- 3 years ago
Scary situations and in-ring horrors that DIDN'T linger long in the memory.
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00:00 But this all ties in, doesn't it? And before we get into the meat and bones, do not forget
00:04 at the end of the day you go to sleep and that wrestling is just somebody's job. And
00:09 sometimes you go to your place of work and you fall out with your boss. And maybe the
00:12 employer is right, maybe the company is right, we don't know. But it happens at McDonald's,
00:17 it happens at Nike, it happens at, I don't know, Barclays Bank. We're all just human
00:22 beings trying to make our way.
00:23 Given that we are talking about individuals that we do see every single week on television
00:27 though, if there is a little bit of a controversy, everybody starts talking about it and when
00:32 that happens you can't get the cat back in the shoe. And you're looking it up now and
00:37 no, that's not a saying. But the point is, these ten wrestlers did quit over their contracts.
00:42 Why? Here's why.
00:44 So we shall start at number ten with Sasha Banks and Naomi. And once again, nobody actually
00:54 knows what is going on here. But when you do start to do some digging and you get into
00:58 the rumour mill, not only does it sound like they stormed out because they weren't happy
01:03 with creative, but it may have also tied into their contract situation. Because both are
01:07 allegedly in the last few months of their contract, so I suppose if they weren't getting
01:10 certain guarantees that they expected and they weren't happy with the storyline, then
01:16 Boss Glow, whatever the hell they're calling themselves, decided, I don't really think
01:20 this is working out, I'm going out the door.
01:22 Now the real fascinating point, the real reason I wanted to put this in here, is that do not
01:26 forget if you are a WWE contracted talent, that deal states that if you're not performing
01:32 for one reason or another, WWE can freeze your deal, meaning until you fulfil your appearances,
01:39 you just have to sit there and wait it out. So let's for argument's sake say the expiry
01:42 date was July, maybe it would have been a little bit better to have done a Dean Ambrose
01:47 and just wait a little while before you turned yourself into Jon Moxley. But once again,
01:53 I just think we all need to calm down with this and I hope Sasha Banks and Naomi could
01:58 work out their differences and go back to doing what they're flipping great at.
02:02 But I ain't Stone Cold Steve Austin.
02:04 Which ties into the main one that everybody is comparing this to, Stone Cold walking out
02:10 in 2002.
02:11 For those that don't know though, Austin did indeed not turn up to Monday Night Raw
02:14 all those years ago, because he was told the plan for the evening was for him to lose to
02:19 Brock Lesnar in a King of the Ring qualified match, and understandably the rattlesnake
02:22 thought that was stupid, because the money isn't a random match on television, the money
02:27 was in a big pay-per-view shindig that Brock Lesnar probably would have won.
02:31 The real twist to all of this though, is that maybe, just maybe, WWE did this to be a little
02:36 bit vindictive. Because weeks earlier, Steve Austin had been on the WWF Bite This Show
02:42 and said "I don't really like the creative direction at the moment, and in fact I think
02:47 the writing sucks".
02:48 So the powers that be didn't appreciate that and they wanted blood and all of this
02:51 went bad quickly.
02:53 And given the relationship that Austin had with McMahon and the fact that he felt like
02:57 they weren't living up to the deal or everything he had crafted, he too got on a plane and
03:02 went home but didn't see him for almost a year.
03:05 Now Austin has admitted well after the fact that this was not the right way to handle
03:09 it and he should have been more professional, but again, can anyone actually say his way
03:14 of looking at things wasn't the right way? I would say no.
03:17 8. CM Punk
03:18 All it takes is five minutes on Google to make you realise, thank goodness CM Punk got
03:23 out of WWE when he did. We can get into the if, buts and maybes, but it is quite clear
03:28 both his physical and mental health were taking an absolute kick in and he needed some time
03:33 to rest.
03:34 And this is one big reason why he did quit, because if you're not aware, one of the things
03:37 with WWE, especially back in the 2014 era, was that you were expected to return to work
03:42 as quickly as possible even if you had just had your knee reconstructed and you'd just
03:47 come out of surgery.
03:48 Punk has told this story before where he was essentially limping out of his local medical
03:52 facility when his phone rang and it was Vince McMahon telling Harry Pyle, "Need you at Raw
03:56 next week" even though hours before this he had been knocked out with anaesthetic.
