Leaks Are Ruining Professional Wrestling

• The winner of the tournament will face John Cena in his retirement match
• Dolph Ziggler's return was leaked before RAW
• Months ahead of time, Dave Meltzer and others reported that Gunther was going to win

When John Cena announced that 2025 would be his last year as an active in-ring performer, one of the biggest questions was, who will be his last opponent? Would Cena face a rival from the past like Randy Orton or CM Punk (maybe Edge could come back somehow!), or could he put over a new name on his way out, such as Bron Breakker?

The answer came in the form of a tournament consisting of 16 superstars, with the winner earning a shot at the GOAT on December 13 at Saturday Night's Main Event. Although the tournament has had a few fun moments, such as appearances from Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler, the excitement level hasn't been there for the simple fact that the winner was leaked, as was the news of the tournament itself, before it even started. In July, WRKD Wrestling reported, later followed by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, that Gunther was going to win the tournament and be John Cena's final opponent.

“Two sources have confirmed that the latest plan is for a tournament to be announced, possibly on the air by Paul Levesque, with top wrestlers vying to be Cena’s last opponent. But multiple have confirmed however it reaches the conclusion, that Gunther was the person chosen for the match.”

Right away, the eventual reveal of the tournament lacked any buzz because we already knew about it, and as the bracket trimmed down, with Gunther now in the final two alongside LA Knight, there has been little suspense because it's all going according to plan from two months ago. Heck, even the fun cameo of Dolph Ziggler was leaked hours before it actually happened.

Austin Theory Is the WarGames Mystery Attacker

• WWE too often relies on superstars returning or debuting while dressed all in black
• An unknown wrestler attacked CM Punk at the end of Survivor Series
• PWInsider and Fightful Select immediately revealed Austin Theory as the masked man

When WWE is struggling to keep fans invested, they turn to two overused ways to end a PLE. Someone has to turn heel, or a wrestler must return or debut, either by their music hitting unexpectedly, or as so often happens these days, they appear in the ring in all black and wearing a hood or mask over their face. How many Bloodline members debuted this way? It's also how R-Truth came back at Money in the Bank after being temporarily let go. So it wasn't exactly a shocker to see a man in black enter the ring at WarGames and attack CM Punk, because WWE doesn't know how to end a PLE simply with a clean match finish anymore.

Still, this could have created a tremendous amount of buzz. Who is the attacker? Imagine that storyline playing out for weeks. We knew it couldn't be Seth Rollins because he's legitimately hurt this time (another leak earlier this year revealed that his previous injury was a work, dulling the impact of his "surprise" comeback). Instead, only minutes after Survivor Series was over, the leak was out, with PWInsider and Fightful Select both reporting that it was Austin Theory under the mask. Kiss that mystery goodbye! Now there will be zero impact when Theory eventually gets in the ring and takes off his mask. Yeah, dude, we knew it was you the whole time. Now what?

Wrestling Used to Thrive on Mysterious Storylines

• RAW and SmackDown results get leaked before the shows start
• John Cena's impromptu match with Dominik Mysterio was leaked before RAW
• WCW's third man, and WWE's Higher Power and Steve Austin attacker were huge mysteries

In a world where wild wrestling stories are out there all over the place on social media, we need credible journalists like PWInsider and Fightful to report the facts. That should always be commended, but it's disappointing that someone like Sean Ross Sapp can get so many big details leaked to him. Often times he'll even post everything that's going to go down on Raw or SmackDown before it happens. Just a few weeks ago, it was leaked that John Cena was going to face Dominik Mysterio in an "impromptu" match hours before the show went on air. That's not the fault of someone like Sapp. Good on him for having those sources. Why wouldn't he report it? But how the heck are so many huge details getting linked and why?

If you grew up during the Monday Night Wars, much of what kept fans coming back every Monday was the week-to-week hook of wanting to see how a certain storyline developed in the next episode. WCW and WWE were both great at creating intrigue with compelling mysteries. Who's going to be Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's third man at Bash at the Beach? Who is the Higher Power on Raw? Who ran over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin? Imagine if, back in the day, someone was there to report, "Our sources say that Rikishi is going to be revealed as Austin's attacker." It would have destroyed the storyline long before the disappointing reveal did it on its own.

These are the times we live in with the internet and social media, and it's probably not going away, but it's frustrating nevertheless and doesn't happen with other sources of entertainment. We didn't find out every plot detail of Stranger Things from some in-the-know leaker before it debuted, but people who work backstage in WWE are purposely hurting the very company they work for. They've been doing it for years and it only gets worse. It's destroying wrestling.