5 WWE Legends That Always Buried Talent (& 5 That Always Put Over New Talent)
WWE's legends have a mixed history when it comes to them working with younger stars. Major superstars will always have the ability to build up new talent or break them down. Recent years have seen WWE criticized for humiliating many of their current rising stars by having legends bury them.
Usually, those willing to put over new names are respected by their peers and diehard fans. Conversely, those who bury talent tend to be seen in a less positive light. The following legends almost always bury new talent or put them over.
10 Buried talent: Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar’s past eight years in WWE have seen him as the top superstar for most of his run. The work of Lesnar can be outstanding, assuming he wants to make his opponent look good. Storylines with Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and Rey Mysterio proved that much.
Unfortunately, WWE has accumulated a bigger list of names of those wrestlers who have been buried by Lesnar rather than ones who benefitted from working with him. Lesnar has buried wrestlers like Kofi Kingston, Ricochet, and Dean Ambrose with wins that made them look like they were jokes.
9 Put over talent: Chris Jericho
The younger wrestlers to work with Chris Jericho have almost all benefited from his unselfish style. WWE saw the careers of Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, and Bray Wyatt all grow after storylines with Jericho, who enhanced their credibility.
AEW is seeing Jericho help quite a few wrestlers. Even talents to lose to Jericho – Darby Allin, Scorpio Sky, and Adam Page – looked good in defeat. Jericho is blunt about his desire to build more stars since it makes the overall promotion more successful.
8 Buried talent: Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash’s reputation for making talent look bad started in WCW during his time in the New World Order. The antics of Nash both on-screen and behind the scenes earned him a poor reputation. Nash's later runs in WWE just further fueled his reputation.
Fans were livid when Nash surprisingly returned to cost CM Punk the WWE Championship. Nash tried to devalue the credibility of Punk as a top star when he entered a feud with him. Nash's horrible run ended in short fashion and WWE didn’t even bother scheduling the match with Punk.
7 Put over talent: Sting
WWE finally convinced Sting to join the company in 2014 when he ended his time in TNA. Sting was always hesitant about working for WWE after they made a few WCW talents, like Scott Steiner and DDP, look foolish.
Sting's two matches in WWE saw him happily putting over his opponents. Triple H and Seth Rollins both defeated Sting in attraction matches before his retirement. Rollins specifically saw his WWE Championship reign benefit from defeating Sting.
6 Buried talent: Triple H
Triple H’s full-time career in the ring saw him develop a reputation for being the worst wrestler at burying opponents. Fans were unsure about Triple H’s motives when Scott Steiner, Booker T, and Rob Van Dam all suffered from working with him.
Later on, Triple H became a more beneficial force in establishing new stars, with wrestlers such as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns getting over partially due to HHH's shift into a backstage role. However, at the top of his wrestling run, Triple H earned a reputation for burying wrestlers.
5 Put over talent: Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio has always been unselfish when it comes to finishes of matches. The legend reached the top level following a few world title reigns that proved he was a main eventer. Mysterio always tried to make sure his opponents looked great regardless of the finish.
Cody Rhodes revealed Rey even went out of his way to pitch their WrestleMania 27 match to management since he felt Cody was being underutilized. Current stars like Andrade and Samoa Joe have witnessed Mysterio putting them over by leaving his ego at the door.
4 Buried talent: Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan’s ego was the biggest negative about his career. WWE wanted Hogan back in the company for good after his 2002 return caught on with his great match against The Rock at WrestleMania X8. Hogan tried to shed his prior reputation for burying others by putting over The Rock, Brock Lesnar, and Kurt Angle.
Things changed when Hogan started to demand bigger paydays and creative input for his finishes. Matches against Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton saw him winning after refusing to take the losses. WWE stopped working with Hogan when he demanded to defeat rising star Orton in 2006.
3 Put over talent: The Rock
The Rock was superb at countless elements of professional wrestling as a third-generation star, but the tradition of putting over others may have been the most impressive. Peers like Steve Austin and Triple H were known for not often putting over others cleanly in the early 2000s. Rock had the opposite approach.
None of Rock’s relatives had a push as strong as him so he witnessed them making their opponents look great. This played a role in Rock losing matches cleanly to Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg. Rock even lost to Kurt Angle in the latter’s first year, losing the WWE Championship in the process.
2 Buried talent: Goldberg
Goldberg’s recent return to WWE proved his legacy in the company will involve how badly he buried others. Goldberg's first run saw him losing more matches than expected with questionable booking tactics.
However, Goldberg’s various returns for huge paydays saw him destroying title reigns of multiple stars. Kevin Owens’ six-month Universal Championship reign was ended within seconds by Goldberg. Another burial came a few weeks ago when Goldberg squashed Bray Wyatt to bury his title reign before WrestleMania 36.
1 Put over talent: Mick Foley
Mick Foley is quite popular in the wrestling industry due to how much he tries to help his peers. Once Foley reached the level of a legend, he would only return to WWE if it meant putting over new stars. Randy Orton and Edge each witnessed their careers rise thanks to Foley selling for them in violent matches later in his career.
Foley even tried to put over Melina by entering the Vince McMahon KMA Club before she turned on him. If not for his health issues, Foley wanted to work with Dean Ambrose before the latter debuted on the main roster. Even Bray Wyatt benefited from using the Mandible Claw on Foley to establish his new character.
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