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Former Intercontinental Champion Val Venis recently opened up about the most bullied superstar in the WWE locker room during his time in the company.
Venis joined the Stamford-based company in 1998. He spent more than a decade in WWE and held a few titles, including the Intercontinental Championship, the European Title, and the World Tag Team Championships, alongside Lance Storm. During his time in the company, the 51-year-old shared the locker room with many legends and well-known superstars.
Speaking on Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Venis answered a question about the superstar who got most bullied in the locker room during his time in WWE. The former Intercontinental Champion revealed that it was former Light Heavyweight Champion Essa Rios.
"The most bullied person I saw was Essa Rios. I felt bad for him man. I felt bad for him. I don't know man, guys would be pushing him around and now he's a veteran now, they don't push him anymore from what I understand. But there were times where he just wanted to go out there and perform," he said. [0:20 - 0:45]
Although Venis got along well with Rios, other superstars were not as friendly with the Mexican superstar.
"They treated him like he was, and blatantly and openly treated him like he was secondary underneath talent that should feel privileged and honored to be in the locker room. I don't know if they were doing it to try and make him get out of the locker room. I think they were doing it just for laughs and he seemed like an easy target. But I remember a couple times people like just shout him around verbally. Yeah, Essa Rios was the guy that I saw that people would jump on a few times," he added. [1:02 - 1:40]
Val Venis opened up about an unusual offer made to him by a former superstar. Check out his comments here.
Essa Rios spent four years in WWE
At only 19, Essa Rios debuted in WWE in 1997 as Águila to join the company's relaunched Light Heavyweight division. About three years later, he captured the Light Heavyweight Championship after defeating Gillberg on Sunday Night Heat. The Mexican held the title for 31 days before losing it to Dean Malenko on Monday Night RAW in March 2000.
Rios spent about four years in the Stamford-based company before getting released in 2001. He has since wrestled in other promotions, including AAA, IMPACT Wrestling (fka Total Nonstop Action Wrestling), and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre.
What happened to former WWE Superstar Essa Rios? Check out the details here.
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