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It wasn't that long ago that Big E stood atop the WWE Universe as its reigning champion on Monday Nights.
Now a former WWE Champion, Big E has returned to what made him famous in the first place: clowning around with his friends in The New Day. And as the weeks turn to months, it's as if his title reign never even happened.
The powerhouse of wrestling's most colorful tag team has always been a fascinating physical specimen, based on his size, speed, and flexibility. The former University of Iowa football player has always been an athletic anomaly, showing an ability to do things most men of his size can't do.
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Big E rode a wave of success and sentiment to capture the WWE Championship from Bobby Lashey last Fall
He had the full support of the fans, and for a while, after he won the belt, they stuck by him. Then things started to change.
As time passed, E was starting to be seen as more of a placeholder champion, someone who would eventually be dropping the belt to a more worthy champion. He looked vulnerable in many of his title defenses and wasn't booked nearly as strong as he was when he challenged for the championship.
This has happened to others who have been elevated - for one reason or another - to a quick and solitary run with the gold. This happened with Jinder Mahal, who was a lifetime low-to-midcarder until Vince McMahon decided he wanted someone with Indian ethnicity to be the champ. He force-fed the Maharaja to us in order to maintain his goal
It failed.
WWE went another route with Big E's good friend and New Day stablemate, Kofi Kingston. The promotion rode 'Kofi-Mania' all the way to a WWE title reign, only to have it squashed in a matter of moments by Brock Lesnar. Kofi got his moment in the spotlight, but it was eventually extinguished, and he has been back in tag team action ever since.
The same thing is happening right now to Big E. In just a few short months, he has gone from being one of the hottest contenders in sports entertainment to returning to his old job of joking around and mugging for the audience.
His title reign now seems irrelevant in the grand scheme of things because it didn't take him anywhere but back to where he started - as a comedy act who throws handfuls of Booty-O's into the crowd. This week, he was on SmackDown, riding around backstage and to the ring on a four-wheeler and looking as far from being a standard-bearer for the company as you could possibly be.
Hopefully, Big E will find even more success in the tag team division with The New Day because it's pretty obvious where he stands now that he will never get a whiff of the WWE Championship again.
Do you think Big E will ever have another opportunity to be a world champion in WWE? Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
