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What's the story?
There seems to be something in the water over at WWE at the moment, with the post-WrestleMania fallout not being around how good the show was but rather around unhappy Superstars, fines, last minute Creative changes and employees quitting.
Now backstage reports from Sean Ross Sapp at Fightful claim that Vince McMahon's behaviour has been 'on edge' recently.
In case you didn't know...
Two referees were fined over WrestleMania weekend, with Rod Zapata blamed for the abrupt finish to the WrestleMania 35 main event, and another referee fined for a moment during the SmackDown Live Tag-Team Title match.
Following Monday Night RAW and SmackDown LIVE after WrestleMania the blue brand's head writer Brian 'Road Dogg' James stepped down from his role, with reports citing frustration with Vince McMahon's last-minute booking decision changes as the cause.
Another backstage Creative member, Robert Evans also allegedly quit WWE after hearing Vince McMahon was unhappy that his name was mentioned during the Hall of Fame Ceremony, with Bret Hart and DX name-dropping the Chairman.
Finally, both Sasha Banks and Brock Lesnar are alleged to have been in backstage incidents protesting decisions made by Vince McMahon. Lesnar allegedly wanted his match to go on first at WrestleMania and Banks objected to the fairly last-minute decision to take the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles off of her and Bayley.
The heart of the matter
All of these incidents seem to have led to the perception of there being somewhat of a tense atmosphere backstage in WWE at the moment, which is something that Sean Ross Sapp's report in Fightful seems to suggest comes from the Chairman himself.
Throughout the week, several employees have reached out about Vince McMahon being "on edge." From fighting back on questionable booking decisions, to fining referees, to "being on everyone's back" at Tuesday's Smackdown.
It's unclear what has gotten Vince McMahon so on-edge, although the likely scenario that I would guess at would be McMahon trying to make sure 'Mania week goes smoothly with the impending Fox deal almost upon us.
What's next?
It remains to be seen how the ongoing Sasha Banks situation is going to resolve itself, but if Mr. McMahon was 'on edge' before this all kicked off, I can imagine it's only gotten worse now.
What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments section below!
