8 Most Powerful Backstage Politicians In Wrestling History
It’s all about the Game.
The general rule of wrestling politics is: you can only play the game if you’re a top star, and in a brand-dominated game, there are very few of those left.
These days especially, if you’re a known, egomaniacal malcontent, WWE won’t look at you. There are plenty of wrestlers desperate to join the Fed and pursue their dreams of winning World titles and headlining WrestleMania - even if, in the case of Mariah May/Blake Monroe, you are already pushed heavily by a major league, well-paying outfit capable of promoting its own shows in a stadium setting. You can challenge WWE’s booking. You can be passive aggressive and moan about your place on the card in a podcast setting. But you can no longer be what is known in wrestling circles as a “sh*t disturber”.
Consider CM Punk in the context of Paul Levesque’s WWE. Punk placed a pipebomb under the bridge in AEW, setting it ablaze, which might account for his current disposition. The new CM Punk must be careful. The new CM Punk was actually prepared to read from a script, like everybody else on the roster, before Levesque told him not to bother. The new CM Punk said upon returning to WWE in 2023 that he’d changed - a sharp and sad pivot from his legendary 2011 promo. The new CM Punk will happily apologise to the nation of Saudi Arabia ahead of a PLE.
The new CM Punk can’t really play politics. Somebody far more powerful has already won the Game.
Politicking very obviously still happens, albeit on a much smaller scale - but the stars of today can’t compete with the cutthroat monsters of old…