Lana’s in-ring journey thus far hasn’t gone as smooth as one would hope. Her somewhat (completely) ill-advised sexy chair dancing vignettes advertising that Gabbo is coming to Smackdown haven’t been well-received, and have mostly served to highlight her complete social media 180. Whereas her outspoken feminism used to draw the abuse of male fans, the new star of Total Divas has taken to body-shaming her female critics and focusing instead on mostly retweeting compliments from the WWE Universe.
Fans who attend NXT house shows are now able to speak more to her wrestling ability than her concerning Twitter presence and newfound penchant for soft lighting and chair humping. The reviews have been mixed, but one thing is for sure: Lana is using her husband Rusev’s finisher and crushing developmental ladies’ dreams as she also crushes their spines:
https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/862837181823369216
Now, her using her husband’s finisher and not having something of her own does furrow some eyebrows, but hopefully WWE can spin it so it’s less icky. Like say, she’s been watching WWE closely as Rusev’s manager and the competition simply doesn’t stack up, so if she’s going to use a finisher she’s going to use the best one.
With the approaching Women’s Tournament and the ever-increasing in-ring standards for female competitors, there will be more of a keen focus on how WWE treats the women under their three brands. Hopefully for Lana (and the rest of us), they can sort all of the awkward and kinda gross parts of the character out so her and Rusev can skip ahead to crushing anyone who gets in their way. Maybe with a tank. Again. (That was just really cool okay?)
