I’ve said this a million times before, but sometimes my column inspiration comes to me when I’m not even searching for it.
I was scrolling through YouTube, looking for something random to watch. A portion of Kayfabe Commentaries’ “Wrestling’s Most Despised” popped up. I’ve seen the entire thing before, but I watched this video again because those types of things are fun. If you’ve never heard of it, it was part of KC’s “Wrestling’s Most…” line. For this episode, they let fans vote on who they feel are the most despised people in the history of wrestling. The votes were tallied, and we got a top (bottom?) ten list. Then, a cast of characters such as Bill Apter, The Blue Meanie, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, and more would react to the list. You’d hear their raw, unfiltered opinions on the list. Maybe you’d get some personal stories to show that those on the list are warranted, but maybe the panel would talk about why they felt those included didn’t belong there.
After watching some more YouTube videos, I headed on over to Facebook. While I was there, I saw a friend of mine having a discussion with one of his friends about the rivalry between Vince Russo and Jim Cornette. My friend was of the thinking that Jim Cornette is in the “right” in their rivalry, and that he is a “misunderstood” wrestling personality, while his friend felt pretty much the same way about Vince Russo.
All of that got me thinking about different people in the wrestling business that receive hate from fans. Some of that hate is warranted for one reason or another, but in my opinion, there’s plenty of hate that isn’t warranted at all. That’s life, though, right?
In this column, I’m going to be looking at some of those aforementioned hated-on personalities. I want to give my thoughts and opinions on that hate, and whether or not I feel it’s warranted. However, I need to make this VERY clear before I get started… I’m talking about the human beings behind the characters, and not the characters themselves. Someone like Adam Cole does really good work as a heel, but when was the last time you saw or heard a story about the man behind the character, Austin Jenkins, being an asshole? It’s really important to keep that in mind as you continue reading on.
Two more things before we get started. First of all, this won’t be in any particular order. Two, if you don’t see someone listed here, it doesn’t mean I think they’re a saint or anything. More than likely, it means I just didn’t think their case was interesting enough to discuss.
Here goes nothing.
Goldberg
Why He’s Hated: There is a variety of reasons that Goldberg receives hate, both from his peers in the business and from fans around the world. People are still upset with him over ending Bret Hart’s career with a kick to the head, and Bret himself is included in that group, as evidenced by the fact that he continues taking shots at Bill Goldberg whenever he can. Some folks hate on Goldberg because they feel he has always taken himself way too seriously, whether it’s thinking that his character shouldn’t look “weak” or not being able to laugh at the Gillberg parody. There are numerous books and shoot interviews with his fellow wrestlers where a picture is painted of him being very difficult to work with. You’ll see a lot of comments about how he didn’t pay his “dues” and didn’t “deserve” the push he received in 1997 and 1998. There are also people who blame him for killing all the momentum of The Fiend in one match when he came out of nowhere to beat him to win at Super ShowDown back in 2020. Like I said, there is a variety of reasons.
Verdict: When it comes to the Bret Hart incident, I do think Goldberg has received an unnecessary amount of hate. Was he a tad sloppy? Sure. However, let’s not act as if he walked through the curtain that night with the intention of turning Bret’s brain into tapioca pudding. Accidents happen. Unfortunately, when accidents happen in wrestling, the outcome can be very tragic. As far as everything else is concerned, how can you argue with any of it? He absolutely, positively takes himself too seriously, and has admitted to it on multiple occasions. He has been very vocal about hating the Gillberg character, the “Greenberg” cracks from Chris Jericho in their WCW days, and anything else that made fun of him in any way. If wrestler after wrestler mentions that he’s difficult to work with, that means it’s more than just one person with a vendetta. He gets a lot of hate, from all corners of the wrestling world, but there’s too much of it for me to say that it’s anything but Warranted.
CM Punk
Why He’s Hated: A lot of the hate that Punk gets, for right or for wrong, boils down to his 2014 exit from WWE. He has received hate for “walking out” on the business, and therefore, “walking out” on the fans who have supported him through the years. After he left, he chose to distance himself from the business almost completely, and that seems to mean he cut off a lot of the friendships he had with other wrestlers. There have been a lot of stories about wrestlers who viewed him as a friend while he was with WWE, only to say that he stopped responding to their calls/texts after leaving, or that they got into some sort of friendship-ending argument in the immediate aftermath of his departure. Punk also spent a large portion of time between his WWE departure and AEW arrival bashing a lot of WWE-related things, and some (or most, depending on your point-of-view) of it came across as sour grapes.
