Though things are currently going swimmingly onscreen for World Wrestling Entertainment, with the WWE Draft widely considered a resounding success for RAW and SmackDown, even if Grayson Waller isn't stoked on when he was selected, behind the scenes, the company is gearing up for another lawsuit, this time from a former writer, Britney Abrahams, claiming a culture of discrimination and racial insensitivity.
Widely publicized in an article by Bloomberg in April, the suit in question brought to light many unfortunate angles the company considered for wrestlers, including blaming an elementary school-aged Mansoor for 9/11, and has since become a hot topic among fans and former writers alike, who have noted other very backward ideas that the promotion has placed on television over the years.
Sitting down for an interview with Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl on In The Weeds for Fightful, former writer Dave Schilling discussed one of these such storylines, specifically a lovers angle the writing staff toyed with involving Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville – the latter of whom is gay in real life – that was ultimately shot down because it would be almost certainly portrayed in a bad light.
“On TV, the Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville storyline. That was supposed to culminate in a romance between Sonya and Mandy at WrestleMania 35 where it was a triple threat for the SmackDown Women’s Championship and Mandy was going to win because Sonya would lay down for her, and they would embrace and kiss in the middle of the ring,” Shelling said via TJR. “I said, ‘Oh boy.’ If you’re going to do this, I understand why it could be great because it’s a representation and it’s necessary. To WWE’s credit, they went to GLAAD. Stephanie McMahon was on the phone with them. ‘Can we do this? Can we make this palatable and sensitive to the situation with queer people in America? Can we make this a good angle?’
‘The thing that I said was, ‘At WrestleMania, 60,000 people are going to be rooting for Asuka, and they’re supposed to be the babyfaces? They’re going to be booed out of the building and you’re going to have two women kissing in the middle of the ring and people booing because they love Asuka so much. People do love Asuka and every time WWE thinks they can beat her and ‘who cares,’ they forget people have a positive, intense relationship with her, even when they try to make her a heel, they root for her. Eventually, that storyline didn’t get done because they decided to put the belt on Charlotte.
“It could have turned out poorly even though the best intentions were there, and they did want to make a good storyline, and Sonya and Mandy were involved and they were excited about doing it. At the end of the day, you have to do it right, and that would have been the wrong way to do it because you’re beating a babyface who people love, at WrestleMania, when there is so much complaint around how Asuka is losing.”
Would it have been interesting to see Deville and Rose operate as a couple, instead of the latter going after everyone from Jimmy Uso to Otis and Dolph Ziggler? Assuming the two long-time friends were into the idea, sure, why not, but the prospects of fans at WrestleMania booing the duo as they kissed because they love Asuka would have been an all-time black eye on the promotion right up there with that time Vince McMahon said the… well, you know.
Tiffany Stratton loves getting compared to Mandy Rose in WWE.
Sitting down for an interview with Busted Open Radio ahead of the 2023 WWE Draft, Tiffany Stratton was asked about getting compared to performers like Trish Stratus and Mandy Rose. In the opinion of Stratton, the comparisons are viewed as nothing but complementary.
“I definitely feel like it’s a compliment, of course,” Stratton said via 411 Mania. “Mandy Rose is beautiful, and she was great and really elevated herself when she came down to NXT. That, right there, is one of the biggest compliments I think I could ever receive. Trish Stratus was the one who put women’s wrestling on the board. That’s a really big compliment. I always love to hear that.”
On paper, Stratton and Rose do share a similar space in the NXT Universe; both are tough, both deliver in the ring, and both will likely end their developmental runs with a tenure as the NXT Woman's Championship, as Stratton is the current favorite to win the strap if Indi Hartwell drops it on her way to the main roster. If WWE wants to build up their next Stratus-style star, going all-in on Stratton is a pretty safe bet.
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