Wrestling veteran slams The Bella Twins over legal letter from WWE; claims they used wrestling to transition to reality TV
Former WWE manager Jim Cornette recently spoke about Nikki Bella's comments about the company not letting them keep the Bella name after their exit.
Brie and Nikki became top stars in the company and won multiple championships during their lengthy tenure. Nikki recently revealed that the twins decided to pursue future projects under their legal name, "Garcia," rather than "Bella" because the office never spoke with them about carrying on with their ring name.
On a recent episode of Jim Cornette's Drive Thru, the veteran manager mentioned that the Bellas came from a generation of ladies that used the pro wrestling business to transition to reality television.
"I don't know what their relationship was with the office and who they were working with, whether it was positive or negative or somewhere in between. But if their contracts were coming up and were not gonna be renewed, they're going into their new chapter that doesn't involve wrestling. Obviously, they're the generation of women that wanted to be WWE stars to go on to reality television and new chapters."
Cornette felt that Nikki and Brie should have initiated the discussion with WWE officials about retaining their ring name rather than waiting for the management to come to them.
"That's the conversation that the Bellas should've been having with the office. 'Hey, can we do stuff as the Bellas if you're cut in in some fashion?' and try to pitch that to them. The office didn't need to pitch to them, they needed to pitch to the office." [3:15 - 4:22]
You can watch the full video here:
The Bella Twins are WWE Hall of Famers
Despite their apparent legal issues with the company over the Bella name, Nikki and Brie have been forever immortalized in the WWE Hall of Fame.
The twins were announced to join the Hall of Fame Class of 2020. They received a public induction in 2021 alongside other inductees, including the nWo, Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, JBL, and The British Bulldog. William Shatner was inducted into the celebrity wing, while Titus O'Neil got the Warrior Award.
What are your thoughts on Nikki and Brie being unable to use the Bella name outside of WWE? Sound off in the comments section below.
If you use the quotes from the article, please credit Jim Cornette's Drive Thru and add an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.