When you are under the contract with a wrestling promotion, you are entitled with the responsibility of following the plans. Being a professional and keeping apart the personal frictions is a part of this but not all the wrestlers out there are known to do the same. There have been a lot of instances where superstars refused to work where they are supposed to work and this in turn has resulted in us fans missing a lot of legendary matches. So here is a look those incidents where two wrestlers refused or hesitated to follow the script and work together.
#10 William Regal and Goldberg
The William Regal vs. Goldberg match might be familiar for the WCW fans out there, as it actually went on air at an episode of Nitro. It was one of those matches in Goldberg’s milestone streak and while most of the wrestlers that came before and after Regal were willing to job for Goldberg, Regal had other plans.
Regal had no intentions of getting squashed by Goldberg and decide to work stiff. There were instances of no selling by the Brit as well and on a whole; he made Goldberg look bad. This refusal to follow the script soon landed Regal in trouble as he was fired from WCW.
#9 Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar
Steve Austin and WWE had a big blow out back in 2002 and one of the major reasons for this was Brock Lesnar. WWE was sky high on push Lesnar at that time and wanted Austin to put over the young Beast.
Austin however saw no benefit in having an unknown youngster on top of the company and refused the idea immediately. One thing led to another and soon Austin walked away from the company and it took him one whole year to make his return. Austin later admitted that not wrestling Lesnar was a big mistake from his side and hopefully, we would be able to see this dream match somewhere in near future.
#8 Chris Jericho and Goldberg
Anyone who read Chris Jericho’s autobiographies will have no surprise at this entry in the list. The incident happened back during their stay in the WCW. Goldberg was having his infamous undefeated streak in the company while Jericho was a mainstay in the midcard.
Jericho came up with this great idea of the duo feuding against each other and whirled up a one sided attack against Goldberg. It was hands down the most entertaining segments of the show back then, but for some reason or the other Goldberg refused to work with Jericho. The relationship between these two has been rocky ever since and they even had a full blown backstage fight during their WWE days.
#7 CM Punk and Triple H
CM Punk left WWE due to a plethora of reasons and his lack of interest in working with Triple H was one of them. WWE had plans of building up a bout between Punk and Triple H for WrestleMania XXX and Kane interfering in the 2014 Royal Rumble match was part of this plan.
The Royal Rumble debacle however left Punk sore-hearted and Batista going on to win the whole thing added salt to the wound. Punk decided that it was time for him to seek a career elsewhere, and this resulted in the entire plan of WWE being flushed down the drain. Punk’s departure made Daniel Bryan work double shift at Mania and this added more flair to the underdog story.
#6 Ric Flair and Lex Luger
The relationship between Ric Flair and WCW hasn’t always been a great one. They had some pretty bad years and 1991 was probably the worst one from the lot. Ric had a lot of trouble adjusting to the situation in the promotion and it didn’t get any better when he lost his booking power.
Flair was the reigning WCW champion at the time and he wanted to drop the title to Sting. WCW bookers however had a different idea and wanted Flair to drop it to Lex Luger instead. The Nature boy had no intentions of doing so and he decided that it was better for him to jump ships to WWE than dropping the title to Luger.
#5 Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan winning the WWE championship from Yokozuna just minutes after Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart was one of the worst booking decisions that WWE pulled off in their WrestleMania history. After winning the title, Hogan was supposed to drop it to Bret Hart in the following SummerSlam.
Hogan was not interested this idea as he thought Bret was too small to be the face of the company. So instead of dropping it to Bret, Hogan dropped it to Yokozuna and sat out the remaining portion of his contract so that he didn’t have to fight Bret. Bret later came out and said that Hogan made a big mistake by skipping the bout and added that it could have easily turned out to be one of Hogan’s career bests.
#4 Shawn Michaels and Rock
If there is a dream WrestleMania match out there that needs to happen, then it has to be this bout. Shawn Michaels and Rock are two of the most decorated entertainers in the WWE history the fans would have died to see a match between the two.
The match however failed to materialize due to various reasons and the most famous theory out there is about Michaels disrespecting the Anoa’i family. Although, he is a new man now, Michaels had a reputation for being cocky back in the day and it would not be a wonder, if the rumor is true.
Another confirmed theory that makes round about the match not happening is because of the friction that Rock had with Michaels and Triple H during early stages of his career. Hunter and Michaels, notorious for their backstage politics apparently held back the Brahma bull and this contributed big time to the match never happening.
#3 Hulk Hogan and Jake Roberts
The bad guy getting cheered might not be a big deal nowadays but back then, it was. WWE was planning to pair up Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and Hulk Hogan in a WWE Championship feud but the idea came crashing down when Roberts hit a DDT on Hogan.
No, he did not botch the DDT; instead, the crowd actually cheered him for it. Hogan, a squeaky clean babyface at that time, didn’t like the way in which Jake was getting over as a heel and he called off the feud since he had the fear of getting jeered by the fans. He later went on to express his regrets about the incident, and there’s that.
#2 Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart
There isn’t any need of introduction here as the history between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart is folklore in the wrestling community. The reason for their inclusion in the list comes thanks to the ‘Lost his smile’ promo of Shawn Michaels.
Apparently, Shawn was supposed to drop the WWE championship to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 but he vacated the title before the pay-per-view and said that he had lost his smile somewhere down the road. Michaels did undergo a knee surgery afterwards but allegedly, he was not willing to drop the title to Bret at Mania. After the surgery, Michaels came back to the business as though nothing happened and it ended up being another controversial chapter in the Michaels – Hart saga.
#1 Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan
WWE had plans of pitting Stone Cold Steve Austin against Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8. And since Hogan was in pretty solid condition back then, it could have easily been one of the most celebrated bouts of the decade. Apart from that, the showdown would have also been the first major match of Hogan in WWE after his WCW run. Despite everything working for the match, Austin was not happy.
First of all he did not like the idea of Hogan getting hired by WWE after WCW went out of business and shot down the idea immediately. Hogan also gave a cold response to the suggestion and in the end, Austin was replaced by The Rock.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
