NXT Smart Marks > WWE Smart Marks

NXT fans support the product. WWE fans support the notion that they gain some sort of fame by acting like jerkoffs. Then the show’s over, and they’re anonymous. They can’t fool themselves again until the next show.

People joke that “the internet ruined wrestling.” Except that it’s no joke. It’s a lot closer to the truth than I would have ever thought possible.

Nobody abjectly sucked at the NXT show I witnessed. But Bayley is an absolute phenomenon. She worked the crowd in a manner Dusty Rhodes would be proud of, and the fans adored her in a way that goes beyond a normal babyface pop.

They don’t like Bayley. They love Bayley, in the truest sense you can apply that word without personal contact.

In WWE, the fans don’t love anybody. They just don’t.

There were six or eight little girls dressed like Bayley (or wearing Bayley T-shirts) and sporting side ponies. How many girls between the ages of 7-12 regularly watch WWE Network? Not many, I’d venture. I’d also venture the ones who do are all huggers. Wait ‘til the Bayley phenomenon gets opened up to the mainstream. To cable TV. Where every little girl in America can easily see it.

Nobody is better at getting their parents to buy them stuff than little girls.

Package and present her the same way. If it doesn’t work, that’s WWE’s fault. Because Pamela Martinez gets it, and the fans get her.

Charlotte as champ. Bayley as challenger. The arrogant 5-foot-10 baby Flair against the personification of a WWE fangirl. Size difference. Conflicting characters. Both excellent in the ring. That’s WrestleMania 2017. It could wind up being a lot closer to the top of the card than you’d imagine.

Because right now, just about everything else WWE offers is the same old story.

Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX