Nikki Bella vs. Natalya: Results and Reaction for WWE Elimination Chamber 2017
Nikki Bella will have to wait to exact her full revenge on Natalya after the two wrestled to a double count-out Sunday at Elimination Chamber.
Nikki nearly got Natalya to tap out in the Fearless Lock. Natalya reached the ropes, though, and that sparked a fight outside the ring.
Nikki was inches away from re-entering the ring before the referee counted to 10, but Natalya intervened and kept her on the outside to force the draw.
Natalya didn't settle for the draw, though, and continued attacking Nikki after the bell, courtesy of WWE:
Uproxx's Brandon Stroud sensed a trend on the Elimination Chamber card:
Bleacher Report's Graham Matthews thought the finish dragged the match down as a whole:
While Nikki and Nattie are longtime friends, their relationship changed the night of Survivor Series when the longest-reigning Divas champion in WWE history was jumped backstage.
That left Nikki unable to compete despite her status as captain, so Natalya was elevated from coach to a member of SmackDown's team.
Nikki suspected it was Carmella who attacked her since she had a long-running rivalry with the Princess of Staten Island, but she denied involvement and blamed it on Nattie instead.
The Queen of Harts insisted she had nothing to do with the incident, but she eventually came clean and aired her pent-up disdain for Nikki.
That led to some intense verbal battles between the Total Divas co-stars, including an in-ring segment several weeks ago that featured Natalya telling Nikki that John Cena would one day leave her, as seen in this video courtesy of WWE's official Twitter account:
An upset Nikki took her frustrations out on Nattie by dropping her with a stiff forearm to set the stage for their match.
Natalya took that as an opportunity to taunt her former friend:
In the subsequent weeks, Nikki and Natalya engaged in a brawl that resulted in the postponement of their match. Nattie also continued to berate Nikki and even threw her merchandise in the garbage, which led to another melee.
They went at each other's throats during the build toward Elimination Chamber, which prompted SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan to reschedule their match for the pay-per-view.
Nikki and Nattie are two of the veteran-most performers in WWE's women's division, and they have each enjoyed success over the course of their careers.
With so many younger talents rising up the ranks such as Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss, however, Nikki and Natalya are in direct competition when it comes to remaining relevant.
They have long been linked since they came up to WWE together and grew as performers alongside each other, but they are also both gunning for the same top spots.
There may not be many more opportunities to become champion for either Superstar, which makes their rivalry so important.
Considering the personal nature of this feud, there's zero chance Nikki and Natalya will be content to have wrestled to a draw Sunday night. Most likely, their bad blood will carry on through to WrestleMania 33 on April 2.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
