PPV absences that seemed strange

[DiBiase is Good]

What times can you think of when it made perfect sense for a wrestler to be on a PPV, yet for unexplained reasons, they weren't? Maybe someone knows a reason why this was the case in some instances.
For example, although it wasn't quite the overnight massive success that Revisionist history seems to claim it was, Austin was riding the wave of his Austin 3:16 speech, yet wasn't on the SummerSlam show that year (other than a free for all match against Yokozuna).
Off the top of my head..

Randy Savage from SummerSlam 1990 - Wrestlemania 7. He never actually wrestled at any PPV in between (although he gave an interview at Survivor Series and was meant to be part of the Rumble). He appeared on SNME against Dusty Rhodes and turned up to annoy the Warrior frequently (as in the Rumble where he interfered in the Warrior vs Slaughter match) but I can't remember him having another match in that period. Although he was a constant presence around then, seeing as he was to be in the semi-main at WM7, it would make him look stronger if he actually wrestled. Was he injured at the time?

Ric Flair at SummerSlam 1992. He was the #1 heel in the company at the time and had been all over the Programming since he arrived a year earlier, yet for some reason they kept him off what was one of their biggest shows ever. I know the two big face vs face matches in the main part of the card would have made a potential opponent difficult to choose but instead he was relegated to being part of the lame "which corner will Mr. Perfect be in?" story. He did have ear problems towards the end of the year but as he won the title from Savage right after SummerSlam, were they that bad?

Christian at Royal Rumble 2009. I may be wrong on the dates but I'm pretty sure he had already re-signed with the company by then. Everyone knew he was back, a surprise entrant slot at the Rumble could have garnered a great reaction. Instead we got him winning a title that had long lost any meaning on an episode of ECW. There are always stories that Vince has never been a huge fan of Christian but we deserved better than him returning on a throwaway show.

[berlynwright]

although we knew why he was absent, Chris Benoit at Vengance 2007. i was expecting that Punk match for a long time.

[thegame415]

While he was there, Jericho wrestling HHH in the main event of WM 18 and then not having a match at Backlash was weird. To top it off, Al Snow (who didn't have a match at Mania) did.

Cena at TLC 2011. While it was refreshing, he was coming off a huge match at Survivor Series, teaming with the Rock. He should've at least cut a promo.

[Nickybojelais]

Although not scheduled to appear at Summerslam '92 the absence of Hogan on a WWF PPV felt beyond strange.

[Deleted]

The Savage PPV drought is only 1 show, really: Survivor Series 1990.

He wrestled Dusty at SSlam '90, wrapping up that feud, and then Dusty moved onto DiBiase. And his main role at Rumble '91 was to attack Warrior and cost him the title (a pretty damn big task) - he contributed more to that Slaughter win than he probably would've contributed in the Rumble match. Heck, look at his Rumble '90 contribution.......what, 10 minutes and tossed easily by Dusty? I wonder if he thought working the match would've been pointless, especially after the Warrior screwjob. That was the 1st time there was a non-entry in a Rumble, so that fact makes him stand out even more.

Plus back in 1990, they were still in that "house show is all" mentality. To them, someone big missing a PPV, or just playing a minor role, probably wasn't a big deal. Looks weird looking back, or to those not thinking that way, but they still booked him for an interview (where he 1st challenged Warrior for the title) and used the PPV audience to advance that bigger plan.

[Gerard Gerard]

CM Punk going from WHC holder from Summer '09, then contender in Autumn before dropping off and losing to R-Truth in the TLC '09 dark match.

[ededdneddy]

Wasn't Mark Henry supposed to be on the Survivor Series 1996 card as a member of Marc Meros team?

[Madagascar Fred]

many dont know that Konnan missed the Starrcade 98 PPV (maybe the height of his popularity at that time) because his wife had a miscarriage

[blackmegaman]

Jul 29, 2014 14:42:55 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

CM Punk going from WHC holder from Summer '09, then contender in Autumn before dropping off and losing to R-Truth in the TLC '09 dark match.

Heck he main evnented (and won) Summerslam that year.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2014 15:07:17 GMT -5 Madagascar Fred said:

many dont know that Konnan missed the Starrcade 98 PPV (maybe the height of his popularity at that time) because his wife had a miscarriage

He wrestled at Starrcade that year. He beat Jericho to retain the TV Title. Are you sure it wasn't a different PPV or another year?

