5 female wrestling managers who surpassed their clients in WWE
Karrion Kross is one of the rising stars in NXT at the moment, seemingly the next in line to challenge for the NXT Championship. The WWE management seems to be pushing him hard, giving him on of the best entrance gimmicks in recent history, before booking him to squash an NXT legend in Tomasso Ciampa.
But what makes the package complete is the presence of his manager/valet, Scarlett. Known as Scarlett Bordeaux in her Impact days, she was a major star in the promotion before she decided to follow Kross to the WWE. The duo are in a relationship in real life and the chemistry is for all to see on NXT.
However, there have been questions raised about their continued success as a group. Is Kross charismatic enough to headline an NXT division comprising of the likes of the Undisputed Era, Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor on his own? The gimmick and the overall presentation has masked his flaws in the ring, but what happens if Scarlett is not part of the equation?
Fans and critics have suggested that Scarlett is the bigger star between the duo and that Kross might not make it as a singles star in the WWE. While it is too early to pass that judgement, it does bring back memories of quite a few female managers in pro-wrestling who reached those dizzying heights that their clients were not able to.
This list looks at five such tandems.
#5. Carmella - surpassed Enzo and Cass
Carmella had an inauspicious debut in the WWE. She was first shown on NXT TV as a hairdresser in a throw-away segment involving Enzo Amore and Big Cass. She would soon join the duo on a permanent basis, making her main roster debut on the Roadblock 2016 pay-per-view, in a match for the NXT Tag team titles.
But things turned sour when Enzo & Cass were called up to the main roster the night after Wrestlemania 32 and Carmella was left behind on NXT. She had a match with Bayley for the NXT Women's title, but she seemed lost without her former stablemates.
She would soon join the main roster after the WWE draft, but was assigned to Smackdown whereas Enzo & Cass became major players on the RAW tag team scene. She was eventually paired up with James Ellsworth to form a comedy duo, but finally rose up the ranks after the introduction of the Women's Money in the Bank ladder match.
Ellsworth climbed the ladder to retrieve the briefcase for Carmella, which sparked negative reactions on social media. People were sympathetic that Carmella's big moment was overshadowed by the inclusion of Ellsworth, but she made it right the next week when she won the follow-up ladder match to retain the title of 'Ms. Money in the Bank'.
Carmella would hold the briefcase for nearly 300 days, while the tag team she previously managed were also doing fine at this time. Enzo was the Cruiserweight champion, while Big Cass seemed to be groomed for a main event spot. However, by the time Carmella cashed in her contract on Charlotte Flair to win the Smackdown women's title, both of her former clients had left the company.
Enzo would leave after misconduct accusations outside the ring, and Cass reportedly had an attitude problem. Neither of them won the world title or even a tag team belt in WWE.