Storylines are like icing on a cake. Wrestling without a story can be entertaining just watching the athleticism of two combatants going at it with the goal of victory, but it can be a full-fledged mini action movie when you add a story. A storyline is a creative treat to reel us in further. In an era where storylines are less prominent and becoming more lackluster by the day, when there is one, it's good to reflect on WWE's history of their best and worst stories creative produced and Vince cleared. We're not gonna like everything that's given to us, but we shouldn't dislike a majority of the content creative puts out, which is evident in the frustrations of numerous fans voiced on WWE's official YouTube channel, podcasts and wrestling forums.

I often ask myself what storylines from prior eras do fans miss that aren't generally remembered. My curiosity brings me to this list of 24 forgotten storylines so great they remind us why we're wrestling fans, and storylines so atrocious we asked ourselves if creative was sober during their meetings. In the case of newer fans, I hope this long, lost list of storylines that are glossed over for more popular ones educates you on the quality of the content WWE chose to put out and the impact it had. It's now time to kick your feet up and take this trip down memory lane as we explore 12 of the greatest and 12 of the worst forgotten storylines.

24 Bad: Vince As ECW Champion

If you thought Vince McMahon holding the WWE Championship was a disgrace, then I imagine you feel the same way about him holding the ECW title. Of course it's officially his property off-screen and he can do what he wants, and we know the ECW title is regarded as lower than the WWE title, but it's a world championship regardless. In this feud, Vince was exacting his revenge against Lashley who represented Donald Trump in the Battle of the Billionaires Hair vs Hair match that he won for Trump, costing Vince his hair.

Mr. McMahon recruited Umaga alongside him and his son to punish Lashley, booking him in a 3 on 1 handicap match for his ECW title... that Vince won at Backlash 2007.

The logic of already having Vince himself win the belt rather than the believable, monster heel who actually is a wrestler who could use it made this story wacky and boring, despite some occasionally good segments of Vince taunting ex ECW stars with the belt. At Judgment Day the same type of match was made, but Lashley wins, however—he didn't get the belt. Why? he simply didn't pin the active champ Vince, not that it was stated previously, but that's a heel authority figure for ya. The feud finally and thankfully ends at ECW One Night Stand where Lashley defeats Vince in a street fight, winning the match and his belt. At least the finish was appropriate, but the biggest flop and annoyance in this feud was Lashley having to drop the belt once being drafted to Raw just a few weeks after winning it again.

23 Great: The Wyatts Vs The Shield

A storyline a little more recent than others on this list is The Wyatts vs The Shield, a highly regarded feud to most fans today that doesn't get as much attention compared to The Shield's feud with Evolution. What made this story so interesting was the fact 2 of the biggest teams at the time were battling for supremacy and each had their own views on what was considered true justice in the cold world of WWE. Back when The Wyatts appeared to be a forced to be reckoned with they made it their business to confront The Shield, sending them eerie messages about their downfall, which looked to be on the horizon given the tension among the 3 members.

This was something The Wyatts weren't faced with headed into their epic match at Elimination Chamber 2014, that surprisingly resulted in The Wyatts getting the win. A rematch was set in which The Shield lost yet again. The final match of the series took place on April 8 on Main Event, which saw The Shield pick up the victory. What made the feud interesting as well was the fact it was a heel vs heel dynamic, which is rare to see with faction warfare.

22 Bad: Imposter Kane

It's not everyday when the past comes back to haunt you. In 2006, Kane's demons literally got a hold of him when out the blue a man dressed up in Kane's 1999 attire decided to target Kane. On the surface this idea sounds cool and if done right could have been a story worth remembering to most, but the issues here are too big to ignore. For the weeks leading to Vengeance 2006, which would be the place the 2 would meet in singles competition, Kane would be thrown off his game or outright attacked, which added to the intrigue.

Did Kane's subconscious manifest a version of his old self that's mad at him for ditching his mask? Is that an obsessed fan or what? At Vengeance 2006, they fought and Imposter Kane won, so at this point we expect more from the feud and are a bit more intrigued. In late June of 2006, Kane and Imposter Kane would have their final interaction—but not in the ring. A backstage brawl that saw Kane get the upper hand over his imposter allowed him to not only boot him out the arena, but take back his mask. Fans were exciting hoping that the mask in his hands would lead to a rebirth... but it didn't. We would see no rematch nor return of masked Kane, making the storyline bad and pointless.

