More on NXT’s Backstage “Fashion Meetings”

As noted before, Ember Moon revealed in a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast that WWE officials had held talent meetings with their NXT brand talent over wanting their female talents to dress in more revealing clothing for their appearances and matches on NXT shows.

Moon stated:

“I remember when Shotzi left, I remember going to my makeup artist and saying, ‘I am so unhappy.’ We would have to sit through stupid meetings about how we’d have to dress sexy. I remember looking at someone else (and laughing). I cater to children. I’m not about to wear fishnet booty buttcheek shorts because we had a two-hour meeting about how to dress like Mandy Rose. That’s not fair. Mandy is absolutely phenomenal and an amazing person, but not everyone is Mandy Rose. I started seeing this downslope as soon as Hunter was gone. For the first bit, we didn’t know why, we just knew he wasn’t there.”

Fightful Select reported that they first learned about these fashion-based meetings several months ago but could not get anyone on the record who had attended them. Sources recently spoken to confirmed that these meetings did take place and were held under the guise of “fashion consulting” and “fashion aid” to play up that NXT female talent were larger than life stars. It was reported that WWE had brought in fashion expert Melanie Pace to conduct these meetings in October of 2021.

One talent spoken to stated that these meetings were a stark contrast to past meetings since talent had been encouraged before to either just wear their gear or an available merchandise shirt for their appearances on NXT shows. Several NXT talent spoken to stated that they were displeased that these meetings took place and blamed WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis since it started around the time he regained power in the company.

One NXT talent spoken to stated that WWE officials had also encouraged NXT female talents to dress similarly backstage and implied to want them “dressing sexier.” This same source also stated that WWE officials had handed out pamphlets of tops, heels, and other fashion to NXT talent suggesting the type of clothing preferred to be worn while working in the brand.