5 WWE Superstars who rejected Vince McMahon's ideas 

WWE is the biggest pro wrestling promotion in the world, and it has featured some of the wildest storylines in sports entertainment history.

Some of the storylines are pitched by the WWE Superstars themselves, while others come from the company's Chairman, Vince McMahon. He either comes up with the whole thing himself, or approves what his creative team presents to him.

But not all the storylines pitched behind the scenes in WWE make it to TV.

There have been many occasions where superstars have turned down Vince McMahon's pitches because they weren't comfortable with the proposed storylines.

So let's take a look at five superstars who rejected Vince McMahon's idea for a storyline.

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#5 Hulk Hogan refused to put over Bret Hart

After focusing on giants like Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant and King Kong Bundy in the 1980s, WWE started to put more focus on technical wrestlers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in the 1990s.

2-time WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan was one of the biggest names ever to turn down a pitch Vince McMahon came up with at that time.

The idea the Chairman of WWE presented to The Hulkster would've seen him drop the WWE Championship to Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1993. However, Hogan refused to do the job for The Hitman. This caused plans to change and led to WWE Hall of Famer, the late Yokozuna, defeating Hogan for the title before the latter jumped ship to WCW.

Bret Hart revealed the reason behind Hogan's refusal to lose to him, stating that Hogan thought he "wasn’t in his league."

When a fan asked Hogan on Twitter why he refused to put Hart over at that time, The Hulkster responded by saying that Hart's time hadn't begun during that era.

Since then, Hart has never seen Hogan the same again, and has taken shots at his wrestling abilities and refusal to put talent over on numerous occasions.

#4 Bret Hart did not want to lose the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels

WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart was another big name to turn down one of Vince McMahon's ideas.

The WWE Chairman wanted The Hitman to lose the WWE Championship to fellow WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997 in front of Hart's home crowd in Montreal, Canada. However, Hart did not want to do that and was in favor of dropping the title to Michaels at a later date.

Leading up to the event, Hart had signed a lucrative deal with WWE's rival company at the time, WCW.

As Hart did not agree to lose to Michaels at Survivor Series, all parties agreed for the match to end in a Disqualification.

But Vince McMahon had other plans. He made sure he'd have Michaels walking out of Survivor Series as the new WWE Champion that night, as he did not want The Hitman to take the prestigious title to WCW.

He came up with the infamous "Montreal Screwjob". Only McMahon, referee Earl Hebner and a few others knew of the plan, which would see the chairman double cross Bret Hart.

On the night of the event, the match went as planned, until Michaels locked Hart into a Sharpshooter, and suddenly, Hebner called for the bell to be rung.

The Heartbreak Kid was crowned the new WWE Champion, and Bret Hart left for WCW.

#3 Stone Cold Steve Austin wanted more build-up for a match with Brock Lesnar

WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin is another one of the top guys in the company's history to reject a pitch Vince McMahon came up with.

Back in 2002, Austin was supposed to have a match with Brock Lesnar in the King Of The Ring tournament, which would see The Texas Rattlesnake put over The Beast, but Austin refused to do it because he wanted WWE to do such a big match with proper build-up.

This led to Austin walking out of WWE that night.

In a recent Q&A with WWE, Austin called that decision his "biggest regret" in his pro wrestling career.

“I disagreed with it [the match with Lesnar]. I never like to blow smoke up my a**, but guys like myself, like Hogan, and a few others, they don’t grow on trees. So you want to sacrifice what you’ve built up in me? And with no buildup? But that walk out was still total stupidity and hard-headedness on my part. I should have shown up, and that is my biggest regret in the business of pro wrestling.”

Unfortunately, fans never got to witness that dream match, as Austin had to retire from his in-ring duties the next year due to a neck injury he suffered in 1997.

#2 Mustafa Ali turned down a pitch and requested his release

Mustafa Ali joined WWE during the Cruiserweight Classic, and became the "Heart" of 205 Live. He had his breakout moment in 2018 when he debuted on SmackDown to confront then WWE Champion Daniel Bryan (now known as Bryan Danielson in AEW).

He is the most recent name to turn down a pitch made to him by Vince McMahon. His decision came after he was reportedly pitched a storyline "he'd never do."

The details on what was pitched to him are still unknown.

But turning down the pitch was not the only reaction Ali had towards McMahon, as he took to social media to request his release from WWE.

He wrote:

"I have a message that is much bigger than my dreams in pro wrestling. Despite my best efforts, I will not be able to deliver this message while working with WWE. Therefore, I am requesting my release from WWE."

Back in 2019, Ali was reportedly set to win the Elimination Chamber match to face Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35. Unfortunately for Ali, he was injured and was replaced by Kofi Kingston.

He then almost became Mr. Money In The Bank that year, but a surprise appearance from Brock Lesnar crushed his dream of achieving that feat.

After all that, Ali could never gain back his momentum, and was stuck in the mid-card.

#1 Stephanie McMahon rejected an incest angle

One of the craziest storylines Vince McMahon ever pitched was to his own daughter, Stephanie McMahon.

When Stephanie was pregnant with her and husband Triple H's first child, the Chairman of WWE proposed an incest angle, which would see Vince himself being revealed as the child's father.

In a DVD titled "McMahon", she said the following about it:

“I don't know who would find entertainment in a storyline like that.”

Stephanie did not hesitate to say no to the storyline, and immediately turned it down.

Vince did not give up then, and suggested that they could have her brother, Shane McMahon, play the baby's father, which was also turned down by Stephanie.

Shane O' Mac had a very interesting reaction when he found out about the storyline, and said the following about it in an interview years after the storyline was pitched:

“Well, my sister’s hot. I don’t know if I would’ve really minded that.”

The storyline would've taken place back in 2006, but Stephanie's refusal to do so led to it never making it to TV, which was indeed one of the smartest decisions the company's Chief Brand Officer ever made.