And naturally, Trish Stratus accomplished more in 30 seconds that night than an entire head-shaving segment, because conveying the story as you say is basically her bread and butter.
It's that combination of what you described: the most charismatic wrestler slid into the "good" category, which is about the most valuable cog you can find in wrestling.
Integrating character performance into the wrestling itself is why the NXT women's division worked, why the Women's Revolution didn't until Charlotte and Sasha Banks were paired off, and why Trish Stratus always ascended back to the top of her division in the early-2000s. Victoria after the Trish Stratus angle reminds me of Bayley post-NXT - both know how to do the moves, but it comes across as neither knowing why or when anymore.
So this whole thing about Trish Stratus only having good matches because she's against "some of the best women's workers in US history" is probably the only real disagreement I have on your point of view. It's not like she's in the ring with Sara Del Rey, Cheerleader Melissa, MsChif, or Mercedes Martinez who are having great matches in any combination of two names; she's in the same division with six other wrestlers who just happen to have their best matches and best character work with Trish Stratus specifically. And that's the part that I can't ignore: the common denominator.
Trish Stratus would rise to the level of the division she's in. Took me all of five seconds of her interaction with Sasha Banks to know that one.
Clearly you're a big Trish mark. And that's fine. This whole conversation started about ring work and you're trying to bring in so much more. And if you're bringing in all that other stuff, Nikki and Brie become better too because they had decent to good character work, and the reactions to go with it.
Maybe not clearly, but I felt it was obvious I was talking mainstream, hence bringing up the Bomb Angels. Of course there are better indy workers.
But you can ignore that most women didn't get time that Trish does. How do others get a chance when they're working 5 minutes MAX. Not just matches, but build up and the whole she-bang.
I don't blame WWE. They're about money and ringwork was not all that important during that era. Trish made money.
And this is getting crazy - I don't think Trish is bad. She's not. Not even close. But if you're a ring work fan, you're never picking Trish. And if you do, you're picking inferior wrestling.
Saying Bayley doesn't know how to work is crazy. She's the best storyteller in WWE, women wise. She's been used awfully on the main roster... but so have most of the women.
Sasha knows how to almost kill herself every night but survive, so there's that.
Bayley, Charlotte, Asuka, Kairi and Becky are the best in WWE. Riott and LeRae are great too. Tessa would be amazing if signed. Sasha isn't bad (she's really very good, also good are Abbey Laith, Sarah Logan, and Nikki Cross), but I wouldn't be surprised if she paralyzes herself.
Iwatani and Shirai are the best female wrestlers in the world.