WWE issues that led to Mandy Rose firing aren’t going away (2024)

The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.

WWE’s firing of Mandy Rose was the end result of a complicated situation, and it likely won’t be the last time we see fallout from clashes over third-party content.

Racy photos and videos from Rose’s FanTime subscription site, which included an X-rated photo of her and her fiancé Tino Sabbatelli in the shower, leaked online and reportedly went outside the parameters of her WWE deal. As much as WWE sexualized Rose’s character over the years, the company has much different standards than what was allowed during the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras. WWE is still a PG to PG-13 product.

So WWE had Rose drop the NXT women’s championship, which she held for more than 400 days in her best run yet in the company, to Roxanne Perez last Tuesday on TV and then fired her the next day. At least initially it appears WWE didn’t give her a chance to take down the content they took issue with or abstain from it going forward. Rose’s site remains active. We have yet to hear her side of the matter, so we don’t have all the answers yet, including whether she would have been open to toning down the content. Either way, she put herself in a tricky spot.

It felt like an infraction that deserved a suspension and reset rather than a firing. However, WWE – fairly or unfairly – has taken a very strict stance on its talents’ personal subscription sites from the start because of the company’s lack of control over those sites and inability to profit from them.

In 2020, then-CEO Vince McMahonsent a letter warning talents about participating in subscription platforms without cooperation with WWE. He threatened termination if terms were violated. If that was the case with Rose and WWE was living by the letter of its law – which it has the right to – then Rose would serve as an example to others to not push the limits on their personal sites or risk being fired.

No one likes to see anyone lose their job, but the 32-year-old Rose will be fine. Her stock as a wrestler has never been higher, and the interest in her site. Her agent told TMZ that Rose has made $500,000 on FanTime since her firing. She will land somewhere. As All Elite Wrestling and Impact look to bolster their women’s divisions, it would be highly logical for the promotions to evaluate the possibility of signing Rose.

For WWE, this may scare other talents from testing the limits of WWE’s rules on their personal subscription sites as Rose appeared to do. But many wrestlers reportedly make more from their personal businesses than from their wrestling contracts.

So it becomes a question of priorities – and the grappling between WWE and its performers over their outside monetary pursuits likely isn’t going away.

Family Issues

WWE has opted for the very, very slow burn to Bray Wyatt’s story, and the direction and effectiveness of the story already has to raise concerns.

They gave us something on Friday at least as we learned on SmackDown that Wyatt and the mysterious Uncle Howdy – hopefully played by Bo Dallas – are two separate people. It took WWE two months since Wyatt’s return to get to this point. It is fine to trust the process for now, knowing there is probably a well-laid-out plan. Still, the Wyatt story sometimes feels out of place from the rest of the show, which can be good and bad.

One needs to at least ask a few questions: Does Wyatt even feel like the star of this story anymore? L.A. Knight, who was kidnapped by Howdy, has been fantastic playing his part, and feels like a sympathetic figure. How do you get this in the ring, or are we just headed for another cinematic Wyatt match? Will it even be a “match,” and will Knight be against Wyatt or Howdy? If Wyatt isn’t actually getting in the ring, is WWE just avoiding the problem of a lot of his stories not translating there? Can fans wait another month-plus – Royal Rumble is not until Jan. 28 – and still be truly invested in this story? WWE has put itself in the position where these questions need to be answered. Lastly, does anyone else find the Alexa Bliss subplot of the Bray Wyatt story far more compelling and better done than the main story at this point? Bliss snapping and clocking Bianca Belair with the flower pot came off excellent.

New Lines Drawn

The streak continues. John Cena’s run of wrestling a WWE match every year since 2002 was in jeopardy of ending. So him coming back to team with Kevin Owens against Roman Reign and Sami Zayn on the Dec. 30 SmackDown, WWE’s final live TV show of 2022, to keep it going shows how much he cares about the little things in this business.

