7 Most Infuriating Last Minute WWE PPV Changes
7. The Big Show Replaces Steve Austin - Survivor Series 1999
Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H were the three biggest stars of WWE's Attitude Era, and the first-ever Triple Threat match between the trio was WrestleMania-worthy. Sadly, it never happened.
Onscreen, Austin was run over by a car at the hands of a mystery assailant. In reality, his injuries - particularly, issues with his neck - had caught up to him; he needed to take several months off to recuperate from surgery.
The WWF knew about this a week in advance, but in a cynical and misleading push to maintain PPV buys, withheld the truth from the paying audience and ran (no pun intended) the hit and run angle on the night as a storyline explanation for his absence.
His replacement was The Big Show, who was a monumental disappointment in the months following his WWF debut as "Big Nasty" Paul Wight. The Triple Threat match was the typical interference-laden Attitude Era-style main event, which made it passable enough, but WWF fans were consciously and unfairly conditioned to expect a classic.
Astonishingly, despite being a unanimously unpopular substitution, Show was booked to win the title, which he defended against Big Boss Man at Rock Bottom in one of the worst PPV championship matches ever. It lasted just 3:11.
The decision was so bad that it had a karmic effect on future storylines. Rikishi was latterly and infamously unveiled as the man behind the wheel, despite engaging in comedy dance routines on WWF television at the time. His heel run would torpedo his promising career, which took years to launch.
6. Chris Jericho Replaces CM Punk - Unforgiven 2008
Just about an hour earlier, Chris Jericho had lost a brutal Unsanctioned match against Shawn Michaels, with whom he was embroiled in a feud so intense that it resulted in Michaels' wife Rebecca being punched full force in the face.
CM Punk, meanwhile, had been beaten down before his Championship Scramble World Heavyweight title defence at the hands of Randy Orton's Legacy faction. This angle wasn't booked to enable a heroic, Terry Funk-esque comeback - or even to protect Punk in defeat. The Straight Edge Superstar never made it to the ring.
Incredibly, despite suffering to a far worse degree - and losing in the process - Jericho was somehow considered an adequate kayfabe replacement. Predictably, he went on to lift the title at Batista's expense.
It was obvious from the moment he limped to the ring what WWE had in mind. The company has a habit of running every good thing to fall into their hands into the ground - Fandango was frogmarched to the ring as the next Rock one week removed from a gaggle of British lads on tour drunkenly signing his theme on the post-WrestleMania 29 RAW.
The hottest blood feud in years was consequently furnished, pointlessly, with a title. Punk, in the fallout, wasn't even allowed to avenge his attack or stake a claim to his contracted rematch.
The enterprising Punk at least had the nous to integrate the pre-match attack into his eventual feud with Orton two and a half years later.
5. Johnny Nitro Replaces Chris Benoit - Vengeance: Night Of Champions 2007
WWE.com
Including this entry could be argued as grossly insensitive - deeming it "infuriating" might be an indictment of my petty selfishness as a wrestling fan.
Chris Benoit failed to show up on the eve of Vengeance: Night of Champions, replaced in his match against CM Punk by the less than stellar Johnny Nitro. At the time, nobody knew the horrific circumstances precluding Benoit's appearance, and fans were naturally disappointed to be denied what had been set to be a classic.
Fans had been expecting a barnstorming affair with a tantalising mesh of styles, but Nitro in 2007 was a shadow of the performer he'd soon become. Worse still, the substitution was depressingly on the nose. Nitro dominated with a range of iffy-looking submissions, which only served to shine a glaring light on what could have been. He actually won the title, cleanly, at Punk's expense - despite being inferior in storylines.
In fairness to WWE, there weren't many options at their disposal. Their best option may have been Umaga, who in the next match suffered an ignomious disqualification loss at the hands of comedy jobber Santino Marella - a result which flattered neither man.
WWE should have altered the running order and booked him to use his storyline frustration to demand a crack at the ECW World Heavyweight title. This would have been a better use of his immense, still-mourned talents and a more palatable replacement for the Punk Vs. Benoit clash.
4. Savio Vega Replaces Shawn Michaels - In Your House: No Way Out Of Texas 1998
Shawn Michaels' back injury necessitated his exit from the eight-man tag team main event, which was booked in part to allow fans a mouth-watering glimpse at the impending WrestleMania XIV main event.
His replacement was Savio Vega. Austin and Vega had assembled a quietly gripping midcard feud in 1996, but that was ancient history by '98.
The WWF's approach to this change was mixed. While they should have known not to weave a show-long mystery out of it - the tease only doubled down on the disappointment - they at least had the nous to add a No Disqualification stipulation as something of an equaliser. The match just about made up for in excitement what it lacked in star power.
In truth, there were very few candidates who could adequately deputise. The Undertaker was still selling his storyline incineration. Elsewhere, the WWF's roster was wafer thin in early 1998, as indicated by some of the names they had to drag out in the preceding month's Royal Rumble match - including Tom Brandi and the Honky Tonk Man.
Michaels' withdrawal from the match underlines further just how gritty his performance was at 'Mania XIV. If he couldn't take a few bumps in a multi-man just a month earlier, he must have been in searing pain at the Fleet Center in Boston.
3. Vince Whimsically Decides To End The Streak - WrestleMania XXX
Speaking personally for a brief moment, having attended WrestleMania XXX, I denied how harebrained a decision this was.
It made little sense to bestow a rising star like Bray Wyatt with the nod. It wasn't too long ago that Mr. Kennedy was considered the future of the wrestling business. Things change. Conversely, unless John Cena was in the process of turning heel, he wouldn't have benefitted from breaking the vaunted Streak.
WWE were crafting a peculiar brand of postmodern storytelling in 2014. Daniel Bryan was verbally buried throughout the same storyline which saw him ascend to the top of the card under some duress. Lesnar's victory would see him reach unprecedented levels of meta monster heeldom. Fans would reject his victory - and demand vengeance - preciselybecause he was perceived to be undeserving of it.
His status as a mercenary would have augmented him with nuclear heat with which to transfer to someone like Roman Reigns. Reigns would have beaten the 1 in 21 and 1 but without incurring the ire of the fans who'd grown sentimentally attached to the streak.
In retrospect, this was nonsense. Lesnar was too incredible a spectacle to truly boo, he hadn't committed to WWE in the long term, and despite Paul Heyman's best efforts, his protracted absence from WWE TV cooled his momentum.
The decision to end the Streak should not have been taken mere hours before the event; a decision of such magnitude should have been taken with the utmost care - or not taken at all.
2. Daniel Bryan Vs. Sheamus Gets Relegated - WrestleMania XXVII
The planned WrestleMania XXVII United States championship match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus was an interesting proposition.
Bryan, in his thrilling win over The Miz and quality defences against even the average likes of Ted DiBiase, Jr. had restored the belt's reputation to somewhere approaching the standard it attained shortly after it was exhumed.
Sheamus was a more powerful but equally stiff performer struggling for relevance in the wake of his premature push to the top of the WWE mountain. A match between the two men, both pay-per-view headliners in waiting, promised much in-ring excitement and scope for advancement up the card.
The match was relegated to the dark slot just hours before the run-time was finalised - a decision which Sheamus has since bemoaned as the lowest point in his career.
Time had to be trimmed to make way for The Rock's meandering show opening promo and Triple H's crack at Undertaker's streak (after his prolonged viking cosplay, naturally). Triple H had claimed in the build-up to it that there was nobody else in the back more deserving of a shot at it. Maybe if you had actually let them wrestle, mate...
Worse still, this lumberjack match was transitioned into a battle royal in order to give everybody the WrestleMania payday.
It was won by The Great Khali.
1. Hardcore Holly Replaces Sabu - December To Dismember 2006
Sabu was originally scheduled to take up the last slot of the one and only - that is literal, not an aggrandisement - Extreme Elimination Chamber match at December To Dismember - an event which was the least-purchased WWE-presented pay-per-view of the pre-Network era.
Vince McMahon had soured on the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal Death-Defying Man, who was released in 2007, by late 2006.
He was, in Vince's eyes, a liability - he was infamously busted for possession of cannabis alongside Rob Van Dam a few months earlier. He was also perceived as being unable to work a coherent match without the aid of chairs and tables, inexplicably considered a no-no in the retooled ECW, in which disqualifications and count-outs were commonplace.
He was also the fourth babyface in a match featuring just two heels, a violation of McMahon's in-ring psychology policy.
This replacement wasn't disheartening solely as a result of the personnel involved - Hardcore Holly equipped himself well in his new, Extreme surroundings - but because it crystallised Vince's vision of ECW at the expense of Paul Heyman's. It was the proverbial final nail.
Sabu needn't have felt too disheartened. His babyface peers CM Punk and Rob Van Dam were also handily sacrificed at the unpopular altar of McMahon pet project Bobby Lashley.
