Total Divas - General Discussion

[BellaLugosi]

http://www.tmz.com/2015/09/08/wwe-diva-paige-alicia-fox-baltimore-drinks-flying-restaurant-drunk

 

Paige & Alicia got into a bar fight. 

[BellaLugosi]

Looks like Trinity has been dropped from Total Divas again.  http://www.diva-dirt.com/114787/naomi-dropped-from-total-divas-cast/ 

[Tatum]

The most unintentionally hilarious line of the night was uttered by Eva- I can't shut my brain off. Yeah Eva think it has to be on in the first place before you can worry about shutting it off.

And rolling my eyes at her self proclaimed workaholic tendencies. To hear her prattle on, you'd think she was a Wall Street investment banker or first year surgery resident. Hey Eva, your "work" pretty much involves sitting on the phone while your "team" fills you in on everything THEY'VE been working on. I mean, the only remotely mentally challenging thing this woman has to do is repeat the phone conversation word for word to her nosy and controlling husband.

Jon and Trinity continue to be awesome. I loved her response to Jon when he bitched that she was sticking him with the task of cleaning out the plumbing while she sat outside. "Well I can still hear you from out here!"

[Hero]

Looks like Trinity has been dropped from Total Divas again. http://www.diva-dirt.com/114787/naomi-dropped-from-total-divas-cast/

That sucks! She is my favorite. Her and Jon are hilarious. They should get rid of Eva.

[The Ascension]

Ughhhh I saw her tweet that last night. So annoying. Paige, Nattie, Alicia or Eva should have been replaced first.

[Sarahsmile416]

Ha! TPTB apparently think we love Eva as much as the WWE universe does.

[KerleyQ]

When Eva was telling her agent she wants to be like The Rock, I said to my TV "now, don't go getting excited there that you've got a client who's looking to put in the work to become someone like The Rock.  She just means she wants to be really fucking famous, and she expects you to put in the work to make that happen for her."  

 

And that whole phone falling out of the car scene?  Beyond fake.  They tried to crop the framing so you couldn't tell, but you could see her upper arm's part of the motion in tossing her phone out the window. And the "acting" in that scene?  They both looked bored beyond belief that they even had to show up and play that scene out.  She's just as bad at selling reality show scenes as she is selling wrestling moves. 

[BellaLugosi]

And Kendrick telling her how hard it is for Jonathon to be away from her 5 days a week while she's training. Wasn't that the first day he wasn't there? How is it hard? He's sitting in the gym, staring at her, or he's sitting at home, staring at her. 

 

"Eva has to choose between her career and Jonathon" was a bit of an overstatement. 

[The Ascension]

Yeah, I laughed when Eva said she wanted to be The Rock. That dude oozes charisma like no other. Plus, he absolutely busts his ass. Eva is dull as dishwater with nothing to offer, not even a presence. There's nothing compelling about her. This show really is saving her WWE  career and it's annoying, yet she goes on like she has all this ambition, drive and goals. Nope. They are the most boring couple. I know I keep saying it but Jonathon creeps me the hell out.

 

Renee Young is freaking adorable. I love her short hair. 

[Unclejosh]

The only reason the Rock is even associated with Eva is because his ex-wife and mother of his daughter manages both of them.  Same reason a lot of celebs under the same management "date" each other to raise the celebs public awareness.

[OnceSane]

Paige is blindsided by a marriage proposal; Brie and Bryan clash over his future; and Trinity's plans for Jon's standup career backfire.

[The Ascension]

Nikki broke the divas championship record last night. 296 days and going. I predict and hope it ends Sunday. WWE is spiteful and wanted to erase AJ from the record books. 

 

A big problem I have with her reign is Nikki wants to be the female Cena. She's all over IG and Twitter and in interviews promoting herself as a role model, as Mrs. "Never Give Up" (John's slogan). She backflips between being a heel in scripted WWE stuff and promoting herself as a face in off-scripted stuff. It is hugely confusing to be watching. I wonder if it's a Total Divas problem. My friends only watch TD and not WWE. They don't understand that the stars of the show (nikki & brie, this is clearly their show) are "bad" in WWE. Nikki and Brie have a huge social media and fan following that buys their stuff but doesn't watch WWE. So maybe they can't go full heel. Nikki is BRED to be a heel. Hell look at how she treats and talks to Brie (who I unabashedly love). She's the mean girl with fake boobs from high school who dates the high school QB. She has the bitchiness down. 

