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Nikki and Brie Bella recently sat down with Busted Open Radio to promote their upcoming E! series Total Bellas. The twins had an in-depth discussion on Nikki’s injury, SummerSlam, what to expect on the new show, as well as Brie (almost) confirming a return. This can all be read below:
Nikki on getting a spin-off show: “It’s such an honor, and Brie and I are so grateful. We’re excited to show the world more into our life, and not only that, but a more intimate look into our relationships, me with John [Cena], Brie with [Daniel] Bryan, and you get to see more of the Bella fam! What’s cool is that the cameras just happen to be rolling when a lot of us were going through a lot of stuff in our lives, me with my neck, Bryan with retiring, Brie with retiring as well, and wanting to become a mom, and then John rehabbing his shoulder, our mom getting married for the third time to [John Laurinaitis].”
Brie on the pressure of having their name as the title of a spin-off: “There’s so much pressure it’s crazy, but I really have to say, John Cena and Daniel Bryan add so much to the show because everyone saw them on Total Divas occasionally, here and there, but I think people really wanted to hear from them more, and that’s what you get in Total Bellas. You get to see [the] perspective from Bryan sitting in the interview chair, he’s telling you his point-of-view, which you don’t get in Total Divas – I think people really wanted that. And Nicole and I, for some reason, because our vocabulary is very small, and how we fight with each other, it’s very entertaining to people.
Nikki on her first fight with Bryan: “It was weird because I never thought that you fight like that with your brother-in-law, and I know I’ve always heard about it with other families, but I was like that “oh, that’ll never happen to me,” and we got into it bad. He cussed at me and Bryan does not cuss. But I literally hit the button so bad, and it was in front of my whole family, and I didn’t think we were gonna be able to bounce back, which was very awkward and weird for an extremely long time. And then it made [mine and Brie’s] relationship really tough, but I think it was just the pressure of being under one roof for a while, and how I live and how Bryan lives, and she was on the road, coming in and out, going to live events and TV, John was always at rehab, my mom and my brother were working hard on their business, so Bryan and I had a lot of time together, and it was just like – if we are the last people on Earth, we cannot be married. There would be no reproduction.”
Brie on John Cena’s personality: “He has a very generous heart. Like I’ve never met anyone with a bigger heart than John. It’s crazy, every time we go do something, or even when someone in the family – whether it’s our family, or his family – he drops everything and is there. It literally blows my mind, and that’s why my husband started a joke about him, he’s like “he’s Superman! Whenever someone needs something he’s there!” Bryan thinks women should only mate with John and then the world will be a better place.”
Nikki on her neck injury, Cena’s rehabilitation and Bryan retiring: “It was really a tough road, and it’s tough because you want to be there for the ones you love and stay strong, but when you’re not strong yourself it’s really tough. When John went into surgery on his shoulder, I was not expecting to have neck surgery a few weeks later. So, here I’m taking care of John because, how his injury was, it was really hard for him to move around and drive, he got a puppy, and then all of a sudden, two weeks later, they’re like “you need surgery now.” That’s what gave me the idea of “Brie, I really need your help,” and then when she planned on coming, all of a sudden Bryan had to retire, and they had to come that week, and we were all “oh my goodness, how is this gonna work? We’re gonna make it work.” My mom was a huge help, and there’s even stuff that you don’t get to see on the show of how much my mom helped John and I. She was there before anyone got there, she was driving us around, she was helping me take care of Winston – our puppy – but it was tough. I definitely had to work on staying strong mentally, having the spin-off, all these cameras, people in my home, it’s not like “oh, I’m wearing a neck brace because it’s fun, I was in a lot of pain. But I knew at the end of the day, whether people were in my home, taking care of everyone else, I still had – in my head – my goal was to get back in that ring and do what I love. And I was gonna do anything I could to be there. So to see how John was rehabbing, I mean, I was using a bone stimulator everyday, using it up to its max hours, I was doing everything the Doctor said, I was taking sixteen vitamin’s a day, anything to just help that bone be strong and make my neck stronger. It was so emotional for me, not only at SummerSlam, but when I got to start training at NXT, I remember getting in the ring and telling the coach, “can I just have a moment real quick?””
Nikki on her return at SummerSlam: “It was amazing. I can just remember everything, and so when I got the call for SummerSlam, it was literally three days before, and they’re like “hey, can you sit down?” and I was on the phone, and I’m like “[whispers] am I getting fired?!”, and I was by myself and I’m like “oh my gosh I’m gonna get fired,” and they were like “okay well you’re gonna be competing at SummerSlam.” And I was like, “wait what!? Am I prepared?” – it was just an incredible, incredible journey.”
