So, the question many of us are asking after last night is the following:

How far is too far?

The answer, of course, is subjective, and while I fall somewhere between "perfectly fine" and "the worst thing I’ve ever seen," I believe my reasoning might be unique in some respects.

Paige bringing up Reid Flair to push the WWE Divas (ugh) Championship angle heading into Survivor Series was certainly a controversial choice, because in no way was that not going to tick a lot of people off or at least Philippe Petit the wire between good and bad taste. On its face, I don’t really have a problem with it, because I like the idea that heels are soulless pricks.

When Kevin Owens blocks Melissa Joan Hart, it fits, because KO, the character we see on screen (not the one that posts adorable photos of his son), is supposed to be a jerk. When the bad guy acts like a bad guy, it adds a semblance of realism. It’s dastardly, sometimes feels uncalled for, and occasionally actually raises our ire, but in essence, that’s the goal of an antagonist in professional wrestling. (And if we gloriously got MJH accompanying Ambrose, then a Ferguson Darling or Nick Bakay run-in on Sunday, that would be the greatest thing ever. Sam could also appear, turning it into a ladder match.)

When Charlotte brought Reid up herself, before the tears were shed, I immediately wondered what the purpose of it was, and then she mentioned that Paige was there as a shoulder to cry on when that event occurred. It then made sense. Using history no one knew to add emotion to the situation. But, it also opened the door for Paige to then turn around and use that situation to draw heat. Again, no real issue with it, except that it was nonsensical.

However, after thinking it over for all of 20 seconds, I changed my mind. I did get angry, but not because the line itself was full of horse dung or was completely inappropriate.

I was displeased because it showed such an obvious LACK of creativity and appealed to the very worst and easiest piece of low hanging fruit this side of Seth Rollins’ problematic girlfriend.

I want to be blown away with the level of writing and the twists and turns a story or a character will take, but in no way was this impressive. Coincidentally, I was thinking earlier Monday afternoon – after seeing a fleet of texts from journalists on a far higher plane than me – why are we forced to endure four letter words across every writer’s social media opinions? When did that become a good thing, or something to be lauded?

I write here at Cageside and I also write for Outkick the Coverage, and I’ve fallen into that very trap in the past, using intentionally foul language to accentuate a point, because I foolishly believed it might look more "in the now" and generationally cutting-edge. I’ve actually edited my own work and added something salacious, almost to fulfill a non-existent quota.

Reid Flair as a catalyst for the go-home angle between Paige and Charlotte is the equivalent of using the f-word to strengthen an argument or emphasize a sentence. It’s not that the word assuredly doesn’t help, because in the right audience (and pro wrestling fans might be part of that demographic) it can. It’s just lazy.

I've always felt the same way about stand-up comedians. The filthiest, often were the best, but never because they made a four letter word a hilarious take. Pryor was funny because he was funny. Murphy was funny for the same reason. Steve Martin is one of the funniest people alive and he always found a way to do it intelligently. I've always looked at Amy Schumer and thought, okay we get it, you talk really dirty about sex. But, you know she's smarter than that. So many comedians just end up going sex on every joke or being as crass as humanly possible, rather that just making us laugh until we cry by being genuinely insightful or hilarious.

That’s what Paige’s "lack of fight" comment was to me. It was the laziest, most fall asleep drooling in a recliner way to write something that would lead to Charlotte coming over the table after her. It was the penis or vagina joke of promos. Are we not better than that as a society, and is WWE creative not smart enough to write a few weeks of compelling, less risqué content that sells us on two excellent athletes and their dislike for one another?

The answer, increasingly, is no. Once a match is booked, oftentimes WWE is left with weeks afterward with which they find a way to dull our interest, rather than enhance it. Look to New Day and the Dudley Boyz, working incessant television matches before ever appearing with one another on Pay Per View. Once they did, it was old hat. Miscalculations such as Alberto Del Rio’s return as a heel, his original Atlanta face turn, and any number of other ideas have failed miserably, often to fill time or get to the next supercard.

This final segment last night stunk of Russo at his worst, or, of Jerry Springer. The only thing missing was Steve Wilkow pulling Paige and Charlotte apart after the Champion pulled the challenger’s top off and left her in a push-up bra and tight jeans. It was that transparently ludicrous. This angle has stunk since day one. The turn had to be done twice, and all the fans want right now is Sasha Banks. In that desire, patience remains a virtue.

Nothing has been a knockout here, and perhaps out of desperation, hey, let’s use Reid Flair to save this dumpster fire. These women and this company should have the ability to sell the angles and keep viewers’ eyes trained on the screen without feeling OBLIGATED to go so far in such a ridiculous direction.

What was frustrating is the fact that no one inside WWE could come up with a skillful way to push Paige and Charlotte, and instead went the dead brother route.

And, there was one more problem I had with the idea to use Reid Flair last night, again not because of the line, because of a larger concern.

This is a fake business. And we know it.

If we still EVER truly believed in anything, if WWE didn’t shove in our face on a weekly basis that this is purely entertainment and any resemblance to reality is strictly accidental (or done to pop a rating), Paige’s heeling to the nth degree might hold some logic. But, we don’t. WWE makes it clear that we’re watching a show. So, unlike a movie, where a character would never mention a real life scenario involving another character in that film, outside of a bad parody at least, this wrestling show seemingly does it all the time.

For this instance, the company used a real death, a true tragedy, in the context of a mid-card angle, and it didn’t even work. Greenville, South Carolina barely shifted in their seats on the line, instead only getting semi-involved when the ladies took the assault to the floor. Again, Russo tweeted how much he loved this, and of course he did. Recall his involvement in the Terri Runnels miscarriage angle that irritated the world in 1999, not to mention all of his WCW antics. External of Russo, remember that both Paige and AJ Lee cut faux-bomb promos about Nikki and Brie slutting their way to the top of WWE.

Was using the death of Reid Flair on RAW over the line? I’d hesitate to go that far, even though it was definitely cringe-worthy. Instead, it just showed that with the women in particular, WWE is rapidly running out of ideas. This is the sitcom that ran two years too long, as the storylines got completely outlandish. It’s the drama that killed off a big character before the writers realized they boxed themselves into a precarious corner.

The problem here is the women should have any number of fresh stories to tell, because all we’ve seen this decade is the crazy girl or the boy-crazy nutjob or the catty hot girl or the jealous sister or the conceited girl. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of those narratives in moderation, it’s pretty disheartening to notice that nothing has changed. Why are Charlotte and Paige the only two women being used? Same reason. Can you imagine WWE pushing a smart, non-title angle between, for example, Sasha and Nattie, or Naomi and Brie, or Becky and Sasha? The ideas are so thin for the one program they ARE pushing with the women, just think how bad the secondary concepts would be.

Again, Paige mentioning Reid Flair just left me rolling my eyes, not vomiting all over the room. I wasn’t appalled. I was disappointed. It was unnecessary, but mainly because we know this is a work, so why bother, and because there’s no reason to use the figurative f-word unless you’re a garbage writer.

Bad taste? Eh, I can see it both ways. It's pro wrestling.

Lame? Indubitably. Aim for something higher.

The decision was slothful, but not necessarily reprehensible.