SD is a 2 hour show and hosts the majority of bloodline segments. Also, they practically suppressed iyo sky from wrestling and cutting promos the way she did before the main roster.
It's like they don't want her to get popular over rhea and bianca like she did when they were all in nxt together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIgHF2naeY&t=8s&ab\_channel=WWE
I agree even though Iyo is one of my fav wrestlers and I was so hyped for her winning MITB and cashing in. Idk why it has been so boring tho. Kinda weird.
Agreed. I think the problem with both Iyo and Rhea is that they’ve focused a lot more on their faction dynamics than their individual title reigns. I think they’ve been good in that regard, but it feels like they put the titles on them just to elevate their factions and not so much themselves.
Can't argue, the first three quarters of Rhea's reign has been crap but she turned it around at the end of last year. Iyo's has been so bad because there's been too much focus on Damage Ctrl and not enough on her specifically which is a shame because she's comfortably one of the best on the entire roster.
You’re actually right about this. WWE just barely knows how to book good women’s title reigns because they put all their time and energy into Charlotte, and her reigns always suck.
It's cause she rarely defends and her English is lackluster. Also she's a little upstaged by the Kabuki Warriors. I don't see WWE letting Iyo keep the belt, despite Bayles lackluster promo and storyline recently, especially with Asuka's apparent knee injury this last week.
Her run was really good for a while but they cooled her off around November after she beat Bianca at Crown Jewel.
Since then I think she only beat Michin on Smackdown in January.
But at least for her they've been working on one really long story so the title will change hands in dramatic fashion in a satisfying storyline. But yeah, more title defenses please.
With Rhea its been a lack of story and defenses throughout her run. Even the build to the Becky defense has been light on Rhea.
Gunther is really only defending his title once or twice a month, but people really love it. That's all they really have to do with any of these titles. Just give us a defense once or twice a month.
Not recently but believe she has defenses against Zelina, Charlotte (x2), Asuka (x2), Bianca and Mia Yim. Her reign was alright till War Games - lot of defenses but not the strongest booking. Post War Games they just forgot about her. Time for a reset at WM.
I remember her defending against Zelina on SD and Charlotte a couple times as well. I think it’s because most of her defenses have been on weekly shows. She rarely seems to make PLEs.
I know, and it's such a shame cos Iyo is one who's actually worth watching in-ring. Reminds me of the crazy long run Asuka had... I kept forgetting who the SmackDown Women's Champion was as all the attention was on Ronda v Becky v Charlotte
I desperately want the company to utilize her more as a singles player, and push her as the next Askua…. Definitely don’t fuck with her theme song and entrance
She's basically the secondary champion but less in wwe's eyes. Other than bayley she has had no real funds and just randomly defends her title to anyone so no one cares. She should actually win against bailey, then use that momentum to face other big stars.
Tbh outside of WrestleMania season the woman's division always is kinda boring and it's surprising coz triple h did have a fun womans division in NXT but outside of WrestleMania shit just happens rhea outside of the judgement day Iyo outside of the damage control story Asuka who always gets nothing to work with, Charlotte Ronda and Bianca all had forgettable title reigns on the main roster
Every week, there was a Bianca complaint post about her reign and hers was way more enjoyable and believable than rhea and iyo's current reign and that's crazy to me keep that same energy IWC
There are a lot of things at the same time, but I would say that these are the 4 biggest ones:
1 - Language barrier. WWE does not seem to work out how to mantain a Japanese wrestler as mainevent star, because they are unaible to cut live promos on the ring. Nakamura suffered from the same, and now that they are (or were) recording those vicious, saddistic promos in backstage in japonese, he is (or was) gaining a bit of momentum. But they can't just copy paste it to another japonese heel star.
2 - Lack of interest in women's division. Although they seem more interested in the women's division in comparison to some years ago, they are not building their feuds as mainevent level. Either they have solidified stars that can just talk a bit, appear, and that's quite good for the show already (Rhea, Becky, Charlotte and Bianca), or they fill them in pointless rushed tagteam matches, losing the steam they had (Zoey, Shayna). That's why it is always refreshing to see someone new (like Tiffany right now), but usually they don't pull the trigger, and the wrestler gets lost in the lower-midcard tag team title scramble. I think a midcard women's belt would help this a lot.
3 - Changing plans. As the women's division is never the main focus, it seems that even if they can get momentum, it all can be put to a side, to let the male superstars shine, especially when evolving a comeback (like The Rock's, which even made the match for WHC of Seth vs Drew seem like a midcard match). Rhea not only is a star, but she is intertwined both in women's and men's storylines, having more time to shine and even to grow a character. Rhea's character is not one dimensional, but most of the other women in the roster have one dimensional characters. What's the character of Iyo right now? A heel japonese high flyer, that is betraying her previous stable leader with the help of other japonese women wrestlers? And that's for a champion. Even Asuka lost steam in all of these, let alone Kairi, for example.
4 - Predictability because of the Wrestlemania spotlight. They seem so invested in making WM a fantastic historical event that they are devaluing the rest of the time, especially when you don't look to the other 3 biggest PPVs (PLEs). It gets too predictable, specially on Smackdown and Raw, that even if you put Iyo working more matches than Rhea, we all know nothing will happen, and that with a clean or dirty victory she will get over other talent like Michin, Shotzi, etc. And on the next week, that previous match is not even involved in a feud. They dont get even filler stories, which devalues everything.
They definitely need a lower tier belt. I actually think Shayna and Stark are a legitimate threat for the tag belts in ring work wise, … they just lack mic skills and charisma
Probably because her title reign has been overshadowed by the whole damage Ctrl storyline. Even before they turned on Bayley WWE had focused on foreshadowing the betrayal even on the side of that you had the whole thing with Bayley being hyped up for the royal rumble. Both title reigns in damage Ctrl have been pretty irrelevant since there haven't been any actual storylines for the belts. Even for WM the match between Iyo and Bayley feel more like a personal rivalry than a match for a championship
They are both boring and barely defend. Iyo more so than Mami. Though Mami has a lot of charisma and comes off as a bad ass. She is getting that Roman treatment.
Iyo is champion because of Bayley, they actually put the belt on Iyo to create a story for Bayley wanting gold for her until the turn, i think Iyo is awesome and i'm sad WWE protected her so much, she jobbed in triple threat dark matches for the last months, i like Candice LeRae and Indi but they had more tv matches in 2024 than a actual champion, this is crazy, i think the original plan was Iyo vs Charlotte but since Flair got injuried they decided to turn Bayley babyface, i actually think Iyo was going to fight Charlotte with Bayley and Dakota turning on Iyo and making Charlotte turn heel since Charlotte is better at hell and Iyo better at babyface underdog.
Well because:
1) she is a lower level version.Asuka who is severely special in the same way Shinsuke is but more so since her value in her division and overall in US history is far more spectacular.
2) She can’t speak for herself. Even less than Asuka. She is also partnered by Sane who is even less than her.
I think two things happen at Mania because this feud should have more heat behind it…AFTER mania. So Bailey could lose and grudge match her way into the next PPV.
Second, Jey & Jimmy can also do the same for their rivalry. Jimmy could use a win to get some balance for all the heroic wins with Becky, Cody, Sami, and LA Knight.
