Backstage Reaction to AJ Lee and Stephanie McMahon

The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has given some insight to the backstage reaction to AJ Lee and Stephanie McMahon’s recent Twitter interaction about the usage of and pay-outs to WWE Divas on the main roster. As previously reported, Lee called out McMahon via social media in the midst of an uproar on Twitter in regards to the amount of time the WWE Divas are given on television, while the hashtags “#GiveDivasAChance” and “#UseYourVoice” were trending worldwide.

McMahon had complimented and applauded Patricia Arquette’s Oscar speech on Feb. 23 via Twitter, thanking her for using the platform she was given to promote women’s rights. The next night, former WWE Divas Champion Lee took to Twitter to respond to McMahon’s tweet, claiming that WWE doesn’t promote women’s rights very well, questioning how much of what McMahon said is what she actually believes.

In response to McMahon, Lee said the following in two separate tweets,

“Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, And yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice”

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims that WWE was “blindsided” by Lee’s Twitter interaction. McMahon was reportedly irate at Lee, more so for the embarrassment that it caused her via social media and online wrestling “dirt sheets,” which were headlining their stories about the situation as, “AJ Lee Calls Out Stephanie McMahon.”

Her father, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, who also posted a response to the “#GiveDivasAChance” hashtag during this time as well, was the one who told his daughter Stephanie to respond to Lee’s posts, thanking her for her opinion.

Lee has been one of the most successful “Divas” to work for WWE over the past decade. She’s sold more mercy than any other Diva, has more Twitter followers than any other Diva, and even appeared in main event segments with Kane, CM Punk, and Daniel Bryan, as well as being the “RAW” General Manager for a season. However, her pay and “place on the card” were never anywhere close to what the men in the main event were making.

Meltzer wrote the following about the entire situation,

“As a general rule in WWE, and of course there are exceptions, the women are paid significantly less than the men at similar levels, and obviously when it comes to match time, that’s an indisputable point. In NXT, that isn’t the case. I was told that the women in NXT actually, as a general rule, make more than the men, because so many of the men came from indie backgrounds and are willing to come in at any price to be in WWE. The women, many of who came from modeling, like the male athletes with backgrounds, are paid better for the most part, with the idea that the women need to earn at a certain level to maintain the kind of looks the WWE wants their women to have.

But the problem as much as time is also the portrayal. On the main roster, they are portrayed not as athletes, fighters, talented technical wrestlers or brawlers, or even women with serious issues with each other. Their storyline issues are generally more shallow and childish. While it’s not 100% sex objects as in the bra and panties days, the women are still there more as sex objects and less as wrestlers, athletes and true superstars than the men are.

Their role is to wrestle in provocative outfits and for the most part their worth is based on their looks far more than the men. No man could have gotten out of developmental with the skill set of Rosa Mendes, Cameron or Eva Marie. There is no argument about equality in portrayal or money that can defend the company on this one other than it is what the wrestling business has always been.

While it is about looks for men to a degree, you will never see an unattractive woman with a bad genetic body, no matter how talented they are technically, in a WWE ring. Sara Amato, who trains the women in NXT, I would not call unattractive at all, yet she was deemed not attractive enough to be anything but be a trainer, even though she was a more talented wrestler than almost all on the roster. Melissa Anderson is probably the furthest thing from unattractive, yet she never did nor is she likely to ever get a WWE look and it was said to be because she didn’t have the right look. One woman who was cut by WWE, and ended up having a successful long career in TNA, said she was told when released by John Laurinaitis, even though she was doing well as a wrestler, that, “We’re looking for tens and you’re not that.” Others at the recruiting level were told that while WWE no longer would allow their performers to pose in Playboy, what they are mainly looking for is women physically attractive enough to do so.

They had done angles in the past to portray Molly Holly as fat, Mickie James as fat, and Natalya and Gail Kim as unattractive.

But where we are now is a big improvement from ten years ago, but yeah, Stephanie McMahon was really asking for it not to have the perspective to the can of worms she was opening up. While they expect none of the talent to have the guts, or stupidity, or whatever you want to say, to criticize them, it’s not as if people aren’t starting to talk due to the jealousy by the main roster stars of the praise that the women in NXT have gotten because they are portrayed more athletically, put in consistent real semi-mains on big shows, and are allowed time for their matches.

It’s the whole WWE main roster vs. NXT women’s portrayal that has become a hot topic the past few weeks. Given those portrayals, Stephanie did completely open herself up by giving that response to Arquette. But who would have thought any of the women would dare do it? But one of them did.

And by doing so, I guess that tells where she is mentally about WWE right now.

The story, once USA Today picked it up, caused the twitter of Vince McMahon to respond, saying, “We hear you. Keep watching,” with the hashtag of “Give Divas a chance.”

Stephanie responded in very un-McMahon after a public attack like fashion, writing to Lee, “Thank you. I appreciate your opinion.”

Clearly, she had no other way to respond past ignoring everything, because any kind of a defense would open the story up more and bury her and the company, and the story had gotten too big to do that.”

Editor’s Note:
Like…wow. Stephanie definitely opened up the floodgates for someone to react to her the way they did. I guess they didn’t think anyone had the stones. AJ is still under contract. This could get interesting before it goes away.