The “swerve” has existed in wrestling for decades. Storytelling rests of being able to surprise fans with unexpected twists and turns. Bill Watts and Paul Heyman were both geniuses using these to great effect to spark up feuds and get fans going. The term became infamous under Vince Russo as he insisted on “out of nowhere swerves” constantly, ignoring how too many of them made no sense. It's as if fooling the viewers was more important than entertaining them. It has continued since in WWE and Impact as too often, a swerve will come that takes everyone by surprise for how little sense it makes. Sometimes, it can work out. Roderick Strong suddenly joining the Undisputed Era last year seemed off but has since proven to be a great move. Sadly, too many of these swerves backfire massively.

Too often, WWE has made changes, many at the last minute, that make little sense. It can come down to ego as too often has a guy throws his weight around to get his own way. More often, it’s just creative trying to throw fans off by pushing the wrong person at the wrong time. Far too often, WWE has given fans an unexpected twist that just made absolutely no sense whatsoever. From putting the wrong person over to just an illogical storytelling plot, these swerves did nothing but drive fans away rather than make new stars or great payoffs. Here are 20 times WWE swerved the fans with bad moves that made no sense for moments memorable for the wrong reasons.

20 The Zack Ryder Burial

Over the years, WWE has done unusual things with rising stars, but never have they made such a baffling move as with Zack Ryder. The guy was getting over majorly with his online series and fans were responding. Throughout 2011, Ryder was rising up more and more and it culminated with him winning the U.S. title. Fans were expecting him to just get bigger for a main event run.

Instead, 2012 began with Ryder losing the belt and then a baffling storyline of being dumped by Eve Torres and set up against John Cena. In less time than anyone could predict, Ryder was slumping fast to jobber status. It’s speculated Vince wasn’t happy Ryder got over on his own and set out to “punish” him for daring to reach for the brass ring.

19 18 Seconds

On his DVD documentary, Daniel Bryan openly discusses how much he and Sheamus were looking forward to opening WrestleMania XXVIII. They were a bit concerned when told it would be cut down but figured they could still make it work. Just before the show, the duo were informed of the plan and both hated it majorly. But they went out there with AJ Lee distracting Bryan, who turned around to get kicked and pinned by Sheamus. The entire “match” was just 18 seconds long, the worst imaginable way to start a 'Mania. It did lay the seeds for Bryan’s later rise to super-stardom but was bad at the time as the “surprise win” got the card off to a lackluster start.

18 Michael Cole Goes Over The King

On his DVD documentary, Jerry Lawler talks of how exciting it was to finally have a match at WrestleMania. Note that it doesn’t mention how that match turned out. The entire feud with Michael Cole was embarrassing as the heel announcer rubbed fans not in a heel way but in a “we hate watching him” way. The idea of Lawler crushing him was the only logical outcome but instead, Cole actually got some offense and even had the upper hand for much of the bout.

It was set up with Lawler winning not with his patented piledriver but via submission. At which point, the computer GM announced it was reversing the decision, due to Stone Cold's biased officiating to give Cole the victory. It was insulting that Lawler’s big Mania moment was spoiled like this and a stupid swerve to annoy fans.

17 Lex Luger Not Winning The Title At SummerSlam '93

In 1993, Vince decided that when Hulk Hogan left, he would just make another Hogan to take his place. Lex Luger was the logical choice given how he’d been boosted as “the next Hogan” for years. Luger was turned face to go against Yokozuna and pushed as a massive patriotic character (complete with the “Lex Express” bus trip across the nation). It was rough but still had potential and it was all coming to SummerSlam. It was a classic set-up of Luger facing tough odds, beaten down only to make a massive comeback…and win by countout.

Yoko kept the belt and ruined Luger overnight. The man was seen as an instant choker, his entire reputation with WWE fans tarnished. It seems Vince wanted to drag it out until WrestleMania but the sudden decision to ruin months of build with Luger not getting the belt marred him for good.

16 Y2J Over AJ

When AJ Styles debuted at the 2016 Royal Rumble, fans were ecstatic seeing one of the most beloved wrestlers in the world finally joining WWE. The idea of his first major challenger was a big deal and fans were happy it turned out to be Chris Jericho. This set up a 'Mania match which fans saw as Jericho giving the rub to Styles. Instead, Jericho won which jarred many fans. It seems Vince wanted Styles to “pay his dues” more by losing to a top WWE star (ironically, Jericho went through the same treatment when he joined the company in 1999). While Styles would recover, this early swerve was a rough introduction of Styles into the company.

15 Triple H Retaining At WrestleMania 2000

Until 2000, there was an unofficial rule for WWE: The faces always won the main event of Mania. Going into that year’s version, the big matchup was Triple H, The Rock, Big Show and Mick Foley going at it in a four-way elimination match with a “McMahon in each corner.” Fans saw the match going to just one conclusion, which was The Rock emerging victorious. Instead, Vince turned on the Rock to let Hunter retain the title. It was a bad move that marred an otherwise good show. WWE did make up for it with Rock winning the next month in a fantastic Backlash battle, which included Stone Cold returning to help The Rock. That definitely would've been an ending worthy of WrestleMania.

