10 Times WWE IGNORED The Fans (... And Got It Right!)

3. Not Firing Edge

Lita Edge
WWE

Not only did a certain section of the WWE fanbase want Edge fired in 2005, but Triple H was even reportedly pushing for the market leader to sever ties with the Canadian. Of course, this was after it become public knowledge that Edge - himself married at that time - had been having an affair with Amy 'Lita' Dumas, who was dating Matt Hardy back then.

While Matt was clearly the wronged party in all of this, it was actually he himself who would end up fired during this period, with WWE management taking umbrage with how Hardy publicised this affair and publicly lambasted his ex-girlfriend and his former friend.

If anyone deserved to benefit from this awful situation in a wrestling sense, it was Matt Hardy. It remains unknown whether the groundswell of fan support generated for the Hardy Boy during this time would've been enough to cement him as a bona fide main event player, but WWE did end up with one genuine top, top star as a result of this very real drama: Edge.

WWE had a chance to solidify both of these talents as World Champion contenders, though things ultimately didn't pan out like that for Matt. By opting not to fire Edge, though, that only amplified the heat the Rated-R Superstar was receiving from fans, which in turn made him the hottest villain in the promotion and started a run that saw the nowadays WWE Hall of Famer wrack up an impressive 11 World Championship reigns.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.