In a recent interview with Civilian Magazine, WWE Superstar Naomi spoke about her career as a wrestler and her time with the company. Naomi has come a long way from her start as a cheerleader for the Orlando Magic. It seems that this process could have been expedited a bit quicker, as Naomi recently revealed that it took her over two years to get her current gimmick in front of a television audience.
Debuting on the main roster as one half of Brodus Clay's dancing duo, The Funkadactyls, Naomi originally appeared in a mostly non-wrestling capacity. This eventually evolved into a more active role tagging with her partner and the other half of The Funkadactyls, Cameron. During this initial run, Naomi spent much of her time in the mid-card while competing for the Divas Championship on a few occasions. After a while, The Funkadactyls split up and she became a more prominent singles competitor.
During this period, she competed more often at the top of the card, though still without ever winning a title. Eventually, she turned heel and joined Team B.A.D. alongside Tamina and Sasha Banks. Throughout these years Naomi remained a consistently talented performer with a dynamic move-set, but a slowly developing character. It was clear that she had not yet reached the height of her potential.
After a brief hiatus due to injury and some pursuits in acting, Naomi returned to television as a face with her now-signature neon attire, blasting techno music and a new, energetic persona. Her revitalized character came thanks to the "Feel the Glow" gimmick that she came up with by herself. This new identity for Naomi helped her gain tremendous momentum with the fans, finally shooting her up the card to her first Smackdown Women's title. However, according to Naomi herself, this incredible rise could have happened much sooner.
During her interview, Naomi said of her current gimmick that, "“It took me two years to get that on TV. I had been pitching it literally for two years. I just knew that was me, and that was what kind of set me apart.”
Why exactly did it take WWE that long to allow Naomi to shine -- or rather, glow? That remains unclear. It is now abundantly clear how well Naomi works under her current gimmick. Naomi clearly believed it would get over, having continually pitched it for two straight years. WWE's refusal to let her try out her "Feel the Glow" gimmick for so long is just confusing, especially given how intent the company is on building new stars in its Women's division.
Naomi's story of fruitlessly pitching fresh ideas and gimmicks to replace ones that aren't working is, unfortunately, a common one among wrestlers. The WWE needs to be more invested in giving performers a chance to get over organically when the material spoon-fed by the creative team isn't getting the job done. The risk of these ideas falling flat falls almost entirely on the wrestler, and the reward could quite possibly be creating a future world champion.
For Naomi, it took over two years for her to reach her full potential, but it could have happened much sooner. Hopefully, a success story like hers could serve as the catalyst to more pitches from performers being taken into serious consideration by the WWE.