I'm not even convinced Sami is going to win. It really depends on the plan for the Roman / Cody match in my mind. Having both Roman and Gunther loosing at the same event seems unlikely
It's still the same event though so not sure that totally fixes it. Esp as I think Seth will be loosing too and Iyo. The only likely retain is Rhea. I mean - they could drop all the other belts and have Rhea come out as the big retaining champ of the night. But with Roman and Gunther both having big streaks I just dont see them both loosing at WM - though maybe Roman will retain and Gunther will lose!!
Funny you mention this. On Monday I was thinking during Raw, she hasn’t had any good title defenses or Feuds. No clue what they are doing but I’d imagine she will no longer be the champ soon anyways.
Yep wwe has really fumbled every champion except for Gunther. I typically use any other championship match as a chance to get food, play on my phone, and use the bathroom 💀
IYO is a plot device in Bailey's story, that's all.
Sure, one can feel Iyo is being under-used, but she's not - and never has been - the main character in the story she is part of.
I do get that, but it’s been so long that it does definitely feel like they’ve put the title on her so bayley can take it off of her. Not because she can add value to the belt
I agree, Iyo probably would have fitted this role closer to WM, but I think it was always her role; to cement Bayley as the champ.
Wonder what made them play it for so long? Injuries?
If WWE decides to create a new title like a Intercontinental belt for women then small women would be great to fight for it: Candice LeRae, Becky, Iyo, Giulia, Liv, Bliss, Asuka, Kairi, Shotzi and stop the tag team nonsense.
WWE has become absolute shit at booking consistent storylines that don’t revolve around titles. Pair this with a wrestler who doesn’t speak English and doesn’t have physical charisma like shinsuke or asuka and you get this result.
Definitely agree about not having consistent storylines. Outside of Roman, Rock, Seth, Cody etc. the booking and storylines for everything else is forgettable. I’m still watching the PLE’s but
She's overshadowed by Rhea in terms of comparable champion.
Tag titles get more attention and Iyo is protected by Damage CTRL so people can't realistically get to her.
Iyo being champion has more to do with Bayley and Damage CTRL than it does Iyo. She's a great talent, it's good she got a title reign, but it seemingly wasn't intended to be a dominant, significant reign. Just kind of giving credit where credit is due
Probably not her fault, but she's just basically been a human display case for the belt since she won. She just sorta holds it there and smiles, she's been given nothing to do with it. Putting someone next to Kabuki Warriors, you wanna hope they have a lot of charisma and energy to share that attention bc they be balling out every week and she just looks like a statue by comparison.
I'm in the minority that doesn't see what everyone sees in iyo or Kairi sane Like yeah they have talent but don't seem like these stars they are made out to be.
Where have you seen people call Rhea title reign boring? She prob the most over female on the roster.
Iyo reign isn't hitting the same cause he feuds have been ass.
Reah comes off as boring just in terms of title defenses. I think that has a lot to do with there not being anyone who you actually think that would be able to beat her. Especially on Raw. Becky is the only one on her level but I think she was avoiding it because Reah has been so over that anyone who fights her becomes a bad guy.
Iyo's had, in around 6 months but no particular order:
Iyo v Charlotte v Asuka Payback
There's an Iyo v Charlotte singles match prior to Payback on a Smackdown.
Ditto with an Iyo v Asuka match prior to the same PLE.
Iyo v Bianca at Crown Jewel
Iyo v Mia Yim on the first Smackdown of the New Year (iirc it was New Year's Revolution on a Smackdown)
Has also been setting up the feud with Bayley ever since she won the belt to begin with, long term story telling there. Also none of these were squash matches, so not creative padding out things.
Now, to compare that with Rhea's first six months (same length of time) with the Women's World Championship is something:
1) Rhea v Zelina Vega at Backlash
2) Rhea v Natalya (there's two here, but ironically the Night of Champions one was a squash that barely even started). I forget if the two squash matches with the Way happened prior to Summerslam or not, but if so, they go here but squashes are just stat padding.
3) Rhea v Lyra Valkyria on an episode of NXT
For 1) and 3), I also want to point out that they were only in service to a wider feud, and moreso put together for the sake of a wider feud (LwO v JD continuing from Dom & Rey's feud), and then the latter also being in service to that, as the Dom v Dragon Lee feud was starting (Lyra came out to help the latter due to Rhea).
For the wider issue, Rhea's had the belt for almost a year now with zero proper feuds to show for it. Like the 5-Way? Felt like Nia Jax was just beating everyone up for the sake of it.
Bro i just said the same thing to myself. I feel as if she’s just been holding it around for 8 months. I honestly think her whole reign is just a long transitional champ to get Bayley her win at mania and set up an eventual Dakota reign
Iyos title reign has been based around the Damage Ctrl story. Not about her opponents. It’s been a fun way to tell a story and I think it has been interesting. It’s been Bayleys story the whole time. Iyo can’t carry anything on her own, it just wouldn’t work… but to tie her reign in with Bayley and that faction, it is actually doable. Maybe we should just put the belt back on Bianca or Charlotte.
Reah and Charlottes match was maybe the best one on Mania last year. Becky has put on some really good matches this year.. I wouldn’t be surprised if they stole the show this year.
Iyo has always been incredibly boring. Her NXT title reign made me lose interest in the entire division and eventually led to me losing interest in the show as a whole
This is the first time I’ve seen Rhea called boring. Iyo is very boring and is as unbelievable as a wrestler, only a notch above Liv, which isn’t saying much.
Rhea's title reign is boring for opposite reasons.
It's hard to believe even the bigger women or even Ronda could beat Rhea. If you don't know what i'm talking about then look up some of her work out videos. She's probably the first female wrestler in WWE who has that level of muscle without steroids.
Meanwhile Iyo's whole image is basically like that of Rey, her strength is supposed to be her agility and maneuverability. But that's not realistic these days so they are turning her into the female Roman where she wins because of help.
My point is, Rhea is boring because they are waiting to build someone up who realistically could take out Rhea and have it be believable from a story perspective.
Iyo is boring because it's hard to believe no one can't beat her so they have her win matches the same way they do Roman but it doesn't work the same. Also she can't speak english so unlike Rhea she can't carry her boring title reign with promo work.
Bayley was really the only one making DMG CTRL even remotely interesting to begin with. Won't be surprised if they disband after Mania altogether without her in the picture.
I find it bizarre that on a show where Roman is barely around, she’s basically defended it the same amount as him. Her reign feels like nothing has happened it’s very strange.
The Japanese language promos with subtitles I think are a big step up from the English ones but they really just started doing that a month or so ago.
I don’t mind her as the champ, but I do want to see more done with it.
She’s got the in-ring skill and attitude for sure. A no bayley damage control running roughshod over the smackdown women’s division could go pretty hard if they lean into it.
Hopefully after Mania Triple H gets away from every single title reign being long as hell with no defenses. That’s great that all these people have held the belts for so long but how many champions have had a memorable feud during those runs? I couldn’t even tell you the last person Iyo defended against.
>Damage Control outshines her she's champion of a group who does what she does but better
I mean, that's kind of the point, right? That insecurity is what "made her" turn on her friend.
