"Who did I forget to put over? Brother!" The Immortal Hulk Hogan recently tweeted. Naturally, this sent a flood of responses to The Hulkster's Twitter account, with fans naming Ric Flair, Randy Savage and Curt Hennig among others. Hogan was known to have backstage pull with Vince McMahon as well as creative control over his character. This led to Hogan running wild over whoever he wanted, while limiting only a select few to pin him. Still, Hogan isn't the only wrestler to use their star power to control who they can lose to and when. Other superstars have refused to do the job just as Hogan had done before them.
Whether they thought the timing was wrong, because of their immense egos or simply because they didn't like the opponent they were supposed to lose to, there have been many other situations in WWE where superstars refused to put someone over.
However, there are not only occurrences where the WWE superstars refuse to lose, some superstars don't even want to be in particular matches. Wrestlers that are unhappy with the company or their opponent can lead to superstars dreading certain matches or refusing to wrestle in them altogether. In some cases, a wrestler's unwillingness to work a match resulted in serious consequences, from superstars leaving the company, to feuds never happening. In this article, we take a look at some of these wrestlers who didn't want to work in a match, as well as the wrestlers who flat out refused to take the pin. Here, we present to you 10 times WWE wrestlers refused to lose, and 10 matches they just didn't want to be in.
20 Refused To Lose: Hulk Hogan To Shawn Michaels - SummerSlam 2005
“Whatcha gonna do when Hulk Hogan’s creative control runs wild on you?” Well, apparently the answer was to completely oversell Hogan’s offense, and that's what Shawn Michaels did. Their feud started when The Heartbreak Kid stunned fans by delivering Sweet Chin Music to The Hulkster during their celebration after a tag team win. This kicked off their feud which was to have Hogan and Michaels win a match apiece.
However, Hogan wanted to win both matches, and with Hogan having control over his character, WWE’s hands were tied. Michaels didn’t want to be heel and didn’t want to lose both matches, but Hulk wouldn’t budge. The dream match occurred at SummerSlam, but Shawn Michaels made an absolute mockery of it. What resulted was HBK bouncing all over the ring, ridiculously spinning out of control following the big boot, and Hogan picking up the only win of their brief feud.
19 Didn’t Want: Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena - WrestleMania 23
The irony of Shawn Michaels getting upset over backstage politics isn’t lost on wrestling fans. A younger Shawn Michaels was notorious for his backstage politicking, and this carried over into the latter years of HBK as well.
During the match-up between Shawn Michaels and John Cena at WrestleMania 23, Michaels can be heard saying he’s “got a job to do” and refused to shake Cena’s hand after the match in which Michaels tapped clean. Originally, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. didn’t think much of Cena, and Shawn Michaels was still as good as ever in the ring. Michaels felt he didn’t deserve to lose and went into the match with a sour attitude. Though the match went well, the fact that Cena didn’t sell Michaels’ attack on his leg didn’t help endear Cena to Mr. WrestleMania either.
18 Refused To Lose: Bret Hart To Shawn Michaels - Survivor Series '97
Before the Attitude Era, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were the two biggest stars in WWE. Not only did this lead to a professional rivalry between the two, it also led to both of them taking personal shots at each other in their promos, fueling real-life animosity. Despite the behind the scenes friction between HBK and The Hitman, both were tremendous athletes and worked great in the ring together. However, when Hart was about to leave for WCW, he flat out refused to drop the title to Shawn at Survivor Series.
The Hitman has gone on record as saying he would've lost to Shawn, had HBK been willing to do the same for him. He particularly didn’t want to lose to Shawn in front of the Montreal crowd where Hart was the home country hero. Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels disagreed which led to “The Montreal Screwjob.”
17 Didn’t Want: The Rock vs. Shawn Michaels (Never Happened)
Wrestling fans have been treated to dream matches such as Shawn Michaels versus Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels versus Ric Flair. However, fans were denied seeing The Heartbreak Kid go one on one with The Great One. The timing was just never perfect for these two to meet in the ring. Shawn was retired when The Rock became a main-eventer, and when Shawn returned from retirement, The Rock was already in Hollywood.
