In the end, season four of Total Bellas proved to be quite newsworthy, as an early March episode of the show featured Brie Bella surprising her sister Nikki with the news that she has retired from pro wrestling.
The announcement made by Brie caught Nikki offguard, as Nikki had always felt she and Brie would announce their retirement together, however, Brie made the decision to call it quits on an in-ring career without first consulting her sister.
This past Sunday night, E! aired the season finale of Total Bellas, and during the episode, Nikki Bella followed in her sister’s footsteps by officially announcing she too is retiring from pro wrestling.
Both Nikki and Brie Bella signed with WWE back in 2007 after a successful run on the WWE produced Divas Search contest, and in 2008, the twins, who had backgrounds in modeling and fitness, debuted on the WWE main roster.
[lawrence-related id=879598]Nikki and Brie were often the subject of much criticism from WWE fans, as many people felt the sisters epitomized the “Divas Era” of WWE and were ill-equipped for careers inside a WWE ring.
However, The Bella Twins quickly became instrumental in the budding of the “Divas Revolution” in WWE, as Nikki began training with her then-boyfriend John Cena, and Brie began training with her now-husband Daniel Bryan.
As time passed, the sisters improved in the ring, which lead to both of them winning singles titles along the way. Most recently, Nikki Bella was involved in a high-profile feud with Ronda Rousey back in 2018, which ended when the two Superstars met in the ring for the Raw Women’s Title at WWE Evolution. Rousey successfully defeated Nikki Bella, which marked the last time Nikki competed at a WWE PPV event. Nikki’s final in-ring appearances came during the 2018 WWE overseas tour in November, during which she faced Ronda Rousey in singles bouts.
Below is an excerpt from WWE.com’s recap of the Total Divas season four finale.
The [2018 WWE overseas] tour is much harder to get through, physically, than Nikki thinks it’s going to be, and she decides to officially retire from in-ring competition upon her return to the States. (In an interesting contrast, this is all happening at the same time that Daniel Bryan breaks bad, revitalizes his career and gets his dream match against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.) Hanging over all this is the question of what, exactly, Nikki is going to do next: She’s no longer a wrestler, she’s still in the wilderness of single life (the episode features a pointed visit to Napa Valley, where she was supposed to be married once upon a time), and Brie is still relocating to Phoenix and leaving Nikki to her devices in Los Angeles. The idea of a driven woman having nowhere in particular to go weighs heavily on Brie, who openly wonders after moving into her new house whether Nikki will be able to find a sufficient love and support system.
As for the future of The Bella Twins, it is likely they will remain with WWE in some form, as the two will continue to appear on Total Bellas. Despite the continuation of Total Bellas, it was announced earlier this year that the twins will not be returning to Total Divas, the original reality show which spawned the Total Bellas spinoff.
The Twins have also announced they will be launching a new podcast, titled, The Bellas Podcast, and the first episode will air this Wednesday.
You can watch more from Nikki Bella’s retirement announcement on Total Bellas this week in the above video player.
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