As it turns out, WWE’s feud of the year might not belong to Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes or CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, but rather… Jackie Redmond and Cathy Kelley?
While WWE’s backstage interviewers have always possessed plenty of personality, they’ve traditionally left the personal squabbles to the superstars. Only that wasn’t the case on Monday, as Redmond and Kelley traded personal barbs with each other on social media.
The entire ordeal started when Redmond reposted a clip from a recent interview she participated in expressing support for WWE women’s world champion Liv Morgan. Kelley — who has a publicly flirtatious relationship with Morgan’s rival, Rhea Ripley — replied with a clip of Morgan disrespecting Redmond in a backstage interview in an apparent effort to warn her colleague about her allegiances.
Things picked up from there, with Redmond responding with a clip of Morgan letting her wear the ring she won at WWE’s Crown Jewel event, asking Kelley, “Rhea ever let you wear her jewelry orrrrr?” Kelley replied by informing her, “mami’s let me wear and not wear a few things for her… but unlike this clip uploading it would actually break the internet,” leading Redmond to take a swipe at the suggestive response.
“Haha teasing the internet with sexual innuendos isn’t really my style,” she wrote. “You do you though!”
Kelley then accused Redmond of “shaming women/approval seeking,” with the NHL Network reporter stating that she thought the two of them had squashed a previous social media beef before Kelley’s “unprovoked” attack on Monday night. The last response in the exchange came from Kelley, who brought the entire thing back to Redmond’s allegiance to Morgan.
Got all that?
To be clear, this whole thing started with an on-screen storyline and Redmond and Kelley’s exchange is surely more of a work than a shoot. Still, like any good pro wrestling angle, they blurred the lines between fiction and reality, with the two backstage interviewers seemingly airing legitimate grievances with each other in the context of Morgan and Ripley’s ongoing feud.
Whether the animosity between Redmond and Kelley will be limited to social media or spill into WWE’s on-air product remains to be seen. But in any event, it’s fascinating to see two of pro wrestling’s most prominent interviewers take a break from facilitating feuds to participate in one themselves.
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.