5 WWE Superstars who had backstage heat - and what happened next

In sports, if a sportsman does something to upset fellow teammates or management, they will likely be dropped from the team before returning at a later date. In sports entertainment and WWE, however, if somebody upsets the wrong people within the company, they will get these two dreaded words: backstage heat.

What is backstage heat, exactly? Well, if there was a dictionary definition for the term, it would read something like this:

“Heat within the wrestling business typically means that a bad-guy character has successfully fulfilled their on-screen duty of getting the audience to boo them. Wrestlers can also garner backstage heat, which means they have done something negative, usually behind the scenes, that has caused issues with management or colleagues.”

One of the most well-known cases of WWE backstage heat in 2019 involves Lio Rush, who was suddenly removed from his role as Bobby Lashley’s manager on Raw in April. Fightful reported that he “would be very lucky to be back on the main roster any time soon, if ever” following a series of off-screen incidents, while Rush responded by claiming that somebody within WWE is trying to get him fired.

With so much talk about Rush and his future right now, let’s take a look at five examples of WWE Superstars who reportedly had backstage heat to find out what happened next in their career.

---

#5 Big Cass

One of the biggest stories of backstage heat in 2018 came shortly after Big Cass returned from a long-term injury and began feuding with Daniel Bryan on SmackDown Live.

In one particular segment in the build-up to their match at Backlash, Cass was instructed to hit a little person, who was dressed as Bryan, with a big boot. According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, the 7-footer also wanted to hit him with a flurry of punches, but he was told not to by backstage officials, as well as Vince McMahon.

Going against orders, Cass continued to attack the Bryan imposter after the big boot, which apparently landed him in big trouble backstage, and WWE edited out footage and images of the attack on their social media platforms and photo galleries.

Following the end of the two-month feud with Bryan, and another report of backstage heat due to a number of behaviour-related issues on a European tour, Cass was fired in June 2018.

#4 Cesaro

The Wrestling Observer reported in October 2014 that Cesaro received backstage heat from WWE officials due to derogatory comments that he made about John Cena and Randy Orton during an interview in the UK.

He was quoted as saying by the Liverpool Echo:

"It is a new era of guys. It’s a new generation, and it’s a lot of fun to watch that because there are fresh match-ups. I mean, I’m sick of seeing John Cena against Randy Orton for the 500th time. It’s great that we have some new, young guys that can come out and provide absolutely great match-ups and for the fans there are fresh, exciting matches and things to watch."

At the time of the interview, Cena vs. Orton was one of the most prominent rivalries on WWE programming, with the two men set to face off yet again in a Hell In A Cell match to determine a new #1 contender for the WWE Championship.

We may never know how much these comments harmed Cesaro’s long-term chances in WWE, but it was surely not a coincidence that he lost 2-0 in a Two-out-of-Three Falls match against Dolph Ziggler just days after the interview was published.

Although there are some exceptions, WWE generally finishes their Two-out-of-Three Falls matches with a 2-1 outcome, so many people saw the 2-0 defeat as a punishment.

#3 Lana

Lana did not just have backstage heat in November 2015. According to the Wrestling Observer, her heat was so bad that it was described as “nuclear”.

At the time, she was involved in a storyline on both Raw and SmackDown which had seen her become Dolph Ziggler’s new girlfriend, while Rusev had started a relationship with Summer Rae. News was then leaked to TMZ that Lana and Rusev had gotten engaged in real life, so WWE had no choice but to abruptly end the storyline.

Around the same time, Paige was a heel and she was preparing to face Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series. Despite not being part of the storyline, Lana tweeted that Paige was a “phony anti-Diva” and claimed she was bullied by the Brit in NXT – something that she later admitted was not the case.

While it is unclear what repercussions Lana faced backstage for these incidents, it was noticeable that WWE hardly used her on television between November 2015 and April 2016, at which point she began to manage Rusev permanently again.

#2 Braun Strowman

It was reported by PW Insider in November 2018 that Braun Strowman was dealing with backstage heat in WWE due to his bad time-keeping and etiquette in the locker room, with one source describing him as "his own worst enemy and his worst advocate".

According to the report, those issues are largely the reason why WWE has been reluctant to give the Wyatt Family member the “next step” whenever he receives a push.

At the time that the report was published, “The Monster Among Men” was set to miss the next two months of action due to elbow surgery (with the exception of a short match against Baron Corbin at TLC 2018), so it is difficult to tell how much this supposed heat affected his character in the short-term.

For what it’s worth, upon his return from injury, WWE removed Strowman from his Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar at the 2019 Royal Rumble, so perhaps there could have been some truth behind the heat reports.

#1 Brock Lesnar

While the other Superstars on this list all had backstage heat with WWE management, it was reported in April 2012 that the returning Brock Lesnar had backstage heat with his fellow performers.

Back then, one of the biggest debates amongst those within the wrestling business surrounded The Rock and whether it was fair that he was allowed to take a WrestleMania main-event spot when he was not a full-time member of the WWE roster.

According to PW Insider, the backstage reaction to Lesnar’s return “appeared to be similar to many stars' feelings when The Rock returned to WWE”, with the former MMA star “being another name who left WWE and now is coming back and getting whatever he wants”.

As it turned out, those comments turned out to be very accurate. Lesnar has indeed upset people backstage, notably Dean Ambrose (WrestleMania 32) and Chris Jericho (SummerSlam 2016), while the ability that “The Beast” has to get whatever he wants in WWE has even been used in storylines.