[The Ascension]

Paige is nowhere near ready to be married. She is so immature. 

[Chairperson Meow]

Dude, I'm an AJ Lee fan. Always have been since I heard buzz about a small chick kicking ass being trained by Jay Lethal on the indies (check him out, dude is amazing and will probably end up next in NXT). I've loved Ms Madness from the Geek Goddess to Chick Busters to well still do. She's just imo an all around cool girl. I grew up in a world of Nikki Bellas, Trish Stratuses (but Trish is way cooler than a Bella!), and I related to AJ more. I knew the record was going to be broken, but not like that. Eh. At least it's a "Dusty finish", and with Ric Flair and Charlotte selling the hell out of it too. Because their faces broke my kayfabe heart. So now I'm a wee bit invested.

[Chairperson Meow]

I think I'd have, like a drink with Paige, but I couldn't have two. And we'd need separate rides. Because she seems like a lot to take.

[Chairperson Meow]

I don't even think Eva is that pretty. She looks weird to me.

[BellaLugosi]

That was some bad editing in that backstage scene. Summer was in the ring wrestling, Paige called them all over and then Summer is there with them all. 

 

Paige is so immature. 

 

Will Dolph be a full time cast member next season? I found it funny that they showed the emcee calling him by his real name. 

 

JJ was annoying (again!) at the dinner. He just takes whatever side is against his sisters. 

[BellaLugosi]

I think she's beautiful in pictures. On video, it's weird because she seems off. Actually I heard something on a podcast that reminded me of her. Aliens try to replicate a human but there's just something off about them. She looks like someone thought they'd make a beautiful woman, but it's just not quite right.

[Hero]

Eva is pretty, but she has way too much makeup on.

[KerleyQ]

Nikki broke the divas championship record last night. 296 days and going. I predict and hope it ends Sunday. WWE is spiteful and wanted to erase AJ from the record books. 

 

A big problem I have with her reign is Nikki wants to be the female Cena. She's all over IG and Twitter and in interviews promoting herself as a role model, as Mrs. "Never Give Up" (John's slogan). She backflips between being a heel in scripted WWE stuff and promoting herself as a face in off-scripted stuff. It is hugely confusing to be watching. I wonder if it's a Total Divas problem. My friends only watch TD and not WWE. They don't understand that the stars of the show (nikki & brie, this is clearly their show) are "bad" in WWE. Nikki and Brie have a huge social media and fan following that buys their stuff but doesn't watch WWE. So maybe they can't go full heel. Nikki is BRED to be a heel. Hell look at how she treats and talks to Brie (who I unabashedly love). She's the mean girl with fake boobs from high school who dates the high school QB. She has the bitchiness down. 

 

I think the reason they keep them in a kind of gray zone between the "good" Paige/Charlotte/Becky and the outright "bad" Naomi/Sasha/Tamina is because of the differing personalities in Brie and Nikki.  Nikki sucks at being the "good girl."  But, with Brie, as much as she enjoys playing "bad," her ties to Daniel make it hard to make her a full on heel outside of her assisting Nikki in her plots.  Because the crowd generally adores Daniel, so she kind of benefits from that glow.  

 

And on that note...

 

My son is WWE obsessed, and yesterday he was talking about what he thinks they'll do for Survivor Series matches in November.  One of the issues we identified was that, with the way the Divas are set up right now - three teams of three, it makes doing a 5 vs. 5 match difficult.  So, if they're going to do a Divas SS match, they're going to have to form a split among at least one of the teams.  The Bellas seemed the most likely place for a split, precisely because of that difference in Nikki and Brie.  Our theory was that they will have Brie somehow be responsible for Nikki losing the belt to Charlotte Sunday.  That leads to yet another split between the twins, leading up to a "Team Bella vs. Team Bella" in November.  Nikki ends up with Alicia Fox and Naomi/Sasha/Tamina, and Brie ends up with Paige/Charlotte/Becky and another Diva (whether that's Nattie or maybe someone else they bring up from NXT).  

