5 competitors who had their strings pulled
From delivering the KO Punch to celebrated WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes to turning a giant blind eye to treacherous 3-on-1 attacks by The Shield, a broke Big Show is currently being forced to do the bidding of WWE COO Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
Emotionally trying though the experience has been, perhaps The World’s Largest Athlete can take some small comfort from the fact he is hardly the first Superstar to suffer such grave humiliation.
WWE.com looks back at five examples of competitors who, with their backs against the wall, were left no choice but to do the bidding of others.
From Cenation to “CeNexus”
After coming up short against Wade Barrett at Hell in a Cell 2010, a special stipulation called for John Cena to join the loathsome Nexus faction. Left little choice but to do the unthinkable and wear the fateful “N” armband, the misery and humiliation Cena endured truly made him wish that the WWE Universe could not see him.
Perhaps this was never more evident than when Cena and David Otunga were ordered to intentionally lose the WWE Team Titles to fellow Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel just 24 hours after winning the championship gold in the first place.
Despite his compliance, Cena was eventually fired for failing to help Barrett win a match against Randy Orton. However, the Cenation leader storm back onto Raw, vowing to take down every member of the rogue group. Barrett would eventually rehire Cena, paving the way for one of the greatest WWE Champions of all time to finally defeat The Barrett Barrage at WWE: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2010.
Go corporate or go to the asylum
Shortly after interfering in a 1998 Buried Alive Match at the Rock Bottom: In Your House pay-per-view between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and his brother, The Undertaker, Kane was thrown into an insane asylum.
In order to escape— and stay out of — the dreadful institution, The Big Red Monster was left no choice but to join The Corporation and carry out the bidding of the McMahon Family.
As one can surely imagine, this resulted in The Devil’s Favorite Demon going through absolute hell.
JBL’s showstopping employee of the month
After losing all of his money in the ever-volatile economy in late 2008, future WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels was forced to sign a one-year contract that made him an employee of JBL. In one of the lowest points of “Mr. WrestleMania’s” subjection, HBK was forced to try to cost John Cena the World Heavyweight Championship in a match against JBL at the 2009 Royal Rumble.
Eventually, The Showstopper would get his life back, triumphing over the “Wrestling God” in an All or Nothing Match at No Way Out — allowing him to get out of his servitude with cash in hand.
Assisting People Power
Former SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long lost control of the blue brand at WrestleMania XXVIII after his hated rival — and then-Raw General Manager — John Laurinaitis led his “Team Johnny” to victory in a 12-Man Tag Team Match, enabling “Mr. Excitement” to gain control of both shows.
Big Johnny then turned around and forced his former adversary to stay on as his assistant, holding the college fund of Long’s grandchild over the head of the despondent ex-GM.
What followed was sheer humiliation as Teddy was forced him to do whatever dirty work the professor of People Power deemed necessary — from wearing funny hats to rubbing oil on Superstars for photo shoots while the one-time subject of his desire Aksana, looked on.
Dollars and cents
In the early days of Monday Night Raw, the contract of Russian Superstar and former World Tag Team Champion Nikolai Volkoff was bought out by “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, leaving the financially troubled veteran no choice but to work for The Million Dollar Corporation.
Some of the disrespect that Nikolai was forced to endure included being renamed "Nickel & Dime," having to wear a costume tuxedo T-shirt with a cent sign on it, and trunks that read "Property of The Million Dollar Man."
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