Chelsea Green responds to WWE Unreal critics: ‘We’ve got to progress forward’
Despite WWE Unreal on Netflix facing massive criticism since last year, WWE star Chelsea Green has now come to its defense.
With Unreal’s second season set to release in the next few days, Green recently appeared in an interview with Denise Salcedo, where she responded to the show’s criticism. While many wrestling legends have openly criticized the show’s format of pulling back the curtains, Green believes Unreal is an effective way to “progress forward.”
“I just feel like wrestling is basically the longest soap opera known to mankind. Why would you not want to peel back the curtain and watch how the longest episodic television show is made? I don’t understand.” Citing real examples, she claimed, “Total Divas was one of the best shows on E! So, the proof is in the pudding, we do like when the curtain is pulled back, we do like an inside look.“
“I think it’s just this funny balance of people wanting to protect the business, but we’ve got to progress forward, and unscripted reality TV is progressing forward, pulling the curtain back is pressing forward. Showing, especially the entertainment industry that we belong, because I think we’ve been the black sheep,” Green said. “Sports doesn’t want to claim us, you see that we’re not necessarily at the forefront of the Espys or things like that, right? We’re not really in Sports Illustrated all the time, and then Hollywood is like, ‘Yeah, you’re not a TV show, you’re not real actors, we’re not going to have you (be) a part of the SAG Union and things like that.“
Continuing her argument in support of the show’s format, the former WWE Women’s US Champion said, “I personally think that moments like Unreal are what are going to push this industry forward and branch out into sports and into Hollywood in ways that we didn’t know it could. And also, we’re going to get new fans, it’s on Netflix, hello, new fans are going to watch this, and they’re going to tune in to Raw and SmackDown, PLEs and NXTs, and there’s nothing bad about that.”
WWE Unreal on Netflix is set to release on January 20th, 2026, this time focusing on Seth Rollins’ fake injury angle, R-Truth’s WWE exit and return, and several more angles leading up to SummerSlam 2025.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.