WWE has tried to remove any past lingering of their locker room’s prior reputation for bullying. The wrestling culture, in general, would see most promotions having a few wrestlers that made life tough for newcomers or weak targets in the form of hazing. Stories about the backstage culture in WWE forced the company to make drastic changes with the new importance of having stockholders.
Unfortunately for Vince McMahon, the stories about bullying will always exist if the wrestlers involved want to share their side. Quite a few names have referenced their past bullying or have had peers speak up on their behalf. The wrestlers known for bullying had multiple people accusing them of such actions. Find out which superstars ended up on each side of the scenario with bullying victims and bullies from WWE’s past.
14 Bullied: The Miz
The Miz has referenced having to overcome the hatred of the locker room in his early WWE years to get to where he is today. WWE veterans JBL and Chris Benoit cursed out Miz for eating fried chicken over the gear bag of another person. Miz was kicked out of the locker room and insulted for a few years until finally getting past it.
13 Bully: Randy Orton
Randy Orton’s history in WWE featured many controversial moments in the first few years. The Ruthless Aggression series detailed his immature actions at the time. Some actions were hidden like the reports of Orton damaging the property of various women from the Diva Search and making life miserable for them on a weekly basis.
12 Bullied: Melina
WWE wrestlers often crossed the line with antics like Wrestlers’ Court. Melina developed heat with a couple of wrestlers and was forced to take the court backstage. Various wrestlers revealed Melina was crying her eyes out visibly upset over the interactions, but the locker room leaders at the time did not care one bit.
11 Bully: Hardcore Holly
Hardcore Holly’s veteran status in the locker room made him an unofficial enforcer of the roster. The tactics of Holly when disagreeing with others bordered on bullying. Rene Dupree was punched in the face by Holly for getting a ticket with their car rental. Tough Enough contestant Matt Cappotelli received a beating from Holly as part of the reality show training.
10 Bullied: Jim Ross
Vince McMahon always had it out for Jim Ross for some reason despite their good times together. Ross was constantly buried with embarrassing segments every time WWE was in his home area of Oklahoma. Vince also chose to bully Ross with a comedic sketch parody mocking his real-life surgery and even making fun of his facial condition due to the battle with Bells’ Palsy.
9 Bully: Scott Steiner
The antics of Scott Steiner primarily came during his time in WCW. Rick and Scott were both known for playing pranks that crossed the line. Scott grew worse when getting his main event opportunity. Kimberly Page, Ric Flair and others felt Steiner’s verbal abuse during unapproved promos. The bullying of Steiner saw him getting into a vicious fight with Diamond Dallas Page almost killing him.
8 Bullied: The Blue Meanie
The Blue Meanie’s WWE stint in the Attitude Era saw him claiming JBL was a bully in shoot interviews afterwards. JBL repaid Meanie by once again bullying him in the ring this time. The two were involved in a huge brawl at ECW One Night Stand where JBL targeted Meanie with legitimate punches to face. WWE gave Meanie a contract shortly after to avoid getting sued.
7 Bully: Shawn Michaels
The 90s run of Shawn Michaels allowed him to get backstage power during his main event rise. Michaels had Vince McMahon’s ear and often used it to his advantage. WWE wrestlers viewed Michaels and his friends in the Kliq as bullies trying to hurt the careers of anyone Michaels didn’t like.
6 Bullied: Amy Weber
Former WWE diva Amy Weber recently confirmed past rumors of Randy Orton bullying her but also mentioned Edge. Weber accused Edge and Orton of confronting her on an airplane and throwing a drink all over her while asleep. JBL also reportedly bullied her with cruel backstage pranks despite working together in his faction on-screen.
5 Bully: Bill DeMott
Bill DeMott made his career in WCW as a part of the roster throughout the Monday Night Wars. WWE signed DeMott after WCW was purchased and eventually moved him into a training role. DeMott was accused of physically and verbally berating the young wrestlers knowing they had to follow his orders. Stories continued to come out about DeMott’s bullying leading to WWE firing him.
4 Bullied: Rene Dupree
WWE once viewed Rene Dupree as a huge prospect due to his look, youth, and family history in the business. Dupree struggled both in and out of the ring during his time in the company. Hardcore Holly admitted to decking him for their car issues. Dupree also revealed JBL used to use gay slurs cursing him out at television each week.
3 Bully: Bubba Ray Dudley
Bubba Ray Dudley was another wrestler to gain the backstage bully reputation. Wrestlers in ECW and WWE have called Bubba a bully that tried to abuse his power if someone was younger than him. Batista and Randy Orton referenced Bubba attempting to bully them on the Evolution episode of the Ruthless Aggression series. Bubba even changed his name to Bully Ray outside of WWE since the gimmick fits his identity.
2 Bullied: Justin Roberts
Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts described the difficulties of working for WWE with the bullying landscape. Roberts called out JBL, Triple H and a few others for treating him poorly. John Morrison admitted JBL tried to force him to steal and hide Roberts’ passport during an overseas tour with JBL eventually doing it on his own.
1 Bully: JBL
No wrestler had a worse reputation as a bully in WWE history as JBL did. Most of the wrestlers to deal with bullying in WWE on the list had to deal with JBL at some point. Two memorable stories of JBL getting knocked out in the Brawl for All and during a flight by Joey Styles saw wrestlers ecstatic about karma hitting the bully right in the face.
Sources: Wrestling Observer, PW Torch, Talk is Jericho, PW Insider