12 Upcoming Wrestling Stories That Are Already Doomed
Excited for these major stories to play out over the next few months? Be wary...
There's never been a time in WWE history when the success of a story is guaranteed.
Once upon a time, megalomaniacal Vince McMahon would have blamed his talent for failing to elevate some of the worst material ever presented in the history of professional wrestling. Conversely, across both commercial booms in the 1980s and 1990s, there was action so lacking in... action that it wholly required the excitement generated by the twists and turns penned by creative heads. The machine requires every cog to turn for true perfection.
Look at Stone Cold Steve Austin's rise and run; he worked with Bret Hart in a story so layered and of-the-time that the pair of them pulled off a gorgeously elegant double turn over a period of months that paid off in the single most important match in company history at WrestleMania 13. A year later and he was WWE Champion and set to tangle with a variety of Mr McMahon-led rivals as the story became more about the big picture war between those two than any of the individual battles along the way. In both cases, the matches met the hype, and vice versa.
These ones? Not so fortunate...
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12. Brock Lesnar's WWE Return
Brock Lesnar is back in WWE as of SummerSlam 2025 - and seemingly heading for a feud with John Cena.
Appearing for the first time since being named in Janel Grant's sex trafficking lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon in January 2024, Lesnar attacked Cena after his Undisputed WWE Title loss to Cody Rhodes, hitting an F5. Meanwhile, the Grant case remains open. Lesnar's name is cited 44 times within it.
From a wrestling standpoint, Cena vs. Lesnar will likely benefit from Cena dumping his failed heel run and turning babyface on the 1 August SmackDown. The 48-year-old is a better wrestler as a face, which, per Dave Meltzer, was one of the factors behind his abrupt pre-SummerSlam turn.
But bringing Brock back is a sleazy move by a deeply sleazy company. WWE parent company Endeavor let Dana white off with less than a slap on the wrist after slapping his wife in public. Conor McGregor, the subject of multiple sexual assault allegations, has never been jettisoned.
They simply do not care.
This will not stop the online backlash that may or may not be reflected in arenas. The live crowd reacted to Lesnar with overwhelming positivity at SummerSlam. Maybe they don't care either. Scruples, it seems, are secondary to "Cinema" and "Moments."
Nonetheless, it is difficult to buy into the fiction of good guy John Cena battling bad guy Brock Lesnar one final time in 2025 when the reality is so grim. Janel Grant claims Vince McMahon used her for sexual favours with Brock, whom Vince was trying to negotiate a new c ontract with.
(Entry written with additional contributions from Andy Murray)