Nia Jax Left Over Pay/Creative, Shield’s Longevity, Lesnar/Mahal

It was reported this week that Raw superstar Nia Jax was granted a leave of absence by WWE due to ‘personal reasons.’ Bryan Alvarez recently reported on Wrestling Observer Live that Nia wanted to be the one to face Asuka at TLC, and Jax is also apparently not too thrilled about Asuka being portrayed as the most dominant force in the women’s division. Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso also reported that Nia is not happy with what she is being paid by the company. It is very possible that Nia could return to WWE soon with higher pay and a new creative plan for her character, but she is said to be considering all of her options at the moment.
After several years of being apart, wrestling fans everywhere rejoiced when Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns reformed The Shield a few weeks ago. They are set to compete in their first match since 2014 at this Sunday’s TLC pay-per-view. It has been reported that The Shield reunion is not expected to last very long, but Madison Square Garden just announced that they will be hosting a live event on December 26th, and they have promoted a Shield vs. The Miz, Cesaro, and Sheamus six-man tag team match for the show. It appears as though The Shield will be sticking around for at least the remainder of the year.
After initial reports of a possible Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal match at Survivor Series started surfacing, Jinder called out Lesnar on this week’s Smackdown. Lesnar will appear on Raw next week, likely to accept Jinder’s request for a match. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently stated that WWE has been planning a champion vs, champion match for a while now, but they do not actually consider Jinder Mahal vs. Brock Lesnar to be a big match for the show. The match is being done as a way to play up the ‘Smackdown vs. Raw’ setting that Survivor Series will have, and the belief is that Finn Balor will be challenging Lesnar for the Universal Championship next, while AJ Styles is in line to face Jinder for the WWE Championship after November’s pay-per-view.