Charlotte vs. Brie Bella WWE Fastlane Match Boosted by Daniel Bryan's Retirement

The best thing that could have happened to the Divas Championship bout pitting Charlotte against Brie Bella at WWE Fastlane was the retirement of Daniel Bryan.

At first, that may sound harsh, but in reality, it did more to put heat on that program than anything WWE Creative has managed to do to this point.

It was not all that long ago when Brie Bella was lost in the shuffle. July's Divas Revolution not only passed her by, but she was eclipsed by the shadow of her sister Nikki. Alongside Alicia Fox, she was a glorified enhancement talent, someone with name value who was booked to lose to everyone from Natalya to Becky Lynch.

Worse yet, she was a scripted heel, despite the fact that her best in-ring work always came as a babyface.

Brie's sudden involvement in the Divas Championship picture via a non-title win over Divas champion Charlotte on the Feb. 1 episode of Monday Night Raw catapulted her back into contention, but the sad, unfortunate and premature retirement of her husband, Bryan, has afforded her crowd sympathy that simply did not exist previously.

Just listen to the reaction Brie received as she made her way to the ring to embrace her husband on the most recent edition of Raw. There is a pop that accompanies her appearance that the less celebrated Bella Twin had not enjoyed in months.

As Fastlane approaches, she has the opportunity to ride the wave of emotion that will naturally exist in the wake of her significant other's goodbye. Fans will not forget the images of her standing by Bryan, and the fact that she pays tribute to him in every match courtesy of the "Yes!" kicks she unleashes on opponents will only serve to evoke his name and memory, leading to louder cheers.

Credit: WWE.com

That she will be working a strong heel in Charlotte, whose arrogance and entitlement as a second-generation star has really shined through and helped her excel in her new role, will only make it easier for fans to buy into the Total Divas star as the underdog babyface, a role her husband played countless times in his career.

With the legendary Ric Flair by her side, Charlotte could wreak havoc as the emotionless pit of a champion, evoking Bryan's name to get heat and downplaying his accomplishments. As someone who once referred to herself as "genetically superior," poking fun at Bryan's size or reintroducing the "B-plus player" shtick would be a great way to convince fans to get behind her opponent while booing her out of the building.

No one is suggesting Bryan's retirement should lead to any sort of sustained push for Brie. At best, she is a stopgap, a one-off challenger as WWE keeps both Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks away from Charlotte in order to keep their feud fresh for WrestleMania 32.

What looked on paper to be an uninteresting, throwaway match between two women who are not particularly likable, though, has suddenly been hit with an avalanche of emotion.

On the heels of the most heartbreaking night WWE has experienced in a long time, and being a central figure of her husband's engaging and compelling retirement speech, Bella has the opportunity to deliver a performance that reminds fans why she was the sister chosen to face Stephanie McMahon at SummerSlam in August 2014 and why, during that run, she developed the connection with the audience that she did.

Subtlety will be key to the successful use of Bella. Smacking fans in the face with the idea that she is wrestling for her husband, to honor his legacy, will likely backfire. But throwing hints of that into her matches, with the aforementioned kicks and the triggering of "Yes!" chants, is exactly what she needs in order to ignite the fans and convince them to care about her journey to the title.

If she can do that, and if WWE Creative can resist the urge to exploit Bryan's heartbreak, Feb. 21's Fastlane title bout between Bella and Charlotte could well become one of the most anticipated and meaningful matches on the entire pay-per-view card.