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With so many people involved behind the scenes in WWE, it is inevitable that information is occasionally going to leak online.
The majority of WWE rumors and spoilers are passed on by sources and revealed by wrestling journalists. However, did you know that WWE has been known to inadvertently leak details about certain scripts and storylines themselves?
In 2019, for example, an advertisement before WrestleMania 35 spoiled the outcome of a high-profile title match. Later that year, WWE also revealed key storyline information on its own website in the build-up to the 2019 WWE Draft.
The accidental reveals continued in 2020 when WWE released a picture which showed how a dangerous Money in the Bank stunt was executed.
Let’s take a look at the details behind those stories, plus two others, as we count down five secrets that WWE accidentally revealed.
#5 Paul Heyman revealed a note from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon
The inspiration for this article comes from Paul Heyman’s appearance on the October 24, 2020 episode of WWE Network show Talking Smack.
Heyman discussed Roman Reigns’ WWE Universal Championship match against Jey Uso at WWE Hell in a Cell, which took place later that weekend. He also outlined what would happen to Reigns if he lost to his cousin.
At one stage during the interview, Heyman read a note from The Tribal Chief on a piece of paper in front of him.
“Huh, just a note from Roman Reigns. He doesn’t like your questions very much. No, he doesn’t [like your questions]. What do you wanna know? Just ask me.”
Heyman went on to list all of the consequences if Reigns lost the match. Those consequences included him losing the WWE Universal Championship and losing his spot at the head of the table in the Anoa’i family.
Midway through the promo, Heyman screwed up the piece of paper and threw it on the floor behind him.
As the picture below shows, the paper actually contained a memo from Vince McMahon about what he should say about Reigns.
It turned out that none of those consequences came to fruition. Reigns defeated Jey Uso to retain his title at WWE Hell in a Cell. Five days later, Uso turned heel and finally acknowledged his cousin as The Tribal Chief of their family.
#4 WWE Money in the Bank 2020 crash pads
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 WWE Money in the Bank ladder matches took place at WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
The men’s and women’s matches started at the same time on the ground floor of the building. All 12 Superstars then fought their way through the building and onto the roof, where the Money in the Bank briefcases could be found.
In the men’s match, Otis defeated AJ Styles, Aleister Black, Daniel Bryan, King Corbin, and Rey Mysterio to claim the MITB briefcase. His victory came shortly after Corbin threw Black and Mysterio off the roof, ruling them out of the rest of the match.
WWE’s cameras did not show how far the two Superstars fell after being launched off the top of WWE HQ. That meant the audience at home was left wondering if Black and Mysterio had, in storyline, been thrown down to ground floor level.
Well, at least, that is the illusion that WWE attempted to create. Unfortunately, that idea was flawed due to the fact that an aerial shot of the MITB set-up gave away the secret.
In the bottom-right corner of the picture above, crash pads can clearly be seen in the area where Black and Mysterio landed.
The match was filmed several weeks in advance, but this spoiler must have been missed by the production team.
#3 Keith Lee’s WWE NXT Championship win
On July 1, 2020, Keith Lee’s WWE NXT Championship victory at The Great American Bash was filmed one week before it aired. The man he defeated, Adam Cole, had held the WWE NXT Championship for 403 days.
Due to Cole’s dominance as WWE NXT Champion, it was imperative that news of him losing the title could not be revealed online. Spoilers for WrestleMania 36 (taped two weeks in advance) never got out, and this situation should have been the same.
Unlike WrestleMania, which was filmed at an empty Performance Center, Lee’s win took place in front of WWE NXT Superstars and PC recruits. That meant a lot more people had to keep The Great American Bash match results a secret for an entire week.
Sadly, the secret did not last for very long. In fact, it lasted mere seconds. WWE NXT Superstar Saurav Gurjar, who watched from ringside, posted a picture on his Instagram story of Lee celebrating his victory.
Although Gurjar quickly deleted the post, it was already too late. The screenshot above was sent to Sportskeeda on the night that The Great American Bash was taped. The news quickly spread online and Lee’s big moment was widely known by fans one week before it even aired.
#2 WWE Draft 2019 positions
The 2019 WWE Draft began on the October 11 episode of SmackDown and concluded on the October 14 episode of RAW. WWE did not have storyline General Managers at the time, so Stephanie McMahon played the GM role by announcing each brand’s draft picks.
One day before the WWE Draft started, an article on WWE’s website listed every Superstar and tag team who could be drafted. Strangely, the eligible Superstars appeared to be listed in order of ability rather than alphabetically.
When Stephanie McMahon announced the first few draft picks, it soon became clear what had happened. WWE’s website accidentally revealed the results of the WWE Draft over 24 hours before the roster changes were confirmed on television.
The website included the following WWE Superstars and teams in the top 10 positions in the Draft Pools list:
- Becky Lynch
- Roman Reigns
- The O.C.
- Bray Wyatt
- Drew McIntyre
- Randy Orton
- Sasha Banks
- Ricochet
- Braun Strowman
- Bobby Lashley
Sure enough, Stephanie McMahon’s top 10 was exactly the same. The error must have been mentioned backstage because the rest of the WWE Draft positions were slightly altered. WWE also updated its original article by listing the Superstars in alphabetical order.
#1 Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship win
Kofi Kingston won the WWE Championship for the first time in his career against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. As is often the case with high-profile title victories, WWE celebrated Kingston’s win by releasing new merchandise for the New Day member.
The company released a shirt with The New Day on the front, alongside the words, “There’s a new champ, yes, there is!”
On the back, the shirt said, “Who? Who? Who? Kofi, that’s who!”
If this shirt was made available to fans after Kingston’s memorable win, there would not have been a problem. However, someone at WWE Shop must have pressed the button a little too early on this item of merchandise.
As the tweets below show, the shirt could be found on WWE’s online store before the match had even started.
Once WWE booked the Bryan vs. Kingston match for WrestleMania, Kingston looked almost certain to win the title. Even so, that does not explain why his WWE Championship merchandise was already for sale before the bell had even rung.
