15 Things Fans Would Like to Forget About the Bella Twins
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The Bella Twins tend to garner polarizing reactions from fans and fellow wrestlers. Many members of the WWE Universe love the duo, and have been following them ever since their debut with the company in 2008.
They do tend to carry some heat with them however, mainly due to their off-air relationships with male wrestlers. Brie Bella is of course, married to Daniel Bryan and Nikki Bella is dating one of the biggest stars the company has ever had in John Cena. Much of the resentment that other or former Divas feel towards the Bellas usually has to do with the feeling that the twins receive special treatment as a result of their relationships with Cena and Bryan.
Fans of the Bellas will be quick to point out that they have both improved significantly in the ring, most notably in the last few years. Brie Bella now utilizes many of her husband’s moves and mannerisms while wrestling, and Nikki’s in-ring work really improved during her lengthy and record-breaking Divas Title reign.
Over the course of their 8-year history with the company they have been involved in some memorable, and some not-so-memorable storylines. They were the driving force behind the WWE reality series Total Divas (a source of more heat from other Divas) which has been a big success for the company and the E Network. Many in the WWE feel that the success of Total Divas has done a lot to introduce the company to non-wrestling fans.
Despite having done a lot for the company and the business, here are 15 things that fans of the Bellas would love to forget about Nikki and Brie.
15. When Nikki and Brie Feuded With Each Other
Other than Owen vs. Bret you would be very hard pressed to find an example of a sibling feud that worked. They are constantly tried of course, but they rarely work. It didn’t work with Jeff vs. Matt Hardy, or Rick vs. Scott Steiner, and it certainly didn’t work with Nikki vs. Brie Bella.
Brie was in a match against Stephanie McMahon at SummerSlam 2014, but her twin sister turned on her and helped McMahon win. The result was that Nikki would receive favoritism from McMahon in the weeks that followed, and it kick started a feud between the sisters.
Some real terrible segments followed, including a segment moderated by Jerry Springer. The feud culminated in a match at Hell in a Cell where the loser would have to be the others assistant for a month. Nikki won and Brie became her assistant. Sometime after that they just stopped feuding and Brie helped Nikki win the Divas title.
14. They Were Identical, Now They’re Not
It’s not so much that there is now a very noticeable difference between the sisters, as it is the fact that we’re never supposed to talk about it. Even when AJ Lee was cutting all those shoot promos on the Bellas she never mentioned the obvious: In 2013 Nikki Bella clearly got breast enhancement surgery.
When the Bellas debuted one of their keys to success was that they could pull off the old “switcheroo” when the ref wasn’t looking, allowing the other twin to enter a match and defeat the opponent. They have still used this tactic post-2013 despite the fact that it has become very easy to tell the two twins apart.
Now every time one of the announcers mention that the Bellas are identical twins half the audience says the exact same joke in their head, but for some reason the commentators, the wrestlers, and everyone under the sun is not allowed to mention that one twin now has much larger breasts. There’s nothing wrong with it!
13. Both Wanted Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan riding off into the sunset with his newlywed wife Brie is the silver lining many wrestling fans are putting on his premature retirement. But you might remember that it was actually both Bella twins who were after Bryan initially.
In the summer of 2011, before Brie and Daniel began dating in real life, the WWE ran an angle where both Bellas were after Daniel’s affection. The twins managed Bryan for a while until they discovered him hooking up with Gail Kim in the back, then they went after Kim, giving her a beat down for stealing their man.
It would be the first of many weird onscreen relationships for Daniel Bryan, and the first time he would work with his future wife Brie Bella.
12. They Originally Turned WWE Down
Unlike many on the WWE roster who worked their entire lives to get a spot on the main roster, the Bellas were initially not very interested in the position.
The Bellas answered a general casting call for the 2006 Diva Search, which is how they were discovered, and were not actively looking to get into wrestling.
Even though the twins were cut from the Divas Search competition they were offered contracts by the WWE. The Bellas opted to turn those contracts down however, as they did not like having to move out to Florida while they were trying to land modeling and acting gigs.