21 Great: Hardcore Legend Vs Legend Killer

Long before Orton was The Viper, he was the Legend Killer; aguy who spit in the faces of men like Harley Race and Mick Foley, which kicked off their 4-month feud starting in December 2003. A one on one match for the IC title between Orton and Foley saw Foley doubt his abilities as an inactive wrestler by his walk out of the match. Orton would go to follow him to taunt him, sending him home with a massive lugie to the face, which is one of the most disrespectful things you could do to a person. Foley would do nothing— until the Royal Rumble the following year.

Leading up to the event people questioned if he would show, which built suspense. He did alright and not only eliminated Orton and himself, but caused a long, brawl outside the ring that at times was more interesting than the Rumble itself. Orton would use Evolution to beat down Foley until Mick made a call to The Rock who would join forces with him at a proposed match at WrestleMania XX. A match that ended up being one of the best on the card. Orton would pick up the win with an RKO, which led to their epic, Hardcore match at Backlash that Orton also won. A match that solidified why he was the legend killer and helped make him the star he is today.

20 Bad: The Custody Of Dominick

It's comical to point out the unbelievable factors of pro wrestling, but this storyline involving 2 top guys fighting over the custody of a child on WWE TV takes the cake...let me explain. A friendly feud that starts out with Eddie unable to beat his good friend develops into a well kept family secret Eddie has coming to light. Eddie promised not to reveal the secret if Rey could beat him at The Great American Bash 2005. Rey does, but Eddie taps into his nature and lies, revealing that Dominick is actually his son and not Rey's. Sounds like an episode of Maury, huh?

That's not all, the ridiculousness of this feud is reached once both real life families of Eddie's and Rey's get involved and social workers decide to allow the custody of a child to be determined via a wrestling match, but not just any match... a ladder match. So, basically, terrible dad Eddie, who is emotionally scarring his kid and blackmailing his best friend, seems fit enough to be in consideration for full custody.

The drama was certainly present, but the overall logic and mood of the story was odd, especially since Dominick is Rey's real son and he was about 8 at that time.

Given how some grown fans don't seem to grasp the fact and fiction of wrestling, makes me wonder if Dominick did as well as we'd like to think.

19 Great: The Straight Edge Society

CM Punk's Straight Edge Society was a combination of the Attitude Era's Right to Censor faction that monitored the morale and clean living of WWE superstars and beyond, and The Brood in terms of sacrifices and rituals. This society of Punk's was born once he turned heel in 2009 and adapted a holier-than-Thou mentality that he rubbed in the faces of millions, letting us know how much better he was than us. Punk's look would soon change to that of Charles Manson with the hair and long beard. The comparison to him would extend to the cult-like nature of Manson's character.

CM Punk would go on a mission to save people, fans and wrestlers alike.

His Straight Edge Society would be comprised of members Joey Mercury, Luke Gallows, his valet Serena and himself. Each would have to shave their heads and others as a pledge to purity. 2 of the only big feuds of the stable were with Rey Mysterio and The Big Show, most noticeably causing Punk to lose his hair in an epic hair vs Straightedge pledge match in the feud's climate. The whole real-life lifestyle of Punk's adopted to his stable made them one of he best acts on Smackdown from 2009 to 2010, which we don't hear much about when we think of Punk today.

18 Bad: Dashing Cody Rhodes

Long after the days of teaming with Hardcore Holly and recently removed from his membership in Legacy, Cody set out to be is own man on Smackdown in 2011. The origin of Dashing Cody Rhodes came about through a Smackdown poll where Rhodes was deemed the most handsome man on Smackdown. One of the men in the poll being his former mentor, Randy Orton. Since the poll results Rhodes would go on to become a conceited and dashing guy who unlike his former heel demeanor, put looks above everything. Rhodes would alter his appearance with a black jacket and later a mustache. His entrance theme would be changed along with his titantron that would feature a mirror to admire himself in.

What made this storyline lackluster was the fact Cody was the wrong guy for the part. He's not very charismatic, so in the aspect of having him give weekly grooming tips made it an odd viewing to see him out of all guys randomly care about who female fans found hot in a poll made up for just this gimmick change alone. It's as if the character didn't live up to the theatrics of the gimmick.

17 Great: Masked Cody Rhodes

Masked Cody Rhodes is an extension of Dashing Cody Rhodes who is much darker and jaded than flashy, well-groomed Dashing Cody. After an injury sustained by Rey Mysterio, Rhodes who had suffered the misfortune of damaging his "dashing looks," would become a shell of his former self, wearing a protective mask and begging people not to stare. Rhodes then took on a darker, more vain and interesting persona having been scarred and made into a Phantom of the Opera like monster, which his protective mask and gimmick was molded after.

