5 WWE Superstars who refused to put over an opponent
Of all the professional sins that a WWE Superstar could possibly commit, it doesn’t get much worse than refusing to lose against a fellow performer.
Almost every high-profile star in the wrestling business started out by winning televised matches against more experienced pros, so it’s only natural that they are expected to return the favour later on in their career – or so you would think.
We’ve seen people refuse to ‘job’ to opponents on multiple occasions throughout the years, most notably in 1997 when Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were involved in one of the most heated rivalries that the industry has ever seen, resulting in the infamous Montreal Screwjob.
Aside from the incident involving Shawn and Bret, did you know that somebody else refused to lose to HBK in 1995, only to then change their mind? And have you heard about the time that a WWE legend didn’t want to lose against D-Lo Brown in the late 90s?
Well, we decided to delve through the sports entertainment archives to take a look at five WWE Superstars – some past and some present – who refused to put over their opponent.
#5 Jean-Pierre LaFitte
In 1994, WWE tag team The Quebecers disbanded when Jacques Rougeau retired, meaning Pierre had to work as a singles wrestler.
Repacked as Jean-Pierre LaFitte, he was involved in an entertaining three-month feud with Bret Hart before he began to work with some members of The Kliq.
Speaking on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast in 2016, Pierre confirmed that he once refused to lose against Shawn Michaels in Montreal, before later agreeing to do the job, while he also changed the finish to a match against Diesel (aka Kevin Nash) in the same city.
Pierre never got along with The Kliq and wanted revenge against them for being “cool, cocky and constantly using a demonstration of pure power”, so he refused to lose against Nash at a Montreal live event and the finish was changed to a double count-out.