10 Wrestlers Who Did Unusual Things Vince McMahon Hated

This "getting over in WWE" business is easy.

You can't make it elsewhere - that is crucial - but as long as Vince McMahon made you, you're made. Well, Hulk Hogan was a major star in New Japan before he returned to the fold, in addition to running wild in the AWA, and then he became the biggest star in the history of the company.

That doesn't work. Let's try it again.

You have to be absolutely massive. Even if you don't connect with the audience, even if you're abysmal between the ropes, Vince will find a way to push your character to the top of the card and down the throats of his audience. Braun Strowman is absolutely massive, he was very over as a babyface, and he worked the WWE style improbably well. But he's not Roman Reigns.

That doesn't work. Let's try it again.

A WWE headliner cannot be short, slim, southern, or synonymous with virtually every company not named WWE.

But AJ Styles got a push. Maybe being great is enough. But then, the WWE roster is incredibly rich in talent, but curiously, damningly short on star power. The line does not exist, but f*ck you for not knowing where the line is.

With an actual maze to navigate, it's little wonder that these hapless acts don't know their way 'round...

WWE Superstars in this modern era don't enjoy much in the way of autonomy.

Regulated on the microphone by Creative Writers and between the ropes by Road Agents, this stifling environment scatters eggshells across the floors of Titan Towers. Performers displeased with the direction of their character are more likely to defensively lash out on Twitter than bring it up with management. Back in the '90s, the fictional landscape of the company was disrupted, time and time again, when the top guys didn't fancy doing a particular job.

Now, they just share them without question.

Strangely, this does not extend to ring attire. Perhaps it's McMahon's way of indulging what Dolph Ziggler refers to as the 'Gratitude Era'. It hardly helps to shatter McMahon's perception of the 2010s roster as "millennials" just happy to play wrestler, but the men and women of WWE spend more time with Sarath Ton than they do knocking on Vince's door. CM Punk once got away with paying tribute to AJPW's Mitsuharu Misawa, and the then-verboten Randy Savage, in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

In 2012, Daniel Bryan did not get away with the anarchy-themed attire he wore at Money In The Bank. Via a ringside stagehand, he was told to remove it seconds after entering the ring. Perhaps Vince deemed this out of character for a heel technician more aggravating than anarchic, or perhaps he was repulsed by the blood aesthetic months removed from instructing Brock Lesnar to scrape John Cena's skull open.