Total Divas - General Discussion

[Hero]

Paige acts like a child. The way she acts when Mark is speaking to her is very odd. She hides behind his computer and acts like a child that is being scolded by her father.

 

Bryan is bothering me this season. He seems very controlling and says a lot of mean things and he tries to cover it by saying that it is a "joke." The way he was mean to Nikki shows his true character. Nikki might not be the smartest person on the planet, but neither is his wife. The things he was saying to Nikki was pretty brutal.

 

Does T.J. not like Big E? Nattie was telling T.J. in the car that he has to be nice to him. Big E seems like a nice guy. His muscles are huuuuggge. But, that shirt was terrible. Shallow note: he has a nice butt. 

 

Did Ariane wrestle badly when she was on the team with Trinity? Or was she a person who was on the sidelines?

Edited September 3, 2015 by Suzy123

[Sarahsmile416]

Paige acts like a child. The way she acts when Mark is speaking to her is very odd. She hides behind his computer and acts like a child that is being scolded by her father.

Bryan is bothering me this season. He seems very controlling and says a lot of mean things and he tries to cover it by saying that it is a "joke." The way he was mean to Nikki shows his true character. Nikki might not be the smartest person on the planet, but neither is his wife. The things he was saying to Nikki was pretty brutal.

Does T.J. not like Big E? Nattie was telling T.J. in the car that he has to be nice to him. Big E seems like a nice guy. His muscles are huuuuggge. But, that shirt was terrible. Shallow note: he has a nice butt.

Did Ariane wrestle badly when she was on the team with Trinity? Or was she a person who was on the sidelines?

She is like a child. She was right about Ariane but handled it appallingly. Just her reaction when Nikki and Nattie talked to her was so bratty. I had to applaud the way Nikki went out to talk to her and was able to reach her. It was well done.

[KerleyQ]

Bryan has really been bugging me this season. From his treatment of Nikki and now his whole controlling attitude towards Brie's clothing annoyed me. I don't understand the whole you change your clothing or I will turn off the water. I don't know, her whole change in attitude near the end of the episode bugged me. All of a sudden she had the "best husband ever" while he was throwing away her clothing. Hers!

I'm sorry, either she has no backbone or there is something going on behind the scenes with them.

 

Yeah, I liked Bryan before this season, but this season is doing him no favors.  When he accused Brie of "trying to give all these guys boners," I wanted to slap him.  Because, Heaven forbid a woman dress how she wants because she likes the way she looks, right, Bryan?  I loved Nikki's response when Brie told her about it "you wear whatever you want to wear."  And to get upset that she's wearing something that shows skin to an event?  Please, Bryan.  You're in WWE, you KNOW what is expected from the women there.  Do you really expect Brie to show up for an event wearing a baggy turtleneck and baggy jeans or something?  And then the dickish controlling shit where he turned off the water until she dresses how he wants her to dress?  Brie should have simply informed her that she'd be staying with Nikki, her mother, or a friend until their home has running water.  She should not have even considered indulging that behavior.  The fact that she let him get away with that shit and gave him his way in the end was absurd.  And if that wasn't all strictly scripted and was, in fact, genuine, then it doesn't bode well for the future of their marriage.  He has his ace in the hole of "I'll make your daily life completely miserable until I get my way, and I know you'll give in."  

 

Nattie is one of those reality show people who you just watch thinking "you know this is all being filmed, right?  That your little conversations with the camera about how much you want your sister out of your house aren't private?  And what happened to your big emotional "lying to my family is wrong" moment from a few weeks ago?  And, apparently, despite saying that her sister is like royalty and not just anyone is good enough for her, it seems like her main criteria for finding a date for Jen was "first guy I come across backstage who I can talk into dating her, so she'll get the hell out of my house." 

[noluvnoluck]

Bryan got some damned nerve "dicktating" Brie's wardrobe while he walks around looking like the long lost Hobbit. He needs to stop because his look is not poppin. At all.

I hate how Brie just submits to him so far to the point that she not only allows him to throw out her clothes (ones that most likely attracted him in the first place), but she lets him get away with talking about Nicki badly. That's a huge no no. I'm sure if Cena spoke badly of Brie he would be on the couch until he apologized. I just see Nicki sticking up for her sister despite her dimwittedness because she's a sweet person. Brie is so far up Bryan's ass.

