From beginning with a shocking heel turn at Summerslam, the feud between Nikki and Brie Bella has been light on in-ring action but certainly heavy on "sports entertainment" histrionics. For World Wrestling Entertainment fans not-so excited by these types of developments, this feud has underwhelmed. However, in a case of WWE fans maybe not looking deep enough into the company-as-multimedia brand, they may be missing the point regarding the feud. Long gone are the days in WWE when the company was mainly about wrestling. Even more, the days have passed by where the company was about entertainment with a dash of wrestling, and yes, the famed Attitude Era arguably peaked some 15 years ago. Thus, the feud between Nikki and Brie Bella represents WWE at-present, which is a company that, as much as they're a global leader in pro wrestling, they're moreso a digital and cable content provider of episodic dramatic programming. Thus, while wrestling is important, "wrestling entertainment" is on the marquee, which means that the issues are oftentimes more important than the action, but ultimately everything is settled best when settled in the ring. The first of what will likely be many feuds in this revitalized brand with this as a guiding concept, it may not be great for wrestling, but it's certainly best for business, and here's why.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
