Over the years on his Talk Is Jericho Podcast, Chris Jericho has mentioned that you have to be a little selfish to get ahead in the wrestling business. He’s not wrong: you need to have that Alpha Male personality, but the type that knows what’s best for you, your character, but most importantly, the overall business.
But sometimes, as we all know, you can be too selfish. Both in real life and in wrestling. Just like when it happens in real life, it’s also detrimental in wrestling, but it’s detrimental to the product as a whole. Triple H‘s Reign Of Terror, Hulk Hogan using his creative control in Starrcade ’97 – those are some examples of the latter. But more have emerged in the last decade or so.
10 The elite are on top
No matter how the business views Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks as a whole: give The Elite a compliment where it belongs. The foursome, along with Tony Khan and Chris Jericho, formed something out of nothing when AEW launched. But nowadays, reigning AEW Trios Champions Kenny and The Bucks seem more concerned with outdoing themselves rather than letting other trio teams take the spotlight. They only lost the titles due to the All Out debacle, and immediately regained them after their best-of-seven series with Death Triangle. They’ve had good matches with other trios, but so far apparently haven’t been willing to let other teams out on top. Hopefully that will change now that they have outgrown House Of Black and are feeding the BCC.
9 Lesnar refuses to work with Ambrose
Breaking the attendance record for WrestleMania 3, WrestleMania 32 was the perfect showcase to create new stars. At the top of the card was Roman Reigns, but his brother from the Shield, Dean Ambrose, was in the middle of the card against Brock Lesnar in a no holds barred street fight.
As we’ve all learned, these types of fights are where Ambrose, now Jon Moxley, shines. Had Lesnar been willing to do business with Ambrose, this match could have been a bloody, heart-stopping, spectacular masterpiece that firmly established Ambrose at the top of the card. But as Mox said during his interview with Stone Cold, he didn’t have a grand plan and he felt like he was gritting his teeth to pair up with Lesnar, who wanted nothing to do with working with The Lunatic Fringe.
8 John Cena’s Nexus Burial
After the first season of NXT concluded, winner Wade Barrett led all of NXT’s rookies to invade Raw. They dismantled and disarmed anyone and everyone in their path. For the first time in years, the fight really felt unpredictable and dangerous. But instead of capitalizing on that kind of energy and making several new stars out of The Nexus, they just sent them to Super Cena at SummerSlam. Chris Jericho and Edge tried to convince Cena and Vince that it was a bad move. But their protests fell on deaf ears. After SummerSlam, the Nexus were never the same again and they never regained their momentum.
7 Brock Lesnar refuses to do business with Bray Wyatt (twice)
During the build up to WrestleMania 39, Bray Wyatt called out the winner of the Elimination Chamber match between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. Shortly after Lashley won by disqualification, rumors sparked reports that it was the Beast Incarnate himself who put an end to working with Bray Wyatt. At least this time, WWE didn’t launch a show between the two like they did the first time Lesnar stopped it. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, The Wyatt Family worked together to get Lesnar out. But before the ball could start rolling on that show, Lesnar turned down the idea of working with the Eater of Worlds.
6 John Cena defeats Bray Wyatt and Rusev
Whether John Cena wasn’t willing to outpoint either Bray Wyatt or Rusev in two consecutive WrestleManias (30 and 31), he certainly had the strength to make good cases for why he shouldn’t outpoint either one. Both Bray Wyatt and Rusev were absolutely in tears when they met John Cena at WrestleMania. But despite each receiving the grand WrestleMania entrance treatment, they were not only fed Big Match John, but both were buried in rematches the following month.
5 WWE Punk Summer
CM Punk said it during his Pipe Bomb: Vince McMahon makes money to annoy himself and he should be a billionaire. But sometimes even VKM, the almighty and powerful, doesn’t seem to see the big picture. So instead of capitalizing on the incredible amount of energy that CM Punk created in Money In The Bank 2011, once Punk came back, instead of just tying him up with the rocket, he first had to put up with Alberto Del Rio cashing him in and putting him on. . in a pointless fight with Kevin Nash. Several months after his return, he got the Rocket on, but first it looked like WWE tried to push him down once more.
4 The NXT rebrand
Ever since he took over the development of WWE, Triple H had been building the future of WWE through NXT. NXT was almost universally considered by fans to be the best pure wrestling promotion on the planet. Then Hunter suffered a massive heart attack.
Rather than carry on with his vision, his father-in-law stepped in and not just imposed his vision, which could have been fine on its own. But it was the total destruction and exodus from the roster that felt like a huge slap in the face to devoted fans and his own son-in-law, who fans felt they worked very hard to establish.
3 Triple H defeating Sting
Speaking of Triple H, he had been booked over the years to topple nearly every member of the WCW roster who had made the jump to WWE. Why would we fans think Sting would have been any different? Well, for one (and only) because it’s Sting! The icon who had been all over the place was finally making his WWE debut, certainly defeating Triple H would be a launching pad for The Vigilante in WWE. Instead, the exact opposite was scheduled, and even the announcers were instructed to just bury the guy.
2 vince returns
Shortly before SummerSlam 2022, Vince McMahon was forced to leave his own company due to all kinds of accusations. He apparently gracefully withdrew, allowing Triple H to take over all the creativity. Meanwhile, Stephanie rose to her rightful place and co-CEO of the company.
But for reasons that are currently unclear (and can always only be conjecture between us, the fans), Vince McMahon found a way to force his return to the company. Stephanie left in the wake of that and fans fear that he will eventually usurp Triple H’s power to get it back for himself.
1 CM Punk’s AEW Complaint Stream
After years of self-imposed exile thanks to politics and the accumulation of injuries, CM Punk returned to the wrestling industry in mid-2021. The following year, he found himself once again at the top of the wrestling industry. Free as AEW World Champion. But again, thanks to politics and accumulated injuries, he withdrew into self-imposed exile. But only this time, the delivery of the Pope’s bomb caused quite a stir denigrating the company he worked for while he was sitting right next to his boss, who was so flabbergasted that he didn’t stop the tirade. .