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There are very few instances in WWE where the company will announce a big match for one of their upcoming pay-per-views and then for whatever reason that match doesn't happen, but it still occurs every now and then.
We most recently saw this happen when the Rey Mysterio vs Roman Reigns Hell in a Cell match was taken off of the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view and added to the Friday Night SmackDown go-home show instead.
But what I want to look at today is recent instances of a Superstar being announced for a pay-per-view match only to end up getting pulled from that match in the last minute.
So without further ado, let's take a look at 5 WWE Superstars who have been pulled from announced pay-per-view matches at the last minute.
#5. WWE Superstar Bayley removed from Money in the Bank 2021 due to injury
Bayley was announced as going one-on-one with Biance Belair for the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view. The two were set to clash over the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship. There was also the added stipulation that the two would be doing battle in an I Quit match.
However, just nine days before the show was due to take place, WWE made a shock announcement that Bayley had suffered an injury during training and would consequently be out of action for nine months.
WWE announced they would be replacing Bayley in the title match with her replacement being announced on Friday Night SmackDown. There's no current indication as to who that replacement might be.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful added that Bayley's injury was alleged to have taken place during WWE's mandatory 'return to the road' training session at the WWE Performance Center while chain wrestling with another Superstar. The injury itself is alleged to have been caused by a freak accident.
#4. WWE Superstar Roman Reigns removed from Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2017
This one was a bit more shocking as WWE had built their entire Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view in 2017 around Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins teaming together as The Shield against The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman and Kane in a TLC match.
However, just two days before the pay-per-view was set to take place WWE announced that Roman Reigns was unable to compete in the match due to unexplained 'medical issues' and that he would be replaced by Kurt Angle.
Kurt Angle made his in-ring return as an honorary Shield member for the Tables Ladders and Chairs event and he helped lead his makeshift stable to victory against overwhelming odds, but the match certainly missed the presence of The Big Dog.
We'd later find out that Reigns was out of action after contracting mumps, a contagious disease that spread throughout the WWE locker room and also affected the next entry on our list, causing them to miss an advertised pay-per-view match too.
#3. WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt also missed Tables, Ladder and Chairs 2017
As I mentioned in the last slide, Roman Reigns wasn't the only WWE Superstar removed the Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2017 pay-per-view at the last minute as Bray Wyatt was also pulled.
Bray Wyatt was set to debut his Sister Abigail personality at the event taking on Finn Balor who was also going to debut a new personality too, The Demon King. However those plans were derailed when Wyatt contracted the same contagious disease as Roman Reigns and was pulled from the show.
AJ Styles was drafted in to replace Bray Wyatt and face Finn Balor instead and the two former Bullet Club members put on a fantastic match on Tables, Ladders and Chairs that definitely staked a claim for stealing the show.
Many expected WWE to pick up the Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor feud but instead they completely dropped it and we never got to see the arrival of either Sister Abigail or The Demon King.
#2. Becky Lynch pulled from dream singles matchup against Ronda Rousey for WWE Survivor Series 2018
WWE had booked themselves into a little bit of a corner come Survivor Series as they had engineered a situation where Becky Lynch was the SmackDown Women's Champion and Ronda Rousey was the RAW Women's Champion. This meant the two were set to face off against each other in an extremely low-stakes affair as their brands respective champions for Survivor Series.
Perhaps thankfully for WWE, although definitely unfortunate for Becky Lynch, The Man suffered a facial injury during a melee the week before which meant that WWE had to remove her from the Survivor Series 2018 match.
Lynch's injury is now fairly infamous in WWE as it took place during a SmackDown Live invasion of Monday Night RAW which ended up with Nia Jax legitimately (and accidentally) punching Becky Lynch in the face, breaking her nose and giving her a concussion.
Becky Lynch would then have to choose a replacement opponent for Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series and she ended up choosing the woman she'd recently retained the SmackDown Women's Title against, Charlotte Flair.
#1. Keith Lee pulled from United States Title match at WWE Elimination Chamber 2021
Keith Lee was due to take on Bobby Lashley and Riddle in a Triple Threat match for the WWE United States Title earlier this year. However, Lee suffered storyline injuries following an attack by Bobby Lashley and was written out of the match.
The announcement of Lee's removal from the match was made on the day of the event and as such a Fatal Fourway match took place at the pay-per-view to determine Lee's replacement. The match was won by John Morrison, who Riddle would ultimately pin to become the new United States Champion.
What makes this situation even more unique than the others on this list, outside of the fact the announcement was made as last-minute as it could've been, was that Lee's injury was never specified by WWE and to this day we still don't know what's happened to the extremely charismatic star.
That's because Lee is yet to make his return to action, and although he has spoken on social media a couple of times addressing his WWE status and what's going on with him, he's stopped short of reporting what has caused him to be out of action for so long.
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