Sol Ruca may be facing her first real backstage heat in WWE since being called up to Monday Night Raw full-time.
According to the Self Made Pro Podcast, some people working in Gorilla were not pleased with what they saw from Ruca in the ring.
“I can tell you for a fact that they weren’t in love with what they saw from her in the ring. There are some wrestlers in NXT that some of these people in Gorilla don’t get a look at until they’re invited for a cameo appearance on the main roster. That’s what I’m saying. They don’t really get a look at some of these people until the Main Event tapings or when they make an appearance in a match on Raw or SmackDown. And in the case of Sol Ruca, some of these people didn’t get a look at her until those appearances on SmackDown and the John Cena retirement show.”
The report is notable because, before WrestleMania 42, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported the exact opposite: Ruca made a very positive impression at Saturday Night’s Main Event, strengthening her case for a main roster call-up.
WWE also showed immediate confidence in her. After officially debuting on Raw against Liv Morgan, Ruca entered a feud with Becky Lynch and won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship at Clash in Italy on May 31.
Her reign ended 57 days later on the July 27 episode of RAW, when Raquel Rodriguez defeated her with help from The Judgment Day. Ruca was also left off both nights of SummerSlam entirely, despite being champion heading into the event.
Despite that, Ruca revealed that Triple H approached her immediately after the title loss and made it clear the loss had nothing to do with her performance.
“Triple H came to me after the match and was like, ‘Hey, this isn’t because you’re doing anything wrong, but you just gotta be a babyface and keep going and see what the next thing is.'”
Booker T had also previously said Ruca needed to improve her improvisational skills after calling her match against Lynch overly structured. However, the WWE Hall of Famer framed the mistakes as part of Ruca’s development.
On this week’s RAW, Ruca faced Roxanne Perez, but the match was mostly overshadowed by the returns of Becky Lynch and Stephanie Vaquer. The situation suggests WWE is still keeping Ruca on television, but her position in the women’s division is less clear following her title loss.