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Post by 01010010 01101001 01100011 on Jul 12, 2016 23:15:06 GMT -5
Eventually but not while she's active. Plus there will always be backlash toward people pushed like she was, being a destroyer just doesn't work in most cases and when they bounce you between heel and face literally by the segment, it never works. I'll say even now, she is still third or forth best on the main roster and probably top 5 including the NXT crew.
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cool
Samurai Cop
Posts: 2,195
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Post by cool on Jul 12, 2016 23:34:56 GMT -5
But, she does get the respect she deserves. ...because she gets none. .........because she sucks at wrestling and being a wrestling personality. Kelly Kelly sucked at wrestling. Nikki Bella does not.
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Emmet Russell
King Koopa
Quieter
The best wrestler on earth.
Posts: 12,526
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Post by Emmet Russell on Jul 12, 2016 23:42:42 GMT -5
Sadly, no. Not on places like this.
Nikki is a very solid worker, one who actually visibly improved and earned a title reign, but who people have backlash against because she's not a smark favourite. She was a vital part of the Revolution and been sorely missed since she left.
She had my two favourite women's matches in the past two years: 2014 vs Brie at HIAC, and 2015 with Charlotte during HIAC.
And that forearm still remains my favourite finisher currently. It's vicious every time.
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the2ndevil
Grimlock
Super Seducer Survivor
Where Is Your Santa, Now?
Posts: 13,631
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Post by the2ndevil on Jul 12, 2016 23:55:51 GMT -5
Sadly, no. Not on places like this. Nikki is a very solid worker, one who actually visibly improved and earned a title reign, but who people have backlash against because she's not a smark favourite. She was a vital part of the Revolution and been sorely missed since she left. She had my two favourite women's matches in the past two years: 2014 vs Brie at HIAC, and 2015 with Charlotte during HIAC. And that forearm still remains my favourite finisher currently. It's vicious every time.
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Post by häšhtå.gdālėÿ on Jul 13, 2016 0:00:18 GMT -5
Nikki's offense is fine. She's actually pretty damn good on the offense. But she doesn't know how to sell or pace a match... ring psychology! She goes from being beat up to ELBOW SMASH ----> RACK ATTACK like nothing ever happened, then walks off smiling and taunting like she wasn't even in a match! Add to that her strange clear heel who acts overly face thing she has going. (No I don't think that's any smartness to her character on her part, I think it's just muddled confusion)
To answer the question... Eh.. She doesn't really deserve all that much respect. A little for being the focal point and carrying a crippled division, but being the best of an awful time-frame doesn't make her Trish or Lita, or any other modern "diva" who's high up on the respect list. Just my opinion.
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Post by celticjobber on Jul 13, 2016 1:24:45 GMT -5
I think she already gets enough respect for the level of talent she has. And she has plenty of fans, mostly thanks to Total Divas.
Aside from her habit of playing a babyface when she's supposed to be a heel, one of my main issues with Nikki is that she has the worst/most obvious "I'm jobbing tonight" facial expression in the industry.
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
advocates duck on rodent violence
Fed. Up.
Posts: 37,742
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Jul 13, 2016 1:27:35 GMT -5
She's good at executing solid wrestling moves. However, her psychology sucks, her promo skills are non-existent, and she's too much of a mark to commit to being a heel.
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Scott
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 3,577
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Post by Scott on Jul 13, 2016 1:32:54 GMT -5
Her run as champion entertained me more than say, Becky Lynch has since coming to the main roster.
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Jul 13, 2016 2:21:34 GMT -5
She deserves respect for improving from an abysmal all-round performer to a mediocre one. That's about all I can think of.
Has she ever done anything in wrestling that was truly memorable?
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gr1990
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,485
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Post by gr1990 on Jul 13, 2016 3:12:06 GMT -5
I'd say she has about the right level of respect, really. The 'she can't wrestle and she's only here because of who her boyfriend is' crowd are the definite minority now. Most people acknowledge she's improved, but also that she's not on the level of the generation who have come after her, not in the ring and DEFINITELY not in terms of character work. I think her title reign showed her flaws (though WWE are just as much to blame for allowing it with their booking), she was so committed to proving she could do things and addressing her critics that she just flat out refused to play the bad guy for longer than she had to.
She played a powerhouse in the ring despite being A. positioned as a weasly heel and B. the same size as most of her opponents and smaller than the likes of Charlotte. And whenever she didn't have a script to read from (commentary, backstage fallout) she seemed to be on a mission to undo anything that had taken place in the storyline that had make her seem weak or unfair. I don't know if things like her 'all women are awesome' Slammies speech and that interview with Cole where he congratulated her for her record title reign that she'd (kayfabe) cheated her way to were her idea, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Her desire to be the female John Cena and to counter every criticism thrown at her seemed to override any attempt to tell a story with her and establish a character which, ironically, is a big reason why she'll never reach the level of acclaim and adulation she strives for. The slings and arrows she's received over the years seem to have cut her deep, which on the one hand has probably made her strive to improve, but on the other it's given her a level of insecurity and defensiveness that is detrimental to everything she's involved in.