Verdict: Unless you’re completely blinded by some stupid loyalty to WWE, you can’t deny that a lot of Punk’s criticisms about the company were valid. Did he sound bitter in making those criticisms? Yeah, but that goes with the territory. Anyone who leaves a job, for any reason, and has something negative to say about their time there is going to come across as bitter to some people. Obviously, it’s pretty difficult to talk about the stories of his lost friendships. Punk himself hasn’t exactly been open about it, and the others involved have basically dropped little breadcrumbs and have said little more than “he knows what he did” without going into any detail publicly. Of course, there’s also the whole “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” line of thinking, too. If it was just one person saying it about Punk, you could chalk it up to a lot of things. The fact that it has happened time and time and time again, though, seems to paint a more vivid picture of what Punk was going through after he left WWE. Everything boils down to Punk’s feelings. As he said in his promo when he debuted for WWE, he was sick and he didn’t feel it would be possible to get better if he stayed in the place that made him sick in the first place. A lot of you reading this, to an obviously lesser extent, can understand and relate to that. Maybe it was a job, a family member, or a relationship with a significant other… but no matter what it was, it affected you to such a point that you needed to get away, or else it would do nothing but continue to hurt you. I don’t think I can truly fault him for that. I’m not going to celebrate all of his decisions, either. He just seems like a man who happens to have a bit of a prickly personality. I’m going to say his hate, overall, is Unwarranted, even with some of those personality traits that may not make him the most fun person to be around sometimes.
Eric Bischoff
Why He’s Hated: Another person that receives hate for a multitude of reasons. Some feel he’s too arrogant. Others hate him because of the stunts he pulled during the Monday Night War such as directing Tony Schiavone to spoil Mick Foley’s WWF Title victory on-air or call Vince McMahon out for a fight when he knew Vince would never respond. Many long-time wrestling fans think the only reason Bischoff was ever successful in the first place was because he had access to Ted Turner’s never-ending financials, and not anything related to skills or knowledge. In recent years, he has developed some new hate because of his 83 Weeks podcast, where he continuously puts down “smart” fans, “dirt sheet” writers and readers, and anyone along those lines.
Verdict: When you look back at WCW, its meteoric rise during the Monday Night War, and then its incredibly disastrous fall into going out of business, one thing stands out… Eric Bischoff. He was there for the highest of the highs, and he was around for a lot of the lowest lows. Those who feel Bischoff’s success is wholly due to being financially backed by Ted Turner make one point to “prove” their argument, and that is… look at Bischoff’s level of success without Ted Turner. WCW fell into the toilet. He and Hulk Hogan seemingly tried to do the same thing to TNA. That’s pretty damning evidence, and no “liked” tweets by Elon Musk is going to change that. In my opinion, the 83 Weeks podcast is almost unlistenable/unwatchable because of his constant “FUCK DAVE MELTZER FUCK DIRT SHEETS FUCK SMART FANS FUCK YOU IF YOU THINK YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME” rants. He’s someone who is hanging on to that glory from 25 years ago, and that’s a big part of the negativity surrounding him. Warranted.
Hulk Hogan
Why He’s Hated: In a sport that has been DOMINATED by backstage politics from the beginning, Hulk is the biggest politician to ever step foot inside of a wrestling ring, basically getting to pick and choose when he would lose matches and having the power to change plans on a dime, usually at the last minute. Outside of the ring, he was caught on multiple recordings using racist and homophobic language, even going so far as to admit being a racist on one of the tapes.
Verdict: Everybody knows about Hulk’s backstage politics. Whether you love him or you hate him, you know the seemingly endless stories of him doing things like that. One thing says it all when it comes to his backstage antics… “That doesn’t work for me, brother.” The thing is… that isn’t Hulk’s fault. At all. If he has any sort of “Creative Control” in his contract, that’s on the company that has given him that contract. Even if Hulk says he won’t sign with you unless he gets that kind of power, it still has to be given to him. There’s no way I can fault Hulk for that, as he was smart enough to take advantage of something that every wrestler, especially in his era, would slap their mothers for. Unfortunately for him, that isn’t the end of his story. Those recordings derailed his career, causing him to be released by WWE and where nobody wanted to touch him. His comments were bad enough, but everything that happened after the comments made it even worse. He chalked it up to the “it’s how we grew up in my neighborhood” excuse, only to have several of his childhood friends and neighbors deny that. There was a backstage apology to the WWE roster that he said went really well, but then word started coming out that the people he was REALLY supposed to be apologizing to were unhappy with various aspects of that apology. He took a really bad situation and seemed to make it worse at every turn, instead of just manning up and going out with authentic apologies and attempts at reconciliation with people that he needed to do that with. Look… do I think Terry Bollea is the next Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan? No, I don’t. Do I think he has some prejudices deep down inside like A LOT of people born in the early 1950’s do? Yes, I do. He said some really stupid things while he was pissed off at his daughter. I heard her debut album, Undiscovered, in 2006, and I said some really stupid things while I was pissed off at her, too. The lies and excuses that followed Hulk’s comments are what have me going with Warranted, though. Things might… MIGHT… be different if he just came out and apologized, without any excuses, and kept his nose clean, so to speak.
