On last night’s episode of Total Bellas, which was filmed back in October, Brie Bella announced she planned to officially retire from in-ring competition. Her and husband Daniel Bryan plan to move back to Phoenix to focus on expanding their family.
Transcription of quotes from the episode are provided by Fightful.
“So I decided after Evolution, I’m gonna be fully retired,” Brie states in the episode. “Fully done, and that Bryan and I are looking for a house in Phoenix, because we’re moving back.”
This comes as no big surprise, since Bella has been talking about retirement for some time. Brie had semi-retired a couple of years ago, so she could have a baby, and last year, she made a comeback to the ring. During her comeback, she was able to team back up with her sister Nikki, and also work a storyline with her husband against Miz and Maryse.
The comeback wasn’t as smooth as she had hoped for. Bella had a decent amount of ring rust and accidentally concussed Liv Morgan during a match on Raw. The backlash on social media took a huge toll on Brie, and she openly-admitted on another episode of Total Bellas that she later sunk into a depression. This probably had a hand in leading Bella to the ultimate decision: it was time to hang up the boots.
Nikki Bella gave her thoughts about her sister’s announcement during the episode.
“I’m a bit shocked right now hearing Brie say that she’s going to retire and move to Phoenix. Like, talk about dropping two huge bombs. I guess retirement, I always thought that’d be something Brie and I would talk about together. I just did not expect this big change after such an incredible comeback.”
Read the entire article with transcriptions from Fightful here.
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