Who's the Boss?

Who's The Boss? is the 3rd episode of Total Bellas. It aired on October 19, 2016.

Summary
Nicole is determined to help Bryan figure out his next steps after retirement and JJ feels under-appreciated and considers quitting his job at Kathy's company to pursue a career in wrestling.

Recap
Everyone is feeling unfulfilled on this week’s Total Bellas, starting with brother J.J. The male contingent of the Bella brood is in the midst of a passive-aggressive fight with his mother, whom he works for as part of Kathy’s company JBN (that’s J.J., Brianna and Nicole). Though J.J. holds a fairly lofty position in the company, he finds he’s being relegated to Kathy’s gofer and is increasingly frustrated with the career path (or lack thereof) he finds himself on.

A trip to the WWE Performance Center with Nikki Bella and Daniel Bryan, however, leaves J.J. starry-eyed with dreams of becoming a WWE Superstar, but unfortunately, his request that John Cena put a word in with him at the PC goes nowhere, awkwardly. John Laurinaitis is a bit gentler in letting J.J. down, but a family brunch enlightens Kathy to the idea that she should treat J.J. more as her equal if she wants him to stick around. So, she gives him 20 percent of the company.

What started as a general post-retirement adjustment period for Bryan has begun to spiral into full-blown depression, which Brie Bella reveals he’s prone to two-day bouts of as it is. Being apart from Brie, who’s still full-time with WWE, isn’t helping, and the trip with Nikki to the Performance Center, initially designed to lift his spirits, ends up doing the opposite. Bryan has an animated discussion with Sami Zayn about the style he was planning to adopt to wrestle Brock Lesnar, only to come down after he remembers he can’t compete anymore.

For what it’s worth, everyone in the family seems supportive of Bryan taking up a trainer’s role at WWE NXT, but that doesn’t seem to be Bryan’s style. By the episode’s end, even a swim with the manatees can’t cheer up D-Bry, and Brie stops juuuust short of asking him to go to therapy.