Nia Jax Reveals Why She Disappeared From WWE TV Last October

When Nia Jax took some time off from WWE last October, it was first reported as a “leave of absence” before reports started making the rounds she was unhappy with her creative direction. A series of rumors circulated, including one from Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated claiming that her famous cousin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, encouraged her to walk away from WWE if she is unhappy.

Barrasso claimed that Jax balked at the idea of losing clean to Sasha Banks at the TLC pay-per-view that took place on October 22, 2017. Banks ended up working the TLC pre-show, beating Alicia Fox.

In an interview with PopCulture.com on Thursday, Jax said Johnson did not cause her absence from WWE.

“That was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard! The fact that people would think that Dwayne would ever tell me to not do something for the WWE, a place that’s actually given him his start and the reason he is on top of the world, it’s completely false and hilarious,” she laughed.

Jax went on to say that even including The Rock in an anti-WWE narrative was “blasphemous” due to his obvious devotion to Vince McMahon and his company.

But even if Johnson wasn’t an impetus to leave, Jax still missed two weeks of action. A number of reports claimed that Jax was unhappy with her status in WWE and spent the rest of the month protesting until organization officials caved.

Jax, however, says that’s not true, either.

“It has nothing to do with that at all. It wasn’t something that was that big of a deal. I had actually had an injury that happened to me personally on a flight — an overhead bag fell directly on top of my head while I was on a plane. I was out of it, I was completely out of it. I’m not kidding you,” she explained.

Jax said she was sleeping when a woman reached for the overhead compartment and whiffed at her falling bag. Unfortunately for Jax, her neck broke the bag’s plunge.

“It was just something where I had to go and make sure I was okay and rest up. It was right before a tour. All it was, was just like, ‘Hey, you’re not the storyline right now. Go take a break. Make sure you’re okay and then come back for the tour.’ That was it. That was the bottom line. That was the story,” she emphasized.

Jax was back in the ring by November 1, 2017, and resumed a path that would eventually earn her a WrestleMania 34 victory over Alexa Bliss to capture the Raw Women’s Championship.

These new statements are contrary to what Jax told The Mirror in November, where she said her time off was due to her not being in anything storyline-wise.