Former WWE Divas and 24/7 Champion Alicia Fox has spoken out about the 2019 WWE live event incident that landed her in rehab. She has also accused WWE of taking advantage of her family’s alcohol problems for Total Divas.
Fox and Mickie James lost to Natalya, Dana Brooke, and Bayley at the WWE live event on February 10, 2019 in Saginaw, MI. Fox was said to be intoxicated when she arrived at the arena that day. Current AEW coach Arn Anderson, who was with WWE at the time and was the match’s producer, was accused of allowing Fox to perform in her condition. Anderson had other issues with management, which, combined with the Fox incident, led to his release from WWE.
In an update, Fox hosted a Twitch stream this weekend and discussed how she needed to leave the industry before “it killed her” due to her alcohol issues.
Fox went on to thank WWE for paying for her sobriety, claiming that the company covered the cost of her rehab, as it does for current and former talent. Fox stated that the incident at the live event changed her life.
“It actually changed my whole life,” she said. “This is what got me into rehab, which I’m forever grateful. Forever grateful that company had that support.”
Fox stated that the match she was originally scheduled for in Saginaw was changed at the last minute, which stressed her out. The same six-woman match had taken place the night before in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
Fox revealed that after the match, she was given a field sobriety test by WWE medical staff, but in a training room where other WWE stars could see what was going on.
“I guess the rumor mill is everyone was saying I looked drunk, I look like I’m bumping crazy,” she said. “I have no idea. I’m in the match, guys. I don’t know. I was kinda rushed and stressed about changing the match…I don’t know what’s going on. Here’s where the mic drops. I don’t really know how to put this… But this is true. By the time I got out of my match and I’m being taken out by the medical team… and they give me a field sobriety test in the training room and it’s like no Arn, no producer, Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman are like popping their heads in there, they’re like asking me what day it is, what city we’re in… I felt like such a failure.”
Fox, who said she felt humiliated by her coworkers and unprotected, said she hasn’t spoken to Anderson since the incident. She recalled how she left.
“I still haven’t even been able to talk to him about this,” she said of Arn. “And that was a bridge built water deep, I don’t know. And I went to the locker room, I packed up my stuff, and the girls came in acting all like they didn’t know what was going on.”
Fox appeared as a guest on E!’s Total Divas for the first two seasons before joining the cast for the second half of season three from early 2015 to 2017. She accused the company of taking advantage of her family’s alcohol problems for the reality show.
“I’ve also experienced this Total Diva living and reality and trying to pay my bills,” she said. “Yeah, sure, I’ll do a storyline about my family and exploit them and their drinking problems. No problem. Then I’ll go cry in another Diva’s podcast.”
Following the February 2019 incident, Fox worked two TV tapings in April but did not work again until the Women’s Royal Rumble bouts in 2021 and 2022. She hasn’t wrestled since, but she has recently begun training with WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, and she will make her pro wrestling debut on Saturday, July 15 at the Summer of Champions IX event in Humble, Texas, hosted by Booker’s ROW (Reality of Wrestling) promotion.
Fox stated in an earlier interview that she was still under contract with WWE, but she announced her departure from the company on Instagram on May 1. Fox worked for WWE for 17 years, beginning with a developmental contract in 2006 and progressing to OVW and FCW before joining the main roster in June 2008.
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