10 Wrestlers Who Didn't Turn Up For WrestleMania

6. Nathan Jones - WrestleMania 19

Paul Heyman Brock Lesnar
WWE.com

This entry is slightly more literal.

JBL is fond of repeating, ad nauseam, that if you were to "build a WWE superstar from the ground up, he'd look like Randy Orton." Vince McMahon would disagree. He would have all 7 feet and 350 muscled pounds of Nathan Jones at the forefront of his frothing, daydreaming mind.

Nathan Jones was cast as protege to the Undertaker in spring of 2003. As green as a tropical tree frog, he was scheduled to participate in a tag team match alongside him, opposite The Big Show and A-Train, at WrestleMania XIX. The tag match was booked to conceal Jones' shortcomings. Almost comically uncoordinated, and as unconvincing as even Giant Gonzalez and The Great Khali, WWE called an audible shortly before 'Mania and removed him from the card altogether.

He was attacked in the storyline to excuse him from duties, but in reality, the antipodean behemoth was nowhere near an acceptable level of ring readiness. Dispatched shortly thereafter to Ohio Valley Wrestling to learn, effectively, from scratch, Jones also failed to turn up for the remainder of his contract.

He left WWE in December of that year, citing the rigours of travel.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!