As seen Monday night on Raw, Eva Marie made her televised wrestling debut as she and fellow Total Divas JoJo and Natalya defeated Alicia Fox, Aksana and Rosa Mendes in a Six-Diva Tag Team Match. The 29-year-old’s performance drew negative reviews online, as her inexperience was put on display before millions of viewers (prior to the match, she had only wrestled before a live crowd once, a non-televised tag team bout at SummerSlam Axxess in August). It has since come out that this reaction was sought within WWE as she was purposely set up to fail by members of management.
Dave Meltzer claimed on F4WOnline.com’s Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE officials wanted to knock the confident Californian down a few pegs, since they feel she has an undeserved ego and doesn’t realize how much she has to learn as a performer. Therefore, they had her sink on national television in hopes of making her humble.
This is not the first time in which Eva Marie, who F4WOnline.com reported in August as being “passionately hated” by some of her co-workers, was pranked in an inside manner.
In a segment filmed backstage at a spring Raw show for the August 4 episode of E! Total Divas, she was led to believe by company personnel that she had committed a wrongful act and that an infuriated Stephanie McMahon wanted to confront her over the matter (on the episode, the meeting was depicted as stemming from Eva Marie lying about her background in order to audition to be Fandango’s dancer, which was a fabricated storyline). During the blurred reality segment, McMahon threatened to fire her if she embarrassed the company again with her conduct. Eva Marie legitimately cried during the meeting, as she was not aware that the situation was orchestrated and that McMahon was fooling around with her through her character persona.
– John Cena revealed on Twitter that his new “Never Give Up” clothing line for boys is now available at Kmart stores.
– Zack Ryder revealed on Twitter that his Internet Championship belt will be featured in the WWE 2K14 video game.
– WWE is working on new merchandise for Goldust.
– Brodus Clay will be appearing at Friday’s WWE NXT live event in Largo, Florida. He will participate in a pre-show signing with Paige and Mojo Rawley.
– Natalya and other WWE Divas have been doing media for international versions of E!’s Total Divas that will begin airing in those countries soon.
-On Monday’s RAW, WWE Hall Of Famer Bruno Sammartino was brought on stage during a commercial break. The segment aired on the WWE App, and was then re-played after the commercial. Sammartino came out on and fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler led the crowd in singing “happy birthday” to the legendary performer, who celebrated his 78th birthday this past weekend.
-Also on Monday’s RAW, WWE Total Divas stars Eva Marie and Jo Jo Offerman made their official WWE television in-ring debut in a six-Diva tag-team match. The match featured Marie and Offerman teaming with Natalya, who defeated their opponents – Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes and Aksana.
The following are highlights from a recent RVA Magazine interview with former TNA Knockout and WWE Diva Mickie James:
On her TNA Impact Wrestling status: “I can’t really speak on my status right now. Honestly though, I’m not technically under contract with them right now. As far as TNA itself, I wasn’t at the last TV so I can’t speak on that. The company is in the midst of change obviously and that process of changing over.”
On recent changes and pay issues in TNA: “They’ve gone live on the road and they just brought in this new head of talent [John Gaburick] who was with WWE for twenty years or so. I feel like there’s good energy around it, but in the midst of change, people get scared and there’s a bit of that as well. It’s hard to really say. There were rumors and speculation about late paychecks, but my paycheck was never late. It’s not untrue though; I do know that was an issue with some of the people.”
On how the WWE Divas division has changed over the years: “Honestly, when I came in, there was still that Golden Era of Women’s wrestling for WWE. There was Trish [Stratus] and Lita there to legitimately pass that torch of credibility. They were genuine wrestling athletes. They weren’t just characters or beautiful women. They could go in there, wrestle like the men, kick serious ass, and hold that spot. I was very fortunate to have that coming in and be in that transitional phase. As they were leaving, it was myself, Melina, Beth Phoenix; all the girls that kind of grew up on the Indy scene. We all kind of came in that same way, that grass roots kind of way. We fought and clawed our way up the Indy scene to try and make a name for ourselves and build credibility just so WWE would take a look at us in the first place.”
On the WWE Total Divas reality show: “I don’t think that there’s anyone there who legitimately has had that torch passed to them in a way so that’s the main difference to me. There are obviously legit wrestlers like Nattie and I think Alicia Fox is great. I think it’d be great for someone to come in and take that division to a whole new level. I’m not sitting here burying those girls though because obviously they’re on TV, doing a great job, and they have the Divas reality show. I think that show is awesome because it’s giving depth to those characters that you wouldn’t necessarily know anything about other than they are great wrestlers. You don’t know anything about their personal lives and it’s kind of opening that door to get people more emotional invested into them. But yeah, I think having someone pass the torch would be great for those girls.”
