I read the Bella Twins' autobiography

bobby_says_hi

Not sure if this was posted before, but the Bellas released a book called Incomparable back in 2019.

Some tidbits:
* When they were called up to TV, they were forbidden from wearing their ring gear because it was red and that was associated with "one of the veterans". The gear they wore for their initial matches was a pair of swimsuits hurriedly cut and sewn onto gym pants. The gimmick of Nikki hiding under the ring was because Nikki had broken her nose in FCW and had two black eyes, so this allowed her to minimise her appearances without looking too different from Brie. They weren't allowed to change in the locker room for weeks until the office caught them changing in the bathroom and ordered the other women to let them change in the locker room.

* There are mentions of bullying and backstage fights, but the culprits are never named. There is just mention of "the bad apples" being slowly released one by one, and the locker room becoming much friendlier as a result. Nikki mentions a female she had a rivalry with for years who kept trying to spread rumors about her, and they ended up having a massive fight in the locker room. She's not named by given the hearsay Maria Kanellis is the most likely candidate (before people even mention Melina, in other interviews they've described her as "like a sister" and kept pitching WWE to put them all in a stable together called Latina Heat. When asked about Melina's backstage heat, in one interview they say they never saw that side of her and assume it must have been from before they came to WWE).

* Their parents were very young when they had them, and Nikki was named after their favourite babysitters. If anyone's wondered why she goes by Nikki/Nicole, when her given name is Stephanie Nicole, her parents wanted to call her Nicole first but they didn't think Nicole Stephanie sounded good - so they just went with the other way around and called her Nicole anyway.

* Their father was an abusive addict who was especially rough with Nikki. He once assaulted her while dropping her off at school, and one night hit her so bad she ran away from home and was sleeping in an alley for a week. She wouldn't return home unless their parