Hard to work with wrestlers

[milkman12]

I'm not sure if anyone even knows this so this might not be the best thread but since I am actually a very new/curious WWE fan who is young I will ask anyways.

This is more meant as a way to inform me but I would also like opinions or perceptions, etc. This mostly goes for backstage and off the wrestling matt as I am not asking about who is hard to wrestle with in the ring or takes bumps or sells moves poorly.

Which WWE superstars, Retired, or even Ex-Employees, are known as pricks, assholes, bad attitudes, party animals, unprofessional etc.???

Since, I have not been following WWE as long as many others I want to know if you guys know of any or have opinions about some superstars that are rather difficult or simply just assume !???

 

[OutsiderDX]

2 of 10,000

The British Bulldogs were assholes and bullies- they took advantage of guys in the ring and out of the ring. Dynamite got a loaded fist from Jacques Rougeau for it.

Randy Orton was immature - Drugs, destroyed hotel rooms, would shit in Diva's luggage.

 

[James2293]

Guys that stood out to me over time are scott Steiner as he has rage problems with people he doesn't like, ask ddp. Roddy and ric are known as party animals but then again the 80-90's wrestlers were notoriously known for partying hard. Bruiser brody was hard to work with promoters. Now for pricks and assholes then that can be hard because there are a lot of guys back then who were into ribbing, so guys like owen hart, michael hayes can be classified there i guess.

 

[bxbigshow]

Randy Orton, he was a dick back in his earlier days (I'd say Evolution 1.0 era and after). He got heavy into his "demons" (drugs) and would politic in the back when he felt his spot was threatened. He took a dump in a Diva's shoe bag for shits and giggles (pun intended). And he killed the pushes of Kofi Kingston (claimed unsafe), The Miz (went off on him for standing in the ring "obviously" setting up an RKO), and Ken Kennedy (claimed unsafe after he returned on the "Screw Denver Nuggets" RAW.

Bob Holly was a dick also because he was one of those "old school" assholes who took "personal liberties" with guys in the rings (beat the shit out of them legit), because of private, non-wrestling issues. On Tough Enough in a practice match with the rookies, he legit went off script and beat the hell out of Matt Cappotelli, because he felt that the rookies weren't "respecting the business" by smiling on the apron before the match and not in character.

But my favorite reason "excuse" for doing that was that NOT EVERYONE CAN BE TRUSTED IN THE RING, SO I BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU TO SHOW YOU THAT. AND IF YOU GOT MAD, THEN I COULDN'T TRUST YOU!

And also the gem of the Renee Dupree beat down: Apparently Dupree borrowed Holly's rental car one night and got a speeding ticket (maybe parking). Dupree forgot about it or never intended to take care of it. And when Holly went back to that county months later he had those violations because they one on his car. Either he had points or an appearance warrant. So he suggested to Vince (or whoever) to have a match with Dupree on Smackdown, because he wants to work with the kid....HE PROCEEDED TO RAPE DUPREE DRY THROUGHOUT THE MATCH!! Jut out of revenge.

And I think JBL was a bully during his last few years...I know he shitted (shat?) on the Miz once because Miz ate chicken over his gear bag. So Miz had to change clothes outside of the locker room in the hall for a year. Story confirmed by the both of them as Layfield is unapologetic.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Two things make you hard to work with... a serious lack of skill and/or commitment or you are nasty and ignorant to co workers, either in their faces or behind their backs (backstage politics).

Hulk Hogan has been written about many times as hard to work with due to his outright refusal to work any match he either didnt write or approve the ending of. There were major rifts over the years between him and Randy Savage, Brett Hart, and a few others. His 'creative control' issues in WCW were legendary in wrestling journalism over the years. In the ring however Hogan was a consumate pro who to my knowledge was never accussed of being reckless or dangerous or sabotaging match finishes mid match.

Shawn Michael during his mid 90s run was considered by some as worse than Hogan, in part due to allegations of rude or disrespectful behavior towards other wrestlers in addition to the issues regarding match finishes. Certainly his behind the scenes issues with Brett Hart are well known. Drugs & alcohol played a major role although it should be noted that during his return post 2002 he was considered a polar opposite of his old self and generally well recieved by everyone.

Randy Orton had some highly public issues with bad behavior towards co workers early in his career but nothing in a long time. He was always considered a pro in the ring.

Bruiser Brody had a reputation for bullying promoters regarding pay & match finishes similar to Hogan but maybe worse. He was stabbed to death in the locker room in a highly publicized murder case around 1987.

Scott Steiner had major issues with disrespectful behavior, often vulgar and even violent, towards wrestlers and promoters. His backstage fist fight with DDP is often referenced. Typically Steiner only acts out publicly when he isnt working for someone. In the later days of WCW Steiner had nothing but good things to say about Hogan (who had considerable pull, especially with Steiner's Big Poppa Pump Push) yet these days slams him repeatedly. Steiner was very harsh during those days on Ric Flair, who had his own well documented fued with WCW Pres Eric Bischoff (Hogan's good bud). When he wanted to work in WWE though he said nothing about him. Of course Steiner slams Vince McMahon but said nothing back then (Vince had already fired him once before yet he was oddly quiet). These days he slams all of them, including Bischoff. Funny thing Bischoff made him one of the highest paid wrestlers in the industry with a massive pay raise in 1998, both he & Hogan were instrumental in his massive late 90s singles push, and Flair was the guy who helped get him hired in the first place supposedly at the behest of his brother Rick and supported his first big push. Vince actually hired him back after firing him previously. Yet Scott says nothing positive towards any of them.

Ultimate Warrior was known for being careless in the ring and for a lack of attention to safety. He was blamed for injuring Bobby Heenan, had publicized issues with Rick Rude over his ring work and was blamed for injuring Ric Flair.

Scott Hall & Curt Henning were both considered good in ring workers but both had issues with reliability due to drugs & alcohol. Kerry Von Erich famously had issues with his in ring work due to substance abuse.

JBL had some publicized issues with bullying and disrespectful treatment of talent backstage.

 

[thebarber]

from what I have read, Saturn was difficult when he was on planet Saturn, ditto Rick Steiner taking liberrties with jobber guys.
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[Anti-IWC-Marks]

Most of the guys in a wrestling locker room up until recently were on heavy drugs and booz and thus were assholes by logical deducation.

Raven was very smart, but too smart for his own good with pointless information, and a dick. He got REALLY into drugs later, he looks awful.

The obvious ones have been mentioned, Hall, Nash, Hogan, Michaels, Steiner...

Ric Flair was the party-animal. He'd take out younger wrestlers and buy them drinks all night long, run up thousands of dollars in bar tabs. He'd get two hours of sleep every night, and wrestle 40 minutes the next show.

Pretty much when a new guy comes into a major wrestling promotion, you're expected to kiss major ass to the veterans. The profession is stick in the 1950's.. very self-serving, very ego/pride based, and at the same time very gossip-girl/drama/political.

Andre the Giant didn't party, but he'd drink legendary amounts of alcohol. He'd drink a case and ask for more. He'd drink four bottles of wine and barely have a buzz. It has been estimated that Andre the Giant drank 7,000 calories worth of booze every day. The figure doesn’t include food. Just booze.

During trips Andre consumed beer at the incredible rate of a case every ninety minutes, with bottles of vodka or top-rate French wine thrown in for variety.

A very green rookie wrestler named Hulk Hogan toured Japan several times with Andre and witnessed the Giant’s alcohol consumption first hand. According to Hogan, Andre drank, at a minimum, a case of tall boys during each bus ride. When he finished a can Andre would belch, crush the can in his dinner-platter-sized hand, and bounce the empty off the back of Hogan’s head.

Sixteen bottles of wine in four hours is a considerable feat, but it gets better. Andre proceeded straight to the ring and wrestled three matches, including a twenty-man battle royal. The 16 bottles of plum wine had no discernible effect on Andre’s in-ring ability.

After matches, Andre would usually put back 60-80 plus beers, no sweat.

Andre was in the film called "The Princess Bride", and would visit a bar nearby while not on camera. In one month, he accumulated a $40,000 tab.

You won’t find it in the Guinness Book of World Records, but Andre the Giant holds the world record for the largest number of beers consumed in a single sitting. These were standard 12-ounce bottles of beer, nothing fancy, but during a six-hour period Andre drank 119 of them.