10 MORE Shocking WWE Plans You Won’t Believe
Men, Women & Children
AJ Styles' Manchester WWE Championship victory brought to an end one of the most perplexing top title reigns of the modern era. In Jinder Mahal, the company elevated a performer not just from a midcard spot to a prominent role, but from the gutter to the stars.
Mahal was literally losing every week on television ahead of the out-of-the-blue ascension, showing little suggestion from his work that his trajectory was due to change quite so substantially. The circumstances behind his push have been pored over perhaps more than any other story in 2017, but they won't change the fact that even if he never headlines a show again in his life, a 170 day stint with the industry's top prize will ensure his place in wrestling history.
Lucky enough to have received the opportunity, 'The Modern Day Maharaja' was equally fortunate that somebody high up gave his radical promotion the green light. Sure, dafter ideas than 'Jinder Mahal - WWE Champion' have advanced beyond the planning stages, but just as many wild suggestions thankfully never made it out of the writers room.
Professional wrestling doesn't have the most tasteful history with what has been considered safe to promote over the years, but its a relief for both the performers and fans to consider some of the more outlandish stuff that never made the grade.
10. Gettin' Ink Done
A symbol of how a company had changed as much as the whims of Vince McMahon himself, the CEO's refusal to allow Chris Jericho to legitimately tattoo CM Punk during their passable 2012 storyline was all down to the robust rejection that blood could appear on his show.
Though John Cena and Brock Lesnar bludgeoned one another with reckless abandon during their simmering rivalry at the same time, the privilege wasn't afforded to the 'Straight Edge Superstar' and 'Y2J'. Jericho had pitched the unique idea with Punk's full approval. The pair explained to Vince what a violation it would be for a man that clearly took body art seriously to be stained with the initials of a fierce rival for life, and briefly won him around.
His change of heart was unfortunately predictable. Twenty years earlier, an actual cobra had penetrated Randy Savage's skin in jaw-dropping scenes. Several generations removed though, and a tattooists needle was a visual too far.