Backstage Growing Frustrations Within WWE Women’s Division Over Booking Issues, Vince McMahon’s Wacky Idea for 2022 Women’s Rumble Match

WWE’s women’s locker room reportedly has been growing frustrated over their issues with the booking of the main roster Women’s division in the company, according to Fightful.

Sean Ross Sapp reported in a recent episode of Fightful’s The Hump that these issues regarding concerns and frustrations about women’s booking in WWE are not something new but the current frustrations are not as severe as it was under Vince McMahon’s leadership during the Royal Rumble 2022 event in January of 2022.

Sapp reported that many female talent spoken to within WWE have expressed their frustrations about the booking of women in the company. One female talent spoken to reportedly had asked him if he could find out if she was listed internally as a heel or babyface due the lack of information she was getting for her alignment status within the company.

Sapp also reported that several pitches for WrestleMania 40 plans have been rejected by female talent who have been pushing for meaningful storylines instead of being thrown into token tag matches for the event. Those spoken to reportedly want things to be put on a more even plane in the women’s division in regards to its booking compared to how the men’s booking is treated in the company.

Sapp also brought up Natalya as an example of someone the company had recently signed to a new deal to keep her in the company and had creative plans for her only to not do anything with her since then.

“Somebody asked about women’s booking, and I said, yes, I have spoken with plenty of women in WWE who are frustrated about the booking of the women. This is not a new thing. It’s nowhere near Royal Rumble 2022-level… Royal Rumble 2022 was so bad that I developed sources because of how bad it was booked. This is nowhere near that but there has been a situation where a women’s WWE performer has reached out to me and said, ‘Dude, can you find out if I’m listed internally as a heel or babyface?’ And I’m like, ‘Damn, okay.’ I know there have been some Mania pitches that have been rejected because people are like token tag matches aren’t something that they want to do. They want things put on a more even plane in the women’s division. Okay, well, the contracts are going up, viewership is adjusted accordingly for when women are on-screen. It’s not the sideshow or anything like that. It’s a part of the show. You’re adding more titles, add more matches, all that stuff. There’s a lot of people that have been parked. For example, I’m not going to say Natalya is frustrated, they signed Natalya, they wanted to keep Natalya, they had creative plans for Natalya. And then what’s Natalya done since then? Hasn’t done anything, hasn’t been on NXT, hasn’t been doing anything.”

In a follow-up report, Sapp provided details regarding the very bad level of frustrations within WWE’s Women’s division at Royal Rumble 2022.

Sapp reported that his sources stated that one of Vince McMahon’s original plans for Ronda Rousey’s victory in the Women’s Royal Rumble match was for her to eliminate all 29 of her opponents by herself.

McMahon’s original plans for this match reportedly was one of the reasons why WWE backstage producer TJ Wilson, also known as Tyson Kidd, decided to take a leave of absence from the company ahead of that year’s Royal Rumble event.

McMahon reportedly also had no real plans for the vast majority of surprise entrants cameos beyond telling them to “get in and get out.” This reportedly was the reason why Summer Rae, Sarah Logan, Cameron, Kelly Kelly, Melina, Molly Holly and Ivory all spent a “minute or less in the match.” This reportedly also resulted in a lot of frustration towards McMahon over his booking plans for the match.

Sapp reported that a number of women wrestlers had rejected offers to appear in the Women’s Royal Rumble match that year, including The Inspiration’s Cassie Lee & Jessica McKay and Nia Jax. One female wrestler spoken to reportedly stated that absence of Wilson was a major factor for their decision to not compete in the match.

Transcript h/t: WrestlingNews.co