Former wrestler comments on backstage politics in WWE - "You can have all the potential in the world and not get a break" [Exclusive]

Former WWE Superstar Shawn Stasiak has commented on how backstage politics in WWE can affect and even determine the success of the career of a WWE Superstar.

Speaking exclusively to SK Wrestling's Ryan Boman, the former WWF Hardcore Champion discussed that while had been exposed to the business to a certain degree - thanks to his father, Stan 'The Man' Stasiak - he was unaware of the backstage politics that he would need to follow in order to be successful.

Here is what Shawn Stasiak had to say on the issue:

"You understand, I was very young to the business at that point. I was a rookie. And even though I’d had my exposure to the business… I wasn’t really smartened up on elements that were very important around that business… People don’t realise, you can have the body, the look, the mic skills, the charisma, all those elements, but there’s politics backstage."

Shawn Stasiak would go on to say that the success of failure of a WWE Superstar could boil down to something as simple as not shaking someone's hand at the opportune moment, or striking up a relationship with the right people.

"There’s a certain way to conduct yourself. So you can have all these tools and all the potential in the world and not get a damn break because you p***** somebody off or you didn’t shake the right hand. You didn’t create the right kind of relationship with somebody. There’s so many elements that have to be in place for it to work."

Shawn Stasiak says WWE "took him in" when he was a rookie

https://t.co/A5pRvcTx4E

— SK Wrestling (@SKWrestling_) February 2, 2021

During the same interview Shawn Stasiak would also reveal that the WWE essentially trained him from scratch, and described how he was able to train with some top-notch names, like Edge and Mark Henry.

"I had those funky dojo sessions with Dory Funk Jr and Dr Tom Prichard, they’d fly guys in. Like Edge, Test, Christian, Mark Mero, Mark Henry… there was probably fifty guys that I was exposed to with these camps."

You can listen to the rest of the clip between Ryan Boman and Shawn Stasiak below:

If any quotes are used from this interview please give a H/T to SK Wrestling.