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It has been more than a decade since John Cena became the face of the WWE with that title win at Wrestlemania 21. How ever, since that time, he has never been put in to a feud with the greatest superstar in the company, The Undertaker.Never has a Brock Lesnar vs Randy Orton feud happened either, despite the two breaking in to the company at the same time.There are countless other angles that have failed to see the light of the day due to the incompetence of the WWE Creative a la Austin vs Nash, Angle vs Batista and Cena vs Kevin Federline.. Oh wait, we did get the last one, and it was not a pleasant experience.This list looks back at the 5 times the WWE succeeded in making a mess out of a great opportunity.
#5 C M Punk
Let me give the WWE some leeway here – It isn’t entirely WWE’s fault that C M Punk chose to walk out of the show. As his best friend Colt Cabana says, Punk can really be a pain to work with.
But then again, if you cannot keep the one Superstar who has connected genuinely with the fans over the past couple of years, the company has to take majority of the blame.
Punk had gotten disillusioned with the product a long time back and most of the content in his infamous ‘telling the truth’ rant on Raw in 2011 was cold facts. How ever, the same promo had brought fans back to the WWE – It was a true Austin 3:16 esque moment.
Punk was inevitably placed on the top of the roster and was given the WWE Championship to run with – and he did an excellent job as champion for over 400 days.
How ever, even at the height of his popularity, never could he find himself in the main event at Wrestlemania – That’s right, the most popular wrestler on the brand and he wouldn’t be trusted to close the show.
Punk was justifiably tired of Cena and part timer Rock occupying the final match three straight years (Rock would cost Cena the match against The Miz at WM 27). When the Rock – Cena angle was finally done and dusted, Punk was looking forward to headlining Wrestlemania for the first time.
How ever, WWE had set up Batista vs Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 30 and Batista was scheduled to win the ill-fated Rumble match of 2014 where as Punk was set to be eliminated from the match by a run down version of Kane.
No wonder Punk snapped and walked out of WWE after the show. The Rumble was the biggest flop in WWE’s history with the fans clamouring for a Daniel Bryan entry and booing the face Batista.
The only man other than Bryan that the crowd would not have minded winning the Rumble was Punk, but the WWE Creative was too thick skinned to allow that.
Considering the number of times Triple H has finished off Wrestlemania, it seems incredible that Punk would not be allowed to do it even once. No wonder he left!!
#4 Goldberg vs Lesnar
This was the dream match – The irresistable force meets the immovable object. Goldberg had carried over his WCW aura to the WWE and Brock Lesnar was already the man who had beaten the Undertaker at Hell in a Cell, in addition to being a multiple time World Champion.
So this was a surefire successful match for Wresltelmania 20.
Only, it wasn’t.
Goldberg and his ego didn’t want to extend his WWE stay for more than a year and Lesnar wanted to try his luck in the NFL. Both of their contracts were up after Wrestlemania and neither wanted to renew.
How ever, the news leaked and the fans could care less about a match involving two guys who were going to jump ship the company the night after.
The crowd booed both wrestlers and cheered for special referee Stone Cold Steve Austin instead!!!
At least they got to see Austin deliver a stunner to both guys after the match.
#3 The nWo letdown
Say all what you want about the nWo, the stable was money. Despite pointed remarks in every ‘History of WCW’ DVD made by the WWE about how nWo ruined WCW, Vince McMahon and co had no second thoughts about hiring the three some once their contracts with Time Warner ended in 2002.
It is safe to say that the Hogan,Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were not exactly in the best of shape. Hall, in particular looked overweight and nothing like the Rzaor Ramon character of the 90’s.
How ever, it was still going to mint money pitting these guys against the top WWE stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.
Hogan and The Rock tore the place down in Toronto Sky Dome at Wrestlemania 18 where as Austin and Hall stank the joint in a match that lasted under eight minutes.
How ever the best work that nWo produced in the WCW came when they double teamed and triple teamed opponents – how ever Vince McMahon decided to turn Hogan face right after Wrestlemania making the nWo a two member group.
Despite the addition of new members like X-Pac, Booker.T, The Bigshow and the legendary Shawn Michaels, nWo could not regain their magic. Hall was fired after the infamous ‘Planeride from hell’ and Nash could hardly step foot inside the ring without tearing his quadriceps.
The nWo angle was dropped without an explanation just before Vengeance 2002.
#2 Messing up the Invasion angle
When news broke that WWE had purchased WCW and owned all the contracts of the wrestlers of the latter company, the fans were excited like never before. They were going to see WCW superstars standing shoulder to shoulder with WWE wrestlers!!!
Vince McMahon made an elaborate plan about an ‘invasion’ angle where WCW would challenge WWE as a separate entity and the two promotions would clash with each other for a huge pay day.
But plan ran in to trouble from the start. Most of the top WCW superstars like Hogan, Goldberg and Kevin Nash had contracts with Time Warner such that they could afford to stay at home till their contracts expired and still earn money.
Apart of Booker.T and DDP, all the WCW wrestlers that the WWE signed were mid card players who could not generate the ‘oomph’ factor necessary for the invasion angle to work.
In fact, Vince started having second thoughts on creating a separate WCW brand after witnessing Buff Bagwell and Booker.T stink the joint in the first ever WCW match broadcasted on Raw.
Finally, the Invasion angle became so diluted that many WWE superstars kayfabe defected to WCW side to lend it some star power. The angle was supposed to end at Wresltemania 18, but the WWE chose to end it with a 5 vs 5 elimination match at Survivor Series months prior.
The 5 member team that represented WCW in that match had just one superstar who was with WCW when the company folded – Enough said!!
#1 Not delivering Hogan vs Flair on PPV
Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair had been the most marketable wrestlers of the 1980s – Hogan was the corner stone of the WWE, Flair was the headliner for the NWA. However, their paths had never crossed before – Until Wrestlemania 8.
Flair had debuted in the WWE and had won the world title at that year’s Royal Rumble. Wheels were in motioin for the Nature Boy to defend his title against perennial face Hulk Hogan at the main event of Wrestlemania in a match that would have been bigger than Cena/Rock or even Rock/Stone Cold.
But inexplicably, WWE decided to nix that idea and the fans were subjected to a double mainevent featuring Hogan vs Sid and Flair vs Savage.
It has been rumoured that Hogan did not want to lose to Flair and that was the reason the match never took place. Also, Vince McMahon is said to have given the match unannounced at house shows and that it had not generated the intended buzz.
For all of WCW’s faults, the rival promotion was able to deliver that match at the first time of asking – at Bash at the Beach 1994 which drew great business for the promotion.
