Long-term storytelling has been one of the most important aspects of pro wrestling throughout the decades. Fans typically will have more interest when invested in a storyline that goes on for quite some time before reaching a satisfying conclusion. Not all storylines will get the same level of respect by a promotion when it comes to the finish. Wrestling has seen many memorable instances of fans getting left without an answer to their questions.
The worst thing is when the stories get dropped without any explanation as to why. Many great angles were forced to end due to injuries or other variables that were explained. Sadly, that’s not the case for the storylines we’ll be looking at today. They flat out just ended without any notice of why the angles stopped. Take a trip down a disappointing memory lane regarding ten wrestling storylines that were dropped without a valid explanation.
10 Daniel Bryan's career altering announcement
One of the most recent instances of WWE dropping a storyline featured Daniel Bryan. Following the loss of the Smackdown Tag Team Champions by Bryan and Rowan to New Day, Bryan promised a career-altering announcement that would change his future.
Two teases of the announcement would see Bryan refuse to say anything prolonging the reveal. Bryan randomly wrestled a match afterwards with zero reference or explanation regarding his decision. WWE reportedly dropped it to start Bryan’s new feud with Roman Reigns, but we’ll never know what his announcement was supposed to be.
9 McMahon's Million Dollar Mania
Vince McMahon has come up with many ridiculous ideas throughout the years, but a unique one saw him putting his money on the line. McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania gave viewers the chance to win a million dollars of Vince’s money if keeping up with the show to find the secret code.
The desperate ploy for ratings would become a stranger storyline when the set fell leaving Vince injured. A memorable line featured him saying “I can’t feel my legs, Paul” to Triple H breaking character by using his real name. There was no follow-up to this as fans were just left confused about the intent.
8 Hideo Itami's attacker
The long-term storytelling in NXT usually is done better than the main roster. That wasn’t the case when setting up a story writing Hideo Itami off television. Itami needed time to recover from an injury, and NXT would have him mysteriously attacked in the parking lot to set up a story for his eventual return.
The timetable for Itami’s return took longer than expected and the angle was just dropped when he was back. NXT did have a moment of Kevin Owens walking past the injured Itami that could have blamed him for it, but there was no clarification as the angle was just dropped.
7 Brock Lesnar vs The Wyatt Family
Bray Wyatt was one of the few wrestlers to get the better of Brock Lesnar in recent years. WWE started planting the seeds for a WrestleMania 32 match between the two wrestlers. Bray along with the rest of the Wyatt Family prevented Lesnar from winning the Royal Rumble.
Another segment on Raw would see Brock struggle trying to combat the Wyatt Family. The angle was just dropped after Lesnar defeated Luke Harper on a WWE Network special. Dean Ambrose later moved into a feud with Brock that would see them face off in the WrestleMania match. Given Ambrose’s anger about the match, Wyatt may have lucked out.
6 Vince McMahon's limo explosion
Another storyline meant to be a ratings ploy by Vince McMahon featured a fake death involving him. McMahon walked past the entire roster to head to his limo at the end of Raw before the limo exploded. The storyline claimed Vince was dead and the aftermath was going to see how the company would exist without him.
McMahon would drop the storyline as the Chris Benoit tragedy happened the following week. The death storyline following such a tragedy would have been in poor taste. WWE however never provided any explanation behind the storyline and we’ll never know was responsible for the limo explosion.
5 Samoa Joe's abduction in TNA
TNA had a few memorable moments of storylines going poorly. The issue would usually see disappointing reveals after hyping the fans up for something important. Samoa Joe wouldn’t even get a conclusion to a strange storyline involving him.
Masked men attacked Joe in the back and abducted him into their automobile. Joe was missing for weeks before returning with a new vicious side. There was zero explanation regarding what happened to him or who abducted him as he eased back into normal matches like nothing happened.
4 Heel Jim Ross
Jim Ross turned heel out of the blue in 1996 when WWE was desperate for new ideas. The storyline featured him claiming he was going to bring Diesel and Razor Ramon back to WWE while they were dominating in WCW under their real names of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.
Ross’ reveal would see different wrestlers portraying the characters in disappointing fashion. There was no real end game for the heel character of Ross as he continued to insult the fans and faces for a few more weeks. At some point, Ross just returned to his normal role as an unbiased announcer with zero payoff to the heel angle.
3 GTV
The Attitude Era would see WWE trying a few strange ideas looking to figure out which ideas would stick. GTV was one that lasted for months with a mysterious figure having hidden cameras backstage to expose the secrets of the other stars.
Stars like Big Show, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho were involved in the GTV segments airing out their dirty secrets to the public. GTV would just end at some point with no explanation or reveal regarding who was responsible for it. Rumors indicated it was meant to be Goldust, but he instead left to join WCW.
2 Emmalina
Emma was one of the most underrated female wrestlers in WWE for most of her time on the main roster. The biggest opportunity for her came when the Emmalina storyline featured her transitioning into a new character. Months of vignettes would tease her debut leaving fans wondering what was to come.
Emmalina finally appeared on Raw for the first time to reveal Emmalina was dead and she was once again Emma. There was no valid explanation regarding who Emmalina was meant to be or what her gimmick was. It was just dropped, and Emma returned to doing little before an eventual release.
1 Mystery person helping McMahon family beat Austin
The feud between Steve Austin and Vince McMahon was the most intense during the Attitude Era. Shane McMahon eventually joined the fray as a heel character helping Vince try to make life miserable for Austin. A huge match would see Austin face off with Vince and Shane in a handicap ladder match for control of WWE.
The briefcase suspended above the ring would mysteriously move up whenever Austin climbed the ladder and was within reach of grabbing it. These shady tactics helped the McMahon family win the match. No reveal was ever made regarding who helped Vince and Shane as that story was dropped.