WWE: 3 Reasons Why Carmella Should Fail Her Cash-In

3. She’s still green in the ring

Look, I realize that wrestling ability isn’t the primary prerequisite for holding a title in WWE. Alexa Bliss, Jinder Mahal, and The Miz’s respective championship runs have more than proven that. In Vince McMahon’s mind, the perception of skill and a superstar’s marketability mean more in the grand scheme of things. If the person they pick doesn’t measure up in the ring, then the company has a stable of quality workers to make him or her look good. This makes some sense.

Here’s the problem, the standard for wrestling is so much higher than it was even 10 years ago, especially for the women. The ladies have worked their way out of “bathroom break” purgatory and have gotten to the point where writers are legitimately advocating for one of the distaff title matches to headline WWE’s equivalent of the Super Bowl. This long-overdue change in perception is thanks to the efforts of the talented women who turned in classic match after classic match and showed that they could wrestle just as well, if not better, than their male colleagues.

While she’s improved leaps and bounds from her NXT days, Carmella isn’t at that level yet. As I noted in a piece last week, she reminds me of Bliss in the ring (and characterwise). She takes bumps well and is usually in the right positions in her matches. However, she still has a limited moveset and relies too much on the same rope chokes and rest holds that bog down Bliss’ bouts. She’s not the worst wrestler on the planet, but she still has a ways to go before she has consistently good matches with everybody, not just with more experienced talent or in garbage matches.