WWE Storylines: The world’s biggest wrestling organisation, WWE, boasts a massive fan following around the globe. The organisation is renowned for its captivating narratives, charismatic wrestlers, and outstanding performances. For years, the company’s success has been largely attributed to the tales of the conflict. Some celebrities became the company’s GOAt thanks to their inventive narratives, while others were crowned the greatest jobbers. Here is a ranking of the top 5 greatest WWE storylines ever, taking into account the significance of the plot and the influence it had on fans to make it unforgettable:
What Are The Best WWE Storylines In History?
Check out the top WWE storylines ever:
1. Stone Cold vs Vince McMahon
WWE Storylines: When Steve Austin defeated The Rock in the 1998 Royal Rumble, he secured his place in the title contest that would take place at WrestleMania 14. The next night, Mike Tyson, the host of WrestleMania, was attacked by Vince McMahon, who called Tyson “the worst man on the planet,” and Stone Cold got in the way. Given that Stone Cold was said to compete against Shawn Michaels of DX, Mike Tyson sided with the DX.
Tyson served as the special guest referee at WrestleMania, favouring Michaels until the very end when he turned against him to let Stone Cold win the WWF Championship. While handing Austin the new Championship belt, McMahon gave him a warning, saying that he preferred a corporate champion over him as the champion. Austin stunned McMahon in return, which caused the cops to arrest him. Austin attacked McMahon once again, which resulted in a no-contest when Dude Love entered the ring.
Using the steel chair to assault McMahon, Austin successfully defended his title against Dude Love at Unforgiven. At Over the Edge: In Your House, when they rematched, McMahon served as the special referee and his corporate associates as the ring announcer and timekeeper. However, Austin was able to win the title in some way. After making every effort to steal the belt away from Austin, McMahon was ultimately defeated by Kane after The Undertaker unintentionally struck Kane with the steel chair. The next night on Raw, Austin defeated Kane to reclaim the belt, which infuriated McMahon.
McMahon pitted Austin against Kane and The Undertaker in a triple-threat match for the championship. It resulted in a double count, forfeiting the championship. At Judgement Day: In Your House, McMahon scheduled a contest between Kane and The Undertaker for the WWF Championship, using Austin as the special guest referee. Austin refused to count for either man and ultimately attacked both.
Austin was the first competitor to enter the 1999 Royal Rumble match, followed by McMahon. Austin had qualified for the contest. They engaged in combat across the Arena, then the Corporate members assaulted them. McMahon joined the rumble, but Austin was hurt and sent to the hospital. Austin came back earlier and participated in the rumble, but McMahon and The Rock helped Austin get eliminated.
WWE Commissioner Shawn Michaels gave Austin a contract to face the WWF Champion at WrestleMania following McMahon’s victory in the Royal Rumble. At the Valentine’s Day Massacre, Austin and McMahon engaged in a steel cage bout. Big Show immediately targeted Austin as soon as he stepped into the ring. The intentions of WWF Champion The Rock, Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon to attend WrestleMania were thwarted by Steve Austin, who used a beer van. They ended themselves fully coated in beer spray.
Austin won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 15 by defeating The Rock. Despite interference from McMahons, he successfully defended the championship at Backlash. At Over the Edge, The Undertaker beat Austin. Vince and his family fell out after Stone Cold was named CEO of the business by Linda and Stephanie McMahon.
Vince and Shane engaged in a ladder match with Austin in which the McMahons prevailed for the CEO position. After that, Stone Cold faced The Undertaker again and prevailed to win the WWF Championship four times. At Fully Loaded, Austin and McMahon engaged in a First Blood match with the understanding that, should Austin lose, he would never again challenge for the WWF Championship, and, should McMahon prevail, he would leave the organisation. McMahon left and Austin prevailed thanks to X-Pac’s meddling.
You might also be interested in reading this: 8 Greatest WWE Feuds in History
2. Daniel Bryan vs The Authority
WWE Storylines: Following their defeat in the 2013 WWE Tag Team Championship, Team Hell No parted ways and embarked on separate journeys. When Bryan advanced to the Money in the Bank for the WWE Championship after defeating Orton, Sheamus, and Christian, he was attacked by Curtis Axel, who was not present, in an attempt to prevent Bryan from taking home the title.
