Total Divas - General Discussion

[Hero]

I think Nia is so pretty. I definitely understand where she is coming when she was trying on clothes. It's hard feeling uncomfortable because you don't look like the "ideal" woman. 

Brie is absolutely obnoxious. She puts Nikki down all the time for not having kids, but then also puts her down for working too much. A lot of her put- downs towards Nikki are so mean- spirited. I think Brie is jealous of Nikki ad it shows. 

I would rather hang out with Nikki than Brie.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Hero

[Tatum]

On 1/15/2018 at 10:19 PM, Hero said:

I think Nia is so pretty. I definitely understand where she is coming when she was trying on clothes. It's hard feeling uncomfortable because you don't look like the "ideal" woman. 

Brie is absolutely obnoxious. She puts Nikki down all the time for not having kids, but then also puts her down for working too much. A lot of her put- downs towards Nikki are so mean- spirited. I think Brie is jealous of Nikki ad it shows. 

I would rather hang out with Nikki than Brie.

Brie is obnoxious. Plus, she's such a total attention whore. When she says she misses wrestling, I am sure she means she misses fans stopping her for pictures and going to WWE events where people tell her how awesome she is. I never got the impression she was a particularly talented wrestler nor that she actually loved it that much. I think she, Eva Marie, and a few other girls just want to be famous and WWE was merely a vehicle for that. I have never seen anyone feed off attention from social media like Brie does. She's a pathetic woman, honestly. Plus she has no personality of her own and just adopts the personality of whoever is standing near her at the time. I am 99% sure she does not give a shit about the environment or meditation or cruelty free animal products.

[Hero]

1 hour ago, Tatum said:

Brie is obnoxious. Plus, she's such a total attention whore. When she says she misses wrestling, I am sure she means she misses fans stopping her for pictures and going to WWE events where people tell her how awesome she is. I never got the impression she was a particularly talented wrestler nor that she actually loved it that much. I think she, Eva Marie, and a few other girls just want to be famous and WWE was merely a vehicle for that. I have never seen anyone feed off attention from social media like Brie does. She's a pathetic woman, honestly. Plus she has no personality of her own and just adopts the personality of whoever is standing near her at the time. I am 99% sure she does not give a shit about the environment or meditation or cruelty free animal products.

Yes!!!! You are so right! Brie is so fake and it is very obvious. She does adopt the personality of whoever is standing next to her. 

I feel like she is really gullible and easy to take advantage of. It seem like she only started "caring" about the environment when she married Bryan.

She would love to have Nikki's Nikki's life if she could. She berates Nikki for spending money, but if Bryan would let her do the same, she would definitely spend as much as Nikki.

I also find Brie and Bryan's relationship kind of odd. He definitely loves being the smart one in the marriage. He seems to put down Brie a lot and speaks in this strange way to her. They are both obnoxious, so they are definitely made for each other. 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Hero

[Tatum]

I agree. I don't like the way Brian talks to Brie, even if she is an idiot. He tends to act very dad-like to her, not just in telling her what to do, but with kind of that, and what did we learn today, kids? sort of undertone. It's rude and if my husband talked to me like that, we'd have problems. But the dynamic goes straight over Brie's head because she's dumber than a box of rocks.

[NYGirl]

Other than Carmella/Cass I have no words for this episode.  It made me roll my eyes through the whole thing.

I cannot take the Bellas in such large doses..they are so needy..ugh

I'm done with Natalya.  She makes everything about her.

Lana wearing bikinis while chopping wood and milking cows...eye roll again

[Marley]

Nattie seems like a really bad actor. Is she a popular wrestler? When we see clips of her matches she seems so lame.

[Tatum]

15 hours ago, NYGirl said:

Other than Carmella/Cass I have no words for this episode.  It made me roll my eyes through the whole thing.

I cannot take the Bellas in such large doses..they are so needy..ugh

I'm done with Natalya.  She makes everything about her.

Lana wearing bikinis while chopping wood and milking cows...eye roll again

Agree. What an insufferable group of people.

 

Brie was especially annoying tonight. We cleared our schedules and now she's leaving me to do all the work! OK, first off, Elizabeth Wakefield, could you be more jealous of Nikki going on Dancing with the Stars?  Second, ALL the work? Please. Your clothing line looks exactly what you'd find in a Gap Body or the intimates section of H&M. It's pretty obvious this is an existing generic line offered up to all second rate reality "stars" in the hopes that the celebrity name will move the product. People actually educated and experienced in design, production, marketing, merchandising, supply chain, etc. will handle the real work, just like they always did. I am sure you can handle showing up for a few photo ops holding the products and slapping labels on wine, which until now has probably always been the extent of your involvement in developing this product. I am sure Brie wasn't the one sewing panties or calling store buyers to find a place to sell them.

