5 times WWE Superstars refused to wrestle 

WWE stars are contracted performers, which means that they are contractually obligated to wrestle whenever the company wants them to. Of course, in the past, there have been many occasions where the company has allowed certain superstars to drop out of events without being in breach of contract.

Whilst there are a handful of stars who have been able to remain contracted with the company whilst refusing to wrestle at certain events, there are others who have been fired or released when it was revealed that they refuse to wrestle for the company.

Here are five times that current and former WWE stars refused to wrestle for WWE and the reasons why.

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#5. Neville

Neville came up through the ranks in NXT and is a former NXT Champion, but when the British star was promoted to the main roster he was made part of the Cruiserweight Division.

Despite the fact that Neville proved many times that he had what it takes to be in the main title picture on RAW and came within seconds of becoming World Champion in a match against Seth Rollins, his potential was never seen.

When Neville lost his Cruiserweight Championship to Enzo Amore and was then told that he had to lose to the new Champion on an episode of RAW, the star decided that enough was enough.

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, Neville walked out of WWE after being scheduled to lose to Enzo Amore and went on to refuse to make his return despite being in breach of contract. In the end, WWE decided to release the former Champion almost a year later, following which the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion joined AEW, where he appeared under his original ring name, PAC.

#4. John Cena

John Cena is a former 16-time World Champion and it's become well-known that he has a lot of influence backstage.

Back in 2018, Saudi Arabia was being criticized for its stance on human rights following the investigation into the death of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after he was seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd.

Despite the controversy surrounding the country at the time, WWE decided to go ahead with their second trip over to the Middle East. Even though John Cena was part of the first-ever show in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he refused to make his return as part of Crown Jewel.

Cena was originally set to be part of the WWE World Cup, but given the news, he was written out of the storyline and replaced by Bobby Lashley.

The following year when WWE returned to the country for Super ShowDown, John Cena was once again not part of the show and he hasn't returned to the Middle East since the company's first show.

#3. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold Steve Austin is now remembered as one of the biggest stars of WWE's Attitude Era, but even Austin had some issues with the company back in 2002 when he disagreed with a loss against Brock Lesnar that was scheduled to take place on RAW.

Austin walked out of RAW without wrestling the match and didn't return to the company for an entire year.

The former WWE Champion opened up about the situation on Sam Robert's Wrestling Podcast back in 2017.

“When I look back, I was running so hard and the level of intensity was so hot and I was just white-hot in the business and I made a knee-jerk reaction to, they wanted me to do a job in Atlanta [Georgia] in a really non-publicized match with Brock and I thought that was real pi**-poor business and it was, I’ve always been willing to do business, when it was time to do business, but that wasn’t business. When you have a guy, and I never blow smoke up my own ass, but when you have a guy like me that draws big money, you don’t just job him out on a bulls–t Monday night TV, so I got to jazz up the language because that was something I was very passionate about and it really comes from my heart and my guts. That being said, I shouldn’t’ve got on an airplane and taken my ball and went home as they said."

Austin confirmed that it was Jim Ross who helped bring him back to WWE, after the former WWE commentator approached Austin and was able to help him bury the hatchet with Vince McMahon.

#2. Daniel Bryan

Much like John Cena, Daniel Bryan was another name who made the decision not to travel to Saudi Arabia following the Jamal Khashoggi controversy. Bryan was an active star on the SmackDown roster at the time and was scheduled to face off against AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at the Crown Jewel event, before Bryan refused to make the trip.

Bryan's refusal to travel to the Middle East was also reported to be because of the way LGBTQ men and women were treated in the country. It was also believed that anoter reason was because Sami Zayn was unable to perform in the country because of his Syrian heritage.

Bryan reportedly didn't know a lot about the country until he performed in the Middle East with WWE at the Greatest Royal Rumble. Bryan then found out about the treatment of homosexuals and told WWE that he would not return and work under those circumstances.

AJ Styles took on Samoa Joe at the event after WWE made the switch when Bryan refused to be part of the show.

#1. Roman Reigns

BREAKING: @Goldberg defends the #UniversalTitle against @BraunStrowman THIS WEEKEND at #WrestleMania!

— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2020

Roman Reigns was scheduled to face Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36 back in April, and even though it was well-known that Reigns was set to win back the Championship, The Big Dog dropped out of the show.

Reigns was forced to shield himself and his family when it was revealed that the country was going into lockdown since the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading much faster than expected.

WrestleMania was moved to the Performance Center and Reigns was then replaced by Braun Strowman, who went on to become Universal Champion.

Reigns hasn't been seen in a WWE ring since March when lockdown was announced. With his wife giving birth to twins earlier in the year and his recent battle with leukemia, Reigns was considered high risk.

WWE hoped that Reigns would return at SummerSlam, but the show was recently moved to WWE's Performance Center after the company's recent issues with COVID-19.

Reigns spoke to Hindu's Metroplus back in June where he was able to shed light on his recent WWE hiatus.

"For me, I just had to make a choice for my family. [WWE] has done everything that they can to make it the safest work environment possible. It is not the workplace that I was necessarily concerned about. The decision was taken mainly because each performer travels so much, and we are all such a diverse group and from all over the place. I'm not convinced, and I can't trust the fact that everybody is taking it as seriously and locking themselves down at home like I am."

Reigns may be the most high profile star sitting out of WWE at present but he isn't the only star since Sami Zayn has also opted to remain at home.