Beyond WrestleMania 40: How Will WWE Utilize Jade Cargill?

Jade is a paradox in two senses of the word. First, as a wrestler, Jade has contradictory qualities. On the one hand, Jade’s charisma, style, physique, and personality scream WWE superstar.

If WWE held a brainstorming session where they mapped out their ideal female wrestler, Jade would hit all the boxes for appearance and presentation. Cargill from her first appearance on Dynamite looked a like WWE star. The issue is appearance can become a reality. Seeing makes you believe and expect more from Jade than she is capable of with just three years of experience.

As many fans saw in AEW, Jade is green. Charisma and protection only worked for so long. Pointed comments from Triple H during the post-Survivor Series press conference:

“I have no less belief in her now than I did when she signed with WWE. It’s interesting when she came in, we talked about her development and where she would land. But where the development was, I want to make sure that no matter what is thrown at Jade Cargill, she’s ready, and at no fault of her own, I think that she was limited in that.” Triple H

There is some truth to this beneath the shot at AEW. The expectation that Jade’s in-ring skills might develop at an enhanced rate to meet her incredible “it factor aura” is misguided. Before her debut, some fans were already suggesting WWE had no faith in Jade or that her in-ring skills were weaker than they appeared on AEW TV.

Jaded

This links to the second paradox. Jade Cargill as a prospect is simultaneously two opposites at once. Cargill is a powerful and eye-grabbing presence, capable of being WWE’s next female headliner. At the same time, Cargill is vulnerable and at risk of being exposed and undermined by her ringwork, which will not be at the same level yet as other top WWE women’s stars.

Comparisons between Cargill and Goldberg, given her undefeated streak in AEW, only confirmed to some fans, as historians and humans are good at pattern spotting, their biases. Like Goldberg’s WWE run, some fans are waiting for Cargill’s aura to be neutralised by her inexperience or by creative mistakes. Some are waiting for Cargill to fall and then to see whether and how WWE will be able to rebuild her.

In many ways, the focus on Cargill is as much on the creative than her wrestling ability.

In AEW, fans have been fine with the strings, the smoke and mirrors used for booking inexperienced wrestlers like Jade. At least until this became stagnant and character development stationary.

AEW’s Hook experienced a similar holding pattern of short squashes to Jade. But playing to strengths over time becomes repetitive. Significantly, unlike Jade, Hook was given more chances for character development and in-ring work progression with the perimeters gradually (glacially) widening.

And in WWE, although trust in creativity is stronger, the WWE’s women’s division under Triple H has felt underdeveloped. Some prospective wrestlers fans were excited like Cameron Grimes barely featured on TV, let alone go to the moon. The stigma of WWE’s creative issues still exists. It is perhaps why more experienced top free agents have looked to AEW.

Mirroring Starts 

Despite what WWE might claim about AEW’s faults, they have been happy to copy the homework of their rivals. Jade’s official debut this past week on Smackdown introduced her using presentation and music that seemed familiar.

Plagiarism jokes aside, WWE took elements of Jade’s entrance and presentation that worked. The pedestal WWE are building upon was erected in AEW. That should not take away from the hard work and skills of Jade Cargill.

Rewatching her introduction, what was noticeably different was how explicit the commentary was in getting over how impressive Jade is. Compared to AEW commentary, Corey Graves and Wade Barrett allowed no room for inference. Jade is a star to watch could have been projected in lights above her head.     

Like AEW, WWE is making Cargill a spectacle, like how AEW debuted Jade as the representative and tag team partner of legendary basketball player and broadcaster, Shaquille O’Neal. Differently, the spectacle of Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet vs. Shaq and Jade Cargill had the prospect of a trainwreck. Instead, it over-delivered. Everything that could go right went right. That shouldn’t take away from all four participants’ work.

Now, WWE looks to feature Cargill in-ring at Wrestlemania 40, in lore and hype the biggest card of the year. Again, protected in a tag-team contest, yet with less risk given the five highly capable and strong wrestlers she is joined with.

Although there is still the risk given the talent around her, Cargill could still underdeliver. Unlike the period when Jade was in AEW, the WWE’s women’s division, specifically her opponents at Mania, have years so much more in-ring experience than Jade and are capable of things Jade has yet to master.

Compared to her AEW debut, fans have a clearer sense of who Cargill is and what she offers.

AEW Foundations 

AEW benefitted from WWE’s losing out on Jade Cargill in the first place. On Talk is Jericho, Cargill spoke about a big red flag that stopped her signing with WWE, before 2023, was WWE representatives questioning her motivations to become a wrestler and her ability to manage a WWE career and a child. AEW was a better-starting fit.

“It made me feel at ease about the decision I wanted to make. I didn’t have to relocate, I felt at home.” Jade Cargill, Talk is Jericho.

From her debut in the Pandemic, Cargill became one of the biggest talking points in the company. Many pegged her as a future AEW women’s champion. Creatively, AEW, like WWE emphasised the fact that Jade was already a star and that her only trajectory was up. A short storyline where Jade was pursued by various AEW managers emphasised this fact.

The pairing of Jade and “Smart” Mark Sterling was clever. While Jade did not need a manager or mouthpiece, the contrast initially gave Cargill someone to play off. To help showcase her character and someone for her opponents to get some revenge against or hurt Jade before matches without denting her aura.

The winning streak and prominent featuring at first worked as AEW found a way to make squash matches, at least for a time, fresh again. Building a long-running winning streak into the inaugural TBS Women’s Championship tournament that Jade won, both added to Jade’s prestige and in theory a chance to begin levelling up her by wrestling more experienced talent.

The Cracks 

The reality however became that Jade was placed on an island separate from the rest of the women’s division. The AEW’s women’s division history of small spotlights is something I’ve covered here.

For Jade, just as much as Britt Baker and subsequent women’s champions, a lack of credible opponents, repetitive storylines and a lack of opportunity for more meaningful character development made the paradoxes I discussed earlier glaringly obvious.

By also restricting Jade to squash matches of less than five minutes, it also created the self-fulfilling prophecy and perception that Jade would struggle to work in longer, more back-and-forth matches. Restricting the opponents also to enhancement talent and challengers of the week who did not seem like they could feasibly beat Jade, built resentment in the online fan base.

Some presentation elements were added with The Baddies and Stokely Hathaway. The former felt unnecessary and added no new layers to Jade’s persona as “that b$tch”. Hathaway in energy and humour did not fit as well as Sterling who later returned to Cargill. Neither addition addressed the primary issue.

In part, by trying to protect Cargill from exposure, it drew more attention to the possibility that she was not ready for more. Or the perception that Cargill, like many of the women in AEW at the time, were not allowed to achieve more. If she had been allowed to fail, the narrative with WWE would be very different right now.

Instead, Jade’s TBS championship run ended abruptly and her exit, which Jade has not commented on, is looked at by some as a what-if. By others as wasted potential and by others as a sign of AEW’s turbulent 2024.

And yet, didn’t fans expect the jump to WWE from day one?

Ambitions, X Factor and Work Ethic 

Jade Cargill has refused to talk of AEW in a negative light. Instead, Cargill has talked of building her legacy. From her debut in AEW, Cargill seemed like a perfect fit for WWE.

The market leader has influence and its narrative of wrestling and its grandeur that AEW cannot amass in five short years. From the day Cargill debuted, it seemed inevitable she would get to WWE. Rightly, she took an opportunity that worked for her and her family. Jade became a star in AEW and on her terms moved.

The focus for Jade is on legacy. She acknowledges that she took:

“An alternative route to get to where I needed to be to create those phenomenal moments and to create that household name… It’s [WWE’s] where dreams are made. It’s the grand stage and I’m ready to dance”. Jade Cargill, Vibe.com.

One thing cannot be understated about Cargill also. Something that likely has made some fans dislike her is perhaps a perception that everything appears easy for her character.

Long-time fans are used to “outsiders”, former sports athletes coming into wrestling and being pushed to the moon based on their looks and charisma. Jade is driven. Listen to her mentor, Mark Henry or Bryan Danielson who coached Jade during the latter stages of her AEW run.