Paige is an arrogant little bitch. I want to like her but then I'm reminded of what a little turd she is.

[Sarahsmile416]

Yeah, I liked Bryan before this season, but this season is doing him no favors. When he accused Brie of "trying to give all these guys boners," I wanted to slap him. Because, Heaven forbid a woman dress how she wants because she likes the way she looks, right, Bryan? I loved Nikki's response when Brie told her about it "you wear whatever you want to wear." And to get upset that she's wearing something that shows skin to an event? Please, Bryan. You're in WWE, you KNOW what is expected from the women there. Do you really expect Brie to show up for an event wearing a baggy turtleneck and baggy jeans or something? And then the dickish controlling shit where he turned off the water until she dresses how he wants her to dress? Brie should have simply informed her that she'd be staying with Nikki, her mother, or a friend until their home has running water. She should not have even considered indulging that behavior. The fact that she let him get away with that shit and gave him his way in the end was absurd. And if that wasn't all strictly scripted and was, in fact, genuine, then it doesn't bode well for the future of their marriage. He has his ace in the hole of "I'll make your daily life completely miserable until I get my way, and I know you'll give in."

Nattie is one of those reality show people who you just watch thinking "you know this is all being filmed, right? That your little conversations with the camera about how much you want your sister out of your house aren't private? And what happened to your big emotional "lying to my family is wrong" moment from a few weeks ago? And, apparently, despite saying that her sister is like royalty and not just anyone is good enough for her, it seems like her main criteria for finding a date for Jen was "first guy I come across backstage who I can talk into dating her, so she'll get the hell out of my house."

Oh yeah that boner comment was tantamount to saying "she asked for it" shit. I agree, Nikki was absolutely right. They are your damn clothes, wear what you want to fucking wear. The fact that her mother seemed to agree with Bryan was disgusting as well.

[KerleyQ]

Oh yeah that boner comment was tantamount to saying "she asked for it" shit. I agree, Nikki was absolutely right. They are your damn clothes, wear what you want to fucking wear. The fact that her mother seemed to agree with Bryan was disgusting as well.

 

Yes, I even said "thanks for contributing your part to rape culture, Bryan!" to my TV when he said that. 

[Sarahsmile416]

Bryan got some damned nerve "dicktating" Brie's wardrobe while he walks around looking like the long lost Hobbit. He needs to stop because his look is not poppin. At all.

I hate how Brie just submits to him so far to the point that she not only allows him to throw out her clothes (ones that most likely attracted him in the first place), but she lets him get away with talking about Nicki badly. That's a huge no no. I'm sure if Cena spoke badly of Brie he would be on the couch until he apologized. I just see Nicki sticking up for her sister despite her dimwittedness because she's a sweet person. Brie is so far up Bryan's ass.

Paige is an arrogant little bitch. I want to like her but then I'm reminded of what a little turd she is.

Agreed. I know this is probably a little over the top, but her whole reaction at the end of show just leads me to wonder at abuse, either verbal, emotional or physical. I mean, the way he talks to Nikki is certainly verging on that.

[Hero]

When that Road Dogg guy told Paige that she is supposed be on her best behavior "24/7" while in the WWE, I laughed. This show makes these women look 100x worse. They come off very stupid and vapid most of the time. 

[Chairperson Meow]

OnceSane said "the Bellas are regularly booed."Why is that? Are they considered bad wrestlers? Nikki's the champ, for god's sake. Thanks.

The majority of fans know that this stupid title reign is to wipe AJ Lee from the "record books", as she is the current longest reigning divas champ. Wiping AJ Lee away is important because after her rl husband left WWE, he remained radio silent for months and dropped the pipe bomb to end them all on Colt Cabana's podcast (Art of Wrestling, available for free!) He tells many true, shocking things. WWE didn't like that. This led to AJ eventually quitting. The locker room wasn't um very friendly to her after. But she and Punk are good financially. Cena runs that locker room now. The rumor is that he got Nikki the title, and so forth. This is why fans, especially Brooklyn and Chicago crowds will boo the Bellas. And CM Punk chants will occur. CM Punk chants have become the rallying cry for change from the frustrated, as WWE literally drove a talented man who worked his ass off from the business. So, as fans, we chant for Punk. When two people who loved the business get driven from it for bs, then we chant and boo.

