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Nowadays, the majority of WWE departures are announced by the company when several people receive their release at the same time.
In April 2020, more than 20 main-roster stars were released in the same month as a cost-cutting measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From January 2021 to August 2021, a further 54 people were released from RAW, SmackDown, NXT, and the Performance Center.
Needless to say, not every WWE exit goes as smoothly as the company’s decision-makers initially planned. CM Punk, for example, walked out of WWE in January 2014 despite having five months left on his contract.
Punk is one of the few WWE stars who threatened to leave and went through with the idea. However, did you know that several others considered taking the same approach before deciding to stay?
In this article, let’s take a look at five WWE stars who almost walked out on the company.
#5 Sheamus almost walked out (2016 WWE Draft)
Sheamus was selected by WWE RAW as the 30th overall pick in the 2016 WWE Draft. Had the Irishman been drafted one spot lower, his draft position would have been revealed on the WWE Network post-show instead of the television broadcast.
The Celtic Warrior’s surprisingly low position in the WWE Draft came just seven months after he lost the WWE Championship to Roman Reigns.
Speaking in a WWE 24 documentary about WrestleMania 37, Sheamus opened up about some of his WWE career struggles. Discussing the 2016 WWE Draft, The Celtic Warrior revealed that he questioned at the time whether he belonged in WWE.
“The draft came and I had just been WWE Champion up until the end of December [2015],” Sheamus said. “And I was the last pick on the draft. I’m thinking to myself like, ‘How have I gone from ‘The Guy’ to the last pick of the draft?’ I was like, ‘This is a serious fall from grace.’ I was so angry, man, I was ready… I kind of felt like ready to walk [out]. I really did. I felt like, ‘What am I doing? I’m not enjoying this anymore.’”
Fortunately, Sheamus turned his fortunes around after the 2016 WWE Draft. He feuded with Cesaro before forming a tag team, known as The Bar, with his fellow European.
Sheamus and Cesaro teamed together between September 2016 and April 2019. During that time, they won the RAW Tag Team Championship (x4) and SmackDown Tag Team Championship (x1).
#4 Jon Moxley almost walked out (WWE RAW, 2018)
Jon Moxley (f.k.a. Dean Ambrose in WWE) appeared on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast shortly after leaving WWE for AEW in 2019.
The former Shield member explained how he was unhappy with several of his WWE storyline developments after his 2018 heel turn. His segment on the November 26, 2018 episode of RAW, in which he received a series of inoculations, even led to him almost walking out.
Moxley told Jericho that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was happy with the segment. However, the former WWE Champion did not share the same opinion.
“I couldn’t have gotten out of that building faster,” Moxley said. “Earlier in the day, I was like, ‘I gotta walk out.’ I remember having a feeling of dizziness like a weird pit of my stomach dizziness and I remember talking to some of my friends like, ‘I can’t work here, what is this? What are they doing? It’s so embarrassing.’ Like, actual dizziness. It’s like I can’t believe this is happening.”
Although Moxley left WWE five months later, he did not walk out on the company in the end. The 2016 Money in the Bank winner let his contract expire at the end of April 2019, allowing him to join AEW the following month.
#3 Pat McAfee almost walked out (WWE WrestleMania 35)
Pat McAfee quickly established himself as one of WWE’s most popular announcers after he became a color commentator on SmackDown after WrestleMania 37. Two years earlier, however, McAfee’s WWE journey almost ended before it began.
The former NFL star wore tuxedo pants instead of his usual jorts while appearing in segments on the WrestleMania 35 kickoff show. Michael Cole, WWE’s Vice President of Announcing, had told McAfee before the show that he was not allowed to wear jorts. The latter turned his tuxedo pants into shorts as a result, which led Cole to yell at him for looking unprofessional.
Following WrestleMania 35, McAfee said on The Pat McAfee Show that he almost walked out after being yelled at backstage.
“I then walked back to where watch-a-long was happening and I grabbed my bag," McAfee said. "And I told the digital guy, I said, 'You can tell Michael Cole to go f*** himself. I am leaving. I am not getting punked and yelled at like a child in front of everybody. You guys think I’m some schlub. This is a second job to me, I’m very lucky to be here, very excited to here, but I’m not going to get yelled at like I’m a f***ing child.’” [H/T Wrestling News Co.]
Cole reacted so furiously because he thought McAfee’s WWE future could be at risk if Vince McMahon saw him wearing casual attire at WrestleMania. In the end, the WWE Chairman approved McAfee’s tuxedo shorts after being shown a picture of basketball star Lebron James wearing similar clothing.
Following their misunderstanding, McAfee went on to say that Cole gave him “one of the realest apologies” he has ever received.
#2 Seth Rollins almost walked out (WWE SmackDown, 2014)
Vince McMahon famously told Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston to re-shoot their match on the pre-taped June 20, 2014 episode of WWE SmackDown.
The three-minute match was supposed to be viewed as somewhat of a squash match, with Rollins picking up a dominant win over his opponent. McMahon felt that Kingston had too much offense in the match, so he told both men to shoot the match again.
Rollins discussed his WWE career on Edge & Christian’s Pod of Awesomeness in 2019. Reflecting on the Kingston match, he said McMahon's instructions left him wanting to walk out of WWE.
“I was so angry and embarrassed, and just ready to just walk out and not do it, ‘cause I was like, ‘Never in my life! Never should this happen to me!’” Rollins said. “But it was such a learning experience in retrospect that it’s okay to screw up sometimes.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
McMahon wanted Rollins to have more offense because the former Shield member was in line for his first major singles push. Kingston, meanwhile, was floundering in the mid-card at the time and WWE did not have big plans for him as a singles competitor.
Later that month, Rollins cemented his status as one of WWE’s top heels when he won the Money in the Bank briefcase.
#1 Hulk Hogan almost walked out (WWE MSG show, 1984)
Hulk Hogan became WWE’s star attraction in the mid-1980s, but his time with the company could have turned out very differently.
Before his first WWE Championship win over The Iron Sheik in 1984, Hogan’s title victory was almost nixed due to backstage politics. At the time, former world champion Bob Backlund allegedly tried to convince Vince McMahon Sr. that the company should have a “real athlete” as champion.
Speaking on The Steve Austin Show in 2019, Hogan said McMahon Sr. agreed with Backlund before Vince McMahon Jr. changed his father’s mind. The Hulkster also recalled how he was prepared to return to the AWA (American Wrestling Association) if he did not win the WWE Championship.
“Vince Sr., with all due respect, that's not the deal I made with your son,” Hogan said, quoting his conversation with Vince McMahon Sr. “I just burnt down a huge bridge in Minnesota [AWA], so I'm about to go out and put The Sheik over tonight, but then I'm going back to rebuild that bridge I burnt down in Minnesota.”
Hogan further clarified that he was willing to lose to The Iron Sheik if Vince McMahon Sr. requested that he do so.
But, having been guaranteed a WWE Championship victory, he was not prepared to conduct future business with the company if the promise was not fulfilled.
