The biggest part of the job for a wrestler is making your opponents look good. All wrestlers benefit from their opponents making them appear better by proxy. Every wrestler to win a big match is helped by the fact that their opponent did the job of giving them such a great moment. It is part of being a professional in a scripted industry. You will not always be the one winning your match every show. Some wrestlers must make their career by constantly putting over others. However, there have been some occasions of wrestlers refusing to do business for their opponents.

We will look at some of these examples of a wrestler flat out saying no to putting over another wrestler. For various reasons, these performers felt it wasn’t in their best effort to lose to their opponents. Some believed it would hurt their careers, others didn’t believe it would be a credible outcome and a few flat out didn’t want to help their opponents. It is considered a cardinal sin to refuse to put someone over in wrestling, so all the reputations involved here were hurt for their decisions. These are seventeen real-life incidents of wrestlers refusing to put over someone else.

17 Hulk Hogan refused to put over Randy Orton

Hulk Hogan is the wrestler most known for refusing to put over other wrestlers. We could have made an entire list based on his instances alone, but only one was selected for variety purposes. The last example of Hogan refusing to do business in WWE came in 2006 during a feud with Randy Orton. WWE was trying to present Orton as a top main event star to build around and placed him in a big Summerslam match against the legend.

Original plans saw Hogan expected to lose to the younger star to help him get over for the future of the company. Hogan however refused to job and would only perform if he got the win. The old man was able to use his star power and business skills one final time to get out of jobbing. However, it resulted in WWE blacklisting him and no longer bringing him back for a yearly match since he always refused to lose.

16 Triple H refused to put over Rob Van Dam

The reign of terror during Triple H’s World Championship reigns between 2002-2004 saw him hurt the momentum of various wrestlers. One rising face that appeared bound for main event stardom was Rob Van Dam. Fans fell in love with him after he made the jump to WWE once ECW went out of business. Van Dam received the biggest ovations on the show most nights.

RVD’s first big singles PPV title shot came against Triple H in 2002. Everyone expected Van Dam to get the big win since Triple H didn’t need the title any longer. Rumor has it Triple H used his power as Stephanie McMahon’s love interest to get out of dropping the title multiple times, including against RVD. The career of Van Dam was never the same as his first major title reign came four years later.

15 Nia Jax refused to put over Sasha Banks

Nia Jax has lost to Sasha Banks on a few occasions, but one specific plan saw her grow frustrated with WWE management. The TLC PPV in 2017 saw Alexa Bliss feuding with Mickie James and Asuka making her debut against Emma as the main women’s matches. A third women’s match was to see Jax lose to Banks on the kick-off show. Nia was upset at these plans and made a call to her cousin The Rock.

Nia was told by Rock to stick to her principles and know her worth. News broke that Jax took time off out of frustration after being absent from Raw and the live event schedule for weeks. Nia didn’t want to lose to Banks in a third-rate match on the kick-off show. Jax seems to be better for her decision as she’s now getting a Raw Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania 34.

14 Ric Flair refused to put over Lex Luger

Ric Flair was known for doing the best job at putting over potential stars in big situations. The most memorable instance of this was Sting becoming a top WCW star after his matches with Flair. An injury to Sting in 1988 saw Flair use his standing in the company to go the other way. Flair refused to lose his NWA Championship match against new star Lex Luger on the biggest show of the year.

The former podcast of Flair saw him admit to this and explain his reasoning. Flair said it was promised that he would drop the title to Sting, but Sting’s injury changed plans. Luger wasn’t near the level of Sting at time and nowhere near Flair. It led to Flair winning the match and retaining the title. Flair would put Luger over many times in the future as he’d go on to become a top star.

13 Steve Austin refused to put over Brock Lesnar

A very memorable instance of a wrestler refusing to lose a match featured Steve Austin “taking his ball and going home.” WWE was starting to sour on Austin as his iconic run of being the biggest star of all-time was coming to an end. A peculiar decision saw Vince McMahon declare Austin would cleanly lose a match to Brock Lesnar on a random episode of Raw with no build.

Austin was livid realizing he would lose to a rookie with no payoff for it on television rather than building to a PPV. The decision was made by Austin to stay home and refuse to travel to the show. WWE blasted him on television and the two sides parted ways for about seven months. Austin was able to come back and have one more WrestleMania match with The Rock before retiring due to injury.

