Bellas Face Turn - Good Idea or More Divas Confusion

[chicagokmc]

I was a little confused where the divas division was going when Naomi heel turned and beat up Paige. It became clearer yesterday on Raw where the whole Brie/Naomi match we saw what appears to be a Bella twin face turn. One, no cheating as they usually do. Brie lost without interference. More importantly, there was no diva bashing that we usually see the heel Bellas do. Nikki acknowledged that Naomi may be athletically superior, just not the diva that the Bellas are.

Do you think a face turn for the Bellas makes sense at this time? Probably given that the top two face divas, AJ and Paige, have recently retired and left to film a movie. Do you care? Do you think their face turn has storyline legs?

 

[rbv13]

I find it more interesting how the turn went down. Nikki essentially hammed it up at the announce table and hammered it home via Twitter. Welcome to the new age of Social Media Sports Entertainment. What happened to the days of a physical altercation or an act of heroism. What is even the point of the turn? Naomi is now a bitch so Nikki all of a sudden is a righteous champion of the people.

 

[OYDK]

There are only about 5 legitimate Divas on the main roster that WWE books seriously; Naomi, The Bellas, Paige, and to a certain degree, Natalya. With Page leaving that would have left 0 faces on the Divas roster and nobody to chase the title so, I'd say it makes sense at this time. Honestly, the best thing to do would be to break them up so the division could have a deeper pool of contenders. And when the heck are some of the NXT girls going to make their debut... I'd say Charlotte's ready, no?

 

[LBGetBack]

incredibly stupid. First, Nikki is clearly a much better heel than face.

She's been fantastic as a heel....and she's only been heel for 8 months! Why would she go back face?

Oh, because Noami turned heel? So? Nikki magically stops being a bitch because Noami started being one? What kind of sense does that make?

Can't have a heel vs. heel matchup?

 

[Navi]

It boggles the mind that a division with so few wrestlers can be so fucked up. When AJ retired you had two faces, Naomi and Paige. God only knows what Nattie is these days. Now you have 0 faces and a few heels.

Where is Emma, Tamina (she was on the European tour) and well the rest are really just crap anyway? Why aren't they bring up Charlotte, Bayley and some of the girls from NXT. Right now the Diva's division is in worst shape than ever, if that's even imaginable.

As for the OP's question about the Bells's, I don't know what Nikki Bella is up too, but one thing is sure, whatever it is Brie is right behind her. Face or heel they suck. I thought they were leaving when their contracts were up anyway.

 

[TJ Matics]

I don't hate the idea because I see what they're trying to do, but I seriously doubt the crowd will go along with it.

The Bellas are portrayed/sometimes try and portray themselves as tweeners, but they're not over enough to pull it off. They take Paige's clothing like you'd expect a heel to do (bare with me) but then Nikki goes around calling herself the fearless champ and they both call out to the crowd for cheap pops. Paige lost her only ally AJ, so it was a perfect opportunity for the Bellas to straight up jump Paige (taking her out) and have Naomi make the save. But The Bellas can't attack someone 2 on 1 because they're not uber heels, just uber bitches. Mind you that should mean the same thing, but not when we're talking about the Bellas. So now Naomi has to out bitch the already bitchy Bellas to be the "real" heel. But from where I'm sitting the Bellas don't look sympathetic and Naomi doesn't look evil, so short of Naomi abducting Brie I don't see how this is going to work out.

I appreciate them giving Naomi some time, and I brought her heel promo...but the change really wasn't necessary. If the WWE would stop trying to protect the Bellas from all angles this could have smoothly transitioned from Paige vs Nikki to Naomi vs Nikki.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

I thought they were leaving when their contracts were up anyway.

Think its just Total Divas angle, dont get your hopes up.

Anyway, last time all Total Divas cast went faces(up until that they were feuding with eachother on heel/face bases) just because AJ called them useless in her "pipebomb". So, its not out of the ordinary to see them change "just because".


