diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java
index 53d797fbf8f..545016828d1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java
@@ -35,10 +35,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.ShardIterator;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.ShardRouting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.LoggerMessageFormat;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.NodeClosedException;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.BaseTransportResponseHandler;
@@ -91,11 +89,11 @@ public abstract class TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction<Request extends Ins
     protected ClusterBlockException checkRequestBlock(ClusterState state, Request request) {
         return state.blocks().indexBlockedException(ClusterBlockLevel.WRITE, request.concreteIndex());
     }
+
     /**
-     * Resolves the request. If the resolve means a different execution, then return false
-     * here to indicate not to continue and execute this request.
+     * Resolves the request. Throws an exception if the request cannot be resolved.
      */
-    protected abstract boolean resolveRequest(ClusterState state, Request request, ActionListener<Response> listener);
+    protected abstract void resolveRequest(ClusterState state, Request request);
 
     protected boolean retryOnFailure(Throwable e) {
         return false;
@@ -141,11 +139,7 @@ public abstract class TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction<Request extends Ins
                     }
                 }
                 request.concreteIndex(indexNameExpressionResolver.concreteSingleIndex(observer.observedState(), request));
-                // check if we need to execute, and if not, return
-                if (!resolveRequest(observer.observedState(), request, listener)) {
-                    listener.onFailure(new IllegalStateException(LoggerMessageFormat.format("[{}][{}] request {} could not be resolved",request.index, request.shardId, actionName)));
-                    return;
-                }
+                resolveRequest(observer.observedState(), request);
                 blockException = checkRequestBlock(observer.observedState(), request);
                 if (blockException != null) {
                     if (blockException.retryable()) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/update/TransportUpdateAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/update/TransportUpdateAction.java
index e605479d554..0aefa825f2a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/update/TransportUpdateAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/update/TransportUpdateAction.java
@@ -100,9 +100,8 @@ public class TransportUpdateAction extends TransportInstanceSingleOperationActio
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected boolean resolveRequest(ClusterState state, UpdateRequest request, ActionListener<UpdateResponse> listener) {
+    protected void resolveRequest(ClusterState state, UpdateRequest request) {
         resolveAndValidateRouting(state.metaData(), request.concreteIndex(), request);
-        return true;
     }
 
     public static void resolveAndValidateRouting(MetaData metaData, String concreteIndex, UpdateRequest request) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationActionTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationActionTests.java
index 2bfc12c0883..1dc03ac463d 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationActionTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/single/instance/TransportInstanceSingleOperationActionTests.java
@@ -108,8 +108,7 @@ public class TransportInstanceSingleOperationActionTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
 
         @Override
-        protected boolean resolveRequest(ClusterState state, Request request, ActionListener<Response> listener) {
-            return true;
+        protected void resolveRequest(ClusterState state, Request request) {
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -290,13 +289,13 @@ public class TransportInstanceSingleOperationActionTests extends ESTestCase {
                 Settings.EMPTY,
                 "indices:admin/test_unresolvable",
                 transportService,
-                new ActionFilters(new HashSet<ActionFilter>()),
+                new ActionFilters(new HashSet<>()),
                 new MyResolver(),
                 Request::new
         ) {
             @Override
-            protected boolean resolveRequest(ClusterState state, Request request, ActionListener<Response> listener) {
-                return false;
+            protected void resolveRequest(ClusterState state, Request request) {
+                throw new IllegalStateException("request cannot be resolved");
             }
         };
         Request request = new Request().index("test");