This made Rhodes a tragic comedic character that made the mid-card at the time a bit more interesting.

It made sense for his character who was once so vain and took the loss of his looks worse than any loss of a match. Perhaps the most funniest and most fitting part of this storyline was what Rhodes did to his opponents. After every attack and victory Rhodes would see to it that his opponent felt every ounce of shame and embarrassment as he did by taking a paper bag with eyes and a mouth cut out and placing it over the heads of those men during a baggage rampage that provided Smackdown with a fairly fulfilling mid-card act.

16 Bad: Cole Vs King

An announcer vs announcer feud isn't necessarily one fans get excited for, especially one made out to be a bit more serious than it should've been with a match at WrestleMania taking place. Long before Cole was selling us the WWE network between matches he was a fanboy of The Miz who cost Jerry Lawler a TLC match for The WWE Championship in November 2010... because he thought Miz was a great champion. The two would go onto work with the other, but with growing hostility over the incident.

Heel Cole was fun at times and King's storylines are better than they should be, but the length of time this storyline lasted was 3 months too long, overriding the funniest aspects of the story.

The feud started in November and ended after WrestleMania in April... neither are wrestlers and this took up entirely too much TV time. Numerous people were involved from King's son Brian Lawler aka Grand Master Sexay who was used as a pawn against his dad, Austin as the special guest ref at Mania, Jim Ross and Jack Swagger as Cole's partner. Worst of all this resulted in Cole scoring a WrestleMania win over legendary wrestler The King!

15 Great: Orton Kicked Out Of Evolution

When fans think of the epic battles of Randy Orton and Triple H they tend to revere their 2008-2009 rivalry that gave us incredible matches from Last Man Standing Matches to their first and last WrestleMania encounter in the main event of WrestleMania 25. It's always good to go back to the origin of a great feud. It was the night after SummerSlam, August 16, 2004 and the newly crowned World-Heavyweight Champion had just successfully defended his title against Benoit with the help of Evolution. All looked to be well as Orton was hoisted upon the shoulders of Batista in celebration of his win.

Everything seemed to be looking up, including Triple H's thumb that suddenly turned upside down, causing Orton's world to literally come crashing down.

The surprise of how and when he was turned on was exciting and well played. Orton's title loss less than a month later at Unforgiven 2004 was a bigger shock, but done well enough to make Orton look strong. Triple H's reign of terror would resume and see Orton lose his title shot as he would become forced to find ways to play the game that is Triple H. The great part about the feud was the fact it helped make Orton the lone Viper he is today.

14 Bad: HBK Works For JBL

At Armageddon 2008, Shawn Michaels had no match, but an announcement. His announcement was that he needed money and that an offer JBL made to him would ensure he nor his family would go hungry. That night Michaels exchanged his services for JBL's financial guidance and money. In the weeks thereafter Michaels would find himself as JBL's slave, giving up his slammy award, helping him win matches and his biggest task to date—helping JBL become WWE Champion once again.

The stipulation that sweetened the pot and was about the only interesting aspect of this storyline was Michaels gaining his freedom if and only if JBL won the title. The go home Raw to The Royal Rumble 2009 saw Michaels superkick Cena, something he do again at the Rumble and to JBL as well. Cena would retain and we'd all be left wondering why Michaels would naturally turn to JBL for help rather than his rich good friend Triple H... or his own boss who rolls in dough. JBL's subsequent offer for Michaels to gain his freedom once again at No Way Out the following month made no sense considering he shouldn't want to help HBK for failing to ensure him the championship he wanted.

13 Great: 30 Days Mr. Bischoff

This is a storyline you hardly ever hear referenced when fans talk about the best the Ruthless Aggression era had to offer. It was a simple storyline filled with plenty of mystery and interest. After Bischoff was confronted about his performance as GM, Vince proposed drastic change in his operation of the brand or else he would see the end of his days as GM. He was given 30 days to do it, which creatively allowed WWE to use the man who gave us the Elimination Chamber, HLA and Raw Roulette as a means to give fans 30 days of Christmas in the form of endless presents in hopes of keeping his job. Bischoff had to impress us, which would impress Vince, easy to follow.

