Former WWE Star Opens Up On ‘Animosity’ Between College Athletes & Independent Wrestlers

WWE

A former WWE star has opened up on ‘animosity’ that occurs in the WWE Performance Center between college athletes and independent wrestlers.

Over the past few years, WWE has shifted it’s hiring policy away from veteran independent names of the Black & Gold era to focusing on college athletes of the NXT 2.0 era.

In the years since the 2.0 change, WWE has found a middle ground, with the recent successes of Oba Femi and Je’von Evans showcasing the pros of both recruitment mentalities.

Reggie Opens Up On ‘Animosity’ Between College Athletes & Independent Stars

Speaking to Duke Hanson (Duke Hudson) on Between Two Jobs, former WWE star Sidney Akeem (Reggie) spoke about being in the Performance Center during both times, and the ‘animosity’ that came between the two.

He said:

“A lot of athletes that come here, they come with that mentality of I’m the man, I’m this, I’m that, but they had to not succeed somewhere, and this was a backup. For me, I left at my peak and said I’m gonna do this and bet on this, so it wasn’t that I wasn’t good enough in the circus, I just went back to the circus because they still want me.

“Then you have these guys that are so, they don’t understand why they aren’t the man when that rug is pulled from under them, and it’s blame everyone else for why I’m not succeeding, this and that.

“Then you have the worker that is envious of that athlete that comes and gets pushed right away, because they’ve been working not only 4 or 5 years at the PC, but 15 years before that to even get to the PC.

“So then those people, some not all, they build this animosity hate towards the athletes, so that’s an ongoing battle sometimes between the athlete and the worker, and you see it today with outsiders and whatever, and it sucks, but that’s for sure the nature of the beast, and I don’t know which one is right and which one is wrong, because you need both to make what we do special and unique.

“I just wish more athletes, and I consider myself an athlete opposed to a worker that’s been doing it for a long time before, I wish they had more respect for the guys that put in the work.

“I know I came in with a sense of respect early on because who I hung around with; Apollos, Tozawas, Ricochets, Joaquin. For me it would be disrespectful if I went to them and said ‘why am I not on TV? I deserve to be on TV’, when these guys have done so much more than I have, so much better than I am, and aren’t on TV.”

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• sidney akeem
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