WWE: Nia Jax Turned Face Again And It’s Great
By Brett Grega
After her amazing performance in both the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches, Nia Jax followed up with an impressive match on Raw against Alexa Bliss. Jax appears to have turned face once again, and so far it’s been going great.
If you rewind back to around this time last year on WWE Raw, Nia Jax had just turned face.
She was betrayed and publicly ridiculed by her best friend, Alexa Bliss, leading to a match between the two for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.
With a growing amount of fan support behind her, Jax would be victorious in that bout, creating a great WrestleMania moment afterwards with an emotional celebration. It was the kind of feel-good moment that usually solidifies a superstar as one of the company’s top faces for years to come.
That moment happened in April last year. By November, Nia Jax had fully turned heel again.
While that may seem like a somewhat solid time for a face run for Jax, it’s really quite the opposite when you take into account all of the factors involved.
First, her run became quickly used as a way to propel Ronda Rousey into the Raw title picture post-WrestleMania, dramatically shifting the spotlight away from Jax at the time.
Just a few months later, Jax would unfortunately suffer an injury that kept her out through SummerSlam. Once she returned, she swiftly turned heel for essentially no rhyme or reason.
In that time, WWE seemed to have forgotten all the fan support Jax had when she first won the championship, or even how she was improving in the ring as a face.
First, Ronda Rousey needed a major push, so Jax apparently had to become an afterthought. Then, when Jax returned from injury, Raw apparently didn’t need a face fans had previously thrown some serious support behind, so Jax was turned heel.
None of that seemed to make any logical sense.
Now however, it appears like WWE may have finally recognized its booking went wrong somewhere along the way over the past year with Jax.
Nia Jax not only had an impressive time in the Women’s Royal Rumble match, but she also made a major impression by entering in at #30 in the Men’s Royal Rumble as well.
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It was perhaps the defining moment of the entire show, with Jax running through several of the company’s top male superstars, even going as far as having one of the most memorable counters to Randy Orton’s RKO in WWE history.
In short, it was a star-making performance.
After Royal Rumble, Jax appeared on Raw in a Women’s Tag Team Championship qualifier match with Tamina against Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. While fans have typically been very hostile towards Jax recently, especially after the Becky Lynch “facebreaker” incident, this time the audience seemed to embrace Jax.
The pop Jax received when she pulled Bliss from the top rope to execute a vicious double Samoan drop was huge. It was arguably the biggest positive fan reaction Jax had received on Raw since WrestleMania season last year.
At the end of the day, that kind of reaction should show WWE that Nia Jax could legitimately be a great face on Raw. Instead of presenting her like a vicious heel, or whatever the company was trying to go for with her “facebreaker” promos, WWE should have Jax be one of the red brand’s top faces.
Not only does it seem like she could have a true connection with audiences as a face, but she’s also been able to deliver exciting performances in that role when given the opportunity. Look no further than Raw or Royal Rumble for evidence.
After both those performances, it’s clear that Nia Jax can, and should, be the company’s next great face superstar.