Current WWE Diva AJ Lee seems to have found herself in the limelight once again, this time for what seems to be quite the out-burst on Twitter.
The story, as we know it, is this: after Patricia Arquette delivered a grand speech at the 2015 Oscars ceremony, an image surfaced online, containing a portion of Arquette’s words. Among those who shared the powerful image was Stephanie McMahon, thanking Patricia with a tweet, on Monday night during the Raw broadcast:
Thank You @PattyArquette for having the courage to fight for #WomensRights on such a grand platform. #UseYourVoice pic.twitter.com/q71acxMExU
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 23, 2015
A pretty harmless tweet from a woman in power, thanking another woman in power who encourages all females out there to be strong. The speech itself gave strength to millions of women watching, and among the herd, AJ Lee felt strength in herself to post the following two tweets:
@StephMcMahon Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, — A.J. (@WWEAJLee) February 25, 2015
@StephMcMahon And yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice
— A.J. (@WWEAJLee) February 25, 2015
A clearly frustrated AJ voiced her opinion on financial matters, a problem that has surfaced lately, and made pubic by the likes of recently departed WWE wrestlers Alberto Del Rio, and AJ’s real-life husband, CM Punk. However, in this day and age, with social media becoming more popular than ever as a platform to garner attention, there may be more to these tweets than they let off. The two tweets are climbing close to a combined total of 10,000 retweets.
A Possible Angle?
In a perfect world of fantasy booking, these tweets eventually lead to the return of AJ Lee and sets up a program between her and Stephanie McMahon, culminating in a one-on-one match at Wrestlemania. The story almost writes itself. Stephanie’s tweet came a day after the Oscars, during this week’s episode of Raw, a time where her tweet would get noticed by fans moreso than if she had posted it on the same night of the award ceremony.
Raw spent the majority of the three hour show preparing for the biggest event of the year, billing several matches and hinting at certain plots, with five weeks left to build them all up. With current Divas Champion Nikki Bella, and her sister Brie Bella, tangled up with Paige over a battle for the title, an AJ return to the ring wouldn’t mean much without an actual plan for Wrestlemania. Cue Stephanie McMahon. Both Stephanie and AJ have butted heads on-screen a number of times, with nothing much coming out of it. AJ has also cut several promos similar to the kind of message portrayed in the tweets, albeit the tune had more to do with talent being utilized rather than payment being the problem. If this were to be the case, it’s the classic battle between a disgruntled worker and the person in power. It would also open up the event by having two women’s matches instead of one. In a perfect world, this would be reality.
AJ’s Coup de Grace
Perhaps the first possibility was wishful thinking, and this is exactly what it seems: AJ Lee is taking her last shot at the higher ups before following in her husband’s footsteps. It’s been one year since the debut of the WWE Network, and while fans worldwide were giddy with the idea of paying only $9.99 a month and earning a HD stream of that month’s PPV, along with hours upon hours of uploaded content, several names in the WWE locker room weren’t so thrilled with the idea. The monthly earnings that the company raked in from customers shelling out $60-70 per household was now slashed due to the network, putting a big hole in the pockets of some.
As aforementioned, a disgruntled Del Rio discussed the issues regarding pay shortly after his departure from the company. During the infamous podcast with Colt Cabana, CM Punk aired out all his dirty laundry, which included a story where he recalled being paid a few thousand dollars for a weekend of matches, including hardcore matches, where he put his body through hell, a pay that was hardly adequate for the body of work he provided the company with. In an article on wrestlinginc.com, Tyler Reks brought to light some unfortunate truths concerning how the wrestlers are paid:
“I hate to spill my salary on the internet, but when I left I got a bump to $100,000 a year. But a third of it goes to road expenses. The only thing they pay for is your flight. You pay for your own hotel, and car, and food. Could you imagine trying to eat out five times a day? As a body guy, you have to maintain your physique and that means eating five times a day. Spending all your money trying to maintain that? Good luck. Then Uncle Sam takes 20%-30%. You guys do the math and see how much I walked away with, which was next to nothing. I was making more money as an engineer fresh out of college in an entry level position than being on TV.”
The interview also includes video game appearance pay being dropped from $100,000 to “much, much less”, as well as global tours paying out not nearly enough to justify the trip. In the world of wrestling, the women’s wrestlers aren’t given their fair shake on air, so it’s safe to assume that the money earned likely reflects that, aside from those who choose to take part in the Total Divas series, something AJ has refused to be a part of. If her claims are true, even if you include the fact that her husband is financially secure and could take care of AJ from now until the end of time, a wrestler that is proud of his/her work will expect to be accommodated accordingly, and if that’s not the case, we end up with situations like this one. For what it’s worth, Stephanie has since responded to AJ’s tirade with a simple, sightly vague tweet:
Thank you @WWEAJLee, I appreciate your opinion. #UseYourVoice
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 25, 2015
Make of it what you shall, we’ll soon find out what this all implies.
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