 

I usually like Carmela, but even she was a complete drama queen. I feel so much pressure now that my sister thinks my boyfriend is going to propose! To the point of tears. I have no idea why someone else speculating that a longtime boyfriend is going to propose makes her feel pressured, but whatever.

 

Nattie is awful. For 7 seasons we've had to listen to her whine about not getting a shot at the championship, now we have to listen to whine about keeping her belt. Also, Nattie, you're like 35. Please ditch the Minnie Mouse half buns.

 

Lana continues to be ridiculous. I hope there were lots of mosquitoes in that village. Honestly running in fields and chopping wood in a bikini seems super unsafe.

 

What is with these bitches and their identical waist length hair extensions?? It is not a good look. And other than the Bellas, who have occasionally ventured on camera without makeup, I am pretty sure I would not recognize Nattie, Lana, Maryse, or Carmela without their false eyelashes and 6 pounds of makeup they regularly pile on.

[OnceSane]

9 hours ago, Marley said:

Nattie seems like a really bad actor. Is she a popular wrestler? When we see clips of her matches she seems so lame.

IDK about her popularity, I think it has varied, but she's an excellent wrestler.  WWE has always treated her as lesser, even though she has been one of the better technical wrestlers of the last decade.  She's shit on the mic, but otherwise solid.  

[RHJunkie]

What is the state of women's wrestling today? Is it seen as popular or more popular than the days of when Trish and Lita were the faces of women's wrestling? Is there the same level of character development? I haven't watched in probably over a decade but I remember hearing stories from past female wrestlers that talked about the grind that is the WWE because outside of weekly live shows, a monthly PPV, you were on the road for live shows about 3 times a week which only left about 1-2 days to go back home and doing normal things like see your family, do your laundry, and pack for another week on the road. How often do these women film that they have so much time to do all these other things while actively on the WWE roster? Unless their training facility makes it easier by having the women start there and then transition into the WWE, maybe most of them make Florida their roots so it's easier to film together...but they get to do quite a bit of girls trips and take vacations. It seems that in favour of using live shows to give the women opportunities to improve their wrestling and mic skills, build chemistry with one another and test out storylines and character development, they're using this kind of platform to promote them instead. 

Edit: Also, why is Lana chopping wood and milking cows in a bikini and cowboy boots? And stop saying you grew up on a farm when you said you were only there from age 3-5. You lived on a farm (and not during any formative years where you would have been able to attest to and appreciate the work that's needed to be a farmer). You were not raised on a farm. 

Edited January 20, 2018 by RHJunkie

[OnceSane]

Quote

Brie and Bryan make a cross country move that ends up as a major disaster; Jon takes Trinity on a romantic weekend trip; Rusev tries to give his wife, Lana, a taste of her own medicine after she strutted in a bikini in Bulgaria.

[Hero]

Lana is so obnoxious. I thought it was kind of disrespectful when she took off her shorts and when she wearing a tiny bikini. There is a time and place for that. 

The bellas have way too much air time and it makes sense because Nikki has a co executive producer credit. 

Nattie is whiney. She requires too much attention and is so exhausting.

[Racj82]

On 1/19/2018 at 7:25 PM, RHJunkie said:

What is the state of women's wrestling today? Is it seen as popular or more popular than the days of when Trish and Lita were the faces of women's wrestling? Is there the same level of character development? I haven't watched in probably over a decade but I remember hearing stories from past female wrestlers that talked about the grind that is the WWE because outside of weekly live shows, a monthly PPV, you were on the road for live shows about 3 times a week which only left about 1-2 days to go back home and doing normal things like see your family, do your laundry, and pack for another week on the road. How often do these women film that they have so much time to do all these other things while actively on the WWE roster? Unless their training facility makes it easier by having the women start there and then transition into the WWE, maybe most of them make Florida their roots so it's easier to film together...but they get to do quite a bit of girls trips and take vacations. It seems that in favour of using live shows to give the women opportunities to improve their wrestling and mic skills, build chemistry with one another and test out storylines and character development, they're using this kind of platform to promote them instead. 

Edit: Also, why is Lana chopping wood and milking cows in a bikini and cowboy boots? And stop saying you grew up on a farm when you said you were only there from age 3-5. You lived on a farm (and not during any formative years where you would have been able to attest to and appreciate the work that's needed to be a farmer). You were not raised on a farm. 

A lot of wrestlers live in Florida because of the tax cut there and it's kind of a home base with performance center being there.

Women's wrestling is probably the biggest it's ever been. It's seem to be agenda driven though. In that Stephanie McMahon seems to be riding the wave of feminism and promoting how big women's wrestling is. Every first for women is promoted to death. Like most things, I think it work better if it was more natural.

But, we are having our first ever all women's royal rumble this year. One of the companies biggest events. Women get to main event shows. Yeah, women's wrestling is doing well in the company right now.

