Things change on the fly in wrestling when it comes to booking major matches. The unpredictable nature of wrestling can see injuries, travel issues and many other variables coming into play to force a change. However, there are also the instances of promotions going out of their way to make the change for the betterment of a match.

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The reasons for such a change can come from various reasons from a better option emerging to the wrestler in question struggling in the role. Changes can sometimes create positives, but there have been the occasions where things went downhill afterwards. Find out what caused the following wrestlers to get written out of big matches and how it turned out.

10 AJ Styles

AJ Styles

WWE planned to have AJ Styles face Brock Lesnar for the second straight year at Survivor Series 2018 for the Champion vs Champion brand match. Styles would get replaced just days before the show when losing the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan.

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The change was done to add more momentum to the show with the first-time dream match of Bryan vs Lesnar. Styles would have likely also had another great match against Brock, but WWE wanted to add importance to the show with the dream match scenario.

9 Kylie Rae

Kylie Rae

Impact Wrestling had a positive 2020 with the reputation of the once embarrassing promotion reaching credibility. The women’s division was arguably the top asset with a huge match planned for Bound for Glory of Deonna Purrazzo vs Kylie Rae.

Both ladies were among the best female performers in the world and created an attraction match for the Knockouts Championship. Unfortunately, the personal issues of Rae led to her missing the show. Impact scrambled to write her off by having Deonna issue an open challenge instead with Su Yung beating her.

8 Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

The Intercontinental Championship was the second most important title for years in WWE. SummerSlam 1988 featured Honky Tonk Man scheduled to defend the title against Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake in one of the more important matches on the card.

WWE wrote Beefcake out of the match with a scripted injury one week before the show at the hands of Ron Bass. Ultimate Warrior replaced Beefcake to add a bigger name to the match and he ended the longest-reigning IC Championship run of HTM by squashing him.

7 Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels

Shane Douglas still rants about Shawn Michaels and the Kliq today due to how poorly things went during his WWE run. Michaels was scheduled to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Douglas until his infamous bar fight in Syracuse.

The fight saw Michaels getting the worst of it and vacating the title with the claims of a normal wrestling injury. Douglas was awarded the belt, but he would face Razor Ramon instead with the title on the line. Razor defeated Douglas to end his title reign within minutes and destroyed his credibility in WWE.

6 Natalya

Natalya wwe

The various changes to Survivor Series since the brand split restarted have seen WWE replacing people at the last minute. Smackdown Women’s Champion Natalya was a victim of the changes in 2017 when she was scheduled to face Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss.

WWE changed the Smackdown title the week before the show to put Charlotte Flair in the match instead of Natalya. Charlotte defeated both Nattie for the title on Smackdown and Bliss at the PPV to continue her dominance in WWE.

5 Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan

WCW tried too hard to swerve the audience in the final few years of the company’s existence. Vince Russo arrived in late 1999 and wanted to utilize Hulk Hogan’s creative control contract in the storylines. Halloween Havoc 1999 was to have a big rematch of Sting as a heel vs Hogan for the WCW Championship.

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The change would come when Hogan laid down for Sting and refused to wrestle a match with the implications of him not wanting to job. Goldberg faced Sting in an actual match later in the show even though that added more confusion with an indecisive finish.

4 Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman

The matches between Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman disappointed whenever the two faced off in singles action. WWE wanted to give them another try to make it work for the Universal Championship at Royal Rumble 2019.

Vince McMahon changed plans a few weeks before the show by suspending Strowman in character for ruining his limo. Finn Balor replaced Braun for both WWE wanting a better first-time match and for knowing that he could look stronger in defeat than Strowman would have been taking another loss.

3 Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch

One unexpected change for a Survivor Series show came in 2018 when Becky Lynch lost her match against Ronda Rousey. The infamous Raw invasion led by Becky and the rest of the Smackdown women’s division made her hotter than ever as a top star.

Lynch suffered a facial injury at the hands of a reckless Nia Jax which removed her from the match. WWE played it safe as Becky was cleared to compete just a week or two later. The change placed Charlotte Flair in her spot to set up the WrestleMania 35 main event between Charlotte, Becky and Ronda.

2 Jinder Mahal

Jinder Mahal

Vince McMahon’s big experiment of Jinder Mahal as the WWE Champion completely failed when he was removed from a huge match against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2017. The star power lacked as Jinder was not equal to Brock despite both being world champions.

AJ Styles defeated Mahal on the Smackdown before the PPV taped in the United Kingdom. Not even the spoilers leaking online could take away from the moment. Styles replacing Jinder was for the best as he had a stellar match against Lesnar and a great WWE Championship reign.

1 Steve Austin

Steve Austin

Wrestling fans were hyped for the advertised blockbuster match of Triple H vs The Rock vs Steve Austin for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series 1999. The three biggest names of the Attitude Era facing off for the top prize was easy money.

However, WWE had the bait and switch in mind from day one. Austin was written off television to have neck surgery by getting hit by a car earlier in the show. The move explained Austin’s upcoming absence and slotted Big Show in his spot to win the WWE Championship on the event.

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