And Bayley is probably the future face of the WWE. Not even main roster and outselling everyone! Hug life!

[KerleyQ]

I don't buy the rumors that John got her the title.  I mean, I'm sure it didn't hurt that she's involved with one of their highest profile guys, but I don't think he got it for her.  I think they went with her because they consider her one of their most high profile divas (thanks, at least partly, to this show).  I get a pretty strong vibe off Cena that, outside of the fact that they both work for WWE, he doesn't like to mix their personal life with his work life to that degree.  

 

Also, I don't think that he has that kind of influence behind the scenes. Or, if he does, he's clearly not utilizing it to his own benefit very often, outside of maintaining his image (the good guy, doesn't give up, etc), and even that might not necessarily be one hundred percent him as much as the WWE is invested in him being that guy because the company needs one guy like that.  I just can't see him pushing heavily for Nikki to get a belt.  Honestly, if I was going to peg anybody in current day WWE as pulling some behind the scenes strings, it would be Rollins.  

 

I think they knew they wanted someone to break AJ's record, and, in order to do that, they needed to pick someone they were willing to put front and center in the Divas division for that length of time.  Given who the choices were at that time (remembering that the current Divas "revolution" was not in play yet), who else were they going to do that with?  They clearly considered Brie and Nikki their most high profile women at that time.  With Brie, they had to have it in the back of their minds that there were decent odds she might end up pregnant before they could reach the point of breaking the record, so Nikki was a safer choice there.  Their other options were pretty much Paige, Nattie, and Naomi.  They have no real interest in pushing Nattie as a wrestler.  Paige was still pretty new, and, if this show is remotely to be believed, may not be the best at the backstage politics of it all.  So they were pretty much left with a choice between Nikki and Naomi.  And, for whatever reasons, right or wrong, they did not consider Naomi really ready for that at the time they put the belt on Nikki.  So Nikki was their choice. 

[DkNNy79]

Also, I don't think that he has that kind of influence behind the scenes. Or, if he does, he's clearly not utilizing it to his own benefit very often, outside of maintaining his image (the good guy, doesn't give up, etc), and even that might not necessarily be one hundred percent him as much as the WWE is invested in him being that guy because the company needs one guy like that.  I just can't see him pushing heavily for Nikki to get a belt.  Honestly, if I was going to peg anybody in current day WWE as pulling some behind the scenes strings, it would be Rollins.  

Didn't the WWE just fire Rollins' girlfriend (the one he was cheating on his fiancé with).

 

So whats the scoop with CM Punk?  Did they fire him because he didn't want to follow the company line or something?

 

I don't follow NXT, but the girls they brought up are really good and totally outshining the divas in WWE.

[KerleyQ]

Didn't the WWE just fire Rollins' girlfriend (the one he was cheating on his fiancé with).

 

So whats the scoop with CM Punk?  Did they fire him because he didn't want to follow the company line or something?

 

I don't follow NXT, but the girls they brought up are really good and totally outshining the divas in WWE.

 

They did fire her. Given how quickly they scrubbed their company of all Hogan references for his racist remarks, I don't think anyone at WWE has the power to keep their significant other out of the line of fire if they're posting swastikas on social media.  

 

As for Punk, his leaving had a lot to do with his being unhappy with how they handle health problems and injuries. (This is his side of things, I'm paraphrasing).  Among his issues - they tried to rush him back too early from at least one injury (and directly into a riskier than average match), and their medical staff tried to get him to ignore a mass that ended up being from a staph infection that had been left untreated for too long.  After he walked off, they suspended him, then officially fired him on his wedding day. 

[DkNNy79]

I'm curious to see how they handle Jimmy Fly Snuka.  Apparently he was just arrested for the murder of his girlfriend from 1983.  Surprised the statute of limitations didn't run out.  Or maybe they don't run out when it involves murder.

 

I'm curious to know if there is an unspoken rule of things that can and can't be done in the ring.  I was watching an old match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch on youtube.  In one move it looked like Sasha twisted Becky's arm severely (where it looked unnatural) and then eventually stomped on it.  I know they tend to exaggerate certain movements, but to my eye it looked pretty dangerous.

