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Some of the greatest WWE moments of all time revolved around a babyface Superstar finally defeating a heel to win a title.
WrestleMania 35, for example, saw Becky Lynch, Kofi Kingston, and Seth Rollins pick up victories to win WWE World Championships. Those long-awaited triumphs would not have happened if Ronda Rousey, Daniel Bryan, and Brock Lesnar did not agree to lose their matches.
The majority of WWE Superstars do exactly as they are told when they find out whether they are going to win or lose a match. However, various stories have emerged over the years about some WWE Superstars outright refusing to lose against a co-worker.
In this article, let’s count down 10 WWE Superstars and take a look at who they refused to put over.
#10 John Cena refused to put over Jake Hager in WWE
Jake Hager revealed on Talk Is Jericho that John Cena did not want to lose the WWE Championship to him. Hager, formerly known as Jack Swagger in WWE, held the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2010. That meant he could either cash in on Cena (WWE Champion) or Chris Jericho (WWE World Heavyweight Champion).
After teasing a cash-in on Cena on RAW, Hager was informed the next day that he was going to defeat Jericho on SmackDown. Although he did not know it at the time, he later found out that Cena had refused to lose the WWE Championship to him.
“The night before, I teased it on RAW where I would almost hit Cena with the briefcase. I snuck up on him and then we had one of his brilliant promo segments. Later come find out he refused to do the job for me for the World Championship, but we won't talk about that.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Hager held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for 79 days before losing it to Rey Mysterio at the WWE Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view.
#9 Sable refused to put over Debra in WWE
One of the most bizarre title changes in WWE history took place on the May 10, 1999 episode of WWE RAW. Sable won an Evening Gown match against Debra to retain her WWE Women’s Championship. However, Commissioner Shawn Michaels reversed the decision because he felt that the woman who lost her clothes should be declared the winner.
In storyline, Debra suddenly became the new WWE Women’s Champion. In reality, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Sable did not want to lose the title in a regular match.
“Believe it or not, they had problems getting Sable to do a job and give up the belt. I know that sounds stupid but wrestling often is. I guess this was the compromise.”
Meltzer also said that Sable wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood, which is why she refused to wrestle at live events and on RAW. She agreed to wrestle on PPVs but only because she earned more money from working those events.
#8 PCO refused to put over Diesel in WWE
Pierre Carl Ouellet (aka PCO) spoke to Sportskeeda’s Chris Featherstone in August 2020 about his wrestling career, including his run in WWE. The veteran revealed that he regrets the time that he refused to lose a match against Diesel (aka Kevin Nash) at a WWE live event.
“Yeah, just to tarnish my reputation a little bit with Vince [McMahon] when I refused to job against Kevin Nash.”
PCO admitted that he should have agreed to lose as soon as the match was set up. At the time, he already had issues backstage with The Kliq after he refused to lose against Shawn Michaels at a show in Montreal. On that occasion, he changed his mind and ended up losing, but the animosity between himself and The Kliq never went away.
When he was booked in another match against Diesel, PCO outright refused to lose. The two men had to compromise by agreeing to a double-countout draw.
#7 The Honky Tonk Man refused to put over Randy Savage in WWE
The Honky Tonk Man’s refusal to lose against Randy Savage was less about his opponent and more about his own WWE contract situation. The then-Intercontinental Champion wanted to work for Ted Turner during a time when Vince McMahon wanted him to drop the title at The Main Event.
Someone from Turner’s up-and-coming organization, which became WCW, told Honky Tonk Man that he must not lose against Savage at that particular show. The Main Event was watched by 35 million viewers and Turner’s people felt that a big title loss would ruin his reputation.
As it turned out, Honky Tonk Man lost the match via countout, meaning he kept the title. He also stayed with WWE for another three years instead of joining WCW.
#6 Roddy Piper refused to put over Hulk Hogan in WWE
Hulk Hogan defeated Roddy Piper via disqualification at WWE’s The War to Settle the Score event on MTV in 1985. Piper told Title Match Wrestling in 2003 that he did not want to be just another wrestler who WWE forgot about after losing to Hogan. He also felt that a clean loss would have hurt his heel character.