Natalya is not very popular as is overrated as a worker. She has the simple mechanics down and can work. But, she can be disjointed in the ring. Many promote her as this amazing wrestler but there are far better workers out there. She's good in a trusted vet role but not someone that should be on top of the division.

[Tatum]

1 hour ago, Racj82 said:

 

Women's wrestling is probably the biggest it's ever been. It's seem to be agenda driven though. In that Stephanie McMahon seems to be riding the wave of feminism and promoting how big women's wrestling is. Every first for women is promoted to death. Like most things, I think it work better if it was more natural.

 

Ugh. At the risk of getting too political on the forums, I can't stand it when a company jumps on the bandwagon of a major social issue that is getting a lot of news attention just to further its own agenda. I am glad that women wrestlers are being taken more seriously, but that is something that should have happened before now. Unless Stephanie has always championed this and jumping on the women empowerment bandwagon was the only way to push it through, and she's not so much exploiting it as she is grasping this as her only chance. Then I could maybe respect that.

What is the general opinion of Stephanie McMahon? Of course she always seem bitchy when she comes out during performances but on Total Divas she seems pretty cool.

 

What does seem to be the impetus for pushing a Diva into a title match? While sometimes the most talented woman on the roster gets it, that is not always the case. Nor does it appear to be the one who is always the most popular. So what?

[Racj82]

14 minutes ago, Tatum said:

Ugh. At the risk of getting too political on the forums, I can't stand it when a company jumps on the bandwagon of a major social issue that is getting a lot of news attention just to further its own agenda. I am glad that women wrestlers are being taken more seriously, but that is something that should have happened before now. Unless Stephanie has always championed this and jumping on the women empowerment bandwagon was the only way to push it through, and she's not so much exploiting it as she is grasping this as her only chance. Then I could maybe respect that.

What is the general opinion of Stephanie McMahon? Of course she always seem bitchy when she comes out during performances but on Total Divas she seems pretty cool.

 

What does seem to be the impetus for pushing a Diva into a title match? While sometimes the most talented woman on the roster gets it, that is not always the case. Nor does it appear to be the one who is always the most popular. So what?

Stephanie isn't hated per see but there are two things about her that many fans aren't fans of.

It was her idea to bring in tv sitcom writers to write tv for professional wrestlers instead of getting people that work or grew up with the product. So, there isn't a lot of forward planning and poor booking all around (writing for characters and matches).

Second, she always has to be in the spotlight regarding the women wrestlers. Like with the female Royal rumble, she had to be the one to announce it, start a yes cheer ( Daniel Bryan's thing) and as usual making it seems like she's the one changing the women's revolution. Not to say she isn't important to the cause but she doesn't need to be front and center like she always is. While also playing a bad guy every other time she's on tv. When she does women stuff she's queen baby face. Whatever.

With who gets pushed in general there are a lot of factors. It could be political meaning backstage influence like most feel is why the Bella's are rammed down are throats. 

It could be the you deserve it type pushes. Like Naomi and Natalya. Team players for years that bust their asses every week but we're often overshadowed. Every once in a while they get a push to give them a chance to shine.

Then, you have people like Alexa Bliss and Charlotte who get pushed constantly now. They get the fan recognition whether it's booing or cheering. They have their characters down pact and are well liked in the back.

[Tatum]

2 minutes ago, Racj82 said:

With who gets pushed in general there are a lot of factors. It could be political meaning backstage influence like most feel is why the Bella's are rammed down are throats. 

 

Interesting, thanks. Why are the Bellas pushed so hard? Is it the influence of this show? Is it the John Cena/Daniel Bryan connection?

[Hero]

What I have watched of Brie wrestling, she doesn't seem very good. She looks a little disjointed. 

[Tatum]

Brie doesn't strike me as good at anything physical, honestly. Whenever she and Nikki have their weird little jaunts (skateboarding, playing soccer), Brie is just completely uncoordinated and sucks. It reminds me of The Girls Next Door when Kendra would talk about what a great athlete she was, and then the scene would cut to Kendra shooting hoops at the mansion and missing basket after basket.

 

I expect Nikki was more the athlete and Brie just tagged along because she didn't have another persona to adopt at the time.

[Racj82]

26 minutes ago, Tatum said:

Interesting, thanks. Why are the Bellas pushed so hard? Is it the influence of this show? Is it the John Cena/Daniel Bryan connection?

What's interesting for me personally is I feel like early on, Brie was better. She just worked better within the system. But, as time went on, I feel like Nikki settled in to a style and look that was great for her. She worked hard to get better and it showed. I feel like Brie regressed every single year. She also tries to wrestle like Daniel Bryan Jr with next to little of talent or training. At least Nikki does her own thing.

