Sam Roberts was on the NXT pre-show this past weekend and made a big declaration; which wasn’t that big or even that controversial, about Bianca Belair. Belair, according to Rorberts, didn’t deserve to be on a Takeover show. Roberts made sure to point out that Belair wasn’t on the level of some of the other past women’s wrestlers who’ve competed for the brand. Roberts name dropped Kairi Sane, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Asuka as women who exceed Belair’s abilities.
He also went on to say that Belair will be champion one day, and that she simply wasn’t ready for that spotlight. It didn’t help that Pat McAfee was acting like an inflatable, blow up doll on commentary either. Nor was it that surprising Charly Caruso tried to salvage it by proclaiming Belair ‘the strongest, fastest’ of NXT women.
Things became even more compounded when Mark Henry stepped into the conversation and told Roberts that Belair was owed an apology for Robert’s take on the match. Henry was interviewed by Busted Open Radio and said;
I think Sam bumped his head, I thought that he is entitled to his opinion of she won’t win tonight or saying why she won’t win. But it was completely out of line for saying she wasn’t deserving, didn’t belong there, and that it’s a waste of a match. That, he owes her an apology for. You don’t owe me an apology, I can take it or leave it, but I did not agree that you say an opinion that is not justified by some evidence that says, okay, that’s necessary to say.
He said something from opinion and thinking that he was right about Bianca not being deserving. If he had found that to be factual I would have had to accept it, but he didn’t bring any arguments for who should be in that spot in front of her. Sam, I know you’re going to hear this, you really should, on your show, give Bianca an apology because you were out of line.
The thing is though, it’s not like Roberts is entirely wrong. Belair is only really know for her ponytail attack. She’s not a finished product and still has some ways to go. I don’t think anyone would argue Belair isn’t ready for the main roster, and if you’re not ready for the main roster, why would you be ready for a championship?
Roberts went on to reply to Henry’s comments on his own show by saying;
I know Mark Henry has started a campaign saying I owe Bianca Belair an apology. I certainly will not be apologizing to Bianca Belair because my opinion is my opinion. Do I think that she deserves to be at TakeOver after her performance? You’ll have to ask me at the end of March. The next TakeOver is in April. I will tell you in April if Bianca Belair, in my opinion, deserves to be at TakeOver. But I found that match, at the beginning of TakeOver, it felt underwhelming to me, so I talked about it.
There were people after the show who had conversations with me about the way I said what I said, but the fact is that I said what I said, so it kind of is what it is. It’s exactly as you saw it and that’s kind of it. Was everybody thrilled with it? No. That’s what I mean about having conversations, but those are, again, maybe things that I don’t exactly want to get into at this moment. However, we’ll see how things go as we move forward.
Belair herself was not happy and took to a WWE interview to express how she felt. Which wasn’t that…impressive of a response, telling Roberts to ‘kiss her ass’.
The problem doesn’t lie on Roberts, or anything he said. He was critical, honest and spoke about how he felt. Anyone who’s ever watched anything on ESPN can find, and I mean this, about 200 times a day on average when a “expert” or analyst says much harsher things about athletes in major sports.
People on Twitter, whom I follow and like as people, who have called human beings “garbage” and “pure trash” just simply because they didn’t like them, were calling for Roberts’ head. Roberts didn’t go anywhere near that degree of criticism, mind you. Yet, those same Twitter users want to hold Roberts to a different level to which they hold themselves.
No, Roberts doesn’t owe anybody an apology. No, Mark Henry, he didn’t step over the line. It was a waste of a match. The problem isn’t on Belair though. She’s an actual WWE produced talent. She’s not Banks, or Bayley, or Ember Moon or Asuka. They were already top talents when signed. Belair is being built from the ground up. She’s been active for all of two years or so. She’s not on the previous names’ level yet; but she’s not supposed to be. This is the inherent problem with NXT. Asuka, Sane, and so many other women should never of been in NXT in the first place. NXT should be for the talents who need to be there.
The developmental projects like Braun and Lars Sullivan. The young pups who are still so green someone tried to mow them, like Patrick Clark or Sasha Banks. Or the veterans who are trying to prove they have something left, like Rhyno. It should not be for the top talent in the industry, because then we have these situations.
Never mind the fact that Belair doesn’t know what ‘undefeated’ means, the fact is she was put in an unwinnable situation. She’s got a cheeky gimmick but not much else. She’s a trash talking heel, and a solid one at that, but she wasn’t ready for this stage, especially not after the way they’ve booked and built both her and her opponent Shayna Baszler, who’s basically getting booked because of her friendship with Ronda Rousey.
I think Henry, who recruited Belair, should realize that Roberts didn’t say anything wrong or offensive. I think fans are allowed to disagree with Roberts, and I think you’re allowed to like or not like whomever you want without being attacked. If you’ve ever been on Twitter, you can find a million worse things being said about a million more talented people.
If him saying Belair wasn’t ready really pissed you off, you need to re-evaluate your life, and be thankful. There are far more egregious and upsetting things to truly be upset about other than your opinion of a person not being perpetually validated.
In Other News…
Jerry Lawler revealed that Nia Jax nearly intentionally injured Ron Killings at the Royal Rumble. Jax was supposed to cut off Killings, aka R-Truth, and ‘take him out’ of the match. Jax ended up hitting him from the back-left and propelled him nearly headfirst into a barricade. According to Lawler, Truth had to be held back after the spot because he felt Nia took advantage of the moment and nearly hurt the veteran. Lawler said;
Her first move—and this got real heat, for real—she blasted poor R-Truth and knocked him face-first into that wall. He was hot, real hot.
He was real hot, let me tell you, they were having to hold him back back there. She made it look good, it was very impressive.
Obviously Nia has gone on Twitter to deny the report. It’s typical WWE business. Deny, deny, deny. It’s why Vince isn’t in jail yet.
Quick Hits – Kevin Owens revealed that he’s training again after major knee surgery on both joints, and was in the ring with Adam Cole. According to XFL Commissioner, Oliver Luck , the father of Andrew Luck, the league will not permit players to wear nicknames on their jeresy’s like He Hate Me aka Rod Smart once did.