6 Wrestlers who turned down WWE Contracts

As 2019 comes to a close, professional wrestling has seen an uptick with the rise of AEW. Other organizations have also prospered with Impact Wrestling finding a new home on AXS TV, NWA creating their own online show Powerrr, and NJPW gaining more traction in the U.S. market.

With that in mind, this has actually provided professional wrestlers with several options to choose from and that's a good thing. While there is no organization that has the massive size of WWE, the company isn't for everyone. Some have turned down contracts because they received a better offer. Others are not interested in the demanding schedule that exists within the WWE structure.

Whatever the reason may be, some have chosen a different path for good or for ill. At the end of the day, the choice is theirs. Here are 6 wrestlers who turned down WWE Contracts.

#6 Eli Drake

Eli Drake was one of the more promising talents to come out of Impact Wrestling. While his tenure with the company didn't end well, he did end up at NWA Wrestling. In an interview with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, he said that there has actually been interest from WWE over the past 3 years and that he kept turning them down.

He said that it was mostly due to Impact Wrestling giving him raises each time. He explained,

"There [has] been interest from WWE for the last 3 years, but I kept turning them down because Impact kept giving me raises, which, maybe, in the long term, might not have been the best move only because your up potential in WWE is so crazy. Just the money people are making from the Saudi shows and now with AEW and whatnot, people are getting more money out of that too. But it was kind of to the point for 3 years, I was kind of ringing their bell, and then turned away, and went somewhere else. I probably annoyed the s--t out of them at this point, so I don't know."

Eli Drake also said that he eventually went with NWA because they gave him the best offer and he's loving what he's doing in the company.