[Unclejosh]

The thing with Paige is interesting.  If this was not being filmed or happened prior to the Bill Mott situation, they would have encouraged Paige getting mad and roughing up Ariane.  There literally used to be enforcers in the locker room who if you were dangerous or bad, they would "shoot" on you or legit potato the offender to teach them a lesson.  The thinking is to scare the person into not being dangerous.  Better to take a semi-rough beating during a match/training than the potential to seriously injuring someone.  I could tell as soon as Ariane was locking up she was scary as she could seriously hurt someone.  People don't realize just how gentle and careful wrestlers have to be with each other at times in order to make it look real but not do real damage.  It is so easy to wrench someone's neck and injure them permanently doing a simple headlock and hip toss.  Since the other person isn't really fighting back and letting you do whatever move is happening, you are completely vulnerable to the other person.

[noluvnoluck]

Not giving him excuses but I noticed Bryan's behavior kinda coincides with him injuring himself and not being able to wrestle. I'm wondering if he's beginning to feel insecure about everything and Brie is massaging his ego by allowing him to say and do whatever.

Still not right at all.

[MutieTheMailman]

I don't understand why Paige was "training" Cameron. For years, Cameron was part of the Funkadactyls tag team, and was shown as such on past seasons of Total Divas. I'm assuming the whole Paige/Cameron "fight" is part of some storyline...as is this whole show. If WWE thought truly that Cameron's in-ring skills needed a tune-up, there is an entire coaching and training team at the WWE's Performance Center in Florida.

[KerleyQ]

I'm curious to see how they handle Jimmy Fly Snuka.  Apparently he was just arrested for the murder of his girlfriend from 1983.  Surprised the statute of limitations didn't run out.  Or maybe they don't run out when it involves murder.

 

 

No statute of limitations on murder.  My son looked after the news broke, and he was still on the website.  It's possible they may be waiting to see how things develop, since he hasn't been convicted yet.  

[Chairperson Meow]

Didn't the WWE just fire Rollins' girlfriend (the one he was cheating on his fiancé with).

 

So whats the scoop with CM Punk?  Did they fire him because he didn't want to follow the company line or something?

 

I don't follow NXT, but the girls they brought up are really good and totally outshining the divas in WWE.

Punk was never really liked by management. He was literally a new Stone Cold, but whereas Stone Cold actually had JR advocate and middle man for him (Stone Cold has walked away from WWE twice), Punk never really had a "guy" to do that for him. It's been acknowledged by McMahon that had such a person existed, Punk would most likely be with the company still. Basically, Punk wanted equal pay/compensation for what he did/sold. He was granting Make a Wishes, selling more merch than Cena at one point, and traveling non stop. He wanted to main event, as in have the final match at Wrestlemania. After a tumultuous few years where he'd been told "I owe you" and "It'll get better", and working days after surgeries, pooping in his pants during a match due to illness, having staph infections, etc... the Wrestlemania stuff was his final straw that broke the camel's back. It's funny/fucked up/ironic that HHH is this NXT guy bringing indy guys like Prince DeVitt and Kenta and El Generico and Kevin Steen over and Tyler Black is the WWE Champ because one of H's biggest beefs with Punk was his indy background and his physique. *Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Seth Rollins btw.

[Chairperson Meow]

I need a ringtone of Brie singing her theme song. I legit didn't know it had lyrics. I thought the words were auto tuned "Brie Mode whoa oh" .

[OnceSane]

Nikki takes a much-needed vacation in Napa, while Trinity drags her family on an RV camping trip, and Eva is forced to choose between her career and Jonathan.

[BellaLugosi]

I think the Bryan stuff was made up for the show, but it's still disturbing that none of them thought that it didn't look good for him to punish her for not dressing how he wants her to.  They were all acting like it was some cute, quirky thing. It wasn't.  They could have had this go in so many other directions but instead they take into I Love Lucy territory. Guys are going to be looking at Brie no matter what she's wearing, so they could have went with that. I'm still mad at how their brother shamed Nikki after she showed his nude selfie and he never had to apologize for saying awful things to her. These girls need a course in feminism or rape culture or something. 

 

Paige was an ass again. I'm not sure what she thought "training" involved, but it does involve teaching, not going crazy over mistakes. Cameron should know better by now, but apparently not. And is she going through every cliche rebellion trope or what? Moving in with guys she basically just met, getting tattoos, getting a motorcycle. What a bore she is. 

