Promotions want their wrestlers to have a clean image publicly. Nobody wants to hire a walking controversy, because its bad PR. Over the years, multiple wrestlers have lost their job, and they had no one but themselves to blame.
These types of stars are more trouble than they're worth. Whether it's because of their drinking issues, past scandals, or just their controversial nature, promotions can only overlook their issues for so long. The following stars lost their job because of their issues. While many of them have overcome their demons, others don't even realize they have one.
10 Lars Sullivan
In 2019, Lars Sullivan got called up to the main roster. He was reportedly set to face John Cena at WrestleMania that year, to start his big monster push. But due to his mental health issues, Sullivan wouldn't debut on Raw until a few months later. He attacked several legends and won many squash matches before getting injured. Around this time, it was revealed that Lars made several racist comments on a wrestling forum, a few years ago. He was fined $100,000 by WWE.
He returned almost a year later and then got involved in another controversy. This time, he got caught harassing a Yoga instructor on Instagram. Some months later, Sullivan quietly got released by WWE after telling them that his wrestling career is probably over.
9 Jaxson Ryker
When The Forgotten Sons debuted on the main roster, the company seemed high on them. There was even a report that WWE wanted Forgotten Sons to beat The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. But then Jaxon Ryker made an ill-timed tweet in support of Donald Trump during the Black Lives Matter protests. So The Forgotten Sons were removed from WWE programming.
This got him a ton of heat at that time, and even many of his colleagues called him out for this tweet. There was a report that because of freedom of speech, WWE can't fire Jaxson. They tried to push him as a face sometime later but failed, as fans didn't care about him in the slightest.
8 Ivelisse
Last year, Ivelisse was let go by All Elite Wrestling. She claimed that an AEW coach had mistreated her, and also claimed Thunder Rosa for trying to sabotage her career.
Some fans believe her story, but most think Ivelisse is her own biggest enemy. She's been let go from many promotions in the past few years for similar reasons, so it's hard to blame anyone else.
7 Scott Hall
The legendary Scott Hall recently passed away after suffering three heart attacks. Most fans know that Hall was once haunted by his personal demons for many years. His drinking habits played a role in hurting his relationship with promotions like WCW, WWE, and TNA.
But he turned his life around after getting help from stars like X-Pac, Diamond Dallas Page, and his close friend, Kevin Nash. Hall's passing saddened the entire wrestling community. He was loved and respected by everyone.
6 Enzo Amore
While Enzo Amore (& Big Coss) had potential to become huge stars, they were also controversial wrestlers. Back in 2018, WWE fired Amore following a sexual assault allegation against him. Reportedly, he kept the police investigation hidden from WWE which led to his release. But Amore (and the police report) stated that he only got to know about the allegations after the accuser went public on social media.
Amore could've had a chance to return to WWE down the line, but him invading Survivor Series 2018 probably took away any chances he had of getting re-hired.
5 Tessa Blanchard
Tessa Blanchard was the Impact World Champion when she got fired by Impact Wrestling. They reportedly asked her to send promo footage, but she didn't. She was also accused of racism and bullying by multiple wrestlers. Tessa issued a statement and denied being a racist. Although, most people don't seem to believe her completely.
All this controversy led to Impact Wrestling stripping her of the championship and terminating her contract just days before it was due to expire.
4 The Ultimate Warrior
Back in 1991, The Ultimate Warrior teamed up with Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam's main event against Sgt Slaughter, General Adnan, and Colonel Mustafa. Some weeks before the event, Warrior sent a letter to Vince McMahon where he threatened to no-show the pay-per-view unless McMahon paid him $500,000. Vince agreed to his demands but later suspended Warrior after SummerSlam.
Warrior tried to leave WWE, but he was contracted to them until 1992. That year, he was let go by the company. In addition to his actions backstage, Warrior sullied his legacy with a series of controversial comments away from the business.
3 Big Cass
In June 2018, WWE released Big Cass from his contract, when he was in the middle of a feud with Daniel Bryan. During WWE's European Tour that year, Cass was drinking way too much. Reportedly, he also had attitude issues.
In May, Cass went off-script during a segment where he hit an actor (dressed as Daniel Bryan) multiple times instead of just giving him a big boot. Cass admitted that he made a lot of mistakes in a short time, which led to his release.
2 Austin Aries
Austin Aries has had attitude issues in every promotion he worked for. Some years ago, he no-sold the finish of his Impact World Championship match against Johnny Impact. Apparently, this incident got him blackballed from many promotions all over the world.
Last year, Aries also received a ton of backlash after posting an anti-vax tweet. He was also accused of sexual harassment by multiple people during the #SpeakingOut movement.
1 Brad Maddox
Brad Maddox worked as a referee on the main roster, and later as Raw's General Manager. After getting relieved of his duties as the GM, Maddox spent a ton of time working house shows. Before a dark match against R-Truth on an episode of SmackDown, Brad referred to the Indianapolis crowd as "pricks."
After his match with Truth, Vince McMahon immediately fired him, and he was never seen in WWE again.
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