 

On a related note, we realized that WWE may be focusing on too small of a group of guys when we had a really hard time coming up with two potential SS matches aside from that Divas match (I don't even remember if we fully filled out the second potential match, because it was pretty slim pickings).  

[KerleyQ]

That date where Paige was trying to avoid him proposing was the most awkward thing in the world.  It was an awkward blind date times 1,000.  Use your words, Paige.  If you don't think you're ready to get engaged, then discuss it like an adult.  (Or just act bitchy and distant and then, when he eventually proposes anyway, accept the proposal and start pondering ways to put off actually marrying the guy.) 

 

If I thought this wasn't heavily scripted, I'd remind Paige that all of your talking heads and conversations with the other girls are being filmed.  Dude is going to see this shit on TV down the line, dumbass. 

[Racj82]

That was some bad editing in that backstage scene. Summer was in the ring wrestling, Paige called them all over and then Summer is there with them all.

Paige is so immature.

Will Dolph be a full time cast member next season? I found it funny that they showed the emcee calling him by his real name.

JJ was annoying (again!) at the dinner. He just takes whatever side is against his sisters.

With Ziggler, I think they making sure casual/non wrestling fans are more aware of Ziggler before the whole Nikki/Ziggler thing drops.

[Hero]

Is Bryan wrestling yet?

[Hero]

Dolph seems so skeezy. There is something creepy about him.

I love Jon. Him and Trinity make the perfect couple.

[BellaLugosi]

He does seem skeezy. It's his wrestling character too.

 

I'm sure I've heard "And that's my Kanye story" before somewhere. I thought it was a reference to something in pop culture but I couldn't figure out what.

[Chairperson Meow]

No. D Bry had a concussion (thanks to Sheamus, infamous for stiff ring work, but seems like a cool dude irl). Says his docs cleared him, but WWE won't let him wrestle.

[Sarahsmile416]

That date where Paige was trying to avoid him proposing was the most awkward thing in the world. It was an awkward blind date times 1,000. Use your words, Paige. If you don't think you're ready to get engaged, then discuss it like an adult. (Or just act bitchy and distant and then, when he eventually proposes anyway, accept the proposal and start pondering ways to put off actually marrying the guy.)

If I thought this wasn't heavily scripted, I'd remind Paige that all of your talking heads and conversations with the other girls are being filmed. Dude is going to see this shit on TV down the line, dumbass.

Quite honestly, it's almost like a contest to see who among Paige and her BF are more immature. I am completely flummoxed why he would continue on his quest to propose despite the numerous not so subtle hints that she isn't even close to ready. Is he really that desperate that he wants to marry a girl who a) wanted to test his fidelity two episodes ago and then b) excitedly told him five minutes later that he "passed"

Ugh...Paige is really not coming across well this season. I'm not sure sometimes who annoys me more - Eva or Paige. Though, Paige is extremely young...Eva does not have that excuse.

[The Ascension]

There is a small rumor that Daniel returns on Sunday at Night of Champions to team with Roman Reigns and my man Dean Ambrose. I think maybe I am the only one gullible enough to give stock to it just because I would love it so much. :) But Bryan rumors are always rampant, especially since the fans want him back so badly and because it is known doctors have cleared him but WWE won't. 

 

My son is WWE obsessed, and yesterday he was talking about what he thinks they'll do for Survivor Series matches in November.  One of the issues we identified was that, with the way the Divas are set up right now - three teams of three, it makes doing a 5 vs. 5 match difficult.  So, if they're going to do a Divas SS match, they're going to have to form a split among at least one of the teams.  The Bellas seemed the most likely place for a split, precisely because of that difference in Nikki and Brie.  Our theory was that they will have Brie somehow be responsible for Nikki losing the belt to Charlotte Sunday.  That leads to yet another split between the twins, leading up to a "Team Bella vs. Team Bella" in November.  Nikki ends up with Alicia Fox and Naomi/Sasha/Tamina, and Brie ends up with Paige/Charlotte/Becky and another Diva (whether that's Nattie or maybe someone else they bring up from NXT).  

