WWE has a rich and decorated lore, and sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of. WWE’s established continuity is a vital part of their storytelling, and when WWE makes or even ignores continuity and lore when booking their product, it leads to fans becoming totally disconnected.

WWE’s habit of ignoring continuity was previously a valid criticism directed towards Vince McMahon, as he was unfortunately prone to treating the audience like idiots.

Thankfully, in modern-day WWE, Triple H likes to focus on continuity, as often in his booking and storytelling, obscure WWE lore is referenced in promos which is great to see.

Nevertheless, there have been many elements of WWE lore that have been ignored or erased over the years, and most of the instances of this have led to a ton of questions being directed towards WWE creative.

So, with that being said, let’s take a look at 10 elements of lore that WWE erased.

10: Sting Is The NWO’s #1 Enemy

One of the most confusing elements of the Sting vs. Triple H match at WrestleMania 31 was the involvement of the NWO. The NWO, consisting of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash would assist Sting in his match, and brawl with D-Generation X. When you take into consideration WCW’s established lore and continuity with Sting and the NWO, this makes zero sense. Sting and the NWO were mortal enemies, so WWE completely erasing the lore of another promotion was truly baffling.

Even NWO member, Scott Hall admitted that the angle made no sense. If WWE were to re-book the angle, it would make logical sense for Triple H to have hired the NWO to take out their ultimate nemesis, but WWE decided to ignore a vital continuity point of WCW’s history, which they had no business doing.

9: Randy Orton Is Burnt

The COVID-19 era of WWE was a wild time, and WWE delivered a number of outlandish angles. One of these angles saw former WWE Champion, Randy Orton receive a fire-ball to the face, and suffer substantial burns.

Shortly after the fireball incident, Orton would appear on WWE TV in a mask to hide and protect his burns. Even though Orton was in a mask, you could see the makeup for the burns under the mask, and they received extensive praise for looking incredibly realistic.

Just two-weeks after Orton appeared on WWE TV with the mask, he would appear in the 2021 Royal Rumble, and in a weird twist of fate, his burns were healed, and there was zero sign of any damage. WWE had completely erased the fact that Orton was burnt to a crisp, and it wasn’t made clear if this was accidental, or WWE just didn’t want to put the effort in to commit to Orton wearing a mask and makeup.

8: The Undertaker & Kane’s 2000 Rivalry

In the summer of 2000, WWE embarked on yet another feud between The Undertaker and Kane. This was a rather random and impromptu feud, as WWE were forced to rearrange the SummerSlam creative plans, after Big Show was sent to OVW. The original plans for SummerSlam called for The Deadman to face Big Show, but with Big Show no longer on the main roster, a lazily executed angle in which Kane turned on his half-brother was delivered.

Just a few short months after the angle took place, WWE decided to retcon Kane turning on The Deadman, as the two would join forces in early 2001 once again, and it was never remotely mentioned that the two were at war just a few months prior.

From WWE’s perspective, they likely thought that retconning the 2000 feud between the half-brothers was the right move, after all, the reception to the feud wasn’t exactly positive, and fans at the time were urging for WWE to keep The Brothers of Destruction as a collective unit.

A similar situation occurred following The Undertaker and Kane’s final feud in 2010. Kane had won the rivalry by burying The Undertaker alive at Bragging Rights, but just two years later, the two were presented as allies on WWE TV at RAW 1000, with there being no reference to their blood feud two-years earlier.

7: Paul Bearer

The late, great Paul Bearer has had so many retcons and elements of his character lore over the years, that a full-blown top 10 could be published on the subject. One of the major elements of Bearer’s continuity that WWE decided to ignore relates to his on-screen demises.

Bearer has seemingly met his end in numerous ways, yet he always manages to return, and WWE have always opted to completely ignore the so-called demise.

Take for instance in 2004, Bearer departed WWE TV after he was buried alive in concrete by The Undertaker, yet years later, he appeared back on WWE programming as if nothing had happened.

Then in 2010, Kane accidentally pushed Bearer off a pair of ladders onto the concrete floor, and it was once again presented as if Bearer was no more. However, in 2012, Bearer magically reappeared, and yet again, his prior storyline was never alluded to on screen.

6: Triple H Turns On Ric Flair

When Triple H returned from hiatus in 2005, it looked like he was going to reunite with his Evolution stable-mate, Ric Flair as a babyface. However, this turned out to be a ruse, and The Game annihilated Flair on RAW, and the two embarked in a vicious yet vastly underrated rivalry in the later stages of the respective year.

