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It's a frustrating job being a WWE Diva. Not only do they have to deal with being treated like second class citizens by company management, frequently being shortchanged for time and made to play sexist stereotypical characters on TV, but they also have to deal with the fan apathy and backlash that such portrayals cause.
If CM Punk is sick and tired of being constantly hounded by fans, then spare a thought for his female counterparts who often have to put up with misogynistic catcalls and much creepier advances by deluded stalkers.
Shortly before leaving WWE, Maryse had to file for a restraining order against 61 year old Lee Sibler, after he bombarded her with terrifying letters and threatening voicemails. So serious was the situation that WWE felt compelled to add extra security guards and take additional precautions until the threat had passed.
It's not just crazy fans that the WWE Divas have to worry about, but also some of the WWE writers too who can't behave professionally around them:
Bryan Alvarez reported in a Summer 2004 edition of his F4W newsletter that one writer had been let go for a rather strange reason. A newcomer to the WWE Creative had been given the contact details of all the divas on the roster since he was handling a few of their storylines at the time. You know, just to get some creative input from time to time, see how they felt about a story…etc. Bizarrely, the writer then proceeded to barrage the women with constant phone calls and emails, creepily phoning them in the middle of the night to ask questions, many of which had nothing to do with wrestling at all. Unsurprisingly, many divas complained at what a nuisance he had become and he was let go shortly afterwards.
More recently, reports surfaced last year that The Miz had heat with a writer over his real-life relationship with Maryse. After Maryse rebuffed his attempts to ask her out, the writer grew insanely jealous of Mike, and proceeded to bury the promising newcomer in meetings every chance he could get, deliberately attempting to make him look bad and sabotage his career. No, that’s not "Awesome."
The latest victim of an unhealthy infatuation is Natalya, who recently had a bizarre lawsuit filed against her by a prison convict, who attempted to extort money out of her with threats of going to higher courts and the media with his outlandish accusations, which thankfully was quickly thrown out of court due to its preposterous nature. Dave Meltzer had the details in his latest subscriber only Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
"There was an apparently crazy lawsuit filed against Natalie Neidhart (Natalya). Christopher Donnelly, who is currently in prison in Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit on 6/27, representing himself, hand-written, asking for $250,000, claiming Neidhart was a dominatrix who had beaten him between the period of 2005 and 2009 when they were together at hotels throughout the U.S. and had forced him into extreme sexual abuse and even to prostitute himself. Neidhart has been mainly traveling with current husband T.J. Wilson (Tyson Kidd) for her entire WWE career. The suit was immediately thrown out of court due to no evidence being presented and apparent mental issues with the plaintiff."
Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com also claimed that Donnelly had accused Natalya in his lawsuit of aborting his soon to be child, berating him with lines like "This is my dungeon, you stupid little bitch" and was forced to do degrading acts that don't even bare repeating here.
Hopefully this is the last that Natalya ever hears from this deranged individual and he gets the help he so clearly needs. But I sadly doubt that this is the final story of WWE Divas being harassed by obsessive fans that have well and truly lost the plot.