WarmSkull

I watched Episode 10. I don’t have much since the previews and news articles gave so much away throughout the week. During JJ’s wine tasting: It took me a moment to realize the “coke up my nose” moment. I was a bored leading up to that scene so maybe that’s why it went over my head initially. I agree with Brie - birthdays don’t have to elaborate thing. But then she wants a theme and centards, I mean centaurs. I enjoyed Bryan’s wrestling scenes. Nikki’s “I’m hanging up the boots” speech at dinner was anti-climatic. There was barely a reaction from her family. Clearly this twin retirement has been in the works for quite some time. So, Nikki will be in LA, Brie in Phoenix (with the rest of most of the family) and they will focus on their brands. But they both were tired of the traveling involved in WWE. What about the traveling to be involved for the brands? And Brie actually told Nikki that if she leaves WWE then they could put more time into their companies. We know you have people to drive the creative side. The “move out of Brie’s rental house” scene: They act like they aren’t going to see each other *ever again.* Wasn’t Brie in Phoenix when Nikki was in Florida with Cena? They are still going to work on the wine and clothing etc brands so the dramatic goodbye is unnecessary. When was Nicole Brie’s main priority? Again, all their moves were storyline driven. Also, didn’t you, Brie, say last episode say that you made your family move because your were afraid of settling down. You made those moves because you had a storyline to follow and because you were thinking of you. Nice end to the season... series...?

Apparently during episode 10 Nikki announced her retirement from wrestling. Then this blind item came out, if you believe this sort of thing (I personally love the fodder):

I watched episode 9. I feel like they are already hinting at Brie’s storyline for upcoming seasons: “I have 2 kids, a husband and 2 dogs. Will I lose who I am as Brie?” I felt like Brie was laying it on pretty thick when she told Nikki “I am going to have sooo much stability when I retire. I’ll have Birdie and a second kid, a husband and my house and stability.” Are you trying to convince yourself or are you trying to one-up Nikki? We all know that you will miss the attention. But don’t worry, Nikki will bust her ass to get another wine, etc deal so you can continue to ride her coattails. Botch Bella! I love that they finally said those words. But really Brie with the “Story of my life” quip. Your entire life has been like this? So dramatic. The one thing that annoyed me is how Brie only identifies herself so much as only a mom. At the pep rally her speech included how everyone attacked her mistakes her and “made THIS MOM” feel horrible. We know you’re a mom, but you don’t need to leverage it for guilt points. She could have picked any other descriptor, a wrestler, a veteran athlete, a woman, etc but you picked “mom.” It didn’t fit right for me. Did anyone on social media say “get the mom of the ring” or call her “Botch Mom?” With the botched suicide dives it seemed like plenty of people understood that pregnancy changed her center of mass so she couldn’t do the move as she once did. But, they wanted her to practice it. Brie, please go back to Phoenix and knock that chip off your shoulder. This episode was trying to show that Brie can’t hang anymore when it comes to busy schedules for media, etc. But she has the time and the energy for “mommy night out” with her SIL. But thinks attending a pep rally, essentially a fan event, is lame? Which story line is it? Would she be more amendable if there was booze at the pep rally? The dinner where Nikki initiated the talk about wanting the pep rally had me cracking up. How many times can Nikki say “Bella army, Bellalution, Evolution.” It reminded me of the Parks and Rec episode when the crew was selling Snake Juice and had to use specific buzzwords. Fast forward to the club and Leslie comes along yelling the buzzwords randomly. That’s how I saw Nikkk. I enjoyed Paige and Nattie popping up in the episode. Especially since Nattie wasn’t playing her “wacky Nattie” storyline. I enjoy seeing Nattie portray herself as the competent and experienced wrestler that she is. As usual I loved their outfits. Especially Lauren’s outfit when she and Brie had their night out. I would love for Lauren to have a lifestyle show without the reality TV storylines. Just clothes, products and her trips. And no Brother Bella. P.S. Jessica Simpson had her third child today and named her baby Birdie Mae.

I feel like Nikki could continue to be successful in WWE without Brie. She in particular seems to have a decent gimmick with the Fearless Nikki that connects well with the audience, and I think would be more flexible to experiment with different storylines. I know it’s google-able but has Nikki popped up in WWE since Evolution?

They will not be on this upcoming season of Total Divas though they will still produce or whatever behind the scenes. I’ve noticed for the past several seasons of Total Bellas/Divas that E doesn’t schedule many repeats of the episodes. For example, tonight’s episode airs at 9 PM. I skipped all the way through Wednesday and could not find a reairing. Meanwhile Very Cavallari will air at 10 PM and then later on early Monday morning. I usually could DVR Total Bellas/Divas in the 3 AM window, but no longer. I feel like for all the other shows E will reair that season’s episodes quite often, to the point of mini marathons. I wonder if dismal ratings have anything to do with the lack of push E gives the show.

