Brie Bella is No Daniel Bryan – Why Her Storyline is Bad For The Divas Division

Introduction: With the most recent edition of WWE’s Monday Night RAW in the books, it has become readily apparent that the WWE has gone all-in on the storyline of the Bella Twins break-up. To me, it seems as though the thought process behind this is to make Brie Bella a female version of her husband, but that logic is flawed, and here is my examination on why I feel that way, as well as why I believe this storyline is bad for the Divas division as a whole.

A Brie Bella title win is just not going to have the same impact.

His wife, on the other hand, has been featured prominently on WWE programming since 2008. She did leave the company alongside her sister for nearly a year in hopes of becoming a reality television star, but after making little headway on that front, both twins returned to the WWE to headline their own reality show, Total Divas. Brie is also a model who has never had to show too great an interest in the actual business of professional wrestling to achieve her position with the company, which makes her significantly less sympathetic a figure than Daniel Bryan. Perhaps even more damning, the Bellas have spent the majority of their on-camera time in the WWE playing “mean girl” heels who run down both their friends and foes while looking to latch onto any man or woman who would improve their position in company. None of that would actually matter if Brie were even remotely competent as an actress, but the simple fact is that she is not. On a show not exactly known for its Emmy-worthy performances, both Bella sisters consistently stand out as being particularly cringe-worthy, and, as a result, it is extremely difficult to get an audience emotionally invested in their storylines, much less to buy either of them as sympathetic faces. To the creative team’s credit, at least they chose the right Bella sister to turn heel, as Nikki has consistently come across as the more shallow, more vacuous of the two.

On Total Divas, Nikki comes across as completely superficial and self-possessed, while Brie actually seems to have a good heart and cares about people other than herself. It is also readily apparent that she loves her husband, while Nikki comes across as a gold-digger (whether those are her true motivations or not, I cannot say, but that is just how she appears on that particular scripted “reality” show). Unfortunately, none of that translates to Brie’s performance on RAW, and so when Nikki introduces “Growing Up Bella” video packages into the proceedings, it seems less like the obviously outlandish claims the Authority levelled at her husband and more like actual, believable things a bad sister would do. In this instance, that is the worst possible development for this storyline, and they need to ensure going forward that Nikki is very clearly the heel, in some way other than simply her association with Stephanie McMahon.

And speaking of the Billionaire Princess/Principle Owner of the WWE, I will be the first to admit that any emotional investment that fans do have in this angle is likely largely because of her efforts. She’s been a truly sublime heel since Summerslam last year, when she and her husband became the principal antagonists in the Daniel Bryan saga. That has translated perfectly to this angle, where she manipulated Nikki Bella into turning her back on her sister to become Stephanie’s Plan B and ensure that she did not lose her match with Brie Bella at Summerslam. Again, the story itself is bulletproof, and, at least in Stephanie’s case, the execution has been equally perfect. It is only when Stephanie comes into contact with the rest of the Divas division that I have concerns about her performance, as she switches from 2014 past-his-prime but still overly proud Triple H to 2010 best, coolest, smartest, coolest, toughest, coolest guy in the room Triple H (remember him – the guy who ruined the Summer of Punk?). Stephanie has consistently and systematically done everything in her power to undermine AJ Lee, whether it was during Lee’s record-breaking reign as Divas champion or by running her down as a potential number one contender on Monday night. More than that, Stephanie dominates every segment that she is in, and not in the way that her father did, where his bravado was clearly either just a response to knowing that he was in over his head or the posturings of a delusional billionaire.

Please stop being the female version of THAT Triple H, Stephanie.

And if Stephanie had simply run down AJ Lee to make the case for her sycophant Nikki Bella to be the number one contender to Paige’s title, that would be no worse than Triple H doing the same for Batista leading up to the Wrestlemania XXX title match. Unfortunately, in the process of doing that, she made both the Divas champion Paige and her rightful number one contender look like they didn’t belong in the same ring with Stephanie. AJ raises the valid point that as the former Divas champion, she should rightfully be the number one contender, but Stephanie just shuts her down. And again, it was not in an over-the-top manner that clearly demonstrated Stephanie’s evil doings in this situation, it came across as more “be glad I even let you in my ring”. Paige basically became a prop, conveniently moving behind Nikki so that when Brie slapped her sister, it would knock her back into Paige. She loses her Divas title and AJ skips around the ring with it before surrendering it to Stephanie. So there goes several months’ worth of the main storyline in the Divas division, seemingly sacrificed at the altar of Total Divas.

But that’s been the Chicken Little cry of Total Divas detractors for months now, hasn’t it? I can remember multiple times in the past year people assumed that AJ’s lengthy reign would end at the hands of whichever TD cast member she happened to be facing, and any time Nikki picked up more than a pair of wins in a row, the internet wrestling community sounded the panic alarm and prepared for the worst. Logic dictates that this storyline will play out similar to the Daniel Bryan one, with Bryan’s female avatar dispatching the Authority’s hand-picked title challenger in a cathartic title win. Again, though, this isn’t the Daniel Bryan storyline, and the wild card in this scenario is the fourth woman, who just so happens to be the original conqueror of the Total Divas, AJ Lee.

The writing is on the wall after Monday’s segment – the Divas Championship is going to be defended in a Fatal Four-Way match, if not at Night of Champions or Hell in a Cell, then surely at Survivor Series. And while Bryan’s title win at the Wrestlemania was the culmination of more than eight months’ worth of storytelling, a similar win for his wife would not have nearly the same impact, either on the Divas division or on the WWE fanbase. At this point, I am still willing to give the WWE creative team the benefit of the doubt in realizing this fact and planning accordingly. After all, they only put the belt on Bryan because CM Punk walked out on the company and the fans very vocally crapped all over their decision to push a returning Batista. Brie Bella has no such groundswell of popular support, and AJ has yet to follow her husband’s example, so I believe that she’s going to play enough of a factor in the eventual four-way Divas championship match that either she or Paige walks out of said match with the title. And then the Bellas can blow off their feud at Royal Rumble without the Divas title being on the line. I can only hope that Stephanie doesn’t continue to bury the entire division for the next four months while we get there, though.

Save us, AJ Lee.

Wyatt Beougher is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling who has been writing for 411 for over three years and currently hosts MMA Fact or Fiction and reviews Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.