10 Plot Twists That Hurt Wrestling Storylines (And 10 That Saved Them)

Professional wrestling is an athletic endeavor, and the matches pose as legitimate sport. Fans today recognize that the outcomes of matches are predetermined, and that most rivalries are not rooted in actual feelings, but rather storylines that writers, bookers, and the talents themselves have developed. Obviously, some of these stories are more successful than others, ranging from the half-year epic that Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho created in 2008, to the less than inspired angles that would not end, like the issue between Chavo Guerrero and Hornswoggle that stretched across months of WWE programming.

During the Monday Night War era, Eric Bischoff arranged for research to be done around what kinds of stories appealed to wrestling fans, and as he discussed on the Monday Night War documentary, one of the key findings was that wrestling fans liked to be surprised. While this point may seem obvious to fans now, it led to interesting results at the time, including being largely responsible for the tumultuous New World Order and its booking.

While the incorporation of plot twists certainly didn’t start with WCW and the nWo, that era of booking certainly had an influence and picked up on the number of major turns and dramatic reveals wrestling would see in the years to follow, right up to modern day pro wrestling programming.

This article chronicles ten plot twists that paid off huge for major wrestling storylines across promotions and throughout wrestling history, as well as ten memorable twists that largely ruined significant angles.

20 Hurt: Braun Strowman Doesn’t Have A Tag Team Partner At All

One of the more fun questions going into WrestleMania 34 was the matter of whom Braun Strowman would select as his mystery partner to challenge The Bar for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Strowman had been booked as monstrous enough to beat Shemaus and Cesaro all on his own; giving him a partner added intrigue as to whether this spot could be used to mark the return of a past star, or a major NXT call up. The identity of this star was a fun sub-plot.

The rumor mill put forth Rey Mysterio as a frontrunner, creating a fun tandem of the biggest and the smallest stars on the roster. The Big Show signed a new deal and creating a giant team between them was another prospect. Lars Sullivan from NXT could accomplish a similar end. In the interest of setting up an eventual rival, Bobby Lashley presented all sorts of intrigue as a possibility.

Instead, Strowman wandered the crowd before selecting a child fan, Nicholas, as his partner.

The choice was deflating for not adding anyone to the talent pool, removing the fun of an implied return or debut, and arguably lessening the credibility of the tag titles altogether.

19 Saved: Tomasso Ciampa Betrays Johnny Gargano

Through its presence on the WWE Network and Hulu, and its consistent delivery of top notch Network specials, NXT has emerged as the third biggest brand in the pro wrestling world. Two central figures for the brand are none other than Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa who had an electric run as the tag team #DIY that included justifying a rare NXT TakeOver main event tag team match.

The tandem losing their tag title rematch to the Authors of Pain may well have represented the end of the road for them as featured performers.

However, in the immediate aftermath, Ciampa brutally attacked Gargano made especially heinous for Gargano having taken a stiff ladder shot to save his partner that very night.

Rather than Gargano and Ciampa getting lost in the shuffle, this twist set the pair off for one of the most celebrated rivalries in NXT history.

Their match at NXT TakeOver New Orleans was widely regarded as the best of WrestleMania 34 weekend. As undersized performers without big names or family legacies, Ciampa’s heel turn was key to not only maintaining, but building on their momentum to create two legit singles stars.

18 Hurt: Brutus Beefcake Was Hulk Hogan’s Masked Attacker

The early days of Hulk Hogan’s WCW run—prior to the launch of the nWo—were largely lukewarm, featuring Hogan prevailing over a string of predictable foes in less than awe-inspiring matches. The run included a brief mystery angle in which a mystery masked man repeatedly attacked The Hulkster, before finally getting caught in the act and revealed. It turns out it was Brutus Beefcake.

There was some intrigue attached to the angle, for Beefcake having been Hogan’s both real life and kayfabe best friend for years. However, the intrigue quickly fizzled in favor of the realization that Beefcake—rechristened The Butcher—was simply not a main event guy, and in no way credible as a threat to Hogan. They saw through their rivalry, including the main event of Starrcade 1994, but this angle was a key demonstration of how badly WCW was understanding its audience at that moment in history.

