Brie Bella is opening up about backlash they received in WWE as the Bella Twins’ popularity exploded thanks to the success of the Total Divas.
WWE had a monster hit on their hands with the launch 2013 launch of Total Divas. The E! Network reality series exposed a new audience to WWE’s female stars, but it was the Bella Twins who enjoyed the most success and were catapulted into the mainstream. They’d eventually get their own spinoff, Total Bellas. You’d think that WWE would have been thrilled with the situation, but Nikki tells Renee Paquette that this was not the case.
Nikki was Renee’s guest on the latest episode of The Sessions podcast. Renee brought up the fact that The Bella Twins were pulled from WWE’s RAW 30th Anniversary special at the last minute, a sign that WWE’s relationship with the twins was less than ideal.
Renee says The Bella Twins have plenty of respect from women in the locker room, but it doesn’t seem like WWE gives them nearly the credit they deserve.
“I remember one time Triple H saying, ‘Perception is reality in this business’ and we perceive people however we want,” said Nikki. “I think that’s what’s happened to Brie and I. At that time, they made people believe so much that like, Brie and I only care about reality TV, we are only there because of our men, because they were super cool in doing amazing things as well.
I think when we were in the run, and I know AJ [Lee] has spoken about it in her book and I think she’s regretted a lot, because that could have been a time where we could have empowered women even more and created more change. That was still a fight and that locker room was really difficult.
A lot of women could speak about that. I think that was the time when I saw so many women with their heads down and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna fight real hard for this.’ I didn’t have to come back with reality cameras. I already had them with E! but I chose to came back to showcase women’s wrestling because what I thought women were doing was so badass and they weren’t being appreciated for it.”
WWE’s Control of the Bella Twins Slipping Away
Nikki Says Total Divas was delivering viewership on par with Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the E! Network’s hottest property. Instead of embracing their success, the company shunned them, because they were gaining freedom and independence.
“Honestly, Total Divas should have been praised even more. We were literally at a point where we were almost beating [Keeping Up With] The Kardashians in the ratings. We were shaking the world up. What a great time. We could have had the industry behind us, but instead, they used it to turn it against us, and that was really shocking to me, because I was like, ‘But wait, we’re making great change to women’s wrestling, why are you hating on it?”
Renee asked what Nikki thinks that was all about. She says “the boss” didn’t like his control over them slipping away.
“I think a lot, as far as the boss [Vince McMahon], is that 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, and 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.’”
Success and Resentment
Renee said her jaw must have been on the floor, to be getting negative backlash for bringing WWE new female viewers.
“On the floor! Everyone’s around was on the floor, like, ‘The Bella Twins are getting yelled at for getting successful?’ Because it wasn’t it what they wanted, cause they were the story tellers. They push who they want the crowd to be behind, just .. 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 mainstream was saying. There was no control, so that was hard on one said, because they lost that. And then, I think, everyone backstage truly thought we were going to fail. I don’t like to use the words ‘envy’ or ‘jealousy’ but i think there was a bit, and we all kind of get that.”
“[Our success] brought in a lot of hate within people in the back. Some people were super supportive, and then some that were hate. And then some got the mic and they just really expressed it and it gave me great fire and it made for great story, but I wish people wouldn’t have believed it beyond that, but it was also sad for me because people just slut shame or tear a woman down. I was not for that.”
Listen to Nikki Bella’s full appearance on The Sessions with Renee Paquette:
Please credit SEScoops.com if you use any of the quotes we transcribed for this article
