10 Times WWE Were Forced Into A Money Match
2. AJ Styles Vs. Finn Bálor (TLC, 2017)
The fact that Finn Bálor's originally scheduled match-up at TLC 2017 would have seen him taking on Bray Wyatt - cross-dressing as Sister Abigail - is as insane as it is depressing.
However, due to Wyatt's untimely illness, WWE were forced to throw together a showcase match in order to make sure fans would actually tune into the lukewarm PPV.
Their answer?
Give them AJ Styles.
Styles flew all night to get to the event, as he was a SmackDown Live talent at this point and had been performing at a live event in Chile the night before this Raw PPV.
The ensuing match was a fast paced encounter between two of the biggest wrestling stars in the world - with the pair just so happening to be former Bullet Club leaders, too.
We even had the rare treat of seeing Bálor in full 'Demon' guise and this proved to be enough to earn him the edge on the night.
Yet the bout will probably be mostly remembered for the completely improvised 'too sweet' gesture shared between the two icons after the bell.
Had WWE fully invested in this programme at some point, it could have easily main evented WrestleMania. However, with Bálor now cutting it up on NXT and Styles middling around the mid-card on Raw, this enforced clash may be the closest thing we ever get to a Battle of the Bullets on WWE programming.