Over the course of wrestling, we’ve seen plenty of bad storylines take place. Things you are amazed were ever conceived, let alone put on air. Quite often, you have to wonder what was going through the minds of wrestlers when they agreed to it. Of course, a few wrestlers have suggested some pretty stupid stuff on their own which shows they may not be the best judge of what can work or not. Most just agree to it as it’s the job and suck it up for a decent paycheck and to try and make it work. It takes a major star to put their foot down and refuse a storyline given how easily they can be replaced. Indeed, a few use the defense of “I don’t do it, someone else will” and do their best with it.

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But surprisingly, every now and then, a wrestler does decide something is too wild go along with. Often, it’s out of taste, finding it against what they want and even their beliefs. Other times, they can worry about the backlash from such a move and are reluctant. And other times, they’re just stubborn and driven by their own ego. Yet it’s remarkable to see that some wrestlers can actually say no to the bosses and be listened to. It’s rare but it does happen and in some cases, we can be grateful they said no to some of these. Here are 15 wrestlers who turned a storyline down and show even they have limits on what they’ll go through with.

15 Randy Orton Breaking the Streak

This is very interesting given how Randy Orton was slammed a lot on his ego and backstage attitude. Indeed, a telling bit on one of his DVD was Triple H talking of Orton always whining and using his youth as a defense with Hunter snapping “how old will you be before that’s your excuse?” In 2005, following a bad face turn, Orton was trying to get back into contention and being set into a feud with The Undertaker. It was building up to WrestleMania with the idea that Orton would be the first man to beat the Taker on the grand stage.

Creative thought this would restore Orton to his “Legend Killer” status and give him a new push. But surprisingly, Orton turned it down. He basically felt he just wasn’t worthy to get that first win and knew the heat on him for it could easily backfire. Orton got some wins over Take later but not the 'Mania one and thus the Streak continued, showing Orton was starting to learn to balance his ego a bit.

14 Ric Flair Fathering Stacy's Baby

This is an infamous example and a showcase of why Vince Russo is so hated. A bright spot of late WCW was the arrival of Stacy Keibler as Miss Hancock. With her stunning 42-inch legs and blonde hair, she was an easy standout and soon put into a relationship (on and off screen) with David Flair. It was to culminate in a wedding where Stacy revealed she was pregnant but David wasn’t the father. Russo’s idea was to have Ric Flair be revealed as the father, a really wild turn to say the least. Ric, naturally, put his foot down, feeling the idea of sleeping with his son’s girlfriend was too much even for him to go through.

Supposedly, Russo was going to reveal HE was the father but thankfully, was fired from WCW before that and the whole thing dropped. Just shows even Slick Ric has his limits when it comes to being shown as a womanizer.

13 Mickie James Getting Amnesia

One can’t blame Mickie James for leaving WWE after their horrible “Piggy James” storyline. In TNA, she shone quite well with her great work, winning the Knockouts title a few times and a stellar heel. In 2015, James was making a return with the storyline of her being stalked by James Storm. This included the now infamous bit of James pushed in front of a train and somehow surviving. A rumor is that the idea would be James getting partial amnesia from the accident and somehow leave husband Magnus to be with Storm.

But James was not a fan of that nor of how TNA wasn’t paying her on time. She thus left, seemingly for retirement. Instead, she made a return to WWE and soon boosted back to the big time. That she would choose a return to the company over TNA probably says it all in regards to how bungled the latter promotion can be.

12 Punk Refusing WrestleMania Match With Triple H

It’s well known how CM Punk had a very tense relationship with WWE. After all, he gave a massive “pipe bomb” tearing into the company’s many mistakes yet got a year-long reign as champion. Hugely popular, Punk was a rebel in many ways who was proud of doing things his own way, no matter what. He was open on disliking the company direction and that came up in early 2014 as he made major noise on hating how the company was bungling the push for Daniel Bryan.

WWE tried to placate him with the idea that at WrestleMania, Punk would face Triple H in a major battle. One would think that would be enough but instead Punk hated it. He made it clear he knew he wasn't getting the real main event, yet again, which had been his ultimate goal. The fact Kane was to play a part as a “setup” opponent didn’t win him over either. Thus, Punk just walked out on the company and that seemed to drive them to give Bryan his Mania title win.

11 Kristal as Edge’s Secret Girlfriend

Kristal had some ups and downs in WWE. She looked great and got a decent push including the storyline of her marrying SmackDown GM Teddy Long in 2007. The plot was to have Long having a “heart attack” and then Kristal taking on the role and turning heel. This would include her soon shown as the mistress for Edge and the idea they caused the heart attack so Edge would dominate.

It had some promise but Kristal refused as she didn’t like the idea of her and Edge, nor how she would go from the big heel boss to just Edge’s girlfriend/flunky over a few weeks. This seemed to add to her bad backstage attitude and reports of her failing a wellness test. Regardless, she was released just a few weeks later and the entire storyline soon ditched.

10 Abyss vs Undertaker

If there’s a guy you’d think was perfect for WWE, it’s Abyss. With his impressive look, ability to take insane amounts of punishment and good ring skills, the man has been a big star for TNA. In late 2004, it seemed he was ready to jump ship to the point where TNA removed his name and photo from their website. There were plans for him to make a big entrance with the reported plan for him to debut at the Royal Rumble and cause The Undertaker to be eliminated. This would set up a major feud between them and frankly Undertaker vs Abyss just writes itself. But at the last minute, Abyss re-signed with TNA and surprised everyone by showing up at Final Resolution 2005 to attack Jeff Hardy. He’s defended it on wanting to be loyal to the company and has stuck with that but amazing how he turned down such a major feud.

9 Warrior Going Heel

The Ultimate Warrior and Vince McMahon always had a weird relationship with plenty of conflicts abounding. That was shown when Vince fired the Warrior for demanding more money in 1991 and pushed a long hiatus. He returned in 1992 and after a bad feud with Papa Shango, he was soon set against Randy Savage in a major SummerSlam ’92 match. The build had Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect playing both against each other, claiming to be in one’s corner or another and clearly enjoying the chaos.

The plan was for a shocking turn as the Warrior would accept Flair’s help to beat Savage for the title and try being a wild heel for a change. But just the week before the show, Warrior decided being a heel didn’t work out for him and thus refused to do it. So it was changed to a double-count out with Flair regaining the title a few weeks later only to drop it to Bret Hart shortly afterward. It could have been a big turn but Warrior refused.

8 Tully on a Horsemen Reunion

The Four Horsemen were the greatest heel stable of all time, taking Jim Crockett Promotions to heights of glory. In 1988, they were riding high but Tully Blanchard hated the low payments he was getting and jumped ship to WWE with Arn Anderson. The duo was to return in 1990 but Tully failed a drug test and then entered the life of a preacher. In 1993, WCW wanted to reform the Horsemen and thus reached out to Tully for a return, promising a return to greatness for the group. However, Tully refused with some saying WCW low-balled him with a pretty cheap offer. Others, however, say Tully just wasn’t able to trust WCW not to screw this up and had come to enjoy being mostly retired. WCW thus gave his spot to Paul Roma, showing Tully’s instincts were pretty dead on and thus this Horsemen reunion was not to be.

7 DDP Ending Goldberg's Streak

The Streak is usually identified with The Undertaker but Goldberg is also famous for his own. The last true superstar for WCW, Goldberg won over fans by crushing all in his path, reigning as US and then World Champion. Naturally, the big push was going to be who would break the streak and get the first win. It would end up being Kevin Nash which many feel was a bad move. However, another guy was being pushed as the one to potentially break this streak. At Halloween Havoc ’98, Goldberg defended the belt against Diamond Dallas Page in a major showdown. It got a good build and the plan for them to go through with it was serious. The idea was for DDP to get the win and break the winning streak to push him as the next big superstar.

But as much as he wanted the belt, DDP knew that he’d also be getting a lot of heat from being the one to beat Goldberg and that could backfire on him badly. Thus, he decided against it so Goldberg won (the match famously not shown when the PPV feed cut off) and kept the belt longer. One can argue Page was a better pick for the win but he thought it wasn’t the right time.

6 AJ Lee as a Mental Case

You really have to wonder about WWE creative sometimes. In her autobiography, AJ Lee has been open about suffering from bipolar disorder and other issues. She overcame them to be a huge star in WWE as a wrestler and her fun “geek gal” act that got folks going. In 2012, WWE proposed a storyline where Lee would be shown as a mental case, complete with talking about seeing dinosaurs and unicorns, talking to herself and even smacking herself on the head a few times.