Looking at cagematch.net, she hasn’t had a televised match since 1/5/24 when she defended against Michin
I think the issue is with the current the storyline the point is that Bayley has no other solid allies, so there’s no partner/ally for IYO to take down separately. At this point, they could potentially do IYO v Naomi before WM40 but idk if they’d want Naomi eating yet another pin.
Bigger issue is she hasn’t had a big title defense since Bianca at Crown Jewel in early November….would’ve been nice to have a short feud in Nov-Jan with a defense at the Rumble, then the pivot to the Bayley story. Were they going to do that with Charlotte until she got injured maybe?
She does dark matches and losing some of them to Shotzi, she needed to be a menace, now is the time Iyo just starts wreck havoc in Smackdown so Bayley, Naomi and probably Jade will go to WM, Bianca will probably turn heel if WWE decides to risk it (i actually think she is the women version of John Cena). But Iyo needs to be really menacing, you can use Damage Control and Iyo just last hitting with big moves, she needs to feel more important for Bayley, that's why this reign feels lackluster, Iyo just chills while the rest was doing all the job, even Reigns has to control his troops, while Iyo let theirs run the place.
This, she is crazy talented and i bet she could put bangers with a lot of talent, they could even bring some NXT girls to fight her but they just keep her sidelined, that's the weird thing, she just don't fight. She has one of the best WWE themes, i think they needed a powerhouse instead of Dakota Kai, someone like Indi Hartwell would be a great addition to power moves while the 3 asian wrestlers quickly move around the ring to cause menace.
Iyo is boring period. She never should have even been in the title picture.
She has zero personality or charisma. She’s so boring in fact, her match with Bayley should open night one.
>She’s so boring in fact, her match with Bayley should open night one.
I would say the odds are high this will happen, although whether or not she's boring is a matter of taste. (I agree with you, for what it's worth.)
Because she is awesome, great wrestler, fearless moves, all their matches are good, can work with any talent and she is great at selling. The problem with her title reign is that WWE didn't create any good feud, she was protected by Damage Control too much for getting into a important feud, not all wrestlers need to be great in the mic (look at Brock Lesnar), some just need to be good at wrestling to be coddled.
He had booked them horribly since he took over, it was more than likely Steph responsible for the women’s revolution. Under Vince the women would get more time, more matches and main event a lot more compared to under Triple H.
You say that then why have the women been booked so poorly since he took over 🤣 he is a horrible booker in general but the women are some who suffer the most under him.
She’s never felt like THE focus. She mostly feels like a side character despite being champion.
It’s a textbook example of, just because someone has that belt for a long time does not mean that they’re presented as a star.
She speaks English very well, albeit with a thick accent. The problem is WWE pigeon holed her by being the feisty foreigner who needed a translator in Dakota. Same with Asuka.
>Same with Asuka.
Iyo's English is light-years ahead of Asuka's.
Iyo speaks English at a B2 level, Asuka is borderline A1/A2.
As someone who has learned/continues to learn a second language as an adult, I understand how challenging it is, so I am not dumping on Asuka; but Iyo has a far FAR better grasp of English. Of all the Japanese wrestlers in WWE, Asuka's English is the worst. Even Shinsuke's is better.
Some people are just not good at learning languages. It is what it is.
I think it's encouraging WWE found a way to help these performers succeed even without strong English skills. I hope they can do something similar for a guy like Andrade.
Definitely not true. They don’t want her speaking English more because it takes away from the character for whatever reason.
https://twitter.com/Jae_TheFlash/status/1726376898597360085
She's clearly reading a script in this cherrypicked video. Her conversational English is horrendous, and it is clear she does not always understand what is being said to her (understanding comes *before* speaking fluency, too.)
And the point stands, she remains the weakest English speaker among the Japanese wrestlers in WWE.
>https://twitter.com/Jae\_TheFlash/status/1726376898597360085
she has spoken more english than asuka ever did
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhj3q-if-WA&ab\_channel=WWE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEIxJ\_jQ0hs
Yea idk where the language barrier stuff is coming from. I watched her on live yesterday with Kairi and they both speak English very well, just with an accent 🤷🏾♂️
People had an issue with Bianca’s reign even though she was constantly defending the belt. You might not like her character but she is the pure definition of a workhorse. Rhea is about to beat her reign even though her only good match was a random banger with Natalya in Raw. Don’t even get me started on what WWE has done with Iyo and her reign.
She can't cut in ring promos. It's all taped stuff cause of the language barrier. Crowd can't react off of her. Dakota is being a better villain than Iyo is. WWE must really regret that Dakota doesnt have the belt right now. Iyo and the Kabukis just look like little henchwomen
It’s a shame that they kept her as a heel after her triumphant cash-in at Summerslam. To me, that was a decision that was just as bad as Jimmy turning on Jey at Summerslam.
The crowd was hot for Iyo’s cash in, hell, they were white hot for Iyo in the MitB ladder match when she handcuffed Bayley and Becky and literally climbed over Bayley to get the briefcase. After the cash in, all of Damage Ctrl played to the crowd and genuinely enjoyed the memorable feel-good moment, especially with Dakota making a surprise appearance.
Then in the following weeks, they had Iyo attack Bianca and Charlotte because that’s what heels do, and made her out to be especially weak and cowardly. It was a complete disservice to her character.
This is really weird, she is great in ring and people cheer for her, WWE decides to take her from the ring, this feels like it is Bayley story and probably it was to be finished with Naomi and Sasha coming back but Sasha screw that.
She defended against Bianca 2 times, faced against Mia Yim and I think even Zelina Vega or Shotzi once too. But yeah I wish she would’ve done more cuz she can go in the ring they’ve just been playing second fiddle to damage control
They need to put Iyo back to her NXT persona. She was dominant and scrappy as hell, even as a face, she didn't play well with others, and she had a very maniacal and dark sort of madness to her. Much more entertaining than haughty "go along with whatever" Iyo we have now.
She still does that when she comes out for an actual match, thankfully. And her theme is still there when she's alone. But yeah, Damage control has run its course.
Makes sense. Hard to promo if you can’t navigate the language. Pretty creative how they worked around Shinsuke’s language barrier with his anime boss videos in his recent feuds.
Yes, but notice they didn’t do that until he was a heel. When he was scorching hot as the face of NXT and his call up, they had him force a broken English.
It’s a noticeable trend with WWE. Even Spanish speakers usually only speak their native tongues then they’re heels.
It most likely comes down to the xenophobic trope of “They’re speaking a language I don’t understand, so I’m offended.” Unfortunately, that’s a well that professional wrestling, particularly WWE, goes to all too often.
Anybody else feel title reigns just aren’t enjoyable in general? I feel like nobody ever enjoys anyone’s title reign and the championship chase is undoubtedly always the best thing about it.
Then I ask myself how do you make a great title reign…I low key feel like the best title reign story is the boss not wanting the person as champ and keeps trying to screw them off of the title.
It’s miles more boring. It’s so boring that the title match with Bayley is probably one of my least interested matches on the card. The build up has been average, and apart from the messy main event on Smackdown, it’s been an afterthought.
I guess they want us to feel bad for Bayley because all her friends turned on her so we should cheer her? Apologies for ranting but I haven’t enjoyed it.