Still, there were some brief moments when The Rock and HBK could've faced off for a match, but The Rock has said in the past that he wasn’t interested. Shawn wasn’t always the friendliest towards The Rock’s family in the past, and Rocky never forgot that. According to Bret Hart, The Rock was also one of superstars that Shawn and The Kliq held down which certainly didn’t help pique The Rock’s interest in working with Shawn either.
16 Refused To Lose: John Cena To Wade Barrett - SummerSlam '10
While fans can argue that Cena going over Triple H and Shawn Michaels made sense, steamrolling through the entire Raw roster did not. Cena’s dominance turned the fans against him, and a prime example of Super Cena burying up-and-coming talent occurred during his feud with Wade Barrett and The Nexus.
Wade Barrett was the first winner of NXT, back when it was a competition, and many thought Barrett could be a future star. Unfortunately, Cena had some bad news for Barrett. At SummerSlam in 2010, against the advice of Chris Jericho and Edge, Cena would be the sole survivor of a seven-man elimination match, going over Wade Barrett and The Nexus, despite the group being red hot. Later at TLC, Cena would defeat Wade Barrett and literally buried him under 23 chairs. Cena simply wouldn't give Barrett a break and where is Barrett now?
15 Didn’t Want: Gail Kim In The Women’s Battle Royal - RAW, 2011
One of the greatest women’s wrestlers ever, Gail Kim won the WWE Women’s Championship in her WWE debut match on Raw in 2003. Unfortunately, her success in the WWE ended there. After ending her only title reign a month later, Kim would be surprisingly released in 2004. Kim then spent several years in TNA Wrestling before returning to WWE in 2008. However, Kim said she was very unhappy back in WWE which led to her battle royal incident.
After being told to get eliminated within the first minute of a women’s battle royal, a disgruntled Gail Kim decided to just eliminate herself which was caught on cameras. At that time Kim was frustrated with the treatment of the “Divas” Division, and the random battle royal in which she was not even allotted more than a minute to be a part of obviously didn’t make Kim feel any better. Thus, Kim self-eliminated herself in protest and requested her release shortly after.
14 Refused To Lose: Steve Austin To Brock Lesnar - RAW, 2002
In 2002, Stone Cold Steve Austin “took his ball and went home” when he walked out on WWE due to creative differences with Vince McMahon and the creative team. Brock Lesnar was booked to defeat Stone Cold on Raw in a match with no buildup, but Austin hated that idea. Austin felt that he was still a big star and giving a younger star like Lesnar a huge win over him deserved a bigger stage.
Austin's creative frustrations as well as his refusals to lose to Hulk Hogan and Brock Lesnar (at least at that time and that moment) ultimately led to Stone Cold walking out of the company once again. With Austin gone, The Rock stepped up, defeated Hogan and put over The Beast for the WWE Title at SummerSlam.
13 Didn’t Want: CM Punk vs. Triple H - WrestleMania XXX
The “Summer of Punk” captivated the WWE Universe after CM Punk’s “pipebomb” promo in 2011. This led to Punk re-signing with WWE behind the scenes and his WWE Title win. Unfortunately, short-sighted booking derailed “The Second City Saint” through a title loss to Alberto Del Rio and an incomprehensible loss to Triple H.
Although Punk was still very over, The Summer of Punk was all but sabotaged by Triple H’s nonsensical win at Night Of Champions. Punk was scheduled to get his win back at WrestleMania XXX, but Punk didn’t want the match. He resented Triple H’s previous win and felt he deserved better than to be in “one of the main events" of WrestleMania. Punk would walk out of WWE, similar to Steve Austin, effectively ending his wrestling career.
12 Refused To Lose: Hulk Hogan To Bret Hart - SummerSlam '93
Shawn Michaels. Macho Man Randy Savage. Randy Orton. These are just a few of the major names that Hulk Hogan refused to lose to, and Bret Hart can be added to the list as well. After The Hitman dropped the title to Yokozuna, at WrestleMania 9, Hogan was booked for an impromptu title match immediately following. Of course, Hogan would win the title off of Yoko within 30 seconds.
