10 Times WWE REJECTED Million Dollar Ideas

1. Maxwell Jacob Feinstein

MJF Tough Enough
WWE

A stacked and jacked MJF (with a slightly adjusted surname) presented himself as the finished article as early as 2015, but WWE ultimately passed on the 'Salt Of The Earth'.

The above image comes from his Tough Enough audition tape, in which the prodigious talent is almost as fully formed as the incredible heel dominating every conversation in AEW.

Typical for the three-peating Dynamite Diamond Ring winner, what makes his self-filmed piece so captivating is in how it differs from everybody else's. There's a charm to seeing today's stars flounder and flub their way through early sales jobs, but MJF smoothly lays out his elevator pitch before laying out gimmick barely distinguishable from the megastar he became.

Friedman's made a joke of the "war of 2024" being which major organisation gets his signature when contracts get brought back up, but WWE shouldn't take it as a laughing matter. They missed this golden opportunity once - it would be wise to learn from that big mistake.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett