10 WWE Stars Who No-Showed Events

In Vince McMahon’s WWE, the cardinal sin a superstar could commit would be to no-show an event they were advertised for. Doing so would help them run the risk of being fined, suspended and, in some cases, outright fired.

However, not every ‘no-show’ is intentional and sometimes WWE stars can’t ‘make a town’ due to forces outside of their own control.

It’s rare for a WWE star not to keep their commitment, of course, but it has happened at house shows, television tapings and even at major pay-per-views.

These are 10 WWE stars who no-showed.

10. Ken Shamrock

For fans who wonder why Ken Shamrock never became a bigger star in WWE, the reason might lie with his own apparent unreliability, brought on by a purported love of the nightlife.

The World’s Most Dangerous Man was someone that Vince McMahon and company predicted great things for, and he did intermittently receive a decent push, but the 1998 King of the Ring winner was never fully elevated to the main event level.

According to legendary announcer and then-Talent Relations chief Jim Ross, at some point Shamrock developed a habit of missing shows.

After the first time, JR fined Kenny and lectured him on the importance of making appearances he was advertised for, but the ex-UFC fighter missed another show just weeks later.

Once again, Ross docked him some of his wages – about $5000, or roughly what Shamrock made in an average week at the time – and warned the star that the third strike would be his last.

Shamrock apologised and subsequently made an effort to adhere to the schedule, though the creative powers-that-be never fully trusted him before he left the organisation to return to the Octagon.

9. Jeff Hardy

Rising through the ranks alongside brother Matt at the height of the Attitude Era, it was abundantly clear that Jeff Hardy was special.

Often compared to a young Shawn Michaels, the Charismatic Enigma threw caution to the wind night after night in his bid to steal every show he was on. Like the Heartbreak Kid, this sometimes reckless approach led to substance abuse issues and burnout.

WWE planned a significant push for the popular star after he went solo, as evidenced by the opportunities he routinely received as a singles performer on Raw in 2002. Less than a year after the split, however, the younger Hardy was released due to his refusal to attend rehab.

Developing a serious drug problem, Jeff was seemingly indifferent to his career prospects and prioritised his next fix over his next match. He showed up hours late if he showed up at all, and on several occasions, Jeff decided not to bother clocking in, which led to him being temporarily suspended from house shows and influenced the decision to let him go.

8. Lars Sullivan

The career of former WWE star Lars Sullivan may have been brief but it was also highly controversial.

In his short time there he had previous derogatory online statements he had made become public, was fined $100,000 for it, suffered a serious injury while in the middle of a monster push and also no-showed some events.

The first time the man nicknamed ‘The Freak’ decided to duck out was at the 2019 Royal Rumble, where he went missing after suffering what was termed an ‘anxiety attack’.

Lars was supposed to interact with John Cena at the show, setting up a potential WrestleMania encounter, but those plans were scrapped.

Despite his obvious, multiple issues, WWE persisted with Sullivan and attempted to build him back up on television. But then in late 2020, Lars pulled another no-show, this time at a television taping.

That was the final straw for Vince McMahon, who decided to cut bait and release Sullivan from his contract.

7. Sycho Sid

‘Softball Sid’, they called him, due to his habit of temporarily waving goodbye to wrestling stardom whenever it was time for the big man to step up to the plate.

The Master and Ruler of the World was a major attraction and was (almost) always welcomed back into the fold, regardless of whether he left WCW or WWE on iffy terms.

Due to his love of the game, Sid frequently decided he’d rather be on the field than at an arena he was booked at and developed a reputation for no-showing which would, invariably, lead to suspensions and firings.

The most egregious example of this was in 1992, not long after he’d headlined WrestleMania opposite Hulk Hogan.

Sid was working post-Mania house show main events with The Ultimate Warrior when he became unhappy with how the matches were going – particularly a spot where Warrior would kick out of his Powerbomb finisher – and up and quit just two nights into their programme.

Fans at arenas expecting to see Sid were instead ‘treated’ to his replacement, Papa Shango, with no explanation given for Sid’s absence.

6. Test & Stacy Keibler

It’s amazing that more WWE stars don’t miss shows, with the intense travel schedule leaving very little margin for error.

Miss a flight or fail to make a connection and the whole thing can go to straight to hell.

Then there are external factors like mother nature, which Test and Stacy Keibler found out about first-hand in February of 2003.

The couple were exempt from house show duty that weekend (though they did have other appearances booked) and were warned by WWE to give themselves ample time to get to Columbus, Ohio for Monday Night Raw, as a record-breaking snowstorm was wreaking havoc on the East Coast.

They didn’t heed the warning, got caught in the chaos and ended up missing the taping.

Needless to say, management were furious with the pair of them, especially since Test was in the middle of a programme with Chris Jericho and due to wrestle Y2J at the No Way Out pay-per-view six days later.