Check out the complete interview online at RVAMag.com.
Tonight at WWE Battleground, the Divas Championship will be on the line as AJ Lee defends the butterfly-emblazoned belt against Brie Bella. Promoting the bout on the WWE App, Natalya and Eva Marie spoke to Tom Phillips, where they announced that they are rooting for their Total Divas co-star in her match against Lee. During the interview, Eva Marie rattles the third-generation wrestler with her proclamation that she could be the No. 1 contender—Eva Marie has competed in one match thus far, a non-televised tag team bout at SummerSlam Axxess in August.
Natalya said, “I’m actually really excited to see what’s going to happen at Battleground. As much as I wanted to be the No. 1 contender for the Divas Championship, I’m happy that Brie is going to get a chance to make a stand against AJ and really put her in her place for all the things she’s done to us Total Divas. I am looking forward to AJ getting beaten.”
Eva Marie then remarks, “Now Nattie, I know you want to be No. 1 contender. I know you’re a little hurt that you’re not in Brie’s spot right now, aren’t you? I mean let’s be honest, I think I can be No. 1 contender, but I’ll be rooting for Brie.”
Natalya snaps back, “Yeah, you really could be No. 1 contender. I’d like to see you do a headlock takeover first.” Eva Marie responds, “Absolutely, no problem. I’m just being honest.”
Natalya then resumes talking about the match: “What we’re trying to say is that all us Total Divas are excited about seeing AJ Lee without the Divas Championship on Sunday at Battleground. If it’s Brie Bella that does it, then so be it.”
-WWE “newbie” Diva and Total Divas reality show star Eva Marie recently posted a tweet on her official Twitter account revealing the fact that WWE is filming some footage for the next half of season one of the E! reality show prior to tonight’s WWE Battleground show in Buffalo, New York. Eva wrote:
All ready for some #TotalDivas @eonline filming before #WWEBattleground
-Cody Rhodes posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account on Sunday:
I legit don’t work here, so they can’t be mad. EXCLUSIVE @WWE shirt, diff version for @FirstNiagaraCtr also
The tweet was accompanied by a link to a photo of a special Rhodes Family t-shirt, which you can see pictured below:
After returning to WWE in March, The Bella Twins resumed their manipulative and malicious characters until just recently, as Brie has been portraying a smiling babyface character (with Nikki following her lead) in her battle against Divas Champion AJ Lee—which was then solidified due to her relationship with top babyface wrestler Daniel Bryan being acknowledged. However, on WWE programming, no clear indication was given as to what led to the twin duo’s sudden change of heart after portraying “mean girls” for months.
According to PWInsider.com, the twin duo technically turned babyface as a result of Lee’s scathing “#PipeBombshell” toward them and their Total Divas co-stars on the Aug. 27 episode of Raw. The WWE creative department’s idea was that since Lee portrays a Total Divas loathing villain, The Bella Twins and the other stars of the E! reality show are therefore de facto babyfaces.
It would appear that Brie and Nikki, as well as sidekick Eva Marie, didn’t receive a memo on the switch as their characters continued to appear in the same arrogant manner through the Sept. 16 episode of Raw-near the conclusion of the show, Brie was shown embracing Bryan backstage as he went out to the arena to face Roman Reigns. Brie began smiling after scoring the pinfall victory in the 10-Diva Tag Team Match on the Sept. 23 Raw, as she and her Total Divas peers celebrated the win together. Following the match, however, Nikki and Eva Marie labeled themselves as well as Brie as “Mean Girls” on Instagram, but haven’t against since.
To turn The Bella Twins babyface, Lee said the following: “Do you want to know what I see when I look in that ring? Honestly? Cheap, interchangeable, expendable, useless women. Women who have turned to reality television because they just weren’t gifted enough to be actresses. And they just weren’t talented enough to be champion.
“I have done more in one year than all of you have done in your entire collected careers…I have shattered glass ceilings and broken down doors. Why? So a bunch of stiff, ungrateful plastic mannequins can waltz on through without even as much as a thank you?…I gave my life to this and you were just handed fifteen minutes of fame…you’re all worthless excuses for women and you will never be able to touch me.”
-Former WWE Superstar and Governor of Minnesota, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, has officially released his new book, “They Killed Our President: 63 Reasons to believe There Was a Conspiracy to Assassinate JFK.” For more information, visit Long-Island.Newsday.com.