The Bella's will always deny it but being linked to Cena and Bryan is the main reason why they were brought back into fold after leaving. WWE is known to adjust the roster to appease certain stars by having their significant others able to travel with them. That's not always the case. No way they get the push they got otherwise. Never popular enough or skilled enough to justify it otherwise. Women's wrestling also blew up much bigger after they stepped aside so it's not like them being gone is a big loss.

[Tatum]

That is interesting. Maybe I'll see if some of these older matches are available on YouTube.

 

Curious about one more thing- what is the state of the women's talent now, compared to 10-15 years earlier? My husband was a HUGE Stacy Keibler and Sable fan, and also another blond woman that wrestled around that time. Tori? Victoria? Something like that. How were they talent wise compared to who is on the roster today?

[RHJunkie]

2 hours ago, Racj82 said:

A lot of wrestlers live in Florida because of the tax cut there and it's kind of a home base with performance center being there.

Women's wrestling is probably the biggest it's ever been. It's seem to be agenda driven though. In that Stephanie McMahon seems to be riding the wave of feminism and promoting how big women's wrestling is. Every first for women is promoted to death. Like most things, I think it work better if it was more natural.

But, we are having our first ever all women's royal rumble this year. One of the companies biggest events. Women get to main event shows. Yeah, women's wrestling is doing well in the company right now.

Natalya is not very popular as is overrated as a worker. She has the simple mechanics down and can work. But, she can be disjointed in the ring. Many promote her as this amazing wrestler but there are far better workers out there. She's good in a trusted vet role but not someone that should be on top of the division.

I can see how it would be more agenda driven given Stephanie taking a more prominent role in the company. I have heard of many 'first time' events featuring the women so I was just trying to put together (without actually watching the product) how they manage to develop the women to the point where these opportunities are taking place AND the women have time to do more so entertainment focused things like reality TV and social events. But considering it more an agenda that something that is organic does provide some good context for me.

Nattie has been on the wrestling scene even back when I was watching. The impression I get of her is that she seems to be this generation's version of a Molly Holly (but with way more title wins). From what I can remember, Nattie is a great technical wrestler but back when I watched her, there weren't many women that incorporated aerial components to their repertoire. Nowadays, it seems like every wrestler wants to do that. Holly was adaptable to any style in the ring but maybe Nattie isn't. Holly also had this incredible ability to make all of her opponents look better than they were. That's the impression that I get from the women when they talk about Nattie and her abilities but if the consensus is that Nattie doesn't really elevate her opponents, then I can see why she would be seen as overrated as a worker. She's also getting older, maybe it's a natural decline.

[Racj82]

1 minute ago, Tatum said:

That is interesting. Maybe I'll see if some of these older matches are available on YouTube.

 

Curious about one more thing- what is the state of the women's talent now, compared to 10-15 years earlier? My husband was a HUGE Stacy Keibler and Sable fan, and also another blond woman that wrestled around that time. Tori? Victoria? Something like that. How were they talent wise compared to who is on the roster today?

In the early 2000s they cast more for looks than talent. They also threw a lot of women in there that weren't wrestlers. So either they would have shitty matches or they would do awful gimmick matches like pillow fights and pudding wrestling. Stacy Keibler would fit that mold. Sable was pushed with no training because she was popular as hell. She sucked as wrestler.

In the middle of that you had geuinely trained women like Molly Holly, Victoria, Jazz, Jacuqeline, Lita, Gail Kim, Ivory who wrestled for GLOW in the 80s and a really game Trish Stratus having great matches and fueds. Through that, women's wrestling became more seriously booked. It was completely organic. Not forced. The wrestling is at a higher level now because there are just more of them but those women were actually more interesting back then. 

Once those women left there was a bunch crap surrounding Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Melina and maybe Michelle McCool. Gail Kim came back but they booked her like shit. It took years to build the division back up. Women like Maryse like to pay themselves on the back for keeping women's wrestling alive but they also helped kill it for a while. Late 2000s until like 5 years ago is rough for women's wrestling.

9 minutes ago, RHJunkie said:

I can see how it would be more agenda driven given Stephanie taking a more prominent role in the company. I have heard of many 'first time' events featuring the women so I was just trying to put together (without actually watching the product) how they manage to develop the women to the point where these opportunities are taking place AND the women have time to do more so entertainment focused things like reality TV and social events. But considering it more an agenda that something that is organic does provide some good context for me.

Nattie has been on the wrestling scene even back when I was watching. The impression I get of her is that she seems to be this generation's version of a Molly Holly (but with way more title wins). From what I can remember, Nattie is a great technical wrestler but back when I watched her, there weren't many women that incorporated aerial components to their repertoire. Nowadays, it seems like every wrestler wants to do that. Holly was adaptable to any style in the ring but maybe Nattie isn't. Holly also had this incredible ability to make all of her opponents look better than they were. That's the impression that I get from the women when they talk about Nattie and her abilities but if the consensus is that Nattie doesn't really elevate her opponents, then I can see why she would be seen as overrated as a worker. She's also getting older, maybe it's a natural decline.