 

On a related note, we realized that WWE may be focusing on too small of a group of guys when we had a really hard time coming up with two potential SS matches aside from that Divas match (I don't even remember if we fully filled out the second potential match, because it was pretty slim pickings).  

 

 

That would make sense for Brie to turn on Nikki. Brie never got her revenge from when the twins first split. They dropped that storyline and the twins were back together and hooray and crowds should just forget Nikki said she wished Brie died in the womb becausae nothing ever came out of it. I dunno where Brie and Nikki will go from there though. I can't see Brie joining PCB, but I don't have any other ideas either. 

 

And yes, WWE has a ton of talent on the roster but they can't seem to keep more than 3 storylines going so it's the same guys over and over. It's so pathetic. Triple H once said they can have up to 40 writers in the room, which makes it inexcusable that the storylines are so bad and poorly thought out. Daniel Bryan recently said they've failed at making stars and it's true. 

[Tatum]

Quite honestly, it's almost like a contest to see who among Paige and her BF are more immature. I am completely flummoxed why he would continue on his quest to propose despite the numerous not so subtle hints that she isn't even close to ready. Is he really that desperate that he wants to marry a girl who a) wanted to test his fidelity two episodes ago and then b) excitedly told him five minutes later that he "passed"

Ugh...Paige is really not coming across well this season. I'm not sure sometimes who annoys me more - Eva or Paige. Though, Paige is extremely young...Eva does not have that excuse.

At this point, I'd actually take Eva over Paige. They are both extremely annoying, but Paige is just so damn loud. Plus, if you needed an Eva break, you could just toss a compact with a mirror at Eva and she'd be distracted for at least a few minutes.

Does Paige own any shirts that cover the midriff?

[KerleyQ]

If the WWE has 40 writers in there, they're not utilizing them properly.  I can't imagine how you can get that many writers to agree on and cohesively write story for the handful of wrestlers they actually feature.  Much like the wrestlers are kind of (loosely) divided up into a hierarchy (the guys in the main title picture, US title, tag title, IC title, and the Divas), they should put them in some kind of smaller groups, solely dedicated to writing for the guys in their grouping.  Have another group of guys, responsible for the general outline of the broadcast, who gets information from the other groups and coordinates with the announce teams.  And have a kind of "head writing" team who oversees and coordinates all the groups to make sure the shows are balanced and going in the overall direction Vince & company want things to go and who can coordinate when guys are working under two different groups of writers.  

 

Whatever they're doing now isn't working so great.  

 

It will be interesting if the rumors that WWE won't clear Daniel are just planted to make it more surprising if he shows up as the third partner Sunday.  My gut tells me it has to be someone bigger (physically, that is, not popularity-wise).  Orton was my initial pick, and I still think there's a chance it's him.  Rowan would make sense, especially the "surprise" aspect of it, but I don't know enough about his injury status to know if it's even possible that he's able to perform Sunday.  My son's hoping for Cesaro, which I wouldn't rule out, either.

[Fukui San]

It used to be that Wrestlers were entrusted to speak for themselves.  They would have a general idea of what they have to "get over", but not pages of dialogue to memorize. Things could be awesome, they could go down in flames, but it was a lot more distinct than what we get now.  Wrestlers would develop their own schtick that they could fall back on in different situations, and read the crowd and react accordingly.

 

Nowadays everything is so tightly controlled the commentators have Vince McMahon or another higher up in their headsets telling them what to say at every moment. Every moment is scripted. If everything seems homogenized and samey samey, it's usually the fault of the top rather than the workers who have to work with a crap hand more often than not.

[KerleyQ]

It used to be that Wrestlers were entrusted to speak for themselves.  They would have a general idea of what they have to "get over", but not pages of dialogue to memorize. Things could be awesome, they could go down in flames, but it was a lot more distinct than what we get now.  Wrestlers would develop their own schtick that they could fall back on in different situations, and read the crowd and react accordingly.

