10 WWE Stars Who Were Bullied Out Of The Company
6. Daniel Puder
The entire "$1,000,000 Tough Enough" competition that ran on SmackDown in late 2004 was an exercise in humiliation for the contestants involved, but things reached a head on the 4 November episode. After making the contestants compete in a squat thrust contest, Angle challenged Chris Nawrocki to an amateur-style wrestling match. Of course, the Olympic Gold Medalist won, and he broke Nawrocki's ribs in the process.
After that, things got interesting. Angle challenged any other contestant who was interested to a shoot match, and Daniel Puder - who had MMA experience - accepted. Soon into the skirmish, Puder caught Angle in a keylock, and had referee Jim Korderas not made an inaccurate three count against Puder to end the match, Angle's arm would have been broken.
Puder's standing up for himself made him a hated man in the WWE locker room. Derided as "disrespectful," he still won the competition, but he made his first post-win appearance in the Royal Rumble. During that bout, he was subjected to some very stiff chops and blows from Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Bob Holly before being eliminated.
Puder spent the rest of his one-year contract in OVW. When it came to an end, he was given a lowball offer to move to Deep South Wrestling, but he rejected it, ending his WWE career.