While Kendall Gray continues his absence from the ring, former NXT Women’s Champion passed the time, appearing in therapy vignettes over the last few weeks of “NXT.” The last one It became a topic of conversation on Wednesday morning “Wrestling Observer Radio”, Brian Alvarez critiques both this and past vignettes. Dave Meltzer agreed with Alvarez while explaining what NXT is up to.
“They think she’s a great athlete in the ring, so we have to teach her to be an actress,” Meltzer said.
Both remained critical, with Alvarez stating that the segment made Gray look like someone out of the wrestling business, while Meltzer went so far as to reveal that he went to pick up a book to distract himself during the segment. He later clarified that his issues were not with Grey, but with the material WWE was giving him.
“I understand what they’re trying to do,” Meltzer said. “They’re trying to get her to be an actress because they think it’s someone’s idea of being creative. But that’s for sure, that’s for sure… They’ve got to understand… I mean, the reality is, he’s got all the potential in the world.
“And I think the idea is that he… there it is. He’s just too good in the ring. He is a mechanic. And we have to teach him to be more than a mechanic, and so we have to test him in these things and in this acting playground. And man, it’s testing him, and I don’t blame him for being bad.”
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Opinion: WWE needs to stop messing with Kendall Gray and let her do what has been working
If there’s one saying that professional wrestling likes to ignore, it’s “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Time and time again, promotions seem hellbent on taking a performer who, while maybe not perfect, is doing really well, and trying to make them overcome their weaknesses. I can’t tell you how many times it’s worked, but I’m sure I can count them on one hand. And now it looks like it’s happening again with Kendall Grey, a woman with seemingly athletic tools at her disposal who’s not only incredible in her experience level, but has come through strictly because she’s awesome. WWE (or “NXT” in this case) can literally just roll with it as long as they want… except they can’t because now they’re forcing him to do these therapy segments that seem pretty polarizing at best.
What makes it even weirder is that. while NXT says Gray is out with a pinfallit seems like a narrative explanation for his non-wrestling and non-real explanation. So this isn’t even a case of Gray being injured and unable to wrestle, but WWE wanting to keep him on TV and that’s why they came; this is a legitimate idea that they had that they thought would help him break through as a performer and beyond. Maybe it will in the long run, but right now it seems to be doing the opposite. Call me crazy, but if WWE decides to rest Gray while his ally Ren Sinclair takes shots at Kellan Jordan (with obvious reason), then they could keep him on TV and do vignettes, but do so based on his athletic background, preparing for his comeback and rebuilding his confidence. To be honest, they didn’t even need to do that. they could just get over Grey’s disappearance and then come back in a few weeks as a surprise pop. Either would work, either would be true to his character. Instead, WWE is making him perform as they feel all of their performers should perform. Like I said, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Unfortunately, that’s what they’re trying to do with Kendall Gray, and while I doubt it will have a long-term effect on her, right now it’s doing more harm than good.