The Undertaker
Why He’s Hated: This one is a HUGE surprise for some of you, and you’re scratching your heads as you try to figure out why he’s on the list. The Undertaker is someone that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a fellow wrestler speak negatively about. When WWE says Taker is, perhaps, the most universally respected wrestler in the history of the business, it really might be true. Instead, all the hate he receives comes from a portion of wrestling fans. You have a percentage of fans who feel like Taker stuck around for too long as an in-ring performer, and they feel like his ego got in the way of keeping his legacy strong over the last few years. Then you have the more vocal group of fans who are upset over Mark Calaway wearing a lot of pro-police attire in the various interviews and documentary appearances he has made over the last few years. His use of “thin blue line” clothing is what has really driven the dislike. The “thin blue line” has basically become the unofficial symbol of the “Blue Lives Matter” movement, which was a response to the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Because of that, he has been called, at worst, a racist, and at best, tone deaf to what’s been going on in the United States as tensions have grown through the years.
Verdict: As I said, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone in the business say a bad word about the man. Not in shoot interviews, books, or anywhere else you’ll witness shots taken. That makes his inclusion on this list pretty unique. While I understand the point of the “Blue Lives Matter” and “Black Lives Matter” arguments, but I have a very difficult time believing that Mark Calaway is a racist. Make all the “redneck from Texas” jokes you want, but look at some of his absolute best friends in the wrestling business. The Godfather, Rikishi, Yokozuna, Ron Simmons, Booker T, Savio Vega… all minorities. While it has been shown that he made financial donations to the political campaign of Donald Trump in 2020, he has also said he would support Dwayne Johnson if Johnson does decide to run for the Presidency of the United States, as has long been rumored, calling Johnson the type of “uniter” that can bring this incredibly divided country together. Does that sound like something a racist would say? I’ve known some racists through the years. Not a single damn one of them is going to say anything about wanting the “divided” country to be “united” soon. This one is going to be listed as Unwarranted. I just don’t see it going THAT far with the guy. I know actual police officers who own “Black Lives Matter” clothing, who don’t like guns all that much, and who are overall really good people. I’m not going to have a fucking conversation that says EVERYONE who supports the police in any way is a raging racist. Grow up.
Ric Flair
Why He’s Hated: To start, there have been numerous stories of him being incredibly inappropriate with women, with the “Plane Ride From Hell” having several stories all by itself, including exposing himself to a flight attendant and sexually assaulting her at the back of the plane. A lot of those inappropriate actions have happened over and over, with stories of Flair being banned from various bars and clubs around the world because of how he would act once he had some drinks flowing through his system. Many people also feel that he’s something of a whore for money, willing to do or say just about anything as long as a check is attached to it, and him stepping back into the ring for his “final match” at the age of 73 is proof of that. Teddy Long has told a story about Flair calling him racial slurs in the old NWA days and that Flair, to this day, has never apologized for it. For someone who has been all about the big money lifestyle for decades, there are tons of stories of him being unable to pay for bar tabs that he runs up, which leads to those bars having to contact whatever wrestling company he was working for at the time so that THEY could pay his bills. In recent years, he has received a new level of hate for still acting, at 73 years old, the same way he did when he was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion in his 30’s. The people in that group feel that it’s gross to watch a septuagenarian with liver spots and thinning hair strut around as if he were God’s gift to women, picturing your grandfather trying to pick up women at a nightclub right now.
Verdict: I have made it very clear on several occasions that Ric Flair is the very first professional wrestler I ever saw. Without him, I may not be typing this column right now. Deep down, it hurts me to see the person that Ric Fliehr is, after all those years of watching the performer that Ric Flair is. With a billion accusations, all corroborated by endless witnesses, it’s hard to say the hate here is anything but Warranted. He’s a filthy old man that was a filthy middle-aged man, and he seems to be the only one who doesn’t see a problem with that.
