Jazz Questions If Black Female Stars Are Receiving "Fair Chances" In WWE

Former WWE star, Jazz, was a recent guest on Ring The Belle to countdown her top 5 moments that were voted on by fans. During her time on the show, she gave her feelings on WWE not treating black women fairly and questioned whether current stars like Bianca Belair and Naomi will get a fair opportunity.

"I just don't think they're given a fair chance," Jazz said. "Naomi – I believe she deserves to be treated better. Sasha, right now, she's kind of being taken care of in a sense. But there's a few more- you know, Bianca, I think she can kick everybody's ass on the main roster. Will she ever have the opportunity? Will they ever give her that opportunity? I don't know."

Jazz was performing in the middle of a transitional period for women in WWE, as the stars such as herself, Trish Stratus, and Lita were fighting to be taken seriously as performers and not just thought of as gimmicks. She reflected on that time during the early 2000s, and said she feels like once the women started doing better than some men in the ratings, that management would limit them and they would be set up to fail.

"We were killing some of the men's ratings and they tried to set us up for failure," Jazz said. "We were. I guess no matter how you look at it, just still considered a gimmick match. At that time, you really couldn't voice your opinion too much. We actually spoke up a few times, but we just try to go out there and show each Monday night, or each house show, that we deserve the respect. We deserve to be here. We just had to prove ourselves, and now, look what they're doing with the women."

Jazz also recalled a time at Survivor Series 2001 where Booker T got upset with her. She said she didn't get the opportunity to practice her entrance and unintentionally did something similar to Booker's entrance, and he took exception to it.

"I didn't get a chance to practice an entrance or anything," Jazz recalled. "I came out and I did something similar to Booker T's deal when he comes out. Booker T called me out, 'What the f***, you stealing my sh** or what?' I was like, 'Bro, I don't know. I don't know what happened. Something came over me and I just did like a little skip and a hop.' He called me out on this, like, 'Yo, get your own sh**!'"

Jazz also reflected on the time when she tore her ACL and WWE management were still making calls to have her be put through tables. She revealed it wasn't a matter of them not knowing about the injury because her appointment was already set up.

"They put me through a table and every damn thing with the ACL injury," Jazz said. "My appointment was already set up to have surgery and everything. Hey, the show must go on."

Jazz had at one point joined the "Thuggin' And Buggin'" faction that was made up of African American wrestlers that felt like they were held down by "The Man". Jazz said with the current climate of the world, she doesn't think that kind of angle would go over well with the audience, but sarcastically said that would mean Vince McMahon would love the idea.

"I know it would've worked if it was done the right way," Jazz said. "But of course, you have to be careful with the division. I mean the country is divided right now. I don't think now would be a good time to actually pull off a storyline like that, which Vince would probably think totally opposite, like, 'It's a perfect time!'"

She was later moved over to the ECW brand when that made it's brief return, but her run there was short-lived. She reflected on that period and said she thinks it didn't work out with that run because she was supposed to be a heel, but was getting babyface pops.

"I was on the road on ECW house shows and they had me doing run-ins on Kelly Kelly in a bikini," Jazz recalled. "I run out there, just slam her ass real quick and get a big pop. Then they came back and told me, 'You're supposed to be a heel', and I'm like, 'This is the ECW crowd. This is where Jazz was born. Hey, I can't help it.' I don't know if that's why I didn't work out, because I got a babyface pop or what."

Jazz hasn't been seen on WWE programming since 2007 and was part of a class-action lawsuit in 2016 where performers were suing WWE over traumatic brain injuries that were sustained during their time with the company, and that the company tried to hide the risks of the injuries. She said she feels like that may be one reason the company has never contacted her for a return of any kind.

"The only reason I haven't actually gotten that call is because I was part of that lawsuit," Jazz said. "But again, look at the Hall of Famers and see how many have actually sued Vince before."

You can check out Jazz's full appearance on Ring The Belle in the video above.