THIS Is The Same Mistake WWE Makes Every WrestleMania Season
It's a BIG show. We get it.
On this week's Monday Night RAW, WWE did it again.
After Becky Lynch decisively vanquished Asuka in their rubber match, she was assaulted by Shayna Baszler to resume their rivalry and set up their match at WrestleMania 36. This was the first beat of the story, and as such, it needed to be big, but not monumental. The major angle should occur deep into the second act to inform the must-see drama of the third. The story should escalate with room to escalate further. On this week's Monday Night RAW, Shayna Baszler pulled back Becky Lynch's hair, removed her own mouthguard, and sank her teeth into the back of her neck. Becky sold it as if a chunk of flesh had been torn off her, and she was placed in an ambulance she then commandeered, Steve Austin-style, to maker her heroic return to the arena.
There were three problems with this angle.
It didn't feel remotely in character nor necessary for it. Baszler is a special talent, in that she is in herself a terrifying presence. She's a former MMA fighter who has adapted that legitimacy into her deeply convincing pro wrestling work. She has made facial expressions far scarier when trapping opponents into her Kirifuda clutch. Her elbow-breaker spot is far more visceral and believable in its revulsion. This angle felt like hokey, tacked-on pro wrestling theatre.
If the principle behind the angle wasn't awful - or wasn't faithful - the execution wasn't great. The blood was practically luminous; instantly, it looked fake - which is the literally the one word that has never described anything Baszler has done in NXT - and the gravity of the situation wasn't sold, much less the attack itself.
Thirdly: where do WWE go from here?
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