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Nikki Bella Retaining WWE Divas Title was the Wrong Decision

By Evan Gomes

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Why Nikki Bella retaining her WWE Divas Championship on Raw wasn’t the best move to make.

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On Monday night Nikki Bella was aiming to beat the record for longest reigning Divas champion. Coming into the night she was tied with AJ Lee at 295 days. Nikki defended her title against Charlotte, and managed to successfully defend her title. What I mean by “successfully defend her title” is that she was rewarded it after ditching the match and losing.

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The Bellas attempted to pull “twin magic” during the match by substituting Brie in for Nikki, but Charlotte managed to get Brie in a roll-up and score the victory. Charlotte was celebrating with her Team PCB members and her father, the legendary Ric Flair, but the jubilation was short-lived. Stephanie McMahon came out to “uphold the integrity of the Divas division” and inform Charlotte that she actually pinned Brie. Since Brie had interfered, the match was ruled a disqualification finish and Nikki lost but retained her title.

The booking for this match makes absolutely no sense. Rob Wolkenbrod on our website Twitter account put it quite perfectly:

WWE missed a golden opportunity with this match up. The match itself was a very good Divas match that had fans invested in the action. The crowd legitimately popped for Charlotte’s win and it generated a feel good moment. After Nikki had been rubbing it in the faces of all the Divas and the WWE Universe, seeing her get comeuppance from Charlotte was great. Sadly that moment was stolen from us due to the need to erase AJ Lee from the record books.

AJ Lee, who previously held the record for the longest Divas championship reign now has that record taken from her. WWE is not outwardly taking AJ out of history, but they aren’t avoiding it either. Lee is not going to be promoted due to her marriage to recent WWE defector and wrestling pariah CM Punk, but that definitely is part of it. The WWE wants to have someone else in the record book instead of Lee, and now they’ve replaced her.

Some people may argue that Charlotte winning in the rematch at Night of Champions will still have the same effect. Sadly, it won’t. While the crowd will still be behind the new Divas champion, it will not result in the same moment. She didn’t put the bragging heel in her place for boasting too loudly. Instead they allowed Nikki to have her moment, which will be lessened by the match at Night of Champions. She will only have the record by six days, proving she got the record just so AJ didn’t have it. Both parties will be less well off after title change.

The other reason that WWE made the wrong choice tonight is that it squandered the creation of many new feuds out of tonight. There were two feuds that could have furthered the Divas Revolution past it’s current level, which consists of groups of girls who just don’t like each other for… reasons.

We’ve seen this rivalry before, but the Bellas could have feuded away from the Divas title once again. Nikki could kick Brie out of their group for costing her the title by getting pinned. It isn’t much of a story, but it is more substantial than what is currently in place.

As well, Paige can cement a heel turn by being jealous of the early success of Charlotte. Paige would be angry that another person has done something similar to her by winning the Divas title early in their main roster career. It also adds an interesting dynamic to see where Becky Lynch goes. Good money would be on her sticking with Charlotte as the faces as Paige becomes a solo act who obsesses over nothing but the title and putting the relative newcomer Charlotte in her place.

These rivalries would develop the Divas division and take it away from just groups of Divas who happen to not like each other. Right now the revolution needs to focus on more action and less factions. While there is still hope that the Divas Revolution will become more than what it is now, this moment could have been the turning point.

Nikki Bella is still Divas champion and is now the longest reigning champion of all time. The Divas Revolution and the Divas division are both worse off after the WWE cheapened the future title win of Charlotte by booking the terrible finish. If WWE was just able to pull the trigger, they’d be able to create a new star in Charlotte and some great feuds in the Divas division.

What did you think of the Divas Championship match tonight? Do you agree with me or think that keeping the title on Nikki Bella was the correct call? Let us know in the comments below, and feel free to keep the conversation going with me on twitter at @E_Gomes.

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