5 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 16th)

2. Divas Get A Chance (And Time)

These columns have been hard on the Bella Twins for dragging the Divas division downward with their antics, poor acting and reality television-based push. But Monday night, Nikki Bella showed that given some time to perform €“ and the right opponent €“ she can put on a credible match. WWE followed through on giving Divas a chance Monday, slotting Nikki versus AJ Lee as the opening match (instead of the bathroom break match before the main event) and giving it plenty of time to develop, even carrying over through a commercial break. AJ proved to be the perfect foil for Nikki€™s power moves, as she is probably the best seller and natural underdog because of her size. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l98Ci-qi56c Even the crowd seemed to be invested in the match, which really was just a bout to further the Bella Twins/AJ and Paige tag match at WrestleMania. It shows that if you give the female wrestlers time to develop a match, don€™t throw it out during a death slot and sell it as a serious match, fans can and will respond. It wasn€™t on par with NXT€™s Charlotte versus Sasha Banks, but it was a vast improvement from the 30-second Divas match from a few weeks ago. Baby steps.