 

Nattie is a loon, and not in a fun way. How gross was she pushing her sister on Mark? He was clearly not interested. Then telling her to got home with Big E when she'd just met him. I'm sure she'd have to call her out for that later if it did happen, considering how she talks to the other girls. And then Jenny yelling at TJ for not proposing to Nattie in the way she wanted, that whole family is nuts. 

 

I'm positive that compost toilet was brought up before on the show. I seem to remember Brie mentioning it to Nikki and Nikki being grossed out. It might have been one of the episodes where they showed how different John & Bryan are. 

[Hero]

My dad was watching wrestling and I saw that there is another red- headed female wrestler. I thought that the WWE wouldn't want someone with Eva's hair color since her image revolves around her red hair?

[BellaLugosi]

I was surprised by that too.  That's Becky Lynch (I assume), and she's pretty awesome.  Her hair is more of an orange though. 

[Hero]

For a split second I thought it was Eva, but then I didn't hear any booing.

[OnceSane]

Yup, that's Becky Lynch and her hair is definitely orange. No one has Eva's shade of red hair (a blessing for them because I think it looks awful).

[BellaLugosi]

I was thinking of Sasha too, since her hair is like a dark pink or purple. 

 

My sister doesn't watch wrestling but has seen most of the Divas because she will once in a while watch with me. She watched when Stephanie introduced everyone. Anyway she happened to see Eva on Total Divas and asked what was wrong with her, and that her hair looked horrid. LOL!

 

The thing with Becky and Sasha is that they have color variants in their hair. So even though it isn't a natural color, it still looks like real hair. Whereas Eva looks like she is wearing a Halloween wig. 

[Hero]

Eva's hair color looks terrible. I wonder how much damage her hair has because she probably has to dye so much.

[BellaLugosi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb7T4AsBS1E

 

Even if you don't watch wrestling, please watch this trainwreck aka an Eva match.  She worries more about her entrance and her dumb kiss-blowing than she does about the actual match. And her yelling! And of course, not kicking out and making the ref look stupid. 

[Racj82]

I don't understand why Paige was "training" Cameron. For years, Cameron was part of the Funkadactyls tag team, and was shown as such on past seasons of Total Divas. I'm assuming the whole Paige/Cameron "fight" is part of some storyline...as is this whole show. If WWE thought truly that Cameron's in-ring skills needed a tune-up, there is an entire coaching and training team at the WWE's Performance Center in Florida.

In the show, they addressed this already. When Cameron stopped being a regular on the show, she went down to NXT to train. There was a whole story line about it before Trinity left the show full time for a while. And they said it on the last episode. She didn't get much time to train before she was called up to be a regular on tv. She had literally never wrestled before she was on the tough enough reality show a few years ago. She's also not very good in the ring. So, she does need to be trained. Paige just isn't the one that should be doing it.

 

It's easy to forget but Paige is really young to be put in this type of position. She is being poised as a ring veteran and a leader in the locker room but she's in her early twenty's. Yes, she's been wrestling pretty much her whole life but not in a spotlight like this. WWE would be smart to remember this when doing things like having her train a fellow young wrestler. She's not mature enough for that responsibility.

[The Ascension]

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. 

[The Ascension]

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.  

[Hero]

She moves so slowly. She literally does nothing, while her partner does everything. Hopefully she will never be put on the main roster,because she will hurt someone with her sloppy-ass wrestling.

[Hero]

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.

Her selfies are the worst! She keeps doing this duckk face thing and it looks so ugly. Also, I am so fucking sick of her mentioning cats. Okay,you have cats, so do millions of other people.

She also writes "meow" on instagram. Please, nattie, just stop. I seriously don't know how t.j. stands her.

All the girls have amazing bodies and I am definitely jealous.

[GleamingMist]

 

DBry was annoying this episode. If I looked like Brie you wouldn't be able to keep clothes on me, haha.  

 

Amen! Some of those girls annoy the shit out of me but they are stacked.  I am all about flaunting it if you've got it.

[The Ascension]

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."

[BellaLugosi]

Ha!  By the way, I've seen signs on the TV shows telling John to marry Nikki.  Pretty funny. That's one TD storyline that I don't know if it's true or not. 

 

Re: Eva. I wonder if WWE has changed their minds on giving her a mega-push after seeing her matches after all this private training. There's not much hope for her to get better. I don't think they will release her but I wonder if she'll even make it out of NXT.

