WWE Night Of Champions: 12 Major Talking Points

This was arguably the best match of Nikki Bella’s career. She did everything properly in this match: she picked a body part, in this case, Charlotte’s leg, and targeted it throughout the match. She showed some true heel antics, like Suplexing Charlotte so that her knees hit the ring ropes, smashing her leg into the ring post, and even pulling a Bret Hart with a ring post Figure-4. 

Had Nikki acted like this for the duration of her reign (instead of flip-flopping between allegiances on a regular basis), then perhaps there wouldn’t be so much vitriolic hostility towards her.

WWE didn’t make that many mistakes with this match, but the one they did make was crucial, and it really harmed the storytelling element of this contest. Charlotte, who sold the damage done to her leg like it was legitimate, recovered from all that pain fairly easily, and won the match with an easily-applied Figure-Eight.

In doing so, she acted as if Nikki’s offence had much less of an effect on her, and didn’t even scream that loud when she applied he hold.

Considering how much time and effort Nikki put into damaging Charlotte’s leg, it would’ve made perfect sense for her to win with her other finisher, the Natural Selection. That move doesn’t require as much leg use, and would’ve allowed Charlotte to win while still presenting Nikki’s offense and strategy as effective.

That doesn’t mean it was a bad match - not at all. But sometimes the small details are what prevent a good match from being great.