When Nia Jax first debuted on Monday Night Raw, she was this dominant and destructive
force in the women’s division taking out superstars such as: Alicia Fox, Bayley and
Sasha Banks. With her character slowly developing, Nia Jax was then booked into a storyline involving
the Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss which saw Nia become Little Miss Bliss’ bodyguard
and friend (ironically, as they are best friends in real life) in order to eventually get her
own title shot. Although the storyline was never really followed up on, her moment came
when she attacked Alexa Bliss after feigning celebration with her after Bliss defeated
Sasha Banks to reclaim her Women’s Championship. Although this got Nia Jax involved in a Fatal-5-way
championship match at No Mercy, Alexa Bliss still retained her title. From this point
on, it was reported that Nia Jax was unhappy with her role in WWE. She walked out of a
Raw TV event claiming that she was unhappy with her pay scale and how she’s been booked.
It was also revealed that Nia Jax was unwilling to accept the idea to lose cleanly to Sasha
Banks at the Tables, Ladders and Chairs Pay-Per-View which ultimately led to the change of the
match which saw Alicia Fox step in as a replacement for Nia Jax. Nia Jax was subsequently granted
a leave of absence for personal reasons by management. After getting some advice from
her cousin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, he encouraged her to walk away if she was
unhappy. Although it’s unclear whether the situation has been sorted out by the WWE,
Nia Jax is back wrestling for the company. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see
how WWE management book her.
It’s no secret that Cesaro has publicly vented his frustrations with WWE management
on his position in the company but to be honest, I don’t blame him! He is easily one of the
strongest pound-for-pound wrestlers in the company and highly talented in the ring (maybe
not at suit tearing) but WWE *cough* Vince McMahon *cough* does not believe he can be
a main event singles competitor. We got a glimpse of Cesaro’s frustrations with the
company from numerous shoot interviews he did. One in particular was an interview that
took place the next day on Raw after the SummerSlam pay per view, which saw Cesaro confused and
angry after hearing he was not in any of the qualifying matches that took place to determine
the next Universal Champion (since Finn Balor had to vacate his championship due to injury)
even though he participated in a best of 7 match with Sheamus for a championship opportunity.
Another shoot interview he did took place on the 2016 Battlegrounds kick off panel where
Cesaro was very annoyed that he wasn’t even performing on the show adding that he is the
best WWE wrestler just giving his opinion on a panel show instead of being out there
in the ring. And probably the most famous shoot interview was his interview that took
place during the 2017 WWE Draft. This saw Cesaro get picked as draft number 28 (even
though he said he was draft number 17 in the interview) to Raw which he was very unhappy
about. He said he should have been at least in the top 10 and would have been a better
fit for Smackdown as it’s a wrestling show and not necessarily about the GMs which was
a shot to Raw.
Where do I start with Sami Zayn? I guess the word “underdog” springs to mind but that
is probably even an understatement considering how WWE management are booking him. As we
know, Sami Zayn is heavily underused in the company. Whether it’s as a face or as a
heel he pretty much loses most of his matches which is a real shame because he is one of
the more talented wrestlers in the WWE locker room. He’s actually got quite the résumé!
Where do I start? Being buried by yours truly John Cena in his own hometown, insulted by
trading Sami Zayn for Eva Marie (even though Mick Foley never planned for it to go through,
still… Eva Marie…), losing not once but twice to Aiden English, losing to Mike Kanellis
and not to mention, countless other losses as well as the fact that he has not won a
single title since being called up to the main roster. Even now being paired up with
Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn still cannot seem to be put over since turning heel. It probably
doesn’t help that he still has some backstage heat on him after Zayn and Owens were sent
home for disciplinary reasons from the WWE European tour for not putting over The New
Day before their Survivor Series match against The Shield. Although reports are saying Owens
no longer has any backstage heat, the same can't be said for Sami. It is rumoured that
Sami Zayn’s attitude backstage could be the problem. He is apparently said to be a
character that is sometimes hard to read and can be a bit disrespectful, as well as vocal
when he doesn’t like something. But to be honest, I’m not surprised especially considering
the way he has been treated since being called up to the main roster.
When you think of Dolph Ziggler now, you cannot help but to feel sorry for the guy. He is
arguably one of the best when it comes to in-ring ability and promo work but as of lately,
it seems like Ziggler has failed to sustain relevance with all his pushes ending abruptly.
For example, remember Dolph Ziggler vs AJ Styles? Yeah, me neither… It seems fans
have reached a point where they no longer care about Ziggler. As Dave Meltzer put it
rightly: “Dolph Ziggler has been the victim of as many stop-and-start pushes of anyone
in history. The crowds always get behind him for the start, no matter how many false teases
there are, and then a few weeks later, the company always takes him back down.” It
probably won’t be too long until we see Dolph Ziggler being released from the company.
Either that or he’ll just leave himself.
Ever since Rusev returned from his injury, he has not been happy with his creative direction
in the company. The 6’0ft, 300lbs Bulgarian Brute is widely regarded as one of the most
underutilized WWE talents on the roster. He has voiced his frustrations online (not as
Chewbacca but as Rusev) through social media and through backstage interviews. In an interview
that took place behind the scenes on Smackdown LIVE, Rusev expressed his resentment towards
Shane McMahon as he changed Rusev’s Survivor Series qualifying opponent from AJ Styles
to Randy Orton which he was not prepared for. He also brought up the issue of Shane McMahon
not qualifying for his place on the Smackdown Survivor Series team as well as tweeting a
sarcastic message congratulating John Cena for qualifying for the Survivor Series team
fair and square. More recently, Rusev took part in a Facebook video posted by SPORF where
he took shots towards Shane McMahon, Enzo Amore, Bobby Roode, Sami Zayn and even the
Chairman of the WWE, Vince McMahon as he was unhappy with his 84 rating on WWE 2K18. He
talked about how he was undefeated for a whole year, faced John Cena on a freaking tank and
was still 84 rated. He also added how the only realistic rating is Vince McMahon which
is a 74 because he sucks. If Rusev Day consists of Rusev getting undervalued and underused
then I guess that’s why it’s Rusev Day every day…