Daniel Bryan was chosen by WWE Champion Cena to face Daniel McMahon at SummerSlam in July 2013. Triple H backed Bryan, while Vince McMahon disagreed, believing that Bryan wasn’t worthy of the title. Bryan faced off against Ryback, Kane, Jack Swagger, and Antonio Cesaro in a tough battle to establish his mettle as the #1 Contender. Bryan prevailed.
At SummerSlam, Bryan was given the opportunity to fight Cena for the WWE Championship, with Triple H acting as the honorary referee. When Bryan won the WWE Championship, Randy Orton—the owner of the MITB contract—cut short his victory lap. Triple H turned the tables on Bryan with a pedigree that made Orton earn the title. The following night, Triple H and McMahons complimented Orton on being the face of the WWE and called Bryan a B+ player.
Bryan was attacked by Orton and Shield for defying them. He had defeated Orton to win the championship at Night of Champions, but he lost it because the referee counted too quickly. He raised two more challenges, but his intervention got him disqualified in both instances. Bryan did not appear in the Rumble Match at Royal Rumble 2013, despite everyone’s expectation that he would. Bryan joins forces with Cena and Sheamus in an effort to get it to the Elimination Chamber. Following that, he and the Authority maintained their feud as Kane persisted in attacking him behind the scenes in an effort to harm him before the chamber fight.
Bryan advanced to the final two at Elimination Chamber, but Kane attacked him in Orton’s favour, preventing Bryan from winning the title. Fans swarmed the ring with Bryan, yelling “Yes!” and refusing to leave until Bryan was given a championship opportunity at Mania since Triple H had not booked Bryan for WrestleMania 30. Bryan must fight Triple H, and the winner will be added to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship battle later that night at WrestleMania 30 when Triple H became enraged and was forced to grant Bryan a championship opportunity.
In the first segment of the programme, Bryan emerged victorious over Triple H; nevertheless, Triple H proceeded to injure Bryan. After suffering an injury, Bryan competed in the main event and prevailed in a Triple Threat Match against Randy Orton and Batista. His hard-earned championship success was short-lived, as he had neck surgery and experienced weakness in his right arm. After Daniel Bryan had surgery, the Authority began threatening to fire Bryan’s wife, Brie Bella, unless she gave up the championship. Brie declined the offer and left WWE as a result. After Bryan was unable to retain the title at Money in the Bank, The Authority took away his title. This is one of the best WWE storylines.
3. CM Punk’s Anti-Corporate Rebel
WWE Storylines: After defeating the champion John Cena in 2011, CM Punk declared that he was the legitimate challenger for the WWE Championship. The #1 contender’s triple threat match with Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio was the means by which the Anonymous Raw General Manager made him earn the privilege to sit in the ring and demand confirmation. Punk was victorious and ranked as the top contender. Then, he hinted that he would be departing WWE since he was not interested in signing a new contract and his current one was supposedly set to expire at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. He also made a suggestion that he would be taking the WWE Title with him.
Punk began using the pipe bomb to meddle with Cena and Vince McMahon on Raw. He discussed some of the unrecognised fallacies about the business that led to Punk’s termination from WWE by making references to rival promotions and McMahon. John Cena vowed to leave the WWE and relinquish the belt if McMahon would not give Punk his rightful place back in the company and a championship bout. Fearing that Cena would withdraw, McMahon agreed to Cena’s proposition, but he also stated that Cena would face suspension if he lost.
At Money in the Bank, CM Punk defeated McMahon to win the title, and he took it with him. According to Dave Meltzer, this was the match’s first five-star rating since 1997. Later, CM Punk made fun of Triple H, the company’s freshly appointed CEO, during the San Diego Press Conference by threatening to withhold the title belt until after he wrestled in his hometown of Chicago.
After Cena was dismissed, McMahon made the decision to hold a title tournament to choose the new WWE Champion, which Rey Mysterio won and took on as the WWE title. Superstars cheered for Rey backstage, but Cena went back to Raw and demanded a rematch for the title, which Cena prevailed in.
