As Kendal Grey continues her absence from the ring, the former NXT Women's Champion has passed the time by appearing in therapy vignettes during the last several weeks of "NXT." The latest one became a talking point during Wednesday morning's "Wrestling Observer Radio," with Bryan Alvarez being critical of both it and past vignettes. Dave Meltzer concurred with Alvarez, while also giving an explanation for what "NXT" is going for."They think that she's a great athlete in the ring, so we have to teach her to be an actress," Meltzer said.Both continued to be critical, with Alvarez stating the segment made Grey look like someone who wasn't cut out for the wrestling business, while Meltzer went as far to reveal he went to grab a book to distract him during the segment. He later clarified that his issues weren't with Grey, but rather with the material WWE was giving her."I get what they're trying to do," Meltzer said. "They're trying to teach her to be an actress, because they think...It's someone's idea of being creative. But it's not hitting, that's for sure....They have to get...I mean, the reality on her is she's got all the potential in the world. In the ring, she's so far above where she should be.And athletically, she could be one of the best women they've ever had."And I think that the idea is she's...that's it. She's just really good in the ring. She's a mechanic. And we've got to teach her to be more than a mechanic, and so we've got to test her in these things and these acting skits. And man, this is testing her, and I don't blame her one bit. But this is bad material."If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
If there's one adage that professional wrestling loves to ignore, it's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Over and over again, promotions seem hell bent on taking a performer that, while perhaps not perfect, is doing really well, and try to have them overcome their weaknesses. I can't say how many times that' worked, but I'm pretty sure I can count them on one hand. And now it appears to be happening again with Kendal Grey, a woman with seemingly every athletic tool at her disposal who is not only incredible for her experience level, but has gotten over strictly because of how great she is. WWE (or "NXT" in this case) could literally just roll with that for as long as they want...except they can't because now they have her doing these therapy segments that, at best, seem pretty polarizing.What makes it even stranger is that, while "NXT" is saying Grey is out with vertigo, that appears to be a storyline explanation for her not wrestling and not a real one. So this isn't even a case where Grey is hurt and can't wrestle, but WWE wants to keep her on TV and this was the reason they came up with; this is legit an idea they had that they thought would help her as a performer and get more over. Perhaps it will in the long run, but right now, it seems to be doing the opposite. Call me crazy, but if WWE decided they wanted Grey to take time off while her ally Wren Sinclair gets a shot at Kelani Jordan (an understandable reason), then they could've kept her on TV and done vignettes, but done so based on her athletic background, with her preparing for her return while rebuilding her confidence. Frankly, they didn't even need to do that; they could've simply gotten by with Grey disappearing, then coming back in a few weeks as a surprise pop. Both of those would've worked, both those would've stayed true to her character. Instead, WWE has her trying to act because they feel all their performers need to act. Like I said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unfortunately, that's what they're trying to do with Kendal Grey, and while I doubt it affects her long-term, right now it's doing more harm than good.