You are right. She's not skillful enough to be on Molly's level, doesn't sell great enough to make her opponents look great and she's a charisma vaccum.

[Tatum]

1 minute ago, Racj82 said:

In the early 2000s they cast more for looks than talent. They also threw a lot of women in there that weren't wrestlers. So either they would have shitty matches or they would do awful gimmick matches like pillow fights and pudding wrestling. Stacy Keibler would fit that mold. Sable was pushed with no training because she was popular as hell. She sucked as wrestler.

In the middle of that you had geuinely trained women like Molly Holly, Victoria, Jazz, Jacuqeline, Lita, Gail Kim, Ivory who wrestled for GLOW in the 80s and a really game Trish Stratus having great matches and fueds. Through that, women's wrestling became more seriously booked. It was completely organic. Not forced. The wrestling is at a higher level now because there are just more of them but those women were actually more interesting back then. 

Once those women left there was a bunch crap surrounding Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Melina and maybe Michelle McCool. Gail Kim came back but they booked her like shit. It took years to build the division back up. Women like Maryse like to pay themselves on the back for keeping women's wrestling alive but they also helped kill it for a while. Late 2000s until like 5 years ago is rough for women's wrestling.

OK, I guess it sounds more like husband was a fan of Stacy Keibler for reasons other than her wrestling prowess :). Sable is obviously due to her association with Brock Lesnar, as husband considers him one of the coolest men alive.

 

I wondered about that with Maryse, during an earlier episode of this show when she talks about "pioneering" the women's division and how all the current Divas owe her for making it what it is today.

 

About looks more than talent though- wasn't the WWE just recently booking swimsuit/lingerie models as Divas? I thought I heard Alicia Fox came through as a model and had no wrestling background.

 

For those that are truly talented wrestlers- what seems to be the most common background/training? Like technical wrestling in high school or college? That usually isn't something women do, so how the really talented women get good? Are they just natural atheletes? Gymnasts? Dancers?

[Racj82]

2 hours ago, Tatum said:

OK, I guess it sounds more like husband was a fan of Stacy Keibler for reasons other than her wrestling prowess :). Sable is obviously due to her association with Brock Lesnar, as husband considers him one of the coolest men alive.

 

I wondered about that with Maryse, during an earlier episode of this show when she talks about "pioneering" the women's division and how all the current Divas owe her for making it what it is today.

 

About looks more than talent though- wasn't the WWE just recently booking swimsuit/lingerie models as Divas? I thought I heard Alicia Fox came through as a model and had no wrestling background.

 

For those that are truly talented wrestlers- what seems to be the most common background/training? Like technical wrestling in high school or college? That usually isn't something women do, so how the really talented women get good? Are they just natural atheletes? Gymnasts? Dancers?

Some go to a school for the art just like any other wrestler. It's a crap shoot like any other sport or any other form of entertainment. Most people don't make it anywhere big. 

For the women, I think having a athletic background helps a lot. Trish Stratus and Alexa Bliss had no formal training but were in fitness competitions. Naomi was a dancer. The Bella's played soccer. Becky Lynch was a stuntwomen. Charlotte played various sports her whole life. 

You could try it and it may work for you. Sometimes it just fits. I think it's just important that they take it seriously. If you try to do this half assed you will fail.

Also yeah, that late 2000s era was filled with models. They even used to have a search for the next female star called divas search. A lot of those none wrestlers of that era came from there.

[RHJunkie]

4 hours ago, Racj82 said:

In the early 2000s they cast more for looks than talent. They also threw a lot of women in there that weren't wrestlers. So either they would have shitty matches or they would do awful gimmick matches like pillow fights and pudding wrestling. Stacy Keibler would fit that mold. Sable was pushed with no training because she was popular as hell. She sucked as wrestler.

In the middle of that you had geuinely trained women like Molly Holly, Victoria, Jazz, Jacuqeline, Lita, Gail Kim, Ivory who wrestled for GLOW in the 80s and a really game Trish Stratus having great matches and fueds. Through that, women's wrestling became more seriously booked. It was completely organic. Not forced. The wrestling is at a higher level now because there are just more of them but those women were actually more interesting back then. 

Once those women left there was a bunch crap surrounding Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Melina and maybe Michelle McCool. Gail Kim came back but they booked her like shit. It took years to build the division back up. Women like Maryse like to pay themselves on the back for keeping women's wrestling alive but they also helped kill it for a while. Late 2000s until like 5 years ago is rough for women's wrestling.

You are right. She's not skillful enough to be on Molly's level, doesn't sell great enough to make her opponents look great and she's a charisma vaccum.