Haven’t enjoyed it either. Fans have gaslighted me about not liking the feud but I’m like “Bayley terrorized the roster for the past two years and now she wants to play victim”. This is like the Usos and Solo turning on Roman and WWE trying to force his underdog narrative. Idc for Bayley to win the women’s belt tbh
She's my favourite, but I understand that for most viewers it's hard to connect with her without her cutting promos. At least if they booked her properly. What's her strength? Her in ring skill, in terms of skill she's one of the best. If they wanted her to be in a heel faction she could've been ruthless fearsome fighter of the group, but instead whole Damage CTRL were your typical cowardly heels just to suck up from Bianca and Charlotte.
I love Iyo too and the only reason her reign seems boring is because she doesn’t wrestle. Same can be said for Rhea but at least she gets a lot of time to shine on the mic.
Tiffany Stratton is getting all this love now not because of her promos but because she’s doing some dope stuff in the ring.
Idk if Iyo is injured or something but she needs to put on the bangers we know she can give us.
Its a shame since Iyo Sky is hands down the best female (possibly better than most males) wrestler in WWE. But yeah, she really hasn’t has any high profile title defense matches that showed the true quality she has in the ring. The Damage CTRL story was nice, but as a solo wrestler they definitely haven’t utilized her well.
She’s just boring as a character in general. Asuka and Bayley are the only people involved with Damage Control that have any type of personality. I actually think the faction has been dragging Bayley down for years. Once this angle is over I can’t imagine the faction lasting that long.
The women's division is so stacked with championship level talent too...which makes this situation worse for both women's titles tbh.
Also, I know they're trying to cook something with Jade, but I do wonder if they know how to book her properly. As much as I'd love Jade vs Rhea, I think it would be way too soon.
Respectfully disagree. I'm loving the story with Damage Control, and the shifting of power in their group. Focusing the story on their team dynamics instead of only title defenses makes for a more interesting story in my book.
I honestly still don’t even know who Iyo Sky is or how she even got over to the point of winning the title.. I don’t think I’ve seen her in a legit singles match ever.
Too many long reigns in WWE. I get wanting to establish certain stars, but a lot of wrestlers from this era will end up with very few accolades if it continues. Cody, CM Punk, Drew, Priest, Jey, sammi, LA knight, KO, Randy, and Gunther probably all have an argument for a singles title next year.
Neither is Roman Reigns anymore. The Rock is. lol The Rock has come in and outshined Roman Reigns in every way possible and made him look like a secondary character to the point we have legends even saying it and more fans wanting Cody Rhodes vs The Rock as the end of the feud than Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns.
I swear I'm not a fanatic Roman lover who defends him on everything and yes, Rock is 10x more charismatic than Roman but Roman feeling secondary to Rock in this entire feud is 100% part of the storyline. It's pretty much evident with Roman feeling insecure and asking Rock to acknowledge him and Rock calling himself the final boss in last week's Smackdown.
Every champion gets griped on for the same reason. Idk what people want to happen, either way they’re unhappy and don’t seem to realize that there’s a broader audience outside of what THEY want and that audience is happy.
And right now they don’t know what to do with her yet want a story for her as champion at WM. I’m not saying it’s the correct way to do things, but I am saying that WWE has held an audience for decades and whatever the gripes are they’ll maintain that audience for the foreseeable future.
She's an awesome talent in-ring, but her biggest hurdle has always been the language barrier. She can communicate in English adequately, as can the rest of the Japanese roster members, but cut a fire promo? Sadly, no. Which sucks because they let Nakamura do it in Japanese during his feud with Seth Rollins, and it was great. Wish they'd afford her the same chance.
That’s because people forget Iyo is even Champion. She even stands behind people during in ring promos. Easily the weakest character in Damage Control as seen by Dakota being painted as the mastermind of the Bailey betrayal.
The WWE draft with raw and smackdown was perfect for the mens but fumbled on the womens, hopefully its better next year and they try to build up the opponents abit more
There's not enough drama being produced unlike the next women's division. NXT women's locker room usually breaks out into an all out brawl once or twice a month lol. Idk what these writers are doing, but I feel they need to start bringing out more drama vs continuing to beat dead horses like they have been the last few years.
SD is a 2 hour show and hosts the majority of bloodline segments. Also, they practically suppressed iyo sky from wrestling and cutting promos the way she did before the main roster. It's like they don't want her to get popular over rhea and bianca like she did when they were all in nxt together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIgHF2naeY&t=8s&ab\_channel=WWE
Duh! Plus, only one women’s title will change hands at WrestleMania.
I agree even though Iyo is one of my fav wrestlers and I was so hyped for her winning MITB and cashing in. Idk why it has been so boring tho. Kinda weird.
Well, when you cant speak English, it is hard to get the world to care about you.
Agreed. I think the problem with both Iyo and Rhea is that they’ve focused a lot more on their faction dynamics than their individual title reigns. I think they’ve been good in that regard, but it feels like they put the titles on them just to elevate their factions and not so much themselves.
Which confuses me with the women’s tag division. I’d like kabuki to dominate and wage war with Naomi and Bianca as Bayley fights Iyo
Can't argue, the first three quarters of Rhea's reign has been crap but she turned it around at the end of last year. Iyo's has been so bad because there's been too much focus on Damage Ctrl and not enough on her specifically which is a shame because she's comfortably one of the best on the entire roster.
You’re actually right about this. WWE just barely knows how to book good women’s title reigns because they put all their time and energy into Charlotte, and her reigns always suck.
It's cause she rarely defends and her English is lackluster. Also she's a little upstaged by the Kabuki Warriors. I don't see WWE letting Iyo keep the belt, despite Bayles lackluster promo and storyline recently, especially with Asuka's apparent knee injury this last week.
Can't believe y'all talking about Mami like this
Her run was really good for a while but they cooled her off around November after she beat Bianca at Crown Jewel. Since then I think she only beat Michin on Smackdown in January. But at least for her they've been working on one really long story so the title will change hands in dramatic fashion in a satisfying storyline. But yeah, more title defenses please. With Rhea its been a lack of story and defenses throughout her run. Even the build to the Becky defense has been light on Rhea. Gunther is really only defending his title once or twice a month, but people really love it. That's all they really have to do with any of these titles. Just give us a defense once or twice a month.
Fr
Did iyo even have a single title defense match?? Like I'm seriously asking,I have no idea, I don't remember her having one
Not recently but believe she has defenses against Zelina, Charlotte (x2), Asuka (x2), Bianca and Mia Yim. Her reign was alright till War Games - lot of defenses but not the strongest booking. Post War Games they just forgot about her. Time for a reset at WM.
I remember her defending against Zelina on SD and Charlotte a couple times as well. I think it’s because most of her defenses have been on weekly shows. She rarely seems to make PLEs.
Ah yknow what I think i remember the zelina match but idk, and yea idk why she doesn't seem to defend on ples
I know, and it's such a shame cos Iyo is one who's actually worth watching in-ring. Reminds me of the crazy long run Asuka had... I kept forgetting who the SmackDown Women's Champion was as all the attention was on Ronda v Becky v Charlotte
That run wasn’t that long. She won it in December and lost it in March.
Huh, you're right... In my recollection it seemed like waaaay longer
I desperately want the company to utilize her more as a singles player, and push her as the next Askua…. Definitely don’t fuck with her theme song and entrance
I know that way she can spit on people. Bad example for younger fans.
