10 WWE Stars Who No-Showed Events
These 10 WWE stars didn't turn up for work
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.
