10 Live Observations From WWE SmackDown In St. Paul

7. Nikki Got The Pop Of The Night

John Cena Nikki Bella Carmella James Ellsworth
WWE

John Cena responding to Maryse’s slap with “you just made the biggest mistake of your life” got a solid reaction from the crowd. But somehow, when Nikki’s music played, they exploded. That’s one of the most surprising reactions I’d ever experienced at a live event. I mean, if nothing else, it’s a weird song to get excited about. Brock Lesnar's distinct guitar wail or Austin’s glass shattering themes immediately changes the mood of any audience, but “You can look, but you can’t touch…” is about as underwhelming as it gets. Not so at SmackDown.

There may be a few reasons why she got such a big pop. Cena did a great job of winning over the crowd in the opening segment, and the world may have more Total Divas/Total Bellas fans than one would suspect. When John and Nikki finally joined forces on-air, it likely fulfilled some sort of fantasy for a segment of the fanbase.

Whatever it was, Nikki was over with the St. Paul audience, which has to be a pretty encouraging sign for WWE heading into the mixed tag Mania match.

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As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com