More On Nia Jax Walking Away From WWE, The Rock Involved In Her Decision?
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that The Rock had something to do with Nia Jax reportedly walking out of WWE recently.
Multiple sources have noted that Jax never actually walked out and that reports of her "leave of absence" were overblown but Sports Illustrated insists that Jax did walk out and that she requested the leave of absence after being unhappy with the plan for her to lose clean to Sasha Banks at WWE TLC. Other sources did also report that the plan was for Banks to face Jax at TLC but it ended up being Banks going over Alicia Fox at the pay-per-view. On a related note, PWInsider reported that Jax was set to film some of the final footage for Total Divas in New York City earlier this month but she was pulled from that.
SI reported last week that Jax was unhappy with her pay and with how she's been booked but she was expected to return to work with WWE, but that she had leverage due to The Rock being her cousin. The new report from SI notes that Jax called Rock to ask for his advice and he encouraged her to walk away if she was unhappy.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported last week that the entire situation with Jax was overblown and that there wasn't much to the story to begin with. The Observer added that Jax just had a few weeks off until the European tour began, to "rest up" as she wasn't figured into any of the top storylines. Sources close to Jax reported to The Observer that reports of her being upset over pay and bookings were untrue.
"We have talked about it a lot," RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss told The New York Post about her good friend. "Whatever she is going through, I wouldn't necessarily call it a leave of absence. She's taking some time off because our schedule it very grueling. It's very, very demanding. There are times where you are run down and your body can't do it anymore and you get sick or you get injured from it and you get tired. So, I feel like everyone needs a reset every once in a while. In NXT I took a few resets and it was never like public knowledge, but we all need them. We all take them once in a while. I am happy when she comes back. I feel like everyone needs that refresher week or refresher moment."
Jax has not returned to work for WWE but she did resume tweeting over the weekend, welcoming Asuka to the RAW women's division on Sunday during the TLC pay-per-view. She has been confirmed to work the European tour that begins November 1st but there's no word yet on if she will return to action before then.