10 Annoying Traits That Are RUINING WWE Characters
WWE are ruining Bayley, Shayna Baszler, Sheamus and others. Here's how!
Pro wrestling booking can be one-dimensional.
Generally, wrestlers have a single defining characteristic. CM Punk was a rebel, John Cena wouldn't give up, Becky Lynch stood proudly on her own as an independent woman, Giant Gonzalez was...OK, ignore that last one. It's true though - WWE rarely bothers to flesh performers out properly.
Sometimes, that's fine, but what if that solitary trait is counterproductive? There are loads of wrestlers on Raw and SmackDown currently suffering from half-baked quirks that either don't fit them at all or are very annoying to people tuning in every week. Worse, there's no sign that WWE view any of it as a problem they need to fix.
This creates a vicious cycle that churns over weekly and makes these characters laughably crap. Looking at the positives becomes difficult when WWE's approach seems to be, 'Yeah, *insert wrestler here* shouldn't learn any lessons or evolve at all and everything will be fine'.
That's just it: WWE's one-dimensional methods only work when someone's defining characteristic is really, really good. When it isn't, wrestlers can become colourless personalities who are totally insipid.
10. Nikki Cross (Out Of Her Depth)
WWE's announcers would tell you that Nikki Cross scored "huge" wins over Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair two weeks on the trot. In reality, the pint-sized Scottish dynamo lasted two minutes against both in 'Beat The Clock' challenges.
Then, she ran around the ring like she'd won the Royal Rumble.
Cross is being portrayed as somebody who is totally out of her depth against the best women on the roster. There's a disconnect here, because Nikki is a two-time Women's Tag-Team Champ and was previously painted as a plucky underdog who, whilst smaller, could get the job done. Before that, she was a nightmare made flesh in SAnitY.
Now, Ripley and Flair speak about Nikki in promos like they're wrestling a child. It's odd, and it's doing nothing to present (the vastly experienced) Cross as someone who could someday challenge for the singles belts.
If she's out of her depth, then why is she even on Raw to begin with?