Eva Marie confirms that plans change backstage at WWE

Wrestlers & wrestling fans will criticize the folks who report on the behind-the-scenes workings of WWE. A common refrain in those criticisms is how journalists and scoopsters will use “plans change” as a “cop out”.

And, look, no wrestling reporter is perfect. As is (or should be) the case with reporting on more important matters, news consumers should research outlets to determine who has quality sources, what the person or organization’s biases are - then make their own decision about who to trust and when to trust them.

But acting like “plans change” is an excuse and not a fact of life in WWE - and wrestling in general to a lesser extent - is disingenuous at best. Because we continually get first hand confirmation that plans do in fact change.

Here’s our latest, from Eva Marie’s interview with Bleacher Report.

“There’s always so many things where creatively, story-wise, there were so many things where I was going to come back before ‘Mania, and then I wasn’t. Timing is everything, and just making sure it made sense. That’s kind of where it was at where I thought I was returning a lot sooner, and then it didn’t make sense. WrestleMania wasn’t the right moment, and right after wasn’t, either. It was just looking for that right little slot to insert the storyline and create it and start it.”

Those “so many things” are plans that changed.

Maybe you don’t want to know about every idea that gets talked about backstage but might never happen. You can avoid those sources. There’s an argument to be made those reports create expectations that affect audience reactions, and that can have a negative impact on storytelling. But it’s also not new. It’s part of the game at this point, and savvy performers & bookers figure out how to work around it, or use it in their work.

But as many criticisms as you can throw at every corner of the wrestle web, acting as if “plans change” isn’t a legitimate explanation for things isn’t one of them.