Top Five Rumored Angles and Storylines That Didn’t Happen

Brian Damage

There have been countless heavily rumored angles and storylines in pro wrestling. Some have actually panned out and happened, while others turned out to be nothing but rumors themselves…or at the very least…scrapped ideas at the last moment. Today we look at my top five rumored angles and storylines that never saw the light of day.

The Undertaker’s Lover

At the height of Sable’s popularity in the WWF, rumors began to swirl that creative had plans to turn her heel and align with the Undertaker and become a member of his Ministry of Darkness faction. Sable was not only turning heel, but would be the Dead Man’s lover. She would be the queen of the Ministry, controlling all of its members side by side with the Undertaker. The idea was rumored to have been scrapped due to the Undertaker’s real life wife wife Sara, who opposed her husband having a romantic angle of any kind.

The Original Honkytonk Man’s Protégé.

The storyline involving the former Intercontinental champion The Honkytonk Man searching for a protégé to manage did indeed happen. He ended up managing a repackaged Billy Gunn renamed Rock A Billy. The gimmick fell flat and was ultimately scrapped. The rumored choice to play the part originally was none other than Glenn Gilbertti aka The Disco Inferno in WCW. At the time, Gilbertti’s WCW contract expired and was a free agent. The WWF wanted to sign him and bring Gilbertti in as the understudy to the Honkytonk Man. The rumors were that the two sides were very close to a contract, when Eric Bischoff swooped in and offered him more money to remain with WCW instead. With WWF creative having all their plans surrounding Gilbertti in the role…the company had to scramble to find a suitable replacement and ended up choosing Billy Gunn.

The Battle of the Four Horsemen

In 1996, Pillman was beginning his “Loose Cannon” gimmick in WCW as a member of the Four Horsemen. As Pillman’s character was slowly descending into madness, Arn Anderson was finding it harder and harder to keep him controlled. It eventually led Arn to slap Pillman across the face live on Monday Nitro in front of everybody. It was supposed to be the catalyst to a much bigger storyline within WCW. The rumored plan was for Pillman to splinter off from the Four Horsemen led by Arn and Ric Flair and start his own Horsemen group. A younger group of Horsemen that would consist of Chris Benoit and rumors of guys like Steven Regal and possibly Chris Jericho. The two Horsemen factions would then feud for the rights to the Horsemen name and legacy. Of course, that never came to be, because Pillman wound up convincing Eric Bischoff to “fire” him to make his gimmick more believable.

Dustin Runnel’s Faction

After Dustin Runnel’s dropped his very popular Goldust character…he was booked as a Bible preaching individual in the WWF. For weeks, Runnel’s was seen praying in the middle of the ring and airing vignettes where he warned about the evils of the Attitude Era. The rumors were that Dustin was eventually going to recruit a number of followers to form a faction to go against the likes of Val Venis, the Godfather and other adult themed gimmicked wrestlers. The name of the group was called Evangelists Against Television Movies & Entertainment or EATME for short. The Dustin led faction was the precursor to the group that eventually was formed a while later called the Right to Censor. The idea was rumored to have been shelved because Vince McMahon felt that Dustin was better suited as Goldust.

The Original Higher Power

“The Higher Power” storyline was the real leader of the Ministry of Darkness faction in the WWF. Someone so evil and powerful, that even the Undertaker followed their lead. We all know that the big reveal of the Higher Power turned out to be Vince McMahon and the Ministry of Darkness became the Corporate Ministry. Vince was never planned as the original person behind the cloak. The rumors were that the original idea was or it to be none other than the ‘Fallen Angel’ Christopher Daniels. Apparently, Vince wasn’t sold that Daniels was believable in that position and decided to make himself the Higher Power instead.