WWE Is Reportedly Moving a SmackDown Star to Raw And Turning Them Heel
WWE has been airing vignettes for the past few weeks of Lacey Evans recapping her rough upbringing and how she overcame all of it to eventually become a Marine, a mother and a WWE Superstar. Despite those promos initially appearing on SmackDown, an abbreviated version of the vignettes was played on this week's Monday Night Raw. Mike Johnson of PWInsider is now reporting that Evans has been moved to the Red Brand. And, despite the promos seemingly being crafted to build up sympathy for her, Evans is going positioned as a heel.
It's unclear if this was always WWE's plan or if they've changed Evans' direction in recent weeks. Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair is in need of a new opponent now that Asuka/Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley/Liv Morgan are paired off and WWE hasn't hesitated in pushing "The Sassy Southern Belle" immediately up the card before. Her last WWE programming centered around Charlotte Flair and a flirtatious relationship with Ric Flair that briefly implied she was pregnant with his baby. "The Nature Boy" later admitted he wasn't comfortable with that.
"In this instance, I didn't [feel comfortable]," Flair told Ariel Helwani last May. "The one thing I've learned is you're not going to win a war when someone's got their mind made up. She most definitely didn't like it, but the one thing that I can say about me is I always said yes. I didn't want to be that guy that was always going 'Oh, that isn't perfect for me.'
"When that was all over, I was mad but now I just look back and say it wasn't it. This was something that when I got to TV, Mr. McMahon wasn't there to argue the point with and he had stuff going on, I don't like to put the pressure on someone if I can't talk to him," he continued. "He just made up his mind, I think a lot of it was because [Lacey] was a marine. God only knows we cannot give enough back to the people that serve in the military and I think he wanted her to be successful and the way to get successful sometimes is to take two people that are doing really well and give them the rub. ...She's [Evans is] a really nice girl and all that, but it didn't fit this time. We made the best of it but ultimately, she's pregnant with her husband now. It was never anything personal, I barely know her and her whole life is her husband and her daughter. I didn't like that one, to him [Vince McMahon] I'm always going to be the 'kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin', yanno what I mean? Which is great because he likes that."