Mistakes That Made Fans Turn On WWE Wrestlers

We've all made mistakes throughout our lives. Some small, some large, and some that you don't know are mistakes until many years later. Wrestling is an industry where one mistake can have a ripple effect that is felt for years to come, but at times these mistakes are so bad that it's the wrestlers themselves that get the short end of the stick, whether it's their fault or not.

Wrestlers are usually at the mercy of the booker. Whatever the booker says goes, and if a wrestler doesn't play ball, then they are either punished, embarrassed, or thrown out of the promotion so fast they don't know what's happened. A wrestler will go out and do the booker's bidding, they will attempt to get the crowd on their side even if they know that what they are doing is ridiculous, and the true greats of the game will get the majority of people to come around for them. However, even the very best this industry has to offer has had the fans turn on them for mistakes that they weren't even at fault for.

In the ring, there are fine margins. One slip-up or one foot wrong can take a move from being a spectacular finish to a career-ending accident, but that's not what we are talking about here today. This list will detail and break down some of the most infamous moments in WWE history where the fans turned their backs on some of the biggest stars in the industry, all because of decisions that might have looked good on paper, but ended up being massive mistakes. Given the star power of some of these names, a number of them have since recovered and rehabbed their image, while others are still feeling the effects to this day.

It's strange to think that at one point Batista was arguably the most hated man in WWE for committing the cardinal sin of simply not being Daniel Bryan. However, that's exactly what happened in 2014.

Just a few months after filming for the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie had wrapped, the man many people now know as Drax the Destroyer returned to the place that made him famous to compete in the 2014 Royal Rumble match. As soon as Batista declared that he would be in the Rumble match, fans almost immediately knew that there was a strong chance of him winning due to Randy Orton being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time, setting up an "Evolution Explodes" situation, while also capitalizing on the fact that Batista was going to be part of the biggest cinematic universe in showbusiness just a few months later.

This did not go down well, in fact, the whole match didn't go down well. The aforementioned Daniel Bryan was the most popular man in the company and was everyone's wish for the number 30 spot. But when Rey Mysterio entered last, the fans even turned on him (making him an honorable mention for this list), and it was all downhill from there. Batista would win the Rumble match, but was forced to turn heel almost immediately afterward because, like we've said, he wasn't Bryan, which eventually led to Bryan being inserted into the main event of WrestleMania 30 that he would ultimately win.

The mistake of going with Batista over Bryan continued after WrestleMania when Batista chose to wear blue gear for the first time, culminating in the fans hating him even more and calling him "Bluetista." The former world champion successfully returned to the company in 2019.

WWE fans have turned on Brock Lesnar multiple times for a variety of reasons. The first instance was back in 2004 at WrestleMania 20 where both Lesnar and Goldberg were booed out of Madison Square Garden as news had broke days before that both men were leaving WWE to pursue other things, which some people might see as unwarranted. The most recent instance was when he was named in the Janel Grant lawsuit, where the former WWE employee alleged that she was pressured into making sexual content for Lesnar as a way to convince him to sign a new contract with the company, which a lot of people see as very warranted.

In the middle of those instances was his second full-time run with the company that started strong (minus the loss to John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012), and reached its true peak when he conquered The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30, breaking the streak in the process. This led to the legendary squash match against John Cena at SummerSlam 2014 and it looked as if he could do no wrong, but then the mistakes started rolling in as WWE continuously pushed Lesnar, and the "Suplex City" match formula down the fans' throats, causing a lot of people to grow tired of him.

On top of this, the monster push came at a time when Lesnar's lack of motivation in the ring was coupled with the constant rumors that he wanted to return to the UFC, making people believe that every time he wrestled, he would rather be somewhere else. Add on the length of time he wasn't on TV while being either the WWE World or Universal Champion, and you have yourself one very big mistake that wouldn't be fixed until he turned babyface in 2021.

Speaking of WWE pushing someone so much that fans openly resented them, Charlotte Flair. She is one of the most talented women to have ever stepped foot in a WWE ring, she has won either the WWE Women's, Women's World, or Divas Championship on 14 separate occasions, as well as having two reigns with the NXT Women's Championship where if you include those, she has already matched her father's record of 16 World Championships. However, these reigns have come at a cost, and that cost is Flair becoming someone that fans don't really want to see win anymore.

