10 WWE Superstars and who they refused to put over
Some of the greatest WWE moments of all time revolved around a babyface Superstar finally defeating a heel to win a title.
WrestleMania 35, for example, saw Becky Lynch, Kofi Kingston, and Seth Rollins pick up victories to win WWE World Championships. Those long-awaited triumphs would not have happened if Ronda Rousey, Daniel Bryan, and Brock Lesnar did not agree to lose their matches.
The majority of WWE Superstars do exactly as they are told when they find out whether they are going to win or lose a match. However, various stories have emerged over the years about some WWE Superstars outright refusing to lose against a co-worker.
In this article, let’s count down 10 WWE Superstars and take a look at who they refused to put over.
#10 John Cena refused to put over Jake Hager in WWE
Jake Hager revealed on Talk Is Jericho that John Cena did not want to lose the WWE Championship to him. Hager, formerly known as Jack Swagger in WWE, held the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2010. That meant he could either cash in on Cena (WWE Champion) or Chris Jericho (WWE World Heavyweight Champion).
After teasing a cash-in on Cena on RAW, Hager was informed the next day that he was going to defeat Jericho on SmackDown. Although he did not know it at the time, he later found out that Cena had refused to lose the WWE Championship to him.
“The night before, I teased it on RAW where I would almost hit Cena with the briefcase. I snuck up on him and then we had one of his brilliant promo segments. Later come find out he refused to do the job for me for the World Championship, but we won't talk about that.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Hager held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for 79 days before losing it to Rey Mysterio at the WWE Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view.
#9 Sable refused to put over Debra in WWE
One of the most bizarre title changes in WWE history took place on the May 10, 1999 episode of WWE RAW. Sable won an Evening Gown match against Debra to retain her WWE Women’s Championship. However, Commissioner Shawn Michaels reversed the decision because he felt that the woman who lost her clothes should be declared the winner.
In storyline, Debra suddenly became the new WWE Women’s Champion. In reality, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Sable did not want to lose the title in a regular match.
“Believe it or not, they had problems getting Sable to do a job and give up the belt. I know that sounds stupid but wrestling often is. I guess this was the compromise.”
Meltzer also said that Sable wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood, which is why she refused to wrestle at live events and on RAW. She agreed to wrestle on PPVs but only because she earned more money from working those events.