10 Wrestlers Even AEW Couldn’t Sign

10. The Undertaker

A strange thing happened in 2019 that almost tied The Undertaker to AEW before the former retired from playing the legendary role and the latter even existed.

The company's Double Or Nothing launch event was - as had been the case with All In the prior summer - enhanced by the enormous and wide-ranging Starrcast meet-and-greet event, and in an attempt to make the convention a destination for all pro wrestling rather than simply anybody from outside WWE's orbit, they booked the f*cking Undertaker.

Not exactly a circuit regular at the time, 'The Deadman' made enough headlines that Vince McMahon himself got wind of the deal and was reportedly livid about it. Scuttlebut perhaps, but the February story resulted in Undertaker missing his first WrestleMania in 17 years despite - as was later revealed in a Network special - being backstage for the whole thing and turning up as a surprise on Monday Night Raw the next night.

McMahon might have resigned in disgrace, but cynically back-burnering one of his biggest stars before he exited almost certainly went some way to stopping similar side-swaps from his other legends.