[Madagascar Fred]

Jul 29, 2014 15:13:53 GMT -5 @wordlifeecw said:

Jul 29, 2014 15:07:17 GMT -5 Madagascar Fred said:

many dont know that Konnan missed the Starrcade 98 PPV (maybe the height of his popularity at that time) because his wife had a miscarriage

He wrestled at Starrcade that year. He beat Jericho to retain the TV Title. Are you sure it wasn't a different PPV or another year?

yeah got it messed up thanks. it was christmas 98 because I remember reading what a sad christmas he had because of the miscarriage and him missing some show because of it

[Neo: "The One" who CLAPS]

Sheamus not being on Extreme Rules this year felt odd.

Ryback on Summerslam 2013. Challenged for the WWE title at Extreme Rules, main evented Payback, beat Jericho at MITB, and missed Summerslam. Weird. (He did have a backstage promo though)

[Deleted]

Also, to add to the thread:

Yokozuna and 1-2-3 Kid both missing SummerSlam 1994. Considering Kid was still riding a wave of popularity, and Yokozuna still had some heel credibility, it seems odd.

Owen Hart missing King of the Ring and SummerSlam(along with Yokozuna again) at SummerSlam 1995. I was just getting into wrestling then and thought it very strange that the Champs would be relegated to a short segment at the end to hype the next month's PPV, while the only tag team match on the show was a filler match between The Gunns and The Blu Twins. Savio Vega also missed SummerSlam that year, which was very odd, coming off King of the Ring and the fact that they were clearly still pushing him as a huge deal. And Sid missed that show too, since they replaced him with Razor. I'd suspect the original plan may have been Shawn/Sid, and Owen and Yoko/Razor and Savio.

Vader missed SummerSlam 97, despite being The Undertaker's challenger just a month earlier. Faarooq and The Nation also missed SummerSlam, as well as the previous month's Calgary Stampede, due to Ahmed Johnson being injured. Says a lot about people's positions at the time. Vader was a fill-in for Ahmed at Stampede, and the Nation was being restructured at the time, so I'd say there were plans for them that Ahmed's injury put the kibosh on.

Triple H not having a match at King of the Ring 99. He was in Chyna's corner for her tournament match, and he cost Rock the title match against Undertaker, but had no match of his own on the card. Test was also absent, despite being in the middle of his big push.

Kane and The Undertaker both missing No Mercy 2000, a PPV where practically the entire roster was booked. I mean, 2 Cool and Low Down were on the card. So that really sticks out.

In 2001, some of the shows were horribly over-booked to accommodate the WCW guys, so it's safe to say there were some surprising names that missed a show or two.

At Survivor Series 2002, Christian was off the card, while Hurricane, Goldust, Storm, and Regal(all in the middle of fairly big pushes) were relegated to Heat.

At SummerSlam 2003, Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy were relegated to Heat, while Big Show, Cena, and Christian missed the show completely.

Booker T and Big Show missed SummerSlam 2005. It got worse in 2006 after ECW started up. The Undertaker, of all people, missed SummerSlam. Enough said.

[Deleted]

Kevin Nash not being in a match at Wrestlemania X8 was strange to me at the time. The NWO had just debuted and he was one of the longest reigning WWF champions of all time returning to the company. It seemed like he should have been a bigger deal than valeting for Scott Hall. And he wasn’t injured because he wrestled on Raw both the week before and the week after the show.

I later heard though that they didn’t have faith in Hall making it to Wrestlemania without getting fired and Nash was their back-up plan to face Austin if Hall went down at the last minute.

[Joe Neglia]

An older one, but Paul Orndorff was left off the Wrestlemania III card, which took place not long after he and Hogan were setting records around the country in one of the hottest feuds going. Supposedly, this was intentional and he was to be a back-up plan in case Andre couldn't compete.

[Spider2024]

Jul 29, 2014 13:56:40 GMT -5 Nickybojelais said:

Although not scheduled to appear at Summerslam '92 the absence of Hogan on a WWF PPV felt beyond strange.

I believe it felt strange because it was the first WWF PPV in history to not feature Hogan.

[Johnny]

The biggest no show disappointment at a ppv was Pete Rose not being at wrestlemania 17. Seriously.

[Magician under the moonlight]

HHH at Vengeance 2001, he was on the the poster and they also used him for the commercials and yet no appearance. That felt strange.

[mizerable]

Razor Ramon at Wrestlemania XII.

[weaselboy]

Great American Bash 2006 was confusing considering how WWE had supposedly cleaned up, yet everyone on the roster goes down with elevated liver enzymes.