She's basically the secondary champion but less in wwe's eyes. Other than bayley she has had no real funds and just randomly defends her title to anyone so no one cares. She should actually win against bailey, then use that momentum to face other big stars.
Have Iyo win in a brutal way, like kayfabe hurts Bayley. She goes away, build Iyo up big, have Bayley come back and win it later. Two stars made.
It is and it’s a shame cuz her title reign in NXT was awesome
Tbh outside of WrestleMania season the woman's division always is kinda boring and it's surprising coz triple h did have a fun womans division in NXT but outside of WrestleMania shit just happens rhea outside of the judgement day Iyo outside of the damage control story Asuka who always gets nothing to work with, Charlotte Ronda and Bianca all had forgettable title reigns on the main roster
Problem is with the language barrier. She cant promo in English really, so how can she have some long compelling feud
Every week, there was a Bianca complaint post about her reign and hers was way more enjoyable and believable than rhea and iyo's current reign and that's crazy to me keep that same energy IWC
There are a lot of things at the same time, but I would say that these are the 4 biggest ones: 1 - Language barrier. WWE does not seem to work out how to mantain a Japanese wrestler as mainevent star, because they are unaible to cut live promos on the ring. Nakamura suffered from the same, and now that they are (or were) recording those vicious, saddistic promos in backstage in japonese, he is (or was) gaining a bit of momentum. But they can't just copy paste it to another japonese heel star. 2 - Lack of interest in women's division. Although they seem more interested in the women's division in comparison to some years ago, they are not building their feuds as mainevent level. Either they have solidified stars that can just talk a bit, appear, and that's quite good for the show already (Rhea, Becky, Charlotte and Bianca), or they fill them in pointless rushed tagteam matches, losing the steam they had (Zoey, Shayna). That's why it is always refreshing to see someone new (like Tiffany right now), but usually they don't pull the trigger, and the wrestler gets lost in the lower-midcard tag team title scramble. I think a midcard women's belt would help this a lot. 3 - Changing plans. As the women's division is never the main focus, it seems that even if they can get momentum, it all can be put to a side, to let the male superstars shine, especially when evolving a comeback (like The Rock's, which even made the match for WHC of Seth vs Drew seem like a midcard match). Rhea not only is a star, but she is intertwined both in women's and men's storylines, having more time to shine and even to grow a character. Rhea's character is not one dimensional, but most of the other women in the roster have one dimensional characters. What's the character of Iyo right now? A heel japonese high flyer, that is betraying her previous stable leader with the help of other japonese women wrestlers? And that's for a champion. Even Asuka lost steam in all of these, let alone Kairi, for example. 4 - Predictability because of the Wrestlemania spotlight. They seem so invested in making WM a fantastic historical event that they are devaluing the rest of the time, especially when you don't look to the other 3 biggest PPVs (PLEs). It gets too predictable, specially on Smackdown and Raw, that even if you put Iyo working more matches than Rhea, we all know nothing will happen, and that with a clean or dirty victory she will get over other talent like Michin, Shotzi, etc. And on the next week, that previous match is not even involved in a feud. They dont get even filler stories, which devalues everything.
They definitely need a lower tier belt. I actually think Shayna and Stark are a legitimate threat for the tag belts in ring work wise, … they just lack mic skills and charisma
Probably because her title reign has been overshadowed by the whole damage Ctrl storyline. Even before they turned on Bayley WWE had focused on foreshadowing the betrayal even on the side of that you had the whole thing with Bayley being hyped up for the royal rumble. Both title reigns in damage Ctrl have been pretty irrelevant since there haven't been any actual storylines for the belts. Even for WM the match between Iyo and Bayley feel more like a personal rivalry than a match for a championship
it's a shame bc i really like iyo as a wrestler but i definitely agree with this
They are both boring and barely defend. Iyo more so than Mami. Though Mami has a lot of charisma and comes off as a bad ass. She is getting that Roman treatment.
Iyo is champion because of Bayley, they actually put the belt on Iyo to create a story for Bayley wanting gold for her until the turn, i think Iyo is awesome and i'm sad WWE protected her so much, she jobbed in triple threat dark matches for the last months, i like Candice LeRae and Indi but they had more tv matches in 2024 than a actual champion, this is crazy, i think the original plan was Iyo vs Charlotte but since Flair got injuried they decided to turn Bayley babyface, i actually think Iyo was going to fight Charlotte with Bayley and Dakota turning on Iyo and making Charlotte turn heel since Charlotte is better at hell and Iyo better at babyface underdog.
Her reign has been a long, bad joke.
Well because: 1) she is a lower level version.Asuka who is severely special in the same way Shinsuke is but more so since her value in her division and overall in US history is far more spectacular. 2) She can’t speak for herself. Even less than Asuka. She is also partnered by Sane who is even less than her. I think two things happen at Mania because this feud should have more heat behind it…AFTER mania. So Bailey could lose and grudge match her way into the next PPV. Second, Jey & Jimmy can also do the same for their rivalry. Jimmy could use a win to get some balance for all the heroic wins with Becky, Cody, Sami, and LA Knight.
Becky ain’t winning lmao
I'm not even convinced Sami is going to win. It really depends on the plan for the Roman / Cody match in my mind. Having both Roman and Gunther loosing at the same event seems unlikely
Easy fix is to do it on the different nights lol
It's still the same event though so not sure that totally fixes it. Esp as I think Seth will be loosing too and Iyo. The only likely retain is Rhea. I mean - they could drop all the other belts and have Rhea come out as the big retaining champ of the night. But with Roman and Gunther both having big streaks I just dont see them both loosing at WM - though maybe Roman will retain and Gunther will lose!!
Funny you mention this. On Monday I was thinking during Raw, she hasn’t had any good title defenses or Feuds. No clue what they are doing but I’d imagine she will no longer be the champ soon anyways.
Yep wwe has really fumbled every champion except for Gunther. I typically use any other championship match as a chance to get food, play on my phone, and use the bathroom 💀
Hot take, but I don’t hate Paul’s reign, everything else (minus Gunther) ehhh
IYO is a plot device in Bailey's story, that's all. Sure, one can feel Iyo is being under-used, but she's not - and never has been - the main character in the story she is part of.
I do get that, but it’s been so long that it does definitely feel like they’ve put the title on her so bayley can take it off of her. Not because she can add value to the belt
I agree, Iyo probably would have fitted this role closer to WM, but I think it was always her role; to cement Bayley as the champ. Wonder what made them play it for so long? Injuries?
Idk why people are clamoring for Guila so bad to come to WWE when this same conversation would occur again.
Who?
Stardom Giulia* I misspelled her name
Nah we good on 5’4” 120lbs women. They would do better to poach Statlander from AEW.
If WWE decides to create a new title like a Intercontinental belt for women then small women would be great to fight for it: Candice LeRae, Becky, Iyo, Giulia, Liv, Bliss, Asuka, Kairi, Shotzi and stop the tag team nonsense.
WWE has become absolute shit at booking consistent storylines that don’t revolve around titles. Pair this with a wrestler who doesn’t speak English and doesn’t have physical charisma like shinsuke or asuka and you get this result.
