7 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Sept 14th)
2. Bella-Rific
Credit where credit is due: Nikki Bella turned in a good performance Monday night in her successful title defense. The now longest-reigning Divas Champion in WWE history kept things simple in her match against Charlotte, and it worked pretty well. For the bulk of the match, Bella focused on Charlottes left arm and shoulder, attacking it with gusto, draping it over the top rope, trying a cross-armbreaker, etc. To their credit, the announcers pointed out that if Charlottes arm was too damaged, she wouldnt be able to bridge back for a Figure-Eight leglock. That made Nikkis strategy even more sound as she repeatedly hammered the arm. Nikki Bella is never going to be mistaken for a female ring general, and shes not going to go down as one of the greatest womens champions in WWE (despite being the longest reigning Divas champ). But WWE put a lot of focus on this title match, and she came through with a competent match that sets the table for a Night of Champions rematch, where we very well could finally see a new champ.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
