11 WWE Poster Boys That Didn't Make The Pay-Per-View

The internet may have put several nails into the coffin of the importance of the event poster, but World Wrestling Entertainment still cranks them out for each and every pay-per-view. Decades ago they amounted to merely showcasing the cards, but over time the posters became artier and artier affairs, with a variety of performers pictured in a variety of settings.

We've had D-Generation X throwing a 'hilarious' summer BBQ, Big Show and Hornswoggle playing puppet masters, CM Punk and his ice cream bars and a whole lot more. Looking back at the posters is also a pretty good guide for seeing who was considered important, as well as who WWE deemed marketable enough to promote their biggest shows.

It is surprising therefore that WWE PPV history is littered with individuals that were the centrepiece of the marketing for a show but didn't actually wrestle on it. In the good old days, if a performer was on the poster he was 100% wrestling on the show, but the importance of the connection between the two is almost dead in this day and age.

So here are 11 times poster boys didn't wrestle on the PPV. We've got a couple of run-ins, but more often than not these guys were MIA. And yes, as mentioned with most poster posts, these pictures are cropped to fit the site. If you want to see the posters in full, Wikipedia is your friend, folks!

Survivor Series 1992 was built around a major tag team match main event, so much so that the WWF Championship was able to get what would become the 'Royal Rumble Treatment'. Basically that means it was defended against an upcoming heel (in this case Shawn Michaels) as something of a trial run. That match didn't make it to the official poster for the event.

The tag match in question featured four of the biggest names in professional wrestling. On one side you had former WWF Champion 'Macho Man' Randy Savage teaming with the recently-returned Ultimate Warrior, to take on Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. Flair and Savage had been feuding for most of the year, and with Hulk Hogan on the sidelines the Warrior returned to add some heft to the business numbers.

The only problem was that Warrior was gone from the company by the time the show came around. A couple of theories have been floated around as to why, with the most likely being that he was fired due to his steroid usage (during a time when WWE were facing an impending steroid trial).

Ultimate Warrior? Steroids? What? Get out of town!

'Mr. Perfect', who bad been aligned with Flair most of the year, stepped into the breach and the match ended up going on fourth, after Tatanka vs. Rick Martel but before Yokozuna vs. Virgil. Warrior wasn't the only advertised individual to miss the show, as both The British Bulldog and The Mountie failed to make it for their Intercontinental Championship match, too.