Hello reader! A short one this week due to a lack of screen time for both characters. I’d like to take this opportunity to point you towards my Q1 review of this project.
Jade Cargill – SmackDown
Cargill only appears this week in a short backstage interview segment, accompanied by her friends Michin and B-Fab. Despite losing a big match last week via the interference of a potential new rival, Cargill still appears happy and confident. She threatens to dispatch Flair, Bliss and new rival Paxley. But there’s no physical attempt to gain revenge. In fact, her smugness during the interview suggests no real urgency in seeking revenge. Revenge is either a strong, loud, hot emotion that demands immediate action, or ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’ where plotting and manipulation come into play. Her consistency of emotion suggests neither, and this coupled with her consistent defeats in big matches means her threats don’t carry much credibility.
Note from a fandom POV: Cargill has ‘star’ written all over her, but still comes across a little green, both on the mic where her delivery is a little wooden, and in-ring where her timing appears a split second off a few times per match. With this in mind, I think her character needs more variety. That could be a solo promo, more interactions with other heels, interactions with the general manager, backstage brawls, manipulative behaviour, tension in her group… Consistently having her cut smug promos with the air time split equally between her three stable mates, win multiple TV matches, enact multiple numbers-game beat-downs, only to lose the big PLE match, is not doing her any favours. It’s only highlighting her weaknesses.
Seth Rollins – Raw
Rollins was absent for a second week on Raw. Instead of speculating what this absence could mean for his character development, I’m going to wait for his return to judge whether the absence has any narrative significance. However, here’s a link to my speculations last week on Rollins’ character and below are some ideas in bulletpoint form:
- Shame
- Introspection
- Embarrassment
- Re-strategising
- Recuperating/recovering physical condition
Work Shoot Confessional 
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