14 Triple H Retains Over Goldberg

When Goldberg finally joined WWE in 2003, fans were excited. The man still had his name and some of the drive that had made him a legend in WCW. His feud with the Rock was rough but Goldberg was still getting a good push against Triple H. For him to carry his streak into a World title run just made sense.

Instead, Hunter retained the title in an Elimination Chamber match at SummerSlam that Goldberg clearly had to win. True, Goldberg got the belt in a one-on-one match a month later, but losing the first time was a turn that halted his momentum. The poor booking of his run didn’t help with too many bad matches and Hunter clearly getting the spotlight. Sure enough, Hunter got the belt back just three months after Goldberg won it.

13 Charlotte Ending Asuka's Streak

For 510 days, Asuka dominated as NXT Women’s Champion. When she was pushed in 2018, fans were excited to see her carry her undefeated streak on the main roster. Asuka won the first women’s Royal Rumble and chose to challenge Charlotte. Fans saw it as an obviously great battle with the logical outcome of Asuka winning the title. Instead, not only did Charlotte retain but made Asuka tap out. The Empress of Tomorrow’s mystique was shattered instantly by this defeat. It got worse with Asuka coming up short in other battles and turning into a joke. The year ended with her winning the title at TLC but the damage was done as the unexpected loss to Charlotte robbed Asuka of her unbeatable aura.

12 WWE Champion Jinder Mahal

Over a year and a half later, it’s still a major head-scratcher. WWE was already annoying fans in 2017 by having Bray Wyatt’s promising WWE title run cut short by a loss to Randy Orton. Still, WWE had very promising candidates from AJ Styles to Nakamura and more that fans would love to see as WWE Champion. A six-pack challenge was made with Jinder Mahal seemingly just tossed in to fill out a spot. To the amazement of everyone, Mahal won the challenge and then beat Orton for the title.

To take a man who had been a lifelong mid-carder and elevate him instantly to WWE Champion baffled fans to no end. It wasn’t even a fluke win as Mahal held the belt for six months, a reign full of bad matches and sinking ratings. WWE’s attempt to turn him into an instant champion was one turn fans wished they’d resisted pulling off.

11 Jason Jordan Angle

Over the years, wrestling has tried to give a fresher star a boost by claiming he’s the relative of an established star. Sometimes it can work (Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson) but other times it can backfire. In 2017, Jason Jordan had been rising up nicely after his work with Chad Gable and seemed ready for a good singles push. But WWE ruined it by pulling the twist that Jordan was actually Kurt Angle’s son. It was an angle (no pun intended) that just weighed Jordan down by pushing him as having to be in the shadow of his “dad”. It’s clear Jordan didn't do well aside from a brief tag title run with Rollins and WWE trying to sell him to fans as Angle’s kid just hurt him more than anything.

10 Randy Orton Turning Face In 2004

In 2004, Randy Orton was truly coming into his own. A fantastic heel, Orton proved himself in a war with Mick Foley and rising up more. At SummerSlam, Orton became the youngest World champion by beating Chris Benoit in clean fashion. He was terrific in the role and the fans could see what was coming next: Orton would slowly push Triple H out of Evolution to take over, setting up a feud with a face Hunter. Instead, WWE thought turning Orton face was what fans wanted. Evolution turned on Orton for a beat-down which didn’t make Orton look better. Orton just didn’t fit the role of a smiling babyface and the feud with Hunter ended with Triple H quickly getting the belt back. It took years for Orton to recover as swerving the fans with him as a face was a major blow to his standing.

9 Nicholas As Braun Strowman’s Partner

2018 is over but this remains one of the strangest moments of that entire year. For weeks, Braun Strowman had been pushed as a monster who many fans would have much preferred to see in the main event of 'Mania. Instead, Braun was set against The Bar, boasting about bringing in a tag partner for a title match. Speculation was huge with fans listing everyone from long absent stars to an NXT call-up to a surprise superstar debut.

The match came around and Braun’s partner was…an 11-year-old kid named Nicholas from the crowd. It was completely ludicrous with Braun doing all the work before winning the belts. The very next night, they gave the titles up due to the “scheduling conflict” of Nicholas being in the fourth grade. Maybe it was funny for someone in creative but it was a huge waste of Braun’s talents.

8 Stone Cold Joining The Alliance

There are books written of how botched the entire Invasion angle was. From never presenting WCW as equal players to the ECW alliance, WWE made slews of mistakes. But the sudden turn of Steve Austin joining the Alliance remains one of the worst. Already shaken by a heel turn that wasn't going well, Austin was regaining his footing by aiding WWE against WCW. The moment he charged out to take down a dozen WCW guys was epic and the fans were overjoyed.

Leave it to WWE to ruin it by having Austin suddenly turn on them to join the Alliance. Given how Austin had long bad-mouthed WCW for firing him years ago, it made no sense at all. It was easily one of the lowest points of the Invasion angle that drove it further into the ground.