[Racj82]

Ha!  By the way, I've seen signs on the TV shows telling John to marry Nikki.  Pretty funny. That's one TD storyline that I don't know if it's true or not. 

 

Re: Eva. I wonder if WWE has changed their minds on giving her a mega-push after seeing her matches after all this private training. There's not much hope for her to get better. I don't think they will release her but I wonder if she'll even make it out of NXT.

John has been clear about not wanting to married before this show up till now. It's not something that was manufactured. He also did have a really difficult divorce. He also seems very tired of being asked that question in interviews so I'm pretty sure he would have dropped it by now if it was all a story line.

[KerleyQ]

John has been clear about not wanting to married before this show up till now. It's not something that was manufactured. He also did have a really difficult divorce. He also seems very tired of being asked that question in interviews so I'm pretty sure he would have dropped it by now if it was all a story line.

 

I really wonder if it's not John's refusal to get married and have kids that's being played up for TD, but Nikki's desire to marry and have kids that is.  I could really easily see this being a situation where Nikki is perfectly happy without being married and having kids, but the show wanted to play that angle up because it was the one running story line they had going into the start of the show.  And, who knows, maybe at that point in time it was an issue for her, but if it was, over time, it seems like it's just not an issue for her any longer.  

[BellaLugosi]

When/where was Cena saying it before the show? I don't remember that.  He only got divorced in 2012 and started dating Nikki a few months later. As far as I remember he wasn't talking about his private life a lot.  I can see them using the nasty divorce to say that he would be hesitant to get married again, and it causing issues between them. And for them to keep it up now, because it opens up lots of drama for the show. 

[Racj82]

When/where was Cena saying it before the show? I don't remember that.  He only got divorced in 2012 and started dating Nikki a few months later. As far as I remember he wasn't talking about his private life a lot.  I can see them using the nasty divorce to say that he would be hesitant to get married again, and it causing issues between them. And for them to keep it up now, because it opens up lots of drama for the show. 

He talked about how difficult his marriage was and the fallout from the divorce and wanting to slow down post divorce before the show. This wasn't a overnight thing. His marriage was rocky for a while. Cheating and all sort of things. Basically, marriage isn't something he's going to manipulate for cameras. He's been candid about all of this stuff in the past.

[OnceSane]

And I think John has said he doesn't want to have kids until he's done wrestling because he doesn't want to be on the road all the time during his child(ren)'s childhood(s).

[GleamingMist]

I really wonder if it's not John's refusal to get married and have kids that's being played up for TD, but Nikki's desire to marry and have kids that is.  I could really easily see this being a situation where Nikki is perfectly happy without being married and having kids, but the show wanted to play that angle up because it was the one running story line they had going into the start of the show.  And, who knows, maybe at that point in time it was an issue for her, but if it was, over time, it seems like it's just not an issue for her any longer.  

 

I wondered this too.  My sister in law wanted kids for years and then gradually changed her mind when she realized how much work they actually are.  Nikki seems pretty content with her career, life, etc and maybe doesn't want to sacrifice all of that for babies at the moment.  I've always taken it more as Nikki listening to others around her in regards to that instead of what she really wants when the marriage/baby issue comes up on the show.  She definitely loves kids, and seems to enjoy being an auntie.  Who knows, maybe a baby will happen later on in life but I don't think she'll be broken hearted if it doesn't.

[The Ascension]

Upthread I wrote "I wonder what WWE thinks" with regard to Eva. Welp, here is apparently what they think: CHAMPION. Of NXT.

 

 

They really want to validate Eva by making her champion to tell the story about how through all her hard work she proved her naysayers wrong, but that’s going to be a touchy deal."

 

Sources: http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/9/6/9270273/wwe-nxt-rumor-what-will-eva-maries-big-push-entailand http://www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/112-wrestling-observer/44412-wrestling-observer-radio-96-ufc-191-cena-injury-conor-mcgregor-latest-rampage-more

 

 

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.

Edited September 8, 2015 by The Ascension

[BellaLugosi]

If she doesn't get a lot better, they can try all they want, that won't work. Even a casual fan can see that she isn't good. She's had months of personal training and she still looks like someone who just got in the ring. Honestly, Steven Amell (an actor from Arrow) had a one time  match at Summerslam and he looked better than her. Any fans she has are from this show, not because of her wrestling.  And I don't see that changing. 

