Nikki Bella's heat is perfect going into WWE Night of Champions

Nikki Bella is still the WWE Divas champion after facing Charlotte on Raw

Nikki Bella is still on top of the Divas division in WWE and a lot people are pretty upset about it. The face of women’s wrestling in Vince McMahon’s company over the past year has now officially broken the all-time record for holding the Divas Championship. AJ Lee’s name has dropped a notch in favor of Nikki’s and as social media sites continue to explode as a result, the fact is everything is as it should be.

The formula has worked for Nikki Bella and now she has some great heat because of it.

A lot of fans may not want to accept that they’ve been hooked but that is exactly what’s happened here. The consensus among many seems to be that Charlotte was screwed and Nikki does not deserve the belt. Those fans cite the Divas revolution and the company’s apparent commitment to changing the status quo as proof that Charlotte’s loss should never have happened.

Why put her and the other NXT girls on RAW if there was no real intention of shaking things up?

Charlotte gets the news she did not win the Divas Championship on Raw

But the tried and true formula is in full effect and it’s one that has worked for years in the business. Nikki is portrayed as the despicable heel, the undeserving champion that uses underhanded tactics and trickery to keep her title. She looks down at everyone around her and believes herself to be superior in every way. Her championship run has not been one of excellence or respectability, it’s been one of arrogance and an overblown sense of self-entitlement.

Charlotte is presented as the fighter, the girl who has worked hard for her opportunity. She symbolizes a new era for the division, one that is less about runway fame and more about legitimizing women’s wrestling in the company. A win for her is a step in the right direction but the moment she got there, it was stolen from her.

It’s the classic good versus evil, right versus wrong and it’s working on every level.

Fans want to see Nikki lose because she doesn’t deserve to be champion. She’s plastic, she’s phony and she cares more about the glamour than the gold. The belt is a trophy, not a reward. WWE fans have been fed this image of Nikki and they’ve completely bought in. If Charlotte were heel and cursed at the sight of the crowd, they would want nothing to do with her becoming champion.

So much for the theory that fans are too smart to lose themselves in the product.

Nikki cinches up on Charlotte during their Raw title match

There has been a suspension of disbelief, paired with the desire to see Nikki and her sister toppled from their perch of power. There is legit and manufactured heat on Nikki as she has become public enemy number one and nothing could be better for her or for Charlotte. Any negativity leveled at Nikki is good and not only further generates heat for her but gets Charlotte even more over in the process.

The sight of Charlotte in tears as Stephanie McMahon announced she had not just won the Divas Championship is one that immediately brought a reaction. Anyone on the fence with Charlotte or perhaps didn’t care, suddenly cared quite a bit. Their hearts went out to her and from that moment, they emotionally invested in her. Now instead of their match at Night of Champions being just a Divas revolution bout, it’s a showdown between the undeserving prop titleholder and the hard working next generation Superstar.

This is what fans see and that’s what matters.

Nikki has never been more hated and Charlotte has never been more loved. This angle is now firing on all cylinders and it’s never been hotter. Night of Champions will see this storyline reach a point of critical mass and when it does, it will be further proof the formula is alive and well.