6 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 23rd)

2. Divas Deliver Again

Another week, another women€™s match gets well more than two minutes. This time, Paige squared off with Nikki Bella in an impromptu Divas Championship title match that was designed to get AJ Lee and Paige to implode. (AJ and Paige had to decide who would take the title match first, then the other is ringside watching it unfold.) Nikki showed off some real heel mannerisms, even channeling her inner-Scott Steiner by doing pushups while Paige was down on the mat. The announcers treated the match seriously, analyzing different aspects of it and talking about how each woman was grasping for ways to win as the other kicked out of big moves. Through all of this, the fans were buying into it, cheering right along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WqVbXBmk0 The cheap ending €“ an errant back elbow from AJ caught Paige and allowed Nikki Bella to retain €“ was unfortunate but necessary so AJ and Paige could indeed implode six nights before WrestleMania. It was a classic, tried-and-true storyline, but it worked because it was played straight and treated seriously. If women€™s wrestling is going to make a comeback of sorts, it will need performances like this.