Total Divas: Rocky Road to SummerSlam

Tensions rise among friends when Nia Jax accuses Alexa Bliss of making excuses about her lack of wedding planning with NXT Superstar Buddy Murphy.

As E!’s Total Divas converge on New York City for a SummerSlam-centric two-parter, we get our first glimpse at Alexa Bliss’ relationship with NXT Superstar Buddy Murphy, who she’s been engaged to for two years with no ceremony in sight. That’s a result of their wildly differing schedules, though given that he hasn’t been moved to Raw and is dealing with an injury, they’re both realistic about the possibility of him getting released.

Alexa is stressing out over the various ways in which their relationship could suffer if that does happen, and Nia Jax bluntly suggests that Alexa is dragging her feet and reaching for excuses not to marry Murphy. This doesn’t go over well, and when Alexa bails on a shopping trip for Maryse’s upcoming party, Nia gets the hint and she apologizes for not pulling her punches ever so slightly. Alexa accepts, and comes to realize she’s lucky that Nia cares.

The Bella Twins and Nia Jax discuss their New York City adventures during SummerSlam Week.

Speaking of Nia, the rest of the Total Divas decide to give her the single woman’s experience of New York City, including a shopping trip with the Bellas and a speed-dating event with a bunch of firefighters that looks like it’s about to be a bust but ends up paying dividends when she pulls a number at the end of the night. Maryse, who organized the whole thing, realizes this is the perfect opportunity to organize her follow-up to last year’s prom: a “Sex and the City” theme party. More on that on Part 2 …

After another argument with Lana, Natalya opens up to Nia Jax about her issues with The Ravishing Russian.

Lana hasn’t buried the hatchet with Natalya for five seconds before she finds herself in another Total Diva’s crosshairs. This time it’s Carmella, who Lana seems to have inadvertently bumped off Live Events, at least in an in-ring capacity, off a pitch The Ravishing Russian made to WWE officials. It’s a little complicated, but the upshot is that Lana has to deal with Carmella stewing at her the whole episode. Plus there are some lingering gripes from Natalya, who now thinks she does need acting classes in advance of her big title match with Naomi, and a brief marital spat with Rusev over a photo of her kissing Naomi during the big Cabo shindig. It all comes down to an attempt at an apology to Carmella that nearly turns into a fight when professional and personal animosity bubbles to the forefront. Nothing progresses beyond that point, but there’s always next week … Part 2 of the Total Divas SummerSlam episode airs on E! Wednesday at 9/8 C.