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They always say that anything can happen in WWE, and you know what... They might actually be true.
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WWE is the biggest wrestling and sports entertainment company in history and always will be. Despite this, it doesn't mean they can always have every big or notable name in wrestling work for them. Once upon a time, everyone wanted to work for WWE, with one of the big reasons being it was the biggest and best way for publicity and paychecks, especially when WCW went out of business.
Over the past few years, however, wrestling has become cool for everyone again, and a vast majority of independent wrestling company's all over the world are doing great business. Other wrestling company's like New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor are also doing so well that they are paying performers very handsome salaries, and with the benefit of still being able to work the Indy scene, many performers are making enough money to never need to wrestle for WWE.
So whether it be because of thriving business for every wrestling company during the Monday Night War, or the booming independent scene today, there are some names both in wrestling and other forms of the business who we never thought wanted or needed WWE. Yet anything being able to happen in WWE would eventually bring them to Vince McMahon.
These are ten superstars who we never thought we would see in WWE.
#10 Goldberg
Bill Goldberg was the biggest and hottest superstar in WCW from the moment he defeated Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship on July 6, 1998, until WCW went out of business in 2001.
And with being WCW's hottest star comes some pretty big paychecks, and by the time WCW held their final episode of Nitro, Goldberg had been WCW's highest paid performer for over a year. Post-WCW, for at least over a year, Goldberg showed no interest in wrestling full-time, or for WWE.
He had enough money from WCW to never work again and had options in television and film. In early 2003, Goldberg finally met with WWE, and they eventually agreed on a contract during the WrestleMania XIX weekend, and Goldberg debuted on the following RAW.
Goldberg has since said in numerous interviews that the main reason he joined WWE in 2003 was because of his fans clamouring to see him back in action.
Goldberg wasn't thrilled with his first run with WWE and swore never to work with Vince McMahon again.
He would amazingly return to WWE in 2016, over 12 years since his last match at WrestleMania 20 in 2004.
He has since said he returned because it felt right mentally, as well as for similar reasons as before and for his son to see him compete.
#9 Eric Young
Wrestling on the independent scene as early as age 19, Eric Young was 24 years old when he debuted for TNA Wrestling in 2004 as a member of the faction Team Canada.
Young was a true soldier of TNA and quite literately worked his way up from the bottom. Eric went through more gimmicks than anyone in TNA, from an anti-American, to an overly paranoid person, to a superhero, leader of a multicultural faction, member on TNA's version of the NWO, a mentally challenged man obsessed with a blowup doll, a psychopath and eventually, a Daniel Bryan like character who went through it all to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
Along with Abyss and James Storm, Eric became a flagship TNA performer. And being 36 years old at the time of his Impact departure and not having the usual look that WWE is into, it seemed highly unlikely that WWE would show any interest at all in hiring him.
If this had been a couple of years earlier, E.Y likely wouldn't have been hired based on those reasons either.
But with Triple H now having a big say in who gets hired and having a pretty different mind for the business than Vince McMahon, Eric was signed to a contract and has been leading the fiendish SAniTY faction ever since.
#8 Ronda Rousey
'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey may likely go down as one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time and the greatest female UFC fighter of all time.
Rousey has never needed WWE, but with a declining career in the UFC and being a lifelong wrestling fan, Rousey had begun to let it be known that she wanted a career in wrestling and the WWE.
Still, it seemed like something that wouldn't happen. Dana White had also let it be known that Rousey would always have a contract waiting for her to return to UFC and her acting career has also really began to blossom.
But with an evolving women's revolution in WWE, Ronda could not wait anymore and made her WWE debut in the closing moments of the Royal Rumble this past January. To date, she is undefeated and the current WWE RAW Women's Champion.
#7 Bobby Roode
Much like Eric Young, Bobby Roode also debuted for TNA Wrestling in 2004 in his mid-20's and worked his way up to becoming one of the promotion's top stars.
Bobby was a two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and an 8 time Tag Team Champion.
By the time Bobby parted ways with Impact in 2016, he had pretty accomplished everything he could work for the group. Again much like Eric, had been a couple of years earlier, Roode likely wouldn't have been hired to the company due to his age, which was just a few weeks shy of turning 39 before his signed his WWE contract.
Bobby would go onto be a major player for NXT, becoming the NXT Champion and having an impressive win/loss record. He debuted on the main roster on the post-2017 SummerSlam tapings, and although he has been WWE United States Champion, he seems to be lost in the shuffle today. Hopefully, that and a heel turn will change things.
#6 Samoa Joe
As said themselves by WWE on a recent edition of the WWE Network's WWE Chronicle, Samoa Joe proved WWE wrong.
Much like the aforementioned Eric Young and Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe debuted for WWE in NXT when he was in his mid-30's and was told during his first meeting with Triple H, that Joe would likely never see the main roster due to not having what Vince McMahon was looking for, but would be a valuable addition to NXT.
However, Samoa Joe proved with his fantastic performances and sold out merchandise, that he would be a great addition to the main roster, and ever since he did in 2017, despite some separate injuries having him miss some time away, Joe has been incredible.
Joe has already been in the main event of four pay-per-views, with two victories at them, and has delivered some excellent matches and promos. As of this writing, Joe is feuding with WWE Champion AJ Styles on Smackdown.
