10 Wrestlers Struggling To Prove Their Worth To WWE
Sawft Style.
While this may read as facetious, or insensitive - the name stars are remunerated rather well - the life of a WWE independent contractor must be a thankless bloody task.
There's no independence, for a start. WWE "Superstars" enjoy none of the reciprocal benefits such an agreement nominally offers; forced to arrange their own medical plans and pay for their own travel expenses, they in return are not permitted to supplement their income elsewhere. The physical agony, exacerbated by a relentless, mushrooming schedule, is the agreed-upon exchange - but it's hard to envisage Goldust earning more for his 205 Live exploits.
Creative fulfilment, the key driver for any performer, is a fruitless pursuit; despite actively creating a diverse roster, WWE seems to hold no interest in promoting that diversity. Goalposts are changed constantly, for inexplicable reasons, dependent entirely on the inscrutable whims of Vince McMahon. The company drills the worth, the USP, out of those performers with head-spinning frequency - and then sidelines them for failing to show that worth. It's a paradox - but it is what it is.
That's not to say these acts haven't proved their worth to the fandom - but, as is painstakingly clear, the perception from the office differs drastically...
10. Nia Jax
Nia Jax is a problematic performer. An act of her immense proportions necessitates through logic a push of some conviction.
She dwarfs her peers, possessing a clear physical advantage over them. And yet, WWE cannot push her because she simply isn't good enough to wrestle the consecutive matches of consistent quality such a push requires. The baptism of fire route to improvement still hasn't worked, after a full 18 months, and thus should compel WWE into some sort of rethink. Jax isn't an act that can hide and improve in plain sight, either, even if she were capable of it; the longer she's around and doesn't destroy the ants around her, the wider the plot hole becomes. You get the impression WWE wants to - but cannot justify - giving her the big push.
No reputable journo ever did offer any substantive take on her October '17 sabbatical - but there remains something amiss about her body language. Simply being there seems to bore Nia, who, at least, has mastered rolling her eyes. It never translates to brushing off the competition, which might be the poorly-acted intention. It reeks of misplaced entitlement at worst, an inability to project her character at best.
It's all speculative - but if, as was rumoured, Jax felt undervalued, she may be deluded - and this sort of delusion doesn't help, if certain other performers are any indication...