 

Nowadays everything is so tightly controlled the commentators have Vince McMahon or another higher up in their headsets telling them what to say at every moment. Every moment is scripted. If everything seems homogenized and samey samey, it's usually the fault of the top rather than the workers who have to work with a crap hand more often than not.

 

We were just kind of discussing the same thing last night during Smackdown.  There was a moment where Ambrose went out of the ring to get Seamus, and as he leaned over, right in front of the barricade in front of the front row, he smiled and did a fist bump with a kid in the audience.  I said "he's probably the only guy in that match who would have even thought to do it, or felt like it was OK to do something that wasn't planned ahead of time."  It feels like the only time we get anything remotely like that is if there's a Wish kid in the audience.  Otherwise, it's "stick to the script!"  A few weeks or so ago, there was one of the seemingly weekly "open the show with Seth" monologues going on in the ring, and you had a few guys (I want to say Orton, Owens, and someone else) interrupt.  As Seth responded to them, it's clear that his lines were the lead in to HHH coming out.  But, something happened - either Seth (or one of the other guys) spoke too fast, or someone in back (HHH or the sound guy) wasn't ready for HHH's entrance.  You could see the stunned bunny fear in Seth's eyes that he was done with his lines and the next thing that was supposed to happen hadn't happened yet.  Of the guys in the ring, the only one remotely comfortable ad-libbing was probably Orton, and he had dropped his mic before entering the ring.  At one point, you could see Seth visibly pull the mic away from his own face, like he was terrified that he'd say something over the air that he wasn't supposed to say.  

 

It was just such an awkward moment, and it's ridiculous that guys either aren't learning to ad-lib, or they're being very firmly told it's not allowed. 

[BellaLugosi]

Yeah, when someone does ad-lib, it sticks out because it doesn't happen. Ryback has on a few occasions. New Day are allowed to do what they want (within reason).  Most of them are scripted beyond belief. 

[Hero]

I've watched WWE a few times with my dad, and they talk a lot. My dad always complains that there is not enough wrestling.

[OnceSane]

The ladies travel to Tulum, Mexico, for a vacation, during which Paige announces her engagement. Meanwhile, the Bellas learn they have a new sibling; and Alicia puts Trinity's relationship with Jon at risk.

[The Ascension]

The mic is just not natural for a guy like Seth. Yet he does these long 10-15 minute promos every show. Minutes before Raw comes on they always say "The champ Seth Rollins opens Raw!" and i know I have a few minutes to get my meals together for the next day because he's just not fluid. Steph McMahon, Dean Ambrose, Paul Heyman, Kevin Owens can pull off anything on the mic. They just get it and know how to deliver and work the crowd. 

 

Ryback did this horrible backstage promo on Raw recently where it was so clear he was reading off the teleprompter. C'mon, dude. 

[KerleyQ]

Agreed.  Seth needs someone working with him who is good on the mic - whether it's Steph and HHH or whoever his opponent is.  He needs someone strong to kind of carry him.  In our house, we've often wondered why they have someone who is so unnatural on the mic opening Raw, week after week, with these long-ass in ring promos.  

 

When they were building up to his match against Lesnar, I was saying "they may as well just cut the crap and go with Steph and Heyman doing all the mic work here."  (Because, let's face it, Brock is even worse on the mic than Seth.  If you told me Brock only knows a couple dozen words, I wouldn't even bat an eye.) 

 

Oddly, though, I thought Seth seemed more relaxed and natural with the mic in his last appearance on The Daily Show than he's ever been on a WWE show.  

[Hero]

Nattie is obnoxiously annoying. She has to be the center of attention all the time. Let T.J. have some friends and shut up about it.

That Ceasaro guy is gorgeous and I love his accent.

That bartender was really good looking.

That house was beautiful. I wish I could stay there.

[BellaLugosi]

Loved this episode! It was good to see them having some fun with minimal manufactured drama.  I almost wish they'd left Dusty's death out. It was so weirdly jammed in there. 

