10 Stupid Ways WWE Spoiled Their Own Results

Like with any TV show, WWE go out of their way to keep surprises hidden from the audience. Sometimes, though, the company ends up spoiling their own results. 

These special moments were all meant to be kept under wraps, until the biggest promotion in the world pulled back the curtain in the dumbest way possible.

These are 10 Stupid Ways WWE Spoiled Their Own Results. 

10. The Undertaker Rehearsing Before The Raw On Netflix Premiere

The first episode of Monday Night Raw on Netflix on January 6, 2025 was a big deal and marked the start of a new era for the company, and to mark this epic occasion, the night was packed with stars and surprises. 

As well as big matches like Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa and Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk, the show also featured appearances from legends like The Rock, John Cena, Hulk Hogan, and The Undertaker. 

That last one was meant to be a surprise, that is until a few hours before the show started. As captured by various eagle-eyed fans, WWE accidentally flashed up images of The Undertaker rehearsing on the big screens outside the venue. Those waiting to get into the Intuit Dome were treated to scenes of the American Badass riding his motorcycle down the ramp, totally ruining his ‘surprise’ appearance to endorse Rhea Ripley after her Women’s World Title win later in the night.

As with the vast majority of things online, the clips of The Undertaker rehearsing were all over social media within minutes. 

9. Authors Of Pain Appear In Survivor Series 2023 Programme

Survivor Series 2023 will be remembered for two major superstars making their returns. Randy Orton made his long-awaited comeback from injury, joining the anti-Judgment Day alliance in the WarGames main event. Then there was the small matter of CM Punk, who made his unannounced return to the company after nine years away from WWE. 

Another act also somewhat officially returned to WWE at Survivor Series 2023 in the Authors of Pain as Akam and Rezar were featured as part of the roster in the official programme for the pay-per-view/premium live event. 

Reports later revealed that AOP had been under contract again with WWE for around 18 months by the time Survivor Series 2023 rolled around, but they simply hadn’t been used by the company.

They ended up returning to WWE TV in January 2024 with Paul Ellering, forming The Final Testament with Karrion Kross and Scarlett. AOP and Paul Ellering were then released again just one year later. 

8. The 2024 Women's Elimination Chamber Lineup

The 2024 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view emanated from Perth, Australia and alongside Rhea Ripley defeating Nia Jax to a huge home country pop, the event also featured two classic Elimination Chamber matches; one for the men and one for the women. 

Fans who had been on WWE.com in the lead-up to the show would have known exactly who was going to be in the women’s match, as the page for the event accidentally told them. On the page previewing the match, which went live before any participants had been announced, a blurry graphic seemed to show Liv Morgan, Naomi, Jade Cargill, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Tiffany Stratton. 

When all was said and done, five of those six names ended up being in the match, with Raquel Rodriguez replacing Jade Cargill after WWE decided to change up their plans to protect the former TBS Champion from being pinned. 

The Chamber match was ultimately won by Becky Lynch, who went on to face Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 40.

7. D-Generation X's 2006 Reunion

In 2006, for the first time in almost eight years (and after one tease in 2002), Shawn Michaels and Triple H reunited as the original core lineup of D-Generation X.

The duo had their first match back together at the Vengeance pay-per-view on June 25, defeating The Spirit Squad in a five-on-two handicap match. This was announced on the June 12 episode of Monday Night Raw, but fans in Canada knew about the DX reunion weeks before.

On the website for Canadian pay-per-view provider Viewers Choice, an advert for Vengeance almost two months ahead of the show revealed that DX were going to be reuniting at the event in the very first line of the ad.

"DX, the degenerates that started the Attitude Era, will reunite at Vengeance. Are You Ready? Don't miss a minute of the live action as RAW presents WWE’s Vengeance, Sunday, June 25th at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT, live and only on Pay-Per-View. A World Wrestling Entertainment Production. Go to wwe.com for more details. See It All On Viewers Choice!" the ad read from early May.

You could argue that this was Viewers Choice’s fault, not WWE’s, but somebody from the pro wrestling company likely would have had to have sent them the ad in the first place.

6. Tyler Bate's NXT UK Title Win

WWE NXT UK launched in glorious fashion with a two-day tournament in Blackpool, crowning Tyler Bate as the first-ever United Kingdom Champion. That was as good as things got for WWE’s UK brand, however, and the company soon seemed to forget NXT UK existed.

This included in 2022 as the NXT UK brand prepared to go on hiatus, which would become a permanent shutdown amidst plans to launch NXT Europe, something which has yet to happen and will likely never happen. 

In a nice full-circle moment, though, Tyler Bate won a tournament to capture his second NXT UK Championship in a match taped on July 7. Bate then had a face-to-face with Bron Breakker at NXT Heatwave on August 16, 2022 to set up a title unification match for Worlds Collide.

The only problem was Bate’s NXT UK Title win wasn’t yet official and his tournament final win over Trent Seven wouldn’t air on the WWE Network until September 1, two weeks after Bate appeared at Heatwave.

