What’s the story?
According to Brian Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live, Paige and Xavier Woods should escape punishment despite being embroiled in a scandal of leaked photos and videos showing The New Day member and the former NXT Women’s Champion as well as former WWE employee, Brad Maddox in compromising situations.
Alvarez cited the fact that the leaked content was hacked and not published voluntarily and hence it does not breach the “morality clause” in the WWE Superstars’ contracts. This key details should see both parties to safety once the fervour surrounding the whole issues passes.
In case you didn’t know...
Paige made the headlines this past week when a hacker gained access to some private photos and videos on her phone and proceeded to post them on the internet for everyone to see. Further leaked content also brought The New Day’s Xavier Woods into the picture as well as former WWE referee, Brad Maddox.
This leaked content showed all three members in a compromising situation, especially Maddox, who was seen “defiling” the Women’s NXT Championship which Paige held at the time these videos were shot. Not a pleasant image.
While Maddox is no longer with the company, there have been a number of rumours as to whether Paige – who has already had a number of run-ins with WWE management – and Xavier Woods – who is incredibly popular due to his run with Kofi Kingston and Big E as part of The New Day – would be punished.
The heart of the matter
Brian Alvarez was keen to stress that one of the major advantages for both Paige and Xavier Woods is the fact that the content was clearly stolen and hence does not put them at risk with the WWE’s morality clause. If either of them had published the content voluntarily, they could have been in a lot of trouble, indeed.
Alvarez stated that voluntary publishing is more heavily frowned upon, saying, "you don't wanna tweet after midnight and you don't want to tweet after you’ve been drinking.”
What’s next?
We won’t know for sure until the WWE actually takes some action but for the moment, both Paige and Woods seem to be in the clear. It is a very real possibility, though, that Woods will be kept off screen for tonight’s episode of Raw which comes from Brooklyn – a place that’s infamous for its rowdy crowds.
Author’s Take
We certainly hope what Mr Brian Alvarez says is true and both Paige and Woods are able to put this scandal behind them as soon as possible. The actions of one malicious hacker should not cause the downfall of these promising careers.
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