Backstage Report On Social Media Conflict Between WWE's Rhea Ripley & Jade Cargill

It didn't take long after Rhea Ripley won the Women's Elimination Chamber to secure a WWE Women's Championship match against Jade Cargill for the two to begin going back and forth on social media. But to many, the snipes Cargill and Ripley had towards each other seemed a bit more hostile than expected, and after other WWE wrestlers like Chelsea Green and Piper Niven joined in, all in favor of Ripley, many began to wonder if the animosity between Cargill and Ripley was more shoot than work.

On "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer appeared to answer the question by saying the interactions were all an attempt on WWE's part to drive up interest for Ripley and Cargill's upcoming WrestleMania match. At the same time, Meltzer noted that even though this was a work, it was very much based on the real feelings some in WWE have towards Cargill.

"I'm not saying that people who tweeted have said that to me," Meltzer said. "I will only say that those words have been said to me by...there is a prevailing viewpoint there, among people and talent, that is, like, identical to some of the things that were tweeted. So there is...we're ribbing on the square. 

"It's a real interesting thing, because it is a work, because again, if it was real, they're not doing it, you know what I mean? Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, they're not going to bury someone on their own team in public, because they know you can't do this. It's not allowed. But they are using the thoughts of many people while they're doing this angle. It's really kind of...that's what Lawler and Dundee used to do...where it's all work, but everything they said about each other was real, you know?"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

Let's get this out of the way first; I have no idea whether this whole Jade-Rhea business is a work or a shoot, and I also don't think it matters. Either way, this is a putrid look for WWE. If this whole situation is real, then we have a situation where WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill is seen as a pariah by a decent amount of the "SmackDown" women's locker room. It's wrestling, not everyone is going to like each other backstage, but as CM Punk's tenure in AEW has taught us, you probably don't want one person in the locker room to be this disliked. 

As bad as that would be though, it would be even worse if Meltzer is right and this is a work. For starters, there's still real life animosity there, so the problems that I just described still exist. But most importantly, what does this particular work accomplish? The argument is that more people will want to see Jade fight these women if they believe they really hate her. I'm unconvinced that's worked for Jade vs. Rhea, and it sure doesn't work when it comes to Chelsea Green and Piper Niven; not only is neither in line to face Jade any time soon, but Niven can't wrestle at all, as she's still out with injury.

As a result, all WWE's work here has accomplished is making people believe Jade Cargill is performer not respected by their peers and Rhea is a suck up to management. That doesn't make me interested in seeing them fight, it makes me roll my eyes. I get it, CM Punk's pipebomb promo years ago opened up a world where blurring the lines could work. But stuff like this really makes me wish the worked shoot stuff we see today was left behind in the Vince Russo era, where it probably should've stayed.