#5 Dusty Rhodes
The legendary and iconic Dusty Rhodes coming to WWE in 1989 was an incredible site to see, and not just because he was forced to wear black and yellow polka-dotted attires.
Dusty Rhodes was one of the NWA's two hearts and really helped keep them thriving in the 80's. After the promotion transitioned into Jim Crockett Promotion's and WCW, Dusty was fired in 1989 for some controversial booking. This led to a golden opportunity for the 'American Dream' to join the WWE.
Dusty feuded with Randy Savage, which should have led to a classic showdown at WrestleMania VI, but instead, it was a mix tag team match of Dusty and Sapphire vs. Randy and Sensational Sherri, which took the quality down a lot. Dusty would then feud with Ted DiBiase before departing in 1991.
That was it, no one-on-one showdown with Macho Man, no matches with Hulk Hogan; one of the biggest stars of the 80's was used in a role befitting the like of a Brutus Beefcake or Koko B. Ware.
Dusty returned to WCW shortly after for a much better run, even as a non-wrestler for most of it. He returned to WWE as a creative member in 2005, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, and remained as the head writer for NXT from 2013, until his death in 2015.
#4 Ric Flair
Much like Dusty Rhodes, 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair was the other heart that kept the NWA thriving in the 1980's. Ric Flair was to the NWA, what Hulk Hogan was to the WWE.
Nobody ever thought it would happen, but in 1991, Flair left WCW after a major fall out with boss Jim Herd. Jim had wanted Flair, the then WCW World Champion, to change character by shaving his hair, wearing a diamond earring and going by the name of Spartacus.
This was enough to make Flair quit and sign up with WWE, where he would stay for two years and become a two-time WWE Champion, before returning to WCW in 1993.
Flair had an overall good run with WWE, despite fans not getting to see Flair vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania. Flair returned to WWE in 2002, following the closure of WCW.
#3 AJ Styles
Today, 'The Phenomenal' AJ Styles is enjoying his second reign as WWE Champion, and it is quite hard to imagine what WWE would have been like for the past two and a half years without him.
At one point, however, AJ Styles in WWE is something that everyone, including WWE and AJ themselves, thought would never ever happen. Before leading the Bullet Club in NJPW and Ring of Honor, AJ Styles was Mr TNA. AJ was a five-time World Champion in TNA, which was a three-time NWA Champion, and two-time TNA. He also held every other Championship in company history that had been introduced during his 11 + years with them.
Styles was to TNA what The Undertaker was to WWE and Sting to WCW, that is until he left the company in early 2014.
And even then, there was no talk whatsoever of 'The Phenomenal One' ever joining WWE. With AJ being the modern day Shawn Michaels, his talents was something WWE could not overlook anymore and in January 2016, AJ Styles signed with WWE and debuted to a monster pop, at the Royal Rumble. He is now a two-time WWE Champion, two-time WWE United States Champion and has wrestled some of the best WWE matches, ever.
#2 Sting
The Icon Sting was to WCW what The Undertaker is to WWE. He was the WCW captain to go down with the WCW ship.
Sting had claimed several times over the years that he didn't want to go to WWE due to a fear of how they would book him, citing Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page's poor runs as an influence.
However, in early 2002 shortly after WWE announced the signings of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, it was leaked that WWE had been negotiating with a few other former top WCW stars, one of which being Sting.
Apparently, at one point WWE considered Sting coming in as a lock and planned a match between him and Kurt Angle for WrestleMania 18, however Sting backed down, returning to his previous concerns over how they would book him, as well as not being too thrilled with WWE's particular TV-14 style content at the time.
When many thought he was retired for good, Sting surprised everyone when he returned to wrestling in early 2006, and not to WWE, but TNA Wrestling. Sting would go onto have a seven-year run with the company, where he held the NWA World Championship and was a 4 time TNA World Champion.
Sting finally signed a deal with WWE in November 2014 and debuted at the Survivor Series. He wrestled four matches for WWE before being forced to retire after a neck injury in 2015. Today, he is a member of both the WWE and TNA Hall of Fame.
#1 Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff is easily the most surprising name to ever sign with WWE. No, he wasn't a wrestler that didn't fit the WWE bill or a top performer from another company who never needed WWE.
Eric Bischoff was the Executive Producer and later President of WCW and during the Monday Night War, Eric made it know, weekly, that it was his goal to put the WWE out of business. Eric would bring the real-life rivalry of he and Vince McMahon to TV, often taking major shots at WWE and going as far as to give away taped results of shows.
WWE finally got one over on Eric in 1998 when D-Generation X 'Invaded' an episode of Nitro. However, Eric responded, ingeniously, by taking the attention off of DX and challenging Vince to a match at WCW Slamboree that year. When Vince elected not to show up, Eric had embarrassed him even more and declared victory.
On top of all that, Eric made WCW so popular by personally offering contracts to all of Vince's current, former and top performers, successfully signing the likes of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Bret Hart and many more. Eric did enough to Vince to make Vince make sure that Eric would never see work in the wrestling business again, following the death of WCW.
However, what we shockingly got instead was Vince putting his personal differences aside and recognizing Eric's fantastic TV character talents, and offering him a TV role as the General Manager of WWE RAW in 2002. Eric accepted, and remained in that position until late 2005, becoming the best TV General Manager in the history of WWE.
