Total Bellas - General Discussion

[Marley]

I like Artem too. He seems like a really good guy. I hope it works out for him and Nikki. I can see why she would be a bit unhappy with him tho. It’s not right but she just had a baby and then he’s gone and dancing with some chick all happy. She maybe was a bit depressed after having Mateo too.

The photo shoot of the two babies was disgustingly cute!

[rmontro]

On 1/23/2021 at 3:27 PM, J80134 said:

I love Artem. He is such a nice man at his core. I wish that Nikki wouldn't take such advantage of that. It is her world and he's just along for the ride (role reversal from her Cena relationship).

I've mentioned before that when Nikki is doing something that she knows will hurt Artem, she grins like a buffoon.  And here we had another example of this, when she told Artem she was buying a house without telling him.  I think she gets off on it.  And good point about Cena.

If their dream has been to live in Napa Valley, I hope they stick with their houses this time.  I loved Daniel's line "You girls buy houses like other people buy clothes online".

[WarmSkull]

One thing that I hated in this past episode is Brie making the comments “Artem and his partner have so much chemistry... his partner is so pretty” while they were watching DWTS. I initially cringed at the photo shoot scene where Brie first mentioned their chemistry. But the DWTS viewing scene was sad to watch.

How horrible of a person do you have to be to either (a) do that for real if it’s not a setup or (b) agree to have that as your storyline?

Brie, after already having two children and having some knowledge that post partum can be difficult, makes comments that Artem looks happy, his partner is beautiful, etc. Then in her talking head Brie says “I joke around with her, that’s our thing” as if that’s an excuse. Regardless if Nikki later admitted that she was struggling or not, what type of person makes comments like Brie did to a post partum woman and really digs in with them? 

If they wanted this as a storyline there were other ways to do it without someone looking like a jerk. For example show Instagram comments that cite the same observations. But Brie’s later comments to Nikki to remind Nikki of all the times she called Brie lame and boring makes me think Brie’s comments were intentionally malicious. 

[WarmSkull]

On 1/23/2021 at 3:27 PM, J80134 said:

I'm tired of nikki complaining about how hard it is to take care of Mateo on her own. B**** you're rich. Some of us had to take care of our newborns all by ourselves on top of a full-time job. Hire a nanny and shut up.

 

I was trying to edit and add this quote to my previous post, but am tech illiterate.

I thought this storyline was laughable. Nikki is going on about how she doesn’t trust anyone to watch Matteo. To the point that it’s huge for her to accept Bryan’s help even if she does trust him. Within the same scene Brie already stated that she left Buddy with someone. So Brie has help and/or a trusted babysitter.

Then later in the episode Nikki tells Brie that she left Matteo with someone so she can get out of the house. So after all that and you quickly found someone you can trust?

We have seen their assistants and other personnel before, especially interacting with Birdie. So they definitely rely on people to help them conduct business, maintain their homes, etc. No shame in that. You can still admit to having help and struggle with child care.

Edited January 25, 2021 by WarmSkull
Clarifying details.

[Tatum]

12 hours ago, rmontro said:

I've mentioned before that when Nikki is doing something that she knows will hurt Artem, she grins like a buffoon. 

That is SO irritating. I think she thinks she's being adorable or something, like Artem can't stay mad at her when she acts like that. She is seriously immature.

[J80134]

5 hours ago, WarmSkull said:

One thing that I hated in this past episode is Brie making the comments “Artem and his partner have so much chemistry... his partner is so pretty” while they were watching DWTS. I initially cringed at the photo shoot scene where Brie first mentioned their chemistry. But the DWTS viewing scene was sad to watch.

How horrible of a person do you have to be to either (a) do that for real if it’s not a setup or (b) agree to have that as your storyline?

Brie, after already having two children and having some knowledge that post partum can be difficult, makes comments that Artem looks happy, his partner is beautiful, etc. Then in her talking head Brie says “I joke around with her, that’s our thing” as if that’s an excuse. Regardless if Nikki later admitted that she was struggling or not, what type of person makes comments like Brie did to a post partum woman and really digs in with them? 

If they wanted this as a storyline there were other ways to do it without someone looking like a jerk. For example show Instagram comments that cite the same observations. But Brie’s later comments to Nikki to remind Nikki of all the times she called Brie lame and boring makes me think Brie’s comments were intentionally malicious. 

I agree that Brie's comments are intended to inflame the situation. A good sister would reassure nikki that dancing is like acting, artem loves her, and she has nothing to worry about. Instead, she plays on her sister's insecurities during her post partem emotions and post birth body. Pretty shitty and unsupportive, in my book.

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, WarmSkull said:

One thing that I hated in this past episode is Brie making the comments “Artem and his partner have so much chemistry... his partner is so pretty” while they were watching DWTS.

Good point, Brie was gaslighting Nikki there.  They seem to have a competitive rivalry going on between them, and Brie's approach is often trying to tear the other down instead of building herself up.  It could have been a good moment for Nikki, "Look how good a dancer my husband is", but Brie had to short circuit that.

[Nicmar]

22 hours ago, rmontro said:

Good point, Brie was gaslighting Nikki there.  They seem to have a competitive rivalry going on between them, and Brie's approach is often trying to tear the other down instead of building herself up.  It could have been a good moment for Nikki, "Look how good a dancer my husband is", but Brie had to short circuit that.

Brie has always done that even on total Divas.

 

[LeilaniKai]

I don't care what Nikki says, she is not in love with Artem. Full stop. Period. She may love Artem, but she is not in love. The sooner she admits that to herself the better. The custody battle between them will be epic. I have no doubt that Nikki loves Matteo fiercely and is a devoted mother, but I sense Artem doing the heavy lifting parenting-wise in the future after they split.

