Big E has been the focus of WWE's booking for a while now on SmackDown, with the Intercontinental Champion getting quite a big push. Despite that, Vince Russo was critical of WWE's booking, talking about what it would take for Big E to get to the next level.
Ever since Big E was separated from The New Day, it was clear that the Superstar was going to be receiving a push on SmackDown. However, throughout that time, one issue that has been continuously pointed out is how Big E continues to be a humorous character at times.
Talking about Big E, Vince Russo spoke about how he would have handled Big E's booking completely differently if he was a part of WWE and in charge of writing again.
"Take aside the whole New Day stuff. If Big E walked into the door when it was the Attitude Era and Ed and I were writing, Big E would have been a main eventer. Dressing him like a unicorn with pancakes and this and that, that would have never happened. He would be a main eventer from the start."
Vince Russo and Disco Inferno discuss Big E's WWE booking
Disco Inferno continued to talk about the main issue surrounding Big E's push, and that was the remnants of his New Day character still being a large part of how he portrayed himself on WWE SmackDown.
"The New Day is cartoonish. He has not put enough of the New Day persona back in the closet where it needs to go. Because every time that he acts serious, I take him seriously. Every time that he acts cartoonish, I don't. For main eventers, you don't want the fans half the time to take you seriously, and half the time you don't. For main eventers, they have to take you seriously. That's his problem right now, he's still married to a lot of the New Day corny, goofy stuff, and a main eventer can't act like that."
Big E has addressed these criticisms earlier as well, saying that if he were to change his character and suddenly become serious, not only would it not make sense, but he would also have nothing about him left that was unique.
Meanwhile, Big E put on an immense performance at the WWE Royal Rumble, where he had an epic confrontation with Bobby Lashley and even shared some hilarious moments with Xavier Woods and the returning Hurricane.