18 Ups & 12 Downs From The WWE SmackDown Live Era
16. Staking A Claim
Lost to countless other substantially worse programmes for the pair, Nikki Bella and Natalya's late-2016/early-2017 programme provided the latter with a remarkable reinvention as a sh*thouse heel and confirmed that the former's in-ring improvement the prior year had been no fluke.
With neither as tied to the Women's Revolution as the Four Horsewomen or the raft of new talents emerging on SmackDown Live after the brand split, the matches weren't expected to shine as brightly as they did - particularly considering the eyes both must have had for something big at WrestleMania mere months later.
Kicking the f*ck out of each other in several worthy fights, the two kept themselves relevant in a fiercely competitive period, with Natalya later going on to reign as Women's Champion in recognition of these contributions.