10 Desperate WWE Superstars That Used Social Media As A Cry For Help
Out of characters
The very idea of social media inter-mingling with professional wrestling would have once made Jim Cornette blow a gasket before realising he too could work an army of invisible followers on Twitter just as well as the masses that filed in to The Omni in the mid-1980s.
'The Louisville Lip' has veered from perfect to problematic on the platform over the years, cultivating a new version of himself out of the rage-quits he experiences watching Kota Ibushi fight a blow-up doll or Kenny Omega a nine-year old. Though undoubtedly actually narked with the shape of the industry he once knew, Cornette's still ingrained enough to know that there's still money on the table being heard shouting from the sidelines, rather than just yelling at the proverbial clouds.
His part-curmudgeon part-traditionalist Twitter presence is thus one of nominal gain - something often not grasped by some of the industry's highest earners.
A WWE superstar's social media platform stands either side of the kayfabe divide, affording fans opportunities to get key insights into the characters they see that often veer wide of the company's ideal profile. A teasing dig at their employer (or the industry at large) is a removal of the beige veneer often surrounding them. More often that not, it's opportunistic in nature, even accidentally so...
10. Rusev's Day Off
Poor Rusev.
Many a list has contained many an entry with sentiments of this nature over the past few months. Before Daniel Bryan’s return he was the undisputed king of the internet fan police, those determined to help the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ find justice in the form of booking that reflected his mammoth popularity.
Either finding the perfect way to work that level of support into a better spot or genuinely aggrieved, Rusev’s near-the-knuckle Twitter game went next level after a Greatest Royal Rumble casket match kerfuffle sent office/performer relations into a renewed tailspin.
The strange case of his impending clash with The Undertaker at one point saw him cycled out of the Saudi Arabia trip almost entirely before earning a spot back on the flight for the problematic sojourn.
Perhaps having a dig at ‘The Deadman’ for his short shift at WrestleMania, Rusev’s ‘Bury me softly, Brother’ tweet saw him removed from the match completely. Before ultimately getting back into the contest days later, he transformed his page entirely to disassociate himself from... himself. Changing his profile picture and cover photo to the "Other Versions Of You" movie poster, he also tacitly teased himself taking his business elsewhere:
It was all as weird as the company's stubborn mismanagement of the character, and will undoubtedly be reviewed as another dispiriting checkpoint in his demise when he eventually departs the company outright.