To suggest this to a woman who had suffered real mental illness issues was absolutely amazing and no wonder Lee refused. She was kept off TV a few months because of this and even when she came back, it still got her ticked and no doubt played a part in her exit from the company. Lee seems much happier out of wrestling and you can’t blame her given what they wanted her to go through.

5 Batista Refuses To Be A Foster Child

He started off in wrestling late but Batista showed promise in OVW as the powerful Leviathan. His first WWE run was as Deacon Dave, the sidekick to D-Von during his time as a “heel preacher” character. It was after they split up that Batista got a better push as part of Evolution and his rise to stardom. However, creative wanted to put on a unique idea for him. They had the idea that Batista was a child conceived by force and raised in a foster home which gave him a hot temper and periods of rage. He would thus see Ric Flair as a surrogate father and explain their connection. However, Batista wasn’t happy with the idea, thinking it would be too much for fans to get behind and would hurt when he did his inevitable face turn. He may well have been correct on that, as he ended up rising up as a huge star and it was probably for the best to drop this.

4 Owen Hart Stealing Debra Away From Jeff Jarrett

In 1999, after some shoddy booking, Owen Hart was seeing a good rise to his career again. He and Jeff Jarrett had formed a good tag team, winning the titles and made a fantastic heel team. The two were getting along well, but Vince Russo still felt there needed a spark. He thus came up with the age-old idea of Owen feeling lustful toward Debra, their manager, and this would lead to a big conflict within the team. However, Owen refused to do that as he was proud of being known as a good family man and didn’t want his kids having schoolmates talk about watching their dad cheating on TV every week.

McMahon respected Owen enough to agree to let the whole thing drop. Owen would end up moving on after the team broke up to the Blue Blazer and his sad passing but it shows how for once, a Hart was able to convince Vince to say no.

3 Kevin Owens in League of Nations

Triple H has had to fight Vince a lot to keep pushing Kevin Owens. With his bulky shape and realistic style, Owens isn’t one of Vince’s favorites but Hunter can see his skills and pushes for him more. That gives Owens a bit more clout to make refusals. Such a case was when the League of Nations formed, a major heel group of foreign guys with Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and Wade Barrett. The original plan had Owens to represent Canada with early word that he was simply ill when they were meant to be introduced and thus missed it. But it now appears Owens turned it down as he didn’t like the entire idea, thinking he was better on his own than joining a big heel stable. Given how the League quickly fell apart, Owens made the right call and has had much better success on his own than being in this stable would have done for him.

2 Chris Jericho Not Returning To Face Finn Balor At TLC

Chris Jericho is mostly brought in nowadays when the WWE feels they have a storyline idea for him, or when Jericho feels there's someone on the roster he can work a meaningful program with. While many would consider a Finn Balor and Chris Jericho feud very intriguing, Y2J had his reasons for recently declining a return to face The Demon King.

Back when Balor was set to face Bray Wyatt at TLC last year, Wyatt unfortunately fell ill on that PPV weekend with the measles, as did several other stars. Jericho was initially called to fill in for Wyatt, but was busy touring with Fozzy, so WWE turned to AJ Styles to produce a memorable match with Balor, which they did.

1 Triple H and Stephanie on Steph’s Baby Daddy

It has to rank as one of the most infamous “could have been” stories ever. When Stephanie McMahon became pregnant for the first time, she thought she could just stay out of it. But Vince really wanted her to come on with the talk of how she’d cheated on Triple H and thus someone else was the father to her child. Incredibly, Vince actually wanted to reveal that Stephanie had a fling with himself and HE was the father. When Stephanie quite naturally refused, Vince instead suggested that Shane be the father and seriously wanted to push it.

Thankfully, Stephanie, Shane, Linda and Triple H all united to tell Vince there was no way they were going to allow this to happen so he finally dropped it. But that didn’t stop him from suggesting they do a live feed of Stephanie giving birth. The whole thing was discussed on the “McMahon” DVD to show how even his own family can’t believe how far Vince can go with his nutty ideas.

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