shocking title change in WWE history, Jinder Mahal did the unthinkable by defeating Randy Orton at Backlash in 2017, capturing his first WWE Championship.

The Modern Day Maharaja managed to hold the title from May until the November 7 edition of SmackDown, where he was defeated by AJ Styles. This change occurred due in part to Brock Lesnar feeling he'd get a better match out of Styles as opposed to Mahal.

As per his very own podcast, Road Dogg clarified that this decision was nothing personal.