Daily She-DT: The Lacey Evans Push, Britt Baker At ROH

Today’s Daily She-DT examines Lacey Evans vs. Candice LeRae on NXT Television, Asuka’s NXT TakeOver: San Antonio title defense, and Britt Baker’s upcoming appearance at an ROH show.

Let’s start with Lacey Evans, who defeated Candice LeRae on this week’s episode of NXT. Evans has become a huge part of the NXT Women’s Division in 2018, slowly making a climb from “occasionally on television” to “rising star” in terms of usage.

Evans’s gimmick makes her arguably the most polarizing wrestler on the NXT roster, which is either good or bad, depending on your vantage point. There are valid concerns that Evans’s character has teetered on racist in the past, as her rhetoric of “cleaning up the division” can seem quite uncomfortable. At the same time, it’s important for me (I can’t speak on behalf of anyone else) not to make assumptions about Evans as a person or about the intention of her character.

What I can say is that Evans seems to be filling her role on the NXT roster perfectly. I’m guessing the folks backstage at NXT have ideas of Evans becoming their top heel, and they’ve gotten all the small details correct if that’s the ultimate goal here.

Evans’s “Woman’s Right” finisher leads to so many abrupt, anticlimatic finishes that no matter what jaw-dropping feats of athleticism she achieves during the match, she’ll get huge negative reactions due to a deflating finish. The deflation is purely out of disappointment, rather than there being any sort of mistake on Evans’s behalf.

Her match against LeRae is typical of what Evans brings to the table for WWE’s third brand. She wrestles an assertive, aggressive style and has shown increasingly more confidence in the ring since becoming a notable name in WWE at last year’s Mae Young Classic. Evans’s athleticism still shines through, but her moves are more brutal and purposeful, as are her insults.

When Evans talks smack to her opponents in promos or in the ring, she does so in a way that is far from tasteful, which is at odds with her morally superior “lady-like” character. I like that, because it shows the underlying flaw in how Evans views the world and other women.

Furthermore, I also liked the finish of this match. Evans insulted LeRae and her husband, Johnny Gargano, which led to LeRae going absolutely postal on her opponent. This, unsurprisingly, costed LeRae dearly, as she walked right into a “Women’s Right”.

This was a huge win for Evans, who got some revenge on LeRae for a previous loss. The fact that she once stood toe-to-toe with Kairi Sane, the current NXT Women’s Champion, and now boasts a win over LeRae is a sign that Evans is ticketed for the big-time. NXT’s brass has to be high on her and the heat she garners from the Full Sail crowd, and I bet they envision her as a future NXT Women’s Champion.

At first, I was incredibly uncomfortable with Evans’s character, and I still think something feels “off” about it. But I have to credit Evans’s commitment to it, and I become more at peace with her character when I think of it as satire. For as much as Evans touts being respectful and lady-like, she (as a character…this is a reminder that we cannot make assumptions about her as a person, in spite of what Twitter thinks) is everything a human being should not be. Evans is disrespectful, self-centered, and intolerant of others.

Wrestling fans are more inclined to despise someone with these character traits, since Evans attempts to harbor disunity in the women’s locker room. She shows contempt for their favorite wrestlers, so the fans fight back with jeers and derision. The challenge, of course, will be for WWE to continue to tweak how they portray this intriguing character, because if it tilts too far in an unsavory direction, the fans could choose to turn their backs towards the character.

Evans is quite talented in the ring and is an exceptionally adept actress outside of the squared circle, so I’m not surprised WWE has made her a big part of their rotation on NXT programming.

Peyton Royce Was So Good At NXT TakeOver: San Antonio

WWE.com recently uploaded Asuka’s successful NXT Women’s Championship defense in a Fatal Four-Way match at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio against Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, and Nikki Cross.

All four women in this bout were impressive, but I’d like to highlight Royce’s performance in this match. In NXT, Royce and Kay were two of the most entertaining wrestlers on the roster, and their connection (they are lovers, after all) was perhaps at its best in this match.

This Fatal Four-Way wasn’t heavy on the psychology, but it was heavy on the action and ages well as an easy-to-digest, entertaining match. Royce and Kay teamed up to suplex Cross from on top of the announce table through another table, which was the OMG! moment of a match that featured several noteworthy highlights (such as Cross hitting her finisher on Asuka from the apron to the outside).

Royce and Kay seemed to have Asuka beat, but Asuka literally bridged out of a pin despite being completely exhausted. The indignation and shock on Royce’s face whenever Asuka squirmed her way out of losing the title were priceless, and I often forget just how good Royce was at expressing simple emotions in an entertaining manner.

The IIconics have so much potential on the WWE main roster, and this match from the past was a smart upload on WWE’s part. It provides fans with an example of what these two are capable of, especially when they are involved in a feud with Asuka (as they are now, though Naomi is now involved, too).

Also, Royce’s wrestling in this match was quite solid, particularly at the end when she and Asuka were trading strikes. The desperation from Royce and Kay to put this match away when they had a chance was easy to read, and I’d like to see WWE truly unleash them as a “team” going into 2019. Like, that suplex on Cross through the table was twisted, which is a key part of the IIconics’ characters that should be displayed more frequently.

Britt Baker In Women Of Honor Action

ROH’s “Glory By Honor” will take place next week on Friday, October 12, in Baltimore, and Britt Baker will make her Women of Honor return at the UMBC Event Center.

Baker is one of wrestling’s brightest stars outside of WWE, as she showed in the women’s Fatal Four-Way match at “All In”. Chelsea Green may have been the standout performer from a character standpoint, but Baker’s slingblades and grappling skills made her the smoothest in-ring performer on that night.

I hope we get to see Baker appear with WOH more often, because there are some Madison Rayne vs. Baker matches that I really want to see. Those two are so damn fluid in the ring, so I’d love to see their in-ring styles meet as often as possible.

It will be interesting to see who Baker’s opponent(s) will be at “Glory By Honor”. After last week’s 12-15 minute match between Tenille Dashwood and Sumie Sakai at “Death Before Dishonor”, ROH finally seems to be more interesting in showcasing its incredibly talented athletes in the Women of Honor division. Signing Rayne, approaching Dashwood with a contract, and bringing in Baker for a show are additional steps in the right direction.

Quick Hits

• Chelsea Green has some more awesome merch available on her Pro Wrestling Tees page. Her “Reklusa” character in Lucha Underground could become one of wrestling’s most important stories going forward, so I’d consider buying the slick merch and jumping on the bandwagon early. Arachnophobia is not an acceptable excuse to avoid supporting “Reklusa”, in case you were wondering…
• Charly Caruso has become a fabulous backstage commentator in WWE, and she’s honestly not far behind Renee Young in terms of timing and insight. So it’s great to see that she’s appearing on ESPN to lend her talents to another audience.