Examining Carmella's Direction, Upside and Long-Term Potential on WWE SmackDown

SmackDown picked Carmella last in the WWE draft.

The Princess of Staten Island must have been happy to move up to the main roster, but that last-pick status places unique pressure upon her. It implies—albeit unfairly—that Carmella is ready for prime time, but barely so. It invites the inevitable backlash from fans who view the draft as a shoot. It invites snap comparisons to her undrafted NXT counterparts. Why was she drafted instead of Bayley? Or Asuka? Or Samoa Joe? Or Shinsuke Nakamura?

Carmella has always fought to be taken seriously. Aside from her debut match against Blue Pants, her “boys,” Enzo Amore and Big Cass, only occasionally accompanied her to ringside. Meanwhile, she was ringside at every one of their matches, which reinforced her status as a valet rather than as an equal partner in their trio.

Carmella had a difficult time getting over with the NXT fans. Maybe it was her lack of experience. Maybe it was her repeated, kayfabe rejections of Amore’s advances. Maybe it was the “you can’t touch me” princess attitude that she cultivated as her in-ring gimmick. Carmella’s persona is a "tweener" type, with the line between trashy heel and fabulous babyface dangerously thin. She’s struggled in the past to define it.

Here’s one of her matches against Emma from 2014. Despite being pushed as a babyface, Carmella engaged in borderline heel tactics. She acted cocky, even checking her nails while sitting on her opponent’s back.

But here’s another one of Carmella’s matches from 2016, when she teamed with her mentor, Bayley, against Emma and Alexa Bliss. In the time between these two appearances, Carmella refined her gimmick. She now had a moonwalk in her entrance. The cockiness was still there, but it wasn't unbearable. She had an enthusiastic babyface taunt at 1:44 before transitioning into the crowd-pleasing Bronco Buster. Her ring work was improved—she added in a crisp reverse STO before locking in the Code of Silence, which ended the match.

Her NXT title match against Bayley was further proof that Carmella had improved her ring work by leaps and bounds. She still looked unwieldy at times, but she was no longer stringing together pre-planned spots. She did a fair amount of grappling in the ring. She pulled off a nice series of pin combinations, not to mention a diving crossbody between the ropes.

Today, Carmella has an incredible look. She has fantastic mic skills. Her ring work is more than acceptable. She has the heart and passion. There was a fair amount of concern when she was first separated from Enzo and Cass, but in hindsight, she's been better off without them. Her boys’ personalities are huge—so huge that they would have engulfed and overshadowed her. And again, a trio would continue playing into the “valet” perception that Carmella wants to shed.

During Carmella’s SmackDown debut against Natalya, the crowd’s response to her was disappointing. There were a few pockets of cheers here and there, but there was also a disconcerting amount of silence despite Carmella’s surprise victory. Hopefully this problem will fix itself.

Carmella needs a grace period. Most fans only know her from NXT, and although SmackDown attracted 2.455 million viewers this past week, according to Showbuzz Daily, the WWE Network only has approximately 1.52 million total subscribers, according to the most recent earnings report.

The casual fans should come around once they’ve learned more about her; there’s no reason why they wouldn’t. And once they do that, the sky’s the limit for Carmella. SmackDown's women’s roster, aside from Becky Lynch and Natalya, lacks top-tier star power. So it’s a ripe time for Carmella to prance in, pick up some key wins and build a strong, mainstream reputation.