“I think what made me more nervous than ever was I didn’t want, when I did make my comeback and was able to get into the ring, I didn’t want it to be like, “oh, she’s back…”, I wanted to be impressive. I wanted to be the same level as all those girls. So, only being able to get back in the ring two weeks before that, ‘cos I wasn’t planning on coming back until October, so I was like “I’m gonna have all this time to really train hard, be at the level where these girls are at,” but I knew that I had to change my style as well. So I wanted to be able to stay on the same level as all the girls in the new era, but knowing I had to protect myself as well. It put on a lot of pressure – even on the Sunday [of] SummerSlam, I was hidden all day. No one could see me. I literally didn’t come off the bus until the middle of Dolph [Ziggler] and Dean [Ambrose]’s match, which was right before us. So I was nervous, and when I came out to that reaction, it was weird, it was like “I’m home.” And it gave me this feeling, and it was good, and even though I didn’t do much because they were like “okay, we don’t know what you can do,” ‘cos that was my first match back. Like I had trained, so that’s why I did very little, I didn’t wanna come back and “oh, I’m injured again.””
Brie on Nikki returning: “I was there for so much of her rehab and seeing her in so much pain, I was also there before it all went down. I’ll never forget in Australia, we were wrestling Natalya and Emma, and she had to stay with me in my room every night because she kept getting all these bumps on her back, she was in so much pain she couldn’t sleep. So she’d just cry all night and I was like, “what do I do?” and so we’d definitely, in our match, we’d try to protect her and we were heels, we were bad guys, so I was like “let me take all the bumps, let’s protect your neck,” but seeing all that happen and then she had to get the surgery and then I started seeing the rehab and I was at all these doctor appointments where Doctor Uribe was like, “you’re not gonna be able to get back in that ring.” And then finally, when they did clear her and they’re like, “you can,” I was thinking to myself, “do you really wanna get back in all that pain I saw you in the last year?” And I started freaking out but then, at the end of the day I understand the passion and the love for wrestling, and I have the same exact passion and love she does, and I’d never wanna hold her back, I’d never wanna hold Bryan back, so for me I was like, “go get ’em.” I watch now and I get nervous, but I’m so proud.”
Nikki on why she returned to the ring: “On Total Bellas this season, you actually see a lot of those conversations of how my mom feels, my brother, John, Bryan, and then I even have friends come in town. And then when they hear that I’m going back, they’re like, “wait what? You did everything you could.” And I think that’s what everyone thought was, “what more do you want? You’re the longest reigning Divas champion, you were number 1 on PWI, you’ve done all these amazing goals, you were Diva of the year.” I did so many historic moments up ’til then so I think for people they’re like, “you did everything you could, like, why do you wanna go back?” And I was like, “I don’t even care if I go back as a jobber, I love wrestling and I miss it, and that’s what I wanna do and coming back, that’s what I told them. I was like, “use me to make the women’s division stronger. Let me help them take it to the next level and that’s been the goal.”
Nikki on SmackDown’s women’s division: “I am so proud of the women’s division on SmackDown. I think every woman right now on there is so talented, and I think we proved it at the pay-per-view and we continue to prove that every week. I’m just so excited to see what Becky Lynch is gonna do with the championship, what’s Alexa Bliss gonna do, what’s Carmella gonna do, Naomi, Natalya, it’s like, there’s a lot of great competitive women, and what I love about it is, every week they wanna be better and better, and there’s so much passion in our locker room right now, I’ve never seen it like this in the past ten years that I’ve worked here. And it makes me now at work so much fun. We challenge each other every week, and I’m just really excited to see where the division goes in the next year.”
Brie on her retirement: “I retired at the greatest night of women’s wrestling history in WWE. Timing is everything, and for Bryan and I, we’re ready to be parents. And, especially with everything he was going through, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I remember that night, I’m like, we are now called Superstars, we are no longer called Divas, we’ve all been waiting for this moment, we all put our blood, sweat and tears into it – and I’m like, “adios!” But it was great, and it’s so much fun to watch my family all back on TV, and let me tell you, when I have my first kid, I’m gonna make a comeback!”
The Bellas also discuss the living situation in Cena and Nikki’s house, Daniel and John’s differences/relationship and more. This can be found on the Facebook live post, and the full version will be released next week!
Total Bellas premieres October 5th, 2016 at 8/7c on E!
What are your thoughts on this interview? Are you excited for Total Bellas? When do you think we’ll see Brie make her return? Let us know your views in the comments below!