“I don’t think anybody had ever said that to him [Vince McMahon] before. He got quite mad. I just said, ‘We need to look at the logic and the math of this. Are you looking to just get one out of it? Because if that’s what you’re looking for, who are you going to get that’s as hot as me?’”
Piper added that he and Hogan had “sincere animosity” from that moment on.
#5 Ric Flair refused to put over Lex Luger in WCW
Ric Flair’s refusal to put over Lex Luger was ultimately due to his financial situation with WCW. The Nature Boy told Wrestling Inc. in 2019 that he was happy to lose against Luger. However, he did not want to agree to the finish until Eric Bischoff had finalized his WCW contract.
“Who didn't I put over? One guy: Lex Luger. I volunteered to do it in Columbus, Georgia, but I wasn't going to do it on an event without my contract that Eric promised me. He owed me money so I wouldn't do it. Other than that, I don't know who I didn't put over in the wrestling business.”
Flair also mentioned that he put over two of his former WWE co-workers, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, 10+ times in WCW. The two-time WWE Hall of Famer worked on the WCW booking committee, which meant he was often able to choose his own opponents.
#4 Batista refused to put over Daniel Bryan after WWE WrestleMania 30
Granted, Batista did put Daniel Bryan over on one major occasion, that famous moment happened in the main event of WWE WrestleMania 30 when The Animal tapped out to The Leader of the Yes Movement.
Batista then joined forces with Randy Orton and Triple H in a losing effort against The Shield at the next pay-per-view, WWE Extreme Rules. WWE originally wanted the Hollywood star to face Bryan one-on-one at another event, WWE Payback, but Batista had other ideas.
He told the Daily Dead in 2017 that he did not want another match with Bryan and he pushed for the Evolution vs. Shield rematch.
“We were just starting the Evolution thing, so why couldn’t we run with that instead of me putting Daniel over again, which I just did at WrestleMania? We’re not going to have a better match there than we did at ‘Mania. Let’s just work more with Evolution and build these guys up. So we did.”
Batista said he asked, “What is wrong with you guys?” when WWE's decision-makers separated The Shield one night after they defeated Evolution.
#3 Hulk Hogan refused to put over Bret Hart in WWE
According to Bret Hart, Vince McMahon said after WrestleMania IX that Hulk Hogan would drop the WWE Championship back to him. That year’s ‘Mania had a controversial ending, with Hogan defeating Yokozuna in an impromptu match after Yoko’s win over Hart.
Although McMahon wanted to book Hogan vs. Hart, The Hulkster was allegedly against the idea. Hart wrote in his book that Hogan “flat-out refused” to lose against him, leading McMahon to replace The Hitman with Yokozuna.
Hogan went on to lose the WWE Championship to Yokozuna at WWE King of the Ring 1993.
#2 Steve Austin refused to put over Brock Lesnar in WWE
It should come as no surprise to see Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar this high on the list. Back in June 2002, Austin was booked to lose a WWE King of the Ring qualifier against Lesnar on WWE RAW.
Although Austin was willing to put the up-and-coming Next Big Thing over, he did not want to do so with no storyline build-up. He felt that a match against Lesnar should happen at a PPV as part of a meaningful rivalry – not a one-off WWE RAW match.
The Texas Rattlesnake not only refused to put Lesnar over that night, but he refused to show up to work. He eventually returned to WWE in February 2003, one month before he competed in his final match against The Rock at WrestleMania XIX.
#1 Bret Hart refused to put over Shawn Michaels at WWE Survivor Series 1997
Bret Hart originally agreed to lose the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels before he departed for WCW in November 1997. However, The Hitman changed his mind when Michaels told Hart that he would not put him over if the roles were reversed.
Hart’s refusal to lose prompted Vince McMahon to create a new finish behind the WCW-bound Superstar’s back. Instead of a disqualification finish, McMahon ordered referee Earl Hebner to award the win to Michaels after he locked in the sharpshooter.
Competing in front of his Canadian fans, Hart wrote “WCW” with his finger in the direction of WWE’s hard camera. He also knocked McMahon out cold when he found him backstage.
