10 Times WWE Wasted HUGE Teases

In which you are punished for trusting the process.

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WWE

Remember how little it really mattered just who lifted that f*cking briefcase away from Steve Austin's grasp at King Of The Ring 1999 by the following night's Raw? More importantly, do you remember why? The reasons were twofold.

For one thing, 'The Rattlesnake' won the WWE Championship in the evening's ratings-gobbling main event against The Undertaker. This was the thing about Stone Cold, and indeed WWE's booking of him as the top babyface - he'd been outwitted and screwed the night earlier, but fans were never given long enough to lose faith in him, nor the process that had aided his rise. The thinking, and much of this had to be driven by Austin's pestering of McMahon before showtime, it would take some grand plan for heels to win a battle, and they'd still lose the war.

That played in to reason two. On the Raw before the pay-per-view, the Big Boss Man appeared to leave the Corporate Ministry. On the show, the briefcase was lifted despite a blanket ban on corporate interference. On the post-show Raw, without reason or rationale, Boss Man rejoined the group with a big hug and even bigger smile. Had this been another layer to the scheme?

If it was, it was great, but they never explained it and dorks like your writer have spent intros like the one above pretending it doesn't matter when it does - everything does.

Sigh. Wasn't the first, won't be the last...

10. GTV

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WWE.com

In 1999 we'll briefly stay, not because this was the year GTV was paid off, but because it was the year it was born.

Grainy hidden camera footage started airing on television, knackering all sorts of clandestine plans made by Superstars that understandably assumed they were scheming in secret. If this sounds familiar, it's because it served as the inspiration for one of 2020's biggest teases. But more on that later, because at least that one actually had a payoff in the end rather than none at all.

Indeed, after years of monitoring the actions of any and everybody, GTV gained a Raw-exclusive imitation (F-VIEW, nyuk nyuk) before disappearing completely. What can we take from the experience overall?

Well, we can assume the original intent of the idea was to return Goldust to television. It was originally branded "GDTV" before Dustin Runnels left for WCW in the summer. A number of wrestlers have suggested it was set to be then-TV megastar Tom Green before Vince McMahon actually saw his act. This checks out - Green was good at gross-out, and GTV constantly filmed people in f*cking toilets.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett