11 Wrestlers Who Would Rather Do Nothing Than Work For WWE

10. The "Millionaires Club"

Sasha Banks
WWE

WCW's richest wrestlers wanted nothing to do with WWE following Vince McMahon's 2001 buyout - but they'd have been daft to take the pay cuts required to go back on the road as losers for the winners of the Monday Night War.

McMahon's hastily-booked invasion storyline lacked virtually all of WCW's main players on the heel side for this very reason. It spoke to the Chairman's control of the narrative at the time - these aging "former" stars were seen as workshy money-hungry fossils in comparison to the hard-living hard-working factory floor WWE rank-and-files. In actuality, the likes of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg, Scott Steiner and even sentimental favorite Ric Flair waited out mammoth Time Warner/AOL deals they'd signed before World Championship Wrestling hit the wall.

This knackered WWE's 2001 wrestling war angle, but bolstered their bank balances and did much to enhance their stature after spending so long as the public faces of a failing organisation. Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page had chronic tenures during that time anyway - there was little incentive for any of the megastars to make the jump any sooner than necessary.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett