7 Wrestlers that refused to work with WWE

WWE is the world's biggest wrestling company, but not every wrestler wants to work for it. Some leading names in the wrestling business have been offered an opportunity to work for WWE over the last few years, but have turned down the offers and by many standards, may have indeed made the right decision.

It's never easy to turn down the kind of money that Vince McMahon can offer, especially for wrestlers who are considered top talent all over the world, but be it for the want of creative freedom, wanting to avoid WWE's insane travel schedule, being worried about having their wrestling style limited or a litany of other reasons, these 7 men have refused to work for Vince McMahon's WWE.

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#7 Zack Sabre Jr.

Zack Sabre Jr during the Cruiserweight Classic

Zack Sabre Jr. was one of the participants in the Cruseirweight Classic tournament that WWE held on the WWE Network in the summer of 2016. He did well for himself, advancing to the semifinals where he fell to the eventual runner-up, Gran Metalik. Although he had the potential to win the tournament, Zack refused to sign a contract with WWE, which reportedly kept him from proceeding to the finals, where he would have presumaby taken on another man who will be seen on this list, Kota Ibushi.

According to a report, Zack was also later approached by WWE to be part of the tournament that would crown the first-ever United Kingdom Champion, but turned that offer down as well. The money wasn't good enough, and he also had "other goals" for 2017. Less than 2 months later, he made his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut, where he defeated Katsuyori Shibata to win the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship at the company's 45th Anniversary show.

He was aided by members of the Suzuki-Gun faction, a group that took New Japan by storm. 2 years later, he is still a member of the group and has been under the expert tutelage of the legendary Minoru Suzuki and holds wins over men such as Tetsuya Naito, Will Ospreay, and Kazuchika Okada, just to name a few.

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#6 Marty Scurll

Marty Scrull is a decorated champion across the world.

Marty Scurll has become a breakout star over the last few years, wrestling all over the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan. Some of his biggest accomplishments include winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and defending it inside the Tokyo Dome and being an integral member of the Bullet Club.

He recently had a chance to work with WWE, being offered a deal along with his friends Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, but all men turned WWE down. Three of them wound up creating the new promoton All Elite Wrestling, Marty declined and signed a massive multi-year deal with Ring of Honor, which includes being the head of creative -- obviously much more power than he would have had with WWE, and probably AEW as well.

#5 Kota Ibushi

Kota Ibushi is a former IWGP Intercontinental Champion

Kota Ibushi was one of the participants in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament, and although he was the favorite going in, Ibushi refused to sign a contract with WWE beyond the tournament. Much like Zack Sabre, Jr and his loss to Gran Metalik, Ibushi would make it to the semifinal match, losing his to the eventual winner, TJ Perkins. Interestingly, three of the final four men left in the Cruiserweight Classic now work in some way for NJPW. Zack Sabre, Jr and Kota Ibushi are major stars in New Japan and TJP wrestles for many of the company's shows in the United States.

One reason behind Ibushi's unwillingness to sign a contract with WWE is that he really only joined he CWC to expand his horizons and get more eyes on Japanese wrestling. Ibushi has historically been difficult to be nailed down to any single company, being seen as a freelancer for most of his career, mainly working for Japanese promotions DDT and New Japan. In 2019, he announced that he was finally going to sign a long-term deal with New Japan, and that he planned to stay for "the rest of his career". He wound up winning the G1 Climax tournament and was in one of the main events of this year's WrestleKingdom, the biggest non-WrestleMania show in the wrestling world.

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#4 Kenny Omega

Kenny Omega at All Elite Wrestling's All Out event.

In late 2018, WWE reportedly reached out to Kenny Omega with a multi-year contract to sign, but he refused. He was apparently offered a lot of money, a guaranteed push, and maybe even some control over his character. Although the money was right, and he was said to be debuting on the main roster, not NXT, if he signed, control over his storylines was a big deal. That is something he has in AEW, a company in which he serves as an Executive Vice President and has far more say than he ever would in WWE, plus the money to match it.

New Japan didn't offer him what he wanted, WWE didn't offer him what he wanted, so he and his friends left New Japan, turned down offers from WWE, and created their own company instead. It's working out pretty well for them.

#3 Will Ospreay

Will Ospreay is a multi-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.

Will Ospreay is one of the best high-flying wrestlers in the world and was arguably the best wrestler overall in 2019 after an astoundingly great year. Thnks to his high-flying, high-risk style of wrestling, he has earned the nickname of 'The Aerial Assasin".

Speaking in an interview, Ospreay revealed that he's not interested in signing with WWE. He stated in that interview with Chris Jericho, and publicly in other venues such as Twitter, that his heart lies with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He is a major player in the company and is even bigger now, in 2020, than he was in 2016 when there were first rumblings that WWE may be interested. Ospreay is currently living in Japan full-time and isn't going anywhere in the foreseeable future.

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#2 & #1 Nick and Matt Jackson

The Young Bucks do their signature pose.

Matt and Nick Jackson, hailed as one of the best brother tag teams ever, have been teaming for over 15 years as The Young Bucks. Along with their friends and business partners who went on to create All Elite Wrestling, the Bucks were reportedly offered a heck of a deal by WWE.

The money was there, the promise of a push to the main roster, just like Kenny Omega, was there, but the pieces just didn't all fit into place. The pastures were greener in Jacksonville, the headquarters of AEW, the company the men helped create. Like Kenny Omega as well as Cody, the Young Bucks claim the titles of Executive Vice President, and are also some of the biggest and most popular stars in AEW. The timing was right, as they were on their way out of New Japan Pro Wrestling no matter what -- the question was whether or not WWE could offer them something better than they could offer themselves. The answer turned out to be a very definitive "no".