WWE, which has such a deep history, spawned many bad stories at various times. legends like John Cena, Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan were the faces of the company and even they had impeccable records. Bad angles will always be remembered negatively by the worst memories they left behind, but that’s not to say nothing good came of them.
There have been some rare moments where the bad stories had some positive moments that were overlooked. Fans usually remember worst-moment angles if they tune out the big picture. However, the good times from those memories should be discussed further. Every one of the next great forgotten moments came in bad WWE stories.
10 Kane winning the TLC tag team match solo (Katie Vick reveal)
Wrestling fans will never forget the horrible story of Katie Vick that has been mocked for decades. The storyline arose when WWE wanted a shocking revelation for Triple H about Kane ahead of their World Championship match.
Kane was one half of the World Tag Team Champions at the start of this angle with The Hurricane. An injury to Hurricane saw Kane win an epic TLC match alone and without a partner against three teams on Raw. Triple H revealed Katie Vick’s backstory that night to ruin Kane’s big win.
9 MVP talking to Bobby Lashley about a new career (Lana/Lashley/Rusev/Liv Morgan Romance Angle)
The romantic drama involving Lana featured three of her love interests, all involved in the absurd story. Lana, leaving Rusev for Bobby Lashley, led those two wrestlers to feud with Liv Morgan and they eventually came back as another ex-lover.
No one benefited from the disastrous angle that felt like rejected segments from the old Jerry Springer Show. MVP became an ally of Lashley and watched him convince Bobby to dump Lana, saving his career with the new act leading him to the WWE Championship.
8 Beth Phoenix Turning Face (Piggie James Story)
WWE still gets justified hate for the Piggie James story of Michelle McCool and Layla embarrassing Mickie James. Beth Phoenix was originally a heel on LayCool’s side by joining in bullying James for a month.
Nothing could make up for the low class segments reserved by WWE to embarrass Mickie. One silver lining towards the end of the story was that Phoenix turned face to face with his old enemy James against LayCool. Beth was needed to make a character change and no longer endorse LayCool for a better character.
7 Babyface Wrestlers Winning Raw Guest General Manager Roles (Randy Orton’s 2004 Face Turn)
WWE pulled the trigger on Randy Orton’s babyface career too soon to leave Evolution. Orton winning the World Championship from Chris Benoit to become WWE’s youngest world champion was a great moment, but Triple H kicking him out of Evolution the next night was a bold move.
Fans didn’t react to Orton as well as WWE had hoped, and he lost all momentum and handed the belt back to Triple H. One of Orton’s rare big face-turn moments was a Survivor Series team win with Benoit, Chris Jericho and Maven. The four wrestlers were given the power of Raw General Manager for one week to showcase a unique form of storytelling.
6 Steve Austin Awesome Josh Mathews (Michael Cole Vs Jerry Lawler Fight)
The rivalry between Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole provided some of the worst WWE storylines in years. Cole playing a rude and Lawler never having a wrestling match earlier led to the reward of them having a singles match. The match was one of the worst of all time on the biggest stage to upset most viewers who expected the best from WWE.
Steve Austin was the guest referee and he had a great time after the game. Raw’s Anonymous General Manager reversed the decision and had Josh Mathews announce Cole the winner angered Austin to punch Mathews for the only funny part of the angle.
5 Mick Foley solving the mystery (Rikishi running over Steve Austin)
WWE created a great storyline of Steve Austin getting hit by a car before leaving the company for almost a full year. Mick Foley was the Commissioner at the time during a period of great authority figure and tried to play detective to uncover the mystery.
Austin attacking or threatening everyone he saw as a suspect led Foley to try to solve the case. Rikishi was the big reveal when Foley interrupted a segment between himself and The Rock to announce it. Although Rikishi flopped in the role, Foley earned a huge moment of credibility as an authority figure.
4 Planting Seeds For D-Generation X Reunion (Vince McMahon teaming up with Shawn Michaels with “God”)
The bizarre story of WWE using religionists in a disrespectful way featured Shawn Michaels having to team up with “God” against Vince and Shane McMahon. WWE even had a slight glow on the ramp and followed nothing to joke that it was an invisible figure.
Vince and Shane scored the win and continued to target Michaels. The seeds were planted around this time with Triple H ending his show with John Cena and Edge. Triple H displayed more babyface tendencies, while Michaels needed a partner to even the odds and set up the DX reunion a few months later.
3 The Hurt Business Take Over (Raw Underground)
Shane McMahon’s return to WWE television after a few months with the new Raw Underground concept reflected his real-life association with that idea. Vince McMahon gave Shane’s idea of having underground wrestling segments featuring various talents a few months.
The concept was a massive flop that would be scrapped faster than Shane expected. One of the rare good things to come out of Raw Underground was that Hurt Business seemed more believable. Bobby Lashley and his friends attacked lesser known fighters and stood their ground and helped set them up for greater success.
2 Edge attacking a laptop (Raw General Manager Storyline)
Raw’s Anonymous General Manager was a hated story by most WWE fans. Michael Cole’s email reading of this mysterious heel figure went on too long and didn’t even have a legitimate reveal as it was quietly dropped to a far-future Hornswoggle joke.
Edge was on the short list of fighters to make this unique form of interaction work. One night of anger with the anonymous GM saw Edge smashing and attacking the laptop. Fans raved about the absurdly entertaining moment of Edge hitting the laptop with a steel chair.
1 Trish Stratus restarts the feud with Lita (Kane and Lita’s relationship)
WWE had one of the worst storylines in wrestling history when Kane forced Lita to marry him by winning a match against Matt Hardy. Kane started out as a crazy badass who somehow had a contract that meant Lita had to marry and spend a lifetime with him.
Trish Stratus was a heel at the time and began bullying Lita in backstage segments to win back their legendary feud. Kane changed faces after a few months, but Lita found a more interesting story. The 2004 show between Trish and Lita took their rivalry to new heights after starting off with a horrible angle.