For comparison with the rest of the Four Horsewomen, Becky Lynch has eight singles titles to her name in WWE, Bayley has five, and Sasha Banks had seven by the time she left WWE in 2022 and is now on 10 thanks to her work in AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. These numbers are part of the reason why so many fans actively turned on Charlotte whenever she entered into a big feud with someone because fans had that sinking feeling that WWE was going to give Charlotte the win, regardless of how over the current champion was. Lynch is a perfect example of this as she was inserted into the WrestleMania 35 main event involving Flair and Ronda Rousey, where Charlotte looked to be going over until Lynch was added.

Her attitude also came into question from the fans when she and Lynch were drafted to different shows while holding their respective titles, but the segment went south when Flair threw her belt to the floor as Lynch went to take it, causing Lynch to be furious with Flair. Everything has since been resolved, but some fans still hold resentment towards Flair for her attitude in that segment.

He might be the face of wrestling for a lot of people, but in 1993, WWE fans did not want to see any more of Hulk Hogan.

The Hulkster was parachuted in to stop Yokozuna from leaving WrestleMania 9 as the WWE Champion, who had just defeated Bret Hart in the main event. Why was Hogan out there to protect Hart's honor? No one really knows, but the choice to have Hogan win the WWE Championship on this night was a mistake that would inadvertently lead the company into one of its lowest periods in recent memory.

Just a few months before WrestleMania 9, Hogan was a guest on "The Arsenio Hall Show" where he was asked about the ongoing investigation regarding Vince McMahon and steroids in WWE, claiming that he had never once bought steroids from McMahon. Because of the steroid trial, WWE was forced to shift their main event scene onto leaner, more natural-looking athletes like Hart, or men so large that looked like they didn't need steroids like Yokozuna, and yet, Hogan left Las Vegas with the WWE Championship.

The rumors that surround this show are still talked about to this day. Some say that the black eye Hogan was sporting came from Hart for taking the glory for himself, others say it was "Macho Man" Randy Savage who gave him it for getting too close to Miss Elizabeth and the idea of having Hogan leave the show as champion was reportedly Hogan's idea as he knew he was leaving that summer so he wanted to be champion for his farewell tour. Whatever you believe, this decision was such a big mistake that it became the catalyst to what would become the "New Generation" era, an era where WWE could have gone out of business.

At the time of writing, John Cena is about to embark on his retirement tour that will last throughout the entirety of 2025, and it's expected that he will receive lots of fanfare along the way. However, that wasn't always the case for the Doctor of Thuganomics as during Cena's prime years, it became very clear that not everyone in the arenas around the world were totally on his side, and it's another case of being pushed far too much.

The mistakes started coming when Cena was drafted to "WWE Raw" in 2005, where he went from beating guys like JBL and The Big Show on "WWE SmackDown," to fan favorites like Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Shawn Michaels despite portraying the ultimate babyface. These problems would continue throughout the 2000s when heels like Triple H, Edge, and Randy Orton were all cheered as if they had just found the cure to a deadly illness. Then came SummerSlam 2010, where Cena almost single-handedly beat The Nexus in the main event just a few weeks after their iconic debut on "Raw," and this was the point of no return.

The decision to put Team WWE, but more specifically Cena, over was loathed by fans, and even some wrestlers. Edge and Chris Jericho who were both on Team WWE thought it was the wrong move, Cena himself has admitted it was a mistake, but from that moment on, the joke of "Cena Wins LOL" became a staple of WWE fans' mindsets because they knew, no matter how much momentum someone had, Cena was probably going to go over, hence why victories for RVD and CM Punk were celebrated so much. Cena is not getting the respect he deserves as an all-time great, but one mistake almost cost him those flowers.

One of the only entries on this list that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, but it's hard to forget the outrage that people had when The Rock used his "I'm on the TKO board in the bank" to steal the main event of WrestleMania 40 away from Cody Rhodes.

Despite being seen as one of the nicest men in Hollywood, The Rock made an enemy out of the WWE Universe in February 2024 when he managed to convince Rhodes to give him the match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, where The Rock and Reigns would fight to see who was the true "Head of the Table." To say that this caused outrage amongst the fans would be an understatement, with #WeWantCody trending on social media, fans frantically hurling abuse towards The Rock, and Triple H for allowing it to happen, and the large majority of the WWE fanbase outright rejecting the idea of seeing The Rock face Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 40.

