Unsung Heroes of Raw and SmackDown Who Deserve WWE WrestleMania 37 Moment
Hard work doesn't always pay off. That's just one of those harsh facts of life.
And there are some WWE Superstars who have put in tireless efforts on Raw and SmackDown throughout the past year but will still miss out on an appearance at WrestleMania 37 on April 10-11.
No matter how hard some wrestlers work, WWE has a tendency to focus on its biggest names come the build to The Show of Shows, which isn't fair to the workhorses who have held down the fort and built the foundations for others throughout the past 12 months.
Some names who were instrumental in keeping WWE afloat will go down as unsung heroes without a WrestleMania moment this year, so let's give them the credit they deserve before that happens.
Dominik Mysterio and the SmackDown Tag Team Division
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The angle between Seth Rollins and the Mysterio family was hot garbage that went on for nearly all of 2020 and somehow managed to end with a rushed whimper, rather than anything worth the painful journey.
Even now, Murphy appears to be back alongside The Messiah, while Rey Mysterio's daughter, Aalyah, has disappeared completely. It was almost entirely pointless.
However, the one positive that came out of it was the introduction and maturation of Dominik Mysterio. In a time of uncertainty and with a limited roster due to COVID-19 and company layoffs, he stepped up to become a featured Superstar who has grown right in front of our own eyes.
It would be good to see Dominik finally hear a crowd cheer for him for the first time in his WWE career at Raymond James Stadium on April 10-11.
Sadly, he, along with his father, The Street Profits, Dirty Dawgs and Alpha Academy were bumped off the card in favor of moving the Fatal 4-Way for the tag team titles to the SmackDown prior.
This isn't "just as good" as WrestleMania, as it's another ThunderDome show. It's not the same and WWE knows this. All of them, but especially Dominik, should be disappointed and frustrated to get their spot taken away from them like that.
Angel Garza
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At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Angel Garza was one of the Superstars keeping WWE in business. Along with the likes of Zelina Vega, Andrade, Austin Theory and The Street Profits, he wrestled virtually half of every episode of Raw for weeks on end.
Without people like Garza, WWE never would have had enough time to fill for these live performances and would have struggled even more in the first few weeks without an audience.
However, WWE management showed little appreciation for this. Once more wrestlers became available, Theory was bumped to NXT, Vega and Andrade were run out of the company and Garza was sidelined.
Keeping the show on the road should have been rewarded, but Garza can't even get a storyline to last more than two weeks.
He's the type of person WWE should be patting on the back. And if WrestleMania goes down without his name on the card, he shouldn't feel as obligated to help out next time around.
Akira Tozawa, Drew Gulak and R-Truth
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Three other guys who helped fill lots of time during the pandemic were Akira Tozawa, Drew Gulak and R-Truth, who were at the forefront of the chase for the 24/7 Championship.
Gulak had a better spot on the card before that, partnering Daniel Bryan and seeing some success as a potential Intercontinental Championship contender, but WWE lost sight of that and left him with a jobber role.
Still, he managed to get positives out of that as one of the more entertaining foils for R-Truth and Tozawa in this three-way feud.
It doesn't take much to give these Superstars a WrestleMania moment. There's more than enough time on the card to dedicate a few minutes to a segment where they have some fun passing the belt back and forth.
It can be a buffer between longer segments and something to make the crowd laugh. Perhaps it can even involve the Hall of Famers and become even more memorable.
As long as it's something, it's better than nothing.
Bayley
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How does Bayley go from holding the SmackDown Women's Championship from May 19, 2019 up until October 25, 2020 (save for five days when she dropped it and won it back from Charlotte Flair) to having nothing to do at WrestleMania 37?
She also managed to be the focal point of Raw despite being the SmackDown women's champion. WWE put more of an emphasis on her tag team title reign with Sasha Banks than on Raw women's titleholder Asuka, yet the writers can't think of any way to incorporate her on to the card at all?
Bayley could have at least won the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal, but that match has still not been announced.
To go from the top of the division for a year and a half to having no place on a two-night show is such a steep drop that it would give Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure a run for its money.
Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin
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As it stands, Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin have nothing to do at WrestleMania. They're part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal happening on Friday Night SmackDown, instead.
This past month has been terrible to them. They lost the Raw Tag Team Championships, lost to Drew McIntyre in a handicap match that booted them from accompanying Bobby Lashley ringside for his WWE Championship defense and then were removed from The Hurt Business entirely.
That's an absurd situation for two wrestlers who have competed in more than one match almost every week for a year.
Like with Garza, WWE should praise people who helped the company out when the chips were down. It should reward Alexander and Benjamin with something of note at WrestleMania 37.
The Women's Tag Teams and Billie Kay
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As things stand, there is not only no Battle Royal to incorporate the missing members of the women's division but also no WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match on the WrestleMania card.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler have been among the most heavily featured Superstars across both brands over the past 12 months and deserve an opportunity to defend their titles on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
Similarly, teams like The Riott Squad have put in the time and effort wrestling in empty arenas and should also get a chance to perform in front of a crowd for the first time in a year.
This extends to Natalya and Tamina as well as Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose, but it rings most true for Naomi's teammate, Lana. For months, WWE put more attention on her terrible feud with Jax. The least that could happen now is that all parties could be in a multi-woman match for the titles.
Billie Kay has also been a highlight of SmackDown with her search for a new teammate. In a perfect world, she would have a moment at WrestleMania when she finally reunites with Peyton Royce and The IIconics go after the tag titles.
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
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