I’m not sure if you saw the title of this column, but that little “Part Three” at the end of it… well, that means this is the third part in a series. If you’ve been reading my columns for a while, you already know what this is about.
If you’re new around here, this series was partially inspired by the old Kayfabe Commentaries series “Wrestling’s Most Despised,” where fans would get to vote on who they feel are the most hated people in wrestling, and then a cast of characters including Kevin Nash, Bill Apter, The Blue Meanie, Sean Waltman, and others would react to the list. You’d hear raw, unfiltered opinions, ranging from personal interactions with the despised to show why they were included, to defending the names and saying why they might not belong on the list.
In two previous columns, I’ve put out a list of people who get a lot of hate from all corners of the internet, and I did the same as the cast from Kayfabe Commentaries… talk about whether or not I feel those on the list deserve to be there or not.
My list isn’t going to be in any particular order, and if you don’t see a name included here, it’s more than likely because I’ve talked about them in one of the previous editions of this series, so you can check those out if you’re curious.
Let’s get to the list, shall we?
Roman Reigns
Why He’s Hated: First and foremost, a ton of the hate he receives has to do with the fact that he has basically spent the entirety of the last five years working a somewhat part-time schedule and still dominating the WWE main event scene. That, of course, includes a 1,316 day reign as the WWE Universal Champion, which is absolutely unheard of in modern day “major” wrestling.
He also gets hated because of his methodical pace in the ring. While he was never mistaken for a mid-1990’s WCW Cruiserweight in the ring, he slowed things way down during the last five years, focusing more on storytelling that was unique during the pandemic, with zero fans in attendance for shows. In a company where people like Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Finn Balor, and Sami Zayn have gotten a lot of shine through the years, Roman’s slower pace really stands out, and not always for good reasons.
The Verdict: Pro wrestling “styles” are completely subjective. That’s easy to figure out. Some people love Lucha Libre, while others think it’s too overly choreographed like a dance routine. There are a bunch of deathmatch fans, while others think it’s “garbage” wrestling that doesn’t require any talent whatsoever. Everyone likes something different. That’s why I get the polarizing reactions to Roman’s in-ring style. Over the last five-ish years, I’ve given four-plus stars to numerous Roman matches, and while I do enjoy the actual work he does, it’s mostly due to how much he has mastered the art of storytelling in a wrestling ring. More than anyone else in the sport, he understood how to make the most out of the unique situation that the COVID pandemic created. His trash talk and facial expressions were easier to hear and see without the in-person crowds, and his career took off to unforeseen heights.
There’s a difference between “I don’t like his matches” and “I don’t like him,” though. If you don’t find yourself entertained by Roman Reigns matches, that’s fine. You can hope and wish that WWE will push other people, and that’s also fine. Some of the hate Roman receives goes beyond that, though, and I think that’s weird. Unwarranted. He has done everything the right way, and has earned the spot and the accolades that he has received, becoming the “face” of the company for the “era” that we just lived through.
Cody Rhodes
Why He’s Hated: When you’re at the top of your particular field, there will always be people who want to see you fall. From the moment Cody returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38, he has been treated and presented like the “next John Cena,” taking the crown for the biggest babyface on the roster. That’s going to get a lot of attention, and not all of it is going to be positive.
Something else that Cody gets hate for is the “phony” personality that many people feel he has. He dresses like a politician, smiles like a politician, answers questions like a politician, and generally comes across like a politician. When the average person thinks of politicians of any kind, they tend to think of bullshit con artists that would lie to anybody about anything anytime. Some people absolutely swear that Cody is putting on a front, and that he’s nowhere near as nice as his squeaky clean television persona portrays him as.
The Verdict: I’ve never met Cody, so I can’t personally speak on how nice of a human being he is. I have, however, spoken to several people that have met him. People that have met him during his current WWE run, his time with AEW, his time on the independent scene before AEW, and even during his time before he left WWE the first time. Do you know what every single one of those people has said about Cody?
That he seems like a genuinely nice guy.
Yes, I’m aware that a good con artist is going to get you to believe anything they want. However, you’re telling me that all of these people… from different parts of the world, who do not know each other in the slightest… all have the same story about him, matching the numerous other stories I’ve seen and heard through the years? You couldn’t find someone who met him on a bad day or when he was tired, hungry, and so forth?