17 Saved: WCW Doesn’t Trust Sting

As the New World Order really got rolling, the whole of WCW aligned against them, with even most lower and mid card heels making soft face turns to oppose them. Meanwhile upper card talent were largely lumped in together as a toothless resistance to this overwhelming force.

Sting looked set to be one in a series of unsuccessful challengers to Hollywood Hogan, with the risk of the nWo running out of steam in a few months’ time for lack of any credible threats to them. However, Fall Brawl 1996 saw a pivotal turn in the story, as the nWo claimed to have recruited The Stinger. Sting, who’d always done the right thing and been betrayed so many times before, was justifiably insulted. In the main event War Games match, he entered the ring and tore apart the heels, only to ask his WCW comrades if that was good enough for them, and abandon them in the ring, symbolically walking out on WCW altogether.

The Crow Sting gimmick that followed, with Sting staying silent, taking on a darker look, and watching from the rafter added a much needed threat, sense of danger, and comparably cool opponent to the super over New World Order.

16 Hurt: Vince McMahon Exposed As The Greater Power

During the Ministry of Darkness angle, The Undertaker unleashed his most unholy persona and demonstrated the beginnings of his ability to evolve with the changing times. When he alluded to a Greater Power guiding him, it introduced a fun mystery as to who might be pulling the strings and have the stroke to influence one of the biggest stars in wrestling history. Would it mark a turn for a star who was already on the air? Or might it set up the debut of a new talent (as multiple former writers have suggested that indie star Christopher Daniels was penciled in for the spot).

In the end, it was Vince McMahon in the spot, rehashing his already well established role as heel mastermind.

The McMahon reveal felt hugely anticlimactic. Worse yet, it was illogical given the degree to which The Undertaker had tormented McMahon and his family in the preceding weeks. Perhaps worst of all, the rationale given was that McMahon was angling toward screwing Steve Austin out of the WWE Championship—a title Stone Cold didn’t even hold when the angle got started.

15 Saved: Bully Ray Is Part Of Aces And Eights

Impact Wrestling’s Aces and Eights angle was nothing if not uneven, as the company attempted to create intrigue out a big heel stable invading the company, in a similar mold to the New World Order in WCW. Impact had tried this before with groups like The Main Event Mafia and Immortal, and this latest faction’s roster didn’t exactly inspire awe, boasting a cast of mid-carders and guys past their prime. That all shifted when Bully Ray was revealed as their final member and leader.

Ray’s push as one of the top faces in opposition to Aces and Eights had been one of the few real successes of the angle up to the point, as fans generally enjoyed him winning the trust of Hulk Hogan and the heart of Brooke Hogan while rising up the card. Revealing that he was actually the arch-villain in this scenario succeeded in surprising fans, while slotting Ray into his most natural position as a featured heel. He’d go on to his lone world title reign, and arguably the most successful stretch of his career.

14 Hurt: Kevin Nash Betrays Samoa Joe

Impact Wrestling has faced a long standing criticism of leaning too heavily on, and affording too many opportunities to talents coming to the roster from other companies—in particular WCW and WWE.

Joe was one of the few Impact talents who nonetheless enjoyed some success, via the aforementioned winning streak and generally being booked as a legitimate monster. Though he would come out the worse for that initial rivalry with Angle, he would make good later on, winning his first world title when he defeated Angle at Lockdown 2008.

Joe’s title reign to follow was uneven as he held the belt for half of a year but didn’t pick up all that many decisive victories over top names. Impact had the opportunity to correct that when Joe defended the company’s top title against the incumbent top star Sting at the biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory.

And Joe lost.

Joe not only lost, but lost due to interference from WWE/WCW alum Kevin Nash who predictably betrayed him. The whole scenario felt incredibly flat, and while Joe would hang around TNA for several years to follow, he never regained the momentum he had at that time when he threatened to become a true breakout star.

13 Saved: CM Punk Isn’t Done With ROH Just Yet

By 2005, CM Punk had emerged as one of the most over stars of the independent circuit, and was particularly huge for Ring of Honor. Punk signing with WWE was met with mixed emotions as he undeniably deserved the opportunity, but it was nonetheless sad to see him leave the indies for a company it wasn’t clear would appreciate him.

