Nikki Bella was a guest on Renee Paquette’s The Sessions this week and discussed her time in WWE. While often criticized by vocal online fans for being a representation of the “Divas Era” of women’s wrestling in WWE, Bella managed to have a record-breaking run as Divas Champion from 2014-15 and was a key player in the success of the Total Divas and Total Bellas reality shows on the E! Network. Bella made the argument during the interview that Total Divas should’ve gotten more credit for elevating the Women’s Division given its popularity.
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She also claimed that the show was a point of frustration with WWE management given it was something they couldn’t directly control. Do you agree with the Hall of Famer? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
“I think that was the time when I saw so many women with their heads down that I was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna fight real hard for this.’ I didn’t have to come back with reality cameras,” Bella explained (h/t WrestlingNews.co). “I already had them with me. But I chose to come back to make sure that we showcase women’s wrestling because I thought what women were doing was so badass and they weren’t being appreciated for it. Honestly, Total Divas should have been praised even more, I felt, because what we were doing was we literally were at the point of almost beating the Kardashians in the ratings. We were shaking the world up and like, what a great time. We could have had the industry behind us, but instead they used it to turn it against us. That was really shocking to me because I was like, ‘But wait, we’re making great changes for Women’s Wrestling. Why are you hating on it?’”
“I think a few, like, as far as the boss, I felt like it was the first time he lost control of what he could make and not make because when Brie and I won Diva of the Year, we got in trouble, and I got yelled at,” she continued. “I remember we came back so happy and it was like, ‘Oh, because you brought in all these new viewers, and the women are now voting for you, and all these new women are here.’ Everyone around was on the floor like, ‘The Bella Twins are getting yelled at for being successful’, because it wasn’t what they wanted because they were the storytellers. They push who they want the crowd to be behind. Perception is reality. That is WWE to a T. Even though the fans think they own it, no, they laugh in the back. ‘No, we own you at the end of the day.’ So I truly believe Total Divas was the first thing they couldn’t control. They couldn’t control the success. They couldn’t control what the mainstream was.”