Also, Reigns making ending The Bloodline’s Owens problem the final hurdle for Zayn to become a full-blown Uce feels so perfectly calculated. As was Zayn slipping and calling himself Owens’ best friend, just to keep that sliver of doubt alive. They reinforced it with Zayn looking to jump Owens from behind to end Raw. The Bloodline’s invasion of Raw now also gives them issues with Seth Rollins and The OC – WWE already is planting seeds for 2023.

The 10 Count

“Hangman” Adam Page telling us his concussion was so bad he couldn’t remember his son’s name for an hour is about the saddest thing you are ever going hear in a pro wrestling promo, and he delivered it so well. (Maybe he didn’t need CM Punk’s help after all?) AEW has told such a classic and smart wrestling story with Page not being medically cleared to wrestle and Jon Moxley embracing some heelish tendencies lately. Keep your two guys apart for as long as possible to make fans want to see it even more. So far, it’s working.

Bronson Reed, who returned to help The Miz defeat Dexter Lumis on Raw, is a really tough person for WWE to bring back cold like that considering he hasn’t been on NXT TV since July 2021 and hasn’t really been in front of the main roster audience.

Chris Jericho added to his GOAT status by being willing to put over “jobber” Action Andretti – who looks as if he has plenty of upside — in a shocking moment on “Dynamite.” The crowd was super into it. AEW has a chance for a fun 1-2-3 Kid/Razor Ramon-type storyline that will keep Jericho busy until his next major feud. His backstage tantrum after the loss was also great.

MJF and Ricky Starks put on a heck of a performance that left you needing more after the champ won with a signature kick to the challenger’s nether regions. Bringing Bryan Danielson back and having MJF run scared into the crowd was perfect. Can’t wait to see what those two give us.

Rhea Ripley in an official match with Akira Tozawa was as close to true intergender wrestling as we’ve gotten from WWE in a long time. Tozawa didn’t get much offense in and never really stuck Ripley. Still, all of this makes Ripley feel even more special as WWE builds toward a match between her and Bianca Belair.

Hook and Jungle Boy are the pro wrestling team we didn’t know we needed, but are pleasantly surprised to have. It also doesn’t hurt to team two of your top young stars who have a chance to be heartthrobs.

Didn’t have Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair being the hottest Twitter wrestling feud this week.

Loved the open to NXT last week. Seeing Bron Breakker, Grayson Waller, Roxanne Perez and Mandy Rose all interact felt different and fresh and led to the impromptu match between the two women. NXT has really started to settle into a nice groove. It’s clearly found its young stars and is running with them along with strong main roster crossovers. Perez looks the part as someone who can now carry the women’s division.

Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer’s segment this week on Impact is a reminder of how easily a simple, well-delivered and reality-based story in wrestling can get you invested.

Preston Vance blaming his Dark Order exit on -1 (Brodie Lee Jr.) isn’t bad way to go and not something I saw coming.

Extra: The last thing WWE needs a Vince McMahon comeback or talk of a Vince McMahon comeback.

Wrestler of the Week

Action Andretti, All Elite Wrestling

The 24-year-old indie star was handed the Golden Ticket and ran with it. Andretti delivered a compelling match in his stunning upset of Chris Jericho on Dynamite. After the potential career-making moment, he officially signed with AEW. There will be plenty of attention on Andretti’s story moving forward, and nothing initially makes you believe he isn’t up to the task. He’s already earned Jericho’s trust.

Match to Watch

Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Tegan Nox, Emma, Sonya Deville and Xia Li, Gauntlet Match to be No. 1 contender for the SmackDown women’s championship (Friday, 8 p.m., Fox)

While this match seems set up for Raquel Rodriguez to become Ronda Rousey’s next SmackDown women’s title challenger based on the story of the champ and Shayna Baszler injuring her arm, WWE has gotten exceptionally good at these gauntlet matches. It will be interesting to see how much they play off the injury in the match and what secondary stories come out of it. Emma and Nox have just returned, and Xia Li just helped Damage CTL retain the tag team titles.

Around the Ring

• Chris Jericho landed a starring role in the wrestling-theme horror movie “Dark Match.”
• Impact announced it has signed Jonathan Gresham.