Even after the Charlotte feud, Becky would have been one and done against Ronda at Survivor Series and likely would have been back in the midcard going nowhere by Mania had Nia not broken her nose. And Charlotte being inserted into the Mania match for no reason turned it into a clusterfuck and made the result a lot less meaningful than it would have been had Becky beaten Ronda straight-up.

I think Charlotte was definitely a necessary component in Becky's big rise to the top a couple of years ago, in the same way that Randy Orton was a necessary component in Daniel Bryan's rise to the top, ie. they would have been over regardless, but being positioned against those particular people made it more meaningful.

But when Charlotte, Sasha and Becky first got the call-up (and remember that Bayley didn't come up until later), there's no way that Sasha and Becky weren't immediately perceived as bigger stars by the fans than Charlotte, who really, nobody gave much of a shit about. And that's true going back to the NXT days too. I guess what it comes down to is that you can't really fake the natural connection to the fans that Becky seems to have, nor the natural star power of a Sasha Banks. With Charlotte, they had to work really hard to get her to where they wanted her to be, and it's debatable whether it actually worked.

Charlotte as the modern Randy Orton is actually one of the best on-point analogies I have seen recently. I know good bubba KawadaSmile likes Orton a lot more than Charlotte, but it just fits

Raquel vs Rhea is a BIG WOMEN SLAPPIN MEAT match I can look forward to.

7 hours ago, sek69 said:

So either Charlotte is HHH and is using her pull to put herself over, or is she babyface era Roman getting pushed too hard by the company to the detriment of everyone around her? 

Here's the thing tho: prior to his heel turn, Roman was NEVER booked as strong as Charlotte. He was made to look like a chump many, many times on moments he was supposed to be the asskicking babyface, but alas.

Also, Roman still squeezed everything he could out of his opponents, regardless of the shitty feuds he was in.

1 hour ago, MoS said:

Charlotte as the modern Randy Orton is actually one of the best on-point analogies I have seen recently. I know good bubba KawadaSmile likes Orton a lot more than Charlotte, but it just fits

Charlotte is good but I was absolutely tired of her reign of terror this year. She was just unstoppable and the NXT title win did NOTHING for all parties involved.

Charlotte and Ronda were both necessary components of Becky's rise to the top, partially because Charlotte is protected as fuck so wins against her are valuable and partially because the fans were sick of her being pushed and ready to turn on her, which help boost Becky's popularity. That feud is one of the few times in recent years when WWE course corrected a bad idea (Becky as heel and Charlotte as face) and actually ran with it, although Charlotte did manage to kill Becky's heat in the end by getting shoehorned into the Mania feud when everyone just wanted a singles with Ronda.

Ric himself has called Charlotte the female Orton. But he meant it as a compliment.

https://talksport.com/sport/wrestling/692171/ric-fair-randy-orton-wwe-charlotte/

Has there ever been another wrestler so universally praised by his peers that most fans couldn't give less of a shit about?

Charlotte being put in the main event did cool Becky off somewhat but it was Seth Rollins that killed her heat.

34 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Ric himself has called Charlotte the female Orton. But he meant it as a compliment.

https://talksport.com/sport/wrestling/692171/ric-fair-randy-orton-wwe-charlotte/

Has there ever been another wrestler so universally praised by his peers that most fans couldn't give less of a shit about?

. . . Charlotte?

Ok. I admit I haven't watched a match with Charlotte probably since the Mania main event with Ronda & Becky. But a few years ago when I was following the product more or less for the women, I used to love Charlotte and she was having tons of very good to great matches. And she came off like a star. And the crowd absolutely cared about her. So, for that reason only, the Orton comparison doesn't work for me. So, my question is, has there been an actual backlash on Charlotte at some point or is it one of those bizarre PWO takes (like with Angle) ? 

If anything, the anti-Charlotte sentiment is even stronger on the F4W board. It seems that a lot of people turned on her after she went full Low Ki on Kairi Sane at TLC. Not only did it show reckless disregard for the safety of her opponent, it exposed her as someone who can't improvise and has to stick to the script no matter what.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that one. That was bad.

From what I have seen, she has quite a few detractors in Cageside comments as well, so this is far from a PWO thing

I saw that Charlotte's return is "planned" and if it isn't just "Charlotte is number 30 in the Royal Rumble" I'll be amazed.

From the latest Observer:

Quote

Vince McMahon threw a fit about the working ability of certain guys on the main roster, mad in particular about some of the big guys. He’s ordered some of the guys back to the Performance Center with two classes per week with Adam Pearce and Drew Gulak as instructors

Additional info from PWInsider:

Quote

PWInsider.com can confirm that Otis, Keith Lee, Dabbo Kato, Dio Maddin and AJ Styles' bodyguard Omos are among the contingent that the company has been working with on improving and refining their work inside the ring with those talents taking part in regular workouts at the WWE Performance Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

I'm not exactly a Keith Lee fan, but even I wouldn't call him one of the five guys on the roster most in need of remedial training.

It's hilarious. They sign Keith Lee. They don't let him be Keith Lee. > "Keith Lee can't work right ! He has to go back to the Performance Center !" 

Not exactly new, but still.

If all I saw of Keith Lee was what he was allowed to do on Raw, I might be convinced to believe he needs remedial training too. 

I just think it's funny that not even a week ago they just premiered a Network Special on his rise from the indies, and now Vince is all "you suck pal".

Vince has lost the fucking plot if he thinks Keith Lee doesn't know how to work.

Really bad look too with most of these wrestlers being POC.

My guess is, between Keith Lee and Otis's involvement, this shit is code for "you need to lose weight, pal."

So much for Keith Lee being an early favorite according to win the Rumble early odds.

Gotta love that Dio Madden is working his ass off to try to get his stupid ass Retribution gimmick over on social media,  and his reward is to get sent to extra classes. 

Taker is supposedly going to be at the PC more to work with the big guys. With there being no house shows right now, it may be more of getting them reps with someone who will drill into them what Vince wants.

2 hours ago, C.S. said:

My guess is, between Keith Lee and Otis's involvement, this shit is code for "you need to lose weight, pal."

Definitely possible. I seem to remember a rumor of Lee being told to 'tighten up' a few months before he was sent to RAW. Him nearly breaking his neck on the tope he did several weeks ago didn't help, either.

NXT India huh? I guess it's the only way to go since Japan told them to kick rocks.

I

18 minutes ago, Tenese Sarwieh said:

NXT India huh? I guess it's the only way to go since Japan told them to kick rocks.

I legit don't think we have enough people clamouring to be wrestlers right now for this to be viable, especially in 2020. But India is their 3rd biggest market (and adjusting for per capita disposable income, India is their biggest market) so it does make sense for them to try and capitalise on this. Khali has a local promotion here that runs shows, so I am guessing they will take wrestlers from there and teach them how to properly work by making them do exhausting, debilitating weight training and repetitive strength and conditioning training drills** 

 

**I might be biased and extremely salty because they start regular wrestling shooting in India the year I shifted to NYC for my studies (and employment if I get a good one) and during a pandemic when there will be no live wrestling shows in the NY area cuz of COVID?!?!?!?!!?! FUCK THIS 

Only WWE could move their TV from an arena to a domed stadium and have it look exactly the same. Even WCW was able to make those Georgia Dome Nitros look special. 

1 hour ago, MoS said:

I legit don't think we have enough people clamouring to be wrestlers right now for this to be viable, especially in 2020. But India is their 3rd biggest market (and adjusting for per capita disposable income, India is their biggest market) so it does make sense for them to try and capitalise on this. Khali has a local promotion here that runs shows, so I am guessing they will take wrestlers from there and teach them how to properly work by making them do exhausting, debilitating weight training and repetitive strength and conditioning training drills** 

 

**I might be biased and extremely salty because they start regular wrestling shooting in India the year I shifted to NYC for my studies (and employment if I get a good one) and during a pandemic when there will be no live wrestling shows in the NY area cuz of COVID?!?!?!?!!?! FUCK THIS 

I've seen glimpses on Khali's promotion and it's awful. I would question them trying to start this up during a pandemic but this is WWE. I guess they'll finally use Mansoor and the two dudes Michael Bibvens was managing. 

Also feel salty as you want and best of luck to you on employment.