In the world of professional wrestling, most performers tend to have huge egos which get in the way of creative direction. This was especially an issue from the 80s until the mid 2000s, as so many wrestlers used their star power to dictate the outcome of matches and storylines. And while it is much more common for wrestlers to refuse losing a match, there are many who have surprisingly done the exact opposite by insisting on allowing their opponent to go over.

It is even more rare for a wrestler to refuse winning a championship title since that usually indicates a push within the company - leading often to a higher position on the ladder. We have all the stories about wrestlers playing backstage politics to their advantage, and backstabbing some of their close friends to determine the outcome of certain booking decisions. Many have gone as far as to behave like true divas - and that is one of the many reasons as to why Vince McMahon has been pushing a cultural change in the WWE for the past decade.

And while wrestlers may refuse to win a match, it doesn't guarantee that management will be willing to listen - unless they happen to be convincing with their reasoning. Today's list features many of the top stars from the past as well as modern days, and will surely surprise plenty of our readers. Here are 10 times wrestlers refused to win a match and 10 times they turned down a title.

20 Match: Shawn Michaels Turned Down The Chance To Defeat Chris Jericho

With Shawn Michaels nearing the end of his career, plenty of fans were hoping to see him come out victorious at No Mercy in 2008. He headlined the main event to take on Chris Jericho in a Ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship - and while reports suggest that Michaels was offered the opportunity to claim the title - he once again declined the chance as he refused to defeat Jericho. Since he had already defeated Jericho in their first major bout at WrestleMania XIX, Shawn Michaels wanted to return the favor while on his way out from the WWE.

19 Title: The Undertaker Didn't Want The WWE Championship In 2004

With the SmackDown roster getting thin in 2004, WWE didn't exactly have many options for the title. The newly additions of Booker T and RVD were expected to flourish as main eventers on the brand, but for whatever reason, they weren't inserted into the main event picture.

With Brock Lesnar leaving the company, Kurt Angle on the sidelines and Eddie Guerrero not wanting to be the champion any longer - WWE had to think outside the box when they picked JBL.

But their original pick was for The Undertaker to carry the championship, although he also declined at the time since he had only recently dropped the biker gimmick.

18 Match: JBL Refuses To Defeat Chavo Guerrero On The Eddie Tribute Show

WWE aired two tribute shows to Eddie Guerrero on Raw and SmackDown in which Superstars honored his memory with some memorable bouts. One of them featured a match that exceeded expectations as JBL took on Chavo Guerrero - who had only just dropped his Kerwin White character. While management initially had JBL picking up the victory, he refused to do so and convinced them to allow Chavo to win. It was certainly a great way to honor the late Eddie Guerrero, especially since Chavo had been given the option to take the night off, but insisted on performing that night.

17 Title: RVD Rejects Another Intercontinental Title Reign In 2003

In 2003, RVD had won the WWE Intercontinental Title five times already but he was far from happy in the company. Rumors claimed that he was even considering leaving the WWE as he continued delaying a contract renewal for some time. And when he was offered the chance to win the Intercontinental Title again in 2003, he passed on the opportunity since he had already done it so many times.

Like so many fans at the time, he was surely hoping to get a real chance in the main event scene although that wouldn't come until three years later when he defeated John Cena for the WWE Title.

16 Match: CM Punk Refuses To Beat Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns was rising through the ranks just as CM Punk was gearing towards his exit from the company. During an episode of Old School Raw, the two stars clashed against each other in a match which Reigns won.

Punk was originally set to win, but after having been told to make Roman look as strong as possible during the match, he suggested for Roman to win since it would do him more good - especially since Punk didn't exactly need it at the time.

And that's exactly what went on as the finish of the match was changed once Punk insisted on having Roman go over.

15 Title: The Rock Declines A WWE Title Run In 2005

Before settling on John Cena as the pick to win the title off JBL at WrestleMania 21, WWE had many names in mind to unseat JBL, including Brock Lesnar and The Rock. The former wasn't interested in a return to the company following a year of tension, while The Rock also declined another title reign - although it was reported that he had suggested the possibility of having a dream match against Sting or Randy Savage. That would have surely been much better than a bout against JBL, but unfortunately, the company didn't exactly care much for The Rock's suggestions at the time.

