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Nikki Bella And John Cena’s ‘Break-Up’ Publicity Stunt Caused ‘Total Bellas’ To Tank In Ratings, Per Report

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 09:22 PST, Jun 4, 2018

It seems as though the publicity stunt surrounding Nikki Bella and John Cena’s “break-up” turned out not to be worth it in the long run because according to the latest report from PopCulture TV, Total Bellas took a bath in the ratings.

When Nikki Bella and John Cena first announced their break-up, it was right ahead of the premiere of Total Bellas, the Total Divas spin-off that focuses on the lives of Nikki, her twin sister Brie (who were professionally known as The Bella Twins), and their respective families which include their mother and brother, as well as Brie’s husband, former SmackDown Live manager Daniel Bryan, and Brie’s daughter with Bryan, Birdie Joe.

So when the show had its season premiere nearly three weeks ago, the ratings were at an all-time high.

But then, something smelled fishy to the more devout fans of the show, especially those who were fans of professional wrestling.

As fans of professional wrestling — and, specifically, the WWE — know, “kayfabe” storylines (sometimes called “works”) are storylines that “present staged performances as genuine or authentic.” That then got savvier fans to thinking that perhaps something was amiss with the duo, especially since they were spotted together and looking happily in love not long after their announcement of their “break-up” was announced.

Despite Nikki Bella’s statement to the contrary, there were no convincing fans that they’d been had, and they made the show pay for it by making the ratings plummet.

In fact, according to the outlet, yesterday’s episode of Total Bellas had its lowest viewership yet, drawing in only 505,000 viewers — which is considered an all-time series low. (In contrast, the show’s Season 3 premiere drew in 517,000 viewers, which was considered an all-time series high.)

Their cause isn’t being helped by their now-obvious publicity stunts, such as when the TMZ cameras caught Nikki Bella with a “mystery man” while filming a new episode of the show. The idea, obviously, was to get people thinking that she’d been dating someone else in an attempt to get over Cena, but it was quickly revealed that the “mystery man” was a 21-year-old bartender and model that the girls had hired for the show. Nikki also said that she only hired the bartender and model to “flirt” with him and “purposefully freak out” the paparazzi.

Cena, too, has remained uncharacteristically quiet about the situation, especially since word of his possible “kayfabe” blow-up became public.

Nikki Bella, to this day, confirms that she’s still single.

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