10 Wrestlers Who Cracked WWE's Secret Code

WhatCulture

How to survive (and stay over) in WWE's broken system. These are 10 wrestlers who cracked WWE's secret code.

Transcript

00:00What is WWE's secret code, you ask? For me, it's the ability to get over and stay over with

00:06management and the audience in a creative system that frequently takes in world-class pro wrestlers

00:12like Ornate Furniture and spits them out as if they were sawdust. Each of the people I'm going

00:17to talk about today understands how to thrive in Vince McMahon's fictional universe better than

00:22the man who created it. They truly have figured WWE out. I'm Andy from WhatCulture and here are

00:2910 wrestlers who cracked WWE's secret code. Number 10, R-Truth. A rare example of a genuinely

00:37funny guy in a horrendously unfunny company, R-Truth knows how to make people laugh, which

00:43is key to his enduring value as an entertainer. He's been in WWE since 2008 and while he has

00:50spent most of this time as an undercard comedy act in wacky backstage segments, he's always there

00:56or thereabouts, particularly since the advent of the 24-7 title. Now, creatively, that's not the

01:03most exciting thing in the world, but at 50 years old, R-Truth has given himself a job for life. He

01:10has gone all in on a character that Vince McMahon clearly enjoys in a wise choice that will extend

01:16his run with WWE for as long as he wants it. Number 9, The Miz. Miz deserves great credit

01:24for entering pro wrestling as a reality TV tourist, overcoming the small dick energy of

01:29wrestler's court and becoming the polished TV performer that he is today. In fact, for his role

01:35in the promotion, he's literally perfect. Miz has been doing this for 16 years now. He's a

01:42two-time WWE champion and a perennial fixture because he understands his role perfectly.

01:48Tasked with appeasing WWE's base and those writing his checks with sound complementary work,

01:54he is 100% secure in WWE. Nobody expects Miz to rip out a 5-star match on pay-per-view these days,

02:02or ever, really, being fair, but he isn't trying to do that. Miz has found his spot as a loud,

02:09brash, and colourful TV character. In fact, he found it a long time ago,

02:14and it's why he continues to thrive. Number 8, Riddle. The Riddle of today

02:19is not the Matt Riddle of yore. In the mid-2000s, it looked like the former UFC fighter was going

02:24to break out as a work-rate-centric wrestler on a thriving indie scene where he more than held his

02:30own with the likes of Chris Hero, Keith Lee, Zack Sabre Jr, and all the great talent that was doing

02:36the rounds at the time. But something like that isn't always enough to cut it in WWE. It takes

02:42more than being a great bell-to-bell wrestler, and in this company, he has had to tailor his

02:47character into something, well, dumber. Riddle's transformation from indie wonderkind

02:53to Monday Night Goofball has gotten him over huge. Taking his aloof stoner vibes,

02:58making them family-friendly, and forging the exact brand of comedy synonymous with the market

03:03leaders, complete with his own spin, Riddle stands on the cusp of a long, successful WWE run.

03:10Number 7, Seth Rollins. Here's a guy who knows exactly what he's doing anytime he hits Twitter

03:16and leaps to his company's defence. Even if Seth positioning him as one of those stand-up-for-WWE

03:22guys feels a little gotten to at times, it doesn't really matter. He has become the

03:27ultimate company man in an often nasty, toxic, and triable pro-wrestling environment,

03:32planting his flag and making no apologies for it. And on the character side, his visionary gimmick is

03:38big, colourful, and fits WWE's brand of content to a T. Donning a wacky jacket that no right-minded

03:45person would ever be caught dead in sends Rollins viral every single time. He knows it, he plays it

03:52up, and he loves it. Number 6, AJ Styles. Nobody could have predicted that AJ's WWE run would have

03:58been so successful when he came into the company in 2016. Now, that's not because of his talent,

04:04because that has never been in doubt, but because being a world-class in-ring guy who's under 6 feet

04:10and isn't the most expressive on the microphone doesn't always do well in Vince-land. But WWE's

04:16glass ceiling hasn't really existed for Styles. He has made himself indispensable to the company

04:21by becoming one of the most talented utility men the sport has ever seen. Whether he's being used

04:26to carry a brand as a world champion or elevate a towering green giant as part of a tag team,

04:31he always does a good professional job without the intense in-ring focus that he can bring,

04:37but isn't necessarily required as it would be in other places of work. Number 5, Shinsuke Nakamura.

