10 wrestlers who need a push after WrestleMania

#2 Ruby Riott

Ruby Riott can be a big babyface for the WWE women's division

Ruby Riott burst onto the scene in NXT as a babyface superstar, representing a more counterculture type of female wrestler. An atypical hairstyle, lots of tattoos, dark makeup and piercings all over, Riott was something different. Add to that her charisma and in-ring capability and you have an all-around exciting superstar. She was an immediate player upon appearing in NXT last March, but was continually unsuccessful in her chase to get a shot at the Women’s Championship. After only about 8 months there, she debuted on SmackDown and formed the Riott Squad.

As I discussed earlier when profiling Becky Lynch, the women on SmackDown Live have been floundering. There’s no drama and it’s the same thing week-in and week-out. The Riott Squad debuted right after Absolution did on RAW, and both groups were essentially identical until Paige got injured and RAW’s trio became a team with a manager while on SmackDown Live the Squad has continued to be a threesome. I think the experiment is over. After losing to Charlotte in her first shot at the Women’s Championship in the placeholder match at Fastlane and months of repetitive nothingness, it’s time for Ruby to go in a different direction. She should be the rebellious babyface, playing a role similar to Becky Lynch, now that I think about it.

She’s a relatable character because there are a lot of young women who look and dress like she does, and they don’t have anybody on WWE TV to look at and say “hey, she represents people like me!” That could be a reality. Break up the Riott Squad. Keep Ruby on the main roster and let Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan get the NXT runs that they deserve (in a good way -- they never got a chance to do anything there and they are worse off because of it).

I think it’s time to start a riot.