10 Injuries That Ruined WWE PPV Plans

Everything that happens on WWE television should, theoretically, be building towards what is planned for the pay-per-view. Even the best-laid creative plans can quickly become undone, however, when a WWE star goes down with an injury at an inopportune time. 

These are 10 Injuries That Ruined WWE Pay-Per-View Plans. 

10. Bret Hart - King Of The Ring 1997

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were supposed to clash over the WWE Title in the main event of WrestleMania 13, one year after The Heartbreak Kid had beaten The Hitman for the gold in their historic Iron Man match. 

Michaels had to pull out of the match, however, due to losing his smile. This prompted WWE to push back plans for another Hart vs. Michaels showdown by a couple of months to the 1997 King of the Ring pay-per-view, with Bret challenging Shawn to a singles match on the May 19 episode of Raw, claiming that he would never wrestle in America again if he couldn’t beat his foe in less than 10 minutes. HBK agreed, on the condition that the other members of the Hart Foundation would be handcuffed to the ring posts to prevent them from interfering. 

Plans for the match were quickly ruined, though. Besides the simmering tension between Hart and Michaels - not helped by Shawn’s infamous ‘Sunny days’ comment - the fact remained that Bret was not yet recovered from knee surgery and wouldn't be able to compete as planned.

WWE wrote Hart out of the match and he was replaced by Steve Austin as the Texas Rattlesnake went one-on-one with the man he held the WWE Tag Team Titles with.

Fortunately for the fans who tuned into King of the Ring, Austin vs. Michaels was great and one of the best matches from WWE in 1997, even if it did end in a double DQ after Earl Hebner disqualified both men for attacking multiple referees. 

9. Ahmed Johnson - In Your House: Canadian Stampede

King of the Ring 1997 ended not with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin, but with The Undertaker retaining his WWE Title against Faarooq in a dreadful main event. The show itself had an intriguing post-main event angle, though, as Ahmed Johnson laid out The Deadman with a Pearl River Plunge before King of the Ring went off the air. 

That set Ahmed up as ‘Taker’s next challenger, with the WWE Title match made for the Canadian Stampede instalment of In Your House.

Notoriously injury-prone, though, Ahmed Johnson suffered a knee injury just two weeks before the pay-per-view during a brawl on Monday Night Raw. With Johnson on the shelf, Vader was drafted in as his replacement. The Undertaker ultimately retained in what was one of WWE’s best-ever pay-per-views.

That may not have been the original plan, according to Johnson anyway, who claimed in 2022 that he believes he was supposed to win the WWE Championship from The Undertaker. 

8. John Cena - No Mercy 2007

Heading into No Mercy 2007, John Cena was enjoying a long and fruitful reign as WWE Champion, having held the belt since winning it from Edge in a TLC match at Unforgiven over a year prior. 

Cena was due to defend the strap at No Mercy against Randy Orton in a rematch from SummerSlam. On the go-home show before the PPV, however, Cena sustained a torn pec while executing a simple hip toss to Mr. Kennedy.

With Cena set for months out of action, the title was officially vacated on ECW one day later. 

The injury also left No Mercy up in the air just days before the show, but WWE thought of a great alternative, delivering a night-long storyline which saw Mr. McMahon simply gift the WWE Title to Orton, only for Randy to lose the belt to Triple H.

The Game then defended the title successfully against Umaga, but HHH was felled in his third match of the night, losing the WWE Championship back to Orton in a main event Last Man Standing Match. 

7. Triple H - WrestleMania 23

No Mercy 2007 occurred shortly after Triple H had made his own return from injury, an issue which forced WWE to change their original plans for the main event of WrestleMania 23.

WWE originally planned to run John Cena vs. Triple H back on the biggest stage in a rematch from WrestleMania 22. While teaming with Shawn Michaels against Rated-RKO at New Year’s Revolution 2007, however, The Game tore his quadriceps while attempting a spinebuster on Randy Orton. 

Triple H finished the match but it was obvious he would be out for some time. WWE didn’t deviate too far from their original plan, though, as Triple H’s D-Generation X stablemate and best friend Shawn Michaels was brought in to face Cena at the Grandaddy of Them All. 

This also meant a change in plans for The Showstopper, who was rumoured to be Donald Trump’s pick to go up against Booker T in the Battle of the Billionaires, a match that ended up looking very different indeed as it eventually morphed into Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga. 

6. Randy Orton - Backlash 2016

In the main event of SummerSlam 2016, Randy Orton got beaten to a bloody pulp by Brock Lesnar, with the match infamously ending by TKO as WWE tried to tie into Lesnar’s MMA return at UFC 200. 

Considering he was busted open hardway at SummerSlam, it seemed somewhat ambitious for WWE to book The Viper against Bray Wyatt at Backlash three weeks later.

