10 Recent Wrestler Pitches WWE Turned Down
9. Sami Zayn Vs. X-Pac
CHIKARA may have died a particularly depressing death in 2020, but the history of the cartoonish promotion is filled with fantastic pro wrestling storytelling and just as many excellent matches. It was CHIKARA who first realised the potential of Eddie Kingston as a top guy, while also giving Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, Ruby Riott, Lince Dorado and many others a platform on which to shine. The whole shutdown angle was a weird one, but that's for another time.
For many long-time followers of the promotion, the best match in CHIKARA history was a singles bout between El Generico and The 1-2-3 Kid on night three of the 2011 King of Trios. Everyone knew that Generico was elite at that point, but even the biggest X-Pac fans had long given up on Waltman as an in-ring force. Somehow the former D-Generation X and nWo man rolled back the years and the two put on a genuine clinic, capturing lightning in a bottle in one of the year's great pro-wrestling matches.
How would that match look in 2021? We'll likely never know, but Sami Zayn revealed recently that he pitched the idea of Zayn vs. X-Pac to the creative team in 2019. The match would have taken place at SummerSlam but was shot down, much to the chagrin of pro wrestling enthusiasts all over the world. You'd think that Vince would be all-in on it, what with X-Pac being an Attitude Era guy, but there we go.