Diva Dirt presents its fourth annual Writers’ Choice Awards, as decided by the Diva Dirt team. As we come to the end of 2014, we have picked the best of the best to be awarded our Writers’ Choice trophies.
Best Feud: Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon
“I’M GONNA MAKE YOU MY BITCH!”
Immortal words from 2014’s Feud of the Year which will stand the test of time amongst not only fans of the Divas, but the entire wrestling community.
After Daniel Bryan‘s serious injury left him sidelined back in May, WWE thought of a fantastic way of keeping his memory in the spotlight, as Stephanie McMahon, one of Bryan’s primary authoritative detractors turned her attentions from the “B+ Player” to his wife, Brie Bella.
It was at the Payback Pay-Per-View event in June that the shark-like Stephanie started to sink her teeth into Brie Bella. After declaring that Brie would be fired at Payback should Daniel not relinquish his championship, it got to the big day. Would Daniel choose his wife over his championship? Instead of that scenario, the event became all about Brie, and whether she would sacrifice her career over Daniel’s.
Making sure she didn’t give Stephanie the satisfaction of firing her, Brie roared a defiant “I QUIT!”, leaving Stephanie cackling like a hyena. The villainous banshee wasn’t laughing for long, as Brie clocked the Boss Lady with a scintillating slap heard around the world. Even though Brie was ‘fired’, this one was far from over.
A few weeks later after Brie’s sister Nikki Bella had been forced to compete in unfair handicap matches, Brie made her return, watching Nikki compete as a paying fan in attendance. Stephanie took notice of this, and was annoyed that Brie had done the “cute” thing and had bought a ticket. Stephanie rubbed salt in Brie’s wounds that Nikki’s detriment was all her fault, and to sit down to stop blocking the view for other fans.
Brie refuted McMahon’s words, slamming her verbally as “such a BITCH”. A pumped-up fan in attendance (who will forever be known as Brie Bella guy) summed up the crowd’s stance on this via his reaction – they ate it up! Stephanie turned around and returned the favor from a few weeks prior, whacking the taste out of Brie’s mouth. Stephanie branded Brie a “quitter” and a “loser” as she was escorted out the building. Whilst Stephanie had leveled the score, it was not long before Brie got the upper hand again.
Later that very night, in one of the year’s most hilarious moments, Brie had Stephanie arrested for battery! Stephanie was unhinged, vehement rage pouring out of her. She declared that she would get revenge.
The story rolled on into the next week, yet this time, the Divas were the main event. Stephanie had invited Brie back to Raw and begged her to drop the charges. She would do anything for Brie. Stephanie granted Brie’s sister Nikki a pay rise and a Divas Championship match, yet that wasn’t enough for Brie; the ball was in her court and she was going to slam dunk as much as she could out of a desperate McMahon.
Brie requested she get her job back and a match at SummerSlam… against Stephanie herself! The crowd erupted at the demand, bursting into louder, triumphant cheers when Stephanie was in tears as she ‘nervously’ accepted. Stephanie then let Brie know one thing… “I’M GONNA MAKE YOU MY BITCH!” as she walloped Brie from the apron. A legendary catfight followed afterwards, with Authority staff breaking the two apart and Stephanie declaring that Brie was “her bitch”.
The following week, the two met face-to-face once more for a contract signing, unprecedentedly in the main event for the second week in a row. Stephanie was left standing after hitting both Brie and Nikki with killer Pedigrees. The antics we were seeing were reminiscent of the Golden Era moments, and Brie and Steph made sure that their walking of the walk measured up to their talking of the talk.
Megan Miller… well let’s just pretend she never happened. Every storyline has its weak points right?
Following Brie also getting arrested the Monday before SummerSlam, it was unsure as to whether she would make the event. Thankfully, Brie Mode was there and hungry for the fight of her life.
The match – since voted the 24th best of 2014 by WWE.com – was a modern classic. Stephanie showed no signs of ring rust at all, despite being her first match in over a decade, and Brie used moves from her own arsenal, and a few tricks of her husband’s to deliver a solid performance and have the crowd firmly in her corner.
The ending shocked the WWE Universe, with Nikki Bella costing her sister the win in surprising fashion, ending this feud and starting a new, sibling rivalry.
Whilst Brie has sadly fallen far from main eventing episodes of Monday Night Raw since then, she had one hell of a Summer. The feud was everything us Diva fans ask for and more. We saw in-ring work exceeding expectation combined with over-the-top drama only wrestling can provide. Brie managed to rub shoulders with perhaps WWE’s most influential female performer whilst Stephanie proved she has still very much got it, delivering simply fantastic performances on the microphone.
The feud threw the PG guidelines and narrow-minded fans’ perceptions right on out of the proverbial window and will go down as delivering a spectacularly entertaining story the pair of them should be forever proud of.
Stay tuned for more Writers’ Choice Award reveals throughout the day.