04:43Shinsuke Nakamura came to WWE in order to earn a great living in pro-wrestling without having to

04:49trash his body in captivating but physically demanding matches like he did in New Japan.

04:55And that's exactly how his run has panned out. While it does feel at times like he is maybe

05:00coasting on charisma and personality, you can get away with doing that in WWE. In fact, that's kind

05:07of what the company's all about. Nakamura probably figured WWE out before he even landed in America,

05:14in fact, knowing he can live a happy, fulfilling life that perhaps lacks the highs of before,

05:19but suits him greatly as he enters his 20th year as a wrestler.

05:24Number 4, Sami Zayn. Nobody should have been surprised when Sami Zayn re-signed with WWE

05:30earlier this year because WWE is the perfect place for Sami Zayn. This guy has figured out

05:36every aspect of the company. Every week, he plays his very over very entertaining character on TV

05:43without having to stretch his increasingly damaged body to breaking points. Now, Sami can still go

05:49when required, but for the most part, he is on TV every single week because he's an entertaining

05:54personality, not because he's busting out big, popping matches. In WWE, he gets to be an

06:00entertaining shitbag heel without the extra pressure. It's a winning formula for both him

06:05and the company. Number 3, Kevin Owens. For Kevin Owens, the key to cracking WWE's secret code was

06:12finding ways to elevate material that would bury lesser wrestlers with his wit, charm,

06:16and personality. It doesn't matter how crappy the script is because Kev is going to infuse it

06:22with his usual brand of sharp quips and other dashes of the man behind the act, keeping a place

06:27in the fans' hearts because of it. Enjoying a strong relationship with Vince, who personally

06:33negotiated Kevin's recent contract extension, Owens has built himself a great WWE career,

06:39and at this stage, it'd be a bigger surprise if he ended up leaving the company before retiring

06:44than staying. Number 2, Randy Orton. If the ultimate goal of professional wrestling is to

06:49get as much as possible from as little as possible, Randy Orton has got it all figured out.

06:55His approach to wrestling is borderline genius. While choosing to become a more dynamic,

07:01athletic wrestler earlier in his career might have produced a more exciting body of work,

07:06the extra level of exertion and inevitable physical wear and tear would have taken a toll,

07:10and at one point Randy just said, hey man, that's not for me. What he did was figure out

07:15very early in his run that the right physical presentation, his charisma,

07:20and an incredible crowd-popping finisher would carry him a long, long way. Thus,

07:25he crafted an arsenal of cool-looking moves, found his character, and chose a life that

07:29would bring him immense success without the costs felt by his more hard-bumping peers.

07:35Now, none of this is to say that Orton hasn't worked hard, or that he hasn't had his fair share

07:40of painful matches over the years. He most certainly has. Regardless, Orton is the king

07:45of working smarter. He's going to go down as a WWE cannon goat without leaving the sport on crutches.

07:521. Brock Lesnar

07:55It doesn't always sit well with fans, but Brock Lesnar has had WWE eating from the palm of his

08:00hand since he returned in 2012. And yes, his push causes problems, but blame the system,

08:06not the man. Brock is doing what's best for Brock. He understands his value to WWE,

08:12and he uses that to his advantage. Building his own unique negotiating system, there's no need

08:18for this guy to hit the road and bust his ass every single week when he can crush it, get rich,

08:23and main event shows without any of the grind. And yeah, he's still really awesome to watch as well.

08:31Say what you will about the push, Brock Lesnar's Bull Rush is a unique pro-wrestling riot,

08:36even in 2022. Nobody else recaptures the same thrill.

09:01And yeah, he's still really awesome to watch as well.

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