So what did The Rock do? He turned his back on the fans as well, turning heel for the first time in 21 years to become "The Final Boss," a mix of his "Hollywood Rock" character and an entirely new side of the man many know as Dwayne Johnson who was more than happy to beat the snot out of Rhodes and leave him in a pool of his own blood (you won't see that in Moana 3). While the WrestleMania 40 angle eventually worked, The Rock's looming presence over WrestleMania 41 has already started to annoy people as he has the power to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, leaving many of WWE's plans for 2025 up in the air until he has the final say.

We are approaching the tenth anniversary of this mistake, and if you had told anyone in the crowd at the 2015 Royal Rumble that in ten years' time, Roman Reigns would not only be the biggest draw in WWE but he would be liked, people would tell you to get back in your time machine.

Much like Batista at the 2014 Royal Rumble, Reigns was once again guilty of not being Daniel Bryan. Only this time, Bryan was actually in the Rumble match entering at number ten. He lasted just over ten minutes before being eliminated by Bray Wyatt. Five minutes later, Reigns entered through the crowd and PEOPLE. WERE. ANGRY. The problem was Reigns was cheered at the end of the 2014 Rumble match because the fans didn't want Batista to win, and Reigns was the last chance to prevent that. Since that match, The Shield had broken up, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose had become fan favorites in their own right through their in-ring work, but WWE pushed Reigns harder than the pair of them, live we've said. PEOPLE. WERE. ANGRY.

They were so angry that #CancelWWENetwork trended worldwide on social media that night, and not even a surprise appearance from a pre-Final Boss Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could stop the chorus of boos from raining down on the squared circle. WWE not knowing the mistake of pushing Reigns despite him not being fully ready for that spot lasted, get this, for five years, half a decade, they dug their heels in and pushed Reigns regardless of what people wanted. It drove fans away, it killed Reigns as a draw, and it wasn't until his heel turn in 2020 that these mistakes were finally corrected, hence why he wants people to acknowledge him so much.

All in all, 2019 was a rotten year for WWE. TV ratings had hit an all-time low, fan interest was on the floor, the creative direction of the company was all over the place, and at the heart of it was Seth "Freakin'" Rollins.

Rollins won the 2019 men's Royal Rumble match and eventually dethroned Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 35 to become the WWE Universal Champion, but that was really as good as it got for Rollins in 2019. Despite having two reigns with the title that year, Rollins didn't necessarily sit right with the fans as an out-and-out babyface. He had spent the majority of his time in WWE as a heel and it worked, to the point where the company had no choice but to turn him face because he was getting cheered so much. However, that face run had gone on for a while and grew stale for many fans, so what mistake did WWE make? They kept him as a face.

While he was meant to be a babyface, Rollins was extremely active on social media where he defended WWE at every opportunity despite many people hating the state of the company at the time. It even got to a point where he had a legitimate online beef with Will Ospreay which escalated to the point where even Chris Jericho had to step in. After months of people being sick of his attitude online, all of it ended up culminating in the infamous Hell in a Cell match with The Fiend that was so bad, fans were chanting "bulls**t," "we want refunds," and "AEW" as the match ended in a disqualification. He's back to where he should be, but fans did not want to see Seth Rollins on top of WWE in 2019.

A mistake so disastrous it put an end to the biggest boom period in modern memory.

Many people like to look at WrestleMania 17 as the finale of the Attitude Era, with the two biggest stars in the industry at the time, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, headlining the show with the WWE Championship on the line. It couldn't get any bigger than that, and even though the story getting to the show was a little clunky in hindsight (Debra was the focus of it at one point and she's not even at WrestleMania), it's gone down as one of the greatest main events in WWE history...well most of it has. The end of the show saw Austin turn heel, beat the life out of The Rock with a steel chair, and shake Vince McMahon's hand after years of trying to kill each other. 

Austin turning heel made no sense. The Rock was about to embark on his first trip to Hollywood meaning that there was no top babyface left in the company if Austin had turned heel. WWE did try and build up the likes of Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and later on in the year Kurt Angle to give Austin opponents, but there was an evident vibe change in the company once Austin had gone bad.

While tickets were still being sold at a strong rate, pay-per-view buys began to drop, ratings were even worse than that, and by the time Austin finally turned back to a babyface, his direction was so aimless that he walked out of the company in 2002. Austin during the match that the turn was a mistake, but it was too late, and by the time they saw the severity of the idea, the damage was done.