10 Ways This Has Been The Best WWE WrestleMania Build In YEARS!
9. "Can They Co-Exist?"
Or, as it's commonly typed out on wrestling forums everywhere, "CaN ThEy cO-ExIsT?"
Rarely has the sarcasm font been more appropriate. This trope has been done to death by WWE over the years, and poor Bianca Belair has suffered the indignity of having two of her Wrestlemania matches suffer under this nonsensical story device.
For those of you who remain blessedly ignorant, "Can they co-exist?" is the question WWE pose when they have a champion form a tag team with their challenger. It never makes sense, and it always ends in the same bloody answer: "No, they cannot co-exist. They were never going to co-exist. Why would you even think that? Are you that cataclysmically dense? Are you so creatively inept that you can't even choose a sensible cliché? *clutches chest* Nurse, my meds!"
As mentioned pre-rant, Bianca Belair has had two of her WrestleMania build-ups blighted by this self-evidently moronic trope, once with Sasha Banks and once again with Asuka. (The latter was particularly frustrating, as it saw WWE revert to type after giving Bianca a genuinely great storyline opposite Becky Lynch the year prior).
This year's build-up to WrestleMania has seen precisely zero mention of champions being asked if they can co-exist with their challenger, and it's been all the better for it. (Presumably WWE's current Head of Creative laid down the law and told any writer who suggested this trope that they'd be locked in a cage with a hungry polar bear, while infuriated WWE fans yelled "Can you co-exist?" from the outside).