Punk challenged Austin Aries for the ROH Championship in what was widely rumored to be the Straight Edge Superstar’s last match before he left. Fans expected a classic, and also assumed Punk would lose.

Except he won.

Punk won, and rather than some sentimental token victory after which he relinquished the title, Punk instead cut a hellacious heel promo that set up a summer of him promising to take the ROH title with him when he left, while a cast of his best established colleagues gave chase. It was a fun, original sendoff tour which gave ROH a heck of a storyline as one of its top stars made his way out the door. Better yet, the angle served as inspiration for Punk to work a very similar angle in WWE six years later.

12 Hurt: Roderick Strong Joins The Undisputed Era

NXT TakeOver: New Orleans received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans, touted by some as the best of the always stellar TakeOver series. One of the show’s featured matches saw The Undisputed Era defend its tag titles against The Authors of Pain and the makeshift duo of Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong. While this one didn’t necessarily have a ton of buzz, the match over-performed into a fast-paced, fun romp. What really got fans talking coming out of this match, though, was Strong’s heel turn to join the Undisputed Era faction.

There are ways in which the turn made sense. Following Bobby Fish’s injury, the stable was short a key member. Meanwhile, though Strong has gotten over with NXT fans, he has felt adrift in his continual failure to capture gold or win high profile matches.

The problem here is Strong worked a hard-hitting match against The Undisputed Era before costing his partner the match for his new teammates.

The sequence of events made little logical sense, as, given his full trajectory, you’d expect him to have given his all, or to have betrayed his partner before he seemed to have the titles won for both of them.

11 Saved: Seth Rollins Turns Heel

There’s little question that from spring into early summer 2014, The Shield had emerged as one of the hottest acts in the wrestling world. After a highly successful run as heels, they’d turned fully face, and particularly as Daniel Bryan’s injuries took him out of action, they held down the fort at the top of the card with their war against Evolution.

Sure, The Shield may have had a few more months in their tank as a successful face act, but rather than joining the litany of popular WWE acts to overstay their welcome, they split up near the peak of their success, as each man was ready to hold his own as a singles star. Best of all, Rollins, the guy with the least clear character or career trajectory got the heel turn, thus setting him up as a natural rival to the other two. This choice also set him up to be cast as The Authority’s chosen one, allowing him a de facto top spot as heel world champion Brock Lesnar worked part time, and setting up Rollins for his own WWE Championship run.

10 Hurt: Vince McMahon Starts His Own Religion

In 2006, Vince McMahon feuded with Shawn Michaels. The rivalry arguably peaked with their over achieving match at WrestleMania 22, and culminated in a fun return of HBK’s partnership with Triple H under the DX banner. In between, though, McMahon took on over the top ‘Mania promo with religious overtones and transitioned it into the gimmick of starting his own religion—McMahonism—to mock Michaels’ faith as a born again Christian.

The sub-angle was in poor taste, and made worse when WWE booked Michaels in a tag team match against Vince and his son Shane for the next PPV. Michaels’s tag team partner? None other than God.

The premise of the angle and match were arguably offensive, and grew more convoluted when, in the build, lightning struck down at McMahon, ostensibly showing God was angry with him. From there, the McMahons won their tag match, which worked out more like a handicap match, which further confused whether we were supposed to understand that God hadn’t been involved in these proceedings in the first place, or had chosen to abandon Michaels. All in all, the story introduced questions WWE wasn’t prepared to answer, while walking a fine line of offending fans of faith.

9 Saved: Mark Henry Isn’t Retired Yet

In 2013, Mark Henry famously put on a salmon colored blazer and delivered an emotional speech, chronicling his career. John Cena came out to pay his respects for the World’s Strongest Man’s apparent retirement, which included draping his world title over the big man’s shoulder. The feel good moment quickly descended into chaos as Henry launched an assault on Cena, declaring that he wasn’t done yet.

While no one really expected Henry to take the title off of Cena, this was a fun launch to Henry’s last main event program, and an all-time great career moment for him. As a bonus, Henry getting the big push here made his WrestleMania victory over up and coming Ryback a couple months make much more sense for the overarching story WWE meant to tell.

8 Hurt: Kevin Nash Goes Into Business For Himself Against CM Punk

SummerSlam 2011 saw the surprise return of Kevin Nash as he appeared following the main event match between CM Punk and John Cena to powerbomb Punk, and set up Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase against the Straight Edge Superstar.

That summer had seen Punk rise from a position of upper card talent to arguably the top guy in the company.

In theory, positioning Punk against a legend like Nash wasn’t the worst idea.

However, WWE failed to properly plan around Nash’s body, which was injury prone. It turned out Nash couldn’t get cleared to actually wrestle Punk, making his involvement ultimately benefit no one. WWE added some intrigue as to whether Nash had acted on his own or in collusion with Triple H—a face with a checkered history. The reveal that Nash had gone into business for himself felt anticlimactic and only set up an eventual match between Nash and Triple H. It was merely a forgettable part timers’ match that WWE had sacrificed Punk’s momentum to build.

7 Saved: Triple H Attacks Shawn Michaels To Set Up His Return

In 2002, WWE introduced the New World Order to its fans, as the original trio of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash entered the company, billed as Vince McMahon’s poison to kill WWE, rather than letting the company slip from his grasp during a power struggle with Ric Flair.

WWE’s take on the nWo probably should have wrapped up at WrestleMania X8, where Steve Austin beat Hall decisively, and Hogan turned face after losing a more memorable match to The Rock. However, the angle limped into summer, including the addition of X-Pac and The Big Show, and intrigue about the group drafting Booker T. This all culminated in Shawn Michaels being introduced as the newest member, before he was brutally attacked by an unknown assailant.

That Michaels’s nWo turn would give way to him coming back as a full time in ring talent, and a classic feud with Triple H largely justified the convoluted means by which WWE got there. Meanwhile, an accumulation of injuries led WWE to end up dropping the nWo angle altogether shortly thereafter.

6 Hurt: D-Von Unmasked As The First Member Of Aces And Eights

Impact Wrestling’s Aces and Eights storyline got off to a reasonably successful start, based on the mystery of masked men attacking Impact stars. Not unlike the New World Order angle in WCW, this storyline benefited from a slow build as the group operated largely in the background at first before emerge as an increasingly main event level threat.

That all of the group members were masked invited some fun with the promise they’d be revealed one by one. That very first reveal had to be a big one, though, to make the group really feel like a big time threat.

The first man revealed was D-Von.

While D-Von Dudley is a fairly iconic tag team wrestler, he was never a singles star at even the mid-card level. There was some element of intrigue in him going against his kayfabe brother and long time partner Bully Ray. Putting that aside, however, D-Von felt like a hugely anticlimactic guy for this part. As the stable was just finding its legs, D-Von made them feel decisively second rate, and like Impact didn’t have much to worry about after all from this faction.

5 Saved: Kevin Owens And Sami Zayn Attack Daniel Bryan

Summer 2017 all the way into spring 2018 saw SmackDown dominated by Commissioner Shane McMahon’s ongoing feud with Kevin Owens, which Sami Zayn got in on at the Hell in a Cell PPV. While Owens was good in this storyline, and Zayn really came into his own with his new heel persona, the general consensus among critics was that the angle stretched too long with too little movement.

Come WrestleMania, things took several turns.

In a key twist, Daniel Bryan got his real life clearance to return to the ring after a two-year medically imposed retirement.

From there, he was a natural fit to slide in as Shane’s partner against Owens and Zayn. The linchpin in making the story work was creating as much of a beef between Bryan and the heels (whom he’d largely sympathized with in the preceding months). When Owens and Zayn brutally attacked Bryan immediately after he’d been cleared, it was a near perfect move to draw nuclear heat for them and give Bryan a logical target for his comeback match.

4 Hurt: Triple H Is Jealous Of Randy Orton

In the beginning stages of Randy Orton’s career, playing a generic face, fans summarily rejected him. He was vanilla, and he was exactly the sort of legacy star fans had come to resent rather than get behind when WWE introduced them, expecting them to get cheers off of their family name. Fortunately, WWE had a playbook by then, largely replicating the trajectory of The Rock. Orton showed heel tendencies when he was out due to injury, then became second in command for a top heel stable (Evolution for him, just as Rock had done with the Nation of Domination). From there, Orton rose to the top of the mid card before he was ready for a main event push of his own.