Despite one of the worst finishes to a WrestleMania ever, Hogan apparently had agreed to drop the title back to Hart at SummerSlam 93, except when the time came, Hogan refused to do the deed. Hogan still believed he was a bigger draw than Hart and instead of giving the “New Generation” a much needed rub, Hogan dropped the title back to Yokozuna and left for acting, then WCW.
11 Didn’t Want: John Morrison, Trish Stratus & Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler & LayCool
Any match that involved Snooki should raise some red flags, however, Nicole “Snooki” Pollizzi wasn’t the problem in this case. It was John Morrison and Melina. Melina was apparently upset that this match was taking a spot away from the active members of the roster, mostly herself, and her attitude clearly influenced JoMo's reaction as well.
Melina has a history of causing backstage drama, so much so that even the normally reserved Lita had to tell her off. However, Melina’s drama over this match attached itself to Morrison who gave Trish Stratus the cold shoulder after they won. Whether Morrison was standing behind Melina or because he was actually upset with this match occurring isn’t known. However, he spent the remainder of his time in WWE jobbing before eventually being released.
10 Refused To Lose: Triple H's Reign Over RAW
In 2003, during the peak of WWE’s first Brand Extension, Triple H was the King of Kings on Raw and was literally handed the WWE's World Heavyweight Title. Other superstars like Chris Jericho, Kane and Booker T all tried to play the game, but that attempt ended poorly for all of them.
Triple H flattened the competition on Raw and made superstars look foolish in doing so. Rob Van Dam was red hot but was completely squashed by The Cerebral Assassin. Kane’s loss coupled with the Katie Vick angle buried Kane’s World Title credibility. Last but not least, Booker T’s inexplicable loss to Triple H at WrestleMania XIX basically squashed the last truly over babyface superstar on the rise on the Raw brand.
9 Didn’t Want: Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar - WrestleMania 32
Facing Brock Lesnar is normally reserved for a select few superstars, and Dean Ambrose got the honor to face The Beast at WrestleMania 32. Unfortunately, The Lunatic Fringe didn’t feel honored by the match whatsoever.
According to Ambrose, Brock was uncooperative planning out the match and had no input for Ambrose at all. He didn’t care for any of Dean’s ideas and offered none in return. Ambrose knew the match would stink but had hoped they could work something out in the ring even without any sort of plan. Despite his best efforts, the match was a complete dud, and Ambrose blamed Lesnar's laziness and his lack of creativity going into it. Needless to say, Ambrose has no desire to work with The Beast in the near future.
8 Refused To Lose: Rey Mysterio To Dolph Ziggler - SummerSlam '09
When wrestling fans think of big egos, Rey Mysterio isn’t a name that comes up too often. However, this was a rare case of Mysterio taking a stand and refusing to lose to, of all people, Dolph Ziggler back in 2009.
The refusal was nothing against Ziggler himself. Rey was simply promised a long reign and thought that dropping the Intercontinental Title, having just regained it a month earlier, not only hurt his credibility but the title’s as well. Rey’s persistence paid off, and he retained against The Show-off in back to back pay per views. Eventually, Rey lost the title to John Morrison right after his feud with Ziggler, upon violating the WWE Wellness Policy. Had Rey not been suspended he may have held the title longer, but at least he added a little prestige to what was a hot potato I.C. Title at the time.
7 Didn’t Want: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar - WrestleMania XX
Who’s next for Bill Goldberg? At WrestleMania XX, Brock Lesnar was next! Sadly, what was billed as a dream match between to mega stars quickly turned into a giant debacle. The match itself was terrible, the fans booed both superstars, and both Goldberg and Lesnar left the company immediately afterwards.
Neither Da Man nor The Beast had a problem with each other. It was simply the fact that both were miserable at this point in their WWE careers. Both wanted out and didn’t care whatsoever about this “dream match.” Both competitors would wrestle again under far better circumstances at WrestleMania 33, this time with Lesnar going over Goldberg.
6 Refused To Lose: Chyna To Lita - 2002
Chyna was a trailblazer for women’s wrestling and became the first and only female to win the WWE Intercontinental Title. Chyna dominated the WWE Women’s Division and even produced some hard hitting matches against Chris Jericho, Jeff Jarrett and Triple H. After her success against the best men of the roster, Chyna felt moving to the Women’s Division was a step down.