The women that revolutionized the women's division in the 2000s era are the generation of women that today's younger females wrestlers watched and were likely inspired by. I definitely agree that the talent was smaller back then, but it meant that more time and development could be given to each woman and instead of telling a story through monumental style matches, they allowed the storylines and the fan involvement to help dictate the kind of matches they had and where they took place. The matched were designed to elevate the storylines, not booked to take place just for the sake of saying it happened (though that's not to say that these kind of matches aren't entertaining or of good quality).

[OnceSane]

I moved several posts to the Kayfabe thread; please continue the conversation there.  This thread is for discussing the episode only.  Thanks!

[Hero]

Did Nikki and Brie come from the Diva Search?

[Tatum]

Good question! Where did they come from?

[Landlord]

13 hours ago, Hero said:

Did Nikki and Brie come from the Diva Search?

 

2 hours ago, Tatum said:

Good question! Where did they come from?

They did come from the Diva Search, They tried out but were not picked, but like half the chicks that were hired back then, they were hired anyways. Spent a few years at OVW before being brought in for that lame ass twin magic storyline.

[OnceSane]

Also, I've heard that the Bellas trained at Victoria's wrestling school.  But that may be just a rumor.

[Landlord]

For what I know, they were trained mostly by Tom Pritchard.

[Hero]

Does anyone else get the feeling that Nikki is way more into John than he is into her? I fet that he seems very reserved, but he always looks so disinterested when he is around her.

She boasts about him all the time on Instagram, but he rarely reciprocates. Sometimes I feel like she is only into John because of his fame. 

Was John divorced from his first wife before he started dating Nikki?

[Tatum]

I can get no read on John, as far as how invested he is in Nikki. I do think their engagement is largely for publicity though. Nikki got a little twitchy during the bachelorette/non bachelorette party in Mexico, probably because she sees a very long, if not infinite, engagement. Even if he is truly invested in her, he holds ALL the leverage in that relationship and that would bother me in her shoes. So maybe his millionaire status and generous gift giving soften that blow.

 

I did hear that Cena cheated on his wife and that's why they split but I think that was long before Nikki was in the picture. I could be wrong though.

[Tatum]

A pretty whimsical episode actually, I liked it.

 

Not a Lana fan, but I LOVED her deadpan, "yeah, that would be inappropriate" response to Rusev explaining he's mowing the lawn in his underwear because he can't wrestle with farmer tan lines.

 

Also loved Brie and Bryan's whispered conversation about their lack of a "romantic life" - filled with euphemisms, of course, and all the sudden you hear offscreen, "you haven't had sex in HOW LONG?" which is I am sure what anyone would be thinking. Bryan's face, somewhere between slight amusement and deep annoyance that he was trying to hide, was also hilarious.

 

Although Brie, shut up. "Mama Bear" did not come out- in regards to Birdie's interrupted nap schedule- and insist on a plane ride in lieu of finishing the road trip. You left because you were uncomfortable and bored. Which is fine, I would be as well, and I would have jumped ship at the Sacramento airport as well.  But just say so, don't tell the camera you did it to protect your baby. Also, I love how she eschews the cheetos and licorice in front of Bryan in favor of stopping at Whole Foods. If Bryan hadn't been there she would have wholeheartedly high fived the weird pajama ladies over their chosen travel snacks. She's such a try hard. I bet she was jealous Nikki got to eat the licorice because Nikki gives no fucks.

 

Also loved Mike and Maryce's conversation, where he's talking about all his upcoming commitments, which then cuts to Maryce in an interview saying, WE are just so busy right now. Uh...WE, Maryce? I haven't seen you do anything productive this entire season. All she does is shop and irritate people or put them on the spot.

[Racj82]

42 minutes ago, Tatum said:

I can get no read on John, as far as how invested he is in Nikki. I do think their engagement is largely for publicity though. Nikki got a little twitchy during the bachelorette/non bachelorette party in Mexico, probably because she sees a very long, if not infinite, engagement. Even if he is truly invested in her, he holds ALL the leverage in that relationship and that would bother me in her shoes. So maybe his millionaire status and generous gift giving soften that blow.

 

I did hear that Cena cheated on his wife and that's why they split but I think that was long before Nikki was in the picture. I could be wrong though.

Cena's marriage crashed and burned a while before Nikki. He already had rumors of hook ups with a couple of other divas by that point. Mickie James and Victoria. Which is part of the reason why he got a divorce. But, it was a really shitty divorce so he's been hesitant to get married again ever since.

I do think John loves Nikki. He's just more reserved publicly. 

[Tatum]

23 minutes ago, Racj82 said:

But, it was a really shitty divorce so he's been hesitant to get married again ever since.

 

How so? I mean, not that divorces are ever like, fun, but what made it more shitty than usual? I'd imagine someone like John would have an iron clad prenup. Unless he didn't, and that's why he's so legally minded with Nikki.

