10 Times WWE Screwed Wrestlers Out Of Huge Matches

10. Bayley – WrestleMania 41

Bayley’s disappearance from WrestleMania 41 left many fans and critics reeling. Originally set to team with Lyra Valkyria for a Women’s Tag Team Championship match against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, the plan quickly fell apart when WWE aired a backstage segment during the Night 1 Countdown show. In that segment, Bayley was ambushed, and Adam Pearce declared her “injured,” pulling her from the match in a manner that was as sudden as it was definitive.

It later emerged that this “injury” was entirely planned, engineered weeks in advance. WWE had deliberately sidelined Bayley to pave the way for Becky Lynch’s return—a move that completely upended the match’s dynamics. With Bayley out, Lynch stepped in to embark on the first phase of her heel turn, marking a calculated pivot in the storyline rather than a reaction to genuine adversity. This wasn’t an unforeseen hiccup, but a clear signal of WWE’s intent to reconfigure the card for maximum impact.

The fallout was immediate and personal. Devoted fans flooded social media with disappointment, feeling that Bayley, a veteran who had given her all and helped shape the women’s division, was unjustly overlooked. Bayley herself alluded to being let down by the sudden change, in an interview with Chris Van Vliet, turning what should have been a celebrated moment into a controversial sidestep that still lingers as a sore point among the WWE faithful.