Who Attacked Nikki Bella?

Last night at Survivor Series, Nikki Bella was supposed to be the Captain of Team Smackdown in the 5-on-5 women’s tag team match. However, right before the match it was revealed that Nikki had been attacked backstage and would no longer be able to compete. While the match was pretty uninteresting, this could lead to some very interesting stories over the next few months. There are many potential people responsible for this attack and I am going to analyze the possibilities.

Carmella: This is probably the most obvious and safest choice as Nikki and Carmella have basically been feuding since the longest reigning Divas Champion made her return to WWE this past August. This very well could just be another minor thing to elevate their feud, but this possibility also does not make sense as Carmella was on the same team as Nikki. Clearly some people, such as Dean Ambrose, showed that their brand loyalty was not as strong as their hatred for their rival, but this seems different and could potentially be bigger.

Natalya: Natalya has shown over the last few months that she isn’t entirely stable but she has been more of a wacky character than a vicious and dangerous woman. However she has a clear motive as Nikki was made the captain over her and she was no longer able to wrestle in the match. If there has been any constant in Nattie’s character over the years it is that she loves wrestling. Nattie being responsible for this attack could make her one of the womens division’s top heels and make her character much more interesting. Somewhat surprisingly, Nikki and Nattie have never had a one-on-one singles match on PPV so it is still a fresh match and feud.

Becky Lynch: While Carmella is the obvious choice, this is pretty much the opposite. Making Becky be responsible for Nikki’s attack would be a huge risk. Since her main roster debut as part of  the mess known as Team PCB, Becky has become a very over face. Turning her heel would be a huge move and would majorly change the dynamic of Smackdown’s womens division. Her motive is definitely there though. Over the past year she has been betrayed over and over again by Paige, Charlotte, Nattie, etc. Now over the past few months, even though she is champion, she has been forced to coexist with Nikki on the same brand as her. Nikki being the Smackdown team captain over Becky could have been the final thing that broke Becky.

Charlotte: Until Charlotte came to the main roster, Nikki Bella was the most dominant force in the women’s division. Then Charlotte came along and dethroned her, ending the Bella Twin’s iconic 301 days of dominance. For most of the time since then, Nikki Bella was sidelined with a neck injury and luckily for Charlotte, Nikki joined Smackdown when she was cleared. Then Survivor Series came along and Charlotte realized she would be forced to once again go face-to-face with one of her biggest rivals. Charlotte has a clear motive for attacking Nikki and this is personally my second favorite possibility. Although it would be difficult for them to have a real feud when they are on separate brands, if it could be executed I would love it. Their first feud produced two great matches and the Bellas using Twin Magic on Charlotte so that Nikki would become the longest reigning Divas Champion was a fantastic moment. I really want them to have more high profile matches and this would be a great way to set that up.

Mickie James: This is my favorite possibility but also the most unlikely. Mickie James is one of my favorite womens wrestlers of all time and is without a doubt one of the best ever. She is great in the ring and is amazing at any character she plays. When it was announced that Mickie would be returning to WWE to take on Asuka at Takeover, the first thing I thought of was the possibility of a Mickie vs Nikki high profile PPV match. The most obvious motive for Mickie attacking the Total Bellas’ star would be that after losing to Asuka she was desperate and went after the biggest target she could find. However they could go another unlikely route with this match and have Mickie talk about how her years of hard work and the era that she was in the WWE have been forgotten. This would be a great storyline but I don’t think they would do it. I don’t really care what the story is, Mickie being responsible for the attack and facing Nikki in a high profile feud would be fantastic.