• “All politics and a lot of favoritism” – Ex-Tag Team Champion Criticizes WWE’s Terrible Booking
Former WWE NXT Tag Team Champion Danny Burch recently appeared on Cafe de Rene with Rene Dupree and discussed the politics and favoritism that shaped his NXT run.
He explained how getting over with the fans didn’t always guarantee big opportunities, and how certain wrestlers were prioritized over others.
“We (Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan) had our first match at TakeOver. We were a team that was thrown together that wasn’t supposed to get over, but we did. And right now, that’s the kiss of death for anyone that gets over — the crowds just connect with them, and that’s the kiss of death because it’s not the finger point of this guy. It’s still filled with politics.
If you were in certain classes, then you were considered the cream of the crop, and everyone else had to bump and feed for them. Yeah, there’s a lot of politics, a lot of favorites, and a lot of the boys are stooges for management. So yeah, there’s a lot of that, and those are the ones that get taken care of.
And you’re like, ‘Well, why am I earning considerably less than this guy, yet I’m doing way more than this?’ So it’s a lot of that. You know what it is? A lot of favoritism. A lot of favoritism.”
He also slammed WWE’s booking, calling it frustrating and inconsistent despite fan support.
“It was just random matches putting over these guys. We beat people that had no name value, and then anyone that had name value, we just got trounced. But no matter what they did to us, the fans loved us. I don’t know why, because the booking was terrible. It was so bad.”
Danny Burch was released by WWE in 2022 as part of the budget cuts the company made at that time.
• AJ Styles Reveals Plan For WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony
AJ Styles hung up his boots after losing to GUNTHER at the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event in Saudi Arabia back in January. The loss brought an end to The Phenomenal One’s 10-year long WWE career.
Soon after, it was announced that AJ Styles will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year in Las Vegas. He will be honored alongside Stephanie McMahon, Demolition (Ax and Smash), and Dennis Rodman.
Speaking on the Phenomenally Retro podcast, Styles said that he plans to keep his Hall of Fame speech short.
“I’m gonna try not to pi$$ everybody off who has come there to see all the other inductions… there’s some guys that we’ve watched in the past and you’re going, ‘Holy cow.’ Everybody’s thinking the same thing, like, ‘Alright man, that was good, that was great.’ So I’m gonna try to make sure that I stay within the guidelines of that and not make people hate AJ Styles based on his Hall of Fame induction speech. So short and sweet, I think is the best way to do it.
I don’t know exactly how it’s gonna be or what I’m gonna say, but I know I’ve got a lot of people that I need to thank. I’m gonna try to do that and tell the fans how much I appreciate them for getting me this far because, listen, I look at me in the mirror and I know I never should have made it. So the fact that I did, that’s a testament to the kind of fans that are out there.”
The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will air after the SmackDown before WrestleMania ends on April 17.
