10 Wrestlers Promoters Were Afraid Of

9. New Jack

Jake Roberts WCW
WWE.com

In 2004, John Cena needed a brief sabbatical from WWE so he could film terrible action flick The Marine. Instead of simply telling fans, hey, one of your favs is going to be in a movie, go watch it!, the company instead contrived a plotline in which Cena was stabbed in a nightclub by an associate of Carlito, the man who'd recently deposed him for the US Championship.

Eventually, the apple-spitter's bodyguard Jesús owned up to his sins, leading to an oft-forgotten match between he and John at Armageddon 2004. Apparently - according to the man himself - the role of stabber was originally intended for wrestling's most infamous scalpel-wielder, New Jack.

That never happened, and nor did Jack ever alight in WWE, even when they promoted ECW reunion One Night Stand in 2005 and revived the brand full time a year on. Why the snub? Simple: the promotion were scared rigid of having someone of New Jack's particular nature on their books. This was a man who'd nearly killed the underage, untrained Mass Transit after he'd lied about his credentials. A man who'd thrown Vic Grimes off a scaffold onto a concrete. A legitimate bounty hunter. He was a complete no-go.

As Jim Cornette, then a trainer in development league OVW, explained: "They were never going to touch him. He was too controversial. They were afraid of lawsuits, they were afraid of bad publicity, they were afraid he was going to hurt somebody.”

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.