Nia Jax may be unhappy with her creative direction, and she should be

For much of the day, the news on Nia Jax’s leave of absence from WWE was mostly quibbling over details of existing reports - whether she walked out or was never at Raw, if she’s been gone since on or before the Oct. 9 episode or if this all went down this week, if she was supposed to film for Total Divas this week or if that show has wrapped for the season... stuff like that.

A report from SI.com gets into some specifics, and may align with an earlier update from PWInsider to shed some light on Jax’s absence, however.

Justin Barrasso at SI says Nia “is unhappy with her current creative and pay scale.” While I don’t have any idea what she makes, or if the 33 year old who’s only been on the main roster for about a year-and-a-half has a right to be upset about it, I’m not shocked to hear booking could be an issue.

Since this year’s Superstar Shakeup, WWE set Jax up as the Diesel to her friend and current champion Alexa Bliss’ Shawn Michaels, establishing a story where Nia would protect Bliss in order to eventually get her own title shot. That was never really followed up on, but in June, she seemed to be getting a spotlight in an elimination match to determine a #1 contender, running the gauntlet before being submitted by Sasha Banks. Then after Alexa re-claimed the belt from Banks, Jax feigned celebrating with her, then attacked... a move which generated a lot of buzz but only led to her earning one of four spots in the No Mercy title match where Bliss retained.

Mike Johnson at Insider said the spot Alicia Fox got to wrestle Sasha on the TLC pre-show was originally for Nia. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s definitely just spinning the wheels on a feud we’ve seen several times in recent history.

No wrestler is guaranteed favorable booking, and in her brief time in the business, Jax has already worked a WrestleMania, so many will likely say she’s being ungrateful. But as SI points out, “not like most girls” isn’t just a lyric for Nia. She’s connected - namely to her cousin Dwayne Johnson - and was a successful model before deciding to try her hand at the Maivia family business. WWE has multiple reasons to want to keep her happy (and SI says it’s betting they will). If they don’t, she has options inside and outside wrestling.

There aren’t a ton of feds with flourishing women’s scenes, but some high-profile independent bookings combined with her other career would be enough to allow her to walk away from the road life and storylines which don’t seem like they’d be that creatively satisfying.

Of course, with so many conflicting reports flying around and no on-the-record confirmation, maybe booking has nothing to do with Jax’s absence.

But if it did, would you blame her for being frustrated?