7. The Big Show Replaces Steve Austin - Survivor Series 1999
Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H were the three biggest stars of WWE's Attitude Era, and the first-ever Triple Threat match between the trio was WrestleMania-worthy. Sadly, it never happened.
Onscreen, Austin was run over by a car at the hands of a mystery assailant. In reality, his injuries - particularly, issues with his neck - had caught up to him; he needed to take several months off to recuperate from surgery.
The WWF knew about this a week in advance, but in a cynical and misleading push to maintain PPV buys, withheld the truth from the paying audience and ran (no pun intended) the hit and run angle on the night as a storyline explanation for his absence.
His replacement was The Big Show, who was a monumental disappointment in the months following his WWF debut as "Big Nasty" Paul Wight. The Triple Threat match was the typical interference-laden Attitude Era-style main event, which made it passable enough, but WWF fans were consciously and unfairly conditioned to expect a classic.
Astonishingly, despite being a unanimously unpopular substitution, Show was booked to win the title, which he defended against Big Boss Man at Rock Bottom in one of the worst PPV championship matches ever. It lasted just 3:11.
The decision was so bad that it had a karmic effect on future storylines. Rikishi was latterly and infamously unveiled as the man behind the wheel, despite engaging in comedy dance routines on WWF television at the time. His heel run would torpedo his promising career, which took years to launch.
6. Chris Jericho Replaces CM Punk - Unforgiven 2008
Just about an hour earlier, Chris Jericho had lost a brutal Unsanctioned match against Shawn Michaels, with whom he was embroiled in a feud so intense that it resulted in Michaels' wife Rebecca being punched full force in the face.
CM Punk, meanwhile, had been beaten down before his Championship Scramble World Heavyweight title defence at the hands of Randy Orton's Legacy faction. This angle wasn't booked to enable a heroic, Terry Funk-esque comeback - or even to protect Punk in defeat. The Straight Edge Superstar never made it to the ring.
Incredibly, despite suffering to a far worse degree - and losing in the process - Jericho was somehow considered an adequate kayfabe replacement. Predictably, he went on to lift the title at Batista's expense.
It was obvious from the moment he limped to the ring what WWE had in mind. The company has a habit of running every good thing to fall into their hands into the ground - Fandango was frogmarched to the ring as the next Rock one week removed from a gaggle of British lads on tour drunkenly signing his theme on the post-WrestleMania 29 RAW.
The hottest blood feud in years was consequently furnished, pointlessly, with a title. Punk, in the fallout, wasn't even allowed to avenge his attack or stake a claim to his contracted rematch.
The enterprising Punk at least had the nous to integrate the pre-match attack into his eventual feud with Orton two and a half years later.
5. Johnny Nitro Replaces Chris Benoit - Vengeance: Night Of Champions 2007
WWE.com
Including this entry could be argued as grossly insensitive - deeming it "infuriating" might be an indictment of my petty selfishness as a wrestling fan.
Chris Benoit failed to show up on the eve of Vengeance: Night of Champions, replaced in his match against CM Punk by the less than stellar Johnny Nitro. At the time, nobody knew the horrific circumstances precluding Benoit's appearance, and fans were naturally disappointed to be denied what had been set to be a classic.
Fans had been expecting a barnstorming affair with a tantalising mesh of styles, but Nitro in 2007 was a shadow of the performer he'd soon become. Worse still, the substitution was depressingly on the nose. Nitro dominated with a range of iffy-looking submissions, which only served to shine a glaring light on what could have been. He actually won the title, cleanly, at Punk's expense - despite being inferior in storylines.
In fairness to WWE, there weren't many options at their disposal. Their best option may have been Umaga, who in the next match suffered an ignomious disqualification loss at the hands of comedy jobber Santino Marella - a result which flattered neither man.
WWE should have altered the running order and booked him to use his storyline frustration to demand a crack at the ECW World Heavyweight title. This would have been a better use of his immense, still-mourned talents and a more palatable replacement for the Punk Vs. Benoit clash.
4. Savio Vega Replaces Shawn Michaels - In Your House: No Way Out Of Texas 1998
Shawn Michaels' back injury necessitated his exit from the eight-man tag team main event, which was booked in part to allow fans a mouth-watering glimpse at the impending WrestleMania XIV main event.
His replacement was Savio Vega. Austin and Vega had assembled a quietly gripping midcard feud in 1996, but that was ancient history by '98.
The WWF's approach to this change was mixed. While they should have known not to weave a show-long mystery out of it - the tease only doubled down on the disappointment - they at least had the nous to add a No Disqualification stipulation as something of an equaliser. The match just about made up for in excitement what it lacked in star power.
