10 Storylines WWE Stars Hated Doing

WWE star is never going to like absolutely everything they are asked to do on screen. This includes storylines, the real heart and soul of sports entertainment and something that, given the time invested, performers want to be nothing less than top tier.

That’s not only not always the case, but sometimes a star will be so displeased with their scripted saga that they’ll then let the world know just how much of a bad time they had doing it.

These are 10 storylines WWE stars hated doing.

10. Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall

As one of the top stars the industry has ever seen, Steve Austin had the power to say ‘no’ to things he didn’t want to do.

At the peak of his powers, Stone Cold refused programmes or matches with the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Billy Gunn and Marc Mero, but he bit the bullet and engaged in a storyline with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in early 2002.

Rather than a dream match with Hulk Hogan, the Texas Rattlesnake was booked opposite Hall at WrestleMania 18 and the creative direction of their feud in the buildup to the Showcase of the Immortals did not meet Austin’s standards.

The Bad Guy himself later claimed that Austin was annoyed because he felt he should have been in a main event against the Hulkster and had to settle for what he got instead. To make matters worse, both Austin and Hall were both going through personal issues at the time and their in-ring work suffered as a result.

The Bionic Redneck was so disgruntled with how both the feud and match with Hall had gone that he skipped the WrestleMania after-party and flew home rather than go to Raw the next night.

9. Diamond Dallas Page stalks The Undertaker's wife

Diamond Dallas Page’s introduction to WWE as part of the Invasion was mishandled from the get-go.

Rather than portray a character similar to the one that had worked so well in WCW, WWE instead had him turn into a creepy stalker who was targeting The Undertaker’s then-wife Sara Calaway.

Page gave up his guaranteed contract with WCW parent company Time Warner in order to have his WWE run and admitted that, in hindsight, he should have said ‘thanks but no thanks’ when the creative direction of his feud with The Deadman was presented to him.

DDP pointed out how he didn’t feel like him trying to seduce another man’s wife made sense (given he was married to ex-Nitro Girl Kimberly at the time), but he wanted to be a team player and stick things out to see where they were leading.

They were leading to Dallas getting routinely pummelled by ‘Taker (and Kane) and eventually pinned by Sara on an episode of Raw, completing one of the most obvious on-screen burials in WWE history.

8. Jake Roberts' substance abuse issues used in feud with Jerry Lawler

Jake Roberts was involved in some heavy-duty storylines in his day – often with a personal element to them – but the 1996 storyline he had with Jerry Lawler revolving around his history of alcoholism is one he wishes he’d never done.

The Snake had returned to the company as a supposedly changed character, renouncing his villainous, hedonistic past and pushing the good word of his Lord and Saviour.

His issues with substance abuse became the butt of The King’s jokes on commentary and led to a scene where Lawler poured actual whiskey over the recovering addict, with Roberts claiming that the real stuff (rather than, say, iced tea) was used at the behest of Vince McMahon.

Jake has long since expressed his displeasure with how the storyline went down and claims that, if he could go back in time, he would say ‘no’ to the idea.

Say what you will about the WWE Hall of Famer and his various highs and lows over the years, but exploiting a genuine disease shouldn’t have been on the table.

7. Terri Runnels fakes her own pregnancy

The Attitude Era was a golden age for regrettable storylines, as the ratings-chasing shock TV tone of the product dictated that pretty much anything was game as long as it could grab the audience’s ever-decreasing attention span.

One of the most controversial angles of the day was one that its focal point positively begged the writers not to go through with.

On the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw, an ostensibly pregnant Terri Runnels went to interfere in D-Lo Brown’s match with Edge, slipped off the ring steps to the floor and ‘miscarried’.

It was, of course, a ruse all along and Terri had faked it just to manipulate Brown to do her bidding until the farce was exposed.

Runnels not only thought it distasteful to use something tragic that people actually experience as fodder for a wrestling storyline, but was also worried about what the other kids in elementary school might say to her daughter Dakota.

Terri had pleaded with Vince Russo not to write the storyline into the show, but Vinny Ru went ahead and did it anyway.

6. The Edge, Matt Hardy & Lita love triangle

When Matt Hardy publicly revealed that his girlfriend Lita had been having an affair with his good friend Edge behind his back (while he was at home recovering from knee surgery), many believed it was part of some elaborate way to work fans as the beginning of some sort of reality-based storyline.

It became clear that wasn’t the case when Matt was subsequently fired for exposing the affair, though Edge and Lita were duly paired up on-screen.

