12 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The Royal Rumble

5. Christian's 2009 Return Changed To Matt Hardy Due To Internet Leaks

It was going to be a great moment during Edge's WWE Title match against Jeff Hardy, who was the champ. They had a No Disqualification match that was very good as usual for them. A few weeks before the match, the news came out online that former WWE Superstar Christian was going to come back to WWE at the Rumble PPV. He was in TNA Wrestling for the previous three years, so it would have been a big deal to have him return. There was obviously a logical storyline in place since Edge was his storyline brother (real life best friend) for many years and eventually they dropped the brother thing. If Christian came out, people would have popped big because they might have thought he was there to cause Edge to lose. They certainly could have made it look that way. The plan was revealed to be an attack on Jeff Hardy, which would have led to a WrestleMania match between the two while Edge would go on to face John Cena. Due to the online leak, WWE changed plans. It was Matt Hardy that entered the ring during the match, then he nailed his brother Jeff with a steel chair and he helped his rival Edge win the WWE Title. That led to the Matt vs. Jeff feud leading to a WrestleMania match. As for Christian, his return was delayed until he showed up on the ECW brand as a babyface that soon became the Champion of WWE's third brand. It was a downgrade compared to what was going to happen considering Jeff was one of the top babyfaces. It was another instance where WWE changed their plans just because fans online knew about things. That's a mistake by WWE. If the story is good, people are going to love it and react the way they are supposed to. It's not like online fans are the majority of fans. WWE should have stuck with the Christian plan. It would have worked out better in the long run.