The elaborate storytelling in wrestling can provide a great angle for the wrestlers involved and the fans. Promotions will usually set up a big storyline with obvious signs about the direction they are going. The Mega Powers breaking up, Bret Hart’s slow-burn heel turn in 1997, and most other major storylines saw fans being made aware of the changes coming.

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However, there is another layer of storytelling involved in some of the more elaborate ideas. Fans are shown one side of things expecting the angle to go in that direction, but the intentional swerve was meant to shock the audience. Without further ado, let's check out the storylines that were supposed to swerve us as part of a bigger plan.

10 Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman Breaking Up in 2018

 Paul Heyman sprays Roman Reigns

The rivalry between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns had a few twists and turns between 2015 and 2018. WWE played with the fans’ emotions when having Lesnar berate Paul Heyman, implying he was done with his advocate.

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Heyman claimed he wanted to manage Reigns after losing Lesnar, but it was a huge swerve. The reveal saw Heyman pepper-spraying Roman and Brock delivering a vicious attack before reuniting with his advocate. Reigns now working with Heyman as his manager two years later ended up being a funny twist.

9 Kenny Omega Showing Up in Impact Wrestling

Kenny Omega and Don Callis

AEW ran a huge storyline of Kenny Omega walking out with Don Callis after defeating Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. The appearance of Omega on Impact Wrestling was teased all week before airing on the show inside of a huge tour bus.

Impact teased the potential of a promotion battle, but Omega teased the idea of collecting belts from major promotions more than anything else. The pivot from Impact vs AEW to Omega looking to take over the wrestling world was done by design.

8 Triple H's 2000 Face Turn

Triple H vs Steve Austin

Triple H delivered arguably the best work of his career in 2000 with classic matches against The Rock, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, and a few others. The end of the year saw Triple H surprisingly turning face for one program against heel Chris Benoit.

Fans bought into his character shift enough to cheer when Triple H seemingly planned to make the save for Steve Austin against Kurt Angle and Rikishi. Triple H instead betrayed Austin, revealing he was the heel looking to end Austin’s career all along to start their highly anticipated feud.

7 Bully Ray & Brooke Hogan's Relationship

Bully Ray

TNA always tried to keep the viewer guessing by sometimes spending too much time on swerves. The Aces & Eights heel faction became the top storyline in TNA when fans were trying to figure out the mysterious leader.

Bully Ray ended his long heel run by turning face during his romantic angle with Brooke Hogan. TNA placed them together and even had a wedding segment planned with Aces & Eights attacking. Bully eventually revealed he was running the stable all along after fooling everyone into trusting him.

6 Jon Stewart Feuding with Seth Rollins

Jon Stewart and Seth Rollins

Comedian and talk show personality Jon Stewart is a huge WWE fan and wanted to get involved in a 2015 storyline. Seth Rollins and Stewart started exchanging insults ahead of Stewart appearing at the SummerSlam event.

Fans were expecting Stewart to attack Rollins when entering the ring with a steel chair, but he instead hit John Cena. Rollins stole the victory and Stewart pulled off the swerve with the explanation of him not wanting Cena to break Ric Flair’s title record.

5 Undertaker Tormenting McMahon Family

The Higher Power

The Higher Power storyline was the biggest instance of WWE trying to get too cute with the unexpected reveal. Vince McMahon turned face when The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness faction attempted to stalk Stephanie McMahon.

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Fans felt for Vince based on the relating emotion of what it would feel like to have your daughter targeted. The angle was done to make fans trust Vince before revealing that he was the Higher Power giving the orders to Undertaker all along as a way to get back at Steve Austin, even with his family being used as pawns.

4 Hulk Hogan vs Eric Bischoff in TNA

Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff

Bound for Glory 2010 was meant to be TNA’s taking off point when the Immortal faction was teased for months. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff showed tension for the first time heading into the triple threat main event between Kurt Angle, Mr. Anderson, and Jeff Hardy for the vacated TNA World Championship.

Bischoff started to back Anderson, and Hogan was preferential to Angle, leading to their rift. The big swerve came when both personalities helped Hardy win by turning him heel. Immortal was formed as TNA’s version of the New World Order, but they sadly failed instantly in the following weeks.

3 Sting Attacking WCW Wrestlers When Starting Crow Character

Sting as WCW Champion

Sting became the hottest act for WCW when introducing the Crow version of his character. The angle of Sting feeling betrayed by WCW when the New World Order conned them into thinking he joined the faction led to Stinger watching from the rafters on his own.

WCW tried to create a sense of fear in the fan base that Sting was really going to join the nWo since he started wearing the black and white. Sting attacked WCW wrestlers like the Steiner Brothers and Jeff Jarrett to swerve the audience. The eventual attacks on nWo members received even bigger pops thanks to the fake-out.

2 "The Old Stone Cold is Back"

Steve Austin

WWE fell apart in 2001 when trying to craft together the perfect Invasion storyline of WCW and ECW wrestlers taking over. The first PPV titled Invasion saw Steve Austin turning face one week before the event in a memorable moment.

Vince McMahon begged for the “old Stone Cold” to return after a few months of his heel run aligning with the boss. Austin destroyed dozens of Alliance members with Stone Cold Stunners to an all-time great ovation. Unfortunately, the swerve would see Austin pivot back to the heel character when joining the heels of WCW and ECW.

1 2002 D-Generation X Reunion

Triple H and Shawn Michaels

One of the better instances of WWE setting up a swerve came in 2002 with the fake-out of a D-Generation X comeback. Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement and joining the Raw brand in the brand split saw him talking Triple H into signing with Raw to reunite DX again.

Fans were excited when Triple H and Michaels walked to the ring to the DX theme and appeared ready to deliver their classic promos. Triple H stopped halfway through his line to Pedigree Michaels. The two ended up having one of the best rivalries of the era with HBK officially having his first match back against his best friend turned enemy.

NEXT: 5 Things Triple H Does Better Than Shawn Michaels (& 5 HBK Is Best At)