I thought the same. But at the same time, what a humble brag for Nikki. “You just want to be sooo perfect.” And then when Bryan, Brie and Birdie were at the park Brie mentioned “I know I made us move.” But let’s be honest: the moves to Cena’s 2 houses and San Diego were storyline driven. I immediately disregard the “woe is me” for those moves. I was wondering what happened to their Washington house. I was surprised that the original Phoenix house wasn’t the “It” house where Brie feels settled. It’s her first house and where she started her family. I did appreciate learning more about their family’s background. There was one season of Total Divas where he seemed like an outright jerk. It was the season before his depression was revealed on Total Bellas. Since then TPTB hasn’t showcased his attitude towards Brie as much but it’s definitely surfacing again. And other random and shallow thoughts: * I have been noticing the “Total Bellas” signage visible when they film backstage at the WWE events. I wonder how the other talent feels about them getting a separate area and not being in the locker room. *I liked seeing the Evolution prep at the Lab. This is why I started watching the Total Bellas/Divas- to see what type of training the athletes go through and how things happen backstage. * Way too much time was spent on the go-kart race. I really didn’t care to see the go-pro shots for as long as they showed them. * I loved Nikki’s silver top for her talking head. * I am jealous that Brie can pull off those hats. * I liked Brie’s pants when they were on backwards. When she had them on correctly the V was too vagina-like. * Can I have Nikki’s shoulders and upper back? * Were there ice cubes in Nikki’s wine when she and her mom were on their beach house couch? Couldn’t tell if it was a glare or not but ice cubes in wine is a pet peeve.

Peter Kraus reminds me a bit of Sebastian Stan in the face so I’m here for that. But Nikki, what was that damn poncho you wore on your date?! And you really stopped by Brie’s house at 12:45 AM?! That sucks for Brie. And I can’t blame Brie for not wanting to talk to Nikki about her date, especially if she wasn’t expecting Nikki to pop over at midnight. A bit needy that Nikki thinks people are waiting to hear about her date. “Bella Brain” is not cute. There is a problem if a 30-something doesn’t know basic words or how to pronounce them. Brie, we didn’t trash you on social media because you’re a woman. Get over yourself. Bryan, Birdie is not going to ask you if you did your part to save the world. Get over yourself. I know I hated how often Brie blamed mom guilt, but it’s funny how both Bryan and Brie are in AUSTRALIA and Brie hasn’t talked about how both she and her husband left Birdie behind (assuming that Birdie didn’t go to Australia; seemed like Mama Bellas was watching her back home). A previous poster mentioned how Brie’s mom guilt comes (ie when Brie actually needs to work) and goes (ie vacation) and I agree. Is it bad that I judged the beach cleanup because the twins were given/had a plastic garbage bag? Bryan was rightfully (IMO) commenting on how much plastic is used in the grocery stores, but then at the beach cleanup a garbage bag is being used? LMAO. Wow, Nikki looked skiiiiiiinny in front of the green screen for the Evolution promo. One thing I’ve realized that I like about the Bellas is the innate competition between them. I like seeing the ugliness come out. Nikki seems to be more supportive of Brie than Brie is of Nikki. PS: I love Liv’s hair shade.

Was Brie also doing non-TV shows during the week? I know she did the PPV, in addition to Raw and Smackdown. But was she doing any shows Wednesday - most Sundays? Was she following one or both rosters for the rest of the week? While I appreciated that the show covered the Liv incident I didn’t care for this past episode’s way of handling it. When Brie was talking to Bryan on their patio and they both blamed social media’s reaction. At least with the botched suicide dives both Johnny and Nikki said “probably should have practiced it.” But this time it’s social media that is being so mean and Brie is just so tired because she’s so busy. I don’t need to see a flogging but an actual mea cupola would have been nice. I loved the awkwardness associated with setting up Nikki for her date. I believed, for storyline purposes, that Nikki was dreading that first real date, et al. But, really Taye Diggs was in the running? Did an intern show Taye a picture of Nikki and ask if he thought she was attractive. Then when Taye said yes, the intern noted that Taye would date her? I couldn’t suspend reality for that. And queue Brie’s jealousy.

I didn’t phrase that properly. I liked how Teryl’s character in All for Love handled being a boss watching two characters fall in love, while working for her business. I would preferred to see a character similar to that one than what we got. I can’t wait to do a rewatch this weekend. Especially after you mentioned that the boss was bitchy in the beginning on the movie. Going to keep my eye out for that.

I recall the scene with Dr. Frozen Foods that they made it out to be like that. But, when (Not So) Evil Boss talked to Maggie she said they got the 12 recipes from Hank and he was paid for the step deal. I think it’s pretty standard for the recipes to be given to/owned by Frozen Foods Inc and standard that the company would learn something from Hank along the way. But that whole storyline was poorly written so it seemed abrupt and disruptive.

