For the last three years, Total Divas has been a part of mainstream WWE. The company seems to be in favour of it, making sure its cast reaps the benefits from being on the show. This rings true for The Bella Twins mostly, who just now scored their own spin-off show Total Bellas.
They will still star in Total Divas, and with the new season, we will see first-time cast members Renee Young, Maryse and Lana.
Total Divas has been a driving force in and out of WWE. The Divas became household names once the show premiered, and for some, it boosted their careers. But like anything else, it has its dark side and its fair share of haters.
Not everyone wants to be a part of the show, and not everyone likes the show.
Also read: The 50 hottest WWE divas of all time
For me, I liked the first season. Storylines in the first season reminded me of my Indy wrestling days travelling with my brother. Having a loved one in pro-wrestling is not easy. It tests relationships and friendships.
Most relationships don’t make it, and I liked how they showed that with JoJo in the first season (her boyfriend couldn’t handle the time spent apart). The travelling bit is also a huge part of pro wrestling, and when you travel with others, there are bound to be arguments and mishaps on the road.
Those highlights were great for me, and I think after the first season the show lost touch with that.
However, after the first season, I noticed little things about the show and eventually I was turned off from it. While overall Total Divas is a good thing for WWE, for me, I was over the blurring of lines between scripted and ridiculousness.
It reminded me of why I hate reality shows in the first place. It’s just a scripted show that’s something to watch. It can be entertaining, but sometimes you have to ask yourself, could it be that crazy backstage?
When I went to New Orleans two years ago for WrestleMania, I had attended several Axxess sessions. One of those sessions, I decided to go into Naomi and Cameron’s line. My nephew liked them at the time, and I was getting autographs for him for his birthday.
The line went incredibly slow, and I figured out why in a matter of minutes. It was because the E! crew was filming scenes for the show. I was pretty shocked that they would even try that, especially when Superstars are allowed two hours to sign autographs and take pictures.
The cameras are everywhere, and the company is pretty serious about covering the scenes no matter where they are.
While I haven’t kept up with the show since maybe the third season, I was asked to do this piece. I had to conjure up things that I had heard over time and come up with various facts and opinions to round out this topic.
Some of these aren’t surprising while others just might be.
1. Total Divas is mostly scripted
While this comes as little to no surprise, of course, the show is scripted. Just as storylines are scripted backstage, the show is scripted to follow along with Raw and Smackdown.
Even though the show is ahead of production, the company tries to parallel the stories together to make it seem it’s all played out at the same time.
For the viewers that don’t keep up with Raw or Smackdown, they’re not going to catch onto the differences. But for those that do, it drives them up the wall. If there is anything WWE fans are good at, it is the attention to detail. This isn’t needed for Total Divas apparently.
Another big example of the show being scripted was that the show alluded to the fact that Jimmy Uso and dad Rikishi were not on speaking terms, because of his impending marriage to Naomi. Rikishi duped this claim on Twitter shortly after the episode aired.
#2 John Cena’s dark side
One of the biggest advantages of Total Divas is that Nikki Bella’s boyfriend is John Cena. Having WWE’s top guy on the show is a huge deal and of course, he is featured quite often. We see an entirely different side to Cena and it’s not what everyone thought it was.
Cena turns out to be a control freak and Nikki learns the hard way what it is like to live with Cena. Because of his status, he has to protect his assets and he makes her sign a form to live with him.
Normal people would not even have done that, but on the flip side it gives viewers a different perspective with that story on the show. He was also against marriage and kids, something that Nikki wants. The way he goes about it was pretty shocking for fans.
#3 Real moments
While Total Divas is scripted, it does capture real moments. For example, Natalya had an accident in the ring, when Naomi kicked her a little too hard in the stomach during the match. Those mishaps do happen in the ring, and it was an opportunity for the show to play on that.
Another moment that was highlighted was Natalya’s father’s addiction. That was incredibly sad to see.
Other real moments include the time where Brie threw up on Nikki after a night of partying. When the Divas go out, one can assume, the cameras are set to record and whatever happens, happens.
#4 Save and boost
For The Bella Twins and Natalya, the show has predominately featured the ladies since the show began. Paige started on the show in Season 3 and has become popular. One could argue why the ladies chose to be on the show, but for Natalya, it gave her the spotlight she needed in the ring.
