The Ascension

Upthread I wrote "I wonder what WWE thinks" with regard to Eva. Welp, here is apparently what they think: CHAMPION. Of NXT. If this is true, this is actually astonishing. WWE is so out of touch. They must not have learned from the Royal Rumble debacle. Fans will RIOT if Eva is champ. Also..don't all the wrestlers work hard? Why are we supposed to praise her and like her because she apparently works hard? She may be working hard but it ain't showing. She isn't even passable yet.

Brie and Nikki's mom Kathy got engaged to WWE producer John Laurinatis. Best comment ever found on Twitter: "At least someone in that family gets to marry a John."

Nattie is so hard to watch. I groan when she comes on screen. She's not adorable or quirky. I had to unfollow her on Twitter and IG because of the damn selfies. Her phone must be filled with her face. I wonder if the girls backstage secretly can't stand her and her OMG SELFIE. She reminds me a bit of T. Swift with the bringing people out on stage to show that they like her/accept her, like it's high school. Nattie's same way with selfies. "Look Renee Young and Paige love me and got a selfie with me! We're FRIENDS!" Big E is adorable and lots of fun on Twitter. New Day is one of best parts of Raw lately because they know they're totally ridiculous. I see loathing in TJ's eyes. If they stayed married longer than 10 years I'll be stunned. DBry was annoying this episode. If I looked like Brie you wouldn't be able to keep clothes on me, haha.

Dear God. I hope she got in trouble backstage for botching the kick-out. Her matches are so slow-paced.You can see the gears turning in her head as she tries to figure out what to do next. It is not natural. She may be athletic like she always claims, but it's just not coming together. Her finisher is AWFUL. It is so embarrassing and obvious that her opponent has to do 90% of the work to pull off the move. It's not really supposed to be obvious how much the wrestlers help each other, yeah? Also, I wonder what WWE thinks. She's still terrible. She needs at least 18 months in NXT. But clearly they are invested in her and see glimmering potential. I can see them rushing her to the main roster. What she does have working in her favor is she generates heat. People will boo the shit out of her. No divas really get a reaction. AJ kind of did but fans were mostly excited to get to chant CM Punk. Nikki and Brie get some heat from fans who loathe them, but it is nothing like the heat Eva gets/will get. WWE may love that she gets fans riled up and showing something.

Oh oops! My bad. Sorry! That's what I get for watching a marathon. Blurring the episodes and the previously on's and previews together!

Ah yes, the show was filming. Time for Albie to call up Brittany! I fell asleep last night with Bravo on and multiple times during the night I woke up to Caroline screaming I AM TRYING TO PREPARE YOU FOR THE CHANGES THAT ARE GOING TO HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE. Caroline makes these comments about her kids not cleaning up or Lauren using her dad's American Express. It's like the elephant in the room. They're like this because she raised them like this.

I am so glad we won't have to hear anymore of the ~are we going to move, what are we going to do about X when we move~. until next year. Enough with the dog penis plotline! (next episode)

Brie was so cute in the singing scenes. They tell her to sing with more intensity and she just sings louder. That's what probably what I would have done, Brie! They tell Nikki to sound more sexy and she grinds while singing. Haha. Eek. Renee Young is ridiculously adorable. Ugh Nattie. I think her fear is valid. Nothing to say about Paige/Rosa. They're so immature.

Yeah I don't think they mind getting booed. They like being heels and heels are supposed to be disliked or get booed. I think it was the crowd clearly making a mockery. It would be one thing if they booed Nikki after she punched Charlotte's dad or something. But the crowd tuned out and were loudly expressing how they didn't care about what the women were trying to do. The divas want to be taken seriously, get more time and get better (or any) storytelling and when the crowd does that, the backstage people notice and it reaffirms that they're right to not invest more in the divas. I also think "Total Divas" doesn't really help the audience's perception. They fight, get drunk, etc. The men have to show them common sense or reason. "Total Divas" is not at all what I want it to be. I want to see them laying out matches beforehand, trying to learn new moves, training, getting the Raw script and reacting to it or practicing, figuring out a new character with WWE staff, etc. The TV scene is overflowing with relationship problems, family problems, girl fights. Total Divas doesn't need that. It can differentiate itself by showing the WWE stuff. Kardashians or Real Housewives can't do that. Charlotte is 29.

Yeah, it's horribly unfair. The writers blow and refuse to book them even in an adequate manner but the girls are the ones who go out there and get the brunt of it. They're at the mercy of Vince (who does not like the divas division) and the terrible writers. They can't really go up against Vince so they're in a no-win situation. After Raw Paige tweeted "You helped us create change and then did your best to disrespect. Niceeeee jobbbbbbbb!" but then deleted it. Here is a good article about it: http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/8/24/9195173/what-revolution They are heels (bad guys) so they *should* get hate or booed. Their characters are pretty much "mean girl" (WWE does a bad job showing this too). Also the Internet wrestling community hates the Bellas so that is also why they get some boos. The booing isn't prevalent usually, I think they get a lot of cheers. They have a lot of fans and there's a lot of signs for them in the crowd. Anyway the Internet and the "snarky" fans think the Bellas represent everything wrong with the Divas Division. The twins get a lot of horrible hate thrown their way- some of it is definitely deserved, some undeserved. A lot of comments or snark about how they are dating/married to two top wrestlers in the company. But their merchandise sells. On their wrestling ability, Nikki is better than average but a lot of fans won't acknowledge that because they're stuck in their hatred for the twins. Brie is bad. On her best day, she's adequate. That drives fans crazy because, when not injured, Daniel Bryan is considered one of the best wrestlers in the world.

