The pro wrestling business is very attraction-driven. In its infancy, wrestling promoters held all the power when it came to booking a territory and formulating a storyline. In the 70s, pro wrestling's first true global attraction hit the scene in Andre The Giant. From there, things only escalated in the 80s when the pro wrestling boom hit. During that time, Hulk Hogan became pro wrestling's very first mainstream megastar.

RELATED: 10 Wrestlers Who Had Creative Control In A Company

Since then, it's become almost customary for top stars in certain promotions to have some sort of influence or creative control over the direction of their character. Unfortunately, that's proven to be a mistake on several occasions.

10 Chyna

Chyna and Triple H

Today's wrestling landscape is a lot kinder to women. That can probably be attributed, at least in part, to Chyna. In the late 90s, during WWE's highly regarded Attitude Era, Chyna shattered the glass ceiling for women in pro wrestling. She would quickly become the biggest female star in the company, and she would do it by predominantly wrestling men.

The only problem was, intergender wrestling was only going to be sustainable for so long. In response to the window closing on intergender wrestling, Chyna began using her backstage influence to avoid wrestling women. Jim Ross has gone on record several times expressing his past frustrations with Chyna regarding the matter. Her reluctance to continue working with women was partly to blame for her departure from WWE.

9 Bret Hart

bret-hart-steel-cage

"The Montreal Screwjob" is one of, if not the most discussed incident in pro wrestling history. That night, the lines between reality and storyline were blurred in a way that will probably never be seen again. After the incident, Bret Hart seemingly had the support of the entire wrestling community.

There was and is however a small fraction of fans and critics who think Hart was in the wrong for refusing to do the job and drop the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels. The circumstances surrounding the incident obviously influenced many fan's perspectives but some wrestling enthusiasts, like Jim Cornette, think Hart forced Vince McMahon's hand by refusing to drop the title.

8 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

steve-austin-arms-up

The mid-90s was a roller coaster ride in the career of Steve Austin. When he finally arrived in WWE in late 1995, it wasn't the fairytale he expected. On the contrary, Austin had to fight and claw his way to the very top of the business. When he finally arrived at the top, he looked back and noticed he had dragged a fledgling promotion with him in WWE.

RELATED: Every Version Of Steve Austin, Ranked From Worst To Best

That likely explains why Austin was so protective of his spot and his character. Regardless, it's hard to excuse Austin's actions in 2002 when he refused to put over Brock Lesnar on Monday Night Raw. That difference in opinions led to what Austin calls the "biggest regret" of his career when he took his ball and walked out on WWE.

7 Kevin Nash

kevin-nash-wcw-championship

Kevin Nash has earned a reputation throughout his career for being a backstage politician. A lot of the heat Nash has generated comes from his days in The Kliq. The group has perhaps the worst reputation ever in pro wrestling as far as self-preservation goes. When Nash made the jump to WCW though, all that seemed to be forgotten for a couple of years.

In November of 1998 however, Nash would gain more creative influence backstage. He would immediately go on to win a 60-man Battle Royal at World War 3 1998 to become the number one contender to Goldberg's WCW Championship. Shockingly, Nash would defeat the previously undefeated Goldberg to become WCW Champion at Starrcade 1998. Coincidence? Many fans don't think so.

6 Dusty Rhodes

dusty-rhodes-dustin-rhodes-backstage

Dusty Rhodes is one of the most beloved wrestling figures of all time. Rhodes contributed some of the greatest ideas ever in the wrestling business. He's one of the most popular performers of all time. Aside from that, he was the head booker for Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW for many years. As the booker, Rhodes oversaw great success for the company.

Unfortunately, Rhodes was also at the helm for some bad financial times. Rhodes certainly had some great booking ideas but there's no denying the favoritism he displayed. Rhodes was always partial to The Four Horsemen, a group he felt he helped make famous. Additionally, Rhodes showed abuse of power when he favorably booked his son Dustin during his early years in the business.

5 Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman

WWE has spent the better part of the last 10 years trying to convince the wrestling universe that Brock Lesnar is a massive draw. The truth is, he's slightly above average and nowhere near the draw that Hulk Hogan or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin were. Yet, for some unexplainable reason, Vince McMahon has allowed Brock Lesnar to yield great influence backstage, particularly in terms of when he does or doesn't work.

RELATED: Every Version Of Brock Lesnar, Ranked From Worst To Best

For years, Brock Lesnar loomed over the entire WWE Championship scene. At any given moment, the WWE or Universal Championship could be yanked away from a full-time performer and put on Brock Lesnar, only to be seen sporadically from that point forward. It was a bad look for the top wrestling promotion on the planet. Hopefully, those days are gone but fans can't be too surprised if Lesnar pops back up eventually to hijack WWE's top prize.

4 John Cena

john-cena-stf-alex-riley

It's hard to look back throughout the years and find a tippy-top performer that didn't have some sort of controversy surrounding them. John Cena is no exception. "Super Cena," as he's affectionately referred to by the Internet Wrestling Community, has accomplished absolutely everything there is to accomplish in the business, but he's had to step on a few people to do it.

There's no telling what the career trajectory for The Nexus would've looked like had Cena not vetoed a big win for the group at SummerSlam 2010. Wade Barrett's character in particular seemed to suffer after the loss. Cena also flexed his political muscle against Alex Riley which is one of the reasons for Riley's departure from WWE. Saying Cena had a golden shovel is probably a stretch, but he certainly used his power when he felt necessary.

3 Triple H

booker-t-triple-h-face-to-face

Triple H has caught a lot of flack from fans over the years because of how he ended up coming into his power. Sure, Triple H just so happened to marry into the most powerful wrestling family imaginable, but what he's been able to contribute since then is nothing less than impressive. Still, it's hard for many fans to ignore just how political Triple H was in his prime.

Perhaps Triple H's most egregious abuse of influence came at WrestleMania XIX. That night, Booker T was supposed to overcome all his naysayers and win the World Heavyweight Championship. After Triple H was done politicking though, Booker T would take a Pedigree and lose the match. That moment has stuck in the craw of many wrestling fans for years.

2 Shawn Michaels

shawn-michaels-hitting-vader

Shawn Michaels essentially lived two pro wrestling lives. The first half of Michaels' career was a rigorous climb to the top of a notoriously brutal business. After reaching the top, Michaels became arguably the second biggest politician in WWE history in the interest of self-preservation.

Michaels abused his backstage power on several occasions and affected a few careers as a result. Perhaps no career was derailed more by Michaels than Vader's. Before running into Michaels, Vader was an unstoppable monster who was primed for a WWE Championship run. After upsetting Michaels one time, Vader saw his career essentially evaporate. Luckily, the second half of Michaels' career was a journey of redemption where he righted many of his wrongs.

1 Hollywood Hogan

hollywood-hogan-air-guitar

Andre The Giant might have been the first global attraction in pro wrestling, but there's no denying that the sport's first megastar was Hulk Hogan. During the 80s, Hogan reigned supreme as WWE Champion for a combined five years, four of which came during his first reign. That kind of success would go to anyone's head. Naturally, Hogan became very protective of that spot.

When Hogan jumped ship to WCW in the 90s, he had creative control written into his contract which made him essentially his own booker. At Bash At The Beach 2000, Hogan's creative control seemingly came to a head with Vince Russo's booking decisions. The clash led to a messy incident that only further proved that wrestlers shouldn't have the final say in their booking.

NEXT: 5 WWE Wrestlers Who Benefited From Backstage Politics (& 5 Who Were Ruined By It)