I’m not going to waste time convincing you Total Divas is good TV, it just is. Wrapping after a nine-season run in 2019, the reality show broadcast the lives of the WWE women’s roster, in the process giving us immortal lines such as: “My hair is real, honey. Yours is fucking mullet.” Nowhere else could you find entertainment gold like John Cena laying out his bizarre house rules (which included handing his then girlfriend Nikki Bella a very romantic 75-page contract to sign before she moved in) and TJ Wilson dodging his lingerie-clad wife so he could watch Daniel Bryan wrestle on the telly, which post retirement I imagine nobody would begrudge.
It was one of those shows where there was really something for everyone, just a non-stop stream of catfights and confessionals, the kind that gave rise to articles that listed THE MOST DRAMATIC MOMENTS ON TOTAL DIVAS in massive detail. The viewing equivalent of white bread, it offered no profound mental benefits beyond a few chuckles when Natalya would do something like drag Summer Rae out of a car – a moment which has appeared on numerous rankings of the show’s best moments, obviously.
It also goes without saying that Total Divas was as industrially manufactured as you’d expect a WWE focused show to be, but it was punctuated by just enough genuine snippets of the wrestlers’ inner lives that it felt different to their regular onscreen jaunts. While it was never quite real enough to be intimate, it did manage to peel back a veneer of some sorts, and give viewers a little glimpse at the people behind the personas. To its credit, the show’s most schlocky moments were counterbalanced by earnest revelations, which ranged from trepidation about careers, recovery from injuries, discussions about eating disorders, motherhood and more.
And, in the same way millions of people became deeply invested in the lives of housewives and Kardashians, the show’s particular blend of manufactured reality not only positioned the wrestlers involved as mainstream celebrities worthy of significant airtime, but had the double whammy effect of introducing non wrestling fans, largely women, to WWE. So much so, Stephanie McMahon claimed their female audience was significantly boosted by the advent of Total Divas and its subsequent spin-off, Total Bellas.
“Women love action, but I think they also really love the stories,” she told SportsPro Insider Series in 2020. “They love the characters, they love the drama. Women need a reason to watch, more so than men I think, so the more you can get your female audience engaged in the character and in the story, then they care.” But historically that’s also worked against the show, and was most memorably ridiculed on WWE’s own. AJ Lee’s scorching assessment of the women involved – “A bunch of cheap, interchangeable, expandable, useless women [… ] who have turned to reality television ’cause they just weren’t gifted enough to be actresses and they just weren’t talented enough to be champion” – seemed to capture the general vibes.
A bit of a bizarre own goal, because its inclusion in the pipebomb seemed to prove, at the very least, that the show had massive pop cultural relevance. One of the most impactful women’s promos of that era, maybe of all time, and it was framed around a show everyone insisted was detrimental to WWE’s image, all because it catered to the wrong demographic. As Nikki put it in retrospect: “We could have had the industry behind us, but instead they used it to turn it against us”.
As with anything Divas adjacent, most of the criticism was mired in misogyny. We see constant debates on how companies can bring in “casuals”, and this was a show that did that so effectively fans are still talking about it, only it’s not considered a remote success because it was geared towards women. It’s also funny that the idea of “manufactured reality” and scripted TV is used to make it sound like trivial and childish – by the same people who will write lengthy missives on Twitter about scripted promos being “cinema”.
Thankfully, enough time has passed now that people are starting to get nostalgic. In broader culture, the y2K renaissance has taken staples of the early aughts and repopularised them across fashion and TV. Within wrestling, this has seemingly manifested in a yearning not only for a Total Divas return, but a few hallmarks of the Divas Era drama. Liv’s entire championship reign seemed to revolve around stealing someone’s boyfriend. AEW is routinely promoting ‘Hot Girl Graps’ and having Mercedes do drinks receptions toasting her own brilliance.
I’d also argue in light of the horrendous Vince McMachon lawsuit it’s somewhat reactionary. His grubby influence over Divas storylines gave us some of the grimmest viewing of that time, most of which were laid in the horrendous documentary that followed, which detailed plans including a sleezy incest storyline he pitched for his own daughter. But since his exit, there’s a distinct sense that in WWE and beyond, it’s safer to indulge in the hyper-feminine without feeling oversexualised.
Chelsea Green, who credits Divas like Nikki, Kelly Kelly, and Alicia Fox for her own Valley-Girl-esque presentation, recently touched on this in an interview with The Sports Agent podcast. “In this new era,” she explained, “I know that I come to work, I love my job, I feel safe, I feel supported. Triple H makes women specifically feel absolutely equal to men. And that’s why I love to come to work.”
She later doubled down on Divas nostalgia in a chat with Cultaholic, saying there was no “negative connotation” to the term. “I think they are strong women with sex appeal and, if I’m being honest, that’s what I aspire to be. So I am totally okay being called a Diva, however I do understand why we’ve transitioned.” Even in this transitory post Vince period, sex appeal is leveraged differently, still calling back to the Divas era but done with more intention. When Rhea calls herself “Mami” for instance, it feels more like a display of dominance than anything, and Liv’s entire “Daddy Dom” bit lands more slapstick than sexy, which works for her character.
Anyone still in denial about the impact of Total Divas should revisit Raw’s Netflix debut. WWE wheeled out some big names: The Rock walked around at an absolutely glacial pace and showed everyone his goosebumps, Hogan got booed to oblivion, and somewhere in between big appearances from the likes of Cena and Taker, Nikki did her signature twirl from ringside.
A lot of people were surprised that the moment went on to become WWE’s most viewed and liked Twitter post from the night, racking up over 4 million views. Everyone except Total Divas fans, whose nostalgia-fuelled love of the Divas era has them routinely sharing clips of the show years later, and calling Nikki “Mother” with such an enthusiasm, her actual return seems a distinct possibility. If and when she does, I guarantee fans of the show will feel vindicated.