On Raw, once again, the Divas segment was booked TERRIBLY. Paige, Charlotte, Becky (team PCB, won at SummerSlam) gave an interview with WWE superstar The Miz. Charlotte was spouting off about her father - legend Ric Flair. Their lines were horrible. Nikki, Brie and Alicia Fox came out. They had more horrible lines. Miz said something "you wrestle like girls", team PCB went to attack him and I guess prove otherwise (Becky is an AMAZING wrestler who could prove him wrong), the Bellas attacked PCB from behind. Another 3 man tag team match ensued. They got a good amount of time, wrestling wasn't bad, but the snarky Brooklyn crowd absolutely shit on the match. They did The Wave, chanted for commentators, chanted "We Are Awesome", chanted CM Punk. It was horrible. There was also a "We want Sasha" chant. Commentary team forgot about the match and talked about the crowd. It was really bad. Not so much on the women, but on the abysmal writing and booking of the segment. The WWE KNOWS the Brooklyn crowd is a tough one and they sent the ladies out to fail. Sasha Banks and an NXT girl (bayley) tore the house down in front of essentially the same crowd two nights earlier. So it's WWE booking that is killing the divas. The whole Divas Revolution shouldn't be so damn difficult because Sasha and Becky are insanely talented (Charlotte is also very talented just not on their level), maybe moreso than a lot of the male wrestlers, but WWE stupid writing seems to take it on as a challenge to make it fail. It has been written so horribly. Three teams fighting for no reason. Why are they even in teams? No one knows. No one mentions Nikki's championship. Nikki said tonight "wins or losses don't matter." Wtf? Why would the writers put that in there. WWE writers and bookers have given it no value. It's sad. Hopefully after Night of Champions (next pay-per-view) when Nikki becomes the longest reigining Divas Champ, the writing gets better. Edited to add: Also, last week's Raw was in Minnesota. Brock Lesnar is from Minnesota and the show had been advertising his appearance all night to a crowd that was extremely hyped to see their hometown boy. Sasha and Nikki were booked in the 2nd to last match of the night. At this point the crowd was really restless and just wanted Brock. The whole Sasha/Nikki match the crowd chanted "We want Lesnar!" I get it, they were tired, restless, Raw is a long show, and they really want to see their guy. But clearly he's up next in the last segment. You're obviously going to get him. It was annoying.

I feel bad for him, too. Cesaro (one of, if not the best, wrestlers on the roster. I could watch that guy wrestle for hours! so many cool moves) was his tag team partner and Cesaro has been wrestling solo in TJ's absence and has been doing amazing. He doesn't really have a storyline lately but he has closed the show on a few occasions. The fans are really behind his solo effort, the last few Raws the stands have been filled with "Cesaro section" signs. It's awesome. I don't know if WWE will reunite them when TJ comes back and they might not have anything for TJ.Also Also! If anyone needs a new song for the workout playlist, may I recommend Sasha Banks (from NXT) theme song "Sky's the Limit"? I admittedly have really cheesy taste in music but I am obsessed with listening to her theme song when I work out. Cause a girl gonna push em all out the way....

I thought she was off TV (and therefore wasn't involved in Divas Revolution) because she took time off to be with TJ while he recovered or was in the early/worst stages of the injury. Nattie is a really good wrestler but she just doesn't have charisma. Her Total Divas antics killed her for me.

This is the best they could do for the PREMIERE? The premiere when you're supposed to get viewers excited and draw them in for the season? Holy shit that was a pathetic showing. Lauren's wedding is the only reason this got a season 2. Bravo viewers looove weddings! or Bravo thinks they do.

Here is Eva in action performing the finisher on a female: Eva's opponent helped her out a lot in pulling this move off and it looked slower than it should, but it is a cool move.

Hahahaha I forgot about that. It makes sense that Cameron and Eva are good friends. 1/4 of a brain between them. And yeah, that Eva promo wasn't good. She is not charistmatic. But WWE somehow sees a star.

I thought that while watching this too! That's Brian Kendrick's finisher so he'll know exactly how to position himself so she can pull off his move. I think the other girls can figure out how to be in position for Eva's finisher but I am not sure I would immediately trust that Eva herself could pull off the move safely on her end. (edit for clarity: meaning she will do her part / what she needs to do to make sure no one gets hurt) I know Brie was supposed to be the bad guy in this episode, but Nikki annoyed me more. "Brie can't lift!" "Brie is the rudest person ever!" "Brie is so negative!" Praise the Lord for minimal Nattie. I will never recover from that scene where she did a confessional of all her lies and told her family she hated their birthday gifts for her.

