Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: Alicia Fox Making the Most of Every Opportunity

1. Fox's Taking to the Spotlight

Alicia Fox has clearly been heeding Hall of Famer announcer Jim Ross' advice.

J.R. has often talked about a wrestler's needing to maximize their minutes. Be it a match, promo or onscreen attack, one has to put their imprint on everything they do. Fox is doing exactly that.

An often forgotten member of Raw's women's division, Fox has made noise recently by tapping into her unhinged persona and attacking every chance she gets with a to-the-hilt approach.

At Sunday's TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view, she and Sasha Banks were relegated to the pre-show. But that didn't stop the two wrestlers from putting on a physical bout that was better than most contests in that same spot.

The next night, Fox outlasted Banks and Bayley in a Triple Threat match to determine the captain of the Raw women's Survivor Series team.

Fox's wrestling on both occasions was good, but not spectacular. She's not on Charlotte Flair's or AJ Styles' level as a performer. Her success lies in how fun she is when she throws a tantrum or how compelling she is when shouting at the referee.

She is always bursting with energy, a madcap cartoon character.

Last week, she ambushed The Boss backstage. Fox squealed, smiled and called Banks cute in the midst of her attack.

This could have been a forgettable scene between bigger events, but Fox made sure we took notice.

She did so again during her win over Banks and Bayley. A solid match turned buzzworthy thanks to her antics. The former Divas champ grabbed the ring bell during the action and clanged it like a toddler's hitting a saucepan with a spoon.

Fox provided the highlight of the match when she sneaked behind Bayley and mocked her signature gestures.

Reviving this screw-loose act has allowed Fox to thrive.

She's been a fun part of the show, an eccentric presence who compels even in brief appearances. And Raw needs that very thing.

The New Age Insiders podcast noted the value of her personality:

Fox was the most entertaining option WWE had for the Raw Survivor Series captain role. She is going to turn it into something memorable, no doubt. Look for her to press down the gas again and make fans laugh and pay attention.

The arrival of Asuka, Banks' greatness and Alexa Bliss' excellence as a heel will make room on the women's division stage hard to come by, but Fox is making it clear WWE needs to keep saving some of it for her.

---

🔥 Top Videos from Around B/R 🔥

---

2. Randy "The Survivor" Orton

Once again, The Viper is headed to Survivor Series. Orton defeated Sami Zayn on Tuesday night to earn his place on SmackDown's Survivor Series team.

The event is one that he is familiar with and one where he's often celebrated victory.

Per CageMatch.net, Orton is 8-4 at the PPV overall. He has been on the winning side in traditional Survivor Series elimination matches five times. Three times he emerged as the sole survivor (2003, 2004, 2005). And Orton is 3-0 in world title matches at Survivor Series.

Team Blue has to be glad to have him aboard. WWE has shown a history of scripting success for him at the November show.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: ECW Invades Raw

When SmackDown's Superstars charged into Raw and laid out everyone in sight on Monday night, it wasn't the first time the red brand has been infiltrated.

Extreme Championship Wrestling orchestrated its own Raw invasion on Feb. 24, 1997. The upstart promotion's stars, from Taz to Sabu, stepped into enemy turf:

ECW's relationship with WWE would extend well beyond this with the One Night Stand joint PPVs, its part in The Alliance angle and eventually becoming a WWE-owned property.

4. Neville Phased Out

Those holding out hope that the Neville rumors of a walkout (reported by Figure Four Online's Joseph Currier and others) aren't true have less reason to believe The King of Cruiserweights is coming back.

Neville hasn't wrestled since Oct. 1, per CageMatch.net. He hasn't tweeted since late September and wiped the bio from his Twitter page clean.

Credit: WWE.com

And WWE looks to have clipped him out of the 205 Live intro song. As Brad Davis of SEScoops noted: "Footage of former Cruiserweight champion Neville has been removed from the opening video package for 205 Live."

WWE has yet to confirm its issues with Neville, but it's looking more and more like a divorce is on its way.

