10 Wrestling Storylines That Wasted Incredible Premises

9. The Higher Power

HHH Adam Cole Shayna Baszler
WWE.com

The premise:

The Undertaker claimed to serve a "Higher Power," and instantly, the imagination of fans leapt between Sid and Jake Roberts and any floating big name that wasn't tied to WCW nor the WWF. The jump was always so thrilling, and this was a role of considerable importance. Holy f*ckin' sh*t, dude: what if it was the Ultimate Warrior?

The waste:

Jesus Christ. This is always so needlessly difficult to parse because the answer is "Vince McMahon, even though it made no sense whatsoever". A story ridden with plot holes can't even develop a retrospective kitsch quality because Vince McMahon joined a union as it was going on, for f*ck's sake. F*ck that. So the Higher Power was revealed to be Vince. He had put his family under significant distress just to gain revenge on Steve Austin, but because of the satanic terrorism and sh*t, Linda and Stephanie pooled their shares to oust Vince from power.

"Higher power? More like, no power!" is what Linda would have said, were this penned in 2020, and imagine writing an entry on the Higher Power and being grateful for Vince Russo.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!