Triple H
Why He’s Hated: “Buried” might be the single most incorrectly used term in all of wrestling vernacular when it comes to fans. You’ll see someone lose a 20-minute match that saw outside interference and weapon usage be the main reasons the match ended, and inevitably, someone will say they were “buried” because they lost. The term was definitely used before Triple H’s in-ring career, but it sure seems like it was popularized while he was on top of the business. Once he got romantically involved with Stephanie McMahon behind-the-scenes, he won and won and then won some more, and the fan complaints took off. His relationship with Steph alone has brought him a lot of hate. All these years later, there are still people who feel that he used that relationship with her as a power play to become one of the biggest stars in the company. The same can be said about his “Kliq” affiliation, letting the backstage power that Shawn Michaels had offer him another chance to do and say whatever he wants. Hulk Hogan used who he is to build a reputation as a backstage politician. Triple H, on the other hand, used who he knows to build that type of reputation. He also gets hate because of how he handled the end of his relationship with Chyna, and the way Chyna was basically blackballed from the company upon her departure. Him talking about Chyna’s “past” being a reason not to make her a WWE Hall Of Fame inductee, with ALL the shit other Hall Of Famers have in their past, didn’t sit right with a lot of people. Then, of course, there’s the “people like you” promo during his feud with Booker T leading up to WrestleMania 19.
Verdict: Not a single one of us can truly speak on whether or not Triple H starting a relationship with Stephanie McMahon was for legitimate reasons in the beginning. What seems pretty clear to me now, though, is that those two seem to truly love each other. You can see it in their eyes when they look at each other, as mushy as that sounds. With everything else, that’s a little easier to understand, as that’s all stuff that has been told, ad nauseam, by numerous people. It seems like there hasn’t been a shoot interview featuring someone who has been employed by WWE over the last 25 years that didn’t have at least one negative story about Triple H. When that many people are talking about what a dick he can be, it’s tough not to believe it. Triple H himself has admitted to a lot of the shit that has been said about him in the early Kliq and DX days, and who am I to argue with Triple H about Triple H? His hate is Warranted. Not all the way across the board, but more than enough for me to feel comfortable with this result.
Vince Russo
Why He’s Hated: If you’re Jim Cornette, you hate Vince Russo for simply being alive and breathing. For everyone else, he gets hated because of what he did (and more specifically, didn’t do) in WCW and TNA. He was involved in the WWF’s rise during the Attitude Era, and was then brought to WCW with the hopes that he would help rebuild the company’s momentum. When that didn’t happen, folks in and out of the industry began to call him a fraud because his ideas in WCW failed on such a spectacular level. Those accusations only increased when Russo joined NWA-TNA and his string of piss poor ideas continued throughout multiple start-stop-start-stop runs with the company. His “in-ring action isn’t important, storylines are” line of thinking has always angered a portion of wrestling fans.
Verdict: This is a weird one for me. In a lot of cases, I think people would be very quick to say he deserves almost all the hate he’s ever received. I’m not so sure about that. Here’s what we know… Russo’s only real success was when he was writing for the WWF. The obvious “answer” there is because he had Vince McMahon had the final say and was probably sending most of Russo’s garbage ideas out the window and we only got to see the best of the best ideas on television. That would paint a picture of Vince McMahon being a creative genius. Is he? After Russo jumped to WCW, the WWF continued using ideas and booking styles heavily attributed to Russo. One of the biggest storylines in the immediate aftermath of Russo’s departure was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin being run over by a car driven by a mystery person, later revealed to be The Rock. That was bad. Really bad. At the next pay-per-view, Miss Kitty showed the world her Kitty Titties. That was someone desperately trying to BE Vince Russo. We got some good stuff between Triple H and Cactus Jack to start 2000, but as you know, a LOT of Mick Foley’s (and Triple H’s at that point) stuff was things that he pitched and created for himself. There was a lot of great in-ring work in this era, but this wasn’t exactly the creative peak. Let’s also not forget that right before Russo was writing for the WWF, it was the era of Duke “The Dumpster” Droese, Kwang, Mantaur, Aldo Montoya, Adam Bomb, Mabel as King Of The Ring, Rad Radford, Isaac Yankem, Bastion Booger, and the list goes on and on. Lord knows that Vince McMahon hasn’t been labeled a “creative genius” by anyone other than the biggest of the biggest WWE marks in a long, long time. My point is that it isn’t quite so black and white with the two Vinces. Perhaps Vince McMahon isn’t the genius people think he is, and perhaps Vince Russo isn’t the drooling moron people think he is. Unwarranted. Largely. I think a lot of Vince Russo’s post-WWF failures are due to him trying too hard. He wasn’t able to just sit back and write shows and storylines. There was too much of an “I’LL SHOW YOU, MCMAHON” on his mind and he was always chasing the WWF success, trying to show Vince McMahon and the rest of the wrestling world that he was able to step out of shadows and succeeding on his own.
