5 WWE stars who were criticised by fans (and how they won them over again)

It has been announced that Goldberg will return to a WWE ring for the first time since Super ShowDown when he faces Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam on August 11.

The WWE Hall of Famer’s June 7 match against The Undertaker began with both men showing off their trademark moves and mannerisms, and it looked as though the first-time-ever encounter was set to live up to the hype.

However, things quickly went downhill when Goldberg legitimately knocked himself out whilst delivering a spear into the ring post. From that moment on, the match was full of errors and miscommunications before The Undertaker picked up the victory after nine minutes with a chokeslam.

Since the match in Saudi Arabia, the WCW legend has received lots of criticism and there have been calls for him to retire from in-ring competition. But, like his Super ShowDown opponent, he has decided to make a quick return to the ring instead, presumably with the hope of making amends for his match two months ago.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five other heavily criticised WWE Superstars to find out how they won fans over again.

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#5 The Undertaker

Although a lot of the blame after Super ShowDown was given to Goldberg, many fans grouped The Undertaker in the same category and encouraged both veterans to call time on their careers.

Unlike Goldberg, who still has to prove his doubters wrong, ‘Taker returned to WWE programming just two weeks after the disastrous match when he helped out Roman Reigns in his battle with Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon.

Heading into SummerSlam, there will no doubt be a lot of scrutiny on Goldberg’s in-ring abilities against Dolph Ziggler, regardless of how long the match lasts, and “The Deadman” found himself in the same position when he teamed with Reigns against McIntyre & McMahon at Extreme Rules last month.

Fortunately, the WWE icon produced one of his best performances in recent years to quickly banish the memories of his match at Super ShowDown.

#4 The Big Show

During his 2014-15 run as a member of The Authority, The Big Show often received chants of “Please retire!” from WWE audiences.

In character, the 7-footer would respond to the chants by asking fans to “find somebody to retire me”. However, in reality, John Cena revealed in a 2017 interview with TMZ that Show took the criticism personally and it “hit him close”.

Although nobody can deny that the seven-time World Champion is a guaranteed future Hall of Famer, it felt like the chants were much more than just heel ‘heat’ and that fans would genuinely have been happy to see him retire.

In 2017, three years after the negative crowd reactions began, Show redeemed himself with fans by facing the up-and-coming Braun Strowman in a series of main events of Raw throughout the year.

The long-term rivalry, which featured a spot where both men broke the ring after a middle-rope suplex, was among the best of 2017, and it allowed Show to prove exactly why he is worthy of the Hall of Fame one day.

#3 Batista

Batista’s five-month run with WWE in 2014 is widely considered a failure by fans.

WWE’s decision-makers brought “The Animal” back as a babyface, despite the man himself wanting to be a heel, and it was inevitable that fans were going to quickly turn against him if he won the Royal Rumble instead of Daniel Bryan – and that’s exactly what happened.

The company was left with no choice but to finally turn him into a bad guy before WrestleMania 30, where he and Randy Orton lost the main event against Bryan, and even an entertaining rivalry between Evolution and The Shield was not enough to salvage what had been an underwhelming return for the six-time World Champion.

Fast forward to 2019 and the WWE Superstar-turned-Hollywood movie star made his long-awaited return by facing Triple H at WrestleMania 35 in what turned out to be the final match of his career.

The physical encounter “could have been better but could have been a whole lot worse”, according to Batista, who won fans over with his work in the build-up to ‘Mania and in the match itself.

#2 Lio Rush

In October 2017, Emma was released from her WWE contract shortly after her feud with main-roster newcomer Asuka had come to an end.

Upon reading the news, Lio Rush – a new signing to NXT at the time – mocked Emma on Twitter by joking that “these are the things that happen when you’re not TRULY ready for Asuka”.

This prompted lots of negative responses from WWE Superstars on social media, while many fans called for the up-and-comer to be fired.

Rush went on to compete sporadically on NXT television and 205 Live before he began working as Bobby Lashley’s ‘hype man’ on Raw in September 2018, which is where fans were able to witness just how good he is at cutting promos and being a heel manager.

For a long time, it seemed as though Rush’s association with WWE was going to be defined by his tweet about Emma. However, thanks to his good work with Lashley, he is now better known for his on-screen talents instead.

#1 The Rock

The Rock went by the name Rocky Maivia when he debuted as WWE’s next top babyface at Survivor Series 1996. Two months later, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley before defending the title at WrestleMania 13 against The Sultan (aka Rikishi).

During this time, fans refused to accept the third-generation Superstar as a good guy and often chanted “Rocky sucks!” during his matches, prompting the future World Champion to turn heel and join The Nation of Domination.

This allowed The Rock to show off his charisma, as well as his in-ring talents, and it eventually led to him becoming one of the most popular babyfaces that WWE has ever seen.

The infamous “Die Rocky Die” sign had been replaced with signs of The Rock’s trademark eyebrow raise, while “The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment” went on to win nine World Championships between 1998 and 2003 before successfully swapping the squared circle for the silver screen.