Bate would then lose to Breakker at Worlds Collide as WWE confined NXT UK to the ash heap of history.

5. Daniel Bryan Joins Team WWE At SummerSlam 2010

SummerSlam 2010 was headlined by Team WWE vs. Team Nexus and the group of young upstarts were firmly dismantled by John Cena in a booking decision which remains controversial to this day. 

The big shock on the night came when Team WWE announced their mystery seventh member was none other than former Nexus member Daniel Bryan, who had been kicked out of the group and then fired shortly after his debut due to choking Justin Roberts with a tie in Nexus’ debut on Monday Night Raw. 

The Bryan return was a great swerve that really suited the story but it was so good that WWE’s social media team couldn’t keep it a secret and they accidentally posted about it 30 minutes too early, with an article being published on WWE.com. 2010 wasn’t 2025, so much fewer people were online so often, but those who headed to WWE's website had arguably the biggest moment of the night ruined.

A WWE.com intern would reveal on Reddit years later how the mistake came to occur, with it being noted that a senior editor on the website accidentally clicked ‘publish immediately’ when they meant to schedule a pre-written article for later in the night. What followed was chaos in the WWE.com bullpen which only worsened after Vince McMahon called to personally rip into the head of the WWE.com senior editors for the remainder of SummerSlam. 

4. Brock Lesnar's 2022 Royal Rumble Win

The 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble - widely regarded as one of the worst Rumbles in history - was won by Brock Lesnar. The Beast entered at number 30 and eliminated five people in just over two-and-a-half minutes to punch his ticket to WrestleMania 38. This would lead to a world title unification match against Roman Reigns in what WWE billed as the most stupendous WrestleMania main event of all time after Lesnar would regain the WWE Title at Elimination Chamber.

WWE hosted a kick-off panel prior to the Royal Rumble and after the panellists were asked to give their thoughts on who would win the Men’s Rumble, Booker T correctly predicted Lesnar, which made everybody sit up and take notice as Brock Lesnar hadn’t even been announced for the match. In fact, he was defending his WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley, a match that he would lose following interference from Roman Reigns.

Brock Lesnar would go on to lose to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 and he hasn’t appeared on WWE TV since SummerSlam 2023 amidst the fallout from Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit. 

3. Chris Jericho's 2007 Return

Following a feud with John Cena in Summer 2005, Chris Jericho took some time away from WWE to pursue other interests, such as his band Fozzy and a potential acting career. 

Over two years later, a series of cryptic vignettes began playing on WWE TV featuring various lines of computer code containing hidden messages with references to the Bible and the phrase ‘Save Us’. These promos came to a head on the November 19 episode of Raw when Jericho made his triumphant return to confront WWE Champion Randy Orton, promising to save WWE from his heelish reign in a shockingly brilliant moment. 

The moment would have been more shocking had it not been ruined by WWE magazine, however. The Holiday 2007 issue of the magazine offered the ‘real story behind Chris Jericho’s shocking return’. The magazine appeared on store shelves too early, though, killing the surprise and ruining weeks of build.

2. KofiMania

After over a decade of consistently putting on great matches and working hard to perfect his craft and character, Kofi Kingston finally won the WWE Championship in an emotional match against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. 

WWE slightly ruined the moment, however. When Bryan became champion, it marked a shift in his character towards his ‘Planet’s Champion’ persona as 'The New' Daniel Bryan. As well as ranting about hot dogs and calling fans ‘fickle’, one of Bryan’s main missions was to replace the belt with a decidedly more eco-friendly version made of hemp. 

Prior to the match at WrestleMania 35, WWE went out of its way to repeatedly show a plinth at ringside. On it was something covered with a black cloth - something that looked suspiciously like a WWE Championship belt. Following Kingston’s win, Big E and Xavier Woods revealed the old title design was indeed under the cloth. 

Sadly, everyone with eyes had already worked out that's what it was, all but confirming that Kofi was going to win.

Also confirming the win? WWE Shop put a Kofi Kingston WWE Champion t-shirt up for sale hours before the match. 

1. Steve Austin Vs. The Rock At WWE WrestleMania XV

WrestleMania 15 was a thoroughly average show that will be remembered for one match and one match only - WWE Champion The Rock defending against ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. 

Not only was this the first ‘Mania meeting between these two storied rivals, but it also marked the end of a months-long story of Austin going up against The Corporation, finally getting his own back against Mr. McMahon. 

Earlier in the evening, Michael Cole, who was filling in for Jim Ross on commentary, began promoting an upcoming WWE special on the Home Shopping Network. This is where he accidentally told everyone the result of the biggest match of the year, as he said that the special would feature the 'new' WWE Champion. 

WWE were used to WCW giving away their match results during the Monday Night Wars, but their own staff? Nobody expected that to be a problem. 

Michael Cole proved to be a great fortune teller too as Steve Austin would defeat The Rock at WrestleMania. Dwayne Johnson wouldn’t beat The Texas Rattlesnake on the Grandest Stage of Them All until 2003’s WrestleMania 19.