10 Times Wrestlers Refused To Accept Certain Finishes
Spoilers: Wrestling is scripted, and sometimes people don't like to follow those scripts...
Like London buses, WWE had allegedly seen two walkouts come along at once in October, after rumours began circulating that Neville and Nia Jax had both headed home in recent weeks.
Admittedly the Jax incident was later said to have been overblown—she’s simply taken some time off to rest between storylines—but for Neville it seems the talk of a walkout is true. As reported by SI.com, the former Cruiserweight Champion was said to have left the building ahead of the 9 October showing of Raw after reportedly “balking” at the prospect of losing to Enzo Amore.
Not that this kind of thing is anything new, mind. Over the years we’ve seen countless names refuse to go along with various plans, the list of which makes for something of a who's-who of pro wrestling megastars.
From the old to the new, and for reasons that range from defendable to deplorable, this article looks back at some of the most notable stories of wrestlers refusing to accept certain finishes—some of whom have seemingly made these instances of non-conformity something of a regular habit…
10. The Shield (Elimination Chamber 2013)
At the turn of 2013, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns were busy establishing themselves as the new kids on the block. The upstart faction had branded themselves The Shield and vowed to fight against “injustices”—a mantra that, apparently, also extended to backstage matters.
Heading into Elimination Chamber 2013, the Shield was set to face the team of John Cena, Sheamus and Ryback, but rather than being booked for a momentum-boosting win, the Shield had been penciled in to be beaten.
Naturally, the boys weren’t best pleased.
As Ambrose later recalled on an episode of Talk is Jericho, the Shield said simply, “we’re not doing it,” under the proviso that “as soon as we go down to John, we’re just like everybody else, because that’s what he does to everybody else. And there’ll be a time where we’ll do that all day and that’s fine, but it’s not today. Otherwise, why are we even here?”
Touché.
Ultimately, it proved to be the right call. The Shield went on to beat Cena’s team in what became part of a months-long winning streak that helped them become one of the most popular factions of the modern era.