When WWE announced that Naomi wasn’t medically cleared to defend her Women’s World Championship as scheduled during last week’s episode of WWE Raw, it didn’t take long for pro wrestling fans to put two and two together.
And sure enough, the defending champion addressed her status a week later, revealing on Monday’s edition of Raw that she is, in fact, pregnant.
But while Naomi isn’t the first WWE women’s champion to relinquish her title while with child — Becky Lynch did the same in 2020— her announcement did present a conundrum for the pro wrestling giant. Unlike Lynch five years ago, Naomi is currently an on-screen heel. And not just that, but her current bad guy character is arguably the most over she has been with the WWE audience since she first began her pro wrestling career in 2009.
As such, WWE and Naomi seemingly found themselves left with two options: abandon her current momentum and have her abruptly turn face or have her awkwardly deliver the heartwarming news as her current on-screen character. And yet, they somehow found a way to thread the needle with what turned out to be one of the most memorable promos in recent WWE history.
After being called to the ring by on-screen general manager Adam Pearce, Naomi queued up a clip from Stephanie McMahon’s What’s Your Story? podcast, in which her husband, WWE star Jimmy Uso, announced the couple’s pregnancy. But while the news was met with an expected an ovation from the live audience in Philadelphia, Naomi (whose real name is Trinity Fatu) quickly reverted to her heel character, ordering Pearce out of the ring before addressing the WWE women’s locker room.
“You know what? All the women back there in the locker room, y’all should be thanking one person. One person. Yeah, they should be thanking Big Jim,” Naomi said, referring to her husband. “Because without him, y’all know you wouldn’t have a chance to take this title off of me. I was about to walk y’all like a dog all year long. I was gonna put you heffers in the ground. But thanks to Big Jim, he likes to Netflix and chill, if ya know what I mean.”
It’s worth noting that WWE Raw currently airs on Netflix. How’s that for product placement?
At that point, the crowd chanted “you deserve it!” as Naomi became visibly emotional in the ring. Still, she persisted with her heel-like promo, noting, “I guess on the bright side, the Bloodline continues, baby!” referring to Uso’s family faction, which includes the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Roman Reigns and his twin brother, Jey Uso.
“I’m gonna leave my title here and I’m gonna give you heffers nine months and some change to do whatever you want to do with my title,” she continued through chants of “Baby Uso” from the crowd. “And even if I got to come back breastfeeding with my baby in my arms, I’m coming back to pick up where I left off. And whoever has that title when I do, I strongly advise you to proceed with caution.”
Between Naomi’s connection with the crowd and ability to blur the lines between storyline and reality, this promo was all of the things that make pro wrestling great. But while it may have been delivered from the perspective of her heel character, it seems like a safe bet that she won’t be hearing many boos when she makes her return in nine-plus months.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.