• Braun Strowman Unhappy With Modern WWE Stars’ Disrespect Towards Main Eventers
Braun Strowman signed with WWE in 2013 and first rose to prominence when he debuted as part of The Wyatt Family in 2015. After being released in 2021, returning a year later, and then being let go again earlier this year, Strowman has firmly established himself as a veteran of the wrestling business.
Appearing on Something’s Burning with Bert Kreischer, The Monster Among Men spoke openly about how locker room culture has changed over the years, particularly when it comes to respect for main event performers.
“So it went from that of the respect of watching the guys that were on the marquee drawing the main event and the main reason why 90% of the people were in the building was to watch that main event.
It was paying your respect to go, ‘Hey thanks for the house’ to seeing that and then going out there and then like Roman Reigns and I going out there 45 minutes doing a street fight and coming back and there’s nobody in the f**king gorilla and they’re already in their hotels in the next town.”
He continued, clearly frustrated by the lack of support shown by other wrestlers backstage.
“It’s like, wait a second. Like they paid to f**king see us. You couldn’t even stay around to watch our sh*t?”
• Former World Champion Is In Legal Dispute With WWE
Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal (Raj Dhesi) is engaged in a legal dispute with WWE over the rights to his longtime nickname, “The Maharaja.”
Public United States Patent And Trade Mark Office records show that Dhesi first attempted to trademark “The Maharaja” nickname back in April 2024. The request was rejected because the office believed it could be confused with WWE’s trademark for “The Maharajah,” which the company has owned since 2017.
Dhesi tried again, only to be denied a second time on June 4, 2025. Now, instead of continuing to file new applications, he’s going after WWE’s trademark directly.
Earlier this month, Dhesi submitted an official petition asking the USPTO to cancel WWE’s ownership of “The Maharajah” altogether. In the filing, he argues that he had already been using the moniker long before WWE staked its legal claim, dating his usage back to 2015.
The USPTO has given WWE until February 3, 2026, to respond to Dhesi’s challenge.
• ESPN Wanted The WWE Draft, Why It Fell Apart
At one point, the idea of the WWE Draft landing on ESPN was more than just wishful thinking. According to WrestleVotes on Fightful Select, the network showed legitimate interest in spotlighting the Draft in 2025 before the plan quietly faded away.
The problem wasn’t a lack of enthusiasm, but rather a mismatch in presentation. WWE’s current approach to programming reportedly didn’t align with how ESPN envisioned broadcasting the event.
The Draft doesn’t naturally fit into a premium live event environment and works best when spread across weekly television, specifically episodes of RAW and SmackDown.
That structural difference made execution difficult. From ESPN’s perspective, packaging the Draft into a single, polished PLE broadcast proved challenging, while WWE’s format didn’t translate cleanly into what the network typically delivers to its audience.
As discussions continued, it became increasingly clear that neither side could visualize a version of the Draft that satisfied both creative styles.
Beyond the broadcast hurdles, there may be a larger shift happening within WWE itself. The company’s evolving talent system could eventually make the Draft obsolete. With WWE now regularly elevating performers from NXT without rigid brand separations, the need for a formal Draft may no longer be as essential as it once was.
While ESPN’s interest shows the Draft still carries mainstream appeal, the combination of formatting issues and WWE’s changing philosophy ultimately kept the idea from moving forward.
For now, the Draft remains a WWE-centric concept, and its long-term future may be less certain than ever.
