Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella who is also a former WWE Divas champion recently talked about her time from the Total Divas and looked back at receiving a lot of backstage heat for participating in the mentioned reality show.
Brie Bella and her sister Nikki Bella started working for WWE back in 2007 and they worked on Florida Championship Wrestling which was the development territory of WWE back in the time. In 2008, they made their main roster debut. At first, Brie started working alone, and after a number of months Nikki was also revealed to be working with her as her twin sister.
Brie Bella Recalls Receiving Backstage Heat After Being In Total Divas
They worked as a team till 2012 in WWE and they had been really loved by the WWE Universe. In 2012 released from WWE only to be brought back in 2013. During this one year time they worked on the independent circuit and they appeared on multiple independent circuit promotions.
In 2014, these two sisters even feuded each other after the SummerSlam paper view event and the feud was ultimately won by Nikki Bella. WWE had really big plans from this feud but it did not go on pretty long. Nikki Bella turned out to be the Breakout star of this feud. They were very famous on reality shows like Total Divas and Total Bellas as well. In 2020, they were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame together.
Brie Bella who is also a former WWE Divas champion recently spoke on The Bellas Podcast where she talked about her time from the Total Divas and looked back at receiving a lot of backstage heat for participating in the mentioned reality show. She said;
“I’m so grateful for the first season cast because it was really scary. I’ll never forget when we were almost done filming the first season, and Russ [Executive Producer Russell Jay] was like, ‘I really wish this pilot goes through.’ I was like, ‘Pilot? What do you mean?’ He told me the show was not sure to be picked up, and I was like, ‘Wait, I’m so confused. Please don’t tell me we got all this heat backstage for no reason.’
“The heat was for real. I’ll never forget when it aired, and we were pretty much neck-to-neck [in the ratings] with the Kardashians, we became this instant hit, and I was so grateful for all of you [original cast members] for putting your lives out there, for dealing with the backstage drama of everyone hating on all of us for filming.
“Also, when it aired, we knew we were going to be everyone’s punching bag — with people either loving or hating it. Through the whole drama, we all had smiles on our faces, and kept filming, making amazing television — breaking barriers for women’s wrestling, globally, and opening doors for women in wrestling.
“And all that for not a lot of money. I always tell everyone that I’m so grateful for all the women of Total Divas because we put up with so much, and still made amazing TV.”
H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.