Fans pretty much demanded Hardy’s return, however, and WWE opted to bring him back specifically for a storyline based on the love triangle.

It was awkward, it was intense and, according to everyone involved, it wasn’t enjoyable to be a part of.

All three parties are on record as saying they felt uncomfortable going through with it due to the strong feelings involved, but felt as though they had made their bed and now had to lie in it.

5. Everything Dean Ambrose did in late 2019

There wasn’t one specific thing that led to Dean Ambrose’s decision to leave WWE in 2019, but his rotten late-2018 feud with Seth Rollins more than convinced him he was making the right decision to walk away.

The Lunatic Fringe’s persona had been getting progressively wackier over time and hit a peak – or a nadir – during the rivalry with his fellow former Hound of Justice.

Ambrose would subsequently describe during an appearance on Talk is Jericho how he would feel physically unwell when it came time to go to Raw, as he was so worried about what his creative task for the evening would be.

Whether it was getting multiple inoculations to ‘protect himself from the WWE Universe’ or uttering a scripted shot at the leukaemia-stricken Roman Reigns, Dean would constantly have to fight against what the creative team wanted him to do.

He tried his best to make the material work, but much of it was irredeemable and turned what should have been a straightforward, money-drawing programme into a disappointing mess.

4. Piggy James

Being bullied is never fun, but being bullied while you’re at work and having that bullying aired live to millions of people is much, much worse.

That was the fate of Mickie James in late 2009, when WWE scripted Michelle McCool and Layla to make fun of ‘Piggy’ for being overweight. James believed WWE were ‘ribbing on the square’ and trying to simultaneously get heat for LayCool while sending her a message about her physique.

Mickie hated it and confessed in later interviews that the others involved in the storyline weren’t exactly thrilled about doing it, either.

James eventually triumphed over her tormentors and got her revenge, but it felt like too little too late after suffering weeks and weeks of cruel ridicule.

3. Kurt Angle's Sharmell obsession

WWE delighted in making Kurt Angle the butt of the joke. To be fair, the Olympic gold medallist himself also enjoyed having a laugh at his own expense, whether it was by wearing a miniature cowboy hat, doing some Shawn Michaels cosplay karaoke or failing to read the back of Edge’s cards.

Kurt was less fond of being portrayed as a sadistic sexual deviant hell-bent on having his way with another man’s wife. The utterly bizarre storyline that saw Angle pursue Sharmell was chock full of uncomfortable moments that took the direction of Kurt’s character in a whole new and utterly strange direction.

According to Angle, the storyline was the idea of Vince McMahon, who came up with it after hearing that the former WWE Champion had dated some African American women in the past.

The Hall of Famer would later say how it was the one storyline he totally regretted doing and, even though he enjoyed wrestling Booker T, would have gladly given that opportunity up if it meant not having to do what he did with Sharmell.

2. Ric Flair dates Lacey Evans

With Ric Flair’s days in the ring hopefully well and truly over, his value to WWE came in the form of his association with Charlotte Flair.

One of the Nature Boy’s final contributions on WWE TV was his intergenerational on-screen relationship with Lacey Evans.

As well as grossing out WWE fans, the storyline also made the two-time WWE Hall of Famer very uncomfortable, not least when it was implied Flair was the father of Lacey’s baby.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani after the fact, The Dirtiest Player in the Game admitted that he didn’t enjoy doing the storyline (and was actually a little mad about having to go through with it), but felt as though Vince McMahon wasn’t about to have his creative vision questioned and so bit the bullet.

Charlotte also wasn’t keen on the whole affair and it was mercifully dropped so that Evans could go on maternity leave.

1. Roman Reigns and all that dog food

Roman Reigns had to suffer through more than his fair share of rotten creative as a struggling babyface, before he helped take control of his destiny by turning heel and becoming The Tribal Chief.

For Reigns, the tipping point was his interminable feud with Baron Corbin. The whole storyline was literally a dog’s dinner to the point they were fighting because they had covered each other in dog food.

While Roman himself hasn’t directly commented on his frustrations with the storyline, his wiseman Paul Heyman did reveal that the feud with Corbin was the point where The Head of the Table said ‘enough’.

Obviously, getting handcuffed to the ring post and covered in Pedigree Chum is embarrassing in and of itself, but the bigger issue for Reigns was how far his character had fallen and how his babyface act just wasn’t working.

His feud with Corbin was the drizzling sh*ts, yes, but if it planted the seed for Roman’s heel turn later in the year then at least it wasn’t completely useless.