The Real Nicole

The Real Nicole is the 103rd episode of WWE Total Divas and the 2nd in Season 8.

Summary
Lana creates a stir with WWE as she attempts to gain some paparazzi in L.A. buzz for her upcoming film; Jon tries to change Trinity's bad eating habits, and Nattie finds out she's in the main event on Raw, while trying to squash the ridicule from her wardrobe malfunction at WrestleMania.

Recap
For many of the Total Divas, their careers come down to seizing the moment and making the most of opportunities. But what happens when the opportunities are drying up? This week’s episode focuses on a trio of Superstars who have seemingly stalled, for one reason or another, and find themselves in need of a reset.

It’s harder than it sounds. If nothing else, eight seasons of this show have made it clear that these women are completely set in their ways — Natalya overthinks everything, and Naomi can’t resist dipping her hands into a literal cookie jar every now and then — and they have a hard time accepting that a key part of their personality might be what’s holding them back. The solutions, like the personalities, vary. For some, like Naomi, her sweet tooth is ultimately accepted as a feature rather than a bug: Despite Jimmy Uso’s adamant attempts to get her to watch what she eats (he’s lost 50 pounds on a health kick and is looking to spread the gospel), she sits her husband down and tells him she’s never going to not treat herself when she feels like it.

For Natalya, another incident sends her down a rabbit hole of personal and professional insecurity, and once again, she has to pull herself together in time to deliver when her number is called to pair with Ronda Rousey in the main event of Raw. Even for someone who’s often her own worst enemy (or at least toughest critic), she knows when it’s time to get her head in the game, and she even instills some confidence in Rousey as her WWE career gets rolling.

The main thread throughout the episode is Lana, who gets her first real spotlight of the season as she arranges a series of publicity stunts to create buzz for “Other Versions of You,” the parallel-universe romantic comedy she and her brother produced and are trying to sell. She’s hoping that whatever headlines she can generate by tipping off TMZ photographers will also force WWE to give her more TV time, but her single-minded, aggressive pursuit of this goal leads her to once again ask for forgiveness rather than permission. In this case, she and Rusev re-stage the famous “From Here to Eternity” beach kiss in skivvies that make them look completely nude. This obviously catches the eye of WWE, who remind Lana to run these kinds of things by them before she does it and not after.

It’s about their third or fourth go-round at this conversation, of course. But if there’s one thing that’s become clear on Total Divas, it’s that these women won’t take no for an answer — even if the person initially turning them down is themselves. What we’re saying is, we’re really looking forward to the “Flashdance” recreation sometime around Season 15.

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