Brie Bella has admitted she was disappointed by the amount of time she received for her recent singles match on WWE SmackDown, but believes she made the most of the opportunity.
Speaking on The Nikki & Brie Show podcast, Brie discussed her July 3 singles bout against Lainey Reid, revealing she had been lobbying for a one-on-one match for quite some time.
“I’ve been pitching for a while to have a singles match. I’ve been wanting it forever. So when I finally found out I was getting one, I was super excited.”
While thrilled to get the opportunity, Brie admitted she was disappointed after learning how much television time the match would receive.
“When I heard the time, I was bummed. But I also understood. SmackDown is back to two hours, and it’ll be two hours until January. So all of a sudden, when you have all these storylines going on during a three-hour show and then, boom, you get cut down to two hours, you’re back to fighting for TV time. They’re going to have to condense a lot of stuff.”
Brie said she understood the circumstances, even if she couldn’t hide her disappointment. “So a part of me understood it. I mean, obviously I won’t lie—I was bummed.”
She added that she and Paige joked backstage about the situation after the match. “When I went backstage, Paige and I were like, ‘How did I lose my time? How did I lose my time?’ You know, of course I’m going to make jokes. Or, ‘If there’s anyone we can give three minutes to, it’s Brie Bella because she’s from the Divas Era.’”
Despite the limited time, Brie believes she accomplished what she set out to do.
“And I did. I did a lot with those three minutes. I was like, ‘You know what?’ Because Paige was honest. She asked me, ‘Are you bummed?’ I’m not going to lie. I’m not here to stroke anyone or make anyone feel good about themselves. I was bummed, of course. But I also think I left the fans wanting more.”
