Nia Jax, Believability, and How to Fix

[Mac Attack]

Feels nice to be making my first non spam thread in probably years. After watching RAW today Infelt obliged to talk about Nia Jax. I fear she's gotten to a point where it's hard to believe that she can be beaten in a one on one match. I know it's happened on NXT and RAW but especially after tonight's performance where she beat two wrestlers with pretty much one offensive move, it becomes harder to have doubt that someone can beat her.

The glaring issue is her size. I truly believe anyone of any shape and size deserves to be in that ring if they can hang, and clearly she can, but she's the only one of her type. She's that much bigger than everyone to the point where it's hard to think someone like Alexa Bliss could beat her or even damage her. She best Dana Brooke with one shoulder tackle today. Bliss is so much tinier.

I understand that in PPV matches superstars step it up and go super Saiyan for a night, but I can not fathomly think that someone can beat her even in a scripted WWE show.

I think what's going to be needed to fix her believability is either more bigger women wrestlers, or an opposing force like Asuka who just hits harder than anyone else. Someone who is dominant who we know when push comes to shove can go toe to toe with her.

A Jax that beats Emma and Dana in one maneuver after having two matches is going too far for me. I suspend my belief in logic during most WWE shows, but tonight I just didn't buy it.

What do you think of Nia?

 

[LBGetBack]

Feels nice to be making my first non spam thread in probably years. After watching RAW today Infelt obliged to talk about Nia Jax. I fear she's gotten to a point where it's hard to believe that she can be beaten in a one on one match. I know it's happened on NXT and RAW but especially after tonight's performance where she beat two wrestlers with pretty much one offensive move, it becomes harder to have doubt that someone can beat her.

The glaring issue is her size. I truly believe anyone of any shape and size deserves to be in that ring if they can hang, and clearly she can, but she's the only one of her type. She's that much bigger than everyone to the point where it's hard to think someone like Alexa Bliss could beat her or even damage her. She best Dana Brooke with one shoulder tackle today. Bliss is so much tinier.

I understand that in PPV matches superstars step it up and go super Saiyan for a night, but I can not fathomly think that someone can beat her even in a scripted WWE show.

I think what's going to be needed to fix her believability is either more bigger women wrestlers, or an opposing force like Asuka who just hits harder than anyone else. Someone who is dominant who we know when push comes to shove can go toe to toe with her.

A Jax that beats Emma and Dana in one maneuver after having two matches is going too far for me. I suspend my belief in logic during most WWE shows, but tonight I just didn't buy it.

What do you think of Nia?

I find Nia pretty boring. Just zero character depth or talking skills are present. But she's cool as a monster. I'm not a huge fan of monsters, but recognize their value.

She reminds me of Awesome Kong, who had quite the good run in TNA. If I recall, she finally lost when the Beautiful People tied her braids to the steel cage. She could lose to someone helping Alexa, or Sasha(she's basically TNA Gail Kim's equal) pulling an amazing performance off.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I find Nia pretty boring. Just zero character depth or talking skills are present. But she's cool as a monster. I'm not a huge fan of monsters, but recognize their value.

This is what the WWE needs to capitalize on and, in fairness, they have depicted her as pretty unstoppable for the most part. But if WWE wants to sell her as a monster she needs to actually win some big matches and not just "come up short".

My guess is that which ever baby face Alexa Bliss will drop the title to will drop the title to Nia Jax.

 

[Navi]

Nia Jax is the only woman wrestler I know of right now that has her weight announced before the match. Not only that she is about 6 feet tall and tower's over most except maybe Charlotte. She should be booked as a monster, because she is.

How do you take down a monster though. Well we've seen it happen with Big Show, Mark Henry and others. Usually you put someone who is faster than they are, unfortunately in Nia's case, she isn't that slow. Best bet would be to keep her off her feet or out of the ring entirely. I have a feeling most of her matches will be the same and end up in a count-out. In the case of Bliss, she has the champion's advantage and can just walk away and get herself disqualified like the Uso's did.

Once Nia get's the belt though, don't know if any of the women will be able to take it off her.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

She's fine. If they want someone to beat her she can simply miss those power moves or the opponent can show "more heart than we've ever seen before" blah, blah, blah. Nia has played her role incredibly well this year. She did a great job carrying that match last night. The booking still keeps her strong and yet shows that she can be beat.