Many fans were surprised to see Rosa Mendes added to the show in its third season. Mendes was highly rumoured to be on the chopping block until the show called for her. Now that Mendes is a mother and engaged, she doesn’t look to be going away anytime soon.
Perhaps the most controversial woman on the show is Eva Marie. A known model pre-WWE, fans have given the red haired vixen a hard time from the day she started. She started on the show as someone who just started with the company, and it has been a rollercoaster ride from there with her.
#5 It brought The Bellas back
It is no secret that The Bella Twins are the stars of Total Divas. It was known too that the twin sisters took a year break to try their hand at acting, which didn’t seem to work out.
I keep thinking back to AJ Lee’s pipe bombshell where she says, “Women who have turned to reality television because they aren’t gifted enough to be actresses”. That line right there said it all for me, and we all know how the Bellas reacted when she said that.
The second time around in WWE has played out well for the Twins. While they did get better in the ring, they continuously catch flack because of the show, and the fact their significant others influence backstage happenings. They may be more famous and popular now, but we all know Total Divas was key to bringing the twins back to the company.
#6 Not everyone’s favourite
While Total Divas give today’s women of WWE many pros over cons, not everyone is on board. Stars such as Lee and Sasha Banks have refused to take part in the show. They prefer to work on their craft, which speaks volumes, along with the transition the entire Women’s Division has been a part of.
It made Lee the dark horse against the other Divas during her time with the company; a one-woman army if you will.
It comes down to a matter of preference, and also those who aren’t on the show enjoy their privacy too. Cast members have said in various interviews there is little to no privacy during filming. It’s much sacrifice when it comes to downtime however you look at it.
#7 Get away from me!
Many of the WWE Superstars can be seen from time to time on the show during the backstage scenes on the show. It is just little cameo appearances from most of them, but for others, they are the boyfriend or husband of a cast member.
While the significant other doesn’t have much say that we know of, there are other Superstars who do not want to be seen on the show.
Roman Reigns was interviewed a couple of years ago, and he was quoted saying that Superstars will deliberately start cussing, etc. so that their appearance is scrapped during the editing process. If there is a reason as to why you haven’t seen certain Superstars make it on the show, this is most likely why.
#8 The place to be for Brides
Did you know Total Divas loves to air weddings? I mean, they have and will air a total of five weddings in its six seasons. Everyone loves a great wedding story, and so it’s a no-brainer to have a wedding for reality TV.
Natalya and husband Tyson Kidd had their own small wedding on the show, which was the first wedding on Total Divas. Newlywed Lana had two weddings as well, with one of them featured to be aired during the new season.
Brie and Daniel Bryan’s wedding was the real wedding, which was aired on the show. If you’re a cast member that is engaged, chances are, the wedding will be aired for all to see.
#9 WrestleMania 29
One of the biggest questions that fans have was the infamous match that never was. The Bella Twins were teaming with Team Rhodes Scholars to take on Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay, Tensai, Naomi, Cameron) at WrestleMania 29. The match was scrapped at the last minute due to time constraints.
It appeared that it was a surprise to everyone involved, including the Total Divas cast. Naomi walked off camera crying. After the episode had aired (which was one of the first ones), rumours began swirling around alleging that the company to have scrapped the match on purpose for the show. The rumour was neither confirmed nor denied.
#10 The Raw/SD footage is mixed in
On the second season of Total Divas, there was a big mishap in terms of timeline.
I noticed that the footage from Raw and Smackdown is mixed into Total Divas. There was one instance where the story definitely did not mix what was going on in the ring. On the fourth episode, Inhale, Exhale Natalya is offered to wrestle for the Divas Championship at TLC, which in fact did happen.
The reason that fans and I noticed it is because Natalya sold the storyline by going through tension with Summer Rae right before TLC. She was to be in a match with Summer Rae a week before TLC.
However, the footage from Raw that was used was during an Old School Raw episode that happened in January, which was weeks after TLC. That was the glaring omission many fans picked up on. Here is the footage that was used:
Even now, the footage from all the shows is mixed in, and as a WWE fan, it’s easy to get turned off by watching the show because of the lack of attention to detail. They may be fooling casual viewers, but for the WWE faithful, it’s a no.
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