-WWE Diva Brie Bella recently spoke to the Democrat and Chronicle website as part of her promotional duties for the second-half of the debut season of the E! reality show, “Total Divas.” Bella spoke about her engagement to WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan, as well as her thoughts on settling down, becoming a mother and starting a family. You can check that out online at DemocratAndChronicle.com.
– WWE creative writers are considering giving “Mr. Money in the Bank” Damien Sandow a run with the World Heavyweight Championship in large part due to Rob Van Dam’s questionable future with the organization.
It has been reported that RVD has not agreed to a new contract with WWE. However, other organization sources claim he signed a deal where he continuously works three months and then takes three months off. Nonetheless, he is expected to disappear from WWE programming shortly after Sunday’s Battleground pay-per-view event.
The reason the belt may wind up in the arms of Sandow is because it would instantly lead to a feud with Del Rio and creative wants the Mexican wrestler to be continuously featured in a top program. Another idea batted around is Van Dam winning the strap from Del Rio, with Sandow immediately cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to claim the gold. However, some people in WWE feel this idea is unlikely to occur since it happened just two months ago at SummerSlam.
– E!’s Total Divas, which is currently on hiatus, will resume on November 17, 2013 with six additional episodes. Regarding the possibility of episodes beyond the next batch, many people within WWE expect the reality series to be renewed for a second season beginning shortly after WrestleMania XXX.
WWE Superstars Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella are engaged to be married, according to E! Online.
The couple have been together for almost three years and Bryan popped the question on Wednesday while they were hiking in Big Sur, California.
“I have never in my life seen him so nervous. I’ve been by him when he’s gone out for WrestleMania and some really big things,” Bella revealed. “He got really, really nervous and he started talking about how long we’ve been together. He got down on one knee and compared our love. He said he’ll love me forever like the ocean goes on.”
Bryan says he was biding his time to pop the question in order to have that perfect moment. “I’ve had the ring for a long time. Just trying to find the moment that fits,” Bryan said. “A moment that’s worthy of Brie.”
Bella says she is targeting a wedding date for between April and June of next year.
Shortly after the report surfaced on EOnline.com, Bryan issued the following message on Twitter.
The entire proposal will be broadcast when Total Divas returns with six new episodes beginning November 17 at 9 p.m. on E!. Additional details on the event are available here.
-The WWE Total Divas reality show will begin airing in Austrailia on Pay TV on October 17th in the Thursday, 8:30pm time slot on the E! channel.
-Legendary wrestler and WWE agent Arn Anderson was referenced on a recent edition of the Comedy Central show Tosh.0.
-Former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly has a role in a new movie, which is out right now. The movie is called, “Angel Investors.”
-Former WWE Superstar Ken Shamrock has made an enemy out of UFC president Dana White. White mentioned Shamrock in a recent media scrum, where he claims Shamrock owes him $175,000 in legal fees, and he is coming after Shamrock for the money. Check out the clip below:
E! issued the following press release on Thursday:
E! and WWE’s TOTAL DIVAS to Return 11/17
Six new episodes of “Total Divas” debuts on Sunday, November 17, when season one of E!’s breakout hit series continues to take viewers inside the lives of the biggest female names in WWE: Nikki and Brie Bella (WWE Divas “The Bella Twins”), Nattie (WWE Diva “Natalya”), Trinity (WWE Diva “Naomi”), Ariane (WWE Diva “Cameron”) and WWE Divas-in-training Eva Marie and JoJo. The action will pick up with some newlywed drama for Nattie as her new husband has trouble seeing his wife in the ring with WWE Superstars for a living. Nikki will be moving in with John Cena, who just suffered an injury, and is surprised with a “co-habitation agreement,” while her twin sister Brie is having trouble finding common ground with her WWE Superstar boyfriend Daniel Bryan.
Meanwhile, Ariane’s health issues escalate, which means her tag-team partner Trinity has the opportunity to prove she has what it takes to be a strong solo Diva. The newbies will continue their climb in the business of WWE with Eva Marie pushing buttons with every step she takes.
The first eight episodes of season one, which concluded in a dramatic mid-season finale on Sunday, September 15, averaged 875K A18-49 and 1.4 MM total viewers, making it E!’s most-watched freshman series since Summer 2011. The highly buzzed about new series also ranked as the #1 most social Reality Show on Sunday night. Season one continues Sunday, November 17 at 9 PM.