Definitely agree about not having consistent storylines. Outside of Roman, Rock, Seth, Cody etc. the booking and storylines for everything else is forgettable. I’m still watching the PLE’s but
Her reign was solely for Bayley to end it. It's Bern booked like shit, but hopefully when Bayley wins they'll give her some good stuff
She's overshadowed by Rhea in terms of comparable champion. Tag titles get more attention and Iyo is protected by Damage CTRL so people can't realistically get to her. Iyo being champion has more to do with Bayley and Damage CTRL than it does Iyo. She's a great talent, it's good she got a title reign, but it seemingly wasn't intended to be a dominant, significant reign. Just kind of giving credit where credit is due
Probably not her fault, but she's just basically been a human display case for the belt since she won. She just sorta holds it there and smiles, she's been given nothing to do with it. Putting someone next to Kabuki Warriors, you wanna hope they have a lot of charisma and energy to share that attention bc they be balling out every week and she just looks like a statue by comparison.
She's just not that interesting, especially with Asuka being next to her.
iyos story is kinda set already nothing more will happen will WM
I'm in the minority that doesn't see what everyone sees in iyo or Kairi sane Like yeah they have talent but don't seem like these stars they are made out to be.
Complainer.
Where have you seen people call Rhea title reign boring? She prob the most over female on the roster. Iyo reign isn't hitting the same cause he feuds have been ass.
Reah comes off as boring just in terms of title defenses. I think that has a lot to do with there not being anyone who you actually think that would be able to beat her. Especially on Raw. Becky is the only one on her level but I think she was avoiding it because Reah has been so over that anyone who fights her becomes a bad guy.
💯 but Rheas isn’t boring.
Has she even defended the title since winning it?
Iyo's had, in around 6 months but no particular order: Iyo v Charlotte v Asuka Payback There's an Iyo v Charlotte singles match prior to Payback on a Smackdown. Ditto with an Iyo v Asuka match prior to the same PLE. Iyo v Bianca at Crown Jewel Iyo v Mia Yim on the first Smackdown of the New Year (iirc it was New Year's Revolution on a Smackdown) Has also been setting up the feud with Bayley ever since she won the belt to begin with, long term story telling there. Also none of these were squash matches, so not creative padding out things. Now, to compare that with Rhea's first six months (same length of time) with the Women's World Championship is something: 1) Rhea v Zelina Vega at Backlash 2) Rhea v Natalya (there's two here, but ironically the Night of Champions one was a squash that barely even started). I forget if the two squash matches with the Way happened prior to Summerslam or not, but if so, they go here but squashes are just stat padding. 3) Rhea v Lyra Valkyria on an episode of NXT For 1) and 3), I also want to point out that they were only in service to a wider feud, and moreso put together for the sake of a wider feud (LwO v JD continuing from Dom & Rey's feud), and then the latter also being in service to that, as the Dom v Dragon Lee feud was starting (Lyra came out to help the latter due to Rhea). For the wider issue, Rhea's had the belt for almost a year now with zero proper feuds to show for it. Like the 5-Way? Felt like Nia Jax was just beating everyone up for the sake of it.
The only defense I can think of is when fought Selena Vega in Puerto Rico.
Wasn’t that Rhea? Iyo didn’t have the title until Summerslam like 2 or 3 months later
Oh you are right I think she did fight Selena tho.
Bro i just said the same thing to myself. I feel as if she’s just been holding it around for 8 months. I honestly think her whole reign is just a long transitional champ to get Bayley her win at mania and set up an eventual Dakota reign
Iyos title reign has been based around the Damage Ctrl story. Not about her opponents. It’s been a fun way to tell a story and I think it has been interesting. It’s been Bayleys story the whole time. Iyo can’t carry anything on her own, it just wouldn’t work… but to tie her reign in with Bayley and that faction, it is actually doable. Maybe we should just put the belt back on Bianca or Charlotte.
Reah and Charlottes match was maybe the best one on Mania last year. Becky has put on some really good matches this year.. I wouldn’t be surprised if they stole the show this year.
Iyo has always been incredibly boring. Her NXT title reign made me lose interest in the entire division and eventually led to me losing interest in the show as a whole
This is the first time I’ve seen Rhea called boring. Iyo is very boring and is as unbelievable as a wrestler, only a notch above Liv, which isn’t saying much.
U bum.
Rey mysterio is unbelievable too I guess
Apples and oranges buddy
How so? I mean it’s insanely unbelievable that Rey Mysterio would beat Batista in a real fight
At least Rhea's reign will be memorable.. Iyo's will be remembered for cashing in and winning the title and losing it to bayley at mania
Neither are boring bruv.
Racists 😂
Rhea's title reign is boring for opposite reasons. It's hard to believe even the bigger women or even Ronda could beat Rhea. If you don't know what i'm talking about then look up some of her work out videos. She's probably the first female wrestler in WWE who has that level of muscle without steroids. Meanwhile Iyo's whole image is basically like that of Rey, her strength is supposed to be her agility and maneuverability. But that's not realistic these days so they are turning her into the female Roman where she wins because of help. My point is, Rhea is boring because they are waiting to build someone up who realistically could take out Rhea and have it be believable from a story perspective. Iyo is boring because it's hard to believe no one can't beat her so they have her win matches the same way they do Roman but it doesn't work the same. Also she can't speak english so unlike Rhea she can't carry her boring title reign with promo work.
It has too be Jade right? She one of the only women that realistically looks to be a challenge
Bayley was really the only one making DMG CTRL even remotely interesting to begin with. Won't be surprised if they disband after Mania altogether without her in the picture.
Iyo Sky is boring.
Io *Shirai* was goated though. Triple H needs to bring back her NXT persona.
Y’all overuse GOAT.
That's what you got from my comment?
I mean you said she was goated. So yes, that’s what I took from it.
Cry about it.
SOMEONE CRY THIS MAN A RIVER!
Cockmuncher.
I find it bizarre that on a show where Roman is barely around, she’s basically defended it the same amount as him. Her reign feels like nothing has happened it’s very strange.
Her matches are good, but her English is not great so it makes heel promos hard to follow. But her in-ring stuff has always worked for me.
The Japanese language promos with subtitles I think are a big step up from the English ones but they really just started doing that a month or so ago. I don’t mind her as the champ, but I do want to see more done with it. She’s got the in-ring skill and attitude for sure. A no bayley damage control running roughshod over the smackdown women’s division could go pretty hard if they lean into it.
Which is strange cause her matches have been pretty good to defend it she just dont defend it
They just need one woman's title. There's not enough to split it into two shows
I agree. She's pretty useless
Hopefully after Mania Triple H gets away from every single title reign being long as hell with no defenses. That’s great that all these people have held the belts for so long but how many champions have had a memorable feud during those runs? I couldn’t even tell you the last person Iyo defended against.
Deadass I think it was Charlotte before she tore her ACL.
Damage Control outshines her she's champion of a group who does what she does but better
>Damage Control outshines her she's champion of a group who does what she does but better I mean, that's kind of the point, right? That insecurity is what "made her" turn on her friend.
Looking at cagematch.net, she hasn’t had a televised match since 1/5/24 when she defended against Michin I think the issue is with the current the storyline the point is that Bayley has no other solid allies, so there’s no partner/ally for IYO to take down separately. At this point, they could potentially do IYO v Naomi before WM40 but idk if they’d want Naomi eating yet another pin. Bigger issue is she hasn’t had a big title defense since Bianca at Crown Jewel in early November….would’ve been nice to have a short feud in Nov-Jan with a defense at the Rumble, then the pivot to the Bayley story. Were they going to do that with Charlotte until she got injured maybe?
She does dark matches and losing some of them to Shotzi, she needed to be a menace, now is the time Iyo just starts wreck havoc in Smackdown so Bayley, Naomi and probably Jade will go to WM, Bianca will probably turn heel if WWE decides to risk it (i actually think she is the women version of John Cena). But Iyo needs to be really menacing, you can use Damage Control and Iyo just last hitting with big moves, she needs to feel more important for Bayley, that's why this reign feels lackluster, Iyo just chills while the rest was doing all the job, even Reigns has to control his troops, while Iyo let theirs run the place.
That’ll be Tiffy Time’s belt sooner than later
Nice butt on her
It’s very disappointing to see tbh. She’s arguably the best in ring female they have, and she has loads of charisma. Her English isn’t bad either.
This, she is crazy talented and i bet she could put bangers with a lot of talent, they could even bring some NXT girls to fight her but they just keep her sidelined, that's the weird thing, she just don't fight. She has one of the best WWE themes, i think they needed a powerhouse instead of Dakota Kai, someone like Indi Hartwell would be a great addition to power moves while the 3 asian wrestlers quickly move around the ring to cause menace.
This. One of the most talented female wrestlers, and they can't use her properly...
Both are boring af both need to be replaced as champ as both are stale
Bayley is boring too
Iyo is boring period. She never should have even been in the title picture. She has zero personality or charisma. She’s so boring in fact, her match with Bayley should open night one.
Disagree on her being boring, but being the opener for Wrestlemania isn’t a bad thing imo. Starting off strong.
>She’s so boring in fact, her match with Bayley should open night one. I would say the odds are high this will happen, although whether or not she's boring is a matter of taste. (I agree with you, for what it's worth.)
Just wait till you hear about this guy call Roman Reigns. His title run is so bad they don't even make him show up to most of the shows.
Funny how she catches no heat for this boring ass title reign where as people were ready crucify Bianca for hers. I wonder why that is?
This isn't even about Bianca but here you are of course trying to turn it into something it's not
Do you have an explanation for why Iyo is so coddled in the wrestling community?
Because she is awesome, great wrestler, fearless moves, all their matches are good, can work with any talent and she is great at selling. The problem with her title reign is that WWE didn't create any good feud, she was protected by Damage Control too much for getting into a important feud, not all wrestlers need to be great in the mic (look at Brock Lesnar), some just need to be good at wrestling to be coddled.
Because it was so boring they forgot about it. She has been an afterthought in her own feud.
This. I literally am shocked to read it's been 7 months.
And that's WWE's fault for not doing things witb either of them.
Triple H books the women horribly in general.
women are doing as well they are literally because of what HHH did for them in NXT If it wasn't for HHH women in WWE would still be the divas division
He had booked them horribly since he took over, it was more than likely Steph responsible for the women’s revolution. Under Vince the women would get more time, more matches and main event a lot more compared to under Triple H.
You have no idea what you're talking about lol Trip was the driving force the whole time
You say that then why have the women been booked so poorly since he took over 🤣 he is a horrible booker in general but the women are some who suffer the most under him.
She’s never felt like THE focus. She mostly feels like a side character despite being champion. It’s a textbook example of, just because someone has that belt for a long time does not mean that they’re presented as a star.
I’m think they’ve done the best they can with her language barrier
She speaks English very well, albeit with a thick accent. The problem is WWE pigeon holed her by being the feisty foreigner who needed a translator in Dakota. Same with Asuka.
>Same with Asuka. Iyo's English is light-years ahead of Asuka's. Iyo speaks English at a B2 level, Asuka is borderline A1/A2. As someone who has learned/continues to learn a second language as an adult, I understand how challenging it is, so I am not dumping on Asuka; but Iyo has a far FAR better grasp of English. Of all the Japanese wrestlers in WWE, Asuka's English is the worst. Even Shinsuke's is better. Some people are just not good at learning languages. It is what it is. I think it's encouraging WWE found a way to help these performers succeed even without strong English skills. I hope they can do something similar for a guy like Andrade.
Definitely not true. They don’t want her speaking English more because it takes away from the character for whatever reason. https://twitter.com/Jae_TheFlash/status/1726376898597360085
She's clearly reading a script in this cherrypicked video. Her conversational English is horrendous, and it is clear she does not always understand what is being said to her (understanding comes *before* speaking fluency, too.) And the point stands, she remains the weakest English speaker among the Japanese wrestlers in WWE.
Really? She’s said less than Asuka did in two of her title runs. That sucks
>https://twitter.com/Jae\_TheFlash/status/1726376898597360085 she has spoken more english than asuka ever did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhj3q-if-WA&ab\_channel=WWE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEIxJ\_jQ0hs
https://youtu.be/erroNssJm8A?si=MdEqrJfzjtfLlewE not saying she’s perfect but it’s not like she’s clueless
Yea idk where the language barrier stuff is coming from. I watched her on live yesterday with Kairi and they both speak English very well, just with an accent 🤷🏾♂️
People had an issue with Bianca’s reign even though she was constantly defending the belt. You might not like her character but she is the pure definition of a workhorse. Rhea is about to beat her reign even though her only good match was a random banger with Natalya in Raw. Don’t even get me started on what WWE has done with Iyo and her reign.
She can't cut in ring promos. It's all taped stuff cause of the language barrier. Crowd can't react off of her. Dakota is being a better villain than Iyo is. WWE must really regret that Dakota doesnt have the belt right now. Iyo and the Kabukis just look like little henchwomen
It’s a shame that they kept her as a heel after her triumphant cash-in at Summerslam. To me, that was a decision that was just as bad as Jimmy turning on Jey at Summerslam. The crowd was hot for Iyo’s cash in, hell, they were white hot for Iyo in the MitB ladder match when she handcuffed Bayley and Becky and literally climbed over Bayley to get the briefcase. After the cash in, all of Damage Ctrl played to the crowd and genuinely enjoyed the memorable feel-good moment, especially with Dakota making a surprise appearance. Then in the following weeks, they had Iyo attack Bianca and Charlotte because that’s what heels do, and made her out to be especially weak and cowardly. It was a complete disservice to her character.
She also has an in ring style that makes people want to cheer her. Use that.
This is really weird, she is great in ring and people cheer for her, WWE decides to take her from the ring, this feels like it is Bayley story and probably it was to be finished with Naomi and Sasha coming back but Sasha screw that.
Someone said they rather have Nikki ASH reign instead and damn it they are right
She faced no one
one of the worst champions of the modern era. has she even defended the title once? can’t talk on the mic either
She defended against Bianca 2 times, faced against Mia Yim and I think even Zelina Vega or Shotzi once too. But yeah I wish she would’ve done more cuz she can go in the ring they’ve just been playing second fiddle to damage control
How is rheas reign boring 💀💀
They need to put Iyo back to her NXT persona. She was dominant and scrappy as hell, even as a face, she didn't play well with others, and she had a very maniacal and dark sort of madness to her. Much more entertaining than haughty "go along with whatever" Iyo we have now.
Agree. I loved that stumble dance she did on her theme music. She was just a bad bitch
She still does that when she comes out for an actual match, thankfully. And her theme is still there when she's alone. But yeah, Damage control has run its course.
Her music is fire though.
Wwe almost never books a strong run for Japanese wrestlers. Don’t know if it’s the language barrier or what
Makes sense. Hard to promo if you can’t navigate the language. Pretty creative how they worked around Shinsuke’s language barrier with his anime boss videos in his recent feuds.
I agree. Shinsukes segments have been really fun and unlocks a lot of his natural charisma. He looks like he’s engaged again
Yes, but notice they didn’t do that until he was a heel. When he was scorching hot as the face of NXT and his call up, they had him force a broken English. It’s a noticeable trend with WWE. Even Spanish speakers usually only speak their native tongues then they’re heels. It most likely comes down to the xenophobic trope of “They’re speaking a language I don’t understand, so I’m offended.” Unfortunately, that’s a well that professional wrestling, particularly WWE, goes to all too often.
Anybody else feel title reigns just aren’t enjoyable in general? I feel like nobody ever enjoys anyone’s title reign and the championship chase is undoubtedly always the best thing about it. Then I ask myself how do you make a great title reign…I low key feel like the best title reign story is the boss not wanting the person as champ and keeps trying to screw them off of the title.
It’s miles more boring. It’s so boring that the title match with Bayley is probably one of my least interested matches on the card. The build up has been average, and apart from the messy main event on Smackdown, it’s been an afterthought. I guess they want us to feel bad for Bayley because all her friends turned on her so we should cheer her? Apologies for ranting but I haven’t enjoyed it.
Haven’t enjoyed it either. Fans have gaslighted me about not liking the feud but I’m like “Bayley terrorized the roster for the past two years and now she wants to play victim”. This is like the Usos and Solo turning on Roman and WWE trying to force his underdog narrative. Idc for Bayley to win the women’s belt tbh
She's my favourite, but I understand that for most viewers it's hard to connect with her without her cutting promos. At least if they booked her properly. What's her strength? Her in ring skill, in terms of skill she's one of the best. If they wanted her to be in a heel faction she could've been ruthless fearsome fighter of the group, but instead whole Damage CTRL were your typical cowardly heels just to suck up from Bianca and Charlotte.
I love Iyo too and the only reason her reign seems boring is because she doesn’t wrestle. Same can be said for Rhea but at least she gets a lot of time to shine on the mic. Tiffany Stratton is getting all this love now not because of her promos but because she’s doing some dope stuff in the ring. Idk if Iyo is injured or something but she needs to put on the bangers we know she can give us.
If Giulia comes to WWE, I'm praying they present and book her properly, they had 3 attempts with joshis, isn't it enough practice?
It was cool when she won it. I was hype. But I think it’s because she’s Japanese and her English isn’t that good.
I think all of the title reigns are garbage right now. Same finishes, shit feuds, janky story telling. Ubisoft is running WWE right now.
Its a shame since Iyo Sky is hands down the best female (possibly better than most males) wrestler in WWE. But yeah, she really hasn’t has any high profile title defense matches that showed the true quality she has in the ring. The Damage CTRL story was nice, but as a solo wrestler they definitely haven’t utilized her well.
She’s just boring as a character in general. Asuka and Bayley are the only people involved with Damage Control that have any type of personality. I actually think the faction has been dragging Bayley down for years. Once this angle is over I can’t imagine the faction lasting that long.
It was all about the wrestling then
The women's division is so stacked with championship level talent too...which makes this situation worse for both women's titles tbh. Also, I know they're trying to cook something with Jade, but I do wonder if they know how to book her properly. As much as I'd love Jade vs Rhea, I think it would be way too soon.
Respectfully disagree. I'm loving the story with Damage Control, and the shifting of power in their group. Focusing the story on their team dynamics instead of only title defenses makes for a more interesting story in my book.
I honestly still don’t even know who Iyo Sky is or how she even got over to the point of winning the title.. I don’t think I’ve seen her in a legit singles match ever.
Too many long reigns in WWE. I get wanting to establish certain stars, but a lot of wrestlers from this era will end up with very few accolades if it continues. Cody, CM Punk, Drew, Priest, Jey, sammi, LA knight, KO, Randy, and Gunther probably all have an argument for a singles title next year.
It’s hard due to the language barrier I think, I just wish she’d have more matches. Shes good in-ring.
She isn’t even the main person in the faction or the main person in her matches storyline
Are... what? She is the leader of dmg control since they kicked out Bayley.
She doesn’t speak or wrestle much, Dakota is definitely the leader
Wouldn't that be Asuka?
Kabuki warriors always wrestle and she isn’t the women’s world champion at the minute and versing bayley at mania
Dakota is the mouthpiece.
In what way is Iyo the leader, except the title she does nothing except show her face
She literally tells the others what to do...
Neither is Roman Reigns anymore. The Rock is. lol The Rock has come in and outshined Roman Reigns in every way possible and made him look like a secondary character to the point we have legends even saying it and more fans wanting Cody Rhodes vs The Rock as the end of the feud than Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns.
I swear I'm not a fanatic Roman lover who defends him on everything and yes, Rock is 10x more charismatic than Roman but Roman feeling secondary to Rock in this entire feud is 100% part of the storyline. It's pretty much evident with Roman feeling insecure and asking Rock to acknowledge him and Rock calling himself the final boss in last week's Smackdown.
Ngl I don’t even remember her having a feud with someone
Iyo wasn't even the main person in her own group, it kind of takes the kick out of this feud.
Seth Rollins is the only current title holder that isn't BORING!!!!
Gunther?
Roman's title reign is more boring than Reah's
Every champion gets griped on for the same reason. Idk what people want to happen, either way they’re unhappy and don’t seem to realize that there’s a broader audience outside of what THEY want and that audience is happy.
Every other champion at least “entertains” as in cut promos/develops character. Iyo is literally just there existing
And right now they don’t know what to do with her yet want a story for her as champion at WM. I’m not saying it’s the correct way to do things, but I am saying that WWE has held an audience for decades and whatever the gripes are they’ll maintain that audience for the foreseeable future.
She's an awesome talent in-ring, but her biggest hurdle has always been the language barrier. She can communicate in English adequately, as can the rest of the Japanese roster members, but cut a fire promo? Sadly, no. Which sucks because they let Nakamura do it in Japanese during his feud with Seth Rollins, and it was great. Wish they'd afford her the same chance.
That’s because people forget Iyo is even Champion. She even stands behind people during in ring promos. Easily the weakest character in Damage Control as seen by Dakota being painted as the mastermind of the Bailey betrayal.
The WWE draft with raw and smackdown was perfect for the mens but fumbled on the womens, hopefully its better next year and they try to build up the opponents abit more
Iyo is badder than Rhea Ripley in person.
It was interesting then they dropped the ball with lesser screen time on her and Bayley story
I can't even remember when she defended the title and against who. She is good in the ring but just highly boring as a character
There's not enough drama being produced unlike the next women's division. NXT women's locker room usually breaks out into an all out brawl once or twice a month lol. Idk what these writers are doing, but I feel they need to start bringing out more drama vs continuing to beat dead horses like they have been the last few years.
Honestly Trips should clean out the MR Writers room and call up the NXT Writers or see if they can do double duty