In this WrestleTalk News, Becky Lynch has no friends in WWE, the latest news on Stephanie
McMahon stepping down from WWE, things are only going to get worse for Sasha Banks and
Naomi and more.
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Back in early 2018, Becky Lynch was just - like a lot of people - a body on the roster with
no real direction.
WWE attempted to turn her heel in the summer, but it made the fans cheer her more - accidentally
turning her into the biggest babyface on the roster.
Which was only furthered when Nia Jax busted her face open in the lead-up to Survivor Series,
removing Lynch from the card and turning her into The Man who would go on to main event
WrestleMania and win both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships.
Lynch returned to WWE last summer with a new heel turn, and has been one of the most consistently
brilliant things in WWE since.
However, maybe that’s just a fan perspective - as according to one former WWE star, she
isn’t well liked backstage.
The former Nia Jax - now going by her real name Lina Fanane - recently did a Q&A on Instagram,
where a fan asked - presumably because of the angle leading into Survivor Series 2018
- “Are you and Becky in a good friendship or not?”
To which Jax responded, “lol I don’t think she has a good friendship with anyone laughing
face emoji”.
Fanane caught some heat earlier this year - comparing the situation in Ukraine to the
mask mandate in the US during the pandemic - which caused a lot of her former colleagues
to unfollow her on social media.
She however also claimed in March that she gets, “calls daily on how everyone is miserable
[in WWE].”
One person we do know that Lynch has a fractured relationship with is Charlotte Flair.
The two were part of WWE’s version of The Four Horsewomen in NXT, and have had a longstanding
rivalry on the main roster.
However, the angle on SmackDown last year with the switching over the Raw and SmackDown
Women’s Championships - where Flair went off script and dropped her belt on the floor
so Becky had to pick it up - didn’t go down very well with Lynch.
Flair explained on Ariel Halwani’s show that, “Competition breeds competition, and
I think we just got older and not necessarily that success doesn’t get to your head and
that’s why you lose a friendship.”
However, that’s about the only story we’ve heard.
As @CreatureLives points out on Twitter: many folks who have been released from WWE over
the last few years have said that Lynch was the first person to call them - including
former producer Road Dogg.
What do you make of Nia Jax’s comments - do you think Becky Lynch is unliked backstage?
- let me know in the comments down below.
And after announcing her taking a leave of absence from WWE, is there more to the story
of Stephanie McMahon?
Last Thursday, Stephanie McMahon announced that she was taking a leave of absence from
the majority of her responsibilities from WWE to focus on her family, and that she looks
forward to making her return.
It was later reported by Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics that Nick Khan would be taking
on her responsibilities, and WWE did expect Stephanie to be coming back.
Sean Ross Sapp over at Fightful Select reported that the news came as a surprise to many in
the company, but it wasn’t made overnight - as it had been “brewing for sometime”.
WWE sources did tell them, though, that this was nothing to do with marital issues, which
has been speculated online.
Now, really, this is about where the story ends.
There’s been no new information reported since Thursday, just that what Stephanie said
in her statement was correct: she is taking some time off from the company and will spend
it with her family.
However there are more Succession-minded folk out there who could connect some pins together
with string and find out a bigger story here.
For example, it was reported a few years ago that Stephanie was no longer involved in the
creative process for WWE - something she had been heavily involved for many years - and
it was revealed earlier this year that most of her team were part of WWE’s cuts late
last year as WWE merged together the branding and marketing departments.
She also had a lot to deal with personally last year when her husband Triple H had his
cardiac event.
Brandon Thurston also noted on Wrestlenomics Radio that her announcement was done after
the Fox and USA upfronts for advertisers, and half an hour after the New York stock
exchange closed - which is probably not coincidental.
And, of course, there’s the whole Nick Khan thing.
And it’s also things like Wade Keller of PWTorch saying on his daily podcast, “I
have been told not to expect the reasons that Stephanie is stepping away to come out.
But the implication is, there are reasons.”
He added, “Whatever is going on, sounds like it’s just very private.
And I have not been given any indications of what that is… it could have to do with
Vince McMahon, or Shane McMahon, or Triple H.”
Dave Scherer at PWInsider similarly said, “I have heard a lot of stories and frankly,
until we can confirm them, I am not going to speculate…
All I will say is I do believe there is a lot more to it than we know right now.”
As of right now, there isn’t a story here.
But as Scherer points out, there could be more to it than we know.
And - quite frankly - it might be something we’ll never know.
What we do know, however, is that there is more to the Sasha Banks and Naomi story.
It was just one week ago that Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on a taping of WWE Raw,
when the pair were given creative that they didn’t agree with.
If you missed the news last week, the plan was for a six-pack challenge with Banks, Naomi,
Doudrop, Nikki A.S.H, Becky Lynch and Asuka, that would see Naomi win and go on to face
Bianca Belair at Hell in a Cell for the Raw Women’s Championship.
It’s been reported that Sasha would then face Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s
Championship on the same show.
However the pair felt that this did nothing for them as the Women’s Tag Team Champions,
and were reportedly told that they were just being used to get the singles champions over.
And so, they walked out.
WWE released a statement on the matter during the broadcast of Raw, and announced on SmackDown
that the pair had been suspended indefinitely - with all of their merchandise removed from
WWEShop.com, reportedly so they wouldn’t make any money off their merch while suspended.
WWE have also taken down their official Facebook pages, and removed them from the intro bumper
that opens their shows - replacing Sasha with Cody Rhodes and Naomi with Ronda Rousey.
Naomi herself has removed all references to WWE from her Twitter bio.
And there is still more to this story.
The very reliable WrestleVotes tweeted over the weekend: “After talking to a few people,
I gather this Sasha / Naomi situation is going to get worse before it gets any better.
While the majority of the support online is in their favor, its quite the opposite with
management.”
This backs up what Angela and I were talking about on the WrestleTalk Podcast last Friday.
We’ve seen a lot of support for Sasha and Naomi online - with several of their colleagues
tweeting supporting statements or pictures of them - and Snoop Dogg also seemingly showed
his support for his cousin Banks on Instagram - but there were reports from the likes of
Bryan Alverez of Figure Four that this support was not felt backstage.
Most likely, a lot of Bryan’s information was coming from upper management who were
annoyed at the pair walking out on a show, while Sean Ross Sapp at Fightful reported
that, “Contrary to other reports, we've spoken to numerous talent in and out of WWE
that have been supportive of Naomi and Sasha Banks' stance, and the duo in general.”
He also did add, “However, the much larger population lies in the "not being happy with
creative is fine, walking out is fine, but walking out during the show isn't fine" camp.”
And this disgruntlement towards WWE was not developed overnight.
Dave Meltzer has said via Wrestling Observer Radio that Banks has seemingly been upset
with WWE for a little while - noting that she was told that it would be her and Charlotte
Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania for months.
However, once WWE learned that Ronda Rousey was prepared to return to the company, she
was bumped down to the Women’s Tag Team Championship scene.
Meltzer adds, “they gave her the tag belts as kinda like a concession because she got
moved down.”
There are conflicting reports about the status and length of Banks and Naomi’s contracts.
Meltzer reported last week that Naomi was in the process of negotiating a new deal with
the company, and WWE confirmed with Sean Ross Sapp that Banks and Naomi “have not been
released”.
Someone who could be on their way back to WWE, however, is The Rock.
And not just to my version of Monday Night Raw on our MyGM series over on partsFUNknown.
I signed The Rock recently.
I’m still losing, like.
But, you know, I got The Rock Back in the real world, however, Bryan Alverez
noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that The Rock - despite being a very busy man - currently
has zero movie commitments in the first quarter of 2023, which would allow him to work WrestleMania.
If you’ve ever kept a close eye on The Rock’s IMDB page - him having no movie commitments
for any period of time is really weird.
Dave Meltzer had reported back in March that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was the current
working idea for WrestleMania 39 - which ties into his previous report about the confusion
over the Money in the Bank stipulation; where Cody Rhodes said in a video promo that the
winner would main event WrestleMania.
Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this didn’t seem likely as Vince had
decided on his Mania main event, and neither of the people involved would be in Money in
the Bank.
As much as I would love to see The Rock in a Money in the Bank ladder match, that doesn’t
seem likely does it?
And lastly I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who checked out our return episode
of CBW over on partsFUNknown!
If you’ve not seen the first series, or don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s
our weekly D&D-style role playing series where we take on the roles of wrestlers in a fictional
90s company called City British Wrestling.
After a two year hiatus, the series is back and better than ever - with new cast addition
Rosie Nicholls as Canadian import Mable Syrup.
It’s a lot of fun and we’re super proud of it.
We’ve had amazing feedback to the first episode and its dramatic conclusion, and you
can hear Adam Blampied, Laurie Blake, and Head of Creative Tom break it all down on
a Patreon exclusive backstage podcast.
So go and check that out over on partsFUNknown right now, or check out Adam’s latest list
video right now.