Eventually the twins reconsidered and signed with the company the next year.
11. Complaints They Held Back the “Divas Revolution”
In 2015 and early 2016 the WWE began to place greater emphasis on women’s wrestling. Instead of treating the division as an excuse to showcase beautiful women, the WWE began to emphasis the quality matches the women were having. This culminated of course, with the creation of the new Women’s Championship belt, which was unveiled at WrestleMania 32.
The problem was that initially the revolution did not feel any different to how the division had been previous to the main-roster call-ups of Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch. Many believe this was because the focus of the division continued to be on the Bellas, as it it had been for much of the 8 years since their debut in 2008. Some also say that the division didn’t really get a new feel to it until after Charlotte ended Nikki’s record-breaking Divas title reign, and both her and Brie faded out of the division’s spotlight.
10. Prevented the Returns of Maria, Kelly Kelly, and Maryse
According to Maria Kanellis, the Bellas prevented the WWE returns of her, Kelly Kelly, and Maryse. Maria claims that she was in talks with the company about a return, however she believes when the Bellas got wind of this they used whatever stroke they could to prevent her from returning, and that they probably did the same to Kelly and Maryse.
She believes the reason that the Bellas did not want to see her return was because of heat Nikki and her had stemming from a little altercation they had at a nightclub.
Evidently Maria was dancing with the WWE Superstar Nikki was dating at the time, Dolph Ziggler, and Nikki was less than polite to Maria about it.
Maria has been very outspoken of her dislike of the Bellas through various social media outlets since.
9. Nikki Thought Her Hotel Was Haunted
You know how sometimes you’ll think you know someone fairly well, you get along, and you feel you can relate with them, but then they do or say something so ridiculous that it instantly changes your mind about that person?
That’s most likely what occurred for many fans of Nikki Bella when they hear her “Haunted Hotel” story, which was filmed as part of a “Superstar Ghost Stories” project that most likely will never be duplicated.
In the video Nikki talks about how she felt her hotel in Nashville one night was haunted, so she pounded on Renee Young’s door and insisted that the pair leave the hotel immediately. I’m sure Renee appreciated this.
Nikki closed the video by stating that nobody should ever stay at a hotel in Nashville. I’m sure the city of Nashville appreciated this as well.
8. Brie Dated the Guitarist from Poison
When comparing the two twins it seems like Brie is the more down-to-earth and low-key twin, which is why it’s hilarious to learn that she dated the guitarist from the 80s heavy metal band Poison.
Actually Richie Kotzen was only with the band for a short time, but he has racked up quite a solo career for himself and has been releasing albums since 1989. In 2006 he was the opening act for the Rolling Stones tour, and also was briefly a member of the band Mr. Big.
A solid 14 years older than Brie, the couple apparently dated for several years.
According to some fans Brie’s MySpace page used to feature some of Kotzen’s music on it.
7. AJ Lee Absolutely Loathes Them
The Bellas attract a lot of heat backstage, which should probably be considered inevitable considering one of them is dating the biggest star in the company and the other married one of the most popular wrestlers ever.
Whether or not they deserve the heat they get is anyone’s guess, but one thing that can be deemed certain is that AJ Lee absolutely hates their guts.
In between when CM Punk left the WWE and when AJ Lee finally did must have been a rough time for AJ. Shortly before she would “retire” and leave the WWE AJ also must have figured she had nothing to lose and really let loose on the Bellas during one unscripted promo.
On the November 24th 2014 Monday Night Raw AJ uttered the famous line “talent isn’t sexually transmitted” in reference to the Bellas dating Cena and Daniel Bryan, the subtle hint not being subtle at all of course.
The line was not in any script and the Bellas were most likely not very pleased with AJ after that.
6. Nikki Bella’s Divas Title Reign
CM Punk’s very public falling out with the WWE in early 2014 caused the WWE to act in very strange ways.
Many speculate that the reason why Nikki Bella broke AJ Lee’s record of a 295-day Divas title reign was a subtle jab from the WWE towards AJ, and to some degree Punk. AJ had made an enemy out of Stephanie McMahon, following a public tweet she directed at Stephanie where she mentioned that WWE’s women are only paid a fraction of what the men make.
Would the WWE actually see to it that AJ Lee’s record is broken just out of spite? Anyone who has followed the WWE for any amount of time should know that as ridiculous as it sounds, it is totally something they would do.
Whether it’s true or not the speculation that her lengthy title reign was given to her as a result of WWE’s spite towards AJ has, in some way, tainted the record a little.
Since the Divas Title has now been replaced with the new WWE Women’s Championship neither record really matters much at all now.
5. “I Wish You Died in the Womb!”
Oh it was just awful, just the most awful line you could possibly imagine. You can imagine the group of 28 writers that the WWE employs to write terrible stuff like this all huddled together at the gorilla position, just waiting for the great reaction the crowd will give when they hear what an amazing line they wrote for Nikki to say.
It was in the middle of the 2014 feud Nikki and Brie had with each other when Jerry Lawler was hosting a Bella “Family Reconciliation” segment when Nikki just started going off on Brie. Nikki was the heel here so the writers clearly wanted her to say something towards Brie that would get her enough heat to drive the storyline forward. After a barrage of insults Nikki threw out the line “I wish you had died in the womb!”, and then literally dropped the mic as if she had just delivered the line of the century.
The audience was left very aware that they had just watched two sisters deliver scripted lines at each other and give rehearsed reactions.
4. They Were In A Gary Busey Movie!
The WWE did little to promote the fact that the Bella Twins were in the 2014 film Confessions of a Womanizer, a comedy drama film starring the much-acclaimed thespian Gary Busey.
The movie is about a womanizing guy who eventually settles down to just one woman, with a little help from his best friend that just so happens to be a transgendered sex worker. The Bellas play a set of twin waitresses at a diner, one of them having the hots for the male lead and the other not being able to stand him.
While only a few people have bothered to review the film those that did seemed to enjoy it.
The WWE seems entirely uninterested in letting their audience know that this film exists.
3. Underwhelming Feud With Stephanie McMahon
In 2014 Brie Bella was involved in a very high profile match at SummerSlam with Stephanie McMahon. It had been quite some time since we’d seen Stephanie in the ring, so expectations must have been high for this match in order for her to take part.
Unfortunately crowd reactions to the feud were dead, and there was said to be some heat on Brie Bella backstage, with many feeling that she was not holding her own in promos and segments with Stephanie.
With the storyline largely being viewed as a flop, and Stephanie being the boss’s daughter there really was only one place that the blame could be focused: Brie.
Nikki turned on Brie during the SummerSlam match between Brie and Stephanie, which kick started another underwhelming storyline involving the Bellas.
2. "Twin Magic"
Fans of the Bellas might not want to remember all the scandalous, no-good, low-down cheating the twins engaged in during Brie and Nikki’s first foray to the top of the Divas division.
The trick works like this: The referee is distracted, one Bella will roll the other Bella out of the ring and take her place with neither the opponent nor the referee noticing. Since the Bella that is now in the ring is fresh she is easily able to score the victory over her tired opponent.
It’s not a new technique, but it had been awhile since we had seen it when the Bellas brought it back.
Numerous 1980s tag teams used this move: the Killer Bees and Demolition being the two most recognizable.
Twin magic allowed Brie to capture the Divas title in April of 2011, and then helped Nikki to her first title reign the following year.
Numerous wrestling purists have used “Twin Magic” as an argument for using video replay in wrestling, but so far their appeals have gone denied.
1. They Left WWE
Shortly after Nikki Bella’s first Divas title reign ended in 2012 they were fired from the company in storyline, but in reality they let their contracts with WWE run out and left the company.
In interviews after leaving the company the twins stated that they simply needed a break from the heavy travel schedule the job comes with.
The Bellas would return less than a year later however, and immediately move back into a valuable on-air position with the company.
Sources: wikipedia.org, prowrestling.net, pwmania.com, diva-dirt.com, bleacherreport.com, eonline.com
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