04:01 I don't think that's good for anybody's brain, especially when you are trying to heal, and
04:05 the reason CM Punk continues to do this, as he has mentioned, is because his hero was
04:09 Harley Race and he wanted to tie it into that old school mentality.
04:12 Given that eventually he did just become the walking windward though, after the Raw Rumble
04:16 he went and found Vince McMahon and Triple H and said, "I don't want to do this anymore,
04:19 I too am going home" and yes, because this was a breach of contract, WWE fired CM Punk
04:26 on his wedding day. Now we have talked about that a lot, but come on now, just don't do
04:32 it.
04:33 Quit may not be the right word here, but all things considered, man, what were we doing.
04:39 We all remember The Rock when he went off to be a movie star, and in 2022, don't forget
04:44 he's been an actor way longer than he was a wrestler, but when all this was starting
04:48 and Hollywood came a calling, everybody in WWE realised what was going on so they tried
04:53 to tie all this up in a nice little package so they'd have the right to his name and get
04:57 some of that money from his films.
04:58 What they did not anticipate though, is that Dwayne Johnson would find so much success,
05:03 so when his WWE contract came due in 2004, they just decided, "we're not going to renew
05:11 it, we'll show him".
05:12 This didn't set well with Mr Johnson because why would it and he was more than up for trying
05:16 to come to terms on something new and this is why it would be seven years before 2011
05:20 rolled around and The Rock became the guest host of WrestleMania before he came back to
05:24 the company.
05:25 You'd think cooler heads would have prevailed with this one, and they did eventually, but
05:29 yeah, WWE booted out who was going to go on to become one of the biggest stars in the
05:37 world.
05:38 6.
05:39 Cesaro
05:40 I love this story, good for Cesaro.
05:41 His contract came due, WWE sat down to negotiate with him, he put a figure on the table, they
05:46 said "well we're not going to pay you that", he said "ok, I'm done".
05:48 Now no matter what this must have been hard because the Swiss Superman had been there
05:51 for 11 years, but this is all about knowing your worth.
05:55 If you'd seen a bunch of other figures being doled out to other wrestlers and you weren't
05:59 being treated the same way, you should stand up for yourself.
06:03 We as a human race don't do this enough.
06:04 It also shows that WWE still don't realise what they had with Cesaro.
06:09 While I say these words, he hasn't returned to wrestling, but believe you me, wherever
06:13 he does lay his hat, he's going to smash it.
06:17 Here's your homework for the day, go and find a bad Cesaro match.
06:21 5.
06:22 China
06:23 The story of how China and WWE fell out is actually quite sad, because do not pretend
06:28 otherwise.
06:29 During the Attitude Era, she was a super duper megastar and she changed the business, and
06:34 then when it was time to renegotiate her deal, well these people could not see eye to eye.
06:39 Told best by Jim Ross on his podcast, Joni Lawler's big request when it was time for
06:44 a new deal is that she wanted to be paid the same money as Stone Cold Steve Austin.
06:49 Good old JR looked to her and said that's never going to happen, and we were at an impasse.
06:53 It was also the problem that China didn't want to wrestle women anymore and exclusively
06:57 wanted to wrestle men, which is not what the company wanted to do.
07:01 And this is why they did say goodbye, because Vince McMahon was like "I'm not paying
07:04 her that and I want her to wrestle females", so we were done.
07:08 The part that really sucks is that she never returned to WWE and only really did a little
07:11 bit more in wrestling when she went over to New Japan, but what will really break your
07:15 heart is that she passed away in 2016 and never got to have that comeback that she so
07:21 richly deserved.
07:22 Thankfully today she has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, but all of this could have
07:26 been so much more.
07:27 4.
07:28 Bret Hart
07:29 I mean do we really need to go through this one?
07:31 It's been talked about so many times, but seriously how could I leave it out?
07:35 Quickly though, back in 1997 Bret the Hitman Hart and Vince McMahon signed a deal that
07:39 a few weeks later Vince said "Oops, sorry I can't afford that, so I strongly suggest
07:43 you go back to WCW and try and get a bunch of money from them instead."
07:46 Bret has always said too that he wanted to stay with the World Wrestling Federation but
07:50 felt compelled to take World Championship Wrestling's offer because it was so much
07:54 dough.
07:55 And of course the way this all ties in is the Survivor Series of 1997 when Bret the
08:00 Hitman Hart had creative control, so Vince said "I don't want you to have creative
08:04 control, I'm just going to ignore it and take that belt off you."
