Nikki Bella 'bent rules' and defied doctors to become WWE powerhouse in forties
After an 11-year run in WWE, Nikki Bella retired from in-ring competition back in 2019 - her last match coming against Ronda Rousey at the all-women's WWE Evolution event.
Doctors ruled out a full-time return to action for Bella, real name Nicole Garcia, after she suffered a career-ending neck injury and a cyst on the brain.
Bella was placed "on the retired bench for life" but was cleared to return to action for the 2022 Royal Rumble and a successful neck fusion on the C6-C7 level of her cervical spine. has allowed her to have a second run in WWE.
Since coming back into the fold again as a surprise Royal Rumble entrant, the longest-reigning Divas champion has had to change up her approach but is still bringing it inside the ring as she gears up for a women's Intercontinental Championship clash with Becky Lynch at Clash in Paris on Sunday.
Advert
“I feel so blessed and we have such great doctors here," Bella told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview before the bout.
"Before we were even in talks about me returning in ring, I had to spend some time in Birmingham and we did a lot of testing.
“And the amazing thing about bone fusions is your bone, it grows over time and so to see my bone growth there is incredible.
“Obviously since even the injury happened, I've always had to work different. I don't get to do the things that I used to do and I have to be careful of the things I do. But what I love is, as professional wrestlers, we can still work in that way. We work differently, but it gives you a new opportunity to have a different style.
“Being back, I'm always careful and I just work a different style, but what's great was to see how much growth I had in my neck.”
She has largely remained injury-free since returning - aside from her breast implants being dislocated and pushed down right into her ribs after taking an elbow drop from Piper Niven.
But that is not to say she isn't suffering from the unavoidable aches and pains that come as a result of leaving it all on the line inside the squared circle.
She expanded: “I feel fine when I'm out there and then later it's like my back or something like that! But honestly, when you're in the ring with people in their 20s, it's always going to be different. It's like every professional sport.
“But the beauty of what we get to do is we get to tell stories and we get to work with that. We also have the ability to showcase what we're great at, and so I'm fortunate that I get to do that in this stage.”
The women's division in WWE could not be more stacked these days, with fresh young talents like Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Tiffany Stratton and Lyra Valkyria running riot and leaving Bella "amazed".
Her debut was back in 2008 alongside identical twin Brie and now a mother to five-year-old Matteo, keeping up with the new guard and rising back up again is a challenge she is very much enjoying.
She explained: "It's crazy because I feel like at times we feel like, especially for women, that it's the end of the road for you, whether if you have children or you enter your 40s and so to come back and be with some of the greatest women that have ever come through WWE has been incredible.
"And also, to feel like I'm starting, not brand new, but just being back on the bottom and having to build my way up and coming out of my comfort zone to be challenged at this age is so incredible.
“And to hang is even better. And then to conquer. Well, we'll have to talk about that later.”
In terms of the conquering mission, the Intercontinental title is in her sights and could be around her waist come Sunday. Yet there are still hopes of being back in world title contention and challenging for one of the top tier prizes - though Bella envisions that run including Brie back by her side.
“There's nothing better than having something to fight for," Bella admitted.
"And then when you have that one thing, whatever championship it may be, to then make it meaningful and how you're going to make your run memorable and iconic and different.
“And to be honest, I would really love to do that with Brie. It's what makes me different, especially when I'm a heel. It's really fun.
“But Brie helps me be a built-in gimmick and so I think to have that kind of run, even if it was a final last championship run with her by my side, would be incredible.”
Nikki Bella revealed how she bent WWE rules
The Bellas came in together and Nikki stepped up in a huge way in 2014 when became Divas champion for the second time and embarked on a game-changing reign.
She made impressive strides forward with her in-ring work in an era where the women of WWE were not allowed given the time or focus that they deserve.
In fact, those who progressed from FCW developmental were told that they could not do "certain things" or work in the same way as their male counterparts
But through putting in the work and bending the rules a tad, Bella, who once had a tag team match scrapped from WrestleMania just moments before she and Brie were due to make their entrance, grew into the powerhouse that some of the WWE high-ups didn't think she could become.
She stated: “I grew up as an athlete, so I'm a very coachable person, but I follow the rules. And I think what was the game changer for me is when – I didn't stop following the rules, but I bent them a little bit.
"Like, 'No, I'm going to go out there and do certain things now, I don't care if I'm as big a the powerhouse as some of the guys’.
“I just started to get a fire inside of wanting to be unstoppable. And I think that was the true switch in me. Sometimes you’ve got to break the rules a little bit.
“I was training really hard, and I was getting so strong and I was like, ‘They don't think I could be a powerhouse, but I'm going to prove that I could be a powerhouse in that ring’.
“And I started to and then it was unfortunate when I broke my neck because that's really taken some of that away.”
The neck break means Bella has had to tweak her finishing move. But in her first singles match back against Chelsea Green, she did briefly forget that the maneuver had been purposely altered to avoid potential paralysis.
The 41-year-old revealed: "When I lifted her up, in my head I just knew I had that slight second of like, ‘OK, I could hit this and probably paralyse myself’ or I just have to set her down and re-rack'.
“And I had to do that and that was super embarrassing. But you know, you get through it. I'm healthy, it works out."
Mishaps are part of the game in the weird and wonderful world of WWE, where there is next to no margin for error and where the slightest timing issue is noticeable.
The eye-opening WWE Unreal documentary on Netflix showed that things do not always go to plan in the ring.
Wrestlers essentially play the role of their opponent's dance partner but Bella, on the other hands, compares it to the bedroom in the sense that a lack of timing is costly.
Whether in between the sheets or the ropes, sometimes the chemistry is just not there and magic is not created as a result.
Making the comparison, Bella added: "We're hitting these moves, and you and your opponent can both be great wrestlers but if your timing isn't right, if your chemistry isn't right, you both can put on a really bad match or you can have timings or what the internet will always call ‘botches’ .
"There's miscommunication, there's mistiming. Some people just don't have chemistry.
“Think of it in the bedroom. You could be a really good lover and then you could go sleep with someone and you are like, ‘That was terrible’ Hey, wrestling's kind of the same, you know what I mean?
“You're here rolling around or doing your thing and that doesn't mean the chemistry's gonna be great. It doesn't always work out.
“It’s funny. because I've been in the ring with some people and you would have thought we'd have a five star match and it wasn't there. There wasn't magic.”
Styles make fights and if the verbal and brief physical jousting is anything to go by, the upcoming encounter with fellow veteran Lynch promises to deliver.
Prior to her controversial Ozzy Osbourne line, Lynch scolded Bella with an "insane burn" referencing her break-up with former fiance and 17-time world champion John Cena.
Because of the way her life has played out in public and on reality TV, Bella thinks she is "very easy" to get a pop from the crowd.
But she wouldn't change it, as though she has a plethora of other ventures, her passion for the wrestling business remains unrivalled.
She said: “Once you become a pro wrestler, that never stops. Every time you work out, it doesn't matter what age you are. You're going to think of storylines, you're going to think of moments. You're always going to think of matches and new finishers, and it just lives in us.
“When I had a difficult past few years, I just knew that being Nikki Bella again would help me get my confidence back and put me back as the woman I used to be.”
WWE Clash in Paris is live on Netflix on Sunday at 7pm BST
Josh Lawless