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Wrestling is filled from top to bottom with larger than life egos that come with the territory of being a worldwide celebrity. Ego and pride come hand in hand, but if not balanced out, they can often lead to Superstars clashing with promoters and their colleagues. You need to look no further than The Montreal Screwjob for proof of what can happen when a wrestler becomes hard to work with.
We've seen it a lot over the years and not just in WWE, but we've certainly had a fair share of guys and girls who think they are better off without Vince McMahon's backing.
It's hard for wrestlers today to get any leverage because everyone understands that outside of AEW, WWE really is the only major player in town. When WCW was around, at least wrestlers had the option to work for another huge promotion and make just as much, if not even more money.
If a wrestler today were to walk out on WWE, their options are fairly limited in terms of making similar money in the industry. In most cases, it takes something pretty drastic in this day and age for someone to walk away from WWE.
So in light of Sarah Logan's recent decision to leave WWE after only recently re-signing with the company, here are 15 Superstars who walked away from WWE and WCW.
#15 & #14 WWE - Brock Lesnar & Goldberg
It was the walk-out that ended with one of the most bizarre battles in WWE history. After two years as one of the biggest stars in the company, Brock Lesnar was still a dominant force in WWE. While Goldberg hadn’t been used particularly well, he was still a huge star in his own right.
After many months of feuding, they were all set for an epic battle at WrestleMania XX but behind the scenes, both men were having issues with WWE’s booking. Lesnar had grown to resent the pressures of the business and also had dreams of a pro football career and thus, just days before Mania, he gave his notice.
Around the same time, Goldberg made it clear that he wasn’t going to be renewing his contract either. The result was an uncomfortable battle on the Grandest Stage of Them All, with an incredibly hostile reaction from the fans who felt betrayed at both of them and made their feelings obvious in one of the wildest reactions ever.
Both men would ultimately go on to hold prominent positions within WWE later on after making their returns.
#13 WWE to WCW - Alundra Blayze
In a move that she probably still regrets to this day, no matter how iconic it was at the time, Alundra Blayze was one of the first and most important cases of a WWE Superstar walking out on Vince McMahon. Her betrayal of the company was a genuine shock at the time which left WWE and its fans reeling in equal measure.
After riding high as the WWE Women’s Champion for some time, Alundra Blayze, a.k.a Madusa Miceli was informed that the women's division was being phased out because of budget cuts.
Naturally ticked off by the decision, Madusa accepted a better offer from rivals, WCW, and showed up on WCW Nitro to dump the WWE Women's Championship belt into a garbage bin and badmouthed WWE during a live broadcast. This was a move that did not please Vince McMahon at the time, as he basically blacklisted Madusa for many years and her failings in WCW just highlighted how poor of a decision she had made.
#12 WWE - Sgt. Slaughter
A huge star in his time, Sgt. Slaughter had rejoined WWE fresh off a fantastic run as the heel tag team champion in NWA. After an initial heel run upon joining WWE, he was turned face for a feud with The Iron Sheik. Slaughter was taking off bigger than ever as an American hero and he seemed ready to take the next step at any given time.
He was so sure of it in fact that he asked Vince McMahon for six weeks paid vacation in addition to extra bonuses. When Vince rejected his demands, Slaughter walked away, convinced that McMahon would back down and beg him to stay.
It turned out that he was very, very wrong. Slaughter was cast out by Vince, and he had to spend the next few years with promotions such as the AWA and when he did return, it was as the “Iraqi sympathizer”.
Slaughter himself has at least acknowledged that he made a bad move, admitting to the mistake of thinking he could beat McMahon and it cost him dearly.
#11 WWE to WCW - Lex Luger
Lex Luger had already been signed on with Jim Crockett Promotions back in 1987 when he had his infamous cage match with Bruiser Brody. The latter no-sold everything that Luger did throughout the contest and led to an understandably ticked off Luger just calling it a day and walking out during the match. After tenures with both WCW and WWE, Luger was a well-established name.
So when Eric Bischoff offered him a modest deal to join WCW again, he figured that Luger would balk at the lower amount on the table. However, Luger surprisingly agreed, putting off re-signing with WWE.
Realizing that he had the coup of a lifetime, Bischoff made sure that Luger appeared on the very first WCW Nitro just a day after he’d worked a WWE house show.
It well and truly kicked off the Monday Night Wars - a stunning move that nobody could have seen coming. While Luger’s career afterward would be no more than average at best, his arrival is still a historic moment that officially drew the battle lines.
#10 WCW to ECW/WWE - Raven
By mid-1999, it was becoming abundantly clear that the tide was turning in the Monday Night Wars and that WCW were going to come out as runners-up.
It was a mixture of things that led to the situation so Eric Bischoff called a locker room meeting to air things out. It backfired big time as Bischoff ran down how nobody outside of Hogan and Piper didn't draw enough money and slammed the young guys for not being grateful. Bischoff would then literally point at the door and proclaim that anyone who didn’t like the situation could walk out.
Without hesitation, Raven stood up and marched out the door. Bischoff thought it was a bluff but Raven held stuck to his guns, was released, and soon jumped ship back to ECW rather than WWE.
