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What's the story?
The WWE Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss recently spoke with Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald during the promotion of the Nintendo Switch release of WWE 2K18. During the interview, they talked about the fans criticizing the call-up of Alexa Bliss to the main roster during the WWE Draft in July of 2016.
In case you didn't know...
Bliss' first televised main roster appearance actually came at WrestleMania XXX in 2014 when she played a part in Triple H's entrance that opened the pay per view. Triple H took on Daniel Bryan as a result of the famous Yes Movement that occurred on Raw during the Road To WrestleMania.
The heart of the matter
When Bliss started her career in NXT, she had a gimmick similar to a bubbly cheerleader. It was when she turned heel to assist Blake & Murphy that her career took off. She would help them win the NXT Tag Team Championships, and though she came close, she never captured the NXT Women's Championship.
When SmackDown Live drafted Bliss, many people wondered why others weren't called up instead of Bliss. In her interview with Fishman, Bliss said:
"Here's the thing. People say I was called up too soon. I thought I was called up too soon. It's not about when you're called up. It's what you do with the opportunity. As long as they take advantage of every opportunity, I think it's great to have them."
Words can't describe what Bliss did with the opportunity. Today, she's arguably the most popular woman in the division On top of that, she's four-time Women's Champion in the WWE, and the first to ever capture the Raw and SmackDown Live titles since the brand split.
What's next?
Absolution interrupted the battle to find out who takes on Bliss next for the WWE Raw Women's Championship, so her next defender is still in limbo, but over the course of the next few weeks, we may find out more, if Absolution allows it.
Author's take
I'll admit that the call-up surprised me at the time, but the last thing I wanted to do was criticize the WWE or worse yet, directly criticize Bliss for the promotion. That's the downside of social media: people are cruel and not have to worry about any consequences.
It's safe to say that those naysayers have quieted down after the tremendous 18 months that Bliss has had on the main roster.
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