 

There's also a long history of people who are shoved down the fan's throats not working out like they want, and people becoming insanely popular despite their best efforts to bury them. The majority of fans aren't dumb, and they won't just cheer for whoever because WWE wants them to. 

[Fukui San]

At this point they probably should establish a separate development round below NXT, since NXT has become a sustainable indy fed in it's own right which puts out polished TV product that seems better than the main show in many ways.  In baseball terms, its a AAA league but some of their performers need time in Single A and Double A to get to the point where they should be on TV every week. Maybe hold unaired house shows at their facility every week for people not ready for NXT yet.

[BellaLugosi]

Here is a great article on everything wrong with Eva Marie: http://insidepulse.com/2015/09/08/break-the-walls-down-10-thoughts-on-eva-marie/

 

 

 

Her Octopus Stretch looks like a glorified cuddle.
Her Running Senton looks like a child rigidly jumping into a pool for the first time.
Her Roll Throughs And Cartwheels look like a broken robot on a last hurrah.
Her Sliced Bread looks like a slow motion replay of someone doing a bad Sliced Bread.

 

 

Whimsey98, you are absolutely right in your assessment.  It's not supposed to look like it does with her. 

[The Ascension]

That article was great and so spot-on. I especially loved this line: "Have you ever done paint by numbers? Yeh that. But all the paint is grey. And the numbers only go up to 4." Eva tries to do wrestle-by-numbers.

 

Her finisher (the Sliced Bread) is not just slow, but it is basically her opponent practically doing it to themselves. She cannot pull it off. I just looked up videos of Brian Kendrick doing it, and it's a pretty cool move. His opponent helps him but Kendrick does it fast and it looks good! Unlike Eva's Sliced Bread, the opponent is not doing 95% of the work AND taking the bump. It looks stupid when she does it.

Edited September 8, 2015 by The Ascension

[DkNNy79]

That article was great and so spot-on. I especially loved this line: "Have you ever done paint by numbers? Yeh that. But all the paint is grey. And the numbers only go up to 4." Eva tries to do wrestle-by-numbers.

 

Her finisher (the Sliced Bread) is not just slow, but it is basically her opponent practically doing it to themselves. She cannot pull it off. I just looked up videos of Brian Kendrick doing it, and it's a pretty cool move. His opponent helps him but Kendrick does it fast and it looks good! Unlike Eva's Sliced Bread, the opponent is not doing 95% of the work AND taking the bump. It looks stupid when she does it.

It would piss me off to have to lose to someone who I know is 110% worse than me.  Eva is just soooo bad in the ring.  Like someone mentioned above, she is so slow and it looks so unnatural.  Her finisher is awful because it is soooooo obvious her opponent is doing all the work.

[BellaLugosi]

What the hell were Jonathon & Eva eating?  She is so manipulative. He tells her how he feels and she says "so you're saying I'm doing a bad job?"  Of course he isn't falling for it. I still don't like him but I'm glad he didn't fall for that. The constant high fiving and fist pumping is so strange!  I laughed so hard when she dropped that phone!

 

How could Jonathon handle her being on the road full time?

 

Kumbaya!

 

I wonder why Tamina didn't take her kids on that trip? 

 

I wasn't enjoying Nikki's take on therapy. Therapy literally saved my life.  I wish they'd listen to each other more instead of just dismissing each other so quickly. Love Renee! Loved John's advice to her. They were pretty freakin adorable this week. 

 

ETA: Forgot to mention they showed one of my favorite moments - Brie pulling the tissue out of her shirt. 

Edited September 9, 2015 by BellaLugosi

[fliptopbox]

I don't even like wrestling and I can tell Eva sucks at it. Holy hell that was painful, and I've been to amateur matches. Eva is pretty and I like her hair (though it does need some color dimension, I think) but is she a wrestler? Nope. She doesn't even seem to enjoy being in the ring, which you can see plainly with all the other girls, regardless of their abilities. I dunno. I think as far as Total Divas the reality show she's fine, but as an actual WWE wrestler? Cut her loose or figure out some other role for her because there's no way in fresh hell the fans will go for her being a champion. Of anything. Unless it's whining, cos she is really good at that.