To convince her, Chyna was instantly given the Women’s Title in a squash match against Ivory but apparently refused to drop the title to Lita a month later. Oddly enough, this would be Chyna’s last appearance in WWE as she would take time off for "personal reasons." Lita claimed she was supposed to have more matches with Chyna, but The Ninth Wonder of the World would not return to the company for these future matches that may have seen her eventually drop the title.
5 Didn’t Want: Jeff Jarrett vs. Chyna - No Mercy, 1999
Chyna broke several barriers when she defeated Jeff Jarrett to become the first and only woman to win the Intercontinental Title, but Double J wasn’t as thrilled about the history making moment as others were. Jarrett was already unhappy with WWE after the way they treated Bret Hart and following Owen Hart’s passing. Jarrett was on his way to WCW, and wrestling women on his way out the door was not the send-off he wanted.
Despite not be contractually obligated, Jarrett did the job anyway for a hefty fee (depending on who you ask). He has recently said that his match with Chyna was a milestone, but at the time with all the personal feelings Jarrett held against WWE, it’s not hard to believe Jarrett wasn't overjoyed about his last match in WWE.
4 Refused To Lose: Neville To Enzo - RAW, 2017
The WWE Cruiserweight Division is currently without its king. Surely, there’s a number of reasons why the “King of the Cruiserweights” isn’t in WWE any longer, but Neville losing to Enzo Amore is one likely explanation. Neville was a former NXT Champion and a two-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion, but he wanted more than to be designated solely to 205 Live. Neville had been unhappy with his time in WWE and dropping the title to Enzo apparently was the final straw.
Enzo wasn’t well-liked to begin with, and Neville, upon hearing he would lose again on Raw to the “Realest Guy in the Room,” chose to walk out of the company instead. Neville would not be seen in WWE again and has moved on from the company entirely.
3 Didn’t Want: Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss
Back in their days in NXT and since her draft to Raw, Alexa Bliss has been a huge onscreen rival to Sasha Banks. However, The Goddess and The Boss have been archenemies seemingly behind the scenes as well. This has led to a couple of legitimate shots in interviews from The Boss.
During their matches on NXT and a few instances on the main roster as well, Sasha can be seen dishing out some stiff shots to Alexa. Sasha hasn’t softened up either, continuing her personal attacks and throwing some serious haymakers. Although both have remained professional in the ring, both harbor animosity for each other which must make working together extremely awkward.
2 Refused To Lose: The Fabulous Moolah to Anyone
According to WWE, Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah was a pioneer for women's wrestling and “challenged the gender norms." The company was even going to hold “The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal" at WrestleMania 34 in her honor. However, as more fans learned about Moolah's past, outrage led to her name being removed from the battle royal.
Apparently, Moolah not only refused to put others over, she deliberately trained women to wrestle so badly that none of them could be seen as legitimate contenders to beat her. Even worse was the Wendi Richter incident in which a masked wrestler known as The Spider got an unscripted pin on Richter, winning the WWE Women’s Title from her. The Spider was revealed to be The Fabulous Moolah in disguise, which led to a furious Richter leaving WWE immediately following that match. Richter never wrestled another match in WWE, nor did she ever again speak to Moolah who had trained her.
1 Didn’t Want: Triple H vs. Scott Steiner - Royal Rumble, No Way Out '03
It’s not surprising that Triple H and Scott Steiner didn't get along when they worked together in WWE, but then again, Big Poppa Pump doesn’t get along with a lot of people. However, when Steiner came to Raw in 2002, he immediately feuded with The Game leading to one of the worst feuds ever.
Not only did the build-up for their rivalry involve posing, push-up and arm wrestling contests, the matches themselves were worse. However, another reason altogether that these two superstars didn’t care for their matches at Royal Rumble and No Way Out is because both superstars were banged up with injuries. Both wrestlers were slow, limited in the ring and hurting which resulted in poor matches. Injuries and a poor build along with Steiner having a very low opinion of Triple H led to the two superstars wishing they could take their matches back.