6 Times Wrestlers Tried (And Failed) To Get Fired Live On Air
Turns out Bryan's Talking Smack appearances had a second agenda.
We've all heard plenty about the strange experiences of being on the WWE payroll. You're not an employee, you're an "independent contractor". These kinds of approaches are designed specifically to protect the company and have greater control of their stars, with restrictive contracts and non-complete clauses.
But, what if you made your employer uncomfortable... ?
There's a fine line to walk with this kind of thing. If you make enough of a scene then WWE will most certainly want to kick you to the curb and you'll get the desired effect. However, on the other hand, you run the risk of getting the stink of unprofessionalism on you and future employers will be understandably be more hesitant to hire the guy who just embarrassed his old boss.
Still, if you're unhappy in your job and your job just so happens to involve being in front of a live audience, there's a few ways to send a message.
This list will look at those wrestlers whose attempts to get noticed were for all the wrong reasons, hoping to shake themselves free of a contract or get a better deal. Even still, it didn't work out for them - not how they'd hoped, at least.
6. The Revival
Things started to go downhill fast for Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson when they arrived on Monday Night Raw and declared themselves as “pro wrestlers, not sports entertainers”. By not only going off-script but also using one of the company’s most forbidden words, they drew immediate ire from backstage.
Business never really picked up for them and this spiralled into frustration. It started with subtweets and calling out teams like the Young Bucks, who were signed with NJPW at the time. The Bucks and Cody Rhodes had started throwing the in-joke “f*** the Revival” into their Being the Elite YouTube series as a nod to the tag team's own issues. The Revival, in a very tongue-in-cheek move, decided to embrace it, tweeting it themselves.
Eventually, on an episode of Raw in January 2019, the pair had “#FTR” emblazoned on their trunks, and around this time it was reported that they had requested their release.
It seems pretty evident that the Revival had allowed their bitterness to manifest on TV. The company didn’t listen however, and the team continued to work the rest of their contracted dates - which was a further 15 months.
When they finally did get time with Vince McMahon, they told him outright that they hadn’t been bluffing about their intention to leave the company. Not even a new gimmick and costume suggestion could persuade them to stay. In fact, if anything, it probably confirmed that this was the right move.