14 Match: Kane Said No To A Win Against The Undertaker At WrestleMania XX

Kane and The Undertaker have had several rivalries over the years, but their biggest match remains the one at WrestleMania XX. At the time, WWE was just starting to hype up Taker's undefeated streak while Kane was on the receiving end of the biggest push of his career since his first year in the company, so it was certainly an intriguing matchup at the time.

It's been previously revealed that Taker wanted Kane to pick up the win since he had beaten him numerous times over the years - but Kane declined to do so. A few years later, Taker was once again willing to have his streak ended by Kane, who would once again reject the offer out of respect.

13 Title: Stacy Keibler Had No Interest In Holding The Women's Title

As one of the most over Superstars in the women's division, you would think that Stacy Keibler would have had a run with the title at some point. Indeed the company did want to have her as champion, but Keibler wasn't particularly interested in the wrestling aspect of the industry.

She even declined a huge spot against Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 21 in which she had been booked to win.

It wasn't the first time that she turned down the company either, as Keibler would end up leaving the WWE just a year after and has yet to return since then.

12 Match: Jerry Lynn Declined Getting A Victory Over RVD

When speaking about the original ECW, we cannot help but think about the great rivalry between RVD and Jerry Lynn, who put on many classic matches. Those matches have been highly praised for influencing the industry in various ways, although it was RVD who often came out on top. It wasn't surprising since he was ECW's most over star - and while he didn't mind losing to Lynn - the latter rejected the chance to do so at Hardcore Heaven in 1999. RVD had won their previous match up at Living Dangerously just two months prior to the event, but Lynn didn't mind being on the losing side again.

11 Title: Eddie Guerrero Didn't Care For Another WWE Title Reign In 2005

Fans were delighted to see Eddie Guerrero capture his first and only WWE title in 2004 when he stunningly defeated Brock Lesnar. But he couldn't exactly handle the stress and pressure that came with being a world champion, which is why Guerrero asked the company to take the title off him.

A year later, Guerrero was still as over as ever even after he turned heel - and the company approached him with the possibility of a title reign. But it appears that Guerrero didn't want any part of the title at that time either, as he declined the chance to potentially go over Batista.

10 Match: Randy Orton Rejected Ending The Undertaker's Streak

In 2004, Randy Orton was considered to be the future of the WWE until he went through a tough period after his World Heavyweight Championship run. Some thought that he failed as a face during his stint as a champion, and Orton would spend the following months in no man's land. But a feud with The Undertaker brought the best out of him once again, as they clashed at WrestleMania 21.

It was the first Taker feud that was solely based on the undefeated streak with Orton making it his mission as The Legend Killer.

According to reports, Taker pitched the idea of Orton winning to management as well as his opponent, but Randy declined for obvious reasons.

9 Title: Scott Hall Rejects An NWA Championship Reign

Since his release from the WWE in 2002, Scott Hall had mainly competed for TNA - making numerous appearances over the years. As the company was still brand new and in need of huge names to carry the brand, Hall was offered the chance to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship - which he declined.

Considering everything that he ended up going through at the time, it was probably the best decision for both sides as that would have likely ended up being bad PR for the newly born company. However, it would have given him the chance to have finally won a World Title after having failed to do so in WWE.

8 Match: Dolph Ziggler Rejects WWE's Plan To Beat Rey Mysterio

In 2009, Rey Mysterio retained the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions. This entry is an interesting one since Mysterio refused to lose the match, as he worried about the title losing its credibility since he hadn't been holding it for too long. Believing that a longer reign may bring back prestige to the belt, Mysterio suggested to management the possibility of holding on to the title for a few more months.

While Ziggler was surely excited about initially being booked to win, he also understood Mysterio's position and sided with him - as he had to wait until September of that year to finally capture the title.

