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WWE is one of the most innovative entertainment companies in business today, and this has helped them continue as the leading wrestling promotion for several decades.
Today, WWE is home to some great storylines and rivalries. Each WWE Superstar works hard to develop gimmicks and ideas that can get them involved in a storyline that interests fans.
However, a few Superstar have claimed that the company allegedly copied their ideas for other stars. Some former Superstars of the company have also blamed WWE for using ideas from other promotions without too much proof.
This article will look at the five former Superstars who have called out WWE for allegedly copying their ideas.
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#5 Former WWE Superstar EC3 claimed that RAW Underground was his idea
EC3 joined WWE in 2018 for his second stint with the company and started on the NXT brand. The former WWE Superstar had a great time on NXT before he was moved to the main roster. However, he did not find much success on the main roster and was released from his contract earlier this year.
EC3 recently appeared on the ROH Strong podcast and made a massive claim regarding RAW Underground and claimed that he came up with the idea.
“I knew it was going to be stolen, so I was prepared for it. I didn’t know it’d go to that length, and I know mine played to a minor bubble of the professional wrestling audience while the majority of it saw whatever the hell they put out there. The way I look at it is kind of like I was Wayne’s World.
"I was producing this show in Aurora, my basement with my buddy Garth. We’ll call him J.C. in this instance, and then Rob Lowe came in, bought us and when I saw Shane McMahon in the ring, not in a real underground, mine was a real underground. [This] manufactured, heartless, desolate studio, I’m looking at Shane and it felt like when Noah was rapping on Wayne’s World after they bought him out.”
"It was just inauthentic and like I said, it had no heart. So I knew something would’ve been taken from it. I didn’t expect the whole aesthetic, and while it upset my friend, J.C. who I worked very hard on with it, at the same time, it’s just a challenge to do something different, better next time which I definitely plan on doing because again, control your narrative."
RAW Underground came into being a couple of months ago, and the project was led by Shane McMahon. EC3’s claims came just a couple of weeks after the company decided to stop RAW Underground.
While EC3 has made a big claim, there is no real proof that WWE actually took his idea and used it on RAW.
#4 AEW star Chris Jericho targeted WWE for their Eye for an Eye match
Earlier this year, Seth Rollins got into a bitter rivalry with Rey Mysterio. With Murphy by his side, Rollins dished out a lot of punishment to Mysterio and all those who attempted to help the veteran. This led to an ‘Eye for an Eye’ match between Mysterio and Rollins at WWE Extreme Rules.
At the event, Rollins managed to poke Mysterios’ eye out with the help of a steel step corner to win the match. During the time, Chris Jericho’s claimed that WWE had lifted the idea of the match from its new rival promotion, All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Jericho tweeted a poster of the match between AEW stars Jox Moxley and Santana, which took place on February 12, 2020, and suggested that WWE’s idea had come from Moxley and Santana’s match.
AEW President Tony Khan also seemed to support the claims, even though the nature of the two matches were completely different. It seemed like AEW was just trying to stir some controversy and have their fun at WWE's expense.
#3 Kurt Angle claimed that WWE used a TNA storyline
In late 2012, AJ Lee stepped down as the WWE RAW General Manager and was immediately involved in a romantic storyline with John Cena. AJ and Cena denied their relationship for some time while Vickie Guerrero worked hard to prove that they were romantically involved.
John Cena and AJ Lee started a rivalry with Dolph Ziggler and Guerrero at the time, and the storyline was viewed as a major one in WWE.
Kurt Angle, who was a part of Total Non-Stop Action (TNA, now known as IMPACT Wrestling) at the time, called out WWE for ripping off one of their storylines.
Angle claimed that Cena and Lee’s storyline was far too similar to that of AJ Styles and Dixie Carter. Styles and Carter's storyline saw Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian insist that Styles and the TNA President were in an extra-marital relationship.
While Cena and Lee’s story took a very different turn, Angle calling out WWE early did lead to fans pointing fingers at the company.
#2 Former WWE Superstar Abraham Washington made claims regarding Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt’s gimmicks
Former WWE Superstar Abraham Washington (aka Reverend Jeremiah Constantine) worked for the company between 2009 and 2012. He mainly worked for Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during his time in WWE but failed to make it big.
Earlier this year, Washington claimed that he had sent some of his work to WWE, but never received a response.
“It just upsets me the fact that you can’t even acknowledge me and that you’re taking from my stuff, especially with the Seth stuff, the Monday Night Messiah. I’m pretty sure they got that from my promos. Then they had Bray Wyatt doing the newscast thing, you know, which I’m doing right now, so it’s just like eh whatever.”
Not only has Washington claimed that Seth Rollins’ current gimmick was his idea, but he also said that some parts of Wyatt’s new gimmick came from him. However, these are just some allegations that have been leveled by the former WWE Superstar on the company, and there is no real proof that he was indeed behind these gimmick ideas.
#1 Tyler Reks called out WWE and John Cena for copying his idea
Former WWE Superstar Tyler Reks worked with the company between 2009 and 2012 before deciding to take time off from the ring to be with his family. His partnership with Curt Hawkins was his most memorable work in WWE.
During an appearance on The Lewis Nicholls Show, Reks spoke about the time when Hawkins and him ran an idea by Cena. He recalled Cena telling them that it was a great idea and told them to make a DVD with a few promos so that he could show it to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Weeks later, Reks saw The Miz and R-Truth act out their idea instead.
"We went to John and said ‘this is a lot like what we just put on a DVD. Did we just get screwed?’ He said, ‘Naw, naw, naw, naw this is something totally different.’ Okay so this looks like the storyline that we just pitched that nobody’s ever done so it’s not gonna be as cool when we do it.”
“The next week that storyline progressed and it was basically what we pitched, but with Miz and Truth, and with John as the guy they jump at the end. We had a term that we used ‘Being Burchilled’ because Paul Burchill would pitch stuff all the time and creative would take it and use it for someone else. At one point we just asked Cena "are we being Burchilled?" and he’s like, "yeah, you did."
Reks continued his partnership with Hawkins for some time before asking for his release from the company in 2012. He competed on the independent circuit for a few months before retiring from wrestling.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