Orton had accepted the match on SmackDown and WWE continued to advertise it up until the night of the show, when the company ran an angle that saw Bray take out Randy backstage, rendering him unable to compete. Wyatt instead wrestled Kane at Backlash in a No Holds Barred Match, which ended when Orton ran in and hit The Eater of Worlds with an RKO.

Reports after the show suggested that while Randy had passed some initial impact tests, WWE’s medical staff were not comfortable with him performing due to the risk of worsening his concussion, though he was permitted to hit his finisher.

Orton returned to action soon after and the match with Bray went ahead at No Mercy instead.

5. Liv Morgan - Evolution 2025

Fans and WWE stars alike were thrilled when the company announced Evolution 2025, the all-female follow up to 2018’s very well-received pay-per-view.

It was presumed that Liv Morgan would be heavily involved in proceedings, given her incredible popularity and status as one half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.

A marquee match for Evolution was then teased on the June 9 episode of Raw as Liv confronted and laid out a returning Nikki Bella, setting up either a singles match between Morgan and Bella or a tag team match of Liv & Raquel Rodriguez vs. The Bella Twins.  

All of that was thrown out of the window, however, when Liv suffered a shoulder injury during the early stages of her match with Kairi Sane on the June 16 edition of Raw. It looked innocuous enough, coming from a simple front bump, but it was then reported that Morgan required surgery, ruling her out of not just Evolution but, potentially, out of the ring for the next six months.

4. Multiple Talents - Great American Bash 2006

Some WWE shows are just cursed and Great American Bash 2006 certainly falls into that category, with numerous ailments and injuries ravaging a card that ended up looking very different from what had been advertised. 

No less than three of the scheduled performers were withdrawn from the show due to elevated liver enzymes, with WWE fearing a possible hepatitis outbreak. 

Bobby Lashley had been scheduled to take on WWE United States Champion Finlay, but he was pulled and replaced with William Regal. Super Crazy was due to challenge Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms, but he was benched in favour of Matt Hardy, with the match changed to a non-title affair. The Great Khali was also pulled from his Punjabi Prison Match against The Undertaker, with Big Show taking his place.

Then there was Mark Henry, who was due to clash with Batista in a grudge match. Regrettably, the World’s Strongest Man ruptured his patella tendon on Saturday Night’s Main Event the week prior, resulting in Ken Kennedy filling in.

3. CM Punk - TLC 2012

While Ryback certainly has a very different reputation today, he was incredibly over in 2012 and looked set for superstardom as fans chanted “Feed Me More” after Ryback's big moves.

Ryback was so over, in fact, that after wrestling WWE Champion CM Punk in the main event of Hell in a Cell and then in a triple threat match (also including John Cena) at Survivor Series, Ryback was booked against The Straight-Edge Superstar in a TLC match at the same-titled pay-per-view. 

The match never happened, though, as after Ryback slammed Punk through a table on Raw, the WWE Champion had to undergo surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus. 

That took him out of the TLC main event and led to WWE instead booking Ryback to team with Team Hell No against The Shield in a match that turned out to be incredible. CM Punk vs. Ryback in a TLC Match was instead booked for the January 7, 2013 episode of Raw. 

2. Bayley - Money In The Bank 2021

There is an argument to be made that Bayley was WWE’s MVP during the pandemic era, and watching her create magic was one of the rare highlights of a dismal time both in real life and on WWE TV. 

With WWE returning to touring in the summer of 2021, Bayley looked ready to remain a top star on WWE TV, having been booked in an I Quit Match for the SmackDown Women’s Title against Bianca Belair at Money in the Bank, the first pay-per-view in front of a capacity crowd since WrestleMania 37 and only the second PPV with fans since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

Sadly, Bayley suffered a serious knee injury while training at the Performance Center and was forced to undergo surgery. 

She was replaced by Carmella, but WWE opted to move the match from the pay-per-view to the go-home edition of SmackDown instead. Meanwhile, the tag team match between AJ Styles & Omos and The Viking Raiders was moved from the July 12 edition of Raw to fill the gap at Money in the Bank.

1. Becky Lynch - Survivor Series 2018

While the Battle for Brand Supremacy between Raw and SmackDown was done to death, especially in the 2010s, it did produce some great matches like Brock Lesnar’s outings with AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan. 

Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey - a singles match that ultimately never happened - could have been a headliner at Survivor Series 2018 but the match didn't take place after Nia Jax rearranged Lynch’s face during an interbrand brawl on the November 12 edition of Raw.

Jax rocked Lynch with a stiff punch to the face, giving her a legitimately broken nose to go along with a severe concussion. It also gave Lynch that amazing close-up shot, which arguably did more for The Man than any match with Rousey would have.

A day later, Becky – sporting a black eye – withdrew from the Rousey match and announced Charlotte Flair as her replacement.