5 WWE backstage stories we learned this week: Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks, Triple H, more!

This past week in wrestling has featured lots of interesting talking points, from Kenny Omega’s dig at NXT Superstars to the latest developments in the WWE Universal Championship storyline between Seth Rollins and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.

As is often the case in the bizarre world of sports entertainment, the behind-the-scenes stories about the men and women involved in the business are sometimes just as newsworthy as what fans witness on Raw, SmackDown and NXT on a weekly basis.

For example, we saw Lio Rush return to WWE television on the first two-hour episode of NXT on Wednesday, but do you know how long his in-ring comeback has been in the works? And are you aware of which Superstar leads the locker room in WWE these days?

In this article, let’s take a look at five backstage stories involving WWE Superstars that we learned this week.

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#5 Roman Reigns ‘owns’ the WWE locker room

CazXL, formerly known as WWE’s Big Cass, made headlines last week after getting involved in an unfortunate incident backstage at a WrestlePro event.

On Tuesday, Wrestling Inc. published an interview with the 7-footer which was recorded before the incident took place.

Speaking in-depth about his time with WWE, one of Cass’ most interesting comments came when he praised Roman Reigns’ behind-the-scenes role and revealed that “The Big Dog” is the main person who “owns” the locker room in modern-day WWE.

"He's the best, man. He owns that locker room, he polices that locker room to the point where no one steps out of line with him… Every time I worked with him was a pleasure. He's really good and I feel like people maybe underrate him, I think. Besides [Daniel] Bryan or AJ [Styles], even with them, he could be the best in-ring performer in the company."

The term “locker room leader” is usually used to describe the most respected and highly regarded Superstar in the locker room (e.g. The Undertaker during his time as a full-time competitor), and it seems that Reigns has taken on that role in recent years.

#4 Lio Rush’s return had been planned for a long time

Lio Rush made his long-awaited return to WWE television by defeating Oney Lorcan on Wednesday’s two-hour episode of NXT to become the new #1 contender for Drew Gulak’s Cruiserweight Championship.

The future of “The Man of the Hour” in WWE had looked uncertain after he split from Bobby Lashley following WrestleMania 35 and began to work on projects outside of the wrestling business, including releasing his own music.

Various WWE Superstars have previously spoken about how their returns or debuts were arranged at the last minute. Baron Corbin, for example, found out about his WrestleMania 32 debut one day before the show, and it was recently reported that Luke Harper’s return was finalised in the days leading up to Clash of Champions.

In Rush’s case, NXT boss Triple H revealed in a conference call after this week’s show that the cruiserweight’s return was “not a recent development” and it was something that had been discussed “for a while”.

He added that he sees Rush as a “money performer” and is looking forward to working with him more in the future.

#3 Kane feared he could lose his job

One of the biggest surprises of the week in WWE came on the September 16 episode of Raw when Kane appeared as the real-life person behind his character (Glenn Jacobs, the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee) in various 24/7 Championship segments with R-Truth and Carmella.

Later in the show, Kane returned to a WWE arena for the first time in 10 months when he helped Seth Rollins fight off a 5-on-1 assault from AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode before being on the receiving end of an attack from “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.

Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, “The Big Red Machine” praised the development of Wyatt’s character in 2019 and also told an interesting story about how he feared for his job in WWE during their battle with WCW in the late 1990s.

“We all look back on the Monday Night Wars and romanticise – gosh, what a good time for wrestling and all that – but if you were in either company, but especially WWE, it was the most stressful time of my life because it really was a war and if we lost, we were probably going to lose our jobs.

“So, we weren’t sitting there romanticising about how great everything was. We were going, ‘How can we put on the best show that we possibly can? Because if we don’t, we could wake up out of a job any day now.’”

#2 The inspiration behind Bianca Belair’s hair whip

Casual WWE fans may have seen Bianca Belair for the first time when she competed in a Fatal 4-Way match against Io Shirai, Candice LeRae and Mia Yim in the first match of NXT’s new two-hour weekly format.

Although Belair did not use her signature hair whip move in the match, which was won by LeRae, it is safe to assume that followers of the NXT product are likely to have seen it multiple times by the end of the year.

Speaking to Newsweek earlier this week, Belair revealed that her unique offence was created by the assistant head coach at WWE’s Performance Center, Sara Amato.

"I was like 'What?' [when Amato suggested it] so I tried to hit her, and I didn't think much of it, but it started from there. I was in the ring with Ruby Riott, and I hit her and it made this loud noise. That was the first time that I realised that this can be a threat in the ring, and I can use it to my advantage."

Belair’s most famous hair whip attack so far came in April 2018 at WrestleMania 34, where she struck Becky Lynch across the midsection during the Women’s Battle Royal.

#1 Sasha Banks doubted herself after Paige incident

A lot has been said and written about Sasha Banks since she took an unexpected leave of absence after losing the Women’s Tag Team titles at WrestleMania 35.

Ahead of her first pay-per-view match in five months against Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch at Clash of Champions, WWE aired a documentary which gave a glimpse into how an out-of-character Banks has dealt with various setbacks over the last two years, including the December 2017 incident with Paige.

In what turned out to be the final match of Paige's career, the former Divas Champion suffered a kick to the back from Banks in a live event match and was forced to retire four months later due to ongoing issues with her neck and spine.

Speaking openly about how Paige’s retirement affected her, an emotional Banks said she questioned her abilities as a wrestler following the incident.

"I really think what really started it all, like feeling sad, was the whole Paige situation... that really s**ked (cries), and having fans like, destroy me, destroy my work... I pride myself on my work so much, and I would never intentionally try to hurt somebody. That s**ked and that made me question myself as a wrestler."

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