5. From Sweet to Savage

Bayley superfan Izzy created one of 2017's most surreal sights.

WWE fans know her as the young girl who regularly attends NXT shows and has developed a special relationship with her favorite Superstar over time. But she's not all hugs and cuteness apparently.

She attended an indy show and got involved in a violent way:

Next stop, the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship?

6. McMahons Welcome

In a display of more creativity from Cody Rhodes and Ring of Honor, the promotion's reigning world champ had a message for the family that runs WWE.

Rhodes and his Bullet Club brethren told fans in a recent video that for the ROH Survival of the Fittest tour's stop in San Antonio, Texas, anyone named McMahon will receive discount tickets.

WWE head Vince McMahon isn't going to take him up on his offer. The same goes for Stephanie and Shane McMahon. But Rhodes' gesture will get people talking and create some extra headlines for the event. And that's the name of the game.

Rhodes is proving to be a shrewd self-promoter who looks to be having a blast.

7. The Gap Between Angle's WWE Matches

Kurt Angle's fighting alongside Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose at TLC gave fans a sight they hadn't seen in over a decade: the Olympian competing in a WWE ring.

Angle's last match came in August 2006. At that point, Edge was WWE champion. Johnny Nitro held the Intercontinental Championship.

The Miami Heat were the reigning NBA champs. Tiger Woods was still winning majors. The Texas Longhorns were the NCAA football national champions.

"Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado was Billboard's No. 1 single. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby was the top-grossing movie in the U.S.

That all feels like ages ago. No wonder fans were so jacked to see Angle suplex folks left and right on Sunday.

8. Recent Debut Home Runs

The age of Asuka began as the longest-reigning NXT women's champ made her main roster debut. She took down Emma at both TLC and Raw.

There has since a been a lot of discussion about how much offense Emma got in, how dominant The Empress of Tomorrow was and how WWE handled Asuka's first steps.

Her arrival stirred up a number of questions. What makes a good debut? How does one best welcome a Superstar?

These examples of quality first outings are reminders of what an ideal opening salvo looks like:

• Daniel Bryan (against Chris Jericho): NXT, Feb. 23
• The Shield (against Team Hell No and Ryback): TLC 2012
• AJ Styles (in Royal Rumble match): Royal Rumble 2016
• Shinsuke Nakamura (against Sami Zayn): NXT TakeOver: Dallas
• Finn Balor (against Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Rusev): Raw, July 25, 2016

Balor followed that win with one over Roman Reigns to earn the right to face Seth Rollins and become the inaugural Universal Championship. WWE strapped a jetpack to him right away and only injury derailed his early rise.

Hopefully, Asuka gets the same kind of love Balor got.

9. Name that Squad

Survivor Series is here. You can tell by the fact that Enzo Amore and Kalisto both gathered themselves five-men crews and went to battle on Monday's Raw.

Amore dubbed his team "The Zo Train." Kalisto went with "Team Lucha Lucha" for his squad.

This is quite the welcome sight. Survivor Series' early years saw many a group get a fun collective name. In 1989 for example, Jim Duggan led a team called The 4x4's, Rick Rude captained The Rude Brood and Big Boss Man was a cornerstone for The Enforcers.

WWE has gone away from this model in recent years, but it would be great to see it return. It's a small detail that plays up the event's uniqueness. Perhaps Fox demands that Team SmackDown is called something a bit more creative.

10. Regal on Balor vs. Styles

With no build, no pre-match verbal battles, no subplots, Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles at TLC was still really, really good.

The match was a substitute for Balor's scheduled bout with Bray Wyatt, which WWE had to change because of The Eater of Worlds' suffering a viral infection. Balor and Styles made sure plan B was anything but a letdown.

NXT general manager William Regal commented after the TLC clash, using the moment as a means to relay advice to wrestlers:

He's right. Sometimes wrestlers aren't given much to work with. Sometimes they don't have the benefit of hype or quality narratives.

But the great ones still find a way to connect.

Ryan Dilbert is the WWE Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @ryandilbert.