411’s WWE Rivals Episode Nine Report: Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella

-Season Finale for this show and we close with Stephanie vs. Brie. I assume this will also include the HHH/Daniel Bryan story as well. Let’s get to it!

-The teaser focuses on Steph/Brie obviously, but it has HHH and Bryan as talking heads as well.

-Show opening!

– As a reminder Freddie Prinze Jr hosts a roundtable during this show and we cut back to them between the talking heads and videos from time to time. This week at the table with Freddie: JBL, Tamina, Kofi Kingston, and Kevin Nash.

-Kofi loved this rivalry because he came up with Brie and Nicole. He got to see their work ethic first hand. We see their debut on SmackDown in 2008. Kofi says that Brie got to show her aggressive side in this feud.

-Tamina notes that Steph is her father’s daughter and Nash agrees. Steph says she never thought she would be a character on the show. HHH puts her over as one the most natural emotional character they have ever had and notes it’s in her genes. He talks about she came in as a shy and innocent character and didn’t think she could be off being a villain. He admits he was wrong.

-Brie brings up The Attitude Era and her mom told her she wasn’t allowed to watch it. She then continues that her and Nicole worked at Hooters and once a month they would show WWE PPVs. She would stand there and watch as she worked and it was different from what she remembered in The Attitude Era as the girls were having matches and kicking ass. The Diva Search was born in 2006 and we see Nikki and Brie in their auditions. They didn’t win, but were given Developmental Deals in FCW. They discuss Twin Magic and how they leaned into it which was unique for WWE.

-Back to Steph as she married HHH and had 3 kids. She wasn’t on TV, but was at shows working while juggling being a mom. Brie says she was intimidated by anyone in an office position. She was nervous meeting Stephanie for the first time as she spoke with big words and was educated. Brie was 24 and a college drop-out that was into sports.

-Total Divas: I love the show! Yes, we know it’s booked much like wrestling we are seeing, but I found it enjoyable. Back at the table JBL notes they knocked it out of the park on the show and it let people see the women even if they weren’t making WWE TV.

-Brie tells the story of show she fell for Daniel Bryan. She notes that they didn’t like each other at first, but she realized she was developing a crush on him and that shocked Nicole. She puts over Bryan as a badass and one of the best wrestlers in the world.

-The Yes Movement: They show how the Yes Chant took over the sports world including outside WWE. In 2013 HHH (Paul as called by Steph which is weird to hear) and Steph return to WWE TV as foils to Daniel Bryan.

-Commercials!

-Back to the table as Freddy mentions Steph was sweet and innocent when she debuted and then became the female Vince McMahon (except, she doesn’t take her ass beatings in the end as much as Vince always did). We see Daniel getting handcuffed and left to get his ass beat by HHH as they built towards WrestleMania XXX. Roberts mentions it was the audience in a real way telling the WWE they wanted Bryan as the top star.

-WrestleMania XXX: Daniel Bryan pins HHH and then taps out Batista to win the WWE World Championship.

-A few days later, Bryan and Brie get married in Arizona and we see some footage. Bryan looks embarrassed the party did the Yes chant. They went to Hawaii for their honeymoon and that’s where they realized Bryan’s arm was going numb and something was wrong. He had surgery and it wasn’t getting better, so the heat of the story was moved to Steph vs. Brie. She knew it was a huge opportunity with a lot of pressure and wanted to do it for Bryan.

-Bryan gets written off TV after being attacked by Kane. Bryan has to forfeit the WWE World Championship as Steph has to do what’s best for business. She notes the catchphrase is great because it can be complete bullshit. The phrase was offensive because of the way they used it to talk down to wrestlers and the crowd. Steph basically tells Daniel he has to forfeit the title or Brie will be fired.

-Commercials! This Winter this show plus Bio and Most Wanted Treasures all return with new episodes. Sweet!

-Payback 2013: Brie says the day was crazy. Bryan tried to calm her down and told her to just go with what was happening. Steph talks down to both as only she can. HHH talks about blurring the lines between reality and fiction. Bryan not calling Steph a bitch, but letting Brie do it is a nice touch. Brie stands up and says she quits and slaps Steph in the face. Roberts notes it had been 10 years since Steph was involved in anything physical. The crowd ate all this up with a spoon.