Following Cena’s triumph, CM Punk unexpectedly reappeared and challenged Cena to a face-off with the original WWE Championship. To determine who was the indisputable WWE Champion, Triple H scheduled a contest between Cena and Punk at SummerSlam. Both men declared themselves to be the champions. wherein Punk prevailed but lost in the minutes following Kevin Nash’s post-match onslaught, which led to Alberto Del Rio cashing in his Money in the Bank Contract.
Triple H attempted to divert Punk from the spotlight of the championship by putting Nash in Punk’s way. The Game became enraged with Punk’s persistent verbal abuse of Triple H and his spouse Stephanie McMahon, to the point where The Game replaced Nash in a No Disqualification match at Night of Champions. After Truth, Miz, and Nash assaulted them both, Punk lost. In their match against The Miz and Truth, Punk and Triple H were disqualified after Nash assaulted Triple H.
4. The Bloodline
WWE Storylines: Roman Reigns’ WrestleMania intentions to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship were cancelled since he had been on vacation since the epidemic and had not been around Thunderdome for a time. After that, Roman Reigns made his way back to SummerSlam 2020, going after Braun Strowman and The Fiend, the newly crowned Universal Champion. The week after, Roman Reigns presented his special counsellor Paul Heyman backstage at SmackDown.
They were given a triple threat match after demanding a Universal Championship battle against The Fiend. Reigns took the championship contract with him and did not sign it. Reigns did not appear in the bout at Extreme Rules, and Wyatt and Strowman engaged in a one-on-one battle. Reigns arrived to the ring to pin Strowman and win the championship in the closing seconds of the fight, after having signed the deal.
Reigns brought his title to SmackDown, where his cousin Jey Uso showed up. There, he confronted Reigns and asked him to go away from Paul Heyman. It resulted in a Clash of Champions bout for the Universal Championship, which Reigns won via technical knockout. Reigns brutally attacked Jey Uso when she refused to back down from a Hell in a Cell I Quit match. Jey Uso again demanded a rematch with Reigns. When Jimmy rushed to Jey’s help and asked for Reigns’ forgiveness, the ring was filled with emotion until Reigns trapped Jimmy with the guillotine and made Jey submit.
After that, Jimmy first objected to Jey’s joining Reigns as his right hand man and eventually did. After Jimmy and Jey Uso defeated the opposition to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, The Bloodline stable was established. Over the years, the Usos were successful in helping Roman Reign win the Universal Championship on every occasion. Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 2022 to unify the WWE and Universal Championships. The Usos defeated Randy Orton and Matt Riddle in a tag team title unification match, and as a result, they became the first people to ever hold both the Raw and SmackDown Tag Titles concurrently. Their goal was to acquire every gold in the organisation.
Sami Zayn, meantime, made every effort to earn The Bloodline’s confidence in an attempt to join them. After then, Zayn—who went by Sami Uso—was admitted as an Honorary Member of the Bloodline. Despite Zayn’s acceptance by all Bloodline members, Jey Uso was sceptical of him since he was Kevin Owens’ buddy and there was a chance this was part of a plot to overthrow the Bloodline.
When the Usos and Zayn weren’t present at the Arena for the Clash at the Castle pay-per-view, Solo Sikoa made an appearance to help Reigns hold onto his championship versus McIntyre. It resulted in Solo Sikoa’s introduction to the main roster and Bloodline induction. Sami Zayn and The Bloodline faced up against The Brawling Brutes, Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens, at the 2022 Survivor Series War Games. Zayn’s allegiance was put to the test when he won the match for The Bloodline by striking Owens with a low blow, which helped Zayn gain Jey’s confidence.
Following their invasion of Raw, Sami Zayn and The Usos started a fight that resulted in Zayn being tried in tribal court to show his allegiance. When Solo Sikoa accused and was about to punish Zayn, Jey spoke up for him and mentioned his participation. After then, Zayn was found not guilty and was allowed to stay in the Bloodline. When Reigns took Owens at Royal Rumble 2023, he gave Zayn the order to strike Owens with the steel chair. Zayn disobeyed the Bloodline by striking Reigns rather than Owens, and as a result, the Bloodline punished him—all save Jey Uso—as he left the arena in tears.