08:08 So the terms of the contract were not adhered to and Bret did indeed leave and went to WCW
08:13 and they had no idea what to do with him.
08:16 That's a different video for a different day.
08:18 3.
08:19 Ric Flair
08:20 Picture the scene, new WCW head honcho Jim Hurd sits down the nature boy Ric Flair and
08:25 says "I don't care what you've done in the past, I want you to cut your hair and
08:30 I'm also going to start calling you Spartacus."
08:33 I have not made any of that up.
08:35 The real kicker is that Hurd also wanted to pay Flair less money which was never going
08:39 to fly and the real issue here was that WCW had decided to put someone in charge who had
08:44 no wrestling experience and was just looking at some numbers.
08:48 However this was Ric Flair so he told Jim Hurd to shove this contract and that he'd
08:52 be leaving and he did.
08:53 Not only did he quit, he went across to the WWF and he took the WCW World Championship
09:00 Big Gold Belt with him.
09:02 My word this opened the floodgates because it was just Lawsuit Central.
09:05 Somehow Flair returned to WCW after all of this to a hero's welcome and you would
09:10 assume they never mucked him around on a contract again.
09:13 But they did.
09:14 Google everything that happened with Eric Bischoff.
09:16 All of this was nuts.
09:18 2.
09:19 Brock Lesnar
09:20 I mean seriously, the balls of Brock Lesnar.
09:22 Because do not forget, in 2004 he was everything to WWE.
09:27 He was the next big thing, he was the beast, he was our bright new star and we were going
09:31 to do everything we possibly could to ensure he got to the top and he stayed there.
09:35 But there was only one thing that could have derailed Brock, which was him waking up one
09:39 day and deciding, you know what, I don't like the wrestling lifestyle.
09:42 And it actually happened.
09:43 It was always going to cause a stink for obvious reasons, but they were able to come to an
09:48 agreement, in the sense they said, ok Brock, we will let you out of your contract, but
09:51 you have to sign this a seven year non-compete deal so you can't go wrestle anywhere else.
09:57 Lesnar was so desperate to leave he probably would have signed his own mother away, but
10:01 after he did try to get in the NFL and fail, he got offered a deal by New Japan Wrestling
10:06 and even though he did have this piece of paper, he ignored it and went to fight.
10:11 This triggered a huge lawsuit and was Lesnar completely ignoring the contract he had with
10:15 WWE, but surprise surprise he fought them through the system and judges went, WWE, you
10:22 can't enforce this, why did you even come up with it?
10:24 This meant that Brock was a free man and also underlines how big a star he came in UFC,
10:29 because when it was time for him to make a jump back to pro wrestling, everyone was more
10:34 than happy to work with him because they knew despite the past, they could do big things
10:39 with the one and only Brock Lesnar.
10:41 For one, Chris Jericho.
10:42 This doesn't 100% tie into a contract, but it does sum up why Chris Jericho never returned
10:49 to WWE, even though he had the chance.
10:52 And the big reason for this is because he felt shunned.
10:55 Way back in 2016/17, Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens were doing the best stuff in WWE, including
11:01 the Festival of Friendship, and according to Jericho, during all of it, McMahon had
11:05 sat him down and said, oh my gosh, this is great stuff, we're going to have you headline
11:09 WrestleMania for the big world championship.
11:11 So naturally, anyone is going to get pumped for that, even though you know plans can change.
11:15 And then we got to that night in April, and Kevin Owens/Chris Jericho was knocked for
11:20 a title and it was on second.
11:23 McMahon also wasn't a fan of the match, and Chris Jericho was actually insulted, mostly
11:27 because he had realised, it doesn't matter how many times I go away, it doesn't matter
11:31 how many times I come back, I have been pigeon-told here, this is just my status in WWE, and I
11:38 don't want that.
11:39 So he left.
11:40 I don't want to get into it here because we've run out of time, but the wizard was correct,
11:43 because instead he went to New Japan, absolutely blew up those numbers, and then helped start
11:48 and cement AEW to the point today, he does feel like a bigger deal than ever, but you
11:54 can say whatever you want about him, but he smashed it again.
11:59 Know of any other wrestlers that quit over their contracts?
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12:15 My name is Simon Whatculture, thank you very much for joining me as always, I hope you
12:18 have a lovely day, and try not to walk out over your contracts at work, it doesn't really
12:24 work well in the real world, we all need that cash, goodbye.