Bayley and Friends

A few weeks ago I suggested having Eva Marie win the NXT women's title (read that here). The idea behind that was that she's getting incredible heat and she'd be an excellent choice for the undeserving champion trope. Although this did overlook that she seems to be motivated to improve.

The only trouble with the undeserving champion thing is that it runs the risk of devaluing the championship involved beyond the intended timeframe. Such sterling work has been done making the NXT women's title seem like prestigious (I think it's very probably the most meaningful women's title in wrestling) that it would be a shame to undo any of it, even if it were only in the short term with an eye to restoring the belt to its former glory once someone dethroned Eva.

Emma is the obvious leader challenger for Bayley.
Just saying.

So here's an alternative. At the next Takeover event¹ have Emma unsuccessfully challenge Bayley for the title. After the match Bayley could offer a handshake only to be shoved away by Emma, with the commentators hypothesising (correctly, obvs) that Emma is annoyed at her inability to win the women's championship and being surpassed by the Four Horsewomen even though she was on the main roster before any of them. Which I like because it seems like a realistic thing for Emma to be feeling.

Lower down the Takeover card Nia Jax could be making her on-screen debut. It wouldn't really matter who she defeated because nobody on NXT debuts against big names. Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Jasmin or any of the other lower card acts would all be perfectly acceptable in the role. The idea would be to have Jax win a squash to make her look impressive.

The following tapings could see Bayley being challenged to a title match by Dana Brooke. Emma and Brooke could have a falling out over this and go their separate ways. Maybe they could even have a match against one another. They need to go their separate ways now as they can be of more service to the women's division unaffiliated with one another. The mid-card double act they've been doing has been rendered pointless by the departure of Banks, Flair and Lynch.

Meanwhile Jax could get a couple more wins over lower card talents. Basically she'd be a female Barry Corbin at this point, defeating scrubs quickly and acting like it's a big deal. Where she'd differ from 'The Wolf Shaman' is that she'd actually do something to try and get herself a title shot². At the second set of TV tapings after the October Takeover Jax could confront Bayley after her successful title defence against Brooke. Being worn out from having just wrestled Bayley could get knocked around by the monstrous Jax. Emma could run out and make the save.

Wins over Nia Jax, Emma and dana Brooke would give Bayley a good title reign.
Then she could lose to Eva Marie.

This could set up a Jax v Emma match for the December Takeover in London. Bayley could face Brooke in a rematch. You'd then have a few different directions that could be taken. Jax could defeat Emma and Bayley could retain the title, setting up a title match between in the two in which 'The Hugster' could play the underdog battling an imposing, undefeated juggernaut. Brooke could defeat Bayley, setting up Emma v Brooke as a title match (which would again leave Bayley free to battle Jax). Or Emma could be the one to hand Jax her first loss and go on to challenge Bayley for the title as a babyface who dislikes Bayley despite sharing a crowd alignment with her.

Whichever options were chosen would set up the lead stories for the NXT women's division well into next year. There would be a champion with various credible challengers to face and two interconnected feuds that would provide a natural tag main event (playa!) on a TV episode.

If they don't go with Eva Marie as the centrepiece of the women's division I want them to do this. In fact, I'd prefer it.

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¹ For the record I think it should be called NXT Takeover: Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic because longer names are always more amusing for rasslin' shows.

² I can't be the only one who finds it odd that Corbin has suffered only two televised losses since his big push began but hasn't mentioned it and demanded a title match because of it. Seems like a natural direction for the character to take. What with Owens v Bálor seemingly being done and most of the other top names being injured or on the main roster perhaps a Corbin title challenge is something we'll see soon.