12 Neville refused to put over Enzo Amore

Neville did put over Enzo Amore for in a Cruiserweight Championship match for the title to change hands. The move was done for Enzo to become the new face of the Cruiserweight division and 205 Live. Vince McMahon believed the character of Enzo would save 205 Live and get fans interested in the product. That was going to be at the expense of Neville after an impressive heel run as Cruiserweight Champion.

WWE planned to have Neville lose a rematch to Enzo on an episode of Raw before pushing him lower down in the pecking order of the Cruiserweight division. Neville grew frustrated at the idea realizing his career was trending downwards and refused to lose the match. This culminated in Neville requesting a release before going home. We have yet to see Neville return to WWE television since this fateful night.

11 Shawn Michaels refused to put over Bret Hart and vice versa

The historic rivalry between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart saw them get extremely personal with each other on-screen. Hart would call out Michaels’ professionalism in his promos. Michaels once accused Hart of having an affair with Sunny. It all got way out of hand leading up to the Montreal Screwjob. The tension all started thanks to Michaels refusing to put over Hart.

An argument can be made that Hart losing to Michaels at WrestleMania XII made the career of Michaels. However, Michaels faked injury to avoid losing to losing to Hart at WrestleMania 13. This led to both men avoiding losing to each other through the year. Neither man wanting to take the loss at Survivor Series led to Vince McMahon having to choose sides with the Montreal Screwjob. Michaels remaining with WWE saw him win out as Hart suffered the ultimate humiliation.

10 Brock Lesnar refused to put over Dean Ambrose

The art of putting over someone doesn’t always mean losing a match. Some of the greatest instances of someone being put over has seen them impress the audience in a losing effort. This was meant to be the result for Dean Ambrose at WrestleMania 32. WWE was already putting together their plans for Ambrose to win his first WWE World Championship later in the year and wanted him to look strong against Lesnar.

However, Brock had no interest in working a competitive match against Ambrose. The belief of Lesnar was that Ambrose was not on his level as a top star. One of the reasons Lesnar agreed to lose to Goldberg in under two minutes later in the year was due to wanting to face another legend after his feuds with guys he viewed under his level. Ambrose flat out called Brock lazy for not wanting to have a good match on this night.

9 John Cena refused to put over Nexus

The career of John Cena will be remembered fondly when it ends due to the slew of classic matches. Cena helped wrestlers like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens and A.J. Styles get to the next level as main event stars. A feud with Cena is a standard to prove a wrestler can move to the top level. One incident of Cena hurting the careers of wrestlers saw his feud with Nexus give him one too many wins.

Nexus was a dominant heel group looking to take over the WWE. Cena led a team of past, present and future WWE stars against them in big team match at Summerslam 2010. Everyone expected Nexus to win as the ultimate moment getting put over as huge stars. Chris Jericho and Edge revealed on a podcast that Cena was adamant he should win the match despite arguments from them. Cena was the sole survivor and Nexus was a dead act by the end of the year.

8 Goldberg refused to put over any current WWE talent

Goldberg’s return in 2016-2017 completely redeemed his career after the abysmal WWE run in 2003-2004. Instead of remembering his time in WWE as being unable to bring over his success from WCW, he was able to retire as a legend as he heads into the Hall of Fame this year. Goldberg barely interacted with many of the new stars. Rusev and Kevin Owens got zero offense in on him during their physical battles.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed that Goldberg did not want to ‘sell’ for any of the current full-time stars. Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker were named as the two performers Goldberg would allow to deliver their moves to him. Therefore, the match with Owens saw KO get distracted by Chris Jericho to allow Goldberg to beat him in a few seconds. Goldberg refused to help any current stars and only wanted to work with other legends.

7 Booker T refused to put over Matt Morgan

Booker T gained a negative reputation during his time in TNA for not trying to help the younger talent. TNA signed Booker to a fat contract believing his name value would help them gain new viewers. However, it appeared that Booker was mailing it in with mediocre matches compared to his work in WWE and WCW. Booker has even confirmed this to an extent on his radio show.

A recent segment on his show featured him discussing the time he refused to put someone over. TNA management wanted him to lose to Matt Morgan due to Morgan being younger and fitting into their future plans. Booker felt disrespected at the idea of putting over a lesser known performer with no build. Upon shutting down the idea, Booker went home and refused to show up to the tapings.

