WWE Rumors: Vince McMahon Allegedly Buried ‘Raw’ Superstar For Half A Year For Disobeying His Orders

For the past several months, Cedric Alexander has enjoyed a more than decent push on Monday Night Raw, where he has revitalized his main roster run as part of the Hurt Business and currently holds the red brand’s Tag Team Championships together with stablemate Shelton Benjamin. However, it wasn’t too long ago when he was barely used on television, and as the latest rumors suggest, this was the case because he was being punished by WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

As quoted on Friday by Ringside News, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently revealed on his eponymous podcast that there was a point where he was concerned the company might eventually fire Alexander. He explained that the former Cruiserweight Champion “got into a little trouble” in 2020, and this was because he disobeyed one of McMahon’s orders.

“[H]e didn’t listen the one night, and they scolded him for a good half-year before they started using him again, and rightfully so, he should have listened. That is his job, it’s to listen to Vince and do what Vince tells you to do, and he didn’t do that. So, I thought, ‘Wow, this kid’s career is over,’ you know, when that happened, and Vince eventually gave him another chance.”

Rumors that McMahon was burying Alexander had been swirling since 2019, shortly after Paul Heyman was assigned to be Raw’s executive director. While Heyman was reportedly a big fan of the superstar, who was then coming off a high-profile feud with then-United States Champion AJ Styles, McMahon allegedly asked his writers to “bury” him by making him look less than capable in the ring.

In June 2020, Alexander seemed to take some shots at McMahon on social media, retweeting a video that featured Buddy Murphy kneeing him in the face and referring to the move as the “VKM Special” — a reference to the WWE boss’ initials. This came a few months after it was reported that McMahon didn’t see anything in Alexander, hence his lack of television time and his role as an enhancement talent who would lose to more promising superstars.

Despite that extended period in which he seldom won during the few times he appeared on television, Alexander did get the second chance Angle was referring to, as he turned heel and joined The Hurt Business late last year. It is unclear, however, whether he will be able to maintain his push in the coming weeks. As noted by Sportskeeda, the villainous faction has shown some “cracks” in its foundation on recent episodes of Raw, with Alexander and Benjamin “[struggling] to stay on the same page” during their matches.