A year later, Triple H was now finally a babyface and had rekindled his friendship with Shawn Michaels as part of D-Generation X. When the villainous duo known as Rated RKO set their sights on Flair, it was Triple H and HBK who came to Flair’s aid.

Weirdly, it was presented on screen as if The Game and Flair were insanely close, and their 2005 rivalry was never mentioned on screen. WWE had decided to outright retcon the feud which was a bold move, but it was still very much firmly in the minds of the Ruthless Aggression Era audience.

5: The End Of The Invasion

The end of The Invasion storyline was a complete mess, as it was hard to work out who exactly was supposed to be babyface and heel. When Team WWE won at the end of Survivor Series in 2001, it was presented as if Stone Cold Steve Austin was the top heel in the company, whereas Kurt Angle was WWE’s saving grace and was now once again a babyface. The next night on RAW, WWE decided to ignore every element of character development and lore that placed a key part in the Invasion Era.

Out of nowhere, Angle and Vince McMahon were now dastardly heels again, whilst Austin for some reason was now a babyface despite trying to bring WWE to a definitive end.

It was basically a soft reset of sorts from WWE’s perspective, and even though it was great to see Austin as a heroic babyface once more, it would have been great to give some weight and substance to the last few months of story development.

4: Edge & Christian Are… Brothers?!

During the first few months of Edge and Christian’s respective runs in WWE, it was explained to the audience that the two were brothers. The two would become one of the most iconic and decorated teams of all time, but slowly but surely, WWE began to erase the fact of them being brothers from the narrative.

WWE decided it was much better to portray them as childhood friends, and WWE just hoped that fans would completely forget that the two were supposed to be related. It’s never been explained why WWE made this choice of a retcon, but it would be interesting to get an answer from someone who was on the WWE creative team at the time.

3: Vince McMahon Is Deceased

In 2007, Vince McMahon decided it was finally time to write off the Mr McMahon persona. To write off such a notable villain, McMahon wanted to kill his own character off, and this would occur when McMahon entered into a limo, and it would explode into flames. WWE would be so committed to the angle that they convinced outside celebrities such as Donald Trump that McMahon was legitimately dead.

Sometimes, real-life events mean that WWE are forced to scrap established elements of lore and continuity, and this was the case here. Due to the real-life death of Chris, Nancy and Daniel Benoit, the storyline was scrapped, and WWE decided to add in a throwaway line that McMahon faked his own death to see the reaction. Outside of this one line, the storyline would be pretty much erased from WWE programming at the time, which of course was completely understandable.

2: Kane’s Backstory

Kane has an extended back-story that WWE have modified, erased and retconned over the years. When Kane first arrived in WWE, the audience were informed that Kane was badly burnt, but when he unmasked in 2003, WWE decided to retcon this and explain that Kane’s scars were in-fact mental scars, and this was why he was so psychotic.

WWE were never going to commit to presenting Kane as an actual burn-victim, as the make-up involved would have been extremely difficult to execute on a weekly basis, so this ret-con sort of made sense.

Other elements of Kane’s character have been changed over the years, including his voice. During the Attitude Era, Kane was forced to talk with a voice box, yet years later, Kane was able to deliver long, strong, compelling promos in the middle of the ring.

One of the more infamous times WWE erased an element of Kane’s lore was in 2002. During a terrible feud with Triple H, The Game revealed that before Kane was in WWE, he would be in a relationship with a woman named Katie Vick. Triple H then claimed that Kane and Vick were involved in a car accident, and after Vick passed away, Kane proceeded to perform an inappropriate act on the deceased woman. This completely erased Kane’s prior, established backstory that WWE had been telling the audience for years. This retcon, which was loathed by 99% of the audience, did significant damage to one of WWE’s finest characters.

1: Triple H & Stephanie McMahon’s Divorce

The on-screen divorce between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was one of WWE’s biggest storylines of 2002. Following the story coming to an end, The Game and Stephanie would have very little to do with each other on WWE programming, that is with the exception of a few casual run-ins over the years.

When Randy Orton started feuding with The McMahon family in 2009, Triple H interjected himself in the feud when Orton would attack his real-life wife, Stephanie. The Game was now seeking revenge on Orton, but it was never explained to the audience exactly when Triple H and Stephanie had rekindled their marriage.

From a kayfabe perspective, the duo had been divorced for the last 7-years, yet WWE decided to retcon this to further the storyline between Triple H and Orton.

All it would have taken to logically explain things, is a simple line or two in a promo confirming that the two privately re-kindled their relationship.