WWE Raw: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (Oct 16)
7. Shamed
Alexa Bliss cried 'body shaming' this week in an effort to galvanise support in her limp rivalry with Mickie James heading into Sunday's supercard clash. There was a rather sad irony in the claim, perhaps not lost on audience members old enough to remember the last time James was the victim of such vapid vitriol.
From late-2009 through to early 2010, Mickie was the victim of relentless bullying from the 'LayCool' pairing of Michelle McCool and Layla as she fought to wrestle the Women's Title away from McCool herself.
The mean girls repeatedly abused James for being fat, despite how obviously this was not the case. The angle was divisive, but justified by the idea that the villains were being villainous and would eventually get their comeuppance - which they did at the 2010 Royal Rumble when Mickie dethroned Michelle in a squash. The undercurrent of the angle was much, much worse though. The heels were thought to be the internal voice of the organisation looking to shame Mickie into hitting the gym even harder than she probably did.
2017's WWE, on the surface at least, is a better place than it was nearly a decade earlier. But they'd be wise not to re-open old wounds, not least after last week's ageist spat was roundly derided.