Nothing to fix.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think Nia's doing just fine. She's been booked as a monster and has been doing well in the role; one reason why her weight is announced during the matches is to emphasize simply how much bigger she is than any other woman on the roster. There's not a whole lot of variation among the general size of the women; aside from Nia Jax, Charlotte may be the heaviest woman on the roster as she probably weighs somewhere in the 140 to 150 range.

I thought she had a great showing last night in that she carried what ultimately turned out to be 30+ minutes inside the ring. The formula used for her to ultimately be overcome was a combination of factors that included Sasha Banks showing a lot of tenacity and resilience coupled with the fact that Nia, as I said, had been out there for over 30 minutes and had already beaten four other women. A lot of the time, aside from having the toughness to take what the monster dishes out, the babyface has to outlast the monster due to superior overall conditioning and all that played into Nia ultimately coming up short last night. She lost, but she still had a great showing with fans reacting to her wins and her work in the ring positively. She was protected last night quite well, came off dominant yet not so dominant that it's hard to picture her being beaten. After all, two of the women she beat last night included a very over babyface in Bayley and a future Hall of Famer in Mickie James; plus, it's not as though she hasn't beaten Sasha before.

Right now, Nia is still pretty green and I've no problem with WWE not pulling the trigger on a title reign just yet.

 

[yur_momma]

Nia Snax is just a fat girl related to the rock. shes astonishingly bad in the ring, horrible on the mic and she smiles at all the wrong times. shes not even good enough to be on tna. and why does wwe insist on her wearing so much padding in her outfit? seriously shes big but not that big. she doesnt even take bumps, like wtf???

 

[The Perfect Max]

I do like Nia Jax quite a bit. I like her look and her attitude. She has the potential to be a monster but she's quite blasé about it, which makes her stand out. I personally think it's a good thing that she doesn't carry herself as an all-out monster, although in the ring she is dominant. That itself is my issue, because, as others have said, there is absolutely nobody that can hang with her. Perhaps Charlotte Flair can, but that's because she's been built like she can beat anyone. Everyone else is almost 50/50 booking and so, on top of looking and being physically inferior, there isn't a woman on the roster with a resumé to suggest that they could believabily beat her. But then again, when you have a match like they had on Raw, and you have Nia just plough everyone over, and then have Sasha win the damn thing anyway, it's clear that WWE don't really care. It's almost like WWE are keen to treat Nia like any other woman in the end, even if they build her as unlike most girls.

Ultimately, WWE needs to figure out a way in which they can have her be a dominant female competitor in a world dominated by smaller women. But to do that, they need to book accordingly. She needs to win matches that count, but so do other women so they can form appropriate feuds that benefit everyone involved and don't further sour the women's roster.

 

[Mac Attack]

I think Nia's doing just fine. She's been booked as a monster and has been doing well in the role

I think this is where I tend to disagree. I think she has all the right skills to be a monster female but I really don't view her as one yet. She wrestles like one, but it's the details that I don't seem to click with.

Though short lived, I compare her a lot to Awesome Kong/Karma. When Karma was debuting she didn't say much and simply made statements by destroying people in the ring through attacks.

Now we have Nia who whilst is dominant in matches, in my opinion is too friendly with her peers. If she was to truly be booked as a monster I think they'd have her talk substantially less. Last night for example her small promo with Alexa Bliss in the back just seemed off character. Why would she even bother talking to Alexa if she knew she could destroy anyone? Why are they booking her to imply that she may have friends. In my opinion monsters don't really have friends. Brock has Heyman, but who else on the roster do we see him getting along with? Nobody.

It's a small idiosyncratic detail, but her character's personality doesn't say monster to me, despite her in ring treatment saying monster.

I think I would just like her to attack someone and utterly destroy them. Make her a monster. Don't have to give her a title yet, but I think she needs to take that next step into being a monster. For me she is wavering between fitting in with everyone else, and being it. It's here where I feel a disconnect with her.

 

[Wildcat66]

I'm going to level with you, I've never really cared all that much on Nia; but last night made me a believer that she can do some really good things for the company.

What I've noticed is that every good wrestler had a foil to them, Hogan had Roddy, Cena had Orton, Bayley had Sasha, etc; etc.

I think if Nia is going to be pushed as this monsterous heel, she needs a foil to match her. Right now, the closest I can see anyone becoming a foil to her has to be either Mickie James or Paige if she gets back. Bayley would have been a contender; but seeing as she kind of already has a foil...and likely hitting the reset button if the last two weeks have been anything to note of, she lost out.

 

[Violent Violet]

I think this is where I tend to disagree. I think she has all the right skills to be a monster female but I really don't view her as one yet. She wrestles like one, but it's the details that I don't seem to click with.

