Backstage Details On How WWE’s Controversial Angle With Charlotte and Paige Came To Be

WWE headlined Monday Night Raw this week with a Divas Championship Contract Signing for the upcoming title match between Charlotte, the champ, and Paige, the challenger, at Survivor Series this coming Sunday night. In an attempt to draw some heat to the angle, Charlotte’s brother Reid, who died of a drug overdose in 2013, was disparaged by Paige, who said “he didn’t have enough fight in him, did he?”

While there were some people who said they were fine with WWE having done this, the overwhelming majority were against it. That includes those closest to the situation, Reid’s parents, Elizabeth and WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. The former took to Twitter to voice her displeasure while the latter used his podcast to say he “cried” while watching it. Both have said that they weren’t told about it beforehand.

In response to the backlash, WWE released a statement on the matter to various wrestling news outlets.

“Subject matter this personal is only approved as a result of the strong advocacy of the talent themselves. Notwithstanding that, WWE is ultimately responsible for what airs in its programming.”

Based on what sources have told PWInsider.com, the idea was something that was presented to Charlotte and the angle was something she was able to give feedback on, both in terms of the verbiage she felt comfortable using and with the way the angle was presented. The angle was designed as a way to give Charlotte some sympathy from the audience going into the Paige bout.

The original idea came from a mention Charlotte made to the creative team at some point that her entire career was a tribute to her late brother. That somehow gestated into the verbiage that was used. Over the course of the day, certain aspects were dropped and others evolved. It was not a situation where she was handed a script and told what to do, but something she was presented and likely asked if she was comfortable going forward with the story, given the chance to give feedback and to prepare herself for the segment.

Sources have also claimed that the entire angle was something that was greatly discussed over the course of the day at Raw with some of the senior members of the creative team being against it and voicing that opinion to Vince McMahon. At one point, the angle may have been pulled, but before Raw went on the air, McMahon made the decision to go forward with it.

Ric Flair addressed the angle on his podcast, but was very careful with his words. It was clear he didn’t like it, and spoke volumes by not saying anything, saying he would not give his opinion because he doesn’t want to do anything that could hurt his daughter’s career. But he did say that he didn’t know about it in advance, that it was a sensitive issue to him, that he cried when he watched the segment, and also mentioned that both beforehand, and the next day, that nobody from WWE had called him.

Flair also feels that her daughter isn’t ‘comfortable saying no to anybody about anything.’

“If they ask you to do something, what is she going to say, ‘no, I quit’? I don’t think that anybody has… I listened to a lot of the interviews with a lot of the kids. Forget anything personal, it doesn’t mean I have to like the verbage of them. They’ve written down stuff for me that I wasn’t comfortable with and I can go ask and they’ll change it. It’s nothing sensitive like that but they’ve brought stuff to me and I’ve said to Hunter ‘this doesn’t make sense’ and Hunter goes ‘well, write something down that does’ or ‘go talk to the writer’ and I will. But it’s never anything of that level of sensitivity.

…

“. . . I do know that she would never be comfortable rocking the boat right now. She’s in a very unique and great position with them and she’ll be there as long as she wants to be because they think that much of her, not only because of who she is but because of her skill set, her workrate, her work ethic; there are a thousand reasons why she’ll be there forever. But I don’t think she feels comfortable saying no to anybody about anything.”