The official website of E! has posted several excerpts from The Bella Twins’ new book. Some of the quotes include their reactions to Ronda Rousey’s WWE debut in 2018, their WWE departures in 2012 and more. Here are a few excerpts:
Nikki on getting married at an early age and the relationship being unhealthy: “We never lived together. I never took his last name. He ended up being shipped off to war despite our marriage certificate. That happened when we weren’t actually together as a couple anymore and were dating other people, which I think I used as justification for asking him for a divorce when he was away. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have waited until he came home to ask him to let me go. I definitely owed him that, even though I ultimately knew that our attachment wasn’t healthy and our relationship wasn’t good for either of us anymore.”
Nikki on their training: “It was pretty brutal, but it was also love-at-first-bump for us. We just knew that we were meant to do this, so the bulls**t from the other girls didn’t really bother us. We had big smiles and lots of energy, which probably only added fuel to the fire. But that’s how we operated — heads up, eyes on the prize, plenty of beer at the party for everyone. It always felt easier to show no resistance and let the girls talk shit and walk all over us, than to fight the locker room fights. We saved our energy for the ring.”
Brie on trying to change the environment backstage among the women wrestlers: “Over the five years of our first WWE contract, the really bad apples started to get fired, one by one. The scene backstage became healthier, friendlier, and less intensely competitive. As we became veterans, we also vowed to change the culture, and to try to create more camaraderie among all the women.”
Nikki on not renewing their contracts in 2012: “One of the reasons that Brie and I decided to walk away from WWE was that we knew it had to change profoundly. We wanted equality, and we wanted respect. It took us leaving for everyone to realize that we were missed—that we actually brought a lot with us.”
Nikki on being on Total Divas: “While showing off wrestling was always the main goal of the show, it was a major relief to let fans see our more normal human sides as well, particularly because Brie and I had only ever been part of twin storylines. With Total Divas, the fans got to see us for who we really are.”
Nikki on Ronda Rousey appearing at the end of the first woman’s Royal Rumble in 2018 to close the show: “It was nothing against Ronda -— it is thrilling that she is at WWE — but it was a bit of a slap in the face to all the historic women wrestlers who had come out for the match, the main event, only to have the moment upstaged by the Ronda announcement. It just didn’t need to happen like that.”
