10 Times WWE Strangely Predicted The Future

The most famous show in pop culture history to notably and consistently predict the future is easily the widely beloved cartoon "The Simpsons." However, wrestling fans may be shocked to know that WWE isn't far behind when it comes to forecasting what's to come in the world, or even just within the sphere of professional wrestling. "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" storylines may not have predicted the inventions of the smartwatch and video chats like "The Simpsons," or even predicted Donald Trump's presidency, despite the politician being a WWE Hall of Famer, but there are plenty of times WWE has predicted the future with its storyline angles over the years.

Sometimes, it's due to the fact WWE set up the angles years ago, and by happenstance, they are able to pay off on them, like Dominik Mysterio's Eddie Guerrero-like gimmick almost 20 years after Guerrero declared he was "his papi" and fought his real father, Rey Mysterio, for custody of the youngster in a ladder match. More often that not, however, WWE pulls a "Simpsons" and ends up predicting things far in advance, to the point it's shocking when things do happen.

There are plenty of examples, from the slightly scary, like Ultimate Warrior seemingly predicting his death just days before his passing, to the late, great Bray Wyatt predicting John Cena's heel turn well before it happened at Elimination Chamber 2025. WWE has even predicted things outside of the wrestling sphere, like the 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. WWE, its writers, and some of its talent seem to have a gift for foresight, and here are 10 examples of times WWE strangely predicted the future.

While they may not have predicted Ron Killings's immediate future, WWE heavily alluded to, likely unknowingly, the beloved comedy star's short departure from the company amidst his "childhood hero" John Cena's retirement run. WWE released a shirt for R-Truth that parodied "The Never Seen 17's" run of retirement shirts featuring Truth as a cartoon character front and center of the shirt, with the "John" of John Cena covered up with "Ron," alongside the "The Last Time is Now Tour" slogan. WWE began selling the shirts on WWE Shop online and in arenas as Truth was set to take on a heel Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event in May.

Truth ended up losing the match and just days later, announced he was leaving WWE due to his contract not being renewed. The shirt had reportedly been one of WWE's highest sellers on its website, but it was swiftly taken down amidst fan backlash over Truth's departure. It was as though the shirt had alluded to Truth's own retirement from WWE, without the former 24/7 Champion even realizing it at the time.

Fans were so upset, they began speaking up loudly both online and in the crowds of shows, to the point WWE had no choice but to bring back Truth. He reappeared at Money in the Bank to help Jey Uso and John Cena, and took on a more serious character, cutting his hair at ringside to prove a point, yet still targeting Cena, who defeated him with a low blow during their match. Since his comeback after his very brief absence, WWE has put the "Ron Cena" shirt back up on WWE Shop.

CM Punk's iconic "pipe bomb" promo on the June 27, 2011 episode of "WWE Raw" did more than just elevate "The Second City Saint" to superstardom; he also predicted his own future and the future of the WWE as a whole. In the promo, Punk spoke about walking out of WWE with the championship in tow after defeating John Cena, the main "company guy" at the time, at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view. While he did just that, it was all part of storyline, and he would be back on "WWE Raw" just weeks later. However, the "pipe bomb" seemed to allude to Punk actually walking out of the company after a host of issues he described on the now-infamous "Art of Wrestling" podcast in November 2014.

Punk would walk out of WWE in January 2014. In the infamous promo, he mentioned going off to work for other companies like NJPW or ROH. While it took quite a few years, Punk actually would wrestle in another company when he joined AEW, a company with direct and strong ties to both NJPW and ROH, in 2021.

He also noted in the "pipe bomb" that the company would be better when Vince McMahon is dead and Triple H takes over. While McMahon is still very much alive, he stepped down amid scandal in July 2022 and again following the sale of WWE, and an ongoing sex trafficking scandal, in January 2024. His son-in-law, Triple H, would go on to fully take over creative duties and McMahon's chair in gorilla position, just like Punk predicted.

Fans who watched WWE during its infamous Attitude Era would never imagine that the leaders of D-Generation X, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, would be running things in WWE, but that's the reality of the company these days. Before Paul Levesque began fully running things behind the scenes, well after the not-as-great return runs of DX in 2006 and 2009, Triple H actually would step into a position of power, in storyline, as The Authority alongside his real-life wife Stephanie McMahon. The Authority came to power in 2013 and the angle ran through 2016, with appearances in the years to follow, and involved the likes of Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Kane, and more. Triple H would rule over WWE with the motto of doing whatever was "best for business."

