10: Ricochet  

Rumours circulated in May of 2024 that Ricochet’s WWE deal was expiring. These rumours escalated in the weeks and months that followed, as it was widely reported that Ricochet wouldn’t be signing a new WWE deal, and he was opting to leave the company the moment his current active contract expired.

Ricochet was a name that was often used on TV, and he received numerous pushes up the card. Ricochet won the US and Intercontinental Title during his time in WWE, yet this clearly wasn’t enough for Ricochet, who wanted to spread his wings.

WWE would even make the talented star the first-ever WWE Speed Champion. Fans theorised that this was a last-minute attempt to entice Ricochet into re-signing, but clearly it had little effect.

The common belief is that Ricochet is AEW-bound, and it will be interesting to see if Ricochet turning WWE down in favour of AEW was the right move for his career.

9: FTR (The Revival)

Whilst Vince McMahon certainly had a love/hate relationship when it came to tag-team wrestling, one tag-team he actively fought to keep under contract was FTR aka, The Revival.

The duo requested to be released from their WWE deals a number of times during their main roster stint, and before they eventually left WWE, it was reported that they were offered deals close to one million dollars each.

Some of the creative pitches McMahon had for the duo were insanely bad, and it’s hardly a surprise that the two decided to sign for Tony Khan’s promotion.

Even though McMahon evidently had no interest in giving the tag division the spotlight that FTR craved, this was likely a case of McMahon doing everything in his power to stop two of his stars going to a rival promotion.

8: Kurt Angle

Several years before Kurt Angle signed for WWE and became one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time, WWE reached out to Angle, and offered him a ten-year deal in 1996.

This deal would reportedly be worth around $500,000 per calendar year, and Angle discussed this 10-year deal offer on his Kurt Angle Show podcast:

“I didn’t know what I was getting into. Going up there and then giving me the whole Limo treatment, first class airfare and treating me like an important person, it was pretty cool. Going to Vince’s office and talking to him was a bit overwhelming, I knew of him, I knew who he was. He straight up just gave me a deal, a 10 year deal, take it or leave it. I asked him if I could talk to my agent first, Vince said that was fine. The meeting wasn’t long, I told him I was interested but I didn’t know if I was going to sign it or not.

Angle would then explain why he decided to turn the lucrative deal down:

“I was brainwashed, I was told it’s not something you’d be interested in. The people that were telling me not to do it didn’t even understand it. They thought it was a bunch of stunts these guys were doing, fake fighting. They felt like they were taking a backseat to pro wrestling, amateur wrestling was the small league and pro wrestling was the big league.”

Angle would eventually sign for the company in 1998 and the rest as they say is history.

7: Brock Lesnar

WWE put a ton of resources into making Brock Lesnar the guy in the Ruthless Aggression Era; therefore, when Lesnar turned around in 2004 and said that he was leaving the company, they were shaken to their core.

WWE would try to convince Lesnar to stay, and this convincing was mainly done in monetary terms, as rumours state that Lesnar was offered contracts worth up to $45 million.

For Lesnar, it wasn’t about the money, as he had simply had enough of the WWE lifestyle, and it was negatively impacting his physical and mental health.

Lesnar would commit to leaving the company following WrestleMania 20, and Lesnar wouldn’t appear on WWE programming again until the year 2012, where he would be handed one of the most prosperous contracts in WWE history.  

6: The Young Bucks

Believe it or not, there exists an alternative timeline where The Young Bucks signed for WWE before they committed to AEW.

Numerous reports indicated that Triple H was the one handling the contract negotiations, and The Young Bucks reflected on the negotiations in 2020 during an interview with Fightful:

"He was great. Charming dude. He said all the right things. I don't know how many times I told him no. We must have declined the offer, in the end, I don't want to exaggerate, it had to have been at least four or five times, and by the end of every conversation he would have another call scheduled with me in two weeks and I would go "how did he do that?" What, I just told him no. We'd be laughing by the end of the conversation. The conversation would start with me saying we're so sorry, we're going to pass on this, thank you so much, and an hour later I'm talking about our next phone call in two weeks…”

It's often been speculated on how The Young Bucks would have been used in WWE, and due to their executive positions in AEW, it’s unlikely that the duo ever have a run in WWE.

