“Respect, never came to those just waiting for it.”- is what you hear when Dana Brooke‘s music hits. This entrance music could not have been made for anyone better than Dana. She has come leaps and bounds from her time in NXT, however it always seems that her momentum is always stopped before it can even get started. Everything seems to be present: The look is there, the athleticism is there, she is good on the mic, so why is it that Brooke has not received the full push that she rightfully deserves?
Brooke debuted in a backstage segment with Tyler Breeze at Takeover: Fatal 4way in September 2014, but before her debut she was heavy into being a body builder. No one can deny the strong physique that this talent exudes, the proof being that she was a finalist in the Arnold Classic in 2013, 2015, and 2017, placing twelfth, thirteenth, and fifth respectfully. Her physique is what takes care of having the look (check). When Brooke’s entrance music hits and she comes out to the stage to take her walk down the ramp to the ring she always shows how athletic she can be by doing an aerial cartwheel. This takes care of showing her athleticism (double check). As a heel character and yelling out her saying, “play time is over”, shows that she has cemented that one thing that fans love to hear…a catch phrase (i.e. Paige‘s “This is my House”). This takes care of her being good on the mic (triple check). There have been many times that Brooke could have seized an opportunity to make it big with fans and get that push she deserves. Here are just a couple of examples of the times that her fans were hoping for that it was time for the WWE to use her to her full potential.
In April of 2015, Brooke made her presence known by teaming up with Emma. This duo had frequent run ins with the Empress of Tomorrow Asuka. As we all know, Asuka’s undefeated streak means that Brooke was never successful at beating her, however, by teaming with Emma this showed promise. Come to May of 2016, just one year later, Brooke was called up to the RAW main roster by assaulting Becky Lynch during a backstage segment with Emma. She taunted Lynch during the attack which showed a promising feud starting to boil. As quickly as that debut occurred was as quickly as it fizzled out. Unfortunately for Brooke, Emma was injured at a house show, which halted and eventually led to the end of the Emma and Brooke duo.
Once Emma went out with an injury, it left Brooke by herself. She was quickly put with the queen Charlotte Flair as her protégé. From May to September of 2016, Flair was battling back and forth with Sasha Banks for the RAW Women’s Championship to which Brooke was Flair’s right hand woman. The relationship eventually became more of Flair bullying Brooke and eventually she did not want to take the abuse any longer. In September Brooke retaliated by slapping Flair, which received a huge positive applause from the crowd.
It took until March of 2017 for Brooke to fully turn on her leader. When she did turn on Flair, she received a similar reaction to the one where she slapped her six months prior. This was another opportunity to build a solid feud and give Brooke the push she deserves. Nothing ended up coming to fruition from her turn on Flair, much to the dismay of her fans.
The matches that Brooke has had up to this point were quality matches. She has improved a lot since she first started in developmental where she was very timid and cautious. The woman that appeared on breaking ground is not the same woman we see today. Even compared to the time she appeared first on RAW, and to the current day, she has become faster in the ring and more technical.
Sadly, this past August, Brooke’s boyfriend Dallas McCarver passed suddenly. Since then she has been devoting her successes and her progress to him.
Every time it seems as if Brooke is going to be pushed forward, she seems to be pushed backwards. She seems determined one day to achieve gold.
Does Dana deserve a quality push? Has she improved? Is she championship material? Tell all in the comments.
