Originally, I was going to save this as part of my write-up for the monthly coverage in wrestling for the month of July, but since so many people are buzzing about it, I'm going to offer my two cents on this reality TV show.
The Cast:
The Bella Twins (Brie and Nikki Bella) Naturally, the faces of this show. Love them or hate them, you're going to have to put with them. They are essentially the Kardashian sisters in this show. Nikki is dating John Cena while Brie is dating Daniel Bryan.Natalya Known as Nattie Neidhart, daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart of the prestigious Hart family. The longest "veteran" out of the current crop of WWE Divas in the company at this moment. Total Divas has confirmed that they will be featuring her recent marriage to Tyson Kidd at some point of this series.
The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) Known as Ariane Andrew and Trinity McCray respectively for the sake of this show. Trinity is dating fellow wrestler Jimmy Uso while Ariane is dating an outsider named Vince. These two are part of the tag team/stable dubbed Tons of Funk with fellow wrestlers Brodus Clay and Lord Tensai.
Eva Marie One of the resident newcomers featured on this show. There is sad to be a resemblance to the Bella Twins, but I personally don't see it.
Jo-Jo Offerman The youngest of the new WWE Divas at the age of 19, she is pretty quiet and innocent on this first episode.
Episode Synopsis:
The WWE Divas begin their preparations for WrestleMania. Nikki starts to have doubts regarding her relationship with John Cena as Brie and Bryan have begun shopping for wedding rings. Cameron is embarrassed when her boyfriend ends up causing a scene backstage, with Naomi stuck in the middle. Natalya feels as if she is being overshadowed by the same girls she has helped to train while she gets upstaged at every opportunity that presents itself. Eva Marie and Jo-Jo struggle with the woes of being newcomers as part of the WWE Divas.The Verdict:
In the spirit of the immortal wisdom of Kevin Nash, I'm going to say this, "Just about everything you see on TV is a work, and not just professional wrestling..." This is reality TV and there is no exception with this show.While I get that we live an information age where the all of the smoke and mirrors behind the mechanics of how professional wrestling works aren't a mystery anymore, I have to say I have to fear on what damage this show could do to WWE's core product in the long run. E! has reported record-breaking ratings for last night's series premiere episode and that's a great start, but at the same time, I hope this means that this would lead to longer matches and more fleshed out storylines for WWE Divas as a whole on WWE programming on a regular basis. All of this Kardashian-esque media attention isn't going to mean shit if WWE does not capitalize on it. That is one thing that Impact Wrestling does better than WWE does currently and that's show off how talented their girls are in the ring consistently. If WWE doesn't garner this renewed interest into the WWE Divas and direct it towards more compelling matches and angles, then all this is for nothing as it just shows that their Divas are literally what the dirtsheets say they are behind the scenes - a bunch of quacking ducks, bickering with each other on a regular basis.
Within only the first episode, Total Divas has exposed the personal lives of current WWE Champion John Cena and current #1 contender Daniel Bryan along with a few other Superstars and Divas. On one hand, it's cool to see these guys outside of their work environment and on-camera personalities, but at the same time, it's a bit hard to swallow this with a grain of salt. Cena looked like he was visually struggling to keep up his "street cred" on camera within his intimate scenes with Nikki Bella. Daniel Bryan's time with Brie was a bit more realistic as it felt more natural than the "manufactured" feel of Cena and Nikki's relationship. I could say the same about Naomi and Jimmy Uso's relationship as it wasn't like they were putting on this front for the cameras.
That brings us to The Bella Twins, who seem like they aren't really being genuine at all. This show gives the impression that they are literally acting out their WWE personalities on television. There is a much clearer distinction between them as we finally get to the behind the scenes ongoings of their everyday lives, but at the same time, it just feels like they are playing a character (of being complete bitches) rather than being individual people. I could say the same about the Funkadactyls, but there's a clear distinction between them now. Cameron is the sassy, yet VERY ghetto (with a capital G...) friend while Naomi is the level-headed experienced one, who is concerned about her career in the long-haul. I'm going to call it right now, but I can see Cameron's mouth getting the Funkadactyls in more trouble down the road, especially with the Bella Twins.