I don’t get the hate for him. Unwarranted. He’s in the position that he’s in because he has earned it, because he fights hard to keep it, and because he has the personality for it. He’s the “next John Cena” because, like Cena, he is someone that the younger fans can watch and strive to be like. He has handled the extra stress and pressure that comes with that role extremely well
Dax Harwood
Why He’s Hated: I first started noticing hate being sent in Dax’s direction due to his short-lived FTR podcast that he co-hosted with Matt Koon. Some people were upset that a current and active member of the AEW roster was able to have a podcast discussing current events and supposedly pulling the curtain back to give unfiltered opinions on what was going on in the company.
Then, there were times when he would say something on the podcast, get quoted verbatim on wrestling news sites and dirt sheets, and he would have a meltdown about things being taken out of context. That seemed to happen several times.
Others saw him as someone who kept talking about wanting to be open and honest with the fans, only to turn around and lie… or, at the very least, skirt the truth… on the show.
There was also the discussion about his mental health struggles, but how he seemed to do everything possible to make those struggles increase, including constant reactions to negativity on social media, as well as on the podcast itself.
The Verdict: I want to make one thing very clear here. From everything I’ve seen, heard, and read, I don’t think Dax Harwood is a bad guy. In fact, he comes across as a really solid dude that you’d want to hang out with.
However, if you’re looking at the reasons that Dax receives hate, I don’t think I have a choice but to say it is all Warranted.
He and Matt Koon may have been the only two people in the world who thought it would be a good idea for him to do weekly podcasts where he was basically dishing out gossip on his current coworkers and bosses.
Whose idea was it to combine mental health struggles, copious amounts of alcohol consumed, and a clear addiction to social media? His idea.
Nobody told him to say things on his show, and then turn right around and falsely claim to be misquoted and misunderstood when people were merely repeating exactly what it was that he said.
Time and time and time again, he kept taking the proverbial wheel of his own car, driving straight into light poles, and then wondering who the hell crashed his car. It just doesn’t make any sense, and it never did.
On the flip side of the coin, some of the things that were said to Dax on social media in the wake of the podcast controversy are ridiculous. Sending threats to his family, calling his eight-year-old daughter all sorts of disgusting names, and so on… if you participated in stuff like that, you probably don’t deserve to be drawing in breaths anymore.
Nick Khan
Why He’s Hated: He’s not someone you see out in front of a camera for interviews and podcasts very often, but he is someone whose name is constantly in the news. As the current WWE President and member of the TKO Board Of Directors, he has his hands in every business decision that WWE has made over the last few years, and has used his legal background to help put together all sorts of deals and contracts that have taken the company to record-breaking revenue and profitability year after year.
However, he receives hate because of that. Many deals… WWE’s working relationship with Saudi Arabia, their constant use of sponsors, and so on… aren’t viewed kindly by a vocal portion of wrestling fans, so he gets the blowback for them.
When he does make appearances in interviews, he tends to come across as robotic and without human emotions, instead focusing solely on money and business.
The Verdict: We, as a society, are in a very interesting time. The way we view billionaires and those responsible for billion-dollar deals and companies has shifted to almost immediate disgust. At face value, someone like Nick Khan should be viewed as being incredible at his job. It is his duty to make as much money as possible for WWE, and that is exactly what he has done since day one, working on a seemingly never-ending series of business deals that have taken the company to financial heights that they’ve never seen before. In the entire history of pro wrestling, nobody has ever taken a company to the financial heights that Nick Khan has taken WWE.
I certainly don’t agree with all of WWE’s business decisions. I’m not a fan of the Saudi Arabia stuff, and while I don’t think it distracts me from paying attention to matches, I probably wouldn’t have sponsor logos in every possible place in and around the ring. I just can’t find myself understanding why you should receive hate for doing precisely what your job title calls for, and for doing it well. Each and every person who hates on Nick Khan WISHES they could excel at their jobs the way he has at his. Unwarranted.
Michelle McCool
Why She’s Hated: Because of her marriage to The Undertaker and the perceived “benefits” she gets because of it. It’s that simple.
People feel that Taker replacing his old podcast co-host with his wife has completely tanked the enjoyment factor of the show. It used to be something of a “dudes being dudes” show, with a bunch of road stories being exchanged and a bunch of laughs being had between old friends. Now, it seems more like Mark Calaway buttoning up and not being able to talk about the wild things from wrestling past because his wife is sitting five feet away from him and staring at him. On top of that, she will often take over the interviews, speaking way more than her husband, asking more questions and responding to more of what the guests are saying.
This also comes at a time when Michelle replaced Mickie James out of nowhere as one of the mentors on the WWE LFG reality show. Mickie is an infinitely better in-ring worker than Michelle, with a much longer career, so people were left scratching their heads that a replacement like that was made. Immediately, the speculation was that Taker went to those in charge of things and begged and pleaded to get his wife on the show.