Here's the mystery: a central part of the feud revolved around the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin who everyone, included Vince, wanted to see back. Austin hadn't been seen since the summer of 2002 when he took his ball and went home, so the hype of him possibly returning created a buzz. As the clock ticked, Bischoff's every efforts to find him would prove futile—until Austin returned at No Way Out 2003, thus saving Bischoff's butt... and kicking it in the process.

12 Bad: Stalker DDP

Some storylines are weird and here's one of them. In 2001 WWE had inherited WCW's roster after Vince's purchase of the company, which gave WWE stars such as Billy Kidman, Booker T, Ric Flair and DDP, the man who is the center of this storyline. In the summer of 2001, WWE creative decided to create a stalker for The Undertaker's real-life wife at the time, Sarah. Now, guess who they chose... DDP. Out of all the names they could have selected, they felt a former WCW top guy was best to introduce to a WWE audience as a weird, creep. Even Page hated the angle as stated on Solomonster's Sounds Off podcast, which he had every reason to.

A creepy voice would interrupt Raw with ominous warnings and video clips of Sarah and The Undertaker's home, her getting dressed and personal info about her.

In June 2001, Page revealed himself as the stalker, entering the ring in Undertaker fashion.  His reasoning for the stalking was to become "famous"...which is an odd reason to go through all that work. The climax of the storyline took place in a SummerSlam tag-team title match between DDP and Chris Kanyon vs The Undertaker and Kane. The winners were Taker and Kane as expected, but the angle was no less odd and random.

11 Great: Control Of Raw

In late 2004, Raw was in a chaotic state. As Eric Bischoff would describe it, "the inmates are running the asylum." This in response to the locker room revolt against Evolution led by Randy Orton seeking revenge on his old stable mates. On an episode of Raw where almost all the faces on the show jumped Evolution, Bischoff decided to take a vacation for 30 days starting November 15, 2004—the night after Survivor Series 2004. At the event, an interesting stipulation was made that fans have never seen before.

Batista, Triple H, Edge and Snitsky would take on Orton, Benoit, Maven and Jericho in an 8-man elimination tag match to determine who would control Raw for up to a month.

Typically wrestlers would fight on behalf of an authority figure to gain or maintain their power over a show or company, but the unique stipulation here allowed the wrestlers themselves to run the show. So, this cool storyline in and of itself accompanied by many others that were already going on like Orton vs Evolution, Snitsky and Edge wanting title shots and tension between Triple H and Batista created storylines such as Maven possibly joining Evolution, the vacant world title and more tension between Batista and Triple H made Raw even more of a pleasure to watch.

10 Bad: Mr. America

In the summer of 2003, right after a 20-years in a making match at WrestleMania 19 between Vince and Hogan, Hulk Hogan would find himself fired at the hands of Vince to the disappointment of many fans. He was banned from WWE. A clever and obvious loophole for Hogan would be to wrestle under a new name, which he did after being resigned by Vince's face daughter Stephanie aka the GM of Smackdown. The storyline revolved around who this masked wrestler was.

Much like what Batman's identity was, Mr. America, who had a superhero presence in appearance with his Captain America-inspired theme, was subjected to the villainous Vince making numerous attempts to prove he was Hulk Hogan. A lie detector test was one of the tactics Vince used that failed in his face. This simple storyline was plain boring for most because we actually knew it was Hulk Hogan all along. It didn't take a genius to recognize Hogan's mannerisms, catchphrases, voice and iconic mustache. The feud was a gag that got old by week 3 and was basically another excuse to extend the Vince McMahon vs Hulk Hogan angle that already ran its course the minute Hogan defeated Vince at WrestleMania XIX.

9 Great: Stephanie Love Triangle

The interesting thing about the Stephanie love triangle was the fact that the story was presented as if Stephanie was falling for Kurt rather than previously having dated him. Triple H and Kurt had such contrasting and interesting personalities that seeing them in this type of unusual storyline was different. Angle would increasingly find himself closer and closer to Stephanie the more she would drift apart from Triple H who she loved, but saw her way too friendly to Kurt.

Angle was basically friendzoned, doing nice things like listening to her issues, saving her from being put through a table by the Dudley Boyz, etc.

Unlike most men in that position, however, he got to second base with a kiss... that he stole. During a tag match with Triple H, Stephanie would find herself accidentally knocked out by Kurt. Triple H would come to her rescue, leave to bring her backstage then come back to help Kurt, which he would find himself left by, so Angle could apologize with a passionate kiss. At SummerSlam 2000, Angle admitted to having always wanted to have done that, this revealing his intentions were never pure. Angle's actions would secure his beatdown and see to it that neither would be WWE Champion by night's end.