In truth, there were very few candidates who could adequately deputise. The Undertaker was still selling his storyline incineration. Elsewhere, the WWF's roster was wafer thin in early 1998, as indicated by some of the names they had to drag out in the preceding month's Royal Rumble match - including Tom Brandi and the Honky Tonk Man.
Michaels' withdrawal from the match underlines further just how gritty his performance was at 'Mania XIV. If he couldn't take a few bumps in a multi-man just a month earlier, he must have been in searing pain at the Fleet Center in Boston.
3. Vince Whimsically Decides To End The Streak - WrestleMania XXX
Speaking personally for a brief moment, having attended WrestleMania XXX, I denied how harebrained a decision this was.
It made little sense to bestow a rising star like Bray Wyatt with the nod. It wasn't too long ago that Mr. Kennedy was considered the future of the wrestling business. Things change. Conversely, unless John Cena was in the process of turning heel, he wouldn't have benefitted from breaking the vaunted Streak.
WWE were crafting a peculiar brand of postmodern storytelling in 2014. Daniel Bryan was verbally buried throughout the same storyline which saw him ascend to the top of the card under some duress. Lesnar's victory would see him reach unprecedented levels of meta monster heeldom. Fans would reject his victory - and demand vengeance - preciselybecause he was perceived to be undeserving of it.
His status as a mercenary would have augmented him with nuclear heat with which to transfer to someone like Roman Reigns. Reigns would have beaten the 1 in 21 and 1 but without incurring the ire of the fans who'd grown sentimentally attached to the streak.
In retrospect, this was nonsense. Lesnar was too incredible a spectacle to truly boo, he hadn't committed to WWE in the long term, and despite Paul Heyman's best efforts, his protracted absence from WWE TV cooled his momentum.
The decision to end the Streak should not have been taken mere hours before the event; a decision of such magnitude should have been taken with the utmost care - or not taken at all.
2. Daniel Bryan Vs. Sheamus Gets Relegated - WrestleMania XXVII
The planned WrestleMania XXVII United States championship match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus was an interesting proposition.
Bryan, in his thrilling win over The Miz and quality defences against even the average likes of Ted DiBiase, Jr. had restored the belt's reputation to somewhere approaching the standard it attained shortly after it was exhumed.
Sheamus was a more powerful but equally stiff performer struggling for relevance in the wake of his premature push to the top of the WWE mountain. A match between the two men, both pay-per-view headliners in waiting, promised much in-ring excitement and scope for advancement up the card.
The match was relegated to the dark slot just hours before the run-time was finalised - a decision which Sheamus has since bemoaned as the lowest point in his career.
Time had to be trimmed to make way for The Rock's meandering show opening promo and Triple H's crack at Undertaker's streak (after his prolonged viking cosplay, naturally). Triple H had claimed in the build-up to it that there was nobody else in the back more deserving of a shot at it. Maybe if you had actually let them wrestle, mate...
Worse still, this lumberjack match was transitioned into a battle royal in order to give everybody the WrestleMania payday.
It was won by The Great Khali.
1. Hardcore Holly Replaces Sabu - December To Dismember 2006
Sabu was originally scheduled to take up the last slot of the one and only - that is literal, not an aggrandisement - Extreme Elimination Chamber match at December To Dismember - an event which was the least-purchased WWE-presented pay-per-view of the pre-Network era.
Vince McMahon had soured on the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal Death-Defying Man, who was released in 2007, by late 2006.
He was, in Vince's eyes, a liability - he was infamously busted for possession of cannabis alongside Rob Van Dam a few months earlier. He was also perceived as being unable to work a coherent match without the aid of chairs and tables, inexplicably considered a no-no in the retooled ECW, in which disqualifications and count-outs were commonplace.
He was also the fourth babyface in a match featuring just two heels, a violation of McMahon's in-ring psychology policy.
This replacement wasn't disheartening solely as a result of the personnel involved - Hardcore Holly equipped himself well in his new, Extreme surroundings - but because it crystallised Vince's vision of ECW at the expense of Paul Heyman's. It was the proverbial final nail.
Sabu needn't have felt too disheartened. His babyface peers CM Punk and Rob Van Dam were also handily sacrificed at the unpopular altar of McMahon pet project Bobby Lashley.
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at the author's pick for #1. Like a 
Sabu would have been any better than Hardcore Holly for a match that was horribly booked anyway.
do we got video of this??
