6 Times Wrestling History Was Almost COMPLETELY Different

2. The Elite Take The WWE Deal In 2018

Remember when The McMahons opened a December 17th 2018 Raw with a really weird apology segment that promised the earth and changed absolutely nothing?

If so, advanced apologies for the flashbacks. For the uninitiated, Vince, Shane and Stephanie (joined by Paul Levesque, skirting a weird line between a worked role as an on-screen authority figure sort of, and the shoot gaffer down in NXT) turned up out of nowhere to admit that they "hadn't been doing a very good job" for the WWE Universe. Well, three of them did; Vince effectively walked back half of the sentiment before the segment even concluded, but in a bizarre worked shoot promo, they admitted the show stunk, tried to heap some of the blame on storyline authority figure Baron Corbin, and then pledged to do a better job. In December 2018, a month or so before kicking off the consensus worst creative year in the company's history.

What was this all about? WWE had been mostly terrible for years without the out-loud acknowledgment. The Constable Corbin gimmick absolutely sucked from the off and didn't get any better either side of this odd bollocking. Rumble-to-WrestleMania season was just weeks away, and historically serves as a time where things are exciting by default, even in the most brutal of times. As it turned out, those at the top table felt as though they had a stacked hand to play, not counting on several new star signings deciding to go all in elsewhere instead.

It was later revealed that future All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice Presidents Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks and Hangman Adam Page had been offered insane deals to join the market leader rather than head up a challenger brand, and WWE - Levesque in particular - was confident he was going to get them over the line. The terms were so favourable that 'The Game' or others around him had to know that AEW was coming. Cody and The Bucks were offered immediate main roster spots on huge money, with Page getting the same wage for the top spot on NXT. The figures were compared to the numbers then-WWE Champion AJ Styles was earning at the time, and in an unprecedented add-on, they could all leave after six months if they weren't happy with their creative. Inevitably, they probably wouldn't have been, but by then WWE might have neutralised the AEW threat. The wrestlers didn't take the deal, WWE didn't change, but the wrestling world did.