On a side note, we all know Cameron's boyfriend wasn't going to do shit to Brodus Clay. He would have saw how big the guy is and piss his pants before going back to Cameron in shame... Also, since did WWE start allowing family and friends backstage? Call me a mark, but from as many autobiographies I have read, that was a huge no-no in WWE. I know that I'm bound to be wrong, but that was a bit strange.
I felt sorry for Natalya a lot in this premiere episode as she vented a lot of her current frustrations in the company. She trained and established a lot of the current crop of WWE Divas, but she always manages to left in their dust or upstaged around every corner. No wonder they keep pairing her with The Great Khali and Hornswoggle on TV... C'mon girl, put that foot down and say you want better working conditions LOL.
Last but not least, let's talk about the newbies, Eva Marie and Jo-Jo Offerman. Good Lord, Eva Marie is hiding a hot body underneath all of that wannabe Lita-attire. I see why Nikki feels threatened, but at the same time, I was literally thinking, "You were in the same company as Maryse Ouellet, Kelly Kelly, and Melina Perez, and NOW you're feeling threatened? Get the fuck out of here..." The whole bit about Eva Marie having to get her hair dyed to make herself stand out from the other Divas is laughable to an extent. While you can easily hop onto Twitter and read comments from other former WWE Divas (namely Jillian Hall) who openly state that Eva Marie's stunt would have gotten her fired instantly (especially from her attitude from start), it's funny to see what length these girls are willing to make it in WWE. While Eva Marie has been literally hogging the spotlight in this episode, Jo-Jo has done nothing to make herself stand out in this episode. I laughed reading the comments on Diva-Dirt last night after the show where people confused Jo-Jo as Eva Marie's personal secretary.
I don't know about anyone else, but the ending of this episode pissed me off a lot as a fan of women's wrestling. They literally proved that the Funkadactyls vs. Bella Twins match at WrestleMania wasn't supposed to happen at all. The so-called "cancellation" of it was just more manufactured drama for this show. You want proof? Go to the reaction segment where Natayla, Eva Marie, and Jo-Jo are looking at the monitor to see the match. The last shot with the other girls getting ready for the match had John Cena's music playing after the CM Punk vs. The Undertaker bout ended, but in this reaction shot, Triple H's music is playing in the background with his tron on the monitor. Yeah... you don't have to be a film studies graduate to see that's some piss poor editing. Exactly what are the depths that WWE are willing to go to garner interest for this show?
My biggest issue with this show is this - if it's supposed be "Total Divas" then why aren't all of the current crop of WWE Divas featured on this program? Current WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee, Kaitlyn, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, Layla, Tamina, Vickie Guerrero, Summer Rae, Charlotte, Emma, Paige, and Sasha Banks are all absent from this show. I don't doubt for an instant that the other Divas won't have cameos at some point of this series' run, but it's just a bit strange. Sure, it would be difficult to feature all of these Divas on the said program but I just find it a bit odd that they would focus on just these seven Divas exclusively. Eva Marie and Jo-Jo's positions could have been swapped out for current NXT Divas Champion Paige, who is struggling with being far away from her home in the UK, and current Divas Champion AJ Lee, who definitely isn't your typical WWE Diva as the WWE's resident "geek goddess".
Total Divas is an unique look at some of inside the inner workings of WWE, but at the same time, I don't know what could come from this concept. It's hard to say off just the first episode. I'm not going to say it's the best thing that has graced television nor am I not going to blacklist it as the worst thing to spawn on my TV screen. Much like Keeping up with the Kardashians and professional wrestling as a whole, this just seems like yet another guilty pleasure to add to the TiVo's scheduled programming.
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