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In Professional Wrestling, rivalries (or feuds) play an important role. A match could feature some of the best Wrestlers on Earth but it would still feel flat if there is no rivalry, between the Superstars involved, to hype up that fight. You must all be well aware by now that Professional Wrestling is scripted and Professional Wrestling Superstars portray Characters assigned to them by the Creative.
So generally in Professional Wrestling, a match takes place between a Babyface (hero) and a Heel (Villain), though we have seen several Face vs. Face and Heel vs. Heel matches too. Just announcing a match isn't enough, however. A proper build-up prior to the match is necessary. The build-up should feature the growing rivalry between the Superstars involved. In order to fuel a rivalry, the Superstars can either attack, play mind games or simply trash-talk one another.
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When it comes to WWE, we have witnessed several great rivalries like Steve Austin/The Rock, Triple H/Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan/The Miz etc. Still, there are many rivalries that were supposed or likely to happen but didn't. Some of these rivalries had the potential to become the best rivalries of their time.
So, here are 6 WWE Rivalries that were supposed or likely to happen but didn't.
#6 John Cena/Samoa Joe:
Ever since John Cena became a part-timer by the end of 2016, we haven't seen much of him. He became a free agent in 2017 and has been showing up on both Smackdown Live and Raw since and has faced new WWE arrivals like AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura etc. According to Pro Wrestling Unlimited, a feud was planned between Samoa Joe and John Cena post-Wrestlemania 33. Joe was supposed to make his main roster debut on Smackdown Live and injure Cena in order to write him off TV for a few months but the feud was scrapped due to unknown reasons. Joe ended up making his debut on Raw in January 2017 and kicked off his feud with Seth Rollins while Cena ended up taking the hiatus as planned.
However, it looked like the plans for a Cena/Joe feud were still on as Samoa Joe announced on 8th January that he would be participating in the Royal Rumble match. When asked about how he would match up against other prominent Superstars such as John Cena, Joe immediately answered that he would make sure that he eliminates John Cena first. Although Cena was supposed to face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 34.
A feud was being planned between Joe and him. The feud would have likely culminated in a match at Fastlane 2018. However, Joe got injured before Royal Rumble and Elias replaced him in the feud against Cena. Now that John Cena is hardly around, it looks like the feud won't be happening anytime soon.
#5 Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins:
Although we have seen Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins battling one another several times before, a match was being planned between the two for Wrestlemania 34. However, Ambrose was supposed to be the heel this time. You may remember last year's disastrous Shield reunion which was plagued by injuries. However, the original plans for the reunion were quite exciting.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Before Ambrose got injured in December 2017, he was supposed to turn heel and betray his Shield Brothers. He would have feuded with both Reigns and Rollins for a few weeks before Reigns’ Universal title quest started. The feud with Rollins however, was supposed to last much longer and culminate in a Wrestlemania match.
The plans for an Ambrose heel turn might still be on but the circumstances are much different now. His heel turn is being teased on a weekly basis and is not being kept as a surprise, the 2018 reunion has been quite lackluster and the WWE Universe has been supporting the idea of Ambrose leaving the Shield. A heel turn last year would have really done its job in making Ambrose a true villain as the reunion was very well received by the WWE Universe.
#4 The Undertaker/Sting:
It has been a dream feud of every Professional Wrestling fan since the 90s. Both Sting and The Undertaker were the top stars of their respective companies (WCW and WWF) in the 90s. The two were also quite loyal to their companies, due to which we never got to see one of them jumping ship to the other's company and face him. After WWF bought WCW, Sting chose not to sign with WWF and continued to wrestle elsewhere (most notably, TNA).
Sting signed with WWE in 2014 and feuded with Triple H and Seth Rollins in his first year. Sting was injured in his match against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015 and was forced to retire. Sting was a guest on The Apter Chat recently where he stated that he if the match with Rollins hadn't gotten him injured, he would have pushed hard for a match against The Deadman. Sting and The Undertaker are on good terms in real life. They even shared lockers at Wrestlemania 31 and were also spotted together at airport Post-Wrestlemania 31. Sting also said during the interview that he had a lot of "cool" ideas for the feud which involved holograms and special effects.
It's a shame that Sting suffered a career-threatening injury just before we were about to get the dream match we had been waiting for decades.
#3 Finn Balor/Kevin Owens:
Finn Balor made his main roster debut in the summer of 2016. He received a huge push as soon as he arrived on Raw. On his first night, he beat Roman Reigns clean and in his first main roster PPV match, he defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural Universal Champion. Unfortunately, Balor suffered an injury during his match against Seth Rollins and had to relinquish the title following night on Raw.
If Finn Balor hadn't gotten injured, he was supposed to have some interesting feuds and matches post-Summerslam. According to Dave Meltzer, the original plans for the Universal Champion Finn Balor involved him defending his title against Kevin Owens at Clash of Champions 2016. That match would have led to a triple threat match (probably a Hell in a Cell match) at Hell in a Cell between Balor, Jericho, and Owens. The Balor/Owens & Jericho feud had the potential to be a highly entertaining feud and there's no doubt that the matches between them would have been excellent.
Instead, we got a feud between Rollins & Reigns and Owens & Jericho. The major takeaway was that WWE lost hope in Balor after his injury and didn't push him after he made his return.
#2 Triple H/NWO:
Many people say that NWO's 2002 WWF run was lackluster and "watered-down". After feuding with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the faction started getting left off important story-lines. After Hogan left NWO, Kevin Nash got injured and Hall was fired by WWF, Superstars like X-Pac, Booker T and Big Show joined the group. After Kevin Nash returned and announced Shawn Michaels as the new member of NWO, it started looking like NWO may be on its way back to prominence.
At King of the Ring 2002, the NWO had a friendly confrontation with Triple H backstage before Triple H's match against The Undertaker. The NWO then started demanding Triple H to join them but Triple H didn't answer any of their proposals. Shawn Michaels then gave Triple H an ultimatum. He said that he needed to know Triple H's decision before or at Vengeance (PPV after King of the Ring) and if he didn't join them, then he would be against them. However, those plans were scrapped as Kevin Nash got injured before Vengeance and the NWO disbanded after that. According to the original plans, however, Triple H would have refused to join the NWO, kicking off a feud between himself and the NWO. This would have led to a match between Nash (with Shawn Michaels) and Triple H at Summerslam 2002.
#1 Eddie Guerrero/Shawn Michaels:
Shawn Michaels' career-threatening injury in 1998 caused him to miss several important story-lines. He could have been a major part of the Attitude era. He could have feuded with and wrestled some of the best Superstars of that time, whom he couldn't face after his return due to the brand split or other reasons. At Wrestlemania 22, Shawn Michaels was supposed to face one such Superstar.
Court Bauer revealed that Bruce Prichard pitched a dream match for Wrestlemania 22 to Vince McMahon between Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero. The idea was discussed a day or two before Eddie's death. According to Bauer, Vince was really impressed with this idea. Prichard also suggested doing parallels of their careers and Vince was impressed by this idea too and asked for footage of Eddie Guerrero they had outside of WCW.
The feud would have been one of a kind and the match would have overshadowed any other match that followed it. Eddie's tragic death caused those plans to be changed and Michaels ended up facing Vince McMahon at the Show of Shows.