In front of a boisterous crowd at the Elimination Chamber in his hometown, Zayn defeated Roman Reigns in a hard-fought victory to keep the championship. Jey hinted to a conflict inside The Bloodline and hinted at his desire to join Zayn, but he later expressed regret by sticking with his affiliation with The Bloodline. After getting back together, Zayn and Owens defeated The Usos to win the Undisputed Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania. It caused a major rift in the Bloodline since Reigns wouldn’t let The Usos get close to him until they reclaimed the titles.
The Tribal Chief became irate as the Usos’ rematch ended in a botched effort. to The Backlash, Solo Sikoa and Jey Uso hinted to a break in their Bloodline. To get The Usos to leave the Bloodline, Roman Reigns began verbally harassing them and making fun of them. Reigns humiliated the Usos by replacing Usos with himself and Solo Sikoa, despite their demands for one more chance to win the tag belts.
The Usos assaulted Owens and Zayn during Reigns and Solo’s face-to-face match with the tag champions the next week. When the referee was rendered unconscious during their tag team title bout at Night of Champions, the Usos stepped in to save Reigns and Sikoa. but unintentionally gave Solo Sikoa a super kick, which infuriated Reigns and caused him to shove Jimmy and Jey away. Jimmy quickly turned the tables on Reigns by twice superkicking to deny them a chance to win the belt.
The week after, Jimmy Uso tried to get in Reigns’ way by requesting that they treat the stable with the same respect as they always have, but Reigns turned him down. Jimmy was picked off by Solo Sikoa, who struck him with the Somoan Spike. The next week, Jey Uso appeared in tribal court for his side’s trial. Where Jey left Solo and Reigns and joined his twin. Roman Reigns had his first consecutive pinfall loss in three years when The Usos defeated him in a tag bout at Money in the Bank after the two divided into two teams.
5. Shawn Michaels Obsession with The Undertaker
WWE Storylines: The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels started their historic feud in the 2007 Royal Rumble, which The Undertaker ultimately won by defeating Shawn Michaels. They both entered the 2008 Royal Rumble, however they were both eliminated. Read below to know one of the interesting WWE storylines:
Shawn Michaels faced The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 after winning a bout in 2009 against JBL, his previous boss. After winning his match against Vladimir Kozlov, he was given the chance to battle The Undertaker, who is undefeated at WrestleMania, in an attempt to end his run. The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels teamed up to take on JBL and Kozlov in a tag bout that was won by The Undertaker the following week on Raw.
Shawn Michaels started the animosity between him and The Undertaker by hitting him with the Sweet Chin Music after the bout. By dressed as The Phenom but in white, Michaels played mind games with him, taunting The Dark vs. The Light. When they eventually faced off at WrestleMania 25, Michaels nearly broke The Undertaker’s record by bringing the deadman to the brink of death, but he was unsuccessful as The Undertaker won by turning a moonsault into a Tombstone Piledriver, extending the run to 17 wins.
After coming just inches short of ending his run the year before, Shawn Michaels sought a rematch with The Phenom in order to try again. However, Taker needed to defeat him at WrestleMania as he was the World Heavyweight Champion at the moment. To be entitled to fight The Taker for the Mania, Michaels needed to win the Royal Rumble. Batista won the last five minutes of the Rumble, eliminating Michaels, who had gone into the contest hoping to win. Michaels went insane and started striking all the other competitors as well as the officials while listening to Sweet Chin Music.
In an Elimination Chamber Match, The Undertaker defended his title against five other superstars at the following Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Michaels cost The Undertaker his title when he broke the chamber as a cameraman to enter the ring just as he was ready to defend his title. Out of resentment, The Undertaker handed Michaels the bout at Mania but insisted that Michaels risk losing his career in a no-disqualification match. The Undertaker played mind games with Michaels by snipping promos from the graveyard and hinting about burying him. The match was billed as a Streak vs. Career Match.
The fight went too far when Taker’s ankle was broken by Michaels, who continued to hit it until there was no more gas left in the tank. At the very end, the Undertaker gathered strength and began to counter Michael’s technique with two Tombstone Piledrivers. The Undertaker gave the indication of a cut-throat move, but he halted to beg Michaels to stay in Tombstone Piledriver, ending Michaels’ career with a leap that won. They shook hands after the game, and Michaels spoke to the supporters.
These are the best WWE storylines in history. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
