WWE WrestleMania 34: Why Nia Jax Has To Win The Title

Over the past couple of weeks, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss has been bullying Nia Jax. The only way this storyline can be paid off appropriately is if Nia captures the title for the first time in her career at WrestleMania 34.

The WWE likes to hype up Nia Jax’s size and dominance, and they have given her the nickname “Force of Greatness”. But despite all of the rhetoric from the commentary team, something just doesn’t add up. In 2017, Jax had the second-most losses of any wrestler on the roster, with veteran Natalya being the only person with more losses. And at least Natalya can say that she had a few months with the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

For all the talk of Nia’s dominance, she has yet to come close to capturing a title. Last year at WrestleMania 33, Nia was a part of a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match for the Raw Women’s Championship. However, she didn’t come close to winning, since Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Bayley all ganged up on Nia early in the match.

Since ‘Mania 33, Nia has been given just two more title opportunities. The first was on Jun. 5 against Alexa Bliss on Raw, but it was hardly a match and ended in disqualification. Nia was a part of a Fatal Five-Way at No Mercy for Bliss’s title, but Bliss retained.

At no point in her career has Jax been in a true feud for the title…until now. Furthermore, she’s feuding against her good friend and #TeamRude partner Alexa Bliss. This feud has added meaning, given that WWE teased friction between them months ago before finally pulling the trigger two weeks ago when Bliss bullied Nia in a backstage segment.

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That promo was wonderfully executed, though the subject matter was certainly controversial. Bliss insulted Nia for tapping out to Asuka, but she took it to another level by making fun of Nia’s weight.

WWE is known for running distasteful storylines, and fans are worried that this angle will also lack the requisite nuance or a final take-home lesson that is both informative and positive (the latter is especially important given that children watch WWE programming).

However, away from the screen, Bliss has been open about her own battles with body positivity, which the WWE themselves have documented. If there’s a chance that WWE will write this story in poor taste, hopefully Nia and Bliss will speak out against it, and I’m sure they want nothing more than to tell this story appropriately.

But let’s get back to something that has less uncertainty around it, and that’s the story told by wins and losses. Bliss has been the Raw Women’s Champion since taking the title back from Sasha Banks at SummerSlam. During her time on Raw since joining the brand at the “Superstar Shakeup” after WrestleMania, Bliss has beaten everyone in feuds. She eviscerated Bayley, scraped by Banks, and overcame Mickie James.

Bliss, however, has yet to get by Nia or Asuka. Of course, Asuka told Bliss to her face that she’d prefer the challenge of defeating Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania, especially because Asuka already defeated Bliss in a non-title singles match.

Meanwhile, Jax and Bliss are just now starting a program. Bliss used Jax for months as protection against other opponents, only to turn her back on Nia after hooking back up with Mickie James, who probably has her own title ambitions.

The timing of Bliss vs. Jax is important, because the WWE have decided to give the green light to this feud just about a month before WrestleMania. They’ve even started up the Sasha/Bayley story again and moved Asuka over to a feud with Charlotte for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in order to potentially hype Nia vs. Bliss a a singles feud at WrestleMania. Furthermore, I wonder if the WWE’s teases of a Nia vs. Bliss program months ago were tabled for a later date simply because the WWE wanted Nia vs. Bliss to happen at ‘Mania.

Since being drafted to Raw from NXT in 2016, Jax has always been portrayed as an unstoppable heel monster, but the WWE made her seem more vulnerable two weeks ago when Jax broke down and cried. She cried when Bliss tore her apart verbally, and, well, can you blame her? Can you blame someone for crying in anger and frustration after being betrayed by their best friend, with all their insecurities immediately thrown into their face?

Jax is the babyface in this feud, and she has layers to her character for the first time. Not every big, strong wrestler has to be a one-dimensional monster. I mean, even Braun Strowman has a goofy side now that he’s a babyface. For Nia, that other side to her “monster” character as a babyface is the fact that she’s passionate and headstrong, qualities that become evident in a more relatable character. And how do you make someone more relatable? You make them more vulnerable. If you don’t believe me, look at what NXT did with Bayley and Johnny Gargano.

Obviously, Jax isn’t that type of babyface, and she still is supposed to be a “Force of Greatness”. That alone is an argument for why she should finally win her first title in WWE at WrestleMania 34. If you want to say that she’s dominant, then how many more times can she lose? And can she really lose on the big stage for the first time? How many more chances do you get to have her lose before people finally say, “You know what? Maybe Nia isn’t such a big deal?”

More importantly, this current storyline makes it imperative that Nia wins. Bliss has been a champion for months, has never suffered any sort of comeuppance, and gets to parade around as a hypocritical bully who is, quite frankly, a gutless champion and does everything possible to avoid a fight. We love Bliss for her ability to talk, and she’s a much better wrestler than given credit for.

At the same time, though, Bliss is the quintessential cowardly heel, and she already had her big moment at the Elimination Chamber when she defeated five other women without cheating. There has to be a point where it all comes crumbling down for Bliss, and what better time than now? Bliss has woken a sleeping giant in Nia by verbally torturing her. If the WWE wants to do this “Mean Girl”, bullying storyline, then the bully cannot win. It’s that simple. She cannot win at WrestleMania against a dominant opponent who has yet to be crowned for her dominance.

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There isn’t a universe where Nia losing makes sense, and if she does win the title at WrestleMania, the WWE has a chance to do something very unique with a wrestler who has improved by leaps and bounds ever since the summer of 2016.