WWE News: Nikki Bella talks about bringing her real life drama to WWE storylines
What's the story?
The former WWE Divas champion talks about her personal life coming up in WWE storylines and the emotional toll it takes for her real-life drama to be used as a storytelling device in professional wrestling.
In case you didn't know...
On October 15, 2018, Ronda Rousey cut a scathing promo dressing down The Bellas Twins, especially Nikki, who's real-life relationship was used as fuel in Rousey’s promo.
Nikki had a very public relationship with John Cena since 2012. Rousey wasn’t the only talent to call out the former Diva’s champion for using her relationship with the multi-time WWE champion as a way to advance her career in the company.
AJ Lee has referenced in the past that both Bellas have, “kissed up to the right people” in order to get the best out of their wrestling careers. Carmella, Maryse, and The Miz have referenced Nikki's relationship with Cena as a way to heat up their feuds as well.
Cena and Nikki have had positives in WWE’s storylines as well, with the most notable being John proposing to Nikki at WrestleMania 33 after successfully fending of The Miz and Maryse in a mixed tag team match.
The couple would cancel their wedding this past April and eventually called it quits soon after.
The heart of the matter
On a recent episode of In This Corner podcast, Nikki Bella talks about bringing her real-life drama to WWE storylines and notes that though her scars from her break-up with John Cena are not fully healed, she chose to return for the match at Evolution because she wanted to please the fans:
"There are definitely an emotional price to pay bringing it. I don't think the fans understand what we give them because at the end of the day we are still human beings so stuff still hurts, it can still make us very emotional," Bella said. "To be honest, this comeback was so soon for me to come back because very much my happy place I was able to share it with someone, but this was for the women, this was for WWE Evolution, so that was why I had to come back. There was a part of me where, when I had said yes, I wondered if I could handle it. At the end of the day I am a woman who went through a public breakup and it still affects me."
As you can imagine, Cena being the face of the company makes for an awkward and often hard to deal with situation between the two behind the scenes; however, Nikki points to Roman Reigns' battle with leukemia as another example of WWE superstars having to work through real-life issues, and she said they do that because of how much they love performing:
"It has taken--I am not even lying, so much meditation to be able to hold my chin up high when I walk into the building and bite my lip and not want to cry when I see that man's face everywhere I turn," she said, referring to Cena. "Whether it is on a truck, on a poster, so we do pay for that, but at the end of the day I love what I do and I want to sell a pay per view and I want to have an amazing match. I want to have an amazing story going into it, I do it for the fans. Whether they like it or not I do it for them. I do it for the Bella Army. Thing is, when you guys have a hard day at work you tune into us to escape where you can get lost into your imagination and let me get lost with my superheroes and villains, and that is the sacrifices we make for you guys. Look at Joe [Roman Reigns]. Joe can't wait to fight so he can get back into the ring and perform for you, which is what makes WWE Superstars so beautiful so you know, we kind of put this protective shell in front of us, and whether or not it hurts, we just want to give it our best performance."
What’s Next?
It’s unknown when Nikki Bella will return to the squared circle; however, E! confirmed a fourth season renewal for “Total Bellas.” A premiere date has not yet been announced.