7. Stepping Up Her Game
Those who read this column regularly know that theres no love lost for Nikki Bella and her continued role at the top of the Divas division. However, the longest-reigning Divas champion in WWE history managed to not only hold her own Sunday, but she delivered a strong performance in her title match with Charlotte. Nikki played the power game in the match, hitting some high-impact moves while working on Charlottes back, including an Alabama Slam against the ring apron. While Bella has been using more power moves in her arsenal these days, it fit together with Charlottes offense pretty well, and they told a decent story, with the attacks on the champs back initially preventing her from using her Figure Eight submission hold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AESWD8zfTUk Would fans have rather seen Sasha Banks in her place to recreate one of NXTs best ongoing feuds? Absolutely, but this match worked pretty well overall. Now, hopefully Charlottes successful defense means that Nikki goes to the back of the line and we see some new, better feuds even if it means Paige finally officially turns on Charlotte and Becky Lynch for good.
Scott Carlson
Contributor
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.
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