-The story continues as Steph takes everything out on Nikki Bella since she is the one person still employed. We got things like Nikki wrestling with one arm tied behind her back or facing 4 women at once. Brie is in the front row for the 4 on 1 match and that brings Stephanie to the ring. She has security eject Brie but she gets to call Steph a bitch again. This time Steph gets to slap the taste out of Brie’s mouth. Back the table they talk about Steph slapping people over the years and how they are is no faking it with her. HHH laughs as she says she has long arms and it is like a buggy whip. JBL: “There is no psychology to a slap. It became a tough guy thing where you man up and took it.”

-The story continues that Steph gets arrested for slapping Brie, who was a paying customer. Looking back this stuff was actually great and again, the fans erupted when Steph was arrested.

-Commercials!

-Bryan says you had to put it in perspective of where women were at the time. Kofi says that if a show went long, it was always the women that had their match cut. They throw back to Mania XXIX with The Bellas match being cut because a match ran long. Tamina talks about going to TV and being told they have 5-7 minutes and they get in the ring and the ref tells them they have 30 seconds now. That is awful!

-Steph asks Brie to drop all charges and she agrees if she gets her job back. She also wants a match at SummerSlam against Stephanie. Again, the crowd was way into this story. Steph fake cries and then decks Brie off the apron before telling her she would make Brie her bitch. Brie fires back and they have to be separated.

-RAW Aug 4: Contract Signing: The roundtable talks about the dynamic of a contract signing. Steph says she could feel the crowd hating her because of how much they cared about Brie. Steph decks Nikki while HHH uses the desk to corner Brie and make her watch Steph hit Nikki with a pedigree.

-Commercials!

-HHH says it was inspiring to see how hard Steph worked for the show. She didn’t want to be put in a position where she couldn’t deliver. They show us video of her work-out routine. Brie had more than just WWE fans watching as she had media to do as well because of the success of Total Divas/Bellas.

-Freddie talks about how hyped the match was and how this was a different position for women up to this point. Daniel puts over how big the match was and it was the first major woman’s match in years in WWE. Daniel flew in for the match as he told Brie there was no way he wasn’t going to be there for her. Tamina says all the women wanted them to knock it out of the park as they knew it may lead to more chances for the division.

-SummerSlam: Kofi says both women had a lot of weight on their shoulders. Steph notes she was nervous as it had been 10 years since her last match and she wasn’t some kind of great wrestler to begin with. Brie remembers Ronda Rousey and all the Horsewomen (including Shayna) were in the front row and they were cheering for Steph.

-Nattie says the match wasn’t above moves and was about storytelling. It was more than just doing pretty moves. It was Steph is bad and Brie is good and let them go. Steph says her three little girls were ringside and she was proud they got to see her wrestle. The crowd starts a “you still got it” chant which caught Steph off guard. HHH gets involved and eats a baseball slide from Brie and leads the crowd in a Yes chant. She says it made her feel like one of the boys because of the reaction she was getting. Then the twist as Nikki turns on her sister!

-Commercials!

-Stephanie notes that most of the time she doesn’t get to leave standing, but her she did because she had Nikki in her pocket. Nikki mentions she was so fired up and wanted to make it look good so she decked Brie. She felt bad and talks about how a great heel turn can feel better than sex. Steph hits a pedigree and gets the win to piss off the crowd. Brie loved seeing Steph’s daughters in the front row and the look they had on their face. She just wanted to have a similar moment when she would have kids.

-Brie says that Vince told them after the match that they had the match of the night. All the women in the company hugged them and were proud of what they accomplished. Tamina credits that match helping them get to where they are today.

-Roberts notes this proved that women could get storylines that captured the attention of everyone. JBL says everything is a brick that builds a foundation and this a cornerstone. Kofi wonders if this match doesn’t work as well, does the Evolution happen. He notes some of the women on the roster are better than the men.

-We jump ahead to the first Woman’s Royal Rumble. Steph tells us she is proud of The Bellas and what they have accomplished. Nikki eliminates Brie to continue that story.

-Brie talks about having children and she has learned that she has become a role model to young girls. Her whole life is this world and she couldn’t imagine a different world.

-Steph says her whole life is surreal and she grew up with Andre The Giant as her best friend. She has her three girls and is blessed and can’t wait to see what happens next.

-This was better than I thought coming in. It’s not he first rivalry you think of when it comes to women in WWE, but it was better than I remembered. As this show rolled on I realized I did remember a lot from this feud as they did suck in the crowd along the way. Thanks for reading and thanks for following along with me for Season 1 of this show.