The mid-season finale of “Total Divas” on Sunday night showcased the rocky road to the alter for WWE Diva Nattie and her WWE Superstar husband Tyson Kidd. An appearance by a blast from Nattie’s past delayed the nuptials but after a few tears and heated exchanges, the duo tied the knot in front of their closest friends and family – with the exception of Nikki Bella who chose meeting her boyfriend John Cena’s family for the first time over the wedding of her close friend. The tension between the two Divas over wedding attendance was put to rest during the ‘Total Divas After Show’ when Cena apologized for making Nikki choose him over Nattie.
Meanwhile, viewers also saw Trinity rush Ariane to the hospital for some inexplicable stomach issues and the feud between the WWE Divas in training, Eva Marie and JoJo, came to an all-time high that ended with the girls moving out of their new apartment. Their growing resentment opened the After Show when Eva Marie called out JoJo for Being a “child” and claiming that taking care of a little girl was not what she signed up for.
“Total Divas” second half of season one picks up on Sunday, November 17 at 9pm ET/PT on E! with six new episodes that will continue to explore the lives of the biggest female names in the WWE.
-The season finale of WWE Total Divas on E! drew 1,036,000 viewers. The “Total Divas After Party” reunion special that followed it on Sunday night drew 939,000 viewers.
-WWE has added the latest edition of “Backstage Fallout,” this time for Monday’s post-Night Of Champions edition of WWE RAW, on their official YouTube channel. The official description for this week’s RAW Backstage Fallout reads: “Dolph Ziggler discusses his winning ways, Natalya discusses her disdain for AJ Lee & The Usos are amped for their upcoming WWE Tag Team Title opportunity, all on this edition of Backstage Fallout.”
Check out the latest RAW Backstage Fallout video below:
-SIRIUS/XM satelitte and Opie & Anthony personality Sam Roberts is back with another pro wrestling interview. This time, Roberts interviews WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T. You can check out their 15-minute discussion below:
-New Hampshire’s own Triple H was recently interviewed by NHMagazine.com about growing up there, as well as breaking into the business and later transitioning to the management side of things with WWE. Fans interested in checking out that interview can do so online at NHMagazine.com.
-The WWE Total Divas reality show will be broadcast on Sky Sports 3 in the United Kingdom starting September 30th.
-The official E! website has added the “Total Divas After Party” reunion special. During the special, WWE Superstar John Cena says he will not propose to WWE Diva and his real-life girlfriend, Nikki Bella. You can check the special out for yourself online at EOnline.com.
As noted, WWE will air their “mid-season finale” tonight on E!, which will feature the wedding of WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd and WWE Diva Natalya.
The official promotional description for tonight’s show reads as follows:
“Nattie and TJ’s wedding takes an unexpected turn when Jaret gets involved. John asks Nikki to meet his family. Ariane is rushed to the hospital. Eva and JoJo’s friendship starts to fall apart.”
In addition to the mid-season finale, there will be a Total Divas reunion show immediately following tonight’s episode. The reunion show will feature the cast of the program discussing the first half of the season. The reunion show was filmed about a week ago in Florida.
WWE is currently shooting footage for the second-half of the season, which begins airing on E! in November.
Currently sidelined WWE Superstar John Cena was spotted at a popular restaurant outside of Boston this weekend, according to The Boston Herald.
Cena and his family were apparently spotted at The Kowloon, a popular dining establishment outside of Boston.
According to the report in The Boston Herald, Cena was dining with his family and filming the season finale of the WWE Total Divas reality show, which airs tonight on the E! cable channel at 10:00pm ET.
The Boston Herald reported the following blurb:
WWE superstar John Cena and his family dining at The Kowloon in the season finale of E!’s hit reality show “Total Divas”
-The official website for the E! cable channel has posted a new video preview for this Sunday’s season finale edition of WWE Total Divas, featuring the wedding of Natalya and Tyson Kidd. You can watch that online at EOnline.com.
-Speaking of videos, former WWE Superstar Diamond Dallas Page has posted a new video on his official YouTube channel of himself and WWE legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts as The Odd Couple. For those interested, you can watch that below:
As reported recently, WWE Superstar John Cena will likely be unable to compete in the ring until the Royal Rumble pay-per-view next year. However, there is already talk of bringing the former “face of the company” back to WWE television.
Apparently, Cena himself wants to start making appearances on WWE television for “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” which is in October. Cena wants to appear to help the company with their campaign.
Speaking of Cena, his rehab process is expected to be one of the major storylines on the second half of the WWE Total Divas season, which begins in November.
