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Mike Bennett Slams WWE & Vince McMahon for ‘Greed’ and Running Company on ‘Fear’

November 17, 2020 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

– Former WWE Superstar Mike Bennett (formerly Mike Kanellis) was outspoken in his criticism of WWE this week, in light of the recent controversy stemming from the recent release of Zelina Vega (aka Thea Trinidad), along with more talk of wrestler unionization. Besides former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Vega’s outward support for wrestler unionization gained the attention of SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, who also expressed her and the union’s support for wrestlers.

Bennett posted a series of tweets yesterday commenting on the movement, calls for wrestler unionization, and changes to the WWE’s business practices. The recent talk was sparked after WWE instituted a ban on talents using third-party platforms such as Twitch and Cameo. It was a move that’s been highly controversial and criticized as WWE talents are classified as independent contractors, and WWE preventing wrestlers from making supplemental income from streaming on platforms like Twitch is arguably an overreach of what WWE can control for their contracted talent.

Bennett detailed a number of criticisms against WWE, even quoting another tweet by POST Wrestling’s John Pollock. It noted a passage from Bret Hart’s own autobiography detailing how wrestlers in the past feared for losing their jobs when Bret Hart tried to encourage others on speaking up about the grueling work and travel schedule. Bennett stated on this, “The entire company is run on fear.”

At one point, a Twitter user said to Bennett, “That same guy that makes a fortune off your broken back also used his fortune to pay for your rehab.” Bennett responded, “I’m fighting for my friends and family. You are fighting for a greedy billionaire who let his wrestlers get held hostage in Saudi Arabia. One of us is on the right side of history.”

Bennett added later that his current issues with WWE are with Chairman Vince McMahon, “My issues are not with wrestling fans or wwe fans. My issues are with @VinceMcMahon. It’s time he’s held accountable.”

Later on, another user tweeted, “Mike I understand your frustrations but people are losing jobs left and right cause of Covid-19 who weren’t making 6 digets a year. Hard to sympathize for upper class people.” Bennett tweeted in reply, “This is such a bigger issue than just WWE. Billionaires have made huge profits during this pandemic, while millions are unemployed. WWE didn’t have to fire a single person, but they did, in the middle of the biggest health crisis of our time. All because of greed.”

Mike Bennett was released from WWE earlier this April as part of the pandemic-related cuts. This was after he had publicly asked for WWE to release him last year. WWE denied his request for release at the time, only opting to do it after the COVID-19 pandemic started and the company instituted talent cuts. You can view Bennett’s tweets from yesterday below:

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