10 WWE Stars Who Wanted (But Failed) To Jump To WCW

2. Shawn Michaels

In 1997, Shawn Michaels was arguably exhibiting his worst behavior during the Attitude Era. Showing up to TV tapings in less-than-optimal condition, openly complaining about the creative direction of the company, and yes, threatening to leave his just signed five-year contract to head to World Championship Wrestling. More regarding this issue from a May 1997 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter: "Michaels became at odds with Vince McMahon by demanding a new contract, one that would put his pay at the same level as his rival, who fell into a bidding war and came out of it with the most lucrative guaranteed money contract in the history of the WWF. When McMahon turned down his demands, he gave his notice, wanting to join his "real friends" in WCW. With four years remaining on his contract, McMahon refused, and the general attitude during the week was that they had no idea where Michaels' head was and contingency plans were being made both for television and the PPV and house shows if Michaels wasn't going to appear. There are reports that Michaels had a contract clause that was to guarantee him the status of being the highest paid wrestler in the company." The idea that Eric Bischoff may have signed Bret Hart as a second choice after Shawn Michaels is amazing to consider. Of course, given that Michaels' $750,000 deal made him the highest-paid wrestler in the WWF at that time, and that Bret Hart was offered three years at $9 million total, the ability for Michaels to be either the best-paid (or close enough to being the best-paid) wrestler in WCW in 1997 is wild to consider. Of course, given that Michaels and Hall were both having issues with substance abuse, the likelihood of the relaxed WCW atmosphere may not have been the best of ideas, but heck, we could've seen Michaels and Jericho in '97 on Nitro. For six minutes. With an nWo run-in. But, yeah. That would've been an AWESOME six minutes, right?