10 Most Shocking Defections In Wrestling History

3. Chris Jericho (WWE to AEW) 

AEW is a company that is built on defection. Exodus is built into its very bone marrow.

The Elite defecting from New Japan, Jon Moxley turning new WWE contracts down, seeming WWE lifers like Paul Wight and Mark Henry popping in to pop Vince’s blood pressure.

But at the very heart of it, is one key defection, from a man who has a habit of it, Chris Jericho.

Sure Cody Rhodes too, but Jericho was the bigger name, Jericho was the first champion, Jericho was the first ballot hall of famer, whose day one allegiance with this brand new whippersnapper of a company helped to draw those crucial frustrated WWE fans looking for an actual alternative.

And it’s not even Jericho’s first rodeo, sure his New Japan excursion was officially sanctioned, at first, but he made his bones in the big dub by making a big deal of escaping WCW in its prolonged death throes.

Him bolting from the company and immediately being treated like a big deal, debuting in a segment with The Rock, getting to keep his WCW name, led to other such defections like the Radicalz, helping to give WWF the best midcard in wrestling history.

Also, just a little fun fact to end this entry, while in contract negotiations with WWE in 2007, Jericho teased jumping ship to TNA by posted a picture of their logo to his website, the man knows how to play the field.

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2. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (WWF to WCW)

Wrestling’s most lucrative boom period was the late nineties. That boom period was kicked off by WCW somehow going from Dungeon of Doom bullshit, to suddenly very cool indeed overnight.

WCW became very cool overnight, when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash airquotes “invaded” WCW from the WWF wink wink.

Hall and Nash saw the chance for better money and fewer days and jumped ship, but unlike those that jumped before them, they jumped with the gimmick of being WWF guys, working on behalf of WWF, to bring down WCW.

“You know who I am” said Scott Hall, not explicitly calling himself Razor Ramon but still doing the accent. The fans did know, and the fans flipped for it.

It seems incredibly hokey now, but after the ludicrous real-life antics of Lex Luger, it was paper over with this tangible reality that made it instantly the biggest storyline of the year, especially after the lawsuits started flying around, that’s the mark that you’ve truly defected and are not currently being wished well in your future endeavors.

The final cherry on the NWO cake came a short while later, courtesy of…

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1. Hulk Hogan (AWA to WWF to WCW)

Single-handedly, wrestling’s most effective turncoat. Apart from the TNA thing, but we don’t need to talk about the TNA thing.

Way back in the early 80s, Hulk Hogan was being tipped for very big things in the AWA, before Vince made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Hulk left to become the biggest guy in professional wrestling, leaving Verne Gagne’s AWA with such crushed hopes and dreams that the rumor persists to this day that Gagne tried to bribe Iron Sheik to break Hogan’s leg in the match at MSG intended to crown him WWF Champ.

Hogan pledging his considerable star power to big Vince was instrumental in setting apart the Fed as the industry leader, but then, when bloom came off the rose in the early 90s, Hogan skipped out to try and make movies.

Those were a lump of arse, so he returned to wrestling… for WCW, WWF’s competitor.

He jumped from the AWA, ushered in a boom period, then jumped to WCW, and eventually ushered in a second boom period with the NWO.

All your favorite wrestling memories as a kid, chances are most of them are down to Hulk Hogan having the brand loyalty of a capitalist mayfly.

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