Total Bellas Recap: Did Brie and Bryan break Cena's house rules?

The family moves in to Nikki and John's home to help her with her recovery.

So, to begin: Nikki Bella’s injured, John Cena’s injured, Daniel Bryan’s retired, Kathy Colace (aka Mama Bella) is engaged to John Laurinaitis himself, and Nikki, as we mentioned, is injured. We mention it twice because the nature of her injury — and the career-threatening surgery she undergoes to repair it — necessitates that The Fearless One’s entire extended family — Brie Bella, Bryan, and brother J.J. — moves into Nikki and Cena’s mansion to act as some combination of moral support and caretaker team in the series premiere of E!’s Total Bellas. Unfortunately, bringing a family of wildly differing personalities under the singular, iron-fisted rule of the Cenation leader leads, predictably, to some conflict …

John Cena goes over the strict rules with his new houseguests.

The problems for the crew start almost instantly, when Bryan bristles at the very vague purpose (“to help,” though no specifics are given) with which he and Brie have been summoned to Nikki’s home. The extended family decides to take it all in stride, however, until Cena lays out the regimented rules of the household, which as Brie points out, are so strict they stop just short of a designated curfew. The family themselves decides they’ll be able to work within Cena’s parameters, but Brie and Bryan’s dog, Josie, provides a bit of a wild card option. More on her later, though. First …

In the most revealing moment of the episode, it is revealed that Bryan, since his retirement, has become somewhat closed off. The Beard explains that losing the profession that has defined him has kicked off a grieving process of sorts for him, which means he basically needs an adjustment period before he feels like himself again. That doesn’t stop the Bellas and their family from gabbing about their comparatively robust relationships, which leaves poor J.J. squirming during one particularly cringe-worthy happy hour.