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Back when Hulk Hogan signed with WCW in the 90s, it was a big 'get' for the Ted Turner promotion, looking at the legacy Hogan had built up over the past decade or so in Vince McMahon's WWE. Around 2 years after his jump to WCW, Hogan turned heel in one of the greatest moments in pro-wrestling. It's not a secret that Hogan had creative control over the outcome of all matches he was a part of.
Privileges like the one Hogan had are rarely given to wrestlers. Most of the time, the writers are responsible for churning out storylines and matches, and a wrestler would have some say in case they are a megastar. On several occasions, wrestlers themselves make it a point to suggest an idea to the higher-ups, but these pitches don't always get approved. In the following list, let's take a look at 5 times a WWE Superstar pitched an idea to Vince McMahon, and the boss rejected the same.
#5 Randy Orton
Fans of Randy Orton might remember that he was put into a program with The Revival for a short period, back in 2019. The trio feuded with The New Day for a while, with Orton looking to win the WWE title that Kofi Kingston had on his shoulder. The Viper didn't succeed in winning the belt and was soon separated from The Revival during the 2019 WWE Draft.
Reports stated that Orton had pitched an idea to Vince McMahon, stating that his association with The Revival should become a permanent thing. Vince had other plans though, and Orton was moved to RAW.
"We're told by multiple sources that Orton pushed to do more work with them [The Revival], even going as far as pitching a faction to Vince McMahon personally. The idea fell on deaf ears and Orton and the Revival were put on different brands in the WWE draft."
The Revival didn't do much of note following the split and were released by WWE, back in April.
#4 Jack Swagger
Jack Swagger was a mainstay in Vince McMahon's promotion for around a decade and won the World title on one occasion during his stint. He was granted his release by WWE in early 2017, after which Swagger put his focus on MMA, in addition to competing on the independent circuit. Swagger was a guest on Edge and Christian's podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, last year. Among other things, the former WWE Superstar recalled pitching an idea to Vince McMahon that was rejected. It all began when Vince McMahon caught Swagger in a backstage area.
I knew I was gonna do MMA. Before I left, Vince caught me in the hallway and he told me that they were wasting me. I said, ‘Man, that’s awesome to hear. Thank you for saying that. I’ll be in your office next week with ideas. I pitched to him an idea about leaving and having to go fight MMA, and then come back, but have a little controversy between us or something. He didn’t really want to do anything about it.
Swagger is doing fine for himself in MMA and is currently working for AEW as well. He is a part of Chris Jericho's heel faction named The Inner Circle.
#3 Bubba Ray Dudley
Bubba Ray Dudley is regarded by many as one of the greatest tag team Superstars in WWE history. Along with D-Von Dudley, Bubba won the Tag Team titles on 10 occasions while wrestling in Vince's McMahon's company, thus rightfully bagging the accolade of one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Bubba also worked for Impact Wrestling for years on end and popularized the gimmick of Bully Ray.
Ray has stated several times in the past that he had pitched the same character to Vince McMahon, but the idea was rejected because Vince felt it wouldn't work because of WWE's association with Be A Star. Bubba suggested that a babyface would make him understand the error in his ways and it would lead to him turning into a good guy, but Vince McMahon had a good reason to reject the idea.
He goes, ‘My god, I love it! It’s great. But in that year, I’m going to get killed by the media because how can you have an anti-bullying program but call somebody Bully Ray? Now they can have characters that act like bullies, but calling someone Bully something. That was 50 percent of it. The other 50 percent of it, I’ll save for another day. The back-up name was the Intimidator Bubba. He loved it [but it never happened].
#2 AJ Styles
When AJ Styles came to WWE in early 2016, many were worried as to how he would be treated on the main roster. Four years later, it's safe to say that Styles has been handled incredibly well by Vince McMahon and WWE. Back in 2016, Styles kicked off a feud with WWE legend John Cena and scored a huge victory over the 16-time World Champion at SummerSlam.
Styles occasionally plays videogames and chats with fans on Mixer. During one such session, when a fan asked Styles about getting a T-shirt with the words 'Beat Up Seth Rollins' slapped on it, The Phenomenal One explained why the idea would probably get rejected by Vince McMahon.
“Well, I’ll have you know that we wanted to have ‘Beat Up John Cena’ shirts while that was going on, but that was a no-go from the boss. He didn’t care for that too much so, I doubt he’ll get with the ‘Beat Up Rollins’ [shirts] so…"
Vince McMahon probably thought it would hurt Cena's brand if such a shirt was launched. Styles kept getting featured in major programs and recently feuded with The Undertaker on the road to WrestleMania, where he was buried alive by The Deadman in a Boneyard match.
#1 Batista
On the road to WrestleMania 35, Batista made his return to WWE and attacked WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair in the process. This was done to grab Triple H's attention, and a feud immediately kick-started between The Animal and The Game. A match was set for WrestleMania 35, under the "No Holds Barred" stipulation. Triple H exacted revenge for Batista's ruthless attack on Flair and defeated him in the marquee match. On an episode of Talk Is Jericho, Batista revealed that both he and Triple H wanted to settle the score inside Hell In A Cell, but Vince McMahon didn't share their sentiments.
Originally, we wanted a have a Hell In A Cell, but Vince McMahon, because of the pay-per-view, he didn’t want to have a Hell In A Cell, and we really wanted Hell In A Cell. They’re just great matches, they’re violent. We needed bells and whistles.
Batista and Triple H brawled for almost 30 minutes, and the latter won the match by hitting a Pedigree. Batista announced his retirement from pro-wrestling soon after.
