WWE has seen several wrestlers leave after working for years, but many of them also making a return, whether for one big match or a final run. Many former wrestlers have mentioned hoping to get a call up to WWE. But not every wrestler has the same thoughts and sometimes even when WWE asks them to make a comeback, they turn down. There can be many reasons behind this. In this article, we will tell you about those wrestlers who rejected WWE’s proposal to make a comeback.
Sgt. Slaughter
Sgt. Slaughter worked with the company during the 1980’s, when it was called WWF. He once revealed that WWE offered him a deal to return to the promotion as Lacey Evans manager. Slaughter refused this offer because they were paying him less money than he was already earning. Although he liked the idea of managing Lacey Evans, he was not going to do it for a low payroll.
Maria Kanellis
Kanellis’s stint with WWE began in 2004 and lasted until 2010. During her time with the promotion, she was part of several highlighted matchups. She recently made her debut on AEW alongside her husband, Mike Bennett and Matt Raven. She previously said that signing with AEW was a good decision for her and also revealed that WWE offered her a return when her contract with Impact Wrestling was expiring.
Sarray
Sarray has recently joined a new Japanese promotion called Sukeban and rejected WWE’s offer to return to the company in the process. She signed with WWE in February 2020, but when the pandemic struck, she couldn’t travel to the USA until the next year. She wrestled just over 20 matches in NXT, and her last appearance was on August 2, 2022. The Japanese wrestler departed from WWE in March.
Kurt Angle
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle’s last professional match in the company was at WrestleMania 35 against Baron Corbin. Since then, Kurt has received several offers from both WWE and AEW, but he declined those deals. WWE wanted him to return and manage Matt Riddle in 2020, but due to some undisclosed reasons, he couldn’t do so. After a few years, again, plans were made to bring him back, but it was canceled.
The IIconics
First, WWE decided to split up The IIconics and then also decided to release both during the April 2021 budget cuts. Peyton was a skilled wrestler and there were rumors about her being pushed as a single fighter, while Billie was an entertaining one. They later worked at TNA for some time and became tag team champions there too. Since last year, the duo have been inactive. WWE gave them an offer to return to Royal Rumble 2022, but they decided not to go back.
LA Knight
LA Knight is a superstar in WWE today and recently he also had a big match against Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal title at Crown Jewel. He worked with the company from 2013–14 and signed with Impact Wrestling in 2015. Kn was offered a WWE contract around that time but chose to stick with Impact because the payout was better. He worked there for a few years and made a comeback to WWE in 2021.
Maven Huffman
Maven worked with WWE for five years, from 2001 to 2005. He created a YouTube channel four months ago, which is doing very well and growing rapidly. He talks about many things related to WWE on this channel. Recently, in a video, he talked about WWE giving him a second chance to make a comeback, but he couldn’t because he was worried about the pay. Years later, he regrets his decision not to return to WWE.
Jacques Rougeau
Jacques Rougeau once revealed in an interview that he rejected a few offers to return to WWE. This was mainly due to his Le Spectacle Familial Jacques Rougeau show, which was wrestling for young children. However, there was no violence allowed. Jacques said that he would have felt uncomfortable if he returned to WWE because he was against violence everywhere.
Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho has been a superstar in WWE. He left the company a few times in the past but made a comeback. But now he wrestles in Tony Khan’s promotion, AEW. During an interview, he revealed that after Vince McMahon gave him the green light to join AEW, he immediately asked him to get out of the contract and sign with WWE.
Steve Austin
WWE fans were delighted when Steve Austin returned to face Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38. This was the only time since his retirement that “Stone Cold” accepted the offer to return to WWE. In the past, there were rumors of his returning for another match and WWE tried to bring him back for a match with Jonathan Coachman. But it seems Austin doesn’t want to return.
