Nikki Bella Opens Up About Having Been ‘Demoralized’ In WWE, Working 2 Minute Matches That Led To Her Once Leaving The Company

Cathy Kelley recently spoke to Nikki Bella, Charlotte Flair, and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler for a WWE round table interview.

The three women spoke about the evolution of women’s wrestling.

Nikki Bella was particularly reflective and opened up about what it was like to work for the WWE during the Divas Era,

“I’ve been here for almost twelve years, so I have seen the locker room change tremendously and I think that was the hardest part. I saw the frustration of the women and we’d be on live events and it was like freedom because we’d have more time and have these great matches. You’d come to TV and just be demoralized. It was like, ‘This is our worth?’ I remember when my contract was up. They wanted Brie and I to re-sign and I walked away. I remember saying, ‘I’m not here for two minute matches and I’m not here [for] how women are treated,’ and I left for eleven months.”

Bella also opened up about the negative connotations behind the word Diva,

“Sometimes I have an issue when the word Diva becomes the four letter word. It’s like saying the F-Word and I’m like, ‘No, that’s not it.’ We made it that way [strong and powerful]. Us women tried to make it mean something, but then they wanted to change and make it mean something bad and believe me, it wasn’t like we were all begging to be called Diva and hold a championship that looked like that; but, it gave us SmackDown women something to fight for because for so long we had to be stuck in these matches that were meaningless.”

Bella also commented on being reluctant to appear on Total Divas. Shayna Baszler talked about living with Ronda Rousey early on in her career and also performed magic tricks. She and Charlotte also discussed a possible 4-Horsewomen vs 4-Horsewomen dream match and Flair talked being proud to win the Diva’s Championship.

Readers can watch the full round table interview below:

Nikki Bella will challenge Ronda Rousey for the RAW Women’s Championship tonight at Evolution.

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