Throughout her WWE career, Nikki Bella continued to pave the way for her successors for an era when they don’t have to beg for TV time, anymore. Be it in or outside the ring, she holds tons of accolades, such as holding the record of being the longest-reigning WWE Divas Champion. These accomplishments certainly indicate her hard work, and dedication, to the professional wrestling circuit.
For all the right reasons, Nikki Bella remains one of the most celebrated female wrestlers in the industry despite the fact that her career came to a sudden closure due to a career-threatening neck injury. But before going into the permanent hiatus, she and Brie Bella played a crucial role in bringing more audience to the WWE programming.
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WWE introduced Total Divas almost a decade ago
Back in 2013, WWE introduced the reality show Total Divas and then the spin-off series, Total Bellas, which allowed the fans to witness The Bella Twins’ lives up close and personal. This was the first-ever mainstream TV show to be produced by the WWE which brought more eyes to the WWE product.
Despite this huge contribution, The Bella Twins still ended up receiving a significant amount of criticism from the fans. While a portion of the fans still loved Brie and Nikki Bella for the TV stint and voted them to become the WWE Diva of the Year in 2013, eve. WWE officials didn’t like the choice. The two WWE Hall of Famers was eventually yelled for achieving that accolade.
WWE actually wanted to control every aspect of its television product, especially with Vince McMahon in charge. Female superstars weren’t primarily given the focus just because the officials didn’t want it to happen. With the introduction of Total Divas, things started to go in a different direction.
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Nikki Bella talked about the harsh backstage reality from WWE Total Divas days
Nikki Bella was a recent guest on The Sessions with Renee Paquette as she discussed her time in the WWE and on Total Divas. After getting asked about the change of perception toward The Bellas on television following the launch of Total Divas, the elder Bella pointed out how Vince didn’t like the way he lost control of his product.
“‘The Bella Twins are getting yelled at for being successful.’ It wasn’t what they wanted. They were the storytellers. They push who they want the crowd to be behind, just perception is reality. That is WWE to a tee. Even though the fans think they own it, no, they laugh in the back, ‘we own you’ at the end of the day,” Nikki Bella continued.
“I truly believe Total Divas was the first thing they couldn’t control. They couldn’t control the success. They couldn’t control mainstream. There was no control. That was hard on one side, because they lost that. Then, I think, everyone backstage thought we were going to fail. I don’t like to use the word envy or jealousy, but I think there was a bit.”
Total Divas indeed put an entirely different spotlight on the then WWE Divas Division that was unthinkable back then and Vince McMahon wasn’t prepared to embrace it. Nikki Bella also mentioned in the conversation that the E Network show almost defeated The Kardashians in its first season. All the hate and negativity around the show, not only lasted for nine seasons but also produced spin-off series like Total Bellas or Miz and Mrs.
