Let me start this post off by telling you a little bit behind the scenes here at DTRT Wrestling (no we aren’t going to have a reality show). I’m the old guy of our group of writers. I’m not much into drama, I never watch the E! channel for anything. My idea of a reality show is Survivor or Big Brother.
Next, we have my friend and partner Trevor. He’s the age of my two oldest kids. He does an excellent job on our DTRT Family entertainment site (among many other things as well), and this totally sounds like his gig.
So what did we decide? The old man is gonna do the recaps!
That said – here goes.
I’m gonna start before giving the recap that I really enjoyed the show. And no, I’m not just a WWE “mark” and if I hadn’t liked the show I would have said so. I totally enjoyed the backstage footage and the show was less like a Soap Opera than I thought.
The show opens with the Bella Twins, Nikki and Brie – or should I say Nicole and Brianna, because they are not in “character” for this show – talking about how much of a rush it is to be a WWE Diva, The ring entrances, the red carpets, etc are addictive. They basically give an intro of the WWE and what it is to be a Diva.
We also see the Funkadactyls, Ariane (Cameron) and Trinity (Naomi). They explain that the competition for TV time and hierarchy which is those at the top (the face of the company) , mid carders, and veterans who have been there for years. That leads into an introduction of Nattie (Natalya).
She opens by saying she comes from WWE royalty and that her uncle is Bret “The Hit Man Hart” and her father is Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and that her family is synonymous with greatness and that being a Diva is in her blood, mentioning the fact that she has trained for 13 years.
One of the lines of the night was when Nikki said “if I wasn’t a Bella Twin, I would want to be a Bella Twin”.
After these basic introductions, the show goes right in to the 10 days leading up to Wrestlemania. We see the Bellas and the Funkadactyls training for their Wrestlemania match. We find out that Trinity is engaged to Jon (Jimmy Uso) and he helps the Funkadactyls with their training.
Nattie explains that there are 8 or 10 men’s matches at Wrestlemania but only 1 women’s match so the competition to be in that one match is fierce. She discusses how some people feel that because she is a Hart that things get handed to her. She says it’s the total opposite and she has paid her dues all over the world.
A very interesting part of the show is the introduction of Nikki and John Cena being a couple and Brianna and Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) also being a couple. Throughout the show we find that Brie and Bryan are much farther along in their relationship than Nikki and John are.
Of course Cena was previously married and recently divorced, and Nikki finds it difficult to know if he will be able to commit to her, which is also hard because Brie and Bryan are moving towards marriage.
Nattie gets called into the office to talk about the fact that she was not going to be in the Wrestlemania match and she was devastated. To add to the insult, she is asked to chaperon two new girls coming in.
We now get introduced to Eva Maria and JoJo who are arriving from a WWE Development area and they are “The Newbies”. We now start to see some serious issues with the established Divas feeling threatened by Eva Marie.
Eva Marie is told that she needs to dye her hair blond. She goes to have her hair dyed and she decides on her own that she isn’t going to do blond, and ends up with very bright red hair, much to the surprise of Talent Relations. She is promptly told that even though the red works that in the future she is to do what she’s told and that there are reasons why they are told to do things.
There is also a problem with Cameron’s boyfriend getting upset backstage at the way Brodus Clay talks to her. This leads to tension between the Funkadactyls.
One thing that is obvious throughout the show is how that Nattie seems to be used for the garbage jobs, while the others are given opportunities that Nattie would like to have.
The reality part of the show sets in when the mixed tag match with Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls vs Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow and the Bella Twins get pulled at the very last second. The were dressed and ready to go down the ramp when John Cena’s music hits and they realize that their match was cancelled because the previous match took too long.
Not only were the participants in the match hurt by this, but all the Divas feel the pain and “slight”. The disappointment is amazing and you truly feel for them all. You then see how they pull together and that while there is normal “family” issues like jealousy, pettiness, and competition with each other they really are a pretty close group.
There’s then a preview of Episode 2 (sorry, I’m not sharing that part).
Again, overall a good start to the season and my thinking is that the breakout Diva from this will be Eva Marie, that is if she decides to toe the line and do as she’s told (or not – CM Punk comes to mind there).
Ed Boston
Co-Founder; DTRT Wrestling News
Wrestling News Blog 