Total Divas Cast Shake-up: Rousey & Deville In, Bellas, Paige, Rusev & Lana Out

The Total Divas cast will be changing for the upcoming season 9, which is currently shooting.

New cast members will be Ronda Rousey and Sonya Deville, while the Bella Twins, Rusev and Lana, and Paige won’t be returning.

That means the cast will be Ronda Rousey, Sonya Deville, Carmella (returning), Natalya, Nia Jax and Naomi.

Ronda Rousey

Total Divas cameras have been recording at Ronda Rousey’s farm for the last few weeks, according to Squared Circle Sirens.

Sonya Deville

Sonya Deville revealed that she’ll be on the cast in an interview for Afterbuzz TV, saying:

Part of being a WWE Superstar to me is showing the fans what happens outside of the ring. Who I am in the ring, and in my personal life, is important to defining my character. I’m tough for a reason. I’ve been through things and I am the person I am for a lot of reasons.

On that topic, I’ll be on Season 9 of ‘Total Divas,’ which is something I’m super excited about.

Bella Twins

The Bella Twins will not be part of the cast on the upcoming season because they want to focus on Total Bellas, according to Pro Wrestling Sheet.

They reportedly made the decision to step away for now at the end of last season.

Nikki Bella will still be an executive producer for the show.

Paige

No word on why exactly Paige is out, but Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that she won’t be part of the cast.

Rusev and Lana

Rusev and Lana not being on the cast is a pretty brutal story. They revealed on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast that E! executives “took a poll” and claimed that Rusev and Lana were “strongly disliked by the demographic.”

Here’s what Lana said (transcript via Pro Wrestling Sheet):

“Kevin Dunn told me that E! Executives took a poll and that we are strongly disliked by the demographic. They do not like us and that I’m hated, we’re hated, and that the E! Executives thought that our stories were very slapstick, and they were a strong no.

“I was shocked. I just sat there. It was like my tryout for WWE all over again. I’ve gone through a lot of different range of emotions. I’ll cry, but when I get hurt, I get really angry. That’s how I deal with hurt, I get really angry. Like, who is this new E! Executive?

“It’s just that I’m not liked and one part of me is like – and I said that – Mark Carrano and Kevin Dunn was there and I said, ‘Maybe, I’m just not a likable person.’ I know I’m a good person, but maybe I have a boring personality because I’m just not liked.

“There’s so many things in edit that I was royally screwed over. I understand that when you sign up for reality TV, you have to be ready to be not perfect and I was OK with that.”

Rusev then added, “I’ll make my own show. Once I get rejected from somewhere or whatnot, I’m moving on.”

Listen below at about the 38 minute mark.