Last year, Lana found herself in a weird storyline with Nia Jax which saw her get put through a table on RAW for nine consecutive weeks. On the surface, it looked like this might be WWE's way of punishing her because Miro had signed with AEW, but the angle went some way in getting the now released Superstar over with fans...WWE just failed to stick the landing.
That was the case at Survivor Series when Lana became the sole survivor of the women's team after Jax ordered her not to enter the match, only to get counted out alongside Bianca Belair.
In an interview with Chris Jericho on his podcast, Lana shed some light on why things got so weird at the PPV. "We were supposed to do this table spot on the show, and then Roman, because he had a table spot with Sheamus, he did not [that], so there was some major pushback," she explained.
"You know, Nia and Roman, that whole thing. I’m like, 'Oh my God, I’m caught in the middle of this drama.' We had a huge spot where I was supposed to be laid out at the very beginning. The whole point was everyone on the team was heels, and I was the only babyface. They were all going to be against me, and she was going to lay me out. Then at the end, I had this whole sequence with Bianca. Bayley was supposed to get involved and cheat. So then I would prove myself."
After the table spot was taken out of the match, Vince and Shane McMahon decided it would be "hilarious" for Lana to win the bout without ever competing. She didn't see it that way, though, and ended up in tears backstage simply because she had wanted the chance to wrestle on the show.
"I called Nattie and said, ‘Nattie, I’m hiding in this corner. I’m crying. I just want to wrestle. I want to prove myself.’ Nattie said, ‘You’re still winning. Who cares?’ I said, ‘I want to prove myself.’ Then TJ [Wilson] wanted me to get in and wrestle a little bit, and then Nia was going to kick me out and say you have to stand there. So he even had to fight for that with Vince, because he said, ‘I think it’s important for her to show that she’s improving in the ring. That’s the babyface side of it.'"
TJ (who once competed as Tyson Kidd in WWE) has proven himself an instrumental part of WWE's women's division, and allowing Lana to step into the ring before being ordered out made her at least somewhat sympathetic. Ultimately, Vince and Shane's idea was bad, but it's clear they didn't take Lana seriously and wanted to play this match for laughs.
We'll be sure to keep you updated if Lana shares any future details about her WWE release!