10 Wrestlers Who Refused To Work House Shows

It's been said before, but it certainly bears repeating €” the road is a tough, lonely place. The average wrestler spends nearly the entire calendar year on the road €” there's no off season in the world of professional wrestling. Consider the life of a guy like John Cena. The guy's a workhorse, and it's impressive how well he's held up over the years. He has the TV tapings, the PPVs, the press events, the charity gigs, and whatever else that the WWE brass wants to put on his schedule. And then he has the house shows. Usually taking place in smaller venues with non-canon matches, a house show is neither filmed nor broadcast. It is solely to entertain the fans in the building. It's also a dry run for upcoming PPVs and televised evens and gives wrestlers an opportunity to rehearse and test out new gimmicks and spots. Lastly, house shows often give the lower card an opportunity to shine; there's only so much time, even on a three-hour Raw, for every Superstar to get minutes. But sometimes, main eventers skip these smaller house shows. There are a lot of reasons for this; it could be because the wrestler is older, and doesn't want to work a full schedule. It could be that the wrestler is working through an injury, and doesn't want to risk missing an upcoming PPV. It could be plain old, prima donna behaviour. Several wrestlers are notorious for refusing to show up unless there's a camera pointed at them. Take, for example...