{"id":42309,"date":"2019-03-25T19:36:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T23:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=42309"},"modified":"2019-03-25T19:36:31","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T23:36:31","slug":"the-last-divas-the-bellas-announce-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/03\/25\/the-last-divas-the-bellas-announce-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Divas: The Bellas Announce Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They&#8217;ve had quite a career.\u00a0 The recent season finale of <strong>Total Bellas<\/strong> confirmed what we have suspected for quite some time: <strong>The Bella Twins<\/strong> are officially retiring from professional wrestling.\u00a0 Since August 29, 2008, The Bella Twins &#8211; consisting of<strong> Brie<\/strong> and <strong>Nikki<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Bella\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; have been members of the WWE main roster; working around the world, winning championships and creating headlines.\u00a0 They&#8217;ve had reality TV shows &#8211; regularly drawing in millions of viewers.\u00a0 They have drawn mainstream attention; <strong>John Cena<\/strong> proposing to Nikki Bella was even brought up in Congress and made national news.\u00a0 No matter your view of the Bellas, they have left their mark and have each had impressive, <strong>Hall of Fame<\/strong> worthy careers &#8211; careers that played a part in the<strong> WWE Women&#8217;s Division<\/strong> becoming the force that it is today.\u00a0 With all of this being said, let us pay tribute to the careers of the Total Divas, Nikki &amp; Brie Bella.\u00a0 If you are on the side of the fence opposed to the Bella Twins, you might want to look away.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nikki Bella decides to retire from WWE: Total Bellas Season 4 Finale\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P57eabEDjIY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Brie Bella debuted on the August 29th, 2008 edition of <strong>Smackdown<\/strong> &#8211; where she scored an upset victory over <strong>Victoria<\/strong>.\u00a0 This took place just over a year after they were both signed to developmental deals down in <strong>FCW<\/strong> &#8211; where they worked with the likes of <strong>Natalya<\/strong> and <strong>Alicia Fox<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not too long after, Brie began the &#8220;Twin Magic&#8221; gimmick; where she would roll under the ring, when low on stamina and Nikki Bella would switch places with her, creating the illusion (because they were <em>actually<\/em> identical back then) that Brie had miraculously returned to full health.\u00a0 This wasn&#8217;t a health cheat out of a video game, however, and we soon learned that there were two Bellas.\u00a0 This would eventually lead to the twins aligning with the team of <strong>Carlito<\/strong> and <strong>Primo Colon<\/strong>.\u00a0 The alliance would not last too long, however, as Nikki eventually turned heel and aligned herself with <strong>John Morrison<\/strong> and <strong>The Miz<\/strong>, whilst Brie remained with the Colons.\u00a0 This would not be the last time a Bella turned on the other &#8211; Bella turns would become something of a trademark.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nikki Bella makes her debut as The Bella Twins&#039; secret is out : SmackDown, Nov. 7, 2008\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vE6woAJM0Rg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By April of 2009, the Bellas were now on <strong>Monday Night RAW<\/strong>.\u00a0 Immediately after being drafted, Nikki returned to being a face and realigned with her twin.\u00a0 This would prove to be a short-lived stint, however, as they were deemed extreme enough to join WWE&#8217;s version of\u00a0<strong>ECW<\/strong>.\u00a0 It was around this time that they both entered into a short feud with <strong>Katie Lea Burchill<\/strong>, where they returned to using Twin Magic to win matches.\u00a0 Once more, they were <em>again<\/em> traded back to RAW in the fall of 2009.\u00a0 Nikki earned her first shot at the <strong>Divas Championship<\/strong> after winning a &#8220;Divas Battle Royal&#8221;.\u00a0 Then champion,<strong> Eve Torres<\/strong>, pinned Nikki on the\u00a07th March 2011 edition of RAW.\u00a0 It wouldn&#8217;t be long before Brie earned her own opportunity to take on Eve.\u00a0 Whereas Nikki failed, Brie succeeded &#8211; earning the Bellas the first of many reigns with the title.\u00a0 Brie&#8217;s reign would only last 70 days, however, and after losing the Divas Championship to <strong>Kelly Kelly<\/strong> &#8211; and failing to regain the championship in the subsequent rematch &#8211; the Bellas returned to tag team action and backstage segments, where they would often bicker from opposite sides &#8211; they even bickered over a certain <strong>Daniel Bryan<\/strong> who would, of course, go on to marry Brie Bella.\u00a0 By the end of April in 2012, Brie and Nikki had departed the company and began a brief tenure on the independent circuit, where they mostly worked as valets.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42328\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42328\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42328\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/03\/Bellas-ECW-e1553552847822.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42328\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They opted not to become grizzled indie veterans, however, and soon returned to WWE television on March 11, 2013.\u00a0 It was during their second stint in the company where they became the power couple that they are today.\u00a0 Numerous Divas Championships (three in total), great feuds with AJ Lee the &#8220;anti-diva&#8221; and arguably their greatest rival, and last but not least Total Divas.\u00a0 Brie and Nikki had a pretty noteworthy feud with each other throughout much of 2014 &#8211; involving <strong>Stephanie McMahon<\/strong> &#8211; and it was during this feud that Nikki Bella became the more recognizable of the two; as the top heel in all of women&#8217;s wrestling.\u00a0 Nikki&#8217;s performance as top heel led to her being\u00a0ranked No. 1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated&#8217;s Female 50 and Rolling Stone Magazine&#8217;s Diva of the Year in 2015.\u00a0 The two of them jointly won Choice Female Athlete at Nickelodeon&#8217;s Teen Choice Awards, confirming their appeal to the younger, teen audience.\u00a0 It was also during this second stint that Nikki Bella became the longest reigning Divas Champion in history &#8211; a feat which can now, of course, never be surpassed &#8211; with the title&#8217;s retirement.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42329\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42329\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42329\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/03\/Nikki-Diva-Champ-e1553553010985.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42329\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With the retirement of the Divas Championship came the end of the Divas era of women&#8217;s wrestling in WWE, and with the end of the Divas era came the phasing out of the Bella Twins.\u00a0 They no longer featured regularly on WWE television and have only wrestled a handful of matches in the years since &#8211; most notably the <strong>WrestleMania<\/strong> match of <strong>John Cena<\/strong> and Nikki Bella versus the team of Miz and <strong>Maryse<\/strong>, a match which culminated in John Cena&#8217;s touching proposal to Nikki (a proposal which didn&#8217;t amount to anything other than nationwide exposure).\u00a0 However, The Bellas have become somewhat revered by those within the company.\u00a0 Whereas others perhaps did more to pave the way for women&#8217;s wrestling, it is the Bella Twins who gain most of the credit.\u00a0 It is the Bellas who (perhaps most) drew in new, casual female fans.\u00a0 It is the Bellas who feature throughout the world of entertainment, with Nikki having recently been a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.\u00a0 Whereas Nikki has chosen the role of public star, Brie is more reserved &#8211; happily married (to current <strong>WWE Champion<\/strong> Daniel Bryan, no less) and the mother of nearly two-year-old daughter, Birdie Joe Danielson.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42330\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42330\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-42330\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/03\/Nikki-Dancing-With-The-Stars.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"336\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Dancing With The Stars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As polarising as the Bellas are to WWE and wrestling fans in general, they represent an entire era of women&#8217;s wrestling and &#8211; with the likes of <strong>Trish Stratus<\/strong>, <strong>Lita<\/strong>,<strong> AJ Lee<\/strong>, <strong>Victoria<\/strong>, <strong>Kelly Kelly<\/strong>, <strong>Beth Phoenix<\/strong> and so forth before them &#8211; played their part in women&#8217;s wrestling becoming more than just two minute long, eye candy matches; matches designed to provide fans with the opportunity to take a toilet break.\u00a0 Both Bellas became good workers with time; each worked hard to improve, both suffered through injuries (Nikki herniated a disc in her neck, for example) and both gave years of their life to try and entertain audiences.\u00a0 They have both earned a happy retirement and will rightfully enter the Hall of Fame one day.\u00a0 So whereas we are in a new era of women&#8217;s wrestling &#8211; one with longer, more entertaining matches and with more compelling, less reality television driven personas &#8211; it is worth remembering the Bellas&#8217; contribution to wrestling.\u00a0 Look back on the years and try to remember what they gave to entertain.\u00a0 Just remember: you can look, but you can&#8217;t touch.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42332\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42332\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42332\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/03\/Bella-Twins-e1553553529360.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42332\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They&#8217;ve had quite a career.\u00a0 The recent season finale of Total Bellas confirmed what we have suspected for quite some time: The Bella Twins are officially retiring from professional wrestling.\u00a0 Since August 29, 2008, The Bella Twins &#8211; consisting of Brie and Nikki\u00a0Bella\u00a0&#8211; have been members of the WWE main roster; working around the world, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":42331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,317,3,320],"tags":[2085,1636,254,4894],"class_list":["post-42309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-women","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-bella-twins","tag-brie-bella","tag-nikki-bella","tag-the-bellas"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}