Vince McMahon is masterful at psychology, says Nikki Bella as she recalls an incident from 2018
Nikki Bella and Brie Bella recently released their book 'Incomparable'. The book revealed a lot of stories about both the personal and professional lives of The Bellas. Nikki Bella recounted one particularly interesting story about Vince McMahon from Royal Rumble 2018 and praised the Chairman of WWE for his 'masterful psychology'.
Nikki Bella recalls events from Royal Rumble 2018
Royal Rumble 2018 featured the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble match in WWE history. Nikki Bella had taken a hiatus from wrestling a year before and this was her first in-ring appearance since WrestleMania 33 when John Cena and her faced The Miz and Maryse in a mixed tag team match.
Nikki Bella recalled that she 'almost fell over' when she came to know that Vince McMahon wanted her to enter at #27 and work with Asuka, someone she had never worked with in the past.
"At first, I felt like closure would come at the Royal Rumble in January 2018, when the women got to do that historic match for the first time ever. Brie and I were thrilled when WWE asked us to be part of it. The Royal Rumble is a thirty-woman match that takes place over nearly an hour -- and I almost fell over when they told me I would get to come out at #27 and work with the amazing Japanese wrestler Asuka. Vince is masterful at psychology, and so his thinking was that because Asuka is undefeated, the crowd would assume that Nikki Bella would be the one to break the streak. I had never wrestled her before..."
Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Sasha Banks, and Asuka were the last four competitors remaining in the match. Despite not wrestling for close to nine months, Nikki Bella showed no signs of ring rust and lasted more than 16 minutes. She even made the final two before she was eliminated by the eventual and first-ever winner of the Women's Royal Rumble, Asuka.
The Royal Rumble 2018 also marked the shocking debut of Ronda Rousey, who appeared after the completion of the match and confronted the winner Asuka, RAW Women's Champion at the time, Alexa Bliss and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair.
Nikki Bella eventually announced her retirement in June 2019. It was announced in February 2020 that Nikki and Brie Bella would be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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