The spirit of Total Divas lives on.
While it is no longer on the air, the impact of Total Divas remains strong, with WWE stars such as Maxxine Dupri citing it as an inspiration behind her professional wrestling pursuit. In the case of WWE SmackDown star Kiana James, the show opened her eyes back up to wrestling after years away from it.
“I was exposed to wrestling because my brothers watched. But I grew up a gymnast, so I was like all in on gymnastics,” James told Branson Quirke and CJ Perry of TMZ’s Inside The Ring when asked about her wrestling journey. “Then I was reintroduced. My collegiate dance and cheer coach at the time was obsessed with Total Divas, so she got me hooked on that.
“Then I started gravitating towards it, I’m like the wrestling part’s really cool,” she continued. “Then I started watching and I was like ‘I feel like I could do this. This is awesome.’ It kind of blends the performance aspect, then the acrobatics and the athleticism and the glitz and glam of performing and then the business side too. So it kind of meshed all my worlds and I just fell in love with it.”
Across its six-year run on E!, Total Divas released nine seasons. Amongst the main cast were WWE Hall of Famers Nikki and Brie Bella, Natalya, Naomi, and CJ Perry (formerly Lana in WWE) herself.
In the present day, Kiana James is set to compete in the Women’s Elimination Chamber match, where the winner will earn the right to challenge for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 42. Should James win, it will mark her first world title shot on WWE’s main roster.