The person I can't understand is Artem. What does he get out of the relationship? He's an attractive man who I am sure had no issues finding company and having serious long-term relationships with the opposite sex, so what compelled him to stay with and knock up wishy-washy Nikki?

Also, is it just me or does Nikki and Brie's relationship feel more co-dependent than usual? Sometimes I think they'd be much happier if Bryan and Artem both left and they could just marry each other!! Ok, obviously not literally, but you know what I mean lol. Why do they at almost 40 years old need to live the same town next door or down the street from each other? I know they are twins, but I have identical twins in my family that do not behave like this!

[WarmSkull]

21 hours ago, LeilaniKai said:

She may love Artem, but she is not in love. The sooner she admits that to herself the better

I have the same thought. Their relationship was cute until the engagement. Then, I felt that you started to see a deer in headlights look from Nikki. 
 

21 hours ago, LeilaniKai said:

Also, is it just me or does Nikki and Brie's relationship feel more co-dependent than usual?

Also agreed. I understand that they were “a package” for a long time in WWE and their various business dealings. But, one of them live alone without the other? Or they can’t take care of their family without the other? Ya’ll admit that you have nannies, and of course, your significant others. It’s great that they want to be with each other, but they don’t need each other. 

 

After watching the season finale:

- I can’t believe Nikki and Brie plotted, and slipped Nikki’s breast milk into the wine in the attempt to have JJ drink it. That was incredibly wrong in many levels. That ‘storyline’ made me lose a lot of respect for them. You cannot force, trick, coerce, etc someone to drink your biological fluids. I’m disappointed that this was done and that it made it into the show. 

- After recently house shopping there is no way Nikki didn’t know that her house was that outdated. Pictures can’t hide everything they complained about. And I refuse to believe she didn’t have a FaceTime tour. But, nothing wrong with purchasing it to revamp the house. Though their reactions were funny. 

- Anyone know what happened with their Belle Radici wine line/label? The social media for it hasn’t been updated since mid 2019. Its website has a generic homepage but no other navigation. Their Bonita Bonita is produced by the same vineyard (is that the right term?). Why stop/get rid of the first label to start a second one with the same wine producers? 

- Nikki and Artem will get married Thanksgiving weekend 2021. Hopefully this means we have at least a season of (hate watching) wedding planning. 
I am appreciative of having this recent season so soon after the last. I hate having to wait about a year for the next season. So I hope we get the next season soon without having to wait for the wedding as a prerequisite. 

 

[DkNNy79]

The girls really like to get their digs into each other.  Brie about how pretty Artem’s dwts partner is.  Nikki on how she gave birth first even though Brie’s due date was a week earlier.

They just fight so dirty sometime.  Scream obscenities to each other and then makeup in the next hour like it’s no big deal.  That just seems so exhausting.  Their men are so zen in comparison, don’t know how they deal with it.

[Tatum]

Saw in one of the rag mags that JJ and Lauren have officially split. They were married for 10 years. I guess this is not surprising since they seemed to somewhat despise each other. I am sure Lauren can do better.

[Aileen]

Apparently this isn’t brand new info, but Daniel Bryan left the WWE in May and “sources” say he’ll be debuting soon with their competitor…I wonder how that will affect TD if there’s another season.

[Tatum]

Yeah, it looks like neither Total Divas or Total Bellas will be renewed.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/wwe-news-e-network-to-cancel-wwe-shows-total-bellas-and-total-divas-after-almost-a-decade/

 

Can't say I'm surprised. Ratings for Total Bellas were dismal, even for cable reality TV standards. We never even finished the most recent season, it was so boring.

[rmontro]

20 hours ago, Aileen said:

Apparently this isn’t brand new info, but Daniel Bryan left the WWE in May and “sources” say he’ll be debuting soon with their competitor…

Some might be saying that, but I really expect Daniel to stay with the WWE.  I would be happy to be wrong about that, however.  Apparently the Bellas are going to have another run in WWE here at some point.  Wouldn't surprise me to see them punish Brie in some way if Daniel signs with AEW.

[Tatum]

11 hours ago, rmontro said:

Some might be saying that, but I really expect Daniel to stay with the WWE.  I would be happy to be wrong about that, however.  Apparently the Bellas are going to have another run in WWE here at some point.  Wouldn't surprise me to see them punish Brie in some way if Daniel signs with AEW.

I saw some blurb about WWE cutting a lot of lower level (and midlevel) wrestlers to make room in the salary cap to lure back John Cena, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, and the Bella twins. This came from one of the head guys' social media accounts so I think it's sort of legit.

 

The men make sense, but were the Bella twins ever really moneymakers for the WWE? I remember reading on the Total Divas thread that the twins were not at all among the popular acts and were not a crowd draw. Spending lots of money to get them back, when they haven't been involved for like, 5 years and are now approaching 40, seems really odd. Not to mention, wasn't Nikki's neck injury like, career ending? And they want to come back now, after they've just had babies? Maybe they are looking at some kind of soap opera storyline between Cena and Nikki, but the timing is incredibly odd.

[rmontro]

8 hours ago, Tatum said:

I saw some blurb about WWE cutting a lot of lower level (and midlevel) wrestlers to make room in the salary cap to lure back John Cena, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, and the Bella twins.

I'm pretty sure the WWE doesn't have a salary cap  :)  I guess you mean the budget though.  

Yeah, I can't imagine the Bellas commanding that much money, and I definitely don't think they'd be a big draw.  I doubt Cena will be around for long, so I doubt he would be in a storyline with Nikki.  That would explain why they wanted the Bellas back so bad though.  John Laurinaitis recently got a job back with WWE as head of talent relations, so maybe he's pushing for their return.

[Marley]

I liked the show tho even tho it was obv fake as hell so kind of sucks it’s not coming back but oh well lol.