Is it a good thing? Who cares when they are just portrayed as eyecandy pieces. I mean, if somebody really cared about Divas Division you wouldnt have bunch of hot womens in skimpy clothes having 1 minute matches. In that poor state of division and lack of character in Divas and their stories, it doesnt really mather if bunch of one dimensional characters are portrayed as faces or heels when they are all the same character- one hot bitchy women who depending who she faces in next match turns heel or face. In fact now when AJ is gone maybe just Paige has some character and ability to separate herself. And even her is booked ridiculosly and doubt anyone would notice if she turned heel.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Personally, I'm just kind of burn out on The Bella Twins.

You can go all the way back to Payback 2014, where Brie made the choice to quit and slap Stephanie in the face. After that, WWE pushed Brie VS Stephanie as one of the featured matches (from what I remember, Brie VS Stephaine segments closed Raw two weeks in a row) at Summerslam. Then, WWE forced all the Jerry Springer style drama ("I WISH YOU DIED IN THE WOMB!") after Nikki's heel turn at Summerslam. To follow that, you had the storyline with Brie working as Nikki's assistant, Nikki winning the title at Survivor Series, and Brie turning heel in the process to join forces with her sister.

The WWE continues to feature and use The Bellas in prominent roles, but it's a catch 22 with the current dilemma. AJ is gone, and Paige is on hiatus, so who else can fill the role for top faces in the division? If you take a look at the main roster, it's not so easy to find definitive choices over Nikki and Brie.

The Bellas have the name recognition and the longevity. True, The Bellas are overhyped and overrated, but when you look at the current landscape on the main roster, The Bellas are the only acceptable choices I can think of to represent the division as top faces.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

The Divas division is lacking depth and above all direction. The give divas a chance buzz should have been a kicking off point but it's gone almost completely ignored. AJ's departure is a huge blow, and I think the division should use the impact of the the departure for some much needed TLC.

Bellas are much better as heels. Uncertainty of their future is a concern too, although the angle from Total Divas might just be that, an angle. They could easily tween during Paige's absence, before turning further down heel territory.

Paige is one of the women they need to build this division around. She should be the top babyface for the forseeable future. She's young, charismatic, and talented. build around her.

After Paige, who's the second babyface? It's the twins for now, but I just don't see that going forward, they're natural heels.Natalya could step up, her alignment has been all over the map these days. Look for her to mirror what Kidd does. Other vets Layla and Alicia could step in, but WWE haven't given them anything meaningful in quite a while.

Things are a little uncertain, but clarity will come when Paige returns. I would rather see the Bellas stay heel, but with Summer Rae turning as well as Naomi, face could be what they want from the twins.

 

[MERPER]

I don't necessarily view it as a full face turn for Nikki. Her segment at the announce booth was more face but she still had some "Stuck up and bitchy" lines...

talking about how she's the best, doesn't care who she faces she will beat them, running her mouth about the rest of the division not matching her... even flat-out blamed Brie for her recent losses...

so, it's simple... with Naomi turning heel, Nikki comes across as a face for now but once Paige returns she can quickly go back to heel.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Good or bad.....I suppose WWE Creative ought to make their minds up, one way or the other.

Brie was good while Nikki was bad......except when Brie, without explanation, joined Nikki and became bad herself.

Nikki was bad.....except when the divas they were squaring off against were proven heels and regarded as even worse than the Bellas'.....leaving us to wonder why Nikki looked so peaceable and mellow while watching Brie get the hell beat out of her......while Brie always rushed to Nikki's rescue.

That the Bella vs. Bella storyline ended, without actually ending.....leaves a lot of us wondering, but not really caring, what they're going to do next. One minute, Nikki is attacking Brie, telling us Brie has held her down their whole lives....next minute, Brie is Nikki's slave for a month......followed by an apparent reconciliation that we weren't informed of until it had already happened. Sheesh.

Now they even look different.

Turn 'em good, leave 'em bad.....does it matter?

