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One of the biggest criticisms WWE gets on a regular basis is that the company keeps bringing back wrestlers from the past for short-term appearances. WWE has been calling back former Champions and legends for a long time now, especially for events like WrestleMania.
Around two decades ago, Superstars like Brock Lesnar, The Rock, and Goldberg did incredibly well in their careers, to the point that they still have major fan followings to this day. Years after the prime of their careers, WWE began calling these legends back for marquee matches, to the disappointment of Superstars who were working hard on a weekly basis in order to grab the brass ring.
In the following slideshow, we will focus on five WWE Superstars who had issues with part-time wrestlers, and spoke openly about the same.
#5 Roman Reigns doesn't mince his words while slamming Brock Lesnar for being a WWE part-timer
Mere days before WWE WrestleMania 34, Roman Reigns talked with The New York Post, and opened up on the part-timer problem that he had serious issues with. The Big Dog made it clear that regular Superstars would never reach their true potential if WWE kept giving part-timers opportunities, one after the other.
"Some people need to hear this stuff because this has kind of been a thing. Brock's not the only part-time guy. But there are a lot of full-time guys that are never gonna, as a collective, reach our potentials if we are dominated in this portion of the year by part-time guys."
Roman Reigns kept taking shots at Brock Lesnar on the road to WrestleMania 34, and had a strong showing against The Beast at The Show of Shows. Reigns endured a string of F5s from Lesnar, but eventually tasted defeat at the hands of the Universal Champion. It would take Reigns several more months to capture the belt. He defeated Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2018 to finally win the Universal title. Three years later, Roman Reigns is still grinding and is the biggest heel on the WWE roster at the moment.
#4 Edge takes major shots at WWE legends Goldberg and Brock Lesnar
Edge made his surprising WWE return at Royal Rumble 2020, and ended up coming incredibly close to winning the whole match. Soon after, he kicked off a feud with fellow WWE veteran Randy Orton. Edge defeated Randy Orton at WrestleMania, and later lost to The Viper in "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever". Edge wasn't happy with many fans criticizing him for his long matches upon return, and hit back at them, taking shots at Brock Lesnar and Goldberg in the process.
"People complained that Bill [Goldberg] and Brock [Lesnar] go out and do four [minutes] -- so what is it? What do you want? I'm gonna bust my a** and I'm going to try and give you the best product I possibly can, because I'm not gonna phone it in. To me, that's what WrestleMania was [and] that's what Backlash was. I think if you total the time of my three matches, I've probably put in more time than both of those guys since they've been back."
Edge took time off due to an injury that he sustained at Backlash 2020. He returned to WWE at Royal Rumble 2021, and won the free-for-all to a big pop. Edge went on to challenge Roman Reigns for a title match at WrestleMania 37, and will be facing The Tribal Chief for the Universal title at The Show of Shows.
#3 Mustafa Ali posts amusing tweet about Brock Lesnar being a WWE part-timer
Mustafa Ali was very close to winning the 2019 WWE Money In The Bank Ladder match at the namesake pay-per-view, but Brock Lesnar's surprise appearance squashed his dreams. The multi-man contest featured Mustafa Ali, Drew McIntyre, King Corbin, Andrade, Finn Balor, Randy Orton, and Ricochet. Sami Zayn was also a part of the outing, but was put down in a pre-match attack. Brock Lesnar came out during the final moments of the match, as Ali was about to retrieve the briefcase. Lesnar attacked Ali, climbed the ladder, and ended up winning the contract in a major surprise.
After the event, Ali had some harsh words for the former WWE Champion:
Brock Lesnar's win at WWE Money In The Bank 2019 received quite a mixed reaction from the WWE Universe. There were many fans who didn't have an issue with Lesnar hogging the spotlight, while others slammed him for snatching away the briefcase at the last moment, after others had spent the entirety of the match putting their bodies on the line.
#2 Rusev takes a major shot at WWE legend John Cena
Rusev, now known as Miro, decided to respond to WWE veteran John Cena's tweet in which the latter talked about bagging a role in the Transformers spin-off movie, Bumblebee. Back in August 2017, the former WWE Champion posted the tweet, but didn't anticipate that Rusev would respond to it with a major shot at him.
Rusev sarcastically stated that he's an "all-timer", not a part-timer. Check out the tweet below:
John Cena and Rusev are not strangers. The duo engaged in a full-fledged feud on the road to WrestleMania 31 in 2015, over the WWE United States title. At WrestleMania, Cena defeated Rusev for the belt, following which he began defending it regularly on weekly WWE TV. As expected, Cena never responded to Rusev's jibe.
Rusev is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling, and is now called Miro. He was let go by WWE following WrestleMania 36 last year, as a part of the company's budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Cena is currently doing well for himself as a Hollywood star.
#1 John Cena dubs WWE veteran The Rock a part-timer, and regrets it later
Back in 2016, WWE Talking Smack was getting a great reception from the WWE Universe. On an episode of Talking Smack in late 2016, John Cena spoke with fellow WWE veteran JBL about his past comments dubbing The Rock a part-timer.
"I was looking at it through very blinded eyes and I really wanted The Rock to come back to the WWE and I figured that hitting him where it hurts would get him back to the WWE. And it worked. But I've apologized to him in person, I'm on the web for the world to see - I was wrong, he was right. He's now the highest paid actor in Hollywood, he has transcended this business and I think anything, any time a Superstar can give what he's given to the WWE, and then transcend the WWE, that's good for all of us."
During Cena's legendary rivalry with The Rock, back in 2011-13, the 16-time World Champion took a series of shots at the Hollywood bigwig. Cena slammed him for leaving WWE, which didn't sit well with The Rock. Cena is himself a big Hollywood star today, and realizes that he was in the wrong when he called The Rock out, all those years ago.
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