Just a few weeks after they announced their retirement from WWE in-ring action, Brie and Nikki Bella were already planning on returning to the ring.
It turns out that the reason why Bayley and Sasha Banks dropped the Women’s Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 35 is that WWE had plans for The IIconics to feud with The Bella Twins.
As most of you know by now, the late decision to have Bayley and Sasha Banks had some people baffled because it looked like WWE had long-term plans for Banks and Bayley. In fact, they had Banks and Bayley appear at an NXT TV taping a few weeks before Mania and they promised to defend their titles on all WWE shows.
Those plans changed when WWE decided on The Bella Twins vs. The IIconics feud that ended up not happening.
On the recent edition of The Bella Twins podcast, Nikki talked about how her neck issues meant that she could not wrestle again. She also revealed the plans that were laid out for their post-WrestleMania storyline.
“Brie and I, we were gonna come back and fight for the tag titles after WrestleMania and we were gonna go against The IIconics for a few months,” Nikki said. “Deep down inside, I kept having this weird feeling that I needed to get an x-ray on my neck because for a while I wasn’t feeling okay. Brie knows that in December after Evolution, I just kept telling her that I feel off and my head doesn’t feel right…”
Nikki said she went to a detox spa and she was fine for a short time but then she started not feeling so great so she had her blood drawn and she tried other things that helped for a short time.
Brie said, “We had our gear, we had everything.” Nikki added, “We were ready. Bella Twins were coming back in a big way.”
Brie said they were supposed to return on the SmackDown Live after WrestleMania 35 to kick off the feud with The IIconics. However, Nikki’s MRI results derailed those plans. Doctors told her that she had inflammation around the metal of her neck and her neck is fully herniated. Even worse, doctors found a benign cyst on her brain. She was told that one bad bump could cause her to be paralyzed.
This would explain why The IIconics have not done anything noteworthy since winning the titles at WrestleMania 35. They have been wrestling Asuka and Kairi Sane on live events but have yet to defend the titles on pay-per-view since they won them in April. They are currently not advertised for a match at Extreme Rules.
Nikki talked to us about her retirement a couple of weeks ago in the video below:
