It didn’t take long after Rhea Ripley won the Women’s Elimination Chamber to secure a WWE Women’s Championship match against Jade Cargill for the 2 to start going backwards and forwards on social media. But to many, the snipes Cargill and Ripley had towards one another seemed a bit more hostile than expected, and after other WWE wrestlers like Chelsea Green and Piper Niven joined in, all in favor of Ripley, many began to wonder if the animosity between Cargill and Ripley was more shoot than work.
On “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer appeared to reply the query by saying the interactions were all an attempt on WWE’s part to drive up interest for Ripley and Cargill’s upcoming WrestleMania match. At the identical time, Meltzer noted that regardless that this was a piece, it was very much based on the actual feelings some in WWE have towards Cargill.
“I’m not saying that folks who tweeted have said that to me,” Meltzer said. “I’ll only say that those words have been said to me by…there may be a prevailing viewpoint there, amongst people and talent, that’s, like, an identical to a number of the things that were tweeted. So there may be…we’re ribbing on the square.
“It’s an actual interesting thing, since it is a piece, because again, if it was real, they don’t seem to be doing it, you recognize what I mean? Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, they don’t seem to be going to bury someone on their very own team in public, because they know you possibly can’t do that. It isn’t allowed. But they’re using the thoughts of many individuals while they’re doing this angle. It’s really sort of…that is what Lawler and Dundee used to do…where it’s all work, but every thing they said about one another was real, you recognize?”
If you happen to use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Opinion: Turning Jade Cargill vs. Rhea Ripley Buildup Into A Worked Shoot Is A Bad Idea
Let’s get this out of the way in which first; I don’t know whether this whole Jade-Rhea business is a piece or a shoot, and I also don’t think it matters. Either way, this can be a putrid search for WWE. If this whole situation is real, then we’ve a situation where WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill is seen as a pariah by an honest amount of the “SmackDown” women’s locker room. It’s wrestling, not everyone seems to be going to love one another backstage, but as CM Punk’s tenure in AEW has taught us, you most likely don’t need one person within the locker room to be this disliked.
As bad as that may be though, it could be even worse if Meltzer is correct and this can be a work. For starters, there’s still real life animosity there, so the issues that I just described still exist. But most significantly, what does this particular work accomplish? The argument is that more people will need to see Jade fight these women in the event that they consider they really hate her. I’m unconvinced that is worked for Jade vs. Rhea, and it sure doesn’t work relating to Chelsea Green and Piper Niven; not only is neither in line to face Jade any time soon, but Niven cannot wrestle in any respect, as she’s still out with injury.
Because of this, all WWE’s work here has achieved is making people consider Jade Cargill is performer not respected by their peers and Rhea is a suck as much as management. That does not make me occupied with seeing them fight, it makes me roll my eyes. I get it, CM Punk’s pipebomb promo years ago opened up a world where blurring the lines could work. But stuff like this really makes me wish the worked shoot stuff we see today was left behind within the Vince Russo era, where it probably should’ve stayed.