Wrestlers who seized the opportunity from injured superstar?

[The Rick Jericho]

I don't mean in storyline, but in terms of a push.

In Football, the classic one will always be Tom Brady taking over for Drew Bledsoe and never looking back.

What instances are there in wrestling where this happened.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Didn't Christian only get a world title because Edge retired suddenly?

[Mr Captain Falcon]

Dare I say Rey Mysterio? Eddie died just as Batista got injured. Mysterio wins the rumble and the title at mania.

[Shai]

Part of me wants to say Seth and to a lesser extent Dean because of Roman's illness. Especially if Seth does beat Brock at Mania like what's being heavily rumored.

I just feel like if they hadn't been forced by outside events to change things we'd still be dealing with the 'Roman and friends' verison of the Shield

[disorganisedchaos v:2]

You could argue that Jericho got a megapush in 2001 thst he wouldn't have got had the guy who dethroned him not got injured.

[arrogantmodel]

Ah, yes. One of my favorites, the Wally Pipp Rule.

[Deleted]

Ambrose only became champion because Roman's violation and the same with Rollins beating Reigns. Hell same with Ambrose and FINN BALOR beating Reigns too, shit we can even say Balor only got the Universal Title due to Roman's wellness violation.

It's interesting to think about 2 years later. Roman failing that wellness violation changed the title scene of the main event of both brands and the midcard on Raw given he took the US Title from Rusev.

[Main Eventer]

Before Austin got injured in 1999 The Rock was clearly the number 2 face, by the time Austin got back you could make the argument that The Rock was more popular than Austin.
Triple H becoming the leader of DX after HBK got injured.
Was The Undertaker legit injured when he was in a "vegetative state?" Cause if it was it allowed Kane to be a serious threat for the first time since like 2003.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2018 19:56:20 GMT -5 Mr Captain Falcon said:

Dare I say Rey Mysterio? Eddie died just as Batista got injured. Mysterio wins the rumble and the title at mania.

Honestly, assuming Batista still went on the shelf, Rey probably was going to win the belt before too long regardless (though maybe not at WrestleMania). Throughout the year he was very clearly on the way up the ranks and being positioned as a main event player.

[chazraps]

The Rock getting injured at Mania 29 didn't allow them to set up a program with Brock the next night on Raw.

This resulted in, the next year, Lesnar ending Taker's streak at Mania.

[Chiral]

Dec 11, 2018 19:51:56 GMT -5 Ryback on a Pole! said:

Didn't Christian only get a world title because Edge retired suddenly?

I think it was still in the plans for him to get a world title, just much later (they teased it a bit before Edge had to retire). WM28 was originally gonna be Christian retiring Edge for it IIRC.

[The Rick Jericho]

CM Punk got the 2008 MITB due to Jeff's wellness violation.

[A Platypus Rave]

Dec 11, 2018 22:46:55 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Dec 11, 2018 19:56:20 GMT -5 Mr Captain Falcon said:

Dare I say Rey Mysterio? Eddie died just as Batista got injured. Mysterio wins the rumble and the title at mania.

Honestly, assuming Batista still went on the shelf, Rey probably was going to win the belt before too long regardless (though maybe not at WrestleMania). Throughout the year he was very clearly on the way up the ranks and being positioned as a main event player.

Yeah, what a lot of people ignore was... Eddy pretty much spent the last year of his life putting Rey over as a main eventer.

Dude was getting the title sooner or later...

[A Platypus Rave]

Dec 12, 2018 0:16:04 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

CM Punk got the 2008 MITB due to Jeff's wellness violation.

Punk also won the ECW title because of John Morrison's Wellness.

[The Rick Jericho]

Dec 12, 2018 2:15:38 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Dec 12, 2018 0:16:04 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

CM Punk got the 2008 MITB due to Jeff's wellness violation.

Punk also won the ECW title because of John Morrison's Wellness.

Didn't he win the IC title from Regal due to Wellness?

This guy has the Triple Crown of Wellness policies.

[Deleted]

Another famous example of this was when Ron Parker was crushed beneath a shelf and tape librarians Randy and Jason Sklar became the hosts of Cheap Seats.

I sometimes wonder how different things would have went in 1998 and 1999 for guys like The Rock, Triple H, and Mankind if Shawn Michaels hadn’t had his bad back and retired for 4 years.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Ziggler really made the most of that Survivor Series where Roman was out (was that injury, wellness or illness? Don't recall)

Then he promptly got a boot shoved in his face to clear the spot again for Roman.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Dec 11, 2018 23:30:01 GMT -5 Chiral said:

Dec 11, 2018 19:51:56 GMT -5 Ryback on a Pole! said:

Didn't Christian only get a world title because Edge retired suddenly?

I think it was still in the plans for him to get a world title, just much later (they teased it a bit before Edge had to retire). WM28 was originally gonna be Christian retiring Edge for it IIRC.

I've never heard it confirmed that Christian was going to get the belt, but they were very clearly building to a Edge/Christian title program. I'd be surprised if he wasn't penciled in to get at least a short run

[Cvslfc123]

John Morrison......I'll be the one who gets it out the way!

[Deleted]

Dec 12, 2018 10:44:47 GMT -5 @notoriousnd22 said:

Another famous example of this was when Ron Parker was crushed beneath a shelf and tape librarians Randy and Jason Sklar became the hosts of Cheap Seats.

I wish I could like this post twice.