Whilst professional wrestling may bring a lot of smiles to faces, there is unfortunately a lot of bad in the business too. When it comes to certain wrestlers, they hold a bad reputation, and that is sometimes a very hard thing to shake off, despite the best efforts from an individual.
AEW’s current roster is jam-packed with talented individuals, future stars, and veterans, but among all of those are certain wrestlers who carry around a poor reputation. Whether this be due to attitude problems, legal issues, or other factors, there are plenty of individuals on the roster who some fans would rather not be in AEW at all.
10 Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy is currently serving a suspension in AEW due to yet another arrest and DUI issue. Throughout his career, Hardy has suffered from substance abuse problems which have gotten in the way of his professional career.
It seems like a cycle for Hardy, although he has gone through successful patches in which he has stayed clean and in the right frame of mind. Fans can hope that whenever he returns, history doesn’t repeat itself, but there will always be a shadow of some doubt when it comes to Hardy.
9 Cole Karter
Cole Karter is one of AEW’s newest members of the roster, but he arrived with some question marks. In NXT, Karter was beginning to climb up the card as part of the D’Angelo Family group, but with him reportedly having a Wellness Policy issue in regards to a drug test, he was released.
That made it quite surprising when Tony Khan quickly swept him up, with the exact details of his WWE release being unclear as of now.
8 MJF
MJF is perhaps the best heel in professional wrestling today, but that seemingly crept over to the real world too in 2022. Due to backstage issues with Tony Khan, with disagreements regarding his contract, MJF threatened to no-show the Double or Nothing PPV, and would subsequently take some time away from AEW.
These issues took the spotlight away from his Double or Nothing opponent, Wardlow, in a situation which made fans very unhappy. Whilst he is now doing some great work again back in AEW, there is still an underlying annoyance with regard to how his actions affected Wardlow.
7 Dustin Rhodes
Dustin Rhodes’ poor reputation is something which has subsided over the years, but many will still remember the issues surrounding his attitude and conduct, mostly around the aftermath of the Attitude Era.
Rhodes allowed his personal issues to plague his professional life, with him notoriously being a part of the infamous Plane Ride From Hell, which was certainly a low point of his career. Rhodes is someone who has done well to earn respect as time has gone on, despite some troubles in his past, although they are hard to forget.
6 W. Morrissey
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Similar to Dustin Rhodes, W. Morrissey is someone who is working hard to shake off a bad reputation which emerged during his time in WWE.
Morrissey himself revealed on The Sessions with Renee Pacquette that he was unprofessional, had a bad attitude, and allowed various problems get in the way of his career, which ultimately led to his release and poor attitude elsewhere too. However, in recent years, he has seemingly overcome those issues, and is on his way to getting rid of that poor reputation.
5 Darby Allin
Darby Allin is someone with a strong fanbase in AEW, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t seen some controversy. Allin was someone who was named among many other wrestlers in the Speaking Out movement, which brought some bad publicity towards him.
As of today, nothing has happened in terms of repercussions for Allin, but for the simple fact that his name was brought up, he will have that hanging over him.
4 Thunder Rosa
Thunder Rosa may be the reigning AEW Women’s World Champion, but that doesn’t mean she has escaped controversy in recent months. There have been several incidents with Rosa and others on the roster, with her being accused of sandbagging opponents at times, with a reported backstage heat, according to Fightful Select.
Recently, more rumors have emerged of her being hard to work with, having a bad attitude, and having real-life heat with her colleagues, namely Britt Baker. The more time goes on, the more talk of her being hard to work with emerges, which is something far from ideal for AEW’s top Women’s Champion.
3 Jay Lethal
During the aforementioned Speaking Out Movement, Jay Lethal was someone else who was named in allegations, which was the second time something like this had come out against Lethal.
His signing with AEW did raise some eyebrows, but with nothing further coming out in regard to the situation, it is hard to tell where things stand. Either way, there will be many fans who feel uncomfortable any time Lethal is on-screen.
2 Sammy Guevara
Whilst Sammy Guevara may be a top prospect for AEW, he has undergone a lot of criticism for comments he has made in the past, particularly in regard to Sasha Banks, in a controversy which saw him briefly suspended from AEW.
Despite airing things with Banks, Guevara still receives a lot of disdain from fans, particularly those online, which also may have led to he and now wife Tay Melo receiving nuclear heat during their AEW run as an onscreen couple.
1 CM Punk
CM Punk is someone who will always have an enormous fanbase, but he also has a lot of haters. Things were going well for him in AEW, but recently he has found himself at the forefront of one of the biggest controversies of 2022, as he publicly insulted members of AEW’s roster and EVPs.
This led to a backstage fight in which Punk’s side currently looks worse off in terms of who was at fault (although the exact details haven’t emerged). Punk now looks unlikely to return to AEW following his suspension and injury, which adds to the fire that it was him at fault. Punk has been accused of having attitude problems in the past, and this situation has unfortunately added to his poor reputation.