WWE Hall of Famers Nikki and Brie Garcia, known as The Bella Twins, have opened up about the real-world stigma they faced from mainstream fashion and media brands due to their professional wrestling careers.
Speaking candidly on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s The Nikki and Brie Show, the twins detailed how their wrestling roots often closed doors for them during their crossover into mainstream pop culture, even at the height of their fame through E!’s Total Divas and Total Bellas.
“It was crazy how like certain stylists wouldn’t dress us because they were like, ‘Oh, they’re pro wrestlers,’” Nikki explained. “There were certain brands that wouldn’t lend us clothes because they were like, ‘Well, we don’t dress pro wrestlers.’”
Brie Garcia added that the media often sent mixed signals — shunning them on one hand, while exploiting their personas for entertainment value.
“They would be like that, but then they would realize pro wrestlers, their charisma and how loud we are,” Brie said. “But in a segment, they would want us to body slam someone or do a suplex. It was like one minute, you know.”
The twins also revealed how many brands marketed themselves as pro-women but failed to follow through when it came to actually working with empowered women like themselves.
“A lot of brands kind of use like, ‘We love strong women and women empowerment,’ but you realize they were just using it as marketing,” Nikki stated. “They really didn’t actually want strong empowering women… when it came to actually using the girls that were that, it was like, ‘Oh, wait, wait, we really don’t want them to be that strong.’”
Nikki credits their reality TV exposure as the key to shifting public perception.
“We showed them how women can kick ass,” she said. “We could go do a sport that’s dominated by males, but then we could go be moms, we could go be career women… we can handle it all.”
The Bellas continue to grow their media brand. It was recently announced that they will launch “Pro Wrestling Nation 24/7,” a full-time wrestling channel on SiriusXM, which will feature The Nikki and Brie Show, alongside other pro wrestling programs like Busted Open.
