6 WWE Superstars who were negatively affected by part-time legends

WWE brings back part-timers primarily for WrestleMania season, and their returns are often at the expense of full-time superstars. WWE fans' biggest gripe about part-time legends is that they get bigger spots than Superstars who are present throughout the year.

It's a fair argument, so here are six WWE stars who have been negatively affected by part-time legends:

#6. Bray Wyatt - WWE's biggest victim to part-timers?

The Fiend vs Goldberg at Super ShowDown 2020

Bray Wyatt has arguably been the biggest full-time victim to WWE part-timers. Since his WWE main roster debut in 2013, he was dubbed as one of the biggest future stars of the company.

The comparisons his character had to The Undertaker did him no favors. While there was a supernatural element to his Eater of Worlds character, there wasn't much of a correlation to The Undertaker's character.

In the last few years before he became The Fiend, Bray Wyatt was dubbed as a "jobber to the stars", who was constantly built up, only to lose in big matches where it mattered the most.

This naturally affected his momentum, and there are numerous WWE part-time stars who negatively affected him. In 2015, he had a lackluster loss to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31. There was little build to that match, and Wyatt appeared to be sacrificed to give The Undertaker his momentum back after losing to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30.

The following year, he was negatively affected by two part-timers. The first was Brock Lesnar, who he was originally scheduled to face at WrestleMania 32. WWE decided to change things and Dean Ambrose ended up in that spot instead. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper took on Brock Lesnar at Roadblock before WrestleMania in a 2-on-1 handicap match, which ended in just over a minute. Bray Wyatt didn't even get involved in that match.

At WrestleMania 32, Bray Wyatt was in a segment involving The Rock (and John Cena), and his night ended with his back on the canvas of the ring, made to look foolish by part-timers once again.

Lastly, it was 2020 when Bray Wyatt was in his first reign as the Universal Champion. He lost as The Fiend to Goldberg in a move that made little sense. It felt like WWE built up The Fiend for over six months for nothing. Despite all of that, Bray Wyatt has somehow managed to stay relevant in WWE. That speaks volumes about his ability to captivate fans.

#5. Kevin Owens - First WWE Universal title reign ended in 22 seconds

It's hard to imagine that in nearly six years on the WWE main roster, Kevin Owens only has one World Championship to his name. That was the Universal Championship, and he won it due to the circumstances. The inaugural Universal Champion Finn Balor suffered an injury in the same match that he won the title, forcing him to vacate it a night later. A week later, Kevin Owens won a Fatal-4-Way Elimination match thanks to Triple H's assist and became the Universal Champion.

While RAW wasn't a great show post-WWE Draft, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho were largely regarded as the best part of the show. It was a story building to WrestleMania, and at Fastlane 2017, Kevin Owens had to defend the Universal title against WWE part-timer Goldberg.

He lost the Universal title to Goldberg in just 22 seconds. It was an underwhelming end to a great Universal title reign, and many WWE fans felt that Kevin Owens deserved better.

Chris Jericho later stated that the original plan was for him to beat Kevin Owens for the Universal title at WrestleMania 33. WWE chose another direction, and it became a United States title match instead. Kevin Owens didn't come out of the situation well, and it took time for his momentum to recover despite being a Champion.

#4. CM Punk - Was The Rock the right person to end his WWE title reign?

CM Punk's 434-day WWE Championship reign was quite an incredible one. While the biggest negative was the fact that John Cena constantly overshadowed him, not many WWE superstars are able to have such a lengthy reign.

Just by crossing a full calendar year as the WWE Champion, CM Punk joined an elite list of Superstars who held the title for 365 days or more, including Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and John Cena (AJ Styles would join this list 6 years later).

Many fans felt CM Punk wasn't given the full respect he deserved as the WWE Champion, but his reign was long enough that he got to transition from hero to villain. The heel turn happened on the 1000th episode of RAW when he assaulted The Rock.

The Rock would eventually become the man to dethrone him, beating CM Punk at the Royal Rumble to win the WWE title after 11 years. While CM Punk still got to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania that year, many fans felt The Rock wasn't the right person to dethrone him and win the WWE title.

To add to it, CM Punk also lost to two more part-timers that year - The Undertaker at WrestleMania, and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

#3. Braun Strowman - WWE's hottest star in 2017 got his momentum thwarted

There was little doubt about who was the WWE superstar of the year in 2017. Braun Strowman did not get a showing at WrestleMania 33, but he became one of the biggest main event stars after the Grandest Stage of Them All.

He was a heel, but WWE fans loved watching his path of destruction. So before there was even any turn, he was a babyface in the eyes of fans. The fact that he went up against Roman Reigns right after the latter defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 meant that he was the biggest babyface in WWE.

A large section of WWE fans felt that Braun Strowman was ready to become the Universal Champion, even though it was just a year into his singles run on RAW. His showing at SummerSlam cemented him as Brock Lesnar's next Universal title contender, but he suffered a defeat to The Beast Incarnate in an average main event at No Mercy 2017.

Braun Strowman's momentum was immediately halted after that, even though he turned face soon after. He regained his momentum in early 2018, but that was thwarted once again in favor of Roman Reigns.

#2. Kofi Kingston - A memorable WWE title run ended in an eight-second match

Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship victory was undeniably one of the greatest in the last decade. It was an incredible story of a Superstar who was never considered to be a World Championship level star, but he still rose to the top. From the gauntlet match on SmackDown until WrestleMania 35, KofiMania took over, and WWE couldn't deny Kingston the opportunity before.

He faced and defeated Daniel Bryan, who must be given nearly as much credit for Kofi Kingston's momentum. Daniel Bryan was also in a spot like Kofi Kingston once in his own career, and Bryan was instrumental in elevating Kofi Kingston to a WWE title level.

Kofi Kingston's run itself wasn't the best one, but it was a solid reign at 180 days. It ended as predicted on the SmackDown on FOX debut, with Brock Lesnar securing the WWE title in an eight-second match.

Given that Lesnar put over Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35 and SummerSlam 2019, it was a bad look for Kofi Kingston's WWE title reign.

#1. John Cena - A "dream" WWE match wasted?

John Cena and The Undertaker had their "dream" WrestleMania match in 2018

While this may be an odd entry on the list of WWE stars affected by part-time legends, we will end with this for precisely that reason. John Cena was a part-time legend by 2018, and WWE finally decided to pull the trigger on a "dream" match against The Undertaker.

While it was rumored to have been scheduled for WrestleMania 32, John Cena was out with an injury, leaving Shane McMahon to take that spot. By 2018, it was a bit too late. The Undertaker had been "retired" from WWE for a year up to that point, and his return seemed pointless.

Regardless, John Cena called out The Undertaker week after week to no avail. When they finally faced off at WrestleMania 34, the match lasted 2 minutes and 45 seconds. John Cena was humiliated at WrestleMania in a match that seemed unnecessary. It seemed like the higher-ups in WWE were trying to fit in two legends for the sake of it.