8 Bad: Vince's Illegitimate Son

Stories that typical involve Vince are usually wacky, weird and funny. Oftentimes they are made to be taken way more serious than they should be. The illegitimate son search was one of these storylines. Out the blue Vince was framed of fathering a child he had no idea existed. As far as he knew Shane was the only son he had, but a search for this mystery son went on for about 6-8 weeks. Each week Vince would be given clues as to whom it was. One clue stated his son was actively signed to WWE... how ironic, right?

As the weeks progressed, subtle clues pointed that the long, lost son was none other than Mr. Kennedy... Kennedy. The reference being to Vince's middle name Kennedy, so perhaps Ken's mother decided to pay homage to Vince despite the fact he couldn't remember their relationship and didn't raise "their" son.

In September it was revealed that Hornswoggle was Vince's son.

Vince would go on to put Hornswoggle in a series of obstacles, one being a Survivor Series match against Khali. Vince would book a match against him and his son in a cage, JBL would later admit that Hornswoggle wasn't Vince's son, that was confirmed by Finlay who said he was his instead. A case that belonged on Maury and not WWE took up too much time and was given more twists and turns than the storyline drew interest.

7 Great: Tazz Vs JR And King

This is the exception to the rule of announcer storylines not being too interesting. Typically people don't think of Tazz when they think of good feuds, but here's his shinning moment as an active competitor. Tazz would start this feud as the bully who would single out JR in hopes he was man enough to say to his face what he said on commentary. King fought for the honor of his buddy, knocking Tazz out, evening the odds for JR who was much older and not a wrestler like King. The commentary leading to the feud was just as good as the segments and promos leading to the big SummerSlam 2000 match between King and Tazz.

In the weeks leading, King would be choked out, hit with megaphones, but would retaliate wherever he could to prove he wasn't going to be just another victim. The most iconic moment in this feud that's hardly mentioned is Tazz vandalizing JR's car and blinding him from the shattered glass. King would snap and exact his revenge at SummerSlam by beating Tazz in hilarious and surprising fashion. How? with good ol' JR smashing a candy dish into Tazz's head like a gangsta and sitting down like nothing happened afterwards. This feud was more fun than we get from 2 active wrestlers today.

6 Bad: The McMahons Vs DX

I think if you ask most fans who Vince McMahon's arch nemesis is, it wouldn't be HBK or his son-in-law Triple H, but Stone Cold. If you were to ask fans who HBK and Triple's arch nemeses are many would likely say each other, but I assure you Vince wouldn't be on the list of either. In 2006, a feud with Shawn Michaels that nobody asked for turned into costing Michaels the Rumble, a WrestleMania No Holds Barred match and him having to team with none other than God himself to take on Vince and Shane.

Before Triple H entered the picture, the feud dominated most of Raw since Vince was involved; once Triple H turned face to form DX afterthe two realized Vince had it in for both of them, the angle extended about 2 more months longer than it needed to be. It started originally with HBK in January, stretching out all the way to September when the final encounter took place in a Hell in a Cell match at Unforgiven 2006. The right side won, but the issue was it wasn't as exciting as it could have been and seemed like filler for HBK and Triple H.

5 Great: HBK Betrayed

One of the best feuds of 2002 involved 2 of the best wrestlers at the time, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. When HBK returned from a career-ending back injury he sustained in 1998, he joined old buddies Kevin Nash and X-Pac, alongside The Big Show and briefly Booker T in the newfound WWE version of the NWO. Throughout the group's tenure HBK would tease Triple H joining the stable. Once the group disbanded, Triple H would reach out to HBK to be his manager. Not answering on Triple H's time, he would turn on HBK and the following week would explain why he did it, only to find Shawn attacked by an unknown assailant.

Long before it was cool for creative to use the closest person to the victim as the culprit, there was this feud that pioneered it all. Triple H would go on a hunt for the culprit, only to be exposed by HBK via satellite that Hunter attacked him, prompting him to announce he'd be having his first match in 4 years at SummerSlam 2002 to the excitement of many. The match would be unsanctioned, an epic, story-driven feud that saw a vengeful and ring rusted Michaels look to answer the lingering question of who was the better man between the 2. Not only did the right man win, this feud kicked off another world title run for Michaels and marked the beginning of a well executed rivalry.