10 Wrestlers Who Got Pissed Off At Critics

"But you've never taken a bump!"

Booker T Dave Meltzer
WWE

Nobody likes criticism - especially if it's warranted.

It's sometimes hard to take on the chin if, like your writer, you don't have one. Deep cuts hurt the most, and are often projected outwards in a bid to deny them.

So, for example, were somebody to say "Sidgwick, your writing is invalid because it relies on Simpsons references, you'd be nothing without the superior work of others, your use of the punctuation mark is pretentious, and also your sentences are longer than your nose you wee c*nt," I'd be upset, and do my utmost to challenge that opinion by being combative. It's part of putting yourself forward for public consumption. The general public is vermin, even if the odd rodent makes a depressingly accurate point.

But, impossible as this may seem to certain stans, a critic will often critque something in good, unbiased faith. Sometimes, things are just pure sh*t, and because the people involved have sh*t for brains, they don't have the brains to comprehend that it is sh*t, because they don't have brains at all. And they lash out.

Everybody gets it.

Some are better (and funnier) taking it than others.

10. Edge

Booker T Dave Meltzer
WWE.com

"But Bret Hart liked it!" should be a sound defence, but it wasn't. Bret Hart liked the Iron Man match from WrestleMania XII.

The Edge Vs. Randy Orton Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36 was interminable. It was 40 minutes of gratuitous and dull violence to which c*ck and ball torture would have been preferable, and if that reads as kink-shaming, that wasn't the intention. Unless your kink is the Edge Vs. Randy Orton Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36. Then you should be ashamed. It was - again - 40 minutes of gruelling, enervating punishment, a sterile parody of a grudge match that took itself so seriously that nobody else could.

Dingy non-atmosphere; harrowing sounds of harsh metallic twangs as bone collided with metal; f*cking echoes of Chris Benoit's suicide: on the least WrestleMania-feeling WrestleMania ever, this was antithetical to the spirit of the occasion. This was antithetical to how wrestling should function - it looked like it really, really hurt, and it wasn't remotely entertaining - and it was antithetical to good.

Somewhat understandably, since he had the sh*t beaten out of him for 40 minutes, Edge seethed at the negative reaction on Corey Graves' After The Bell podcast.

"Complain about the length of a wrestling match? Really? But they’re also the same people who are gonna complain that Bill [Goldberg] and Brock [Lesnar] go for four minutes, so I just think there’s a segment of people who enjoy not enjoying things and dwell on negatives," he said.

The Goldberg Vs. Brock Lesnar match from WrestleMania 33 ruled.

Edge Vs. Randy Orton literally drooled when Orton tried to strange Edge with gym equipment.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!