Agreeeeeed. Nattie is very desperate to stay on this show. Look at how crazy I am! I'm such a nut! Look at my marriage problems! Look at my dad's problems! SEE. INTERESTING INTERESTING INTERESTING! I don't watch this show for the friend drama, relationship drama or family drama. I would watch Real Housewives or Kardashians for that. What this show has unique that the zillion other reality shows don't have is the WWE aspect. WWE is so fascinating and a whole other realm of entertainment. Focus on that. I want to know how long it takes Paige to do her makeup. I find her so grating on the show but the men of WWE looooooove her.

Nothing will make me forget how Khloe and Kris treated Caitlyn during Khloe's wedding to Lamar. They were enraged that Caitlyn dared to be upset they were keeping the wedding secret from her and that she (Caitlyn) learned about Khloe's upcoming wedding on the news. That was so horrendous I thought my head was spinning around like The Exorcist.

Hmm. I very much appreciate that E seems to realize they have a monumental opportunity to educate and are apparently going to try their best to do this right. Caitlyn seems to care deeply about doing this right, as well. I saw a tweet that said "how amazing we're all learning at the same time with this show." It really is! This is a big moment for our society. Shallow but she doesn't look like a Caitlyn to me. Maybe because I'm Khloe's age and all the Caitlyn/Kaitlyns I know are 20/30somethings, not 65! One thing is for sure though, she is so happy. I can't imagine the freedom and the joy, truly. Her mannerisms are weird. In the preview she's snapping her fingers and saying something about "baby" and I was like 'what is that?' I understand she's trying to figure out how to be a woman but it's awkward. Esther is unconditional love personified. I feel awkward that we are seeing everyone grapple with this in front of us. It's very real and relatable, but damn it feels so personal. I loved seeing her try and piece it together with the therapist and the story about Caitlyn trying to shuck off the boy clothes. I am very interested to continue to hear Khloe's issues (like with the VF article) and see Kim's conversation with Caitlyn from the preview where she says "This is your time to shine, but don't bash us on your way up." I wonder what she is talking about.

I don't know how I don't know this, but was this why Caitlyn and Kris got divorced? Or did they divorce for other reasons and once they split, Cait decided now is the time to live her authentic life and transition?

I.am.so.over.the.Eva.drama. She is irrelevant and annoying. I say this every week but her Jonathan creeps me out. He's like a pageant mom. If WWE thinks of her as their next cash cow and Divas champ, good freaking luck to them because she is just not interesting and I will not watch her. Brie and Bryan are the sweetest. They just adore each other and it's so clear. It is so wonderful to see. I look forward to their baby news because they will be great parents. I'm glad they showed segments of Connor, he had such spirit and it was so amazing to see him with Bryan. If you've never seen the video WWE put out, watch it. Connor pins Triple H in the middle of the ring and it's the best. Paige getting emotional over her WrestleMania moment was also nice. I'd probably be emotional everytime I walked down the ramp if I were a Diva, haha.

Aw, Brie. She and Bryan will make amazing parents. I love her and Nikki's love for donuts, haha. Girls after my own heart. SO sick of the Eva drama. It's stupid. I don't like her, Jonathan creeps me out beyond belief, and I think it's beyond stupid the company thinks so highly of her. She's not compelling or articulate. I think the hate for the training is just a storyline for the show, but it makes all the Divas (like my girl Brie!) look crazy and unlikable so not a good look.

I do not miss AJ Lee. She was never enjoyable to watch (to me)...just had a cool finisher, could handle herself really well on the mic and was a favorite of Vince. Also AJ's comment "Talent isn't sexually transmitted" to Nikki & Brie was dumb considering...AJ is married to a wrestler who was just as popular as John & Daniel before he left WWE. AJ wasn't that amazing of a wrestler. Nikki has probably surpassed her in ability, she's improved so much. THE NXT DIVAS! ARE HERE! They were ON RAW! I'm pretty confident that these girls are too talented for WWE to mess them up, but the Raw writers seem pretty clueless. However the buzz since their Raw appearance has been insane so hopefully WWE sees what an opportunity this is. So incredibly exciting! Can't wait to see them in matches with Brie, Nikki, Paige and Alicia...hopefully Emma at some point, too. Naomi and Tamina are irrelevant to me.

Eeeek. What a weird premiere. It's very juvenile to be so mad at Eva. I watch Raw every week and she still isn't back on TV, so I'm guessing with the return of this show, her return will be soon. Hell they might actually make her champion just for storylines to accompany the Total Divas plotline. Why did Jonathan need to watch Eva train? He is so freaking creepy, man. I'm so glad Trinity is back and that Ariane and Rosa are gone! So, so, so glad. GIRL BYE.