10 Times WWE Stars Were Scapegoats For Bad Booking
5. Rey Mysterio
Sometimes, all it takes is one night to be included on this list.
Legendary luchador Rey Mysterio was booked as the 30th entrant into the 2014 Royal Rumble, and was booed mercilessly upon entry. But the fans weren't booing him because they disliked him - they were booing him because he wasn't Daniel Bryan.
See, at that time, Daniel Bryan was the hottest act going in the company. Given that he'd lost to Bray Wyatt in the night's opening match, it made logical sense to book him to come back and win the Rumble from the #30 spot. It was clearly what the fans wanted, and it would have meshed well with Bryan's resilient underdog persona.
Unfortunately, a crowd of thousands eagerly chanting "Daniel Bryan!" watched as the #30 entrant was revealed to... not be Daniel Bryan.
Instead, out came poor Rey Mysterio, a lifelong babyface, to one of the longest and loudest sustained boos in company history. Worse yet, is that a lot of this heat remained with him throughout the last few months of his run with the company. It wasn't his fault that WWE tried and failed to use him as a heat buffer, yet he caught much of the flak for it.
Thankfully, however, his return in the 2018 Royal Rumble garnered a far-more positive reaction.