5 Best & 5 Worst Moments From WWE Raw's 3 Hour Era

9. WORST: Bella Tension

Brie Bella Nikki Bella
WWE

At SummerSlam 2014, Brie Bella was defeated by Stephanie McMahon in a rather tragic payoff to the Authority vs Daniel Bryan story following Bryan's abdication of the World Heavyweight Title.

As his real life wife, Brie was forced to take the brunt of the Authority's abuse until she walked off the job in disgust. In her absence, Nikki was fed to the wolves instead, which led to her shocking turn on her sister to aid Stephanie in victory at the summer supercard.

If only that crumb of common sense had been more laboured upon.

Despite the thin veneer of logic, WWE quickly embraced their lowest common denominator storyline instead, as Nikki went off on weekly diatribes about how Brie was always the favourite when they were kids, how she'd steal all her boyfriends, and how selfish and spiteful she had been all their lives.

That Brie's acting couldn't effectively convey if Nikki was actually lying was only part of the problem when they engaged in a public slanging match during an August edition of Raw.

Shortly before employing Jerry Springer as a moderator and ultimately reuniting with virtually zero explanation, heel Nikki ripped into her tearful sister, calling her a 'pathetic hot mess' before screaming in her face that she wished Brie had died in the womb. The supposedly shocking line fell painfully flat, as fans completely disconnected from the listless conflict.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett