The arrival of this day was starting to seem inevitable and yes, it has indeed arrived – neither Jade Cargill nor Seth Rollins was featured on WWE TV this week. So I’d like to offer some brief ‘fan’ thoughts, particularly on Cargill’s de-push.
Seth Rollins
Forgive me if what I’m about to say is wrong – I simply don’t have the time to cycle through Raw for any brief commentary mentions – but it feels like the WWE needs to start defining Rollins’ absence in some way. Fans know, and the WWE knows that fans know, that at the end of a big storyline, performers may well take a few weeks off. The issue for me, is that the Rollins character, which had a nice, nuanced redemption arc going, is losing steam. Don’t forget in the lead-up to SummerSlam Rollins said he didn’t know what would happen to him if he lost. But, then he did have that moment of resolution with Reigns at the end of SummerSlam. To me, these two things contradict each other. Are we supposed to believe Rollins is undergoing a sustained spell of self-examination? To me, the Rollins/Reigns moment suggests a clear, content mind. It kills any idea of a mind in turmoil. As a fan, unless Rollins has a clear injury, I’d urge him to return to the screen before all momentum is lost.
Jade Cargill
It’s clear at this point that Cargill is experiencing a de-push. She’s gone from competing in-ring every week to not guaranteed more than a few minutes of screen time. The Cargill character – thinly defined at the best of times – is built on action and physicality. Without that, she’s nothing really. The question I ask myself about Cargill’s situation is this: how much responsibility for her plight lies in her booking, and how much is on her shoulders? I’ve seen Jonathan Coachman, among others, take aim at Cargill’s lack of progress as a performer. Putting aside Coach’s likely pursuit of clicks, I do feel frustration with Cargill herself. I know it’s easy to be an armchair analyst, but in almost any in-ring bout her timing is identifiably off two/three times. In particular, pay attention to her pump-kick spot. She doesn’t seem to have in-ring chemistry with many of her peers.
On the other hand, I do think booking has dealt her a bad hand. See my Q1 round-up of this characterisation project, where I identify how the lack of variation re the type of segment Cargill appears in, seems to have a direct relationship with her character’s lack of depth. We hear Cargill spout the same phrases every week. Her emotions don’t shift in defeat or victory. And there’s no nuance to her relationship with Michin and B-Fab. They’re all consistently on the same page. In other words, there’s little humanity to her character and the relationships her character has. I think if some of these booking issues were remedied, then it’d be easier to forgive some of the bumpiness of her in-ring work. What do you think? I’d love to hear opinions on Cargill from any reader. She still has too much star potential to give up on, in my view.
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