It’s absolutely no secret that I’m not a big fan of these part-timers for several reasons: 1) they steal the spotlight from full-time wrestlers 2) they often bury full-time wrestlers 3) they hardly show up and when they do, they put on the worst matches 4) they immediately get pushed to the top at the expense of the young full-time wrestlers.
Here are top 5 times of the most notorious burials of full-time wrestlers by part-time wrestlers in WWE this decade.
1. Goldberg buries Kevin Owens - When Goldberg returned to The WWE in late 2016, he received much fanfare from the fans. He then faced Brock Lesnar and shockingly defeated Lesnar in a glorified 86 second squash at The 2016 Survivor Series. After that, he got an immediate push for The WWE Universal Title against Kevin Owens where he would bury Kevin Owens at Fastlane 2017 by squashing Owens in 22 seconds which angered many wrestling fans like myself because he shouldn’t have won this match because had he put over Owens, it would’ve made his final run in WWE much more special. Kevin Owens has not truly recovered from this burial since then.
2. The Rock buries CM Punk - When The Rock returned to WWE in 2011 after a long seven year absence, people were ecstatic to see him again. In 2012, CM Punk was having an an amazing run as WWE Champion despite being deliberately pushed out of the main event spotlight for most of that year and many young full-time wrestlers at the time were very unhappy that a part-timer like The Rock was getting a title shot and going to main event Wrestlemania XXVIII. CM Punk’s legendary WWE Title reign came to a very bitter end at The 2013 Royal Rumble when he was buried by The Rock which once again left him out of the main event for Wrestlemania. I knew CM Punk had to have been furious for being once again left out of the main event of Wrestlemania. This match was one of the main reasons why CM Punk chose to give WWE the finger by walking out of the company before a 2014 episode of Raw by telling Vince and Triple H backstage, “You have shackled me, you have creatively stifled me. You have made this a toxic working environment. I no longer want to be here”. And how did The WWE respond, by giving him his termination papers in June of that year on the day he married former Divas Champion AJ Lee which is no coincidence.
3. Chris Jericho buries AJ Styles - After successful careers in Impact Wrestling and NJPW, AJ Styles made his WWE debut in 2016 and what did Vince and WWE do: throw him into a match against part-timer Chris Jericho at WM 32 where he was buried by Jericho who didn’t even need that win more than AJ Styles who really needed that win. Unlike Owens, Ambrose, and other full-time wrestlers, AJ has since recovered from that burial and is enjoying a lengthy run as current WWE Champion on Smackdown Live!
4. Brock Lesnar buries Roman Reigns - At this year’s WM, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns had one of the worst matches of the year with most fans at The Superdome chanting “This is awful” and “Boring” letting Vince and WWE know how much they hated this match because of Vince’s golden boy Roman Reigns once again main eventing WrestleMania. Instead of Vince putting The WWE Universal Title on a young full-time wrestler who shows up every week like Roman Reigns, he once again changes his mind by letting his pet project Brock Lesnar bury Roman Reigns again at WM to maintain The WWE Universal Title to deliberately bury CM Punk’s legendary WWE title reign of 434 days.
5. Kane buries Finn Balor - Last year, Finn Balor was on a role becoming the first ever WWE Universal Champion and later scoring a big win against AJ Styles at The TLC PPV that continued his huge momentum until it was stopped by being buried by part-timer Kane by being squashed in seven minutes on Raw that angered many wrestling fans at the decision to have another part-timer bury another young up-and-coming fulltime wrestler’s momentum. Finn Balor has not recovered from this burial since then.
The Conclusion - One of the main ways that WWE programming can be great again is by getting rid of these part-timers who do absolutely nothing but bury any momentum that full-time wrestlers have built.
By Kwame Shakir
