The Bella Twins have been with WWE for the most part since they signed with the company in 2007, except for a brief period. The sisters left WWE back in April 2012 for a while before returning to the organization almost a year later in March 2013.
During their recent appearance on Wrestling with Freddie, the former champions talked about the dark days of women’s wrestling and more. They also explained the reasoning for their sudden departure from the promotion back in the day.
Nikki Bella explained that The Bella Twins had signed a 5-year contract with WWE when they first got into the company. Their contracts were coming up and they weren’t happy with how women were being treated in the promotion:
“Our five years were coming up. I remember at that point; Brie and I just did not like how women were treated in WWE. Two-minute matches but were allowed ten minutes on live events. While we were working hard on live events, we were never allowed a showcase on TV and our stories didn’t have depth and we just weren’t treated right.”
The Bella Twins On Why They Refused To Re-Sign
The former Diva’s champion continued by saying that they tried to remind the officials about their contracts but they couldn’t get a response. The duo ultimately decided to stop reminding the company. The officials finally reached out to them when their contract had already expired and the female stars decided not to renew them:
“They were like ‘we’ll give you these stories,’ and I was like, you couldn’t even have a conversation with me. I remember we’d just had this conversation and I said ‘we’re leaving.’ They still probably thought Brie and I were going to sign after the show or that week, they kept calling. Literally, when we left RAW in Chicago, after the championship match, we left and that was it.”
Nikki Bella defeated Beth Phoenix to win the Diva’s championship during the April 23, 2012 episode of Raw. Her contract expired the day after the championship win. Nikki dropped the title to Layla the following Sunday at Extreme Rules after The Bella Twins informed the officials of their decision. They had a rematch for the title on the Raw after the PPV and the twins left the company after that show
H/t to WrestlingInc for the transcribed quotes
