As any ‘Total Divas’ episode recap written by Burnsy will explain, we here at With Spandex have conflicting opinions about ‘Total Divas.’ It is what it is, and only becomes an obstacle when it overpowers what is otherwise a blossoming women’s division on WWE TV. They’ve sorta quarantined the classic Divas on the show and opened up the formal Divas division for performers like Paige and AJ Lee. The lines keep getting blurred, though, as the great-on-NXT Summer Rae joined the cast in season 2, and recently Nikki Bella’s shown flashes of greatness competing for the Divas Championship. So what’s the deal? Why haven’t they just crammed everything together?
We may finally have our answer, per the Observer.
“Right now, Vince McMahon has had and still has a rule that nobody from Total Divas can get the Divas title. People have said that privately and Brie Bella let it slip during an interview, and it’s been confirmed to us that as of right now, that’s the rule.
It’s one of those rules that can change tomorrow, and in fact, the person who told us the rule wondered if Vince would at the last minute change his mind and put the belt on Nikki since there is so much focus on Nikki vs. Brie. But instead of the belt, from TV, it looks like they are going with a feud over who has the rights to the Bella last name.”
That explains all the Paige/AJ title switches and Naomi and Natalya never getting the job done, I guess. “Vince McMahon Hates Total Divas” is purposely contentious, but I’d love to get more information. Is he worried about the timelines matching up? Total Divas is always several months behind live WWE TV, but if something happens on Sunday, they’ll play it up like it’s a fresh issue on the next night’s show. Natalya and Summer Rae got into a fight on Monday because of Sunday’s episode, for example. Is there something more? Is Vince McMahon secretly a women’s wrestling purist? Is that why the Jumping Bomb Angels showed up in the 80s, or why Bull Nakano and Aja Kong showed up in the 90s? Did women’s wrestling become “Divas” wrestling when Vince became an on-screen character and delegated control? I can write fan-fiction about this, right?
Regardless, rest easy the next time you think AJ’s going to lose the title to Cameron because she’s got a TV gig, and enjoy the Bella Twins re-doing old Harlem Heat gags.
