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With WWE pushing out hours of content every day, it’s clear that the biggest Sports Entertainment company in the world needs to work fast.
Disclaimer: The views of the author do not represent the views of Sportskeeda
With the stories we see on RAW, SmackDown Live and NXT, decisions can be made on a dime, sometimes for the better, but often for the worse.
And when a quick, last-minute decision gets made, there’s always going to be a Superstar that gets buried in the process, as well as plenty of ticked off fans.
Here are six last-minute changes that completely destroyed WWE storylines, and the Superstars who got hurt along the way.
#6 The Beast reigns supreme at Crown Jewel
When Brock Lesnar regained the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel, most fans weren’t pleased.
The Beast’s first run, which lasted a staggering 504 days had only ended a few weeks ago, a reign which had seen the prestigious championship vanish for months, much to the anger of both fans and Superstars
Whilst some claim the plan was always for Brock to regain the title, this seems unlikely, as he had just dropped the title to Roman Reigns at the biggest party of the Summer, and the company were seemingly pushing for Reigns Vs then-WWE Champion AJ Styles at Survivor Series.
According to others, the planned triple threat was meant to see Braun Strowman defeat both Reigns and Lesnar, though this plan changed following the Big Dog’s Leukaemia diagnosis.
With the Monster Among Men reportedly having trouble backstage, the company gave the title back to Brock, clearly the wrong choice, which only added to a show which was already a PR disaster before it even aired.
#5 Big Show becoming WWF Champion
1999 was a strange year for the WWF Championship, which was held by seven Superstars across the 12 months.
The most bizarre of these champions was the Big Show, who was able to defeat Triple H for the title at Survivor Series 1999, whose rise to being the company’s top heel was hurt with the loss.
But the Giant was never even meant to be in the match, as the plan had been for Steve Austin to dethrone the Game, in a triple threat match which also featured longtime nemesis The Rock.
However, Austin’s neck issues were getting worse, requiring urgent surgery, with the WWF writing him out of the match with a now infamous hit and run.
Whilst a fine enough Superstar, the young Big Show wasn’t quite World Champion material, only defending the title once on pay per view, and not even in the main event.
His reign abruptly ended, hinting at the mess to come from the “who ran over Stone Cold” angle.
#4 Asuka’s streak is broken
When 2018 began, things were looking promising for the Empress of Tomorrow.
Still undefeated since her NXT debut in 2015, Asuka carried on her winning ways when she won the first women’s Royal Rumble Match, earning a Women’s title match at WrestleMania.
Things came crashing down for her though, when Charlotte Flair made the Empress tap out at the show, in what was reportedly a last-minute call, which was just the start of a rough period for the Japanese star.
Losing to Carmella and James Ellsworth not long after, Asuka’s year got much worse, with the last minute decision to end the streak being the catalyst for all of this.
Whilst she is now riding high once again as SmackDown Women’s Champion, nothing she can do can ever bring back her undefeated streak, or the fact that she was completely buried by WWE.
#3 No Bayley/Sasha heel turn
In NXT, Sasha Banks and Bayley were two of the WWE’s biggest stars, contrasting well, in a feud based on the NXT Women’s Championship, wanting to be the better woman, and eventually respect.
But both have suffered since joining the main roster, and it looked like the pair were about to split in 2018, with a heel turn being teased for months.
This definitely got fans invested, as whilst it seemed logical for Banks to turn, a heel turn by the loveable Bayley could’ve been the character shift she needed.
Instead, WWE decided to have neither woman turn, making the past few months of their show obsolete, as well as making both women seem completely unmotivated.
A completely pointless angle, which wasted two talented ladies, many fans are still wondering why the WWE just stopped this storyline.
#2 Kurt Angle subbing for the Shield
We all now know about Roman Reign’s history of illness, but when the Big Dog dropped out of a long-awaited Shield reunion, fans weren’t so forgiving.
For weeks, the company had hyped up the return of the Hounds of Justice, who were ready to dominate the WWE once again, if they survived their TLC opponents of Kane, The Miz, Braun Strowman and The Bar.
Once Reigns was out, fans quickly lost interest, and whilst Kurt Angle was chosen as his replacement, this did not work out well.
In his first WWE match in over a decade, Angle came out through the crowd with Rollins and Ambrose, whose styles he did not mesh well with.
Whilst Angle, Rollins and Ambrose would win, it is still annoying that Angle’s grand return to the ring was such a waste.
#1 Goldberg winning the Universal Title
The WWE Universe weren’t exactly thrilled when Goldberg won the Universal Championship from Kevin Owens, a title change made all the worse when you realize the WCW star beat Owens in just 22 seconds.
Apparently, this title change didn’t go down well backstage, with Vince McMahon reportedly not even wanting it in the first place.
Speaking on his podcast, Chris Jericho revealed the plan was for Owens to retain, and lose the title at WrestleMania to Chris Jericho, allowing the Fozzy singer one last time as World Champion, before he would eventually lose the title to Lesnar.
No-one is quite sure what caused this last-minute change, but most will agree it was a bad move, as the WrestleMania match between Jericho and Owens for the US title, was far more entertaining than Brock and Goldberg.
