5 WWE Superstars who asked to change their opponent

WWE Superstars often speak in media interviews about the real-life circumstances behind their storylines and matches.

While this is a completely different approach to the limited amount of information that Superstars revealed in the 1980s and 1990s, it has given fans a better understanding of how WWE’s on-screen stories are told.

For example, did you know that Ronda Rousey once asked WWE to change her opponent one day after a squash match at a pay-per-view? How about when The Undertaker told Vince McMahon that he wanted to face a future two-time WWE Champion, only to be given Giant Gonzalez as his opponent instead?

In this article, let’s take a look at the full details behind those two stories, plus three others, as we count down five times that WWE Superstars asked to change their opponent.

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#5 Ronda Rousey asked to change her WWE opponent

Ronda Rousey took part in the first women’s main event in WrestleMania history in 2019 when she faced Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a ‘Winner Take All’ Triple Threat match for the RAW Women’s Championship and SmackDown Women’s Championship.

Seven weeks before WrestleMania, Rousey defended her RAW Women’s Championship in a convincing victory over Ruby Riott at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

Unfortunately for both Superstars, they planned to have a much longer match but WWE’s decision-makers cut their time during the show, meaning Rousey picked up the win in just 100 seconds.

Speaking on her Facebook Gaming channel in 2020, Rousey revealed that she was originally due to face Alexa Bliss one night later on RAW, but she asked for her opponent to be changed to Riott.

“I was like, ‘Alexa, I love you, you know I love having matches with you, but me and Ruby have been putting this match together all week and we couldn’t do it at the pay-per-view because it had to be a squash, and would you mind if I went and requested that me and Ruby have a second match instead?’”

Bliss had no problem with the request from Rousey, who defeated Riott in a 12-minute match in the main event of RAW.

#4 Daniel Bryan asked to change his WWE opponent

In 2014, Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 30 after becoming the most popular Superstar on the WWE roster in the months leading up to the event.

Five years later, Kofi Kingston found himself in a not-too-dissimilar position after he lasted over an hour in a gauntlet match on SmackDown in February 2019, kick-starting the “KofiMania” phenomenon.

At the time, WWE planned for Bryan to put the WWE Championship on the line against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 35. However, as Kingston revealed on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, “The Planet’s Champion” asked WWE’s higher-ups if he could face the New Day member instead.

“[Daniel Bryan] pushed for that to happen because the plans weren't for me to be at WrestleMania. I'm not sure who it was for Daniel to face but it wasn't me, and Daniel went in and went to bat for me, and for the situation for the title match between us to happen so he had a big part in it, too.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Kingston defeated Bryan at WrestleMania and he went on to have a six-month reign with the WWE Championship before losing to Brock Lesnar in seven seconds on the first episode of SmackDown on FOX.

#3 Hulk Hogan asked to change his WWE opponent

WrestleMania IX ended with Hulk Hogan defeating Yokozuna for the WWE Championship in an impromptu match after Yoko’s title victory over Bret Hart.

Writing in his Hitman book, Hart recalled that he was promised a lengthy WWE Championship reign by Vince McMahon in the 1990s. However, one day before WrestleMania, he was told that the title would be switched to Hogan.

Two months later, McMahon called Hart to inform him that he was going to become WWE Champion again, with Hogan being used as more of a special attraction for the company instead of a title holder.

Then, according to Hart, he found out that Hogan did not want to drop the WWE Championship to him.

“Ten days later, Vince called again. He warned me that he was about to tell me something that would make me really angry: Hogan was flat-out refusing to put me over, saying I wasn’t in his league. Vince had decided that Yoko would be getting the belt instead. I couldn’t believe that Hogan would do this to me.” [H/T Pro Wrestling Stories]

McMahon told Hart that he would try to sell Hogan on the idea one more time, but “The Hulkster” stood his ground and agreed to lose the WWE Championship to Yokozuna at King of the Ring instead.

#2 Nia Jax asked to change her WWE opponent

As mentioned earlier in this article, Ronda Rousey said she “loves” facing Alexa Bliss in WWE, but it seems that Nia Jax does not have quite as much enthusiasm when she sees her real-life best friend against “The Baddest Woman on the Planet”.

In September-October 2018, Bliss suffered concussions against Rousey in separate matches after receiving the same headlock takeover move.

Rousey, the WWE RAW Women’s Champion at the time, went on to headline the WWE Evolution pay-per-view against Nikki Bella at the end of October, but Bliss was unable to team with Mickie James in a dream match against Trish Stratus and Lita due to her injury.

Jax revealed during a Twitch stream in 2020 that she asked WWE to change her opponent to Rousey during this time, as she did not want Bliss to risk suffering another injury against the UFC Hall of Famer.

“I was like, ‘No, she cannot do this anymore.’ I personally would not allow her to get back in the ring to get hurt again, and I had to go to the people, to the higher-ups, and tell them, 'Listen, Lexi is five foot nothing, a hundred pounds, getting thrown around like a little ragdoll and injured every night.' I was like, 'Put me in, I'm a six foot, three hundred pound b**** and I can handle it.’”

Although Jax did not initially mention Rousey’s name, she later confirmed that she was indeed referring to the WrestleMania 35 main-eventer.

#1 The Undertaker asked to change his WWE opponent

The Undertaker gave more out-of-character interviews to promote WWE Network docuseries ‘Undertaker: The Last Ride’ than he did in his entire 30-year WWE career.

One of his most hilarious stories came when he recalled the moment that he noticed Giant Gonzalez walking down the hallway whilst he was having a conversation with Vince McMahon about Yokozuna’s in-ring ability.

Speaking on NotSam Wrestling, the WWE icon explained how he instantly knew that he was going to face Giant Gonzalez as soon as the former El Gigante joined WWE, but his request to change his opponent to Yokozuna did not go as planned.

“I remember turning my head to Vince and saying ‘Please, please, please, let me work with him [Yokozuna] first.’ Vince laughs, ‘You'll work with him in time, but I've got somebody else in mind for you.’ I kid you not, coming down the hall from the other direction, here comes Giant Gonzalez and Vince goes, ‘That's your guy.’” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

The Undertaker worked with Giant Gonzalez in 29 WWE matches, including live events, in 1993. He added during the interview that working with the former basketball player “took years off my career”.