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Jessica Cadavre
Trap-Jaw
I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?
Posts: 427
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Post by Jessica Cadavre on Jul 13, 2016 3:34:51 GMT -5
During the time the models dominated the division, I actually thought the Bellas were quite underrated. Not particularly great, but not as horrible as a lot of people thought they were. Nikki was passable. Brie was awful outside of ripping off her husband's moves.
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Post by CATCH_US IS the Conversation on Jul 13, 2016 3:44:52 GMT -5
During the time the models dominated the division, I actually thought the Bellas were quite underrated. Not particularly great, but not as horrible as a lot of people thought they were. Nikki was passable. Brie was awful outside of ripping off her husband's moves. Hell, most of the models were decent.
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Jessica Cadavre
Trap-Jaw
I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?
Posts: 427
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Post by Jessica Cadavre on Jul 13, 2016 3:51:23 GMT -5
During the time the models dominated the division, I actually thought the Bellas were quite underrated. Not particularly great, but not as horrible as a lot of people thought they were. Nikki was passable. Brie was awful outside of ripping off her husband's moves. Hell, most of the models were decent. Hard not to be with two minute matches, lol
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oneday
Bubba Ho-Tep
Posts: 645
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Post by oneday on Jul 13, 2016 4:20:55 GMT -5
As a fan of Nikki, I'd just like for people to stop acting like she's gotten everything in the WWE because of who she is dating. Just recognize she grew as a performer and she wasn't some "cancer" to the division as some acted. She's a good wrestler, she's as good on the mic(if not better imo)than the women in the current title feud, and the division hasn't improved since she left as so many claimed it would if the WWE pushed the NXT women above her.
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Post by Tyrannosaurus Sex on Jul 13, 2016 4:41:07 GMT -5
You know, the mid-card level NXT divas like Alexa Bliss and Carmella have gotten just as good, if not better than Nikki Bella is in every way and it took them less than three years of work to get to that level and they're only getting better as they go. Hell, say what you will about Sasha Banks, but she's been an actual wrestler less than the Bella Twins have been active in WWE. Do they deserve respect for how fast they've learned? Nikki only started to learn to be...not god awful about six years into her run and yet still had no semblance of a coherent character or mic skills because she has the Stephanie McMahon problem of she's a heel but wants to believe she's a role model too so she'd act out of character when nothing about her screams role model. So no, she doesn't deserve respect for throwing a decent looking elbow and creating a stupid lionness meme. She's not a cancer, and I won't claim she got pushed because of Cena, but let's not act like she was some kind of underrated legend.
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Post by Mid-Carder on Jul 13, 2016 4:51:26 GMT -5
Meh, at best she was Michelle McCool. Passable in the ring and wooden on the mic but getting more than they deserved due to who they dated Michelle was more than passable. She was a great technician and so smooth in the ring.
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Post by Citizen Snips on Jul 13, 2016 4:56:13 GMT -5
Given that there was only one area physically where she was more impressive than the other women on the roster, I always liked the unspoken implication that the key to her strong-style powerhouse abilities was her big boobs.
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Post by CATCH_US IS the Conversation on Jul 13, 2016 5:24:17 GMT -5
You know, the mid-card level NXT divas like Alexa Bliss and Carmella have gotten just as good, if not better than Nikki Bella is in every way and it took them less than three years of work to get to that level and they're only getting better as they go. Hell, say what you will about Sasha Banks, but she's been an actual wrestler less than the Bella Twins have been active in WWE. Do they deserve respect for how fast they've learned? Nikki only started to learn to be...not god awful about six years into her run and yet still had no semblance of a coherent character or mic skills because she has the Stephanie McMahon problem of she's a heel but wants to believe she's a role model too so she'd act out of character when nothing about her screams role model. So no, she doesn't deserve respect for throwing a decent looking elbow and creating a stupid lionness meme. She's not a cancer, and I won't claim she got pushed because of Cena, but let's not act like she was some kind of underrated legend. Alexa and Carmella are fortunate enough to come up in a time where women's matches get more time and thus they're able to get more seasoning in a shorter amount of time. The current generation as a whole is better than the previous generation, but the previous generation only had the bare minimum of care and effort given by the higher ups towards their development. Nikki mightve held the belt as long as she did, but during her entire reign, there was an undercurrent of the Bellas being thrown under the bus and blamed by the company for being products of a broken system.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Jul 13, 2016 5:29:55 GMT -5
was never a big fan but I felt really bad for the way her career ended all because WWE were obsessed with breaking a record only they cared about.
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Post by Hobby Drifter on Jul 13, 2016 5:37:41 GMT -5
While she did get a lot better than anybody (likely including her) expected her to get, she didn't reach Trish levels of improvement. She's good. Probably better than she regularly gets credit for. But, much like HHH, any of her actual in-ring achievements are overshadowed by who she became involved with.
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