Alexa Bliss’ Time As The Goddess Was The Peak Of Her WWE Career
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Whilst Alexa Bliss is a performer who consistently gains decent reactions from the audience whenever she comes out to the ring in WWE, she is someone who has dropped a significant amount over the last couple of years, to the point where fans have been clamouring for her to return to her past character and gimmick. When looking over Bliss’ whole career, it is evident that she is one of the more successful female wrestlers of the last decade, however the peak of that came during her time as ‘The Goddess’, with things going downhill ever since she left this gimmick behind.
Alexa Bliss’ Time In NXT Prepared Her For Becoming The Goddess
When Alexa Bliss debuted in NXT, she was draped in blue, silver, and glitter, with her being presented as the most pure babyface imaginable. It was an innocent, likable gimmick, but it was one which didn’t have legs. After aligning with Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy, things began changing for Bliss, as she eventually turned heel, leading the team to NXT Tag Team Championship gold. For someone who played such a great babyface, it was crazy to see how much more comfortable she was as a heel.
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These were the first steps towards what would become her ‘Goddess’ character on WWE’s main roster. Even though her character work was strong, she didn’t achieve too much in NXT, with her personality perhaps not fleshed out enough at the time. Before she had a chance to climb the ranks in NXT, she was drafted to SmackDown during the 2016 brand split and draft, beginning what would become the best stretch of her entire career.
Alexa Bliss Became A Multi-Time Champion As The Goddess
On SmackDown, as a singles competitor, Bliss was given more time to develop her in-ring and mic skills, with her highly impressing despite still being fairly inexperienced. She developed ‘The Goddess’ gimmick, which would see her as a cowardly heel who was highly vindictive, vicious, and egotistical, cutting deep into her opponents and finding any and every way to achieve victory. Whilst there weren’t defined characteristics like there are for gimmicks such as the Undertaker or Bray Wyatt, it was a gimmick which felt natural and reality-based, which made it very effective.
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This gimmick led Bliss to quickly become the SmackDown Women’s Champion, winning the belt just six months after the draft at the 2016 Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV, by defeating Becky Lynch. This was a testament to how much she had impressed the upper WWE brass, and she continued at the top of the card, making her one of the few names who managed to make themselves feel like a star whilst the Four Horsewomen of WWE, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Bayley, were dominating the division.
Bliss would go on to become a 2-time SmackDown Women’s Champion and a 3-time Raw Women’s Champion, with it feeling rare to see her without gold between the years of 2016 and 2019. She was a certified main event star within the women’s division, and that was all down to her tremendous character work, and how well her ‘Goddess’ personality translated onscreen and in front of the live audience.
Since Dropping The Goddess Gimmick, Alexa Bliss’ Stock Has Fallen
Throughout 2019, Bliss became less of the ‘Goddess’, with her gradually turning face during a tag team run alongside Nikki Cross, where the pair would become two-time Women’s Tag Team Champions. Bliss was fine in this role, but her personality had been stripped back several layers. In 2020, Bliss became involved with Bray Wyatt, with his ‘Fiend’ alter ego corrupting Bliss, forming what would become the ‘Firefly Funhouse’ version of Bliss. Fans were divided on this character, especially since it was far too creepy with too many magical elements. Once live crowds returned following the pandemic, people got bored quickly of the over-the-top gimmick.
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WWE is now unsure of how to present Bliss, with her current iteration being a blend of her babyface character and the creepy character, but it doesn’t work. She is currently far from being in the Raw or SmackDown Women’s Title scenes, which is a huge shame considering she has such a strong list of accomplishments and proven success as a champion on both brands. Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear path back to the top for Bliss, and if WWE persist on keeping elements of her previous spooky gimmick, it is likely that she won’t return to the heights she was at previously. Bliss has seemingly gone past her peak in WWE, with things going downhill in the last year or so. Fans wanted a return of the ‘Goddess’, but both WWE and Bliss seem unwilling to oblige.
