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Nia Jax Bullying Alexa Bliss About ‘I Am Enough’ Tattoo Crossed A Line

By Kevin Parvizi

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Last week, Alexa Bliss got a new tattoo that read “I am enough”. It’s a simple slogan that means so much to people who are fighting depression, self-confidence, or feelings of exclusion in their communities. Nia Jax’s decision to criticize this tattoo on social media crossed the line, even if she only meant to heighten the build to their match at Extreme Rules.

Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax had one of the most controversial rivalries of 2018 in the lead-up to WrestleMania 34. For months, Bliss bullied and tormented Jax, body-shaming her to the point where many fans became uncomfortable with the segments.

Jax appears to be bringing a real-life struggle into a WWE storyline, too, in what can be seen as a reverse of the Bliss vs. Jax bullying storyline from earlier this year. This time, Jax is the bully.

A week ago, Bliss got an “I am enough” tattoo. “I am enough” carries so much meaning to so many people, because those three simple words tell us that we are valuable no matter what. We are enough. Many of us constantly wonder if we’re skinny enough, smart enough, talented enough, worth loving enough, or any other potential inadequacy we fret about. Bliss’s tattoo is an important reminder to herself (she defeated anorexia, never forget that) and to her fans that no matter what those voice in our head may say, we ARE enough.

And that’s why it was so discouraging to wake up this morning and see this tweet.

https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/1010038556482416641

Absolutely disgraceful. If Nia decided to tweet this out of her own volition, then shame on her. There is nothing excusing this, and it is an awful thing to say to both Bliss AND the many people around the world who draw inspiration from “I am enough”.

Bliss’s childhood friends spoke out about this awful tweet from Jax, too. (Thank you to C.M.A Laitinen for sending these tweets to me.) These tweets show just how disappointing it was for Jax to make a tweet that turned Bliss’s real-life battle and meaningful tattoo into a lazy social media diss.

I’m not going to mince words here. This was a huge mistake from Jax, and if WWE didn’t tell her to tweet this, then this crossed the line into real-life bullying. Plain and simple. I don’t care what you think about Bliss as a wrestler or if you think she “deserved” (rolls eyes HARD) another title reign. If this isn’t part of a storyline, then this is a classic example of either bullying or straight-up ignorance about “I am enough”. And the ignorance part is no excuse, because WWE acknowledged the importance of this tattoo on their own site!

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Now if Jax is trying to push a storyline here, this tweet might not have even been 100% her idea. WWE may have looked at Jax vs. Bliss at Extreme Rules and thought, “Wow, we need to spice this feud up, because this is the third time they’ll face off. Oh, I know! Let’s tell Nia to tweet something really bad about Bliss! That’ll get people invested!”

This, of course, is a terrible idea. Not only is depression too heavy of a subject for WWE to tackle, but they’ve already shown that they are incapable of handling difficult topics in any capacity on their programming. Let’s refer to the Bliss vs. Jax body-shaming storyline.

At the time, I honestly thought it wasn’t a bad idea, because both Bliss and Jax were trying to show fans how awful this type of bullying is. Bliss herself has openly discussed her eating disorder with the WWE Universe (and I couldn’t be more grateful for that), and we’ve all seen Jax handle bullying from some fans with poise and grace.

I made a mistake in thinking that storyline was worth it. See, I thought when Jax stood tall over Bliss at WrestleMania 34 and defeated her again for the Raw Women’s Championship at Backlash, we’d get a huge “teachable” moment for the young fans in the audience. We’d get a real fallout from the whole ordeal where everything was spelled out more explicitly and tied together in a meaningful, cohesive way. Shame on me for expecting this from WWE. They’ll always fail to deliver when social issues are concerned, no matter how many Finn Balor “Rainbow” shirts they sell.

Here’s what really happened. Jax gave some heavily-scripted, corporate-propaganda “Be A Star” speech after her win at WrestleMania 34. It was impossible to relate to, it made members of the audience feel awkward, and it just wasn’t pointed enough for fans, especially fans who have been body-shamed by bullies, to feel any real closure.

And you want to talk about lacking closure? Jax herself turned into a bully weeks later in order for WWE to build towards her title match against Ronda Rousey at Money in the Bank.

At Money in the Bank, Bliss cashed in her newly-won briefcase on Jax during the Rousey match to become the Raw Women’s Champion again. On the following episode of Raw, GM Kurt Angle announced that Bliss and Jax will face off for a third time at Extreme Rules. And here we are.

I want Jax to apologize on social media to both Bliss and her followers for that tweet. This was inexcusable, it crossed the line, and it went beyond kayfabe. My friend “Catch Wrestling U” summed it up perfectly:

https://twitter.com/CatchWrestling/status/1010157157516529664

Alexis Kaufman got this tattoo. Alexa Bliss is just the character behind the tattoo.  I hope fans never forget that there is a person behind the characters they see on TV, and it’s a shame Jax decided to make a tweet that may be emotionally damaging to the actual person.

Bliss may be a callous heel who is a classic mean girl, but the person behind the character is an inspiration to many young people who are fighting (or have fought) eating disorders and the stigmas attached to them.

Next: Why Shinsuke Nakamura Should Win The US Title

And for anyone reading this piece who has feelings of self doubt every day, know that you are enough. Please never let anyone tell you otherwise.

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