5 storylines WWE abruptly cancelled

Over the course of the past several decades, the world of professional wrestling has given us its fair share of incredible storylines and legendary matches. WWE, under Vince McMahon's supervision, has gone onto becoming a globally recognized brand and is growing with each passing day.

Hulk Hogan vs Andre 'The Giant', Austin vs Mr. McMahon, and Shawn Michaels vs Bret 'The Hitman' Hart are just a few of the greatest storylines WWE has produced. But things don't always turn the way they are intended to be. There's no telling when an unfortunate circumstance would creep up and shatter down months and months of immaculate planning.

Here are 5 WWE storylines that had to be abruptly stopped, courtesy of a bunch of unforeseen situations.

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#5 The Undertaker vs Mordecai, WWE WrestleMania 21

This character had potential

The summer of 2004 saw an incredibly weird and disturbing villain come onto the mid-card scene on SmackDown. Mordecai was a white-cloaked figure, carrying a post with him that signified him being a savior to the masses. The religious undertones to the character made him all the more intriguing and controversial.

Mordecai went on to defeat fan-favourites Scotty 2 Hotty and Hardcore Holly in two successive PPVs. The original plans for him included a long-lasting rivalry that would culminate at The Grandest Stage Of Them All, WrestleMania 21, in a match against The Undertaker.

In terms of publicity, this feud could have been explored from a lot of angles. The Undertaker's dark persona pitted against the pure white persona that Mordecai portrayed made for good television viewing and would have kept fans intrigued. Both superstars had similar traits as well, which included wearing cloaks and having elaborate entrance routines to the ring accompanied by heavy pyrotechniques. WWE could have also employed vignettes to smartly build up this rivalry heading into WrestleMania.

The feud unfortunately didn't go through as planned, as the man behind the Mordecai character, Kevin Fertig, got into a bar brawl. When Vince McMahon heard this, he was irate to the core. The push was immediately canceled and Mordecai never appeared again on TV. A mistake on the part of Fertig cost him possibly a full-fledged Hall of Fame career.

After being written off TV for a couple of years, he was repackaged as Kevin Thorn and returned, portraying a vampire gimmick on ECW. It was a shortlived stint as WWE soon released him.

#4 Vince McMahon's WWE power struggle

Vince's Limo blasts

In the summer of 2007, Vince McMahon began acting in a very weird manner. He delivered a bunch of promos, signifying that he was being bothered by something that no one knew about. He went onto suspend WWE diva Ashley after she mistakenly spilled coffee on him.

On an episode of Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahon came out to address the WWE universe but left without saying a single word. He went to the back while being surrounded by the entire Raw locker room. McMahon opened the exit door and proceeded towards his limo.

The boss opened the limo door, sat inside, and closed it behind him. The limo exploded suddenly as the arena full of horrified fans watched. The original plan for the storyline was to have another McMahon character being introduced into the fold, who would go on to have a power struggle with Vince. Chris Benoit's death resulted in the storyline getting scrapped entirely.

#3 Mohammad Hassan's rise to the top

Hassan choking The Deadman

Perhaps the most controversial character during the mid-2000s, Mohammad Hassan was a dastardly villain who was sick and tired of WWE pandering to American wrestlers and not giving "the likes of him" a chance to grab the brass ring and become a top Superstar.

Hassan played his 'anti-American' gimmick with merit, drawing a lot of heat from the WWE Universe. Week after week, he would come down to the ring, diss the audience and then proceed to attack a jobber before ultimately putting his opponent through a 'Camel Clutch' torture routine.

He went on to have feuds with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker. On the road to The Great American Bash 2005, Hassan was shown putting down The Undertaker with the help of a bunch of hooded figures. Three days later, the London bombings occurred. Plans for his push, which included him beating Batista at Summerslam 2005 to become the youngest world champion in WWE history, were scrapped altogether.

Hassan did have the goods to make it big in the WWE, but this will always remain a case of bad timing that led to a promising career coming to an end even before it took off.

#2 Hulk Hogan vs 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin

We never got to see this one

Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin are two of the biggest superstars in the history of WWE. When the nWo came to WWE on the road to WrestleMania 18, fans clamored for the dream match to take place at the event. Vince McMahon himself wanted these two Superstars to go at it in a dream match.

This didn't end up happening though, as Hogan went on to fight The Rock in an "Icon vs Icon" match at WrestleMania, while Austin defeated Scott Hall in a mid-card level match. It was later reported that Austin wasn't thrilled to take on Hulk Hogan in a dream match.

Bruce Prichard once spilt the beans on what had happened backstage. He speculated that back in WCW, Hogan refused to get into a program with "Stunning" Steve Austin, who was one of the fastest rising stars in the company at the time. Austin possibly wanted to return the favor and decided to refuse to wrestle Hogan at 'Mania'.

As far as dream wrestling matches go, Austin vs Hogan will take top honors on any list. It is certainly a crime that wrestling fans never got to see the two icons face off.

#1 Daniel Bryan's destruction

Lesnar squashed Cena

Daniel Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 30, by defeating all three members of Evolution on the same night. A remarkable feat by any stretch of the imagination.

Months later, John Cena got squashed by Brock Lesnar in the main event of Summerslam, which was contested for Cena's title. However, this wasn't the original plan for the match though.

The plan was to have Daniel Bryan meet Brock Lesnar in a "David vs Goliath" match at the Biggest Party of the Summer. Daniel Bryan was injured shortly after WrestleMania 30, and the plans ended up getting scrapped. If Bryan hadn't been injured, he was slated to face Lesnar at Summerslam and would have been squashed by The Beast, instead of John Cena.

In the 2018 Survivor Series pay-per-view, Lesnar and Bryan met in a Champion vs. Champion match, with Bryan almost getting the win over The Beast, before bowing out to an F5.