Jim Cornette
Why He’s Hated: If you were to ask wrestling fans to describe “stuck in the past” to someone, there’s a good chance they would immediately mention Cornette. He’s old school, through and through, and isn’t ashamed of that. That means he comes across as someone that hates any and every little thing about the modern day pro wrestling scene. Not only is he quick to go on rants about various topics in today’s scene, but he gets hate for the level that his rants reach. He’ll start yelling and cussing and getting red in the face. Even when he isn’t ranting, he receives hate from those who feel he’s racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or any sort of combination of those things.
Verdict: There might not be a more encyclopedic mind about the history of the sport in all of wrestling, whether you like Jim Cornette or not. If you’ve seen his memorabilia collection, it’s jaw-dropping, and he knows about every little bit of it. You could ask him questions about what happened on this NWA show back in the day, or what territory this wrestler worked for in 1976, and I bet you he would know the answer and have some stories to tell about it. If you were to step beyond that point, though, the waters get a little murky. I will fully and freely admit to being entertained by some of Corny’s rants. He has always had the gift of gab, and he gets those rants out, rapid fire, effortlessly. He just doesn’t know when to stop. To quote the great philosopher, Charles Quinton Murphy, he’s a habitual line stepper. That seems like it will be his issue as long as he graces this planet. For that, I’m going to go with Warranted here. It just gets really exhausting after long enough.
Brock Lesnar
Why He’s Hated: There have been a lot of stories about fans meeting Brock out in the real world and having less-than-positive things to say about him. Those stories usually mention Brock as being something of an ornery person, and even if you’ve never met him, it’s something you can picture in your head. Brock also gets hated on because of the way he has been booked over the last several years. Fairly or unfairly, he is viewed as someone who has basically robbed WWE at gunpoint, using their desperation against them in an effort to compete in main events, win World Titles, and make insane amounts of money for an equally insane light schedule.
Verdict: Honestly, this one is pretty easy for me. Unwarranted. He has been very open about how insular, private, and introverted he is. I, for one, can understand that completely. When I was younger, I was sociable and enjoyed being the life of the party. As the years went on, though, I began to find myself enjoying my privacy more and more. Now, a quiet day or night with my wife and daughter is my biggest goal. I’ve seen plenty of “reviews” from people who have met him that mentioned Brock being somewhat aloof, but that it was clearly more due to being that introvert and not because he’s a douchebag or anything along those lines. As far as the other stuff I mentioned, it goes back to what I said about Hulk Hogan earlier. I don’t care if Brock walks into Vince McMahon’s office and demands that, for his next contract, he will be booked to wrestle one match a year, and that said match will last no longer than 90 seconds, and that he must be a World Champion for the entire duration of the deal, AND that it must be the richest contract in professional wrestling history. He can make all the contractual demands he wants, but if Vince doesn’t agree to it, nothing gets signed. That’s a Vince problem, not a Brock problem.
Joey Ryan
Why He’s Hated: Oh, boy. When Joey Ryan was becoming one of the most talked-about wrestlers on the independent scene, his penis-based offense either made you laugh or pissed you off to no end. The latter group absolutely hated him, and every promotion who was giving him money to book him, for the “damage” he was doing to the wrestling business. Suspending your disbelief is one thing, but watching a grown man grab another grown man’s dick and said dick is so strong that it can perform wrestling moves on its own? Then, the accusations came pouring in. One woman after another came forth with accusations of harassment, sexual assault, and various things along those lines. Several men in the business who have either worked or lived with Ryan would also come out and speak negatively about him and the things he has done in the past. Ryan would essentially get blackballed from the business, losing booking after booking. His response to the accusations was as strong as anyone during the “Speaking Out” movement, as he began filing lawsuits, both against some of his accusers and against Impact Wrestling for what he claimed was a breach of contract after they fired him in the wake of the accusations. He would then resurface on social media as a God-fearing man, using bible verses to speak out against the hate and the backlash that he was receiving, further pissing people off.
