8 Wrestlers Fired By WWE After Major PPVs
From No Way Out to way out.
For most wrestlers, a big match at a huge pay-per-view is the highlight of their month - or at least, that of their accountants. Being on the major show is generally a great determiner of relative wrestling relevance, and the pay packet doesn't respect the outcome of a worked match; win or lose, the corn comes home just the same.
The other thing a much-sought spot on a Sunday night spectacle offers is security. Anyone bashing heads on pay-per-view can generally be assured that they are in the middle of a faintly meaningful programme pointedly designed to extract money from the TV audience's wallet, and unless it's culminating in a Loser Leaves Town match, can look forward to similarly significant paydays in the weeks and months to come.
Simply put, WWE won't invest time, resources, and Network real-estate in a guy whose future endeavours are on the horizon.
Usually, anyway. Extenuating circumstances mean that in the rarest of cases, WWE superstars have played the Lord Mayor's Show, only to find themselves out on their arse the next day. If only there was some succinct metaphor to describe this.
8. Jake Roberts (WrestleMania VIII)
By mid-1992, an aging Jake 'The Snake' Roberts was beginning to slither down the pecking order, but felt he still had something to offer the promotion with a mind for the business as sharp as a viper's venom.
The perfect position became available when head writer Pat Patterson was forced to temporarily step down, having been embroiled in an ultimately baseless sexual harassment scandal instigated by WWE announcer Murray Hodgson. Jake, the Carl Jung of squared-circle psychology, petitioned Vince McMahon for the vacant role, recalling previous promises to be handed the pen.
McMahon refused Roberts, opting instead to keep the chair open out of respect for one of his most trusted lieutenants. Furious with the betrayal, 'The Snake' bared his fangs, threatening to no-show the upcoming WrestleMania VIII unless he was granted a contract release.
The boss blinked, and subsequently let Roberts go - but not before subjecting him to a ritualistic burial at the hands of The Undertaker on what would be his last PPV with the company for four years.