Alexa Bliss Mistakes WWE Wants You To Forget

For someone who has been in the spotlight for as long as she has, WWE star Alexa Bliss has spent most of it being adored by the wrestling fanbase. Certainly, it helps that Bliss has long been held in high regard as a performer, especially for her mic and character work, which has helped her become a five-time Women's World Champion and a three-time Women's Tag Team Champion. But plenty of talents who have had success have seen the fans eventually turn their backs on them, which makes it all the more notable that Bliss has maintained her fans through her ten-year career. That couldn't have been more apparent following Bliss' return from maternity leave this past winter, with the fans welcoming Bliss back with open arms, despite the fact that she and WWE had been in a contract dispute only weeks earlier.

But just because the fans have largely remained in Bliss' corner throughout her run doesn't mean that it's always been smooth sailing. While none of the blame has gone on Bliss, there have been several storylines involving her that have received, at best, polarizing responses. For many, the most notable time was when Bliss found herself aligned with the late Bray Wyatt, particularly their feud with Randy Orton in 2021, which left many fans scratching their heads, as well as some wondering if its negative reception contributed to Wyatt's release from WWE later that summer. But another storyline, one that took place several years earlier and saw Bliss as the main antagonist, was perhaps an even bigger mistake on WWE's part, and one the promotion would like fans to erase from their minds, given that Bliss was more involved in it than previously thought.

The events leading to this controversy began in August 2017, when Bliss was in the midst of trading the WWE Raw Women's Championship with Sasha Banks. In reality, that was merely the foreground for the actual story being told, which was the budding friendship between Bliss and fellow heel Nia Jax. Despite the fact that Jax was pursuing her first reign as Women's Champion, and was even one of five challengers for Bliss at No Mercy in September, the two formed a close bond, one that continued as Bliss continued to rack up title defenses through the fall and winter. By February, Bliss found herself still the champion, having successfully defended the title in the first ever Women's Elimination Chamber match, and Jax was still left wanting, having failed to win the first ever Women's Royal Rumble match, while also coming up short in attempt to be added to the SmackDown Women's Championship match against Asuka at Fastlane.

Things changed, however, after Bliss and Mickie James were caught on a hot microphone backstage talking behind Jax's back, putting a wedge between the two. The friendship officially ended after Bliss's apology attempt to Jax was revealed to be a ruse, and the two were then set on a collision course for WrestleMania 34. There, Jax ended Bliss' reign to capture her first ever Women's Championship, and one month later put a stake in the feud once and for all by defeating Bliss again to retain the title. All and all, it sounds like a typical case of a friendship driven apart by the pursuit of championship glory that ultimately saw the wronged baby face go over in the end. In fact, the championship pursuits were secondary in a way, with the main focus of the feud instead turning towards a very sensitive subject: bodyshaming.

Astute wrestling fans will recall that body shaming is a topic WWE wasn't afraid of exploring in the past, though many will also argue that their previous attempt at incorporating it was reason to never do so again. In 2009, the aforementioned Mickie James found herself feuding with future WWE Hall of Famer Michelle McCool and Layla El over McCool's Women's Championship. The feud, which lasted from October until just prior to James' release in April 2010, could be best described as controversial and, at worst, completely and utterly mean-spirited. Among the moments of this feud were McCool and Layla referring to James as "Piggy James" on multiple occasions, and a notorious "SmackDown" segment where McCool and Layla force-fed James a cake in the shape of a pig before pouring punch on her. 

All that made it a tad ironic that James, the butt of the joke then, would find herself the Layla to Bliss' McCool in another body shaming storyline years later. In fairness, the Bliss and Jax storyline didn't quite go to the deplorable lengths the James/LayCool angle did, although there were still plenty of moments that made fans cringe. The chief one was the angle that kickstarted the feud, where Bliss could be heard telling James that Jax was "as dumb as she is big." From there, the bodyshaming theme continued up until Jax prevailed over Bliss twice, a sign that WWE had learned from their mistake years earlier, by this time decisively putting the wronged babyface over the bodyshaming heel. Alas, many remained critical of the story, and in a moment of irony, Jax's promo following her second victory over Bliss about positivity received a ton of scorn, with many feeling Jax's words were contrived.

What fans might be most shocked to hear is that while the storyline was very much a Vince McMahon thing, it had heavy input from Jax and Bliss themselves. In an interview given some time after the storyline had wrapped up, Bliss admitted that she and Jax were heavily involved in the creative process, and that Jax had been the one to suggest some of Bliss's more questionable lines. Bliss also confessed that the storyline was rough for both her and Jax, whom she described as being about body positivity. Ultimately, both viewed the storyline as a necessary evil, believing that using some lines that many viewed as controversial would help sell the storyline and make the payoff better. Judging by the poor reaction to the angle, it's unclear if that actually worked. Perhaps that's why, all these years later, the Jax-Bliss angle is one that recalls a line from the Mel Brooks classic "Spaceballs." "No, go past this part. In fact, never play this again."