Verdict: Look… I know what many of you are already stretching your fingers out to begin typing as a response. Accusations do not equal proof. I get that. We’ve all heard stories of people who were accused of something heinous, only to have the truth come out and let them off the hook. If Joey Ryan were accused by one person for something that happened one time, we wouldn’t be discussing him right now. There were tons of wrestling personalities that were accused once during “Speaking Out” that aren’t being mentioned here. The accusations against him kept rolling out, though. Again and again and again and again and again. Smoke, fire, blah blah blah. To me, him hiding behind religion is really what lands him on the Warranted side of things. It’s such transparent bullshit, and you see that so often with people. TOO often. They’ll rarely, if ever, mention anything about religion in their life, but as soon as they’re facing some real trouble, then it’s God this and Jesus that, Bible this and Heaven that.
JBL
Why He’s Hated: Bullying. More bullying. Even more bullying. Shooting on The Blue Meanie at ECW One Night Stand 2005. Repeatedly telling Justin Roberts to kill himself. Forcing multiple employees to leave the company. Constantly calling Rene Dupree homophobic slurs. Multiple stories about touching fellow wrestlers inappropriately during showers, in an attempt to find out who would have an “attitude” about it, referring to the complainers as “prima donnas” if they had any sort of negative reaction. The list goes on and on.
Verdict: I’ll say it again… accusations are just that. They’re accusations. That doesn’t automatically equal proof. There are WAY too many accusations floating around, though, for your eyebrows not to go up immediately when the discussion is about JBL. We’ve heard stories from big-name wrestlers like Edge and The Miz, as well as stories from “lesser” names like Rene Dupree and Steve Blackman, and even stories from non-wrestlers like Joey Styles. That makes JBL an equal opportunity bully. This is completely Warranted.
Bret Hart
Why He’s Hated: Even if you love “The Hitman” as an in-ring performer, you have to admit that he has complained an awful lot through the years. It’s whether or not you think his complaints have merit to them that determines your level of hate for him. He has been very vocal on how he feels about the likes of Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Goldberg, The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, Ric Flair, Honky Tonk Man, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, The Fabulous Freebirds, Seth Rollins… you get the point. He has never been shy about sharing his opinions on both the modern wrestling scene and its performers, as well as those from his time in the ring. Another thing that people have said they dislike about Bret is his opinion of himself. Those people mention his book, Hitman: My Life In The Cartoon World Of Wrestling, as well as the “shrine” he had to himself (pictures, memorabilia, magazine covers, etc.) at his home in Canada. Scott Hall famously told a story about when Bret invited a bunch of wrestlers to his house when they were wrestling in Calgary, and that Bret had a giant photo of himself above his bed.
Verdict: Go back to what I said about whether or not you feel his complaints have merit. Do you feel that way? How often has Bret complained about something that blew your mind? For me, he wasn’t saying anything that you haven’t heard a million other people say in the past. Bret just happened to say it A LOT. Of course he’s going to be upset with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Vince McMahon over the Montreal Screwjob. Who wasn’t upset with Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo over what happened in, and to, WCW? You couldn’t blink without another story about how people hated Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior for their backstage politics, poor in-ring performances, and backstabbing natures. Would I have liked to see him be less bitter in his retirement years? Absolutely. I’m still going to go with Unwarranted here, though, because behind the “here he goes again” thinking, there was almost always substance behind what he was saying.
Stephanie McMahon
Why She’s Hated: For being like her father when it comes to business, ruthlessness, and the mentality for the sport. She also gets a ton of hate for constantly being an on-screen character that is allowed to “bury” (OH NO, TRIPLE H AGAIN) wrestlers with no repercussions. There’s also the fact that she has been positioned at the very forefront of the “women’s evolution” from the beginning, even though most people don’t feel she had a lot, if anything, to do with it. Then, of course, there’s the whole situation with Triple H and Chyna, and getting into a relationship with someone that is already involved with someone else. I’ve seen people go so far as to say that Steph and Triple H are responsible for Chyna’s death because of what they did to her.