Though short lived, I compare her a lot to Awesome Kong/Karma. When Karma was debuting she didn't say much and simply made statements by destroying people in the ring through attacks.

Now we have Nia who whilst is dominant in matches, in my opinion is too friendly with her peers. If she was to truly be booked as a monster I think they'd have her talk substantially less. Last night for example her small promo with Alexa Bliss in the back just seemed off character. Why would she even bother talking to Alexa if she knew she could destroy anyone? Why are they booking her to imply that she may have friends. In my opinion monsters don't really have friends. Brock has Heyman, but who else on the roster do we see him getting along with? Nobody.

It's a small idiosyncratic detail, but her character's personality doesn't say monster to me, despite her in ring treatment saying monster.

I think I would just like her to attack someone and utterly destroy them. Make her a monster. Don't have to give her a title yet, but I think she needs to take that next step into being a monster. For me she is wavering between fitting in with everyone else, and being it. It's here where I feel a disconnect with her.

The conversations between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax are always initiated by Bliss. They show the devious nature of the champion, who recognizes her biggest threat. The only way she can retain the title over Jax is to try to befriend her or pretend to be her friend. It puts Bliss over as cunning and willing to do anything to stay champion. Jax, in the end, rebuffed Bliss, showing she saw through her plan.
I love the dimensions Bliss shows as champion. She was ruthless against a hesitant Bayley and she will show a different side against Sasha Banks. I think the women are using psychology more than ever rather than just brute strength or in-ring skills.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think she should be repackaged as Big Van Jax and wear a big mask that shoots steam when she walks to the ring. In all seriousness, she loses her "monster" appeal when she holds the mic up to her mouth and tries to say things. Let her fight without any mic time at all or have a manager do the talking for her. I like her in ring work and think with a character tweak here and there that she could be a dominating champion some day.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem I see with Nia is that for all her size and power... she just comes across as winning because she's Rocky's baby cousin...

There are interesting aspects of her character and past they could be using if they wanted to, like the big car crash she had with Rock's mom... they could be using that as an example of why she is so driven and she's a survivor etc... but as it stands she just comes across as "Dwayne's Cousin who is bigger than the others so is winning" which isn't gonna help her long term.

Either embrace the connection or package her in such a way that it's never going to be a factor, like they did with Sasha and Snoop... she got over on her own and then they used the family connection once, in a logical way... when the truth is most of her breaks came from Snoop being her cousin - fans saw first that she was great in the ring so she got a pass... Nia hasn't had that, she's all over Twitter with pics of her and Rocky's mom all the time and she hasn't got the ring chops to get that same pass. Charlotte got that pass again, cos she was damn good in the ring, but they embraced the Flair connection very quickly.

As it stands Nia's character is suffering as she comes across as too naive in the business knowing her background... she's getting manipulated by people like Alexa when the reality is we all know she absolutely was taught better than that by The Rock and others in the family...

If she suddenly pulls the "I was playing Alexa" card then the fans will peg her as Rock/Roman type and start hating her, but not for the right reasons.

She could be VERY good if they get her right, but the fact they've screwed Bayley up so royally doesn't instill me with confidence...

 

[ShinChan]

I've been enjoying her stint at this moment so I don't see anything wrong with her. She has been performing better like this gauntlet match showed or Wrestlemania match. She provides something different from any other RAW Women so she's kind of a unique attraction of the division. You know that something big is gonna happen if she's engaged with any other RAW women.

So she's already a lot believable for me. Nothing is broken so nothing to fix!

 

[Violent Violet]

I love the fact Nia is being booked as a monster with flaws, whether their issues with self confidence or that she wants to be liked or accepted by the other females.
Every wrestler should have at least one flaw. Alexa's is her size. Sasha has a history of injuries. Bayley is too nice, etc.
Fans tend to turn on unbeatable wrestlers because it's not believable. If Alexa couldn't play mind games with Nia, what chance would she have? If Sasha's tenacity couldn't plant a seed of doubt in Nia's mind, what chance would she have?
We love dominant wrestlers. We don't love unbeatable wrestlers.
I think Nia is being booked well. I wish they'd book another female to be closer to her level physically and I'm talking about Emma. But, that's a subject for another thread.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Nia Jax is doing just fine.

No it's not believable for just any woman to beat her, but she's a monster. She isn't supposed to lose easily.

There's nothing to fix. She rolls through people before losing the big showdown. This is one time where booking is right.