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WWE Superstars sign a contract when they become officially employed by the company. This means that they have to adhere to certain rules.
Whilst many wrestling rules are laid out in contract form, other unspoken rules are also expected to be followed.
These unwritten rules include shaking the hands of fellow wrestlers when entering the building as well as never speaking to the WWE Universe out of character since it ruins the entire illusion.
Over the years, several of these rules have been broken and it's led to punishment and even fellow WWE stars stating that a certain wrestler is unprofessional. The following list looks at just five occasions where WWE stars have accused fellow wrestlers of being unprofessional.
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#5. John Cena is accused of having an unprofessional moment by former WWE star Arn Anderson
John Cena is one of the biggest superstars in the business and a wrestler who has climbed through the ranks in WWE since his debut back in 2002.
Despite becoming a household name in WWE over the past decade, there are several stories linked to John Cena that WWE would rather forget. Arn Anderson revealed one of these stories on his ARN Podcast where he revealed that the former 16-time World Champion had an unprofessional moment in a match against Kurt Angle:
"He was wrestling Kurt Angle, as we know Kurt Angle is the real deal, he’s an assassin. All of a sudden I see John, out of nowhere during a random time in the match he roles out of the ring, goes over the rail about 15 rows deep, grabs one of those big foam hands and folds it into a bird and points it at Kurt Angle," Arn said.
"The audience popped, but as he gave it back and came over that rail to re-join the match, guess who was waiting on him and not too happy about what just happened? That would be Kurt Angle and he proceeded to beat John half to death..
'He got a little stiff and snug with him because it was something that did not work in the match. It was unprofessional, it was just a foolish thing to do during that point in the match. It’s just one of those things that goes through the learning process. If you learn from those mistakes you can accelerate and move forward," he said.
Being the veteran, Kurt Angle made sure that John Cena was shown that this kind of thing didn't happen in a WWE ring. It's clear that Cena got the message and the incident didn't happen again.
#4. Triple H accused several former WWE Superstars of being unprofessional
Triple H has been part of the WWE roster for almost three decades and has been part of his own fair share of controversy.
That being said, The Game is now the COO of WWE and overlooks the company from behind the scenes rather than being part of the on-screen action.
In recent years, several WWE Superstars have taken advantage of the use of social networking sites to request their releases from the company. The likes of Luke Harper, Tye Dillinger, Sin Cara and Mike Kanellis all asked for their release in lengthy Twitter posts.
Triple H commented on these release requests as part of a media conference back in 2019 where he deemed them unprofessional:
“If you have an issue, talk to us. If you think ‘oh, I’m gonna go put that on the media’ that’s not a way to go about doing your business. If I had a complaint with a talent, I don’t go on Twitter and complain to them, I speak to them. So I’ve never understood that process.
“But there’s a silliness to it, to me there’s a maturity issue of it’s not how you handle business. Anybody that’s out there that is serious about it that’s talking on the internet, that ain’t the place to do it. We all have phones, we all have cell phones, you handle your business like a professional. Everybody likes to think we don’t stick to the word and everybody likes to say professional wrestlers, the key word in front of that — professional. That’s what we’re trying to change about the business and make people more professional.”
The WWE stars in question were all later handed their WWE releases. Interestingly, there haven't been any other release requests on Twitter in recent years.
#3. Paul Heyman accused fellow WWE star Kevin Owens of being unprofessional
Paul Heyman has cut several in and out of character promos in WWE over the years. The addition of Talking Smack programming has allowed Heyman to continue his work.
Heyman is currently serving as the special counsel for Roman Reigns on SmackDown. Back in December 2020, whilst feuding with Kevin Owens, Heyman and Reigns berated Kayla Braxton.
The backstage interviewer was belittled for asking the Universal Champion several questions, which led to Heyman issuing an apology. Whilst working as a co-host on WWE's Talking Smack a few hours later, Heyman apologized for his actions and blamed Kevin Owens' unprofessionalism for being the main factor:
“Kevin Owens putting you in that situation was the most unprofessional act I have ever seen on SmackDown in a long, long time.”
The issues between Owens and Reigns have since come to an end and Reigns remains the Universal Champion. Owens has since stepped into the Intercontinental Championship picture where he is feuding with old friend Sami Zayn.
#2. Shinsuke Nakamura accused former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar of being unprofessional
Shinsuke Nakamura and Brock Lesnar are yet to have a singles match in a WWE ring. But during Lesnar's stint in NJPW, the two men became quite familiar.
Lesnar defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the King of Strong Style at NJPW's Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 show back in January 2006. The two men later teamed together the following month, before Lesnar left the company with the title a few months later.
The former NXT Champion recently appeared on former WWE star Renee Paquette's Oral Sessions podcast where he was asked about Lesnar's actions whilst he was part of NJPW. Nakamura answered with just one word "Unprofessional."
The Beast Incarnate had to be stripped of the Championship in June 2006 given that his departure created visa issues. Lesnar himself obviously wasn't happy about the situation but did later agree to drop the Championship.
Despite this, Nakamura went on to state that he would love the chance to face Lesnar in a WWE ring in the future.
#1. WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart named Goldberg as the most unprofessional wrestler he ever faced
Bret Hart is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, but it appears that he still harbors a grudge against a fellow superstar.
Goldberg and Bret Hart faced off at WCW Starrcade 1999. The WCW legend delivered a botched superkick which gave Hart a concussion.
The WWE Hall of Famer recently appeared on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions where he talked about the match and called Goldberg "unprofessional":
"I just wish some of the wrestlers I worked with especially in the end like Goldberg - Goldberg to me was one of the most unprofessional wrestlers there was in the business. I mean for Bill Goldberg to be in the Hall Of Fame. He hurt everyone he ever worked with. You might as well wrestle a real gorilla.He was the most dangerous guy to work with. He hurt everyone he worked with."
Bret Hart holds a grudge against the man who ended his wrestling career, but Goldberg has continued to wrestle in recent years and is now a former two-time Universal Champion.
Vince Russo answers who killed WCW HERE
