Should it surprise anyone that WWE Uncreative refused to do the right thing for business and take the Divas title off Nikki Bella to prevent her from becoming the longest-reigning Divas champion?
The fault, of course, lies at the top of the food chain with the old sea dog himself, Vincent K. McMahon. I've said enough about his being out of touch with reality, but in his warped world, vindictiveness and pettiness never go out of style, and they, along with McMahon, should've been phased out long, long ago.
5 months ago, AJ Lee followed the lead of her husband, CM Punk, and walked away from WWE, announcing her retirement. The reality is, she realized that as long as Nikki Bella is tethered to John Cena (see: "Total Divas"), she, like Michelle McCool before her, will have the artificial entitlement befitting an undeserving champion. We never heard stories about Undertaker having any say in Michelle's runs as women's/divas champion, especially during the LayCool era (2009-11), but because Cena is such a polarizing figure, unlike 'Taker, the gossips decided to conclude that Cena had something to do with Nikki not jobbing away the title. Never mind all the goodwill ambassador stuff Cena does, working with Make-a-Wish, and all that. The haters needed as many reasons as possible to explain the extra long title reign Nikki has, which is her 2nd, the first being in 2011, before she & Brie took their siesta from the company, if you will. AJ had the better story, and was cute as a button, even in psycho mode. Nikki? I'd rather water a cactus.
When Stephanie McMahon came out on Raw and changed Charlotte's pin to a DQ due to Brie's illegal involvement (twin magic, of course), she didn't go all the way and strip Nikki of the title, as she should've. After all, the desert dimwits pulled the same scam on Paige just 3 months ago at Money in the Bank, and got away with it. That's because Vince wanted to erase cute, cuddly, adorable AJ from the record book because of issues between Punk and the company. Petty? Yep. Vindictive? You bet. Stupid? Heck, yeah.
This is the way it should've gone, and there are two options.
Option A:
Steph comes out, but, as a poster on Yahoo suggested, she meets with the ref (let's say it was Charles Robinson, since I didn't watch the show, and Lil' Naitch would've been an easy pick since Charlotte was the opponent), away from the boom mic. Ring announcer Lillian Garcia is called in, and we then learn that not only has Nikki been disqualified for interference, but she also has been stripped of the title for the same infraction, and that there will be a triple threat elimination match at Night of Champions, with Sasha Banks completing the troika.
Option B:
Stephanie simply orders a restart, and has Brie, Alicia Fox, and, let's assume, Paige & Becky Lynch, sent back to the locker room. If Brie or Alicia interfere again, then Nikki loses the title via DQ, which is the stip made for Sunday's rematch at Night of Champions.
So, you wonder, what, other than his relationship with Nikki, would motivate Cena to negotiate on her behalf? Could it be there were backstage issues with Cena & Punk that we don't know about? They had a wonderful series of matches in 2011-2 that was worthy of being named Feud of the Year, so maybe that's not it. Cena's so blinded by love for Nikki, he'd do anything to help her. Yeah, that's the ticket. Personally, I'd rather have a cardboard cutout of, say, for example, Batgirl or Zatanna the Magician on my bed by my side than have Nikki. Cena should've asked Dolph Ziggler for Amy Schumer's phone number, in my opinion.
Digression over. If common sense had control of the creative office, Nikki would've lost the title 3 months ago, and that would've been the end of it. Instead, she's the poster girl for what's wrong with creative. Instead of listening to Mr. & Mrs. Sensible (HHH & Stephanie), they're stuck listening to the befuddled rants & raves of a senile old man. And Donald Trump's not in the building.
