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What's the story?
WWE Superstar Nia Jax recently spoke with the Mirror.co.uk about her upcoming WrestleMania 34 match with Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss.
In the interview, Jax discussed how the current body-shaming storyline she is doing with Bliss being similar to what she has had to deal with in real life.
In case you didn't know...
The RAW Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans is Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax.
WWE created a rivalry between the two previous on-screen best friends by using a real-world matter, body-shaming.
On the March 12th episode of Monday Night RAW, the Irresistible Force overheard Alexa Bliss and Mickie James, who did not know their mics or the camera was on, making nasty jibes about the way she looks
Jax obviously wasn't happy:
RAW GM Kurt Angle, on the 19th of March edition, told Bliss that she would have to defend her Championship against Jax at WrestleMania 34:
In the past, Nia has called out body-shamers and bullies who have commented on her so-called big size.
The heart of the matter
Nia Jax was initially asked what it felt like to be in this body-shaming 'plot' with Alexa Bliss, and if she thought it was vital for WWE to cover and take on such problems we see in the real world:
(h/t to the Mirror) Nia answered 'I think it's amazing. I think it's something that people know but they don't want to talk about it, they always want to keep it hidden. I feel like we're tackling it head-on and it should be [tackled]. Young women and young girls, and boys, should actually be hearing this and seeing the conflict that we go through and seeing somebody stand up for themselves and not have to allow somebody to bully them, because of the way they look, what their shape is, or the colour of their skin is. You should always stand up for yourself. So I think it's amazing. I'm very honoured to be a part of it.'
Jas was then queried on whether or not she was bullied at all in her own life before, and responded with a yes, opening up about how her WrestleMania build-up with Alexa Bliss is similar to what's gone on:
'Nia replied 'Oh yeah. You know, growing up... it's crazy how real this storyline is to my real life. And especially with Alexa being such a close, best friend of mine for so long, she has seen it. She [her character] has hurt me [my character], because I've confided in a lot of these stories that have happened to me. It surprises me that it has become such a big storyline in WWE, because it relates to me completely.'
Nia, who is 6ft tall and 272 pounds, then gave a specific example of how she was body-shamed because of her size at a basketball game in school before going onto say that this sort of bullying is something she had unfortunately endured her 'whole life':
'Growing up I was made fun of for always being bigger. I specifically remember, at one of my junior high basketball games, a man, a grown man was making fun of me and my size, as I was playing basketball. They didn't realise that my Samoan father [Joseph Fanene, first cousin to Peter Maivia, grandfather of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson of the Anoaʻi family] was in the audience. And he, he err... beat the crap out of them, but that's a whole 'nother story! But yeah, that's something I've dealt with my whole life, people making fun of me and my size. Everything from having a huge forehead, to the size of my feet, and not being able to wear the same size shoes as my friends, definitely.'
You can check out the rest of the interview at the following link.
What's next?
We have only one episode left of Monday Night RAW before WrestleMania 34 takes place on April 8th.
As previously mentioned, we will see Nia challenge Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women's Title in the Mercedes-Benz at the big event.
It will be interesting to see whether or not WWE will use controversial topics like body-shaming and bullying for TV storylines again in the future.
Hopefully, awareness will be brought to these subjects by them.
Author's take
It is terrible that in this world we have mean people who will body shame and bully others.
Nia should be proud of the strong way she looks, and those who used her size to mock her in the past should be ashamed of themselves.
I have heard some criticism towards WWE for doing a body-shaming storyline.
I think that there should be no problem, as WWE are getting Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss to highlight this important issue to millions of people every week on Monday Night RAW, what could be wrong with that?
Should it never be addressed, so we can pretend it doesn't exist when it really does?
How can we get rid of body-shaming if we are too afraid to even talk about it?
Good on Nia for opening up, and well done to Alexa Bliss on her participation too, as we know her and Jax are best pals off the air, so pretending to insult Jax must be difficult.
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