Everything went according to plan as Orton got over in his heel persona and seemed like he belonged when he took the World Heavyweight Championship off of Chris Benoit at SummerSlam 2004. Even the next night on Raw felt pretty electric as Triple H revealed himself as jealous of his protégé and kicked him out of Evolution with a brutal beat down.

That beat down would prove to be the point when Orton and his interactions with Evolution were largely ruined. It’s clear enough WWE meant to push Orton as a top face, and though he lost the title to Triple H that fall, the conventional wisdom was that he’d get it back in a crowning moment at WrestleMania 21. As soon as Orton was a face again, without a stable behind him, he was largely exposed for his limitations. When he wasn’t playing an arrogant jerk, he struggled to project any personality at all, and without the dressings of Evolution he looked like just another guy. Orton would flounder for months, squandering his hard earned momentum before WWE mercifully turned him back heel in the spring to give chase to The Undertaker and his WrestleMania undefeated streak.

3 Saved: Trish Stratus Aligns With Christian

The build to WrestleMania XX saw tag team partners and heel buddies Chris Jericho and Christian make a bet about which of them could get Trish Stratus or Lita to sleep with him first. In classic high school movie fashion, Jericho had a change of heart—turning face as he actually fell in love with Stratus, and setting him up for a more heated rivalry with his former ally.

Jericho fighting for Stratus’s honor may have been OK, but it felt cliché and under utilized Jericho and Stratus as a pair of major talents from their era.

Therefore, it was a welcome and fresh turn when the twist went down at ‘Mania—Stratus was actually working in collaboration with Christian, her new boyfriend. The sight of Stratus teeing off on Jericho was legitimately shocking, and her smiling and kissing Captain Charisma from the stage while Y2J looked on with disgust is an underrated classic moment in ‘Mania history.

2 Hurt: Jason Jordan Is Kurt Angle’s Son

In the aftermath of WrestleMania 33, Kurt Angle was announced as the new general manager of Raw. It was a popular decision, particularly among fans who dated back to the Attitude Era or earlier, who were excited to see an all time great reincorporated into the WWE landscape. One of Angle’s first storylines of any significance in this role saw the mystery introduced of his estranged son coming to Raw.

Jason Jordan objectively made reasonable sense in this role as a top athlete with a passing resemblance to Angle and amateur wrestling credentials of his own. Moreover, Jordan was a guy without any clear direction who got a whole new spotlight based on this kayfabe association.

The trouble is that WWE didn’t really seem to have much of a plan beyond declaring Jordan Angle’s son and hoping he’d get over. For all of Jordan’s obvious physical gifts, he’s not much of a talker, and fans didn’t have much investment in him.

There were some signs of hope as Jordan started signaling a heel turn last fall. Unfortunately, he went down to injury just as things were getting in motion, so it will be interesting to see if he can redeem this angle in the long run, or if it will forever go down as a failed plot twist.

1 Saved: The Undertaker Avenges His Streak

The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania was the stuff of legitimate wrestling legend. It was the sort of organic development WWE probably couldn’t have planned, but fell into when The Phenom hadn’t lost a match at the biggest show of the year in over a decade, and so the streak became a gimmick all its own. So, it was huge news and a huge surprise when the streak came to an end at the hands of Brock Lesnar.

The Deadman’s 2014 feud with Lesnar felt largely uninspired and, despite the shocking finish to the match and entertaining push The Beast Incarnate enjoyed afterward, the match itself mostly underwhelmed fans. As such, there was little call for The Undertaker to come back to feud with Lesnar—that is, until it happened.

The Phenom made a surprise return at Battleground 2015 to cost Lesnar his world title shot against Seth Rollins.

In and of itself, this return helped WWE out of a corner, as there was no way Rollins could be booked to beat Lesnar, but the company also wanted to keep the title on him. On top of that, it would set the stage for a heated brawl between Lesnar and The Undertaker on Raw the next night that felt legitimately epic for these two enormous stars and monsters of men needing the entire locker room to clear out to keep them from destroying one another.

While their SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell matches may not have been classics, they were far better than their WrestleMania outing, leaving the rivalry on a high note, and offering WWE a unique story to see through the summer.