 

[Kris Benwa]

I think this is one of the instances where WWE should focus more on what each character's goals and stories are and not just the sometimes black and white heel and face dynamic. From where I sit I think Naomi has a legitimate reason to be upset. She beat both Bellas multiple times proving she can do it so she should be granted a title shot but instead she had to compete for one and even then she just barely lost. For her character, the frustration of getting looked over had finally boiled over to where she was fed up with it and decided if she wasn't going to be given the opportunities she feels she earned then she'll take them. That doesn't necessarily make her a villain in my opinion it just makes her pissed off. We all have those moments where eventually you reach the end of your rope. I think if they had just expanded on this and made the story more about Naomi to where it doesn't matter what side of the fence the Bellas are on because her problem isn't with them she just wants the championship, the Bellas being face or heel wouldn't matter.

In short I don't agree with the Bellas being faces by default just because Naomi isn't one now. It's dumb, doesn't jive, and just quite frankly isn't necessary to me. The Bellas were heels at WRESTLEMANIA less than a month ago and now they've turned face but haven't really done anything to illicit that positive reaction. I think this could have worked with their current characters if the focus was a little more on the story so my vote is for More Divas Confusion.

 

[thekooljt]

This is a very interesting topic. I think as a whole, the Divas division is "GROSSLY" mismanaged. If you watch both Raw and Smackdown, watch the divas who get mic time nowadays as opposed to those who don't. Those Divas who get Mic time AJ (before she retired), Paige, and The Bellas are focused on more for a variety of reasons beyond wrestling. In the WWE's eyes, they have "IT". Now, you look at Naomi, Naomi should have already been the Divas champion a long time ago so why hasn't she? Naomi (Trinity) is one of if not the best female wrestler in the Divas division right now. So why is she not getting a "RUN with the Divas title? Will turning her heel right now make her chances any better? With AJ gone, creative is just drawing straws. Their throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks and a couple of those ideas have the Bellas becoming faces and Naomi becoming a heel. But, there are two names I think you need to look out for in the coming months. I believe that Eva Marie (with more training) or Charlotte (from NXT) will get a major Diva push. So much so that one of the two will win the Divas championship before Naomi. MARK MY WORDS!

 

[Messiah]

It only makes sense because Naomi is now a heel and she's Nikki's opponent at the next PPV. They had to turn the Bellas face.. The divas division is on an up-rise anyway, especially now that AJ is retired and WWE will call up some NXT woman soon.. The future of the divas division looks bright, people have said that plenty of times before though.

 

[kadroan]

I was a little confused where the divas division was going when Naomi heel turned and beat up Paige. It became clearer yesterday on Raw where the whole Brie/Naomi match we saw what appears to be a Bella twin face turn. One, no cheating as they usually do. Brie lost without interference. More importantly, there was no diva bashing that we usually see the heel Bellas do. Nikki acknowledged that Naomi may be athletically superior, just not the diva that the Bellas are.

Do you think a face turn for the Bellas makes sense at this time? Probably given that the top two face divas, AJ and Paige, have recently retired and left to film a movie. Do you care? Do you think their face turn has storyline legs?

Yeah I think it's perfect. The fans actually like the Bellas. The Naomi heel turn came out of nowhere but if that's what it takes to Naomi competing for the title, I don't mind.

 

[chicagokmc]

However at the PPV we see Brie commit the heel move and interfere in the match with Naomi. All clear as mud

 

[mr.wrestling iv]

In fairness, Naomi did bring it upon herself by attacking Brie first. It would have been out of character for Brie not to take her shot if she had the opportunity, Brie was justified nailing Naomi.

The Bella's being face is for the greater good. No Paige. No AJ. They built no other face diva's up other than them. Heel Naomi is a more interesting character than Face Naomi. I can live with that.

Nattie is riding with her husband and Ceasro. Emma I assume is heel judging from her NXT development. I suppose since Foxx switches alignments at the same rate the Big Show does; I guess. For now, The Bella's turning face, is for the Greater Good.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Who cares?

Really.

Since when have the direction of Women's wrestling in the WWE ever mattered in the big scheme of the business? 1985? Maybe?

The recent rumor that I read was that the booking of the Divas doesn't mention faces or heels but varying degrees of bitchiness akin to Total Divas, and I believe that to be true. It's just par for the course. So I'm legit puzzled by the notion that fans actually give two shits about how face and heel turns of the most chronically underwhelming aspect of the show are handled.