The Authority angle seemed to predict how much power Triple H actually would get in WWE in later years. During the time of the storyline, he was already heading up "WWE NXT" and leading it into its golden age, but following a health scare in 2021, he would return to lead the company after McMahon's initial retirement in 2022. He took over as WWE Head of Creative in July 2022, something that caused a lot of reported excitement behind the scenes at the time.

Triple H now serves as the Chief Content Officer of WWE, a position he was named to in September 2022 following McMahon's departure. He works closely with the president of WWE, Nick Khan, and has continued his creative control in WWE following its sale to Endeavor in April 2023.

Sometimes WWE has even predicted things in the real world, including in other professional sports. WWE predicted the 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs Finals against the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks after having two star players on "WWE SmackDown." In June 2024, Pacers star and well-known wrestling fan Tyrese Haliburton appeared on "SmackDown" and had a face-off against Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, in the Knicks' home of Madison Square Garden. 

In the segment, Haliburton jumped the barricade to help Logan Paul in the ring in his Money in the Bank qualifying match against Santos Escobar and LA Knight. Haliburton retrieved a pair of brass knuckles from one of Paul's buddies at ringside, but Brunson also jumped the barricade to face off against his NBA rival. The pair were kept apart by referees on the outside and Knight was able to get the rollup on Paul off the distraction, qualifying for the big ladder match.

Haliburton got in the ring with the brass knucks and confronted Knight along with Paul before Brunson came in with a steel chair to stand alongside "The Megastar." The pair never came to blows in the squared circle, but went head-to-head again on the court, where the Pacers came out on top 4-2 in the series.

Dominik Mysterio seemingly morphing his character into that of his "real dad" Eddie Guerrero was a game WWE set up way back in 2005 and was finally able to pay off on almost 20 years later when Mysterio got to WWE and turned heel on his own father (and his actual real dad), Rey Mysterio, to aligned himself with Rhea Ripley and the Judgment Day in September 2022. Since his heel turn, Mysterio has started to look and act more and more like Guerrero. He adopted the mullet and uses Guerrero's frog splash as a finisher in addition to the 619, and has taken to hiding behind strong women, like Guerrero did with Chyna back in the day.

Back in 2005, real-life best friends Guerrero and Rey Mysterio feuded over the custody of Dominik. Guerrero would proclaim to the younger Mysterio that he was "his papi!" and he was his real father, as Rey and his wife, Angie, were having troubles conceiving and turned to Guerrero for help. In 2005, he demanded custody of "his son," and the feud between the two friends ended with a "Custody of Dominik" ladder match where the custody papers were suspended above the ring and little Dominik was seated at ringside.

WWE predicted Mysterio's Guerrero-like heel gimmick by almost sheer dumb luck. If the younger Mysterio had never decided to become a wrestler, it wouldn't have panned out. All the young star needs now is to adopt the "I lie, I cheat, I steal" aspect of Guerrero's character.

Following the breakup of the Shield in 2014, Roman Reigns struggled to find his footing. WWE consistently tried to push him as a babyface, but the fans just weren't having it. In 2017, Reigns was set to face John Cena at No Mercy, and during a contract signing on "WWE Raw," Cena seemed to predict the babyface future, or lack thereof, of Reigns. During their war of words, Cena basically told Reigns he would never be over and buried the younger star. Cena told him he was "just a guy" attempting to fill shoes "he never will." Cena also brought up the fact Reigns wasn't resonating with the crowd.

"You're the big dog! Everyone back there knows it. Everybody out here? Still kinda trying to figure it out," he said.

"The Never Seen 17" was right, as Reigns never would get over with the crowd as a babyface. Reigns' ascent to stardom really began when he returned to WWE following his break from the company during the pandemic. He aligned himself with Paul Heyman and worked to get himself over with the fans as a heel and a new character they hadn't seen before, The Tribal Chief, one that certainly wasn't attempting to be another babyface copy of Cena any longer. Reigns himself also predicted the "Head of the Table" gimmick years in advance when he called himself by the nickname during a promo on "WWE Main Event" in 2014.