 

Nattie is so annoying and over the top. TJ was totally playing along with the joke on that phone call which I'm sure pissed her off even more.  

[BellaLugosi]

Cesaro *is* gorgeous, and a really smart, talented guy. I swooned!

[BellaLugosi]

Ok, I went back & looked and the Dusty thing is even weirder.  They went on that tour the day he died, then it cut to them back at the house with the TJ stuff. Then they showed them all jumping in the pool. It seems like the meal where Paige and Alicia talk about her not wanting to be married is the next day, but it's not. They are wearing the same clothes as they were on the tour. So why didn't they show the tour, then that meal with their dumb cliffhanger? 

[Hero]

Cesaro *is* gorgeous, and a really smart, talented guy. I swooned!

His body is amazing *drool*

[OnceSane]

Nikki's ex-boyfriend turns up the heat; Nattie faces career-ending news for both her and TJ; and Paige debates telling her fiance her true feelings.

[BellaLugosi]

More manufactured drama!

 

I hadn't heard about Nattie having an injury. I really hope she didn't invent something because TJ was the focus of attention. 

[Hero]

When the wrestlers use ladders or chairs in their wrestling,how do they use so it doesn't hurt the other person?

[BellaLugosi]

Well, it does hurt! But they are supposed to get their hand up in between so their head isn't taking the full impact.  Guys used to take "unprotected chair shots" and that's why so many ended up with problems later in life. That's what Brie was talking about on Total Divas with Bryan.  If he continues to wrestle and his risk of concussions is high, he'll probably end up with brain disease like dementia when he's 50.  Fans usually don't want to see those unprotected shots, since we know what it does and it's not worth it.  

 

The most famous case is Chris Benoit. Brain damage was one of the reasons why in 2007 he killed his wife, his son and then himself.  

 

Chris Nowinski was a former wrestler who retired from wrestling because of concussions and is now an advocate for awareness on the subject. 

[Hero]

Oh. I never really noticed that their hand is in between the chair and their head. So, when they get hit on the back, do they arch their back to lessen the impact?

[BellaLugosi]

No, they keep their backs flat and get hit with the flat side of the chair, it hurts less that way. Same as when they fall on their backs, they keep their backs flat, head tucked. 

[Hero]

Thanks for the info!

[KerleyQ]

That's a huge part of their training - learning to take (and deliver) moves that look like something that would really hurt, but in a way that protects them from injury as much as possible, whether it's a hit, a kick, or using a prop, like a chair, ladder, table, stairs, etc.  It's also why people don't want to work with someone who hasn't trained properly (like Eva), because it works best, and injury risk is lowest, when both people know the safest way to do each maneuver.  You will also sometimes hear people say that some particular wrestler is known for working "stiff" (I think that's the word), and it basically means that they're not putting in the effort to make the moves less painful (some guys do it intentionally, especially to "break in" new guys or to guys they don't like, sometimes it's just that the wrestler hasn't learned enough yet to cushion the blow).  And you'll hear that some of the other wrestlers are basically refusing to work matches with them because they don't want to get injured.

 

That's also why, when you see a "special guest" like Robbie Amell, for example, they're generally only going to do a handful of pretty basic moves, and maybe, depending on what kind of shape they're in and how much time they were available to work on the match with the wrestlers ahead of time, they might have one "big" move they do in the match.  

 

In spite of all the training, and all of the effort they put in to avoiding the worst of the pain and impact, they still walk out of there aching, bruised, and, of course, flat out injured.  

 

On a related note - is Rusev someone who works stiff?  Anyone know?  I'm specifically thinking of that injury to Ziggler's throat/neck from that stuff with the Rusev holding the crutch to his throat.  Of course, I also saw some rumors that something actually did end up happening between Ziggler and Lana, so that may have been a little payback for that.  Of course, it's also possible that that whole little quadrangle is just cursed, since every time one of them comes back from injury, a different one goes down.  Summer might want to start living wrapped up in bubble wrap once Lana returns from her injury, because it's her turn next.