Naomi Trends Again After Being Eliminated From SmackDown’s Tri-Branded Battle Royal

WWE continues to refuse to learn its lesson about booking babyfaces as Naomi quickly became a trending topic after being eliminated in SmackDown’s Tri-Branded Battle Royal. The match, won by Asuka, crowned a new No. 1 Contender for the SmackDown Women’s Championship to be defended at SummerSlam.

Naomi was previously the subject of a #NaomiDeservesBetter campaign that gained so much steam on Twitter, WWE continues to incorporate it into current storylines.

Unfortunately, these storylines only serve to poke and prod fans who legitimately want to see the longtime WWE Superstar in a prominent role long-term.

Naomi last held a championship in 2017.

Since the fluke-turned-phenomenon that was Daniel Bryan’s rise to the WWE Championship in 2014, WWE has made a habit of manufacturing similar storylines as the likes of Becky Lynch and Kofi Kingston have been booked as lovable losers en route to eventual title wins. In the fallout from Daniel Bryan, WWE’s takeaway wasn’t to reward a popular wrestler when overwhelming demand reaches a fever pitch, its takeaway was to recreate the tense-and-at-times-ugly Daniel Bryan storyline that rendered Roman Reigns as collateral damage.

The problem with this model is not only does it further years-long tension between WWE and its audience, it does no favors to the babyface in question, who has to lose time and again as part of WWE’s flawed re-telling of Rocky. With John Cena long gone as a full-time star, WWE continues to fail to find its heir apparent to the budding Hollywood star who was never booked as a lovable loser once he found his voice as The Doctor of Thuganomics.

Naomi’s elimination also sparked frustration among many who were excited at the possibility of a moment with Bianca Belair as the two made a rare in-ring appearance together. Instead, both Belair and Naomi were ousted to the chagrin of their impassioned followings.

WWE is likely to capitalize on the obvious connection Naomi has developed with its audience, but it will likely do so in a way designed to taunt, alienate and antagonize its own audience before finally delivering a satisfying payoff months down the road when its audience has sunk to even smaller record-low viewership numbers.

As minority representation continues to be an issue for WWE, even after finally getting around to pushing Big E after dragging its feet for years, the frustration plaguing Naomi’s positioning in the promotion is yet another reminder of just how far the promotion has to go in that department.