The Monday Night Wars, pitting WWF's "Raw is War" against "WCW Monday Nitro," were some of the most memorable days in wrestling history. For a total of 83 weeks, WCW would dominate the then-WWF in the ratings, and both shows would pull out all the stops to garner the interest of wrestling fans. One week, D-Generation X would take matters into their own hands when they "invaded" WCW. DX, led by Triple H with Chyna, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, and Road Dogg by his side, drove a "tank" from Hampton, Virginia, where "Raw" was taking place, to Norfolk, where WCW was hosting their show. The video segments were entertaining to those watching "Raw," but of course, Triple H and his gang of degenerates never made it into the building.

DX unknowingly predicted the actual "Invasion" angle that began in March 2001, following the sale of WCW to Vince McMahon and WWF. The real angle, however, fell flat when many major WCW stars refused to leave for WWF or didn't join the company when their final WCW contracts expired, and many fans may consider the silly "tank" (which was really just a dressed-up Jeep Wrangler) invasion of WCW by D-Generation X much more interesting than the actual Invasion they predicted.

The late Bray Wyatt was full of creative genius, and his cinematic bout against John Cena, known as the Firefly House match at WrestleMania 36, was not only great, it was predictive of John Cena's future years ahead of his heel turn on Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber 2025. The match went through the various eras of Cena's career, from his beginnings as The Prototype to his "Dr. of Thuganomics" gimmick. There were also aspects that alluded to a future heel turn for Cena, including a shot of him wearing an nWo shirt before he started to beat down Wyatt, a la the shocking "Third Man" heel turn of Hulk Hogan in WCW in 1996.

Even before the Firefly Funhouse match, Wyatt alluded to a heel turn for Cena in promos in the build to the match. Wyatt mentioned in one of his first attacks toward Cena that Cena only cared about himself and not who he had to bury along the way as long as he got the spotlight. In another, Wyatt said that Cena wasn't a hero, but a bully and a horrible person.

It would take another five years, but Cena would finally do the unthinkable in March 2025 on his retirement tour. Cena hit a low blow to Rhodes following his own victory in the Elimination Chamber, then aligned himself with The Rock and Travis Scott.

One of the sadder predictions ever made by a WWE star was when Ultimate Warrior seemingly predicted his own death in 2014. The star had just been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame after being at odds with the company and Vince McMahon for years. He then appeared on the following episode of "WWE Raw" after WrestleMania 30 to greet the fans in attendance and cut a promo in the ring. During both his induction speech and his promo on the "Raw," Warrior seemed to allude to the fact that he knew he was going to die soon.

During his Hall of Fame speech, he mentioned that one day, "every man's heart beats its final beat" and his lungs breathe their final breath. He spoke about something larger than the self and said the spirit of a performer, or "storyteller," would be immortalized after the passing of a star. On "Raw," he thanked the fans, who he said made him a legend and who made the Ultimate Warrior character. He ended his final promo in front of an audience by saying, "The spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever."

It's unclear if Warrior knew he was in any kind of ill health prior to his passing, but he died just a day after his appearance on "Raw." Warrior died at just 54 years old of a heart attack caused by cardiovascular disease, making his "beat its final beat" line in his Hall of Fame speech in more eerie.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin wasn't always the Attitude Era megastar he's known as now. Back in the day, he was known as "Stunning" Steve Austin, and he got his start in WCW. What some fans may not know is that in between his stints with the two major companies, he also worked in ECW with Paul E. Dangerously, now known as Paul Heyman. Heyman gave Austin creative freedom during his short time with the more hardcore brand, and that's where he slowly began building the foundation for "Stone Cold." Heyman, who has often said he doesn't give predictions, just spoilers, did indeed predict (or perhaps spoil?) Austin's rise to superstardom in the late 90s, early 2000s.

In a January 2022 Instagram post, Heyman pulled out the receipts from "WCW Magazine" from way back in 1991. In the magazine interview, Heyman called Austin "an incredible specimen still five or six years away from his prime," and said that Austin would "single-handedly dominate the sport" in the new millennium. Heyman was right, and Austin shot up the card following his "Austin 3:16 promo in June 1996 after his King of the Ring victory. "The Texas Rattlesnake" would only rise from there in popularity, giving us the "Stone Cold" we know today. Heyman was correct in his spoiler, which really was a prediction from way back in the early 90s.