10 WWE Fates Worse Than Burial
A brief history of WWE talent relations, from blackballing to black bags.
Being WWE's top guy isn't for everybody.
The chalice isn't totally poisoned, but it's not always filled to the brim with the sweet nectar of success. Even before John Cena completely destroyed the curve in terms of what is expected of the performer holding the company's (and for decades, the industry's) richest prize, there were pitfalls and pressures greater than the greats themselves.
Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels transformed what WWE's in-ring looked like during its leanest years, but one couldn't get the trust and respect from Vince McMahon he so desperately craved and the other could barely keep himself together while keeping the schedule the role commanded.
Roman Reigns lost several prime years struggling to work around the rotten situations WWE constantly placed him in as their chosen one. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch barely survived themselves when given extended stints on top.
Even Stone Cold Steve Austin - the money wrestler of all money wrestlers post-Hulkamania - was so fiercely protective over his legitimate health concerns so not to lose the spot that it took an ungodly physical and mental toll and left his professional and personal life in tatters.
From the outside, it sometimes looks like both the best worst and worst best job in the world, but at least making major money for and with Vince McMahon stands you a greater chance of not suffering one of these humiliating indignities...
10. The Bin Bag Delivery
Some very typical WWE ugliness reared its ugly head following an even uglier round of releases in April 2021 as Mickie James revealed that her personal belongings had been shipped to her in rather careless fashion.
The visual of the bin bag was perhaps only half as damning as what it conjured up - the idea of some thoughtless scraping of personal items into refuse sacks, the literal marrying the figurative act of a fairly callus firing. The company took swift and synchronised action in response, but it was evidently to try and mediate the humiliation rather than affect change.
Senior Director Of Talent Relations Mark Carrano bit the bullet for Bin Bag-gate, as if one person only could possibly be responsible for such a pathetic process, but it did little to quell fan anger when Maria Kanellis, Jillian Hall and others came forward to note that the exact same thing had happened to them.
Sharing the shot proved rather shrewd from James - any wrongful embarrassment she might have felt was immediately reframed by those that saw it, laying all the shame at the door of the billion dollar company that could but doesn't do better.