Allegations of a backstage incident between WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee and NBC personality Michelle Beadle at last Wednesday’s Tribute to the Troops event in Pierce County, Washington is currently a huge topic of discussion among company employees at the WWE TLC pay-per-view event in Houston, Texas. People who generally don’t acknowledge these types of online stories at shows are even offering their thoughts.
Multiple accounts of the story, which was originally reported this morning, are floating online, with some people affiliated with WWE attempting damage control in order to protect Lee’s brand and reputation—with one source claiming Lee did not approach Beadle out of jealousy toward her chatting up with boyfriend CM Punk, but rather, calmly appeared in his defense for speaking to him in a “disrespectful tone.” According to another version of the story, Lee lashed out at the popular television personality with a bizarre, obscenity-laced tirade and behaving similar to her eccentric on-screen character.
“I’ve talked to several there. Everything is damage control now,” a source said Sunday afternoon. “According to more than one there, she cussed out Beadle and they were very upset, partially because Beadle was brought in as a host and it was a show when they were trying to put their best foot forward, saying it was a bigger deal because it was Tribute to the Troops. Four different people today and one last night including one person who got it from top management explained it the same way.”
“Even one person trying to defend her admitted she was way out of line and nuts, but said she overreacted because she knew Punk and Beadle had a short-lived deal.
“It’s way bigger than it was reported last night. As of 1 p.m. Central time in Houston, it is the story in the locker room, even backstage people who aren’t usually talking about such things are are all talking about it.”
As seen at WWE’s TLC pay-per-view, AJ defeated Natalya and retained the title so they pulled the “swerve” that we hinted at earlier. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a rematch on RAW or in the very near future.