Verdict: When it comes to her on-screen character and how it is presented, I am all for the level of hate she gets. I’ve written about that in the past. She gets to emasculate male wrestlers by slapping them time and time again when it’s pretty obvious those wrestlers aren’t going to be able to hit her back. When it comes to the female wrestlers, watch Steph’s segments with them very carefully. Notice how often she busts out the bigger and more elaborate high heeled shoes when she’s in the ring with them, taking her already tall 5’8″ frame and making it look even bigger when standing next to the likes of AJ Lee, Brie Bella, and almost every other woman she has stood next to. All that stuff is ridiculous, and it isn’t necessary. Steph has done interviews where she downplays the negative reactions she gets from fans, saying that every story needs an over-the-top heel to help make the face worth cheering for. That’s true in most cases, but again, when the heel gets to do whatever they want with no comeuppance, that’s not telling a good story. As far as the “women’s evolution” is concerned, I understand why she gets hated for that, but I don’t really have much of an opinion on it. Sure, you’d rather have the wrestlers themselves placed at the forefront when it comes to the changes in women’s wrestling over the last several years, but if Stephanie has been championing the cause backstage and truly is one of the reasons why we’ve evolved from Bra & Panties Matches to women in the WrestleMania main event, kudos to her, and she should be praised for it. All in all, I think there are aspects where she gets too much hate for things, but I’m going to go with Warranted as a whole.
Dave Meltzer
Why He’s Hated: His detractors feel that his “reporting” is flawed for several reasons. They feel that Dave can sometimes outright make things up, only to turn around and report them as fact. Those people feel that if Dave isn’t making things up, he’s either being gullible enough to fall for purposely bad information that is fed to him, or that he’s reckless enough to report on things without fully following through on them first. He also gets a ton of hate for what people feel is a blatant bias when it comes to wrestling in Japan and how he rates matches. Speaking of those match ratings, Meltzer also gets hate for the ratings system itself. He didn’t create it, but he made it popular, and as the years have gone by, the industry has changed. Now, it feels like too many wrestlers are performing to get extra stars on Meltzer’s scale than anything else. He also has a lot of very strange interactions with people on Twitter. The type of interactions that have made many people question if he legitimately has something wrong with his brain.
Verdict: Let’s be completely and totally honest with each other right now. Dave Meltzer isn’t correct all the time, that’s for sure, but you’re a fucking fool if you think he’s gotten to where he is right now by never being right. People treat him like he hasn’t broken a single story in the 40-something years he’s been doing this. If you can reach whatever level of fortune and fame that Meltzer has reached by completely making things up 100% of the time, then why haven’t you done it for yourself? Dave probably has more money than you’ll ever see in your bank account, so why not step your game up and figure out the way to con yourself into a better life and financial situation? Exactly. Again, I’m very well aware that he gets a lot of stories wrong, and that he can spiral out of control when it comes to his speculating and conclusion jumping. I’m also of the belief that he has had some people within promotions that have fed him bad intel, perhaps on purpose in a “Ron Burgundy will read anything you put on the teleprompter” type of deal. With all that said, though, I think that it has become “cool” to hate on him in recent years for whatever reason. Unwarranted.
Well, there you have it. I probably could’ve added another 50 names to this list, but I’ve taken up way more of my own time than I originally planned to. What say you, ReaderLand? Do you agree with my choices here? As always, hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Weekly Power Rankings
- Jon Moxley vs Konosuke Takeshita: Another week, another great performance by Takeshita against one of AEW’s top names. I’m going to keep saying this until it happens, though… can we get the guy some fucking wins on television already?!? This loss brings his record on Dynamite and Rampage to 0-6. “Yeah, but he’s still working with AEW’s best.” Yes, in losses. It isn’t exactly difficult to have him face some great in-ring workers that happen to be lower on the proverbial ladder, pick up some wins in impressive performances, and THEN step into the ring with the top talents.
- Jonathan Gresham vs Lee Moriarty: If Gresham were six inches taller, he would be one of the top names in wrestling today. He’s that good. Even though Gresham has a big-time RoH World Title defense against Claudio Castagnoli this weekend at Death Before Dishonor, this match still allowed the very underrated Moriarty to shine, too. Very good stuff here.
- The Young Bucks vs Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs: Every bit the hectic match that we all thought it would be. I’m a little surprised to see the Bucks drop the AEW Tag Team Titles here, as it sure as hell seemed as though the company was building to Bucks vs FTR with all the Tag Team Infinity Stones on the line, but I’m not complaining. Lee and Strickland have put in some really good work since their partnership began, and there’s a lot of potential in them being the champions.
