Mandy Rose must win the title at NXT Halloween Havoc

A move back to NXT isn’t always a bad thing. Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe, Ember Moon, and Breezango all returned to the former black and gold brand to pick up championships. And in the case of Breezango, it was their only WWE title. The same should be true for Mandy Rose.

Her path through WWE has never been a clear one. Oftentimes, it made little or no sense to fans at all. But it’s hard to deny that she has put the work in, improved dramatically, and is in a place where it’s time for WWE to pull the trigger on putting a title on her. If not, moving Rose back to NXT becomes completely pointless.

Building Mandy Rose

Mandy Rose first joined WWE in 2015 as a contestant in the sixth season of Tough Enough. She came from a background in fitness competitions and certainly had the look of a WWE Diva. That being said, she definitely didn’t have the in-ring skill to back it up.

Over the next couple of years on NXT, she would pop up sporadically in six-woman tag team matches as well as the occasional singles loss. While Rose might not have gotten a lot of screen time, she was still training behind the scenes, learning her craft.

Her first big opportunity came in 2017 when she and Sonya Deville were called up to the main roster. As part of the Paige-led faction known as Absolution, Mandy Rose finally started to carve out a name for herself in the ring.

The path becomes unclear

As Paige faded into the background, Rose and Deville became the tag team known as Fire and Desire. They never won the gold before the team dissolved as part of her incredibly popular storyline with Otis and Dolph Ziggler.

That whole arc unceremoniously fell apart during the WWE Draft in 2020, leaving Rose in limbo. A supposed singles push on Raw vanished, resulting in her becoming part of a haphazard tag team with Dana Brooke that went absolutely nowhere.

All of a sudden in 2021, Mandy Rose started appearing on NXT, again. She’s now the leader of her own faction, Toxic Attraction, and is actually knocking on the door of her first WWE singles title in her seven-year run with the company.

It’s time for Mandy Rose

Raquel González put in the work and earned her current spot. She has proven to be a superb champion and a physically dominant one at that. Holding the NXT Women’s Championship has cemented her as a main event player on any brand. But it also might be time for her to move on to other pursuits, such as titles on the main roster.

Mandy Rose wasn’t brought back to NXT to be a jobber. She and Toxic Attraction have proven to be a solid heel faction and Rose is ready to hold some gold. Like González, Mandy has put in the work. Her game in the ring is better than ever with a new level of focus and aggression to back it up.

No one is ever going to suggest that Mandy Rose will be regarded as the greatest female wrestler of all time. But she’s at a point where she’s doing the best in-ring of her seven-year career and has the backing of a hot heel faction. If there was ever a perfect time to put a singles title on Mandy Rose, this would be it. She’s earned her spot. Now, WWE just needs to pull the trigger.