Jerry Springer Briefly Discusses Getting Caught Between the Catfighting Bella Twins in WWE

Jerry Springer and Kevin Nealon appeared at Running Late with Scott Rogowsky last month (see more clips from the show here). In between a running bit where the guests took turns making idle threats to leave, they ran a video of Springer’s  WWE cameo last September in which he tried to arbitrate a dispute between the feuding Bella twins (Nikki and Brie), fisticuffs ensued, and the FORMER MAYOR OF CINCINNATI got sandwiched between the catfighting sisters. “It was wonderful,” he said.

Since that point, the Bellas’ angle has been anything but. Even though Nikki is the current Divas champion, her abandoned feud with her sister was the posterchild for the idea that WWE pays little attention to its women’s storylines. After spending a couple months in a simmering sibling rivalry, Nikki defeated Brie at Hell in a Cell. By the stipulation of the match, Brie had to serve as her sister’s personal assistant for a month, and had to carry out any number of humiliating tasks.

As her indentured servitude was coming to a close, Brie helped Nikki (whose irrational jealousy heel turn had ignited the feud in the first place) defeat AJ Lee for the Divas title at Survivor Series. The sisters reconciled without providing any explanation. Even if it’s the mechanism for a cunning long swerve for revenge on Brie’s part — and even if that wasn’t the plan, per se, it’s inevitable nonetheless because wrestling — it was a clumsy and/or arrogant way to tell a story.