5 WWE Storylines from 2019 that didn't get resolved

There are a number of WWE storylines that made 2019 a memorable year. Some were short and simple like Baron Corbin becoming King of the Ring and the changing of Chad Gable’s name to Shorty G. Some storylines, however, were eventful enough to mark the end of an era, such as Kurt Angle’s retirement match and The Shield teaming up for one final time before Dean Ambrose left the company.

However, among the many storylines WWE started and ended throughout the year, there are still more than a handful that the company started to tell only to leave the WWE Universe in limbo with no conclusion.

#5 The Ambrose/Jax Situation

Nothing ever happened between Ambrose and Jax in the end.

Heading into 2019, it appeared that Dean Ambrose found a new sense of identity. Not only was he the Intercontinental Champion, but it appeared that he had successfully come out from underneath the shadows of his brothers by walking away from The Shield.

However, Ambrose’s fortune quickly turned on its head when on the January 14th episode of RAW, he lost the Intercontinental Championship to Bobby Lashley. Things only continued to get worse when his former friend turned foe, Seth Rollins, won the Royal Rumble match, less than two weeks later.

Triple H then came out on the January 28th episode of RAW, advising Rollins that he had to pick his WrestleMania 35 opponent. Rollins could choose either Universal Champion Brock Lesnar or WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. This appeared to be too much for Ambrose as he interrupted the two of them and goaded Triple H into giving him a match against Rollins, which Ambrose ended up losing.

Down on his luck, Ambrose sat on a chair in the middle of the ring and tried to address the crowd, but was quickly interrupted by Tamina and former RAW Women’s Champion Nia Jax. The two had an intense staredown before Nia Jax eventually shoved Ambrose out of the ring. Ambrose appeared to contemplate getting back into the ring, but decided to leave instead.

Not only had Jax just wrestled in the Men’s Royal Rumble match the night before, but she also managed to incapacitate the number thirty entrant, R-Truth, and eliminate Ali from the match. It eventually took three former World Champions, Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton, to eliminate her from the match. This all led to a perfect set-up where intergender wrestling could be introduced to the WWE.

However, not only did this not happen, but the storyline was completely forgotten about, which only leaves a couple of big unanswered questions. Why did Nia Jax attack Ambrose in the first place? Why didn’t the unstable 'Lunatic Fringe' confront Nia Jax at any point afterwards?

With Dean Ambrose no longer in WWE and now a part of AEW under the name Jon Moxley, this is a storyline that is unlikely to ever be resolved.

#4 What was Daniel Bryan’s career-altering announcement?

The WWE Universe never found out what Daniel Bryan's career altering announcement was.

When WWE advertises a segment about a career-altering announcement, more often than not, it is usually an opportunity for the wrestler to tell the WWE Universe that they are either retiring or making an in-ring return. In Daniel Bryan’s case, he has done both, as he gave his retirement speech in February 2016 and announced his in-ring return in March 2018.

Daniel Bryan made a successful return to the company as a wrestler and then won the WWE Championship, also ending AJ Styles year long reign in the process. He would then go on to have a near five month reign before finally losing the title to Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35. Even then, it was only a month until Bryan held gold again when he won the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships alongside Rowan.

When Rowan and Bryan lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The New Day at Extreme Rules two months later, Bryan said he had another ‘career announcement’ on the July 16th episode of SmackDown. However, when he came out to try and confront The New Day, he was simply unable to speak and eventually went backstage again.

The fact that Bryan has never revisited this ‘career announcement’ leaves a gap not only in Bryan’s career, but also an unresolved storyline.

#3 Natalya gives Dana Brooke the silent treatment

Brooke's frustration with Natalya never amounted to anything.

Due to the number of female tag teams there were in WWE, it would only be a matter of time before the company introduced the Women’s Tag Team Championships. By the end of 2018 Vince McMahon officially made the announcement.

While there were countless female wrestlers vying to be among the first ever Women's Tag Team Champions, including established Tag Teams such as the Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection, The Riott Squad, and The IIconics, there were a handful of singles wrestlers thrown in together as tag teams. This included Natalya and Dana Brooke.