-As noted, the E! cable channel picked up additional episodes of the WWE Total Divas reality show. Those episodes will begin airing as part of the extended season one on November 17th. It should be noted that the new episodes beginning on 11/17 will air one hour earlier, at 9:00pm ET, instead of the current 10:00pm ET timeslot.
-The following are some recent WWE attendance figures:
–September 6th in Montreal drew 6,000 fans for $300,000
–September 7th in East Rutherford, NJ drew 7,700 fans for $360,000
–September 7th in Windsor drew 3,300 fans for $130,000
–September 8th in Brooklyn drew 7,000 fans for $380,000
–September 8th in Hamilton drew 3,600 fans for $130,000
-Former WWE Diva Michelle McCool recently tweeted about her work at the WWE Performance Center. McCool wrote:
“Still in awe of @WWEPerformCtr …thinking about how bright the future is for the divas! #talentknockingatthedoor Thank y’all for having me!”
-WWE Total Divas stars Cameron and her real-life boyfriend Vincent celebrate their one-year anniversary this weekend.
-WWE Superstar Darren Young, who as we reported recently will be appearing on The Ellen Show on Friday, tweeted the following about his busy week with the media:
“Busy week for me! My voice will be heard. My story will be told. Its time to deliver! Its time to live! #knowyourworth”
-Jim Ross recently posted a new tweet on his official Twitter account confirming that his JRs BBQ products will still be available on the WWE Shop website. JR wrote:
“JR’s products still available online at http://WWEShop.com & at http://americansoda.co.uk . Nothing’s changed & I still appreciate support.”
Viewership data is in for the most recent episode (Ep. 7) of WWE’s Total Divas reality show and it was the least-watched episode of the series thus far.
Sunday’s (9/8) Total Divas show averaged 1.091 million viewers, down almost 30% from what the series averaged over the first 6 weeks.
The show had some stiff competition on Sunday night and did not have “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” as a lead-in.
As reported earlier, Week 7 of Total Divas did see a modest uptick in social media activity.
This weekend’s season finale episode will focus on the wedding of Natalya and Tyson Kidd.
WWE Total Divas story producer Michael Wehr recently spoke with John Corrigan of Temple News. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
How He Joined the Show: “I lucked out. In Hollywood, they always say it’s who you know; it’s not a cliché. I was working on a show for TLC called ‘Gypsy Sisters’ and I was going to sign on for season two, but I started interviewing for other shows. One of my ex-coworkers recommended me to a friend of his, and all I heard was that it was a wrestling show about girl wrestlers. So I made the call to the powers that be and within 30 seconds, she told me it was for the WWE and I said I’ll sign on. I had to break some ties, but everybody knows you have to go where the work is, and I don’t think I could live with myself if I passed up on a WWE show.”
His Role On Total Divas: “I watch endless amounts of footage,” he said. “I take different aspects and form a story without manipulating it too much. Going in, the executive producers kind of have an idea of what direction they want to go in, but other times a scene will be shot and the story is not getting across, so we have to figure how to do that as quickly as possible. Two people could be having a heart-to-heart, and then all of a sudden a dog could run in barking with some kids and ruin the scene.”
-The official Variety website has a story up on their website today focusing on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vs. Vin Diesel in Hollywood. You can check that out online at Movies.Yahoo.com.
-The E! channel will be running a marathon today featuring every past episode, except the series premiere, of WWE Total Divas.
-As reported previously, WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler will continue his in-ring return tour this Friday, as he wrestles current TNA Impact Wrestling star and founder Jeff Jarrett. Lawler posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account regarding the event:
“This Friday night, Resorts Casino, Tunica, MS. Memphis wrestling legends in action!!!”
-This coming Sunday’s edition of Total Divas will finally feature the wedding of Tyson Kidd and Natalya that has been hyped up all season. Total Divas airs on the E! channel on Sunday night’s at 10:00PM Eastern Time.
-In the latest edition of ESPN Magazine, former WWE broadcaster Jonathan Coachman, who now works for ESPN, is featured in a brief story where he comments on WWE Superstar Darren Young coming out of the closet to TMZ prior to this year’s SummerSlam event. The Coach basically described it as no big deal and talked about how Pat Patterson, who is Vince McMahon’s right-hand-man, has been out for 40 years.
– Sunday’s episode of Total Divas on E! has a social media score of 43,107, according to Trendrr.tv. The show ranked fifth on cable for the night, behind Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter and the Yankees vs. Red Sox MLB game.
– Here’s the latest “After Total Divas” video:
“Alicia Fox and Renee Young breakdown all the action from this weeks “Total Divas” episode 7.”
