Vince McMahon has been known for his tight control over the creative direction of the company. However, there have been instances where unexpected developments forced changes to his plans. One such instance involves a storyline featuring Summer Rae, Lana, Rusev, and Dolph Ziggler that took an unexpected turn due to a leaked revelation.
Summer Rae, a former WWE talent who made a notable impact during her time with the company, recently discussed her tenure and shared insights into a shelved storyline that revolved around her, Lana, Rusev, and Dolph Ziggler. This storyline, which featured a complex romantic angle, garnered attention for its controversial twists.
In a conversation with Chris Van Vliet, Summer Rae delved into the details of the storyline involving Lana, Rusev, and Dolph Ziggler. The angle began organically and generated intrigue among fans. However, when TMZ broke the news that Lana and Rusev were engaged, it inadvertently revealed a plot point that had been intended to unfold within the storyline. This leak sparked Vince McMahon’s frustration and led to the storyline being scrapped.
Summer Rae highlighted the intricate nature of the angle, with her character pretending to be Lana as part of the narrative. She also touched upon Lana’s injury during that time and how they navigated the challenges of storytelling while Lana was still learning the ropes in terms of in-ring action.
“The Rusev, Lana, Dolph storyline was cool because it actually seems really organic like bringing in Dolph, you know, like having us do that. We all really enjoyed working with each other when it first started happening, me Single White Femaling her like pretending to be her and stuff like that was good. But yeah, when it definitely broke down, Lana got injured. I can’t remember on what and she was still learning how to wrestle at the time. Like she hadn’t wrestled much on the main roster so I was trying to teach her things as well as we’re going along.”
“When the TMZ storyline got mysteriously leaked to TMZ, no one cared. We aren’t Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, you know. That really set Vince off and like everyone, because, I don’t know why, but we were like the favorite storyline of him. It was crazy. I think at the time, Cena had a storyline for four months and we were going on three, so it just wasn’t something you were seeing like how they do nowadays, like amazing, long storylines. The storytelling in WWE right now is just really coming around so differently. It was interesting that we were getting crossover position, like great, you know, positions. So when I went there, he was really upset. I think the head writers at the time were really upset too because they had just been so invested in it. I think the fans aren’t dumb like to know that there was never a payoff, like we never had a payoff match. Lana and I never went back and forth. We never had the doubles match, so clearly something went wrong in the storyline.”
The unexpected revelation of Lana and Rusev’s real-life engagement through TMZ had a profound impact on the storyline. Summer Rae shared that the leaked information resulted in Vince McMahon’s anger and disappointment, causing the creative direction to be abandoned. Despite the plans for a payoff match and a continuation of the storyline, the leak’s aftermath prevented these elements from coming to fruition.