On the January 28th episode of RAW this year, Natalya and Brooke teamed together to face Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan of The Riott Squad for an opportunity to be one of six teams to challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Championship at Elimination Chamber. After Brooke inadvertently fell into Natalya costing her team the victory, there was a natural assumption these two would go their separate ways, especially considering they have very little history as a tag team.

However, this didn’t appear to be the case. On the following week’s episode of RAW, there was a short segment where Dana Brooke apologized to Natalya about what had transpired, only to be ignored. Unbeknownst to Brooke, Natalya had her earphones on and was unable to hear Brooke’s apology. However, due to this, Brooke challenged Natalya to a match the following week on RAW and said she was "going to find a McMahon and make a match against you."

While the WWE Universe can certainly appreciate a good joke, the fact that Brooke challenged Natalya to a match that hasn’t happened has led this storyline to no conclusion.

#2 Who attacked Big E backstage?

When Kofi Kingston won his first World Championship at WrestleMania 35, it was a ‘fairytale ending’ for the wrestler who had spent over a decade working to be at the top of the company. It appeared everyone was swept along with ‘KofiMania’ including Kevin Owens, who wanted to be an honorary member of New Day in place of Big E. Owens even dubbed himself as ‘Big O’ on the April 16th episode of SmackDown. This led to Owens being part of a six man tag team match alongside Kingston and Xavier Woods against Rusev, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Owens ultimately pinned Rusev for the victory.

However, this alliance was to be short-lived, as on the following week of SmackDown Owens delivered a Super Kick to Kofi Kingston while under the guise of protecting New Day from Rusev and Nakamura. Over the next several weeks, Owens continued his attacks on both Kingston and Woods.

However, on the May 21st episode of SmackDown, Big E returned to WWE only to be attacked backstage the same night. When asked who did it, all Big E could utter was "Kevin Owens." While this made sense, Owens clarified the following week that he had "nothing to do with what happened to Big E."

Taking Owens' character into account, and the fact he had been proud of dismantling The New Day over several weeks, it seemed somewhat puzzling as to why Owens wouldn’t admit attacking the final member of New Day. This led to the likelihood that there may actually be someone else that could be behind all of this. However, due to the fact that no-one has officially confirmed they are behind Big E's attack, this has led this to another unresolved storyline.

#1 Why didn’t Brock Lesnar get punished for attacking Dominick?

Heyman's shock said he couldn't get Lesnar out of this 'trouble'.

If there is one thing WWE has emphasized over several storylines this year, it was that no wrestler will go unpunished for assaulting a non-competitor. Some examples from this year include, Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey, and Becky Lynch all getting arrested six days before WrestleMania 35 for attacking security guards, while Kevin Owens was fined $100,000 two nights after SummerSlam for attacking Elias (who was a special guest enforcer at the time of the attack). More recently, on the December 2nd episode of RAW, Bobby Lashley and Lana were arrested for being verbally and physically abusive to the police.

On the September 30th episode of RAW, when Rey Mysterio made a heartfelt speech about bringing the Universal Championship home for his son Dominick, he was interrupted by Brock Lesnar. Lesnar quickly gave Mysterio an F-5 before he went into the crowd and turned his focus to Rey's son. Lesnar dragged Dominick out and brutally assaulted both father and son, leading to his advocate Paul Heyman pleading with Lesnar to stop.

The fact that Dominick is not a wrestler on the WWE roster effectively means Lesnar had just attacked an audience member. Taking that fact into account, the question then arose as to why no security guards or police officers came out, but just a handful of referees and a few trainers.

What was most confusing about all of this is that there were no repercussions for Brock Lesnar for attacking a member of the audience and he still kept his WWE Championship opportunity four days later, which he won.

Considering many wrestlers have had some sort of punishment for attacking non-competitors, and the fact that Heyman even told Lesnar that he couldn’t get him "out of this trouble," it poses a loose end to this storyline. Fans are still bewildered and wonder why WWE didn't punish Brock Lesnar for such a heinous act.