WWE's Most Controversial Decisions Ever—We Wish We Had 'Unreal' Backstage Access
Kayfabe in pro wrestling has been eroded for many years, and thus a show such as Netflix's WWE: Unreal, which offers unprecedented access into WWE's backstage happenings, shouldn't be seen as anything out of the ordinary in 2026.
If anything, it's an opportunity for fans to learn more about the inner workings of the business and potentially appeal to new viewers through Netflix, especially with so many notable names being spotlighted.
The first season of Unreal explored the unpredictable path WWE took on the road to WrestleMania 41, specifically what went into the decision to turn John Cena heel. It was confirmed by all parties involved that it was only done to create a viral moment, though that was already painfully apparent from the poor follow-up.
Despite that, having high-profile cameras present for an occasion as historic as Cena shockingly turning heel made it all the more epic and left fans wondering what other industry-altering events would have benefited from being filmed for future documentaries and reality shows.
There has been no shortage of controversial decisions made by WWE over the years, but these six in particular would have been fascinating to see from a behind-the-scenes perspective.
John Cena Buries The Nexus (SummerSlam 2010)
1 of 6Through his rise to the apex of WWE, John Cena gained a reputation for burying talent.
Fans' complaints about his aggressive push weren't always justified, but there were also plenty of instances where Cena went over decisively when he shouldn't have.
Him single-handedly vanquishing The Nexus at SummerSlam was easily the most egregious example of "Super Cena."
The group of rogue rookies from NXT had white-hot momentum at that point and Cena's team had nothing to gain from winning the massive main event. Nexus leader Wade Barrett has gone on the record in the past in saying he wasn't the only one lobbying for a Nexus victory that night.
He also recalled Cena and Vince McMahon's logic for the loss, explaining that they wanted to "send the crowd home happy." It's as puzzling a decision now as it was back then.
Nexus was never the same after that, and had Unreal existed in 2010, perhaps the instant regret over having the stable fall short at SummerSlam would have been documented. Letting the audience in on that whole process could have prevented equally-awful booking decisions from being made from that point forward.
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Aligns with Mr. McMahon (WrestleMania 17)
2 of 6In many ways, WWE's popularity peaked with WrestleMania X7 in April 2001.
It's widely-regarded among fans to be the greatest 'Mania event of all time, but its polarizing ending also marked the unfortunate end of the beloved Attitude Era.
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock had been rivals their entire careers, but it didn't come close to the bad blood Austin had with WWE's head honcho, Mr. McMahon, dating back to their early interactions in late 1997.
Their iconic feud was instrumental in Austin's ascent as well as WWE's resurgence as a pop culture phenomenon. That's why their characters coming together to form an evil alliance at the conclusion of WrestleMania X7 was so surreal.
The fallout was undoubtedly intriguing, but the move wasn't worth it in the long run given WWE's drastic decline in business over the following year. Whether Superstars on the roster at the time agreed with the angle is unknown, but cameras catching their collective reaction backstage for an episode of Unreal would have told the story.
The Attitude Era was as chaotic behind the curtain as it was in front of it, so an unprecedented look at virtually any moment from that prosperous period would have made for incredible content.
CM Punk Walks Out (Raw, January 27, 2014)
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CM Punk's return to WWE in late 2023 came as such a shock to fans because of just how hostile his exit had been nearly a decade prior.
On-screen, The Best in the World had an outstanding 2013, filled with marquee matches against The Rock, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker. Outside of the squared circle, though, he was slowly unraveling both physically and mentally.
All of his pent-up frustration came to a head the night after the 2014 Royal Rumble when he stormed into Vince McMahon's office and said he was heading home. He recounted the experience in a tell-all podcast with then-friend Colt Cabana later in the year, adding that Triple H was also present for his final face-to-face with McMahon before ultimately leaving.
The Road to WrestleMania that year was already off to a rocky start when fans rebelled against the decision to omit Daniel Bryan from the Royal Rumble match and have the returning Batista win it instead.
Punk's abrupt departure caused the card for The Show of Shows to shift significantly, and therefore an in-depth documentary covering his walkout and everything else that stemmed from it would have been must-see.
Brock Lesnar Breaks Undertaker's WrestleMania Streak (WrestleMania XXX)
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As noted, the Road to WrestleMania XXX took a ton of twists and turns, but one match that remained unchanged was Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker.
The Deadman's undefeated streak had been a celebrated staple of The Show of Shows for almost two dozen years by then, and there was no reason to believe Lesnar, no matter how intimidating of a force he was, would be the one to end it.
The Beast Incarnate securing the three-count on 'Taker that night sent shockwaves not only throughout the stadium but also the wrestling world as a whole. A portion of fans legitimately thought the ending was botched because the loss was so unfathomable.
The general consensus was that the storied streak should have never been snapped. Undertaker even told Ariel Helwani in an interview years later that the locker room felt it was a "horrible decision."
Regardless, that reaction could never be duplicated. Keeping such a decision under wraps must have meant telling the least amount of people possible, so Unreal access to the immediate aftermath of the moment would have surely featured some genuine disbelief and disappointment.
The Seth Rollins vs. Fiend Fiasco (Hell in a Cell 2019)
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After signing off on The Nexus' demise at the hands of John Cena in 2010, Vince McMahon went on to make many more asinine booking decisions, but arguably none were worse than the unmitigated calamity that was the 2019 Hell in a Cell main event.
The bout pitted Seth Rollins against Bray Wyatt's alter ego, The Fiend, inside The Devil's playground with the Universal Championship up for grabs. Similar to The Nexus nine years earlier, Wyatt was the best thing going in WWE at that time and unquestionably should have walked out of the show the new champ.
No other outcome made sense, yet McMahon found a way to make both Rollins and The Fiend look terrible in addition to insulting the intelligence of the audience.
The Fiend endured an unbelievable amount of punishment from Rollins, but instead of rallying back and beating his opponent, the contest was called off when The Architect was disqualified—despite there being no disqualifications inside such a structure.
The finish did irreversible damage to both stars and caused an uproar among fans online. The WWE product was already in a less-than-stellar spot, but it reached a new low by the time Hell in a Cell 2019 went off the air.
Unreal could have captured McMahon's reaction to the backlash from the crowd while he sat in gorilla position as well as Rollins and Wyatt's dissatisfaction with the way it went down when they walked backstage.
The Montreal Screwjob (Survivor Series 1997)
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The infamous Montreal Screwjob is an extreme case of a "work" turning into a "shoot" and the entire industry being affected by it.
Bret Hart's reluctance to drop the WWE Championship in his sendoff at Survivor Series 1997 had less to do with it being to his arch-nemesis, Shawn Michaels, and more to do with the event emanating from his home country of Canada.
The finish The Hitman agreed to was not the one Vince McMahon went with, which saw him "screwed" out of the prestigious prize while locked in his own Sharpshooter from Michaels and referee Earl Hebner calling for the bell.
It was a confusing situation for fans who were watching live and had no idea what had just transpired, not knowing it would become the most talked-about controversy in company history.
After spitting in McMahon's face at ringside, Hart had a tense altercation with his now-former boss backstage that devolved into The Hitman physically assaulting him.
Thankfully for fans, Hart's documentary Wrestling with Shadows caught a lot of the drama that was unfolding backstage throughout the day in addition to Hart and McMahon getting into it afterward.
If there was ever a time for Unreal to exist, it would have been at the dawn of WWE's Attitude Era, if only for the Montreal Screwjob.
Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.
