Charlotte vs. Natalya: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Current WWE Feud

Tried-and-true WWE components comprise the foundation of the Charlotte vs. Natalya feud—a chase for gold, the babyface struggling to overcome the underhanded heel, animosity that just won't go away.

Natalya's quest for the Women's Championship, though, is by no means a perfect story. As good as WWE has been at building momentum for the challenger, it has also fallen into a few narrative traps. The most glaring of those is a reliance on the men from another era.

The fact that there are so many positive elements to Charlotte vs. Natalya—and that the negatives aren't related to a lack of airtime—is another sign of the progress WWE is making with the women's division.

In the past, just about every rivalry between women would be marred with those same pockmarks. But getting pushed out of the spotlight and too much focus on the combatants' sexuality aren't the issues here at all.

The women's title feud ahead of Payback, however, is a reminder that WWE doesn't yet fully trust this generation.

The Good

Natalya is looking every bit like she deserves the No. 1 contender spot. She has been on a roll of late.

As seen on her CageMatch.net profile, Natalya has pulled off five wins in a row and owns a .684 winning percentage in 2016. She has beaten Summer Rae, Becky Lynch and Alicia Fox in recent action.

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net noted, "They continue to build up Natalya as a threat to take Charlotte's title."

That's been key. The audience is seeing more and more images of Natalya celebrating victory, teasing that as a possibility at Payback. Charlotte keeping hold of the title suddenly doesn't feel like such a certainty.

The rivalry has also afforded Natalya some deserved TV time.

Too often, WWE has underused one of its most talented women's wrestlers. Not here. Natalya is a featured part of the division at the moment, scoring wins and creeping closer to Charlotte's championship.

And when they collide in the ring, champion and challenger have strong chemistry, as Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald pointed out:

Their matches haven't been as good as their NXT clash in 2014, but there has been some strong work between them. Natalya seems to bring out Charlotte's best, as she plays ring general to the rising star.

That was on full display at Roadblock, with the women putting on one of the event's best showings.

The babyface-heel dynamic has made this story easy to invest in, too. Charlotte is an unrepentant cheat. Natalya stands up for what's right. Charlotte is vicious. Natalya is noble.

That's a big part of why inserting Dr. Phil into the mix surprisingly worked so well. Dr. Phil shined a light on Charlotte's misdeeds, chastising her for her underhanded tactics.

That scene helped make Charlotte look like a rat who one should root against.

The Bad

Wrestling angles are rehashed and reworked all the time, but what's unfolding with Natalya and Charlotte is unprecedented repetition. WWE is redoing what happened between these two at NXT.

In 2014, with the vacant NXT Women's Championship up for grabs, Natalya enlisted the help of her uncle, Bret Hart. Charlotte brought her famous father, Ric Flair, along.

The two legends stood in the women's corners as they went to battle. That's exactly what is set to happen at Payback with the family vs. family narrative ready to play out again.

WWE is undecided on whether it believes its core audience watches NXT. When introducing newcomers from the developmental brand, the company seems to assume everyone knows who these people are.

But with Natalya vs. Charlotte, it's banking on fans having missed this Hart-Flair clash from 2014.

Beyond that, there is a lack of freshness overall to the feud. WWE has had the women wrestle a number of times already.

Heading into Payback, Charlotte and Natalya have wrestled in five one-on-one contests in 2016. That hurts the next match from feeling like a huge deal.

And unlike with male Superstars, WWE hasn't added stipulations along the way. If these rivals meet again at Extreme Rules, though, perhaps a Steel Cage match or another traditional feud-ender awaits them.

The Ugly

A battle for the Women's Championship is in danger of focusing on the men involved and, at the same time, the past stars rather than the current ones.

Rather than scripting something explosive for this story or cranking up the hype by increasing the women's bad blood, WWE is simply bringing in The Hitman and The Nature Boy as reinforcements.

That's lazy storytelling.

Having the match's big sell be about someone other than the rivals themselves hurts both Charlotte's and Natalya's growth. Jim Ross commented on his blog that he believes Charlotte should split with Flair.

"I can see Ric helping Charlotte get established, but Naitch doesn't need to be in his daughter's corner for the long haul. He's too powerful a presence to allow Charlotte to grow over the long haul, [in my opinion]," he wrote.

He's right. Flair is carrying around a shadow that hangs over Charlotte.

And WWE isn't doing this with other second-generation stars. Roman Reigns isn't walking to the ring with Sika of The Wild Samoans (his father). WWE hasn't even acknowledged on-screen that Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt are related to Mike Rotunda.

Instead, they have been allowed to be their own men, to tell their own stories.

That's what needs to happen with Charlotte and Natalya moving forward. Do the Hart vs. Flair thing one more time and move on.

Hart's and Flair's legacies are already set. It's time to focus on building one for the next generation.