2 WWE gimmicks that were canceled and 3 Superstars who were fired following complaints
WWE's sponsors play a major role in processing the funding for their shows, which means that the company has to keep the sponsors happy no matter what. With WWE trying to push their product forward in an ever-changing world, this can sometimes be a problem when WWE looks to try out any risky storylines or character debuts.
In recent years, The Fiend's character has been seen as "too scary" by many of WWE's sponsors and the company has had several issues when it comes to finding a place for him within WWE.
Luckily, The Fiend's character is one of the lucky ones that hasn't been canceled and Bray Wyatt hasn't been fired as a result of these complaints. Instead, The Fiend has been pushed over to Monday Night RAW where he's one of the company's most popular Superstars.
Of course, over the years there have been several WWE Superstars who haven't been as lucky. The following list looks at just a few WWE Superstars who ended up on the wrong side of the sponsors.
#5. Fired: WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan is now a former WWE Champion and a Superstar who is transitioning into a part-time career with WWE so that he can continue to help in the company's creative team on SmackDown.
Bryan has a good standing in WWE at present, but it wasn't always this way since the former Champion made a lasting impression on his debut, when he was seen strangling Justin Roberts with a tie.
This was part of the debut of Nexus. Bryan thought that he was doing what was right at the time, but the sponsors who later viewed the show didn't agree and after just one main roster appearance, Bryan was fired from the company back in 2010.
Whilst speaking with Inside The Ropes last year, former Nexus leader and WWE Superstar Wade Barrett revealed the real reason why Bryan was fired from WWE.
“It was a silly thing to fire him for, but I believe one of the main sponsors of WWE made a complaint that they didn’t like how horrific it was and how lowdown disgusting it was. The only way Vince could respond to that was to fire Daniel Bryan for it.”
Luckily, Bryan was already seen as a popular Superstar at this point and the company had some pressure from the fans to bring him back, which they did a few months later at SummerSlam.