 

Come to think of it, I vaguely remember something about how as part of the settlement, his ex wife was not allowed to publicly disparage him, and did anyways? Or did I just make that up?

[Racj82]

22 minutes ago, Tatum said:

How so? I mean, not that divorces are ever like, fun, but what made it more shitty than usual? I'd imagine someone like John would have an iron clad prenup. Unless he didn't, and that's why he's so legally minded with Nikki.

 

Come to think of it, I vaguely remember something about how as part of the settlement, his ex wife was not allowed to publicly disparage him, and did anyways? Or did I just make that up?

He did not have a prenup. That's probably why he's so protective of his money and property. When they got married he wasn't JOHN CENA. He was on the rise but he wasn't thinking all the way into the future I guess.

[Tatum]

Well, this is more of a legal question than a wrestling question, but would a prenup have really helped him then? I thought it was only to protect assets you had before marriage. I mean, you can't make a legal document that says, while we are married, if I all the sudden make a ton of money, that's mine and you can't have it, right? I recall a similar issue with Jessica Simpson where she wouldn't sign a prenup, and everyone thought she was such an idiot because as it turned out, she was the one with the earning power, but I remember someone pointing out that a prenup wouldn't have helped her in that situation anyways, as her star kind of took off while she was married.

[OnceSane]

Quote

Mike and Maryse must break the news of their pregnancy to WWE; Nikki's intense training for her "Dancing With the Stars" premiere puts her wedding planning on the back burner; Lana tries to get close with TJ, but Nattie attempts to shut it down.

[rmontro]

On 1/26/2018 at 8:31 AM, Tatum said:

Not a Lana fan, but I LOVED her deadpan, "yeah, that would be inappropriate" response to Rusev explaining he's mowing the lawn in his underwear because he can't wrestle with farmer tan lines.

I don't think you'd get an even tan mowing the lawn though, you'd probably burn your shoulders.

Brie may not be as dedicated to the healthy diet as Bryan is, but I have to respect the way both of them eat.  They have more self discipline than I do.  Although having your career depend on the way you look and weigh probably helps.

[Hero]

Here is a blind about Nikki and John:

http://blindgossip.com/?p=89677

The thing is, John Cena and Nikki are terrible actors, but this show is just entertaining. 

[Bridget]

On 12/27/2017 at 10:07 AM, Stacey1014 said:

It will be really interesting where the womens’ divisions go in the next year or two. Between Rousey possibly showing up, Asuka being pushed and the reemergence of Paige (along with five other newer girls), I wonder how much room there will be for a lot of the current ladies on the roster. They only have one title per show and with at least ten women each, it’s getting pretty crowded. 

Speaking of Asuka, I’m not quite feeling her. I wasn’t a NXT watcher, so I’m not all that familiar with her. It just seems like they’re feeding the entire division to her and it seems like it’s too soon. It almost seems like another Roman Reigns situation. 

Couldn't agree with you more if I tried. 

I might be biased because I'm a HUGE Becky Lynch fan and it's a shame that she's not gotten a much deserved push in a long time. I know she was out for several weeks filming a movie, but she's freakin' amazing. To come from NXT (or anywhere) and continue to be undefeated is boring. 

Becky should've won the Women's Rumble. I was heart broken to see her eliminated. Truly heart broken.

[Racj82]

58 minutes ago, Bridget said:

Couldn't agree with you more if I tried. 

I might be biased because I'm a HUGE Becky Lynch fan and it's a shame that she's not gotten a much deserved push in a long time. I know she was out for several weeks filming a movie, but she's freakin' amazing. To come from NXT (or anywhere) and continue to be undefeated is boring. 

Becky should've won the Women's Rumble. I was heart broken to see her eliminated. Truly heart broken.

Respectfully, I can't agree with you guys on that. I love Becky as person. She's seems delightful. She loves puns. I love her look. But, she has been bland as hell since being called. Maybe two matches I can remember of hers and I have to watch tons of wrestling with the stuff I do on YouTube. She's not bad at all but there is nothing there to break her out of the pack. Sasha has her style. Charlotte and  Alexa have their characters down so well that they are always credible. Naomi has the moves. Nia is a monster in the ring. 

Asuka is unlike anything that has ever been in the company. Her look, style in ring and out. She can make her opponents look great but comes off like a force in the ring. Her work in NXT hasn't been touched by any other female around. She left NXT undefeated and they are riding that wave. The time is hers to make her truly something special. Everyone else can wait. If they book it right, Becky or anyone else that's beats her will be made in this company. They don't have anyone else that can do that right now. It's was the right choice for her to win for sure.

[Hero]

T.J. looks so sad with Nattie and her family. He looked so happy and involved when training Lana. Nattie brings down the mood everywhere she goes. 

[Tatum]

On 1/31/2018 at 11:03 PM, Hero said:

Here is a blind about Nikki and John:

http://blindgossip.com/?p=89677

The thing is, John Cena and Nikki are terrible actors, but this show is just entertaining. 

