On Tuesday, Nikki & Brie Bella announced they would be leaving WWE and dropping the Bella moniker. Nikki & Brie began going by their real names Nikki & Brie Garcia as the Bella name was related to WWE properties and trademarked by the company.
The twins announced that they would be embarking on their next chapter together as the Garcia twins.
Speaking on the Nikki & Brie Show, Nikki & Brie discussed their decision to leave the company.
"When our contract came up with WWE, mutually, we all knew we needed to head into this next chapter. We are so grateful for the past 17 years. I have learned so much in and out of the ring. I have traveled all over the world, I have incredible fandom. It's been amazing. This is part of relationships. Whether it's business, love, this is relationships in life. Sometimes, you come to this part of your life where it's like, 'let's go separate ways. It doesn't mean it's forever, but we just know that it's right,'" said Nikki.
Brie added, "It doesn't mean that it's bad either. When things like this happen, everyone wants to look for the negative. 'What happened? It had to be something crazy.' It wasn't. It was actually something beautiful. [We] thought about it for awhile. This has been years coming. I want to thank Brie Bella. The character, the name, pretty much that I've been the last 16-17 years. Thank you to that name because it caused a lot of change in my life and many lives. It did a lot of great things for me. It's really fun to end that chapter. For everyone, at some point in your life, to do a new change, a new journey. I'm so excited to close that chapter on Brie Bella, put that book to the side, and open up a new one, and see what Brie Garcia is going to do next."
The Bella Twins signed with WWE in 2007 and became two of the biggest stars in women's history. Along with winning championships and going into the WWE Hall of Fame, they brought WWE to a new audience through reality shows "Total Divas" and "Total Bellas."
Nikki continued, "I'm so beyond grateful for NIkki Bella. She empowered me, she inspired me, she truly made me become fearless. I found so much of what I had, through pain, childhood, or certain things that happened in my life, I lost that person. It took Nikki Bella to bring her out. I will always be forever grateful for her and look up to who that person was and still is and the road that she has paved and what she's done for women and the youth and will continue to do, just as Nikki Garcia. I'm grateful for it. What's so amazing about starting this new chapter and with our names, our roots, what was from birth. it's super empowering because we're betting on ourselves. That leap of faith, we are taking that leap of faith, we're re-introducing ourselves after 17 years and it shows...you and I have gotten to the point where we know our worth. We know what we've done and we know where we want to go. We're at the point in our lives where we don't want to hear no. We've worked on that for 17 years and this marks, finally, we put that in action a lot, but now we're doing it in a different way. Something like that is super exciting and it's great for other people to know."
Brie stated, "It's weird because I say 'freeing,' and a lot of people are like, 'What does she mean?' There's something really freeing about going back to who you were. It's like you can go back to being your unfiltered, uncensored self. I don't have to apologize, it's who I am. I always hate when I have to apologize or be like, 'sorry, didn't mean to do that,' when I actually did."
The Garcias stated they are looking to do more reality television and get into scripted television. They also said they want to keep growing their wine business and get into other business, mentioning the possibility of starting a tequila or coffee brand.
The Garcias last competed in a WWE ring at the 2022 women's Royal Rumble.
Nikki & Brie announced they will be adding content to their YouTube channel and will have a live show on April 19 in San Francisco.
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