I just finished Love on the Menu. Admittedly, I am an Autumn Reeser fan girl and have been happy that her past few movies do not rely on the typical Hallmark misunderstanding that usually drives the protagonists to get together at the last minute of the movie. Overall, I thought the movie was good. I liked the kitchen/food prep and the table prep scenes. I liked that their first kiss and then other cute moments occurred well before the end of the movie. It’s nice when Hallmark doesn’t follow their usual troupe of saving the first kiss for the end. I was a bit annoyed by her boss becoming a big bad out of nowhere. Maggie worked with her boss for how long and this was the first time her boss moved on to a new project? Not likely. Hank and the boss fulfilled their contractual obligations. Moving on to a new chef is business. I think that storyline could have handled it better. I also fan girl for Teryl Rothery and would have loved aspects of her character from All for Love to have been used for the storyline: more logical and understanding. “You have spent a lot of time with Hank and don’t have the heart for frozen food anymore? This is a business that I need to run. How about you think if you want to stay with us or return to your roots of managing restaurants?” An outright firing seemed a bit drastic for the slow-moving movie. I didn’t think Hank was a jerk for the much of the movie. He definitely was after the initial contract agreement, particularly when Maggie did her introduction in the kitchen. Other than that, I thought Kavan portrayed Hank well, from his initial resistance, to dropping his walls and then accepting Maggie into his life.

I thought Nikki had an excellent point regarding how disappointed fans could be since they bought the Comic(?)Con tickets expecting 2 Bellas but were getting 1. Other than bumping Nikki’s appearance time I wonder if there was any other fallout, especially if they were contractually obligated. Also, I was disappointed with the episode ending. When the twins were driving to practice, Brie was asking Nikki if she was ok to drive since Nikki was tired. I thought that there next scenes would be Brie realizing that she dumps her responsibilities on other people. But it’s Nikki saying “guilt mom is real.” At this point, we know it is. One from our own personal experiences and two, from all the other episodes and seasons where Brie complained that being a newlywed, diva, pregnant woman, mom, woman, human, etc is hard. I’m trying to recall previous episodes of Total Bellas / Divas: but I vaguely recall a storyline where Nikkk introduced the idea of the wine line and Brie basically mocked her. Nikki ran with the idea while Brie complained that some aspect of her life was too hard for her to be involved. Then both reap the benefits once the wine became a reality. Or I may have remembered that completely wrong. This will come across as shaming but what was Nikki wearing to their pre-runway show dinner? When she got out of the car all I saw was lingerie. I guess it looked slightly better at the show when she wore a shirt over the top half, but, just no, honey.

Total Divas has started filming for season 9. Lana and Rusev are out. “Lana revealed that she and Rusev have been removed from the cast for being “strongly disliked” by the show’s viewers.” Sonya Deville is filming for TD. Ronda Rousey is a potential. Though using her in the background and for quick talks haven’t been bad. Source: https://www.sescoops.com/ronda-rousey-joins-total-divas-cast/ Edit: Paige and the Bellas will not be filming for season 9. Nikki will continue to produce Total Divas but both Bellas will focus on Total Bellas. ”The rest of the cast will feature Sonya Deville, Carmella, Natalya, Nia Jax, and Naomi. That means that those leaving the show include Paige, The Bella Twins, and Lana.” Source: https://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/1056075-nikki-brie-bella-total-divas-season-9

I wouldn’t be surprised if the 20K is inflated so it seems that Nikkk is ‘out of control.’ I also expect that MTV chipped in, especially since they are using it for the show. I’m not impressed with Brie’s concern about the Ferrari. Didn’t Cena and Nikki have quite a few expensive cars? Also, I recall all the fancy bags and shoes in Nikki’s closet. Now they worry about her spending habits? Because Cena isn’t bankrolling her anymore and she doesn’t know how to manage her money while keeping up appearances? I totally agree. Her personality is an immediate turnoff for her storylines. Also, I don’t like Maya in the show. Nothing against her personally. But it’s weird having a 16-year-old hanging out with the family/involved in storylines. The Bellas are 15 years or so older. What does Maya contribute to the storylines that actual adults can’t? The Bella mentoring storyline could have been interesting. But they set up her first modeling job without telling Johnny. Then we have the learning experience of “we promise to tell you in the future,” which doesn’t strike me as the best mentoring scenario.* Plus, I don’t really want to see a teenager surrounded by the Bella Family’s constant boozing and their discussion of each other’s sex lives. Though if I see less of Brother Bella because of Maya then I’m all about Maya. *I recognize that these storylines are created and/or exaggerated for TV. P.S. I was bored this weekend and hated watched it. 😶

IG is showing me an a video advertisement for the upcoming season. Within the first few seconds Nikki is declaring that she needs to “focus on me.” Hasn’t that been a storyline for the past year or so on both Total Bella’s/Divas?