5: Kenny Omega

Another founding member of AEW, that being Kenny Omega, was another name that turned down major money from WWE in favour of AEW.

Omega’s WWE contract negotiations were reportedly in 2019, and fans were excited at the possibility of seeing Omega in WWE.

Omega in WWE would have been a breath of fresh air, and it was no doubt a factor that his close friends, The Young Bucks rejected WWE, and sought alternative employment.

Omega has close friendships with numerous names in WWE, and out of all of the members of The Elite, Omega seems like the most likely to have a run in WWE before he calls it a day on his in-ring career.

4: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold Steve Austin formally came out of retirement at WrestleMania 38. Austin, who had been retired since 2003 believed that a match with Kevin Owens was a good enough reason to come out of retirement, and he was right, as the match delivered, and warranted the night one main event slot for the aforementioned show.

When it came to the following year, WWE had two pitches for Austin. The two pitches involved contracts that would see him wrestle either Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar. Of course, due to the names involved either of these matches would have been a main event matchup, and Austin would have likely received the pay-day of a lifetime.

Austin would turn these matches down, and as for the reason why, The Texas Rattlesnake revealed the truth during a captivating interview with Sports Illustrated.

“I said, ‘Guys, I’m just fixin’ to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don’t know what my life looks like. I can’t commit.’ Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did.”

Austin continued by saying:

“There’s no way, with the schedule I was doing—driving an RV all over God’s creation, doing all I was doing—that I would be ready. I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell. Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30- or 40-minute workout, that doesn’t get you ready for WrestleMania. And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn’t going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn’t commit.”

3: Dean Ambrose

In a rare move, WWE announced Dean Ambrose’s departure ahead of time, and whilst it’s never been made clear as to why, some believe that WWE wanted to draw attention to Ambrose’s final storylines in the company.

Ambrose was a big-time player for the company, so they threw a ton of money at the former WWE Champion in the hopes that he would re-sign.

Ambrose was reportedly offered a five-year-deal worth $1 million a year; yet, Ambrose had enough of the WWE system, and not even a billion-dollar contract would have likely convinced Ambrose to stay another five-years in the company that was causing him so many negative feelings.

2: Will Ospreay

One of the names that decided to sign with AEW as opposed to WWE was Will Ospreay. WWE would make a formal offer for Ospreay, but it was AEW where Ospreay ended up, and one of the key reasons for this was down to money.

AEW would make a better offer than WWE for Ospreay, and Tony Khan evidently had his heart set on bringing Ospreay into the mix, as Ospreay has been presented as arguably their biggest star since his TV debut.

Ospreay would address the reports that WWE offered him significantly less than AEW during an interview with Talk Is Jericho, and Ospreay confirmed the credence of the reports:

"Yeah, of course, but it was night and day. Even in differences of what they were offering and what AEW was offering, AEW was way better. The scheduling, everything about AEW was completely the right option for me. It was always, you can go be a superstar in WWE and famous, but it's not as good of pay and it's not as kind of a schedule. I respect everyone there doing it, but it's not for me."

1: Sting

It took WWE years to finally sign The Icon Sting. Time and time again, WWE would offer a contract to the legendary name only for Sting to turn it down. One of the times that Sting was “close” to signing was in 2003. WWE offered Sting a contract, and his debut was to come at the end of WrestleMania 19, and he would debut by confronting Stone Cold Steve Austin. Obviously, this fell through, and Sting would eventually end up signing for TNA.

In 2011, discussions began again, and it was rumoured that Sting could potentially wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania 27 and enter the WWE Hall of Fame. WWE would even tease a mysterious character using vignettes involving a spooky cabin, and fans were 100% convinced that this was for The Stinger. These vignettes ended up being for The Undertaker, and WWE moved forward with a WrestleMania match between The Deadman and Triple H.

3-years later, Sting would finally put pen to paper on a WWE deal, and whilst Sting never got to have the dream match against The Undertaker, he would get to compete at WrestleMania 31 against Triple H and be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. 

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