Her WWE Hall Of Fame induction also brought her a bunch of hate. She was portrayed as one of the best women to ever step foot inside of a wrestling ring, and as a dominant performer of her era, even though most hardcore fans couldn’t seem to remember anything she did that was newsworthy.
The Verdict: Warranted. 100% warranted. Without a doubt. I wasn’t a huge fan of Taker’s old podcast, but I would certainly check out episodes when the right guests were on. I liked the chemistry that he had with his old co-host, Matt Lyda, and Matt knew that the show wasn’t called “Six Feet Under With Matt Lyda” and knew how to take a backseat to the real star of the show. Michelle doesn’t seem to understand that at all. Every bit of hate she gets is accurate… she really does dominate the interviews, speaking more than her husband and often speaking over everyone else in the room. Nobody is tuning in for Michelle McCool, but she acts as though she’s the new Joe Rogan with a billion people following her every move.
While I do think she belongs in the WWE Hall Of Fame, I also feel that she was never someone who was at the top of her profession. Even when she was a champion, there were other women on the roster that were bigger and better. Her matches were decent enough, but does she have anything that she did in the ring that you remember all these years later? Her most memorable career moment was the stupid ass “Piggie James” storyline with… Mickie James.
Poor Mickie.
Initially, I had five more names to discuss in this column, but my week got really busy out of nowhere, so I ran out of time to complete everything. I suppose I’ll just have to save those names for a future edition of this series. It’s not like I’ll ever run out of names to talk about. There are always people getting hated on in pro wrestling.
What do you think of the names mentioned here? Do you think the hate they receive is warranted? As always, hit me up in the comments section below, on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s get to my Weekly Power Rankings before closing things out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge: 25 consecutive minutes of pure, unadulterated chaos and non-stop action. Throw in the fact that the match had a surprise winner who may have had her star-is-born moment with her performance, and you have something special. Kudos to all five women involved here.
Konosuke Takeshita vs Jon Moxley: This would’ve fit right in as the main event of any AEW pay-per-view. Instead, it was another Continental Classic match that took place on Collision. What a world we live in.
Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge: Plenty of chaos, and plenty of action, but perhaps not quite on the same level as the women’s match, hence why it’s lower on the list. Like the women’s match, though, this one featured a result we could be looking back on years from now as the moment when the winner truly arrived on the scene and began his true ascent to stardom.
Kevin Knight vs Kyle Fletcher: Oh, hey, look… two of the more exciting performers on the AEW roster, squaring off against each other in the Continental Classic, putting on a wildly entertaining match. What a formula.
Gunther vs Solo Sikoa: Heel vs Heel matches can be a bit tricky to pull off sometimes, but this one not only worked, it worked really well. It really does seem like people step their game up when they face Gunther, and that showed here, with Solo having what may very well be the best match of his career.
Jon Moxley vs Claudio Castagnoli: This is where the Continental Classic gets really fun. When Death Riders collide! It really shows the group’s focus on fighting, too. You believe that neither man had a problem fighting their brother, because that’s how the group has been portrayed. They train against each other, and they compete against each other. Now they’re just doing it literally.
Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss: This is another match that could’ve been a pay-per-view main event, if we’re going to be honest with each other. Well, without the interference from Asuka and Kairi Sane at the end, anyway. The good news is that it sets things up for a rematch, and then you throw in the Kabuki Warriors, as well as the duo of Nia Jax and Lash Legend… there’s a lot to like in the WWE women’s tag scene right now.
Survival Of The Fittest Match: This match could’ve, and maybe should’ve, been ranked higher, but I held it back a bit for two reasons. One, the crowd at Final Battle was absolutely awful, making it sound like the wrestlers were performing in the pandemic era all night. Two, there were a couple of wonky moments with the way the match was laid out. Overall, though, those are issues that don’t fall on the wrestlers. What they did was execute an exciting match. It’s just a shame that the extra stuff didn’t work in their favor.
Athena vs Persephone: In my initial review, I had this match listed ahead of Survival Of The Fittest for the best match at Final Battle. They had the same grade, but I placed this one just ahead overall. In watching it back, though, I flipped them. Athena and Persephone had a bunch of spots where they had miscommunication and/or timing issues in the first half of the match. They were able to overcome them in the second half, settling in for something that was a lot of fun, but those spots really took away from the overall flow.
AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods: A lot of people assumed Kofi and Woods were going to win the World Tag Team Titles here, but they did not. In a short amount of time, AJ Lee (I’m going to keep making the joke) have really developed a good amount of in-ring chemistry together, and their surprising run as a team continues on.
Kazuchika Okada vs Pac: Oh, hey, look… two of the more exciting performers on the AEW roster, squaring off against each other in the Continental Classic, putting on a wildly entertaining match. What a formula.
Ilja Dragunov vs Carmelo Hayes: Melo continues his hot streak in the ring. Will WWE take notice of it and do something bigger and better with him in 2026? Only time will tell. I like that Dragunov was upset about winning this match through interference that he didn’t initially see. It continues the story of Tommaso Ciampa wanting a shot at Ilja, with him helping Ilja retain the United States Title. The champion’s reaction sure makes it seem like he’s at his breaking point with Ciampa.
Ricky Saints vs Oba Femi: This result surprised a lot of people. Once it was announced that the winner would be facing Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event, people assumed WWE would be running Cody vs Ricky, taking advantage of their real-life friendship. That would also free Oba up to move to the main roster permanently. They had a really good, hard-hitting match, but Oba won, making him a two-time NXT Champion. Cody vs Oba could be a blast, but how much longer is Oba going to be in NXT? With Je’Von Evans winning the Iron Survivor Challenge and earning a shot at Oba on January 6th, everyone now shifts their focus to Oba dropping the title there and then moving to the main roster, probably with a Royal Rumble appearance thrown in.
Shane Taylor, Carlie Bravo & Capt. Shawn Dean vs Scorpio Sky, Dante Martin & Darius Martin: I continue to be impressed by the in-ring chemistry that Taylor, Bravo, and Dean have built together. Their work has been a lot of fun to watch. I just wish it wasn’t being hidden in RoH. They deserve some shine on Dynamite or Collision.
Orange Cassidy vs Roderick Strong: Oh, hey, look… two of the more exciting performers on the AEW roster, squaring off against each other in the Continental Classic, putting on a wildly entertaining match. What a formula.
Joe Hendry, Myles Borne, Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater vs DarkState: DarkState continues to impress me with how quickly they put the puzzle pieces together. The members of the group could be a major problem in NXT in 2026 if they keep moving at the pace they’re currently at.
Mercedes Moné vs Red Velvet: The mental unraveling of Mercedes has begun with her losing her first title. It could be fun to watch her continue spiraling, losing another title and then another title, and so on and so forth.
LA Knight vs Gunther: I know a lot of people wanted LA Knight to win here, and I get it, but I think Gunther was the right choice. Cena vs Gunther should be a better match than Cena vs Knight would’ve been. Also, the story of Cena having to overcome the horror movie villain should be really entertaining.
Mascara Dorada vs Claudio Castagnoli: Oh, hey, look… two of the more exciting performers on the AEW roster, squaring off against each other in the Continental Classic, putting on a wildly entertaining match. What a formula. We even got an upset win for Dorada here.
Sammy Guevara & The Beast Mortos: For the first time in anyone’s memory, the same person (Sammy) has won the same title three consecutive times. He and Dustin Rhodes were the RoH Tag Team Champions, but the titles were vacated when Dustin needed knee surgery. Rush stepped in to team with Sammy, and they won the vacant titles, but then Rush injured his knee, and the titles were vacated again. Now, Sammy and Mortos have won the titles. I can’t wait for word that Mortos has injured his knee, forcing the titles to be vacated again, only for Sammy to find another partner and win them back soon.
This Week’s Playlist: “Giving Her Away” by Luke Combs… “Proving Me Right” by Tucker Wetmore… “Guardian” by Poppy… “44 Bars” by Ludacris… “Look At ‘Em” by Erick Sermon, Method Man & Redman… “Forever Blessed” by Ekolu… “Playing Aces” by Alter Bridge… “Everything Is Fine” by Paleface Swiss… “Death Grip” by Lionheart & A Day To Remember… “Neversleep” by Crystal Lake & Myke Terry… “Come On Over” by Fiji… “Nobody Does It Better” by Nate Dogg & Warren G… “Play This At My Funeral” by Xzibit… “Keep It Like That” by Rittz & Vinnie Paz… “Please Don’t Go” by Boyz 2 Men… “Love Like Whiskey” by The War And Treaty… “Stealing A Kiss” by The War And Treaty… “Save Me” by The War And Treaty… “Still Tippin” by Mike Jones, Paul Wall & Slim Thug… “I’d Rather” by Luther Vandross