7 The Anonymous RAW GM

Here’s another case of something meant to be small but fell apart after becoming a bigger deal. In 2011, the RAW GM was replaced by someone speaking through a laptop. It would make sudden moves with Michael Cole’s “and I quote” soon driving fans nuts. The moves made no sense like reversing Michael Cole’s win over Jerry Lawler at WrestleMania and other bits. One idea was for him to be Kevin Nash but it just dragged on way too long.

Eventually, Santino Marella (in full Sherlock Holmes gear), revealed the GM to be…Hornswoggle. Yep, a year of antics turned out to be the leprechaun just fooling around. It just shows once more that you need to have some sort of solution in mind before embarking on a mystery angle.

6 Damien Sandow’s Unsuccessful Cash-In

Say what you will about John Cena but it should be remembered he was the first man to fail in cashing in the Money in the Bank contract. For years, the set-up was obvious: The briefcase holder would wait for the champion to be beaten down and then run in, cash the contract and get an easy win for the belt. It had been done numerous times and fans expected Damien Sandow to be no different. His arrogant heel act was winning the crowd over and the idea of him as champion was promising.

Rather than wait for Cena to be weakened, Sandow challenged Cena and had a regular match. It led to Cena pulling off the win which was a surprise. It hurt Sandow’s standing in the company as even a brief reign could have worked for him. It just shows how not every MITB cash-in works out in the end.

5 Kevin Nash Ends The Summer Of Punk

In 2011, CM Punk was hot as ever. He had won fans over with his “Pipe Bomb” and walking out, seemingly without a contract, as WWE Champion. His return was also huge and fans were excited for his SummerSlam battle with Cena. It was a good match that ended with Punk emerging victorious. It looked like he was going to dominate even more…at which point WWE blew the whole thing it. Out from the crowd came Kevin Nash who power-bombed Punk for no reason. That let Alberto Del Rio cash in his MITB briefcase and win the belt.

Worse was the “explanation” that Nash had gotten a text from Triple H to attack the winner of the match. Then it turned out the text was from Nash himself. Punk himself bad-mouths this every chance he gets and it's hard to argue given how it made no sense to ruin him as he was taking off.

4 Triple H Turns At Survivor Series 2017

The 2017 Survivor Series had been built up as a big deal with a huge RAW vs SmackDown elimination battle. It could've been a good way to boost up the stars and let someone get the rub by victory. Leave it to Triple H to decide to hog the spotlight majorly. Kurt Angle was to captain the RAW team but just days before the show, Hunter announced he was joining. That should've been a major warning sign but fans were still hopeful of the rub given to Braun Strowman or such.

Instead, as Angle had Shane in the Angle Lock, Triple H came in to lay him out with a Pedigree and let Shane get the pin. He then laid out Shane to pin him himself. All while Braun Strowman was just hanging on the side. It was a terrible sight that pushed Triple H even more for a result fans didn’t want.

3 Rikishi Did It For The Rock

When you start a big mystery, you should have an idea on how to finish it. WWE didn’t get that memo in 1999 when, to excuse Steve Austin needing time off, they had him run over by a car at the Survivor Series. It was talked about for a bit but put on the backburner while Austin recovered. When he returned in late 2000, the question of who ran him over came up with the logical idea being Triple H, or possibly Kurt Angle.

Instead, WWE had it be Rikishi, the very popular worker known for his goofy dancing and Stinkface maneuver. Even crazier was the explanation of Rikishi doing it so his cousin, The Rock, could be a star. It was an utterly baffling turn (especially as Rikishi hadn’t even debuted in late ’99) and basically ruined Rikishi's rise in the company. It’s pretty high on the lists of the most idiotic storyline turns in wrestling history.

2 Triple H Beats Sting

For years, Sting was the one major star of his time who never worked for WWE. He had been given slews of major offers over the years but always resisted out of loyalty to WCW. Even after it went down, Sting preferred to work for TNA. He claimed he was worried WWE might not use him properly. As it happened, his fears were well realized. In 2015, Sting finally joined WWE and pushed hard with fans expecting him to shine nicely. He and Triple H were set to fight at Mania and all logic stated Sting would go over.

After all, he had been given the big contract and push and WWE had to know him going over was what fans wanted. Instead, the match was a mess with interference from DX and the nWo amid poor action. Hunter went over in what was talked of as “ending the war” with WCW had had been over for 14 years.

1 The Higher Power

Vince Russo actually wasn’t bad when he started running WWE creative in 1998. He helped elevate some mid-card guys and made sure everyone had a storyline. By 1999, the man was losing it with his dependency on swerves that would take over in WCW. For a time, The Undertaker had been embracing a darker side with a full-on cult leader act. He seemed to be in charge of his ministry but soon revealed that he answered to a “Higher Power.”

This led to Stone Cold and Vince McMahon actually allied against him. The plan was for Jake Roberts to be the Higher Power but that fell apart. So in a big moment, the Higher Power showed up in a hood with Vince on the video screen demanding he show himself. He did…to reveal himself as Vince, claiming it was all part of a plan to mess with Austin. It was a cheap move and a letdown that even WWE recognized. Immediately after the revelation, a ticked off Linda revealed she’d made Austin CEO. It was a nice save but not enough to salvage this baffling turn.