It showed that Bischoff was losing control of his locker room and that Raven wasn’t afraid to hold to his own beliefs. It was a very bold move considering Raven was never exactly a top guy, but he would go on to appear for WWE in the future and enjoyed a fair amount of screen time and popularity.
#9 & #8 WWE to WCW - Scott Hall & Kevin Nash
It is a walk-out that well and truly changed the course of wrestling forever. Both men gave verbal agreements to Vince McMahon that they were going to re-sign with WWE.
All of a sudden, Hall and Nash gave McMahon their notice that they were jumping ship. Hall didn't even bother telling Vince in person, informing him via fax.
The pair then showed little courtesy for the company as they pulled off the infamous “Curtain Call” incident, breaking kayfabe for the first time.
As they were already leaving the company they couldn't exactly be punished, so Triple H was basically left to eat the dirt on their behalf.
The pair were immediately pushed as the Outsiders and would soon elevate WCW to its greatest heights ever. While Vince likely isn't as upset these days, you can bet your bottom dollar that at the time he was furious over the betrayal of Hall and Nash, jumping ship from WWE to his greatest rivals.
The duo has since revealed that it was the lighter schedule and not the money on offer that really made them jump ship to WCW.
#7 WWE - CM Punk
CM Punk was always notable for dancing to his own beat, saying whatever he wanted at any given time and not backing down no matter who he upset on the way. That’s what got him massively over in the first place and made him a productive and worthwhile champion for WWE in terms of appeal, draw and money.
However, as 2014 dawned and despite his popularity being at an all time high, Punk was making his feelings more known about how he didn’t like the direction of WWE and the booking of certain Superstars.
The night after the Royal Rumble, Punk told Vince and Triple H he was going home. He was then suspended for no-showing events and was informed of his release the day of his wedding to AJ Lee.
Punk was soon all over the place, bad-mouthing the company and its direction in interviews and on podcasts, taking to every platform available to talk smack on the company’s treatment of their injured stars and their total lack of direction. It actually helped to make him even more of an icon than ever before and proves that Punk is a guy who never backs down from upsetting the status quo.
#6, #5, #4 & #3 WCW to WWE - The Radicalz
To many, myself included, this was the final nail in the coffin for WCW. The Monday Night Wars had seen a lot of twists and turns but this one was something else.
Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn were four of the best and most underutilized workers that WCW had but were being ignored for the old-timers. They were repeatedly shoved around and misused, with Kevin Sullivan making it clear that he wasn’t going to give them the booking they deserved (especially given how he and Benoit hated each other).
So all four men demanded their releases, which they were granted. WCW's loss would be WWE's gain.
The January 31st, 2000 episode of WWE RAW opened shockingly, with these four men showing up in the front row and soon becoming focal points of a big feud with DX and the various faces of the time. It boosted all four to a new level of success and cost WCW dearly, who lost four supremely talented guys at a time where they could have massively benefited from them.
While Saturn and Malenko would only go on to have some mid-card success within WWE, Guerrero and Benoit would go on to reach the upper echelons of the company, cementing their name in history as two of the greatest to lace a pair of boots.
#2 WWE to WCW - Macho Man Randy Savage
To this day, there are still arguments over why, after so long and so much success, the Macho Man walked out on WWE in 1994. Eric Bischoff himself has gone on record regarding the Macho Man's exit, stating that the actual reason was that the larger than life Superstar simply wanted to prove himself outside of the confines of WWE. Regardless of the reason behind it, it was still jarring for Vince to announce live on the air that Savage had left and robbed WWE of one of its best performers and icons.
Savage would eventually join WCW, and while he did go on to find moderate success there it never even came close to living up to his WWE tenure. It was obvious that Vince McMahon never got over his abrupt exit as Savage basically became persona non grata on various DVDs and such until his untimely death.
At the time of his death, Savage had started to mend fences with WWE that had previously been torn apart by his betrayal, but unfortunately we never got to see him grace WWE TV one last time.
#1 WWE to WCW to WWE - Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan’s first rise to fame was in the AWA, where he was boosted to huge stardom and selling out houses against champion Nick Bockwinkel. However, Verne Gagne bizarrely seemed to not understand that Hogan was the future of the industry and refused to give him the title.
That, coupled with a fallout over the money rights for his own merchandise, drove Hogan to bolt from the AWA with dates still to work. He promptly signed with WWE, who did recognize that Hogan was the future and helped pushed Hulkamania to the moon.
That relationship started to sour in 1993 when Hogan made a big return after a year away and pushed his way back up to the top to get the WWE title. However, he and Vince had a major falling out which led to Hogan dropping the belt to Yokozuna before leaving WWE and signing for WCW.
This may have been the biggest loss in WWE history when you consider that the reason we ALL watch wrestling to this day is because of The Hulkster helping to bring it into the mainstream. In WCW, he had another huge falling out with management when Vince Russo went too far in his infamous Bash at the Beach 2000 promo, making Hogan leave for real, suing Russo for defamation of character along the way.
Hogan would eventually find his way back to WWE, once again becoming WWE Champion despite being well past his prime. His return did however give us the fantastic match against The Rock at WrestleMania, so it wasn't all bad.
