5 WWE pushes Vince McMahon canceled because of real-life issues

It takes a lot out of a wrestler to prove themselves worthy of a push in WWE's overly-competitive atmosphere, were tens of other credible Superstars are doing their absolute best to get noticed. Throughout his decades-long career as the Chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon has pushed a long string of wrestlers and turned them into megastars and household names.

Superstars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and John Cena received mega pushed at some point in their careers, following which they never looked back and the rest is history. On the other hand, there have been several unfortunate instances where Vince McMahon canceled a Superstar's push, because of a real-life issue. We'll take a look at 5 such pushes that were canceled by Vince McMahon.

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#5 Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre

Back in late 2009, Drew McIntyre arrived on WWE SmackDown as "The Chosen One", with Vince McMahon himself dubbing him as a future World Champion. Unfortunately, things didn't work out as had been planned initially in regards to McIntyre's main roster run. He married fellow pro-wrestler Taryn Terrell in May 2010 and was involved in an altercation with Terrell months later. The incident happened at the San Jose, CA Hotel, and led to WWE suspending Terrell.

McIntyre's push was soon canceled, and this was it for him as a credible Superstar in WWE. He was soon relegated to the mid-card, and later to the lower card, where he allied with Jinder Mahal and Heath Slater. Known as 3MB, the trio was mostly used as enhancement talent, and things remained the same until McIntyre and WWE parted ways in 2014. The Scottish Psychopath improved himself drastically while wrestling in various promotions and finally made it back to WWE in 2017. Three years later, McIntyre is currently the WWE Champion and is deservingly at the top spot on the main roster.

#4 Mordecai

Mordecai

After WrestleMania 20 was done and dusted with, WWE began pushing a bunch of new stars to build its future around. OVW star Kevin Fertig was called up to the main roster on WWE SmackDown and given the gimmick of Mordecai, a character who had religious overtones, and seemed incredibly sinister in his ways. Several promos before his arrival portrayed him as someone who was coming to rid the world of sin. Mordecai defeated Scotty 2 Hotty comfortably in his debut match at Judgment Day 2004.

Mere days after The Great American Bash, where Mordecai disposed of Hardcore Holly, he was sent back to OVW and his push was canceled abruptly. In reality, Fertig was involved in a bar fight and Vince McMahon was legit angry at his conduct outside the ring. The push was scrapped immediately and the WWE Universe never heard of Mordecai again. Originally, plans called for Mordecai to get pushed for months on end and take on The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21. The Deadman faced Randy Orton at the event instead and defeated him to advance his streak to 13-0.

#3 Mr. Kennedy

Mr. Kennedy

Mr. Kennedy was slowly and steadily establishing himself as a major heel on WWE TV, back in 2006-07. He was pushed heavily soon after and went on to compete in the Money In The Bank Ladder match at WrestleMania 23. The bout featured some of the biggest Superstars in WWE at the time, such as Randy Orton, Edge, King Booker, Finlay, CM Punk, and The Hardy Boyz. Kennedy still managed to grab the briefcase and win the match to bag an opportunity at the top title somewhere down the line. He soon lost the briefcase to Edge, who later cashed the title in on The Undertaker.

Kennedy's loss was due to the fact that he had suffered an injury in real life. Months later, Kennedy was involved in the illegitimate son storyline which was going to result in a feud between him and Triple H, culminating in a WrestleMania match. Plans were dropped for his push though, stemming from the violation of WWE's wellness policy.

Around the same time, Kennedy had some serious backstage heat with WWE Superstar John Cena. He was utilizing his promos to get over with the crowd instead of trying to become a hated heel, and this didn't thrill Cena one bit. Jim Ross confirmed that Cena wasn't happy at how Kennedy acted.

Yeah, it did ruffle Cena’s feathers. Cena took it personally and thought, ‘OK, enough is enough.

Mr. Kennedy also had issues with Randy Orton, which were instrumental in his WWE release in 2009.

#2 Muhammad Hassan

Muhammad Hassan, one of the biggest "What Ifs" in WWE history

Although his main roster career in WWE was an incredibly short one, it's safe to say that Muhammad Hassan's character received some of the biggest negative reactions in WWE history. His anti-American gimmick immediately established him as a hated heel. His manager, Daivari used to scream at Hassan's victims in a foreign language while he beat them up, resulting in major heel heat.

At The Great American Bash 2005, Hassan was on the receiving end of a Last Ride from The Undertaker, through the ramp. This was a way to write him off WWE TV, and just like that, Hassan's career came to an unfortunate end. Mere days before the PPV, Hassan and The Undertaker were involved in a controversial segment on SmackDown, that garnered major media attention. Increasing public pressure led to WWE canceling the push, and Hassan and Daivari were soon sent back to developmental. The original plan for Hassan was to defeat Batista at SummerSlam 2005, and become the youngest World Champion in WWE history.

#1 Bobby Lashley

Lashley

Bobby Lashley made his way to WWE SmackDown in September 2005 and soon established himself as a major babyface on the Blue brand. His biggest push came on the road to WrestleMania 23, where he represented Donald Trump in the "Battle of the Billionaires", which saw him defeat Umaga, who was representing Mr. McMahon. The match was heavily promoted by WWE and resulted in WrestleMania 23 registering record buys.

Lashley went on to feud with Vince McMahon over the next few months and later got into a rivalry with John Cena over the WWE title. Following the feud, Lashley was out of action for months on end, due to suffering a legit injury in the WWE title match. Lashley was later cleared by WWE's doctors to return, but he decided to take his merry time to be completely sure that he was completely fit to get back in the ring. This didn't sit well with Vince McMahon, which was instrumental in his push getting halted and him eventually getting released by WWE in February 2008.