10 Times WWE Screwed Wrestlers Out Of Huge Matches

For a brief, bizarre moment in 2017, Jinder Mahal was the face that runs the place on SmackDown. WWE had strapped the rocket to his back, handed him the WWE Championship, and booked him like a world-beater. Whether fans liked it or not, the company was all-in on The Modern Day Maharaja.

And then came Survivor Series.

WWE hyped a Champion Vs. Champion clash between Mahal and Universal Champion Brock Lesnar for weeks. Jinder cut promos aimed squarely at The Beast, and the match was positioned as a career-defining moment. Love him or loathe him, Mahal was about to share the ring with one of WWE’s biggest attractions on one of its biggest stages.

But just one week before the event, WWE did what WWE does best: they changed their minds. On a random episode of SmackDown, AJ Styles defeated Mahal for the WWE Title, and just like that, the marquee match was scrapped. 

Sure, AJ vs. Brock was an absolute banger—but that’s not the point. WWE spent months building Mahal, only to pull the rug out from under him at the last second. It was a classic case of the company promising a huge moment…and then ghosting the guy they’d been pushing. He was hardly one of the best wrestlers in the world, but come on.