Nikki Garcia, also known as Nikki Bella, made her return to WWE by attending the Raw on Netflix premiere in January before appearing in this year’s WWE Royal Rumble match from Indianapolis, IN, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
This surprise appearance occurred when she entered the bout at #30 and interacted with several top stars, following teases about a potential WWE return this year. She and Brie Bella had previously departed WWE in 2023.
Bella has hinted at the return of the Evolution pay-per-view event, which is reportedly under consideration. Natalya recently appeared on the Insight With Chris Van Vliet podcast to discuss various topics, including private training sessions with Bella.
“Nikki actually has been coming and training with me privately. So she flies in every week, and she’s been coming and working with me. I will tell you that she hasn’t lost it, she has so much passion for this. It’s funny because I saw her last week. She came to Tampa and I said to her, This is so funny because we started our careers together in the very same week, Nikki and I and Brie. So we started together in the same week in developmental in WWE and I remember when all three of us had nothing. All three of us were hired at the very base amount of pay and it was never, ever about the money. It was always about the work, the passion. So we were just laughing and sharing old stories. I didn’t have enough money to buy wrestling gear, so The Bella Twins were giving me their clothes.
Because when you just get started, you’re just kind of literally just getting started. I went to Florida with this one suitcase because I was like, I gotta get down to Florida, I’ll just leave everything behind. I’ll get back to Calgary. I never went back to live in Calgary because my whole life with WWE has been kind of stateside as far as living, but I didn’t have money for a lot of the things that we need to look like superstars. So The Bella Twins, they were giving me their clothes. They were giving me stuff to look nice. I was taking certain things that they had and I was cutting them up and glueing my own sequins on them, and trying to make it. I look back on that now I’m like Nattie you look like sh*t, pardon my language. But I was like, I wouldn’t have hired you looking like that, because you look horrible, but you do what you have to do. I just remember those early years with the twins. So being able to help Nikki prepare for Royal Rumble and of course, I would love to see Nikki back. I’m looking for a tag team partner and of course I’d love to have Nikki as my partner. But I just love her, and I love Brie so much, and they just have so much passion. So seeing what Nikki’s doing in the ring and doing in our dungeon, I mean, our dungeon is really like a dungeon. We try to make it as much like the original dungeon that my grandfather started in Calgary. There’s no air conditioning. It’s in Florida. It’s just a small room with enough room to put a ring in, and there’s one bathroom, and there’s some fans, and there’s a lot of stray cats that my husband and I feed.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Insight With Chris Van Vliet with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