There's a preview of Nikki crying black tears as her mascara is running (clearly she purposely didn't wear waterproof mascara for the staged scene), so she can cry on command, which is somewhat impressive. John looks appropriately somber, but then again, that's how he always looks, as they discuss calling off their engagement.

I like Nikki, but how thirsty is she? She's going to go along with a manufactured broken engagement storyline just for the sake of ratings? I just find people who are willing to fake marital problems for a show to be super sad. At this point, I wouldn't put it past the show to make up a health scare involving Brie's baby.

[Tatum]

So why does Brie care so much about Nikki's slow progress with wedding plans? Nikki doesn't seem to care at all. Brie seems far more invested in Nikki picking a wedding a dress than Nikki ever does. I mean, she offered to loan Nikki the panties she was currently wearing so Nikki could try on dresses. Maybe it's a twin thing, but there is no one in the world I'd be comfortable sharing a pair of panties with that had just been used. I'd offer to run to the nearest place that sold underwear, even if that ended up being Walgreens.  I can't help but think Brie is being pushy because she thinks wedding talk/plans will make John Cena uncomfortable and there's just something Brie really enjoys about that.

[RHJunkie]

On 1/26/2018 at 10:03 AM, Tatum said:

Well, this is more of a legal question than a wrestling question, but would a prenup have really helped him then? I thought it was only to protect assets you had before marriage. I mean, you can't make a legal document that says, while we are married, if I all the sudden make a ton of money, that's mine and you can't have it, right? I recall a similar issue with Jessica Simpson where she wouldn't sign a prenup, and everyone thought she was such an idiot because as it turned out, she was the one with the earning power, but I remember someone pointing out that a prenup wouldn't have helped her in that situation anyways, as her star kind of took off while she was married.

You can use a pre-nup for anything I think. It's a legally binding contract - the only hiccup is depending on how demanding the pre-nup is, you need to have your partner sign the pre-nup otherwise it can't be enforced. It should be able to protect your future earnings but I'm not sure if you have to have an established opportunity prior to marriage. For example, Cena got married after he joined the WWE so he could have used the pre-nup to protect any future earnings he could have made via the WWE brand BUT I'm not sure it works if Cena was some high school kid that dreamed of making it to the WWE and made a pre-nup that on the off chance he made it, he could keep all of his earnings. You can build in so many conditions into a pre-nup. I believe it's Michael Douglas that has a pre-nup with his wife and it already dictates how much money she would get in the case of divorce and it's determined by allocating a monetary amount to each year of marriage. Obviously, the longer they're married, the more money she would get. I've heard of pre-nups that dictated that the women would get nothing if she initiated the divorce but the pre-nup was later overturned because there was evidence of the husband having an affair so her decision to file for divorce was seen as reasonable. 

As for Jessica Simpson, I do think a pre-nup would have helped her but it was an interesting situation for her. At the time she married, Nick was the one with more money I believe and so if that trend had continued, a pre-nup would have meant that she would be losing out on 50% of assets given that they were living in California. What wasn't anticipated that between their reality show and Jessica branching into business ventures and Hollywood (which I think was way more lucrative than her music career), so by the time they got divorced, their financial situation was reversed. If I'm not mistaken, Nick did settle for considerably less than the 50% which could have been awarded to him via California state. 

[Racj82]

Aww.

Natalya's father, Jim the anvil Neidhart passed away today. She's a daddy's girl all the way. This will be really rough for her. I'm sorry for her loss. One of the best tag partners of all time too.

[LBS]

2 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Aww.

Natalya's father, Jim the anvil Neidhart passed away today. She's a daddy's girl all the way. This will be really rough for her. I'm sorry for her loss. One of the best tag partners of all time too.

It sounded unexpected too.   She was always worried about him on the show but I didn't get the impression that he was super sick.  I feel really bad for her and her family.

[StaceyNotStacie]

14 minutes ago, LBS said:

It sounded unexpected too.   She was always worried about him on the show but I didn't get the impression that he was super sick.  I feel really bad for her and her family.

I feel so bad for her. It seemed like she was very close to her parents. She was wrestling in my town on Saturday evening. 

I really hope that the Total Divas cameras gives the family a little bit of privacy. While they can acknowledge his passing, they don’t need to record everything right now. 

[LBS]

Bleacher.com is reporting that he fell this morning and hit his head.  

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2790767-wwe-legend-and-natalyas-father-jim-the-anvil-neidhart-dies-at-63

Prowrestling.com is also reporting that he fell and hit his head.  They also say that he was having seizures.   

https://www.prowrestling.com/jim-neidhart-succumbed-fall/

Nattie's match with Alexa Bliss has been canceled.

 

Ugh.  SO SO sad.  I can't image losing my dad so suddenly.