7 Title: Bret Hart Passes On The WWE Intercontinental Title

The rivalry of Bret Hart and Shawn Michael has been well-documented by this point as they had severe heat for many years that eventually led to Montreal. Both Superstars had refused to lose against each other with Michaels insisting on not dropping the WWE title to Hart.

In an effort to demote Hart from the main event scene and a young Rocky Maivia from the mid-card, Shawn Michaels and Triple H pitched for Bret to beat Maivia for the IC Title.

Realizing it would only demote him, and bury a young Rocky, Hart refused to beat the youngster.

Realizing that McMahon was simply attempting to deflect the issue at hand - while believing that he had sided with Michaels - Hart rejected another reign with the belt.

6 Match: AJ Styles Turns Down Victory Against Chris Jericho

Some fans weren't too pleased about the finish of the highly anticipated bout between Chris Jericho and AJ Styles at WrestleMania, as the former surprisingly picked up the victory. Fans thought that it was pointless for an established veteran to go over the WWE's newest signing - who was in desperate need of establishing himself as a legitimate force. While fans may have had complaints regarding the winner, AJ Styles didn't mind losing to Jericho at all.

Not only did he hold him in high regards, but the two had become close ever since they began working a program. Jericho was also willing to speak to management about the finish - but AJ assured him that he had no problem with the outcome.

5 Title: Shawn Michaels Declines World Heavyweight Title In 2006

Upon his return to the WWE in 2002, fans expected Shawn Michaels to have numerous World title reigns considering his legacy. But he had been a changed person was no longer interested in the drama that accompanied being the champion, nor did he want to deal with the pressure. He was apart of the main event scene for many years - but ended up losing all of his title shots.

In 2006, he had been booked to move to SmackDown to win the vacant World Heavyweight Championship through a Battle Royal.

But since he turned down that offer, it ended up going to Kurt Angle who was more than happy to take his spot.

4 Match: Brock Puts Goldberg Over At Survivor Series

When Goldberg returned to WWE in 2016 it was initially supposed to be a one-off. With WWE promoting their video game 2K17 featuring Goldberg, the initial plan was for Brock Lesnar to get his win back from Goldberg dating back to WrestleMania XX. But Lesnar saw money in a feud with Goldberg and instead proposed for Goldberg to beat him in a quick squash, provided that Lesnar would get his win back at WrestleMania and get a title reign out of the ordeal. While fans might not like how this whole Brock Lesnar scenario has played out, you can't deny that as a businessman looking out for his best interests, Brock was right on the money.

3 Title: Kurt Angle's Reign As ECW Champion Never Happens

There was no official plan in place for Kurt Angle to be WWE's ECW champion in 2006, but Angle was moved to the brand in order to be the face of it and it was only a matter of time before he defeated The Big Show, who was holding the brand's championship at the time.

In the summer of 2006, Angle left WWE to the surprise of many, as he and the company disagreed on Angle's status and how he would be used going forward.

Angle instead went to TNA, where he continued to wrestle full time for another decade but you have to wonder if him sticking around in WWE could've saved the ECW revival.

2 Match: Warrior Refuses To Beat Macho Man At SummerSlam '92

After a year away from the company, The Ultimate Warrior returned to WWE and was immediately pushed back into the main event scene following a feud with Papa Shango. The stage was set for a Warrior vs Randy Savage title match at SummerSlam 1992 with the idea being pitched that Warrior would accept help from Ric Flair to defeat Randy Savage and turn heel for the first time in his career.

While a victory would've meant another title reign, Warrior rejected the idea, thinking that being a heel would ruin the good will he had built over the years by being a babyface and one of WWE's top merchandise sellers.

1 Title: Piper Passes On Possible Title Reign

Hulk Hogan has said on many occasions that had Piper showed Vince he was willing to job to Hogan at least once, Vince would've rewarded Piper with a title reign. Piper certainly was deserving, as he was the WWE's top heel for several years and would've been a logical choice to dethrone Hogan during his multi-year title reign.

Piper never felt that the belt was a priority and felt his career was already complete without winning the title, so he felt someone else should get that chance, while he stuck to his ways and avoided taking the clean defeat to Hulk Hogan for several years, much to the chagrin of Vince.