Everything We Learned From WWE: Unreal

The latest chapter in the partnership between WWE and Netflix came together on Tuesday, July 29 as WWE: Unreal was released on the streaming service.

A behind-the-scenes look at the company's creative process from late 2024 until WrestleMania 41, WWE: Unreal revealed and also confirmed a number of scrapped plans, bizarre pitches, and unplanned moments from the past several months.

This is Everything We Learned From WWE: Unreal:

1. Kevin Owens was originally planned to win the Undisputed WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber.

John Cena's heel turn ultimately closed out February's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, but WWE: Unreal reveals there were multiple pitches thrown around for the closing moments of Elimination Chamber. As previously reported, one of those ideas would have seen Cody Rhodes turn heel and sell his soul to The Rock.

One pitch, however, would have seen Kevin Owens become Undisputed WWE Champion heading into WrestleMania. This would have came about through Cody Rhodes rejecting the offer from The Rock, which would have caused Dwayne Johnson to book an impromptu title match between Cody and KO, which Owens would have won.

Bruce Prichard ultimately pitched for John Cena to turn heel and Triple H was an advocate for this plan, which played out at Elimination Chamber.

2. WWE's original plans for the Men's Royal Rumble

The general consensus amongst the WWE creative team heading into the Royal Rumble was that CM Punk or John Cena should win the Men's Rumble. Much of the support was behind CM Punk and would have seen him go on to challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania.

WWE Senior Vice President Ed Koskey pushed for Jey Uso to be in one of the world title matches at WrestleMania, and this turned the conversation around to Uso winning the Rumble. WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H questioned if Jey was up to the task, expressing his concern that Jey was getting tired following his entrance, something Uso referenced himself during the docuseries. WWE ultimately went with Jey as the Rumble winner, though.

3. CM Punk was originally going to win the WrestleMania 41 night 1 main event

Triple H confirmed during WWE: Unreal that he and CM Punk met a few years after Punk departed WWE in 2014 to discuss a return, but Triple H was opposed to bringing Punk back, saying, "When there was a conversation about him coming back, I said, 'Still the same dude. Won't work.'"

In a later meeting, though, the two men realised the other was different and they decided to bring Punk back, which came about at Survivor Series 2023.

After WWE pivoted from Punk vs. Gunther at WrestleMania to CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns, the original pitch from Triple H would have seen Paul Heyman turn on CM Punk, but the turn would backfire and Punk would still win. Ed Koskey was in favour of Seth Rollins winning, as was Bruce Prichard, and the plan was changed to Rollins winning and aligning with Paul Heyman.

4. CM Punk cried before the WrestleMania 41 Night 1 main event

CM Punk was shown in the Gorilla position before the match got underway, during which he was crying. This prompted Triple H to give Punk a pep talk, telling Phil Brooks before the match that he's CM Punk and CM Punk has always been a main event guy. Punk noted post-match that all he ever wanted to do since he was a child was main event WrestleMania and now he had done it.

5. Chelsea Green was pitched to win the Women's Royal Rumble in bizarre fashion

Charlotte Flair ultimately won the Women's Royal Rumble in her return from injury, but one pitch was for Chelsea Green to win the match by entering at #30 after all of the other participants had already been eliminated. The pitch received hearty laughs from WWE creative, but obviously didn't come to pass.

6. Triple H was very upset with Tiffany Stratton going off-script in her infamous SmackDown segment with Charlotte Flair

WWE: Unreal showed the infamous promo exchange between Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair ahead of their WrestleMania 41 match which ended with Stratton telling Flair she was "0-3" with marriages.

Following the divorce line, Triple H was shown asking Tiffany Stratton and a WWE writer if the line was part of the script, at which point Stratton told him the end of her promo was not planned. A WWE writer later informed Triple H, who was sitting at the Gorilla position with Bruce Prichard, that it was the "0-3" line that wasn't in the original script.

Triple H was upset about this and said: "So, I need Tiffany to understand that's obviously not how we do this, so she needs to go to Charlotte and apologise, and they need to get on the same page."

Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair did get on the same page and they were shown hugging, with Stratton thanking Charlotte, following their match at WrestleMania 41.

7. CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins on the Raw Netflix premiere went over time and Abyss, the producer of the match, repeatedly apologised to an annoyed Bruce Prichard

CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins headlined the Netflix premiere of Raw, but the match ran long, which prompted Abyss (Chris Park) to cut an Anaconda Vice spot that was planned. Chris Park was frustrated in the moment and apologised to Bruce Prichard.

The match was two minutes over by the time it finished, and Abyss apologised again to Prichard after the show was finished, but a bemused Prichard said the main event was "overwritten, overproduced, over-everything else." William Regal then congratulated Abyss on a great match.

8. Cody Rhodes pitched to make the save for John Cena on the Raw Netflix premiere

John Cena appeared on the Raw Netflix premiere with a simple promo to kick off his retirement year.

Cody Rhodes pitched an angle for Cena to be surrounded in the ring by a dozen heels and for Rhodes to make the save. Triple H baulked at the idea, however, as he didn't want Cena to look like he needed saving on his first night back.

9. The altercation between Triple H and Kevin Owens at Saturday Night's Main Event was not planned

Triple H and Kevin Owens ended up in a shoving match following Saturday Night's Main Event in December 2024 after KO beat down Cody Rhodes following the main event. That wasn't part of the plan, though, and it only occurred as Triple H was planned to go around KO, but Owens was already by the entrance ramp and HHH felt they had to do something in the moment. Triple H immediately apologised to Owens for the spot, but Owens said it was awesome.

10. Triple H heaped praise on the women's roster

Triple H showed how highly he thinks of the women's roster throughout WWE: Unreal, including in one moment after Bianca Belair won the Elimination Chamber where Paul Levesque leaned over to WWE Producer Shane Helms and said the pacing of the women was better than the men, adding there are five great women to every one great man at the WWE Performance Center.

11. Original WWE WrestleMania 41 Card

Prior to deciding Jey Uso would win the Royal Rumble, WWE's plans for WrestleMania 41 were very different, including a diminished role for Travis Scott and bigger plans for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The original WrestleMania 41 card was:

• Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena - Undisputed WWE Championship
• Gunther vs. CM Punk - World Heavyweight Championship
• Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins
• Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair - Women's World Championship
• Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens
• Wyatt Sicks vs. Judgment Day
• Jade Cargill vs. Nia Jax - WWE Women's Championship
• Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. IYO SKY & Asuka - WWE Women's Tag Team Championships
• AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul
• Bad Bunny vs. Dominik Mysterio
• Bron Breakker vs. Drew McIntyre - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as special guest referee
• Rey Mysterio (with Travis Scott) vs. Chad Gable
• Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed vs. Ludwig Kaiser - Ladder Match for WWE Intercontinental Championship
• LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso vs. Andrade vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Santos Escobar vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - Ladder Match for WWE United States Championship

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