“Anybody who gets pushed like she does, initially… there is a certain pressure to being on national TV with less than five months’ experience and going out there and having to do a 10-minute match. I can’t even imagine. The first time I ever did a live TV match, I had been wrestling for over ten years. I was completely comfortable. It’s a completely different ballgame and she’s handled it very well.” Bryan Danielson, Fightful.

Learn from Ronda Rousey

Whether or not Cargill is at the level WWE expects her to be at right now is spectacle and guesswork. However, something they could consider in the short term (at least for one year) is a solution that could have made Ronda Rousey’s transition to wrestling easier.

In Ronda’s second book, Our Fight, Rousey highlighted that she felt WWE removed the support given to her for her Wrestlemania debut too quickly. Ronda has suggested that not being given the same level of road-agenting and support throughout her run detrimentally impacted her.

Becky Lynch also suggested Ronda was “mishandled”. Officials felt her first match was a success. That Ronda had pro wrestling down without thinking deeply about the context. Ronda had three experienced WWE performers, Kurt Angle, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon supporting her. Jade will have even more support in having Naomi, Bianca Belair, and Damage CTRL around her.

Also, she later had the support of Bryan Danielson. Extending this further and giving Jade support backstage as she works longer matches and different styles could reduce her chances of exposure.

Yet no amount of coaching can protect Cargill from creative missteps and the eventuality that at some point, Cargill may slip up in the ring or will have to take a loss. Then again, shouldn’t this be easy for WWE?

We Tell Stories, Pal

Since her Royal Rumble debut, a feud was teased with Bianca Belair. Some fans are already questioning whether Cargill turns on Belair and Naomi at Mania. But then what? If not, does Jade go into a tag team with Belair or Naomi to go for the Women’s Tag Team Championship? Do they build to a SummerSlam singles match with Belair?

AEW failed to take Jade beyond “that b$tch”. WWE will at some point need to or risk the character becoming stale. Jade’s charisma makes her a natural heel, yet allowing the fans to cheer her, trying her as a face at first might be an interesting experiment that makes further character development and a heel turn more effective.

There are possible stories and Jade has charisma, but just as it did in AEW, that will carry Jade so far until her character needs more layers.

It’s an issue already known in WWE’s women’s division. It’s been a repeated complaint linked to Charlotte Flair and even Bianca Belair, who some fans would like to turn heel.

As already stated, WWE has an issue with its women’s division booking and character development, which is ironic for the storytelling company. Yet this hasn’t stopped the company from making record profits or grabbing headlines.

At some point also, the bell will have to ring and in the ring, Jade may make a mistake. And if so, creative will need to adapt because despite how some might feel, it won’t be the end of the world for Jade. She’s still young and can learn, but will WWE?

It Matters When She Loses

When Jade loses, how her character reacts to this and is subsequently booked will define Cargill’s career more than any win. Jade is not Goldberg or Asuka or any other wrestler who had an undefeated streak. Whether or not her legacy can move beyond that of a constant winner will only be determined when she takes a loss.

On the way out of AEW, Cargill lost twice. The first in an impromptu match. The second was on an episode of Rampage in a rematch that had a short amount of build. Given she moved on to pastures elsewhere, those losses are not canon or tied to this WWE version of the character.

Asuka’s winning streak had not defined her career in the way it defined Goldberg. For others like Ryback, his streak became the pinnacle of his career. Then a bad booking happened. A momentum-crushing loss to Jade’s mentor, Mark Henry at Wrestlemania signalled Ryback would likely not be the guy now.

Jade is also not Ryback. Jade is Jade. And WWE needs to find ways to keep Jade developing in-ring, as an interesting character with dimensions who might experience ups and downs to help her form her legacy.

If Jade’s going to be a storm that changes the shape of WWE, the reality is she’ll need to deal with peaks and dips, the cycles that all other wrestlers go through. If Jade remains placed on a pedestal, it’s more likely going to limit her legacy. Remove her from it and this will give her the longevity she wants and is capable of.