- Cameron Grimes vs JD McDonagh: As always, when Cameron Grimes is mentioned, I am legally and contractually obligated to mention the fact that he nearly broke my leg at an independent wrestling show a few years ago. Even though the result of this match was never in question, I enjoyed this a lot. I’m still not sure that anybody really buys McDonagh as a legit threat to Bron Breakker and the NXT Title, but that’s where we are now.
- Claudio Castagnoli vs Jake Hager: These two have good chemistry together after spending a lot of time in WWE working together, both as a tag team and as opponents. It’s crazy that Hager made his AEW debut on the very first episode of Dynamite on October 2nd, 2019, and yet, this was only his 34th match on television or pay-per-view for the company. For the sake of reference, Jimmy Uso has wrestled on television or pay-per-view 28 times in 2022 alone. If you want to dig even further, this was only the 10th singles match on television or pay-per-view that Hager has wrestled for AEW. To continue the comparison, Jimmy Uso… a tag team wrestler… has wrestled seven singles matches on television in 2022. It has been a weird AEW run for the former Jack Swagger.
- Roderick Strong: He had a nice win over fellow Diamond Mine member Damon Kemp, but that’s not really why he’s here. It might only be something that interested me, but I laughed a good laugh at Roddy’s post-match backstage segment. He arrives on the scene after seeing that The Creed Brothers have been attacked, and he’s already yelling. Then, Damon Kemp shows up a few seconds later and Roddy’s all “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!?” as if he didn’t just knock Kemp out in a match two minutes ago. Roddy yells some more to fire up the troops, saying that the Diamond Mine are going to finish their war with Tony D’Angelo and his cronies, and then he storms off, but not before yelling out “DAMN IT!” in the background randomly. Roderick Strong has never been known for his character work, so this was a lot of fun to see. He’s really getting silly with this new leadership role, but it’s working for him so far.
- Ezekiel vs Seth Rollins: Based on crowd reactions, it sure seems like this Ezekiel thing is dying a slow death after a relatively hot start, doesn’t it? A good match here, but crowds really aren’t buying into this story anymore. That makes sense, considering the entire thing is a one-note character, and that one note has been played time and time and time again for the last few months. It might be time to move on.
- Wardlow vs Orange Cassidy: Maybe Wardlow should’ve been able to beat the dog shit out of someone in a dominant title defense, but this was fun. Orange Cassidy continues to look like someone who might be in line for another push, as I’ve mentioned. Even in a loss, he took it to Wardlow, who has looked unstoppable for so long.
- Cora Jade: In her first heel promo after turning her back on her best buddy, Roxanne Perez, she looked comfortable and delivered a good promo. It even made sense, as she played up the fact that Perez was seemingly more focused on winning the NXT Women’s Title than she was on defending the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles with Jade. Color me intrigued.
- People Who Enjoy Watching The Elderly Bleed: If you’re someone who enjoys that type of thing, you sure did enjoy watching Ric Flair get beaten to a bloody pulp by Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal to set up Flair’s last match at the cleverly titled show, Ric Flair’s Last Match, at Starrcast V on July 31st. Jarrett and Lethal will team up to take on Flair and his new son-in-law, Andrade El Idolo, in the match. Hooray? I guess?
This Week’s Playlist: “Stay With Me” by Calvin Harris, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams & Halsey… “Zipcodes” by Joey Bada$$… “Terrible 2’s” by DJ Premier & Run The Jewels… “The Root Of All” by DJ Premier, Slick Rick & Lil Wayne… “Beethoven 5th” by Apocalyptica… “In the Eye of the Storm” by Arch Enemy… “Dreams of Nowhere” by Soilwork… “Soul Revolution” by Fire From The Gods… “Ded to Me” by Vended… “Impact” by Lloyd Banks… “No Reward” by Lloyd Banks… “Menace” by Lloyd Banks & Conway The Machine… “Living Proof” by Lloyd Banks & Benny The Butcher… “Fell In Love” by Lloyd Banks… “Traffic” by Lloyd Banks, Dave East & Vado… “To Make You Feel My Love” by Jon Peter Lewis… “Ride” by SoMo… “Everlong” by Foo Fighters… “Would?” by Alice In Chains… “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus… “Save Tonight” by Eagle-Eye Cherry… “Buddy Holly” by Weezer… “Undone – The Sweater Song” by Weezer… “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer… “Holiday” by Weezer… “Here’s to the Night” by Eve 6… “Often” by The Weeknd… “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)” by Billy Ocean… “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler… “Prelude 12/21” by AFI