6 Roddy Piper refused to put over Hulk Hogan

The rivalry between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper helped WWE get to the next level in the mainstream during the 80s golden era period. Hogan was the hottest star in the industry as a beloved babyface, but the heel work of Piper helped him out a lot. Fans hating Piper and loving Hogan made for a great story. However, if you look back, it will be tough to find any footage of Piper getting pinned by Hogan.

Piper refused to lose to Hogan for years in both WWE and WCW. Most of their big matches in WWE took place in the form of tag team action like the main event of the first WrestleMania. Piper scored the victories in their big WCW aside from one time Randy Savage interfered to help Hogan. The lack of trust Piper had for Hogan saw him refuse to do the job many times in their matches.

5 Low Ki refused to put over Cesaro

Independent wrestling star Low Ki has always been known for being a pain to deal with. Promoters would be screwed if expecting him to lose his match. Low Ki viewed wrestling as real and claimed no one he faced would be able to defeat him in a shoot match. WWE and TNA were the only promotions that saw him do business without complaining about it yet he still was viewed as a backstage pain for them.

The most ridiculous instance of Low Ki refusing to do a job saw him facing Claudio Castagnoli in PWG. Currently known as Cesaro in WWE, Claudio was one of the top independent stars and an incredible athlete. Kevin Owens shared a story about Low Ki refusing to lose to Cesaro by saying it would never happen in real life. Most of us would put our money on Cesaro decimating Low Ki if it came down to a shoot fight.

4 Chyna refused to put over Lita

A forgettable feud to go down between legendary performers featured Chyna and Lita. Chyna held the Women’s Championship in 2001 and was set to defend it against rising star Lita. Fans were starting to cheer for Lita as the new top women’s wrestling star in the company over Chyna. WWE wanted Chyna to drop the title to Lita to cement the latter’s status as a star at Judgment Day 2001.

Chyna developed a huge ego at this point and believed she was above the other women in the company. This led to her refusing to put over Lita in their big match. Plans changed to appease Chyna as she defeated Lita in a forgettable match. Chyna would see her time in WWE end a few weeks later when the Stephanie McMahon and Triple H affair came into play. WWE made her vacate the Women’s Championship, but she was initially slated to lose it to Lita before refusing to do business.

3 Austin Aries refused to put over Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins is clearly a bigger star than Austin Aries in the wrestling business today, but this wasn’t always the case. Aries was one of the top stars for Ring of Honor when Rollins was starting to make his name as Tyler Black. Both men faced off in the main event of Final Battle 2009. It was the World Title match on ROH’s biggest show of the year. Imagine WWE ending their main event of WrestleMania in a time limit draw.

That’s what happened at Final Battle with Aries and Rollins having a draw after the sixty-minute time limit expired. Everyone expected Rollins to finally get the big win as the face that was chasing the title for over a year. Rumors circulated that Aries refused to put over Rollins on this night since he was on the creative team at the time. Rollins and Aries exchanged insults in interviews after working together to make it more likely Aries had something against the younger, more talented star.

2 Hania the Huntress refused to put over Su Yung

Impact Wrestling has been trying to repackage their brand over the past year with new talents coming in. Hania the Huntress joined the knockouts division after an impressive body of work on the independent circuit. However, her reputation was instantly negative in the locker room for having a huge ego and refusing to lose matches against multiple women.

It all came to ahead when another newcomer Su Yung joined the company. Impact wanted Yung to defeat Hania in a short match to establish her as a top knockout right away. This led to both Hania and Impact coming to a decision that they should part ways. Hania not wanting to do business shortly into her stint with the company was a bad look and Impact was pleased to lose her.

1 The Rock refused to put over Shawn Michaels

One rumored match to never take place would have seen Shawn Michaels face The Rock at WrestleMania XX. This event featured Rock’s final WWE match for over seven years and the company wanted to have him battle Michaels in a dream match. However, Rock was still upset at Michaels trying to sabotage his career in the early stages. Chris Jericho and Dave Meltzer recently confirmed the rumors that Rock flat out refused to do anything with Michaels as revenge for the prior drama.

The match at WrestleMania XX would have seen Michaels get the win since he was sticking around for a few more years while Rock was heading back to Hollywood. Rock said no to this idea and instead teamed with Mick Foley against Evolution. Randy Orton and Batista getting the rub from Rock was a more appeasing idea for him than helping Michaels. WWE placed Michaels in the main event against Triple H and Chris Benoit once Rock made it clear he wasn’t working HBK.