As punishment, Test was taken out of the match and replaced with… Jeff Hardy.

5. Butch Reed

Most of the time, a WWE no-show will seriously change the career of the person who fails to report for work.

Sometimes, however, the no-show has a very direct consequence for another performer, as the Honky Tonk Man discovered when Butch Reed showed up late to WWE’s June 2, 1987 Superstars television taping.

The Natural was scheduled to wrestle and defeat Ricky Steamboat for the Intercontinental Title that night, because The Dragon wanted to take time off to spend with his young family.

Butch had missed a few shows before the taping, citing burnout from WWE’s demanding travel schedule, which (coupled with his late arrival that afternoon) caused WWE brass to rethink things.

Vince McMahon then decided that the Elvis wannabe would get the strap instead, after Hulk Hogan suggested that Honky would be as good a choice as any as champion.

And so Wayne Ferris set off on a record-setting title run, while Reed slid down the card before exiting the company less than a year later.

4. Chris Benoit

Up until the weekend beginning June 22, 2007, Chris Benoit was considered a model professional within the wrestling industry.

Few worked harder than the Rabid Wolverine, who had managed to keep up with WWE’s insane itinerary for years, even after undergoing surgery to repair a broken neck. It struck his co-workers as odd, then, when he didn’t show up to a house show in Beaumont, Texas on June 24.

He had told people in the WWE office that he wouldn’t be able to get there because he had been tending to his family, who were experiencing a severe case of ‘food poisoning’.

It was uncharacteristic of Benoit, though he assured WWE personnel that he would focus his efforts on getting to Houston for the Vengeance pay-per-view the next night.

He didn’t make that event, either, which set alarm bells ringing backstage.

On the night, WWE made the call to replace Benoit with John Morrison, who went on to beat CM Punk for the vacant ECW Title.

The altered title match soon became of very little consequence when the true reason for Benoit’s no-shows emerged.

3. Half The SmackDown Roster

WWE’s SmackDown brand hit a major bump on the road to WrestleMania 21, when transportation issues coming from Knoxville, Tennessee meant that over half the roster didn’t make it to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for a March 20, 2005 house show.

With a skeleton crew on hand, WWE made the best of a bad situation and called it on the fly to give punters – all 1500 of them – their money’s worth.

Only eight wrestlers and one manager made it there, so WWE devised a one-night tournament (with the winner getting a shot at WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield) as the main attraction.

As well as JBL, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Booker T, Big Show, Kurt Angle, MNM & Melina (the three of whom hadn’t even debuted on television yet) were available, with Booker having to switch things up and work heel for a night.

Reports from those who were there said that a lot of the show didn’t make sense (least of all the five-man tournament brackets), but that the superstars grafted hard to entertain in unusual circumstances.

2. Steve Austin

A WWE star no-showing an advertised appearance is bad, but when that star is the biggest in the history of the business and that show is a live episode of Monday Night Raw? Well, that makes things just a little bit more interesting, doesn’t it?

There were signs that Steve Austin was approaching burnout prior to his decision to skip the June 10, 2002 taping.

He was beaten up and worn out physically, while creatively he was openly questioning not only the direction of his own character, but the entire company.

Asked to put over rising star Brock Lesnar in a King of the Ring tournament qualifying match, the Texas Rattlesnake baulked at the request and caught the next flight back to the Lone Star State.

WWE immediately went on the offensive, publicly admonishing him for ‘taking his ball and going home’ while claiming that he let down every fan who bought a ticket to see him, as well as every fan who tuned in on television to watch him.

There were bigger issues at play, but Stone Cold’s no-show was the catalyst for a nine-month period in exile for the former WWE Champion.

1. The Ultimate Warrior

When WWE decided to do business with the Ultimate Warrior again in 1996, few believed that the relationship would last.

In fact, most assumed it would end in disaster, as it had done not once, but twice previously.

Despite the prior acrimony and bad blood, WWE realised that the neon-soaked comic book hero come to life was a major star and that his box-office pulling power could negate any of the headaches that were part and parcel of working with Jim Hellwig.

One of those headaches was potential no-shows. He had previously threatened to no-show SummerSlam 1991, unless Vince McMahon acquiesced to a large range of demands, with Vince placating him enough to get him to the ring before suspending him indefinitely.

Over a year later (once he’d been brought back), Warrior once again skipped some dates in protest for being suspended due to a positive drug test.

So it was hardly a surprise four years after that when big Jim played house show hooky because, in his opinion, WWE had breached his contract by not giving him a cut of Warrior merchandise.

He was canned once again, kicking off a protracted, lawsuit-filled battle that only ended with Warrior’s return and Hall of Fame induction, which occurred just days before he passed away.