Former WWE Star Ahmed Johnson On Locker Room Reaction To His Early Push

Ahmed Johnson had the proverbial rocket strapped to his back when he arrived in WWE in late 1995, dominating everyone in sight en route to his Intercontinental Championship victory in June 1996. Understandably, Johnson was the target of envy among the wrestlers in the back, who probably had reason to dislike him for being Vince McMahon's handpicked star. 

In a recent interview with "Developmentally Speaking," Johnson opened up about the resentment he felt from his peers, revealing that he was forced to work "a lot of job guys" in his early months since the top stars didn't want to share the ring with him. 

"A lot of the guys were very jealous of me," Johnson said. "I don't know why, but they were very, very jealous of me [for] the push I was getting. Vince didn't have anyone with that kind of intensity and animal magnitude [magnetism]. I felt like, this is where I belonged, but the jealousy ... it got to me, man." Johnson claimed that the fact that he "quickly got over with the fans" only intensified the jealousy his peers felt towards him since McMahon's plan was working to perfection. "I think that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way," he added. "Somebody who was 350 pounds and could move like a 200-pounder ... that really impressed Vince." 

Johnson made it a point to note that one specific peer — a late WWE Hall of Famer — did not exude jealousy toward him. "The only person who wasn't jealous of me, and helped me out a lot, was Razor Ramon. He would watch my matches, and when I'd go to the back, he'd be like, 'Man, this looked good. That didn't look good.' He actually critiqued my matches for me." 

Following his WWE departure, Johnson made a brief stop in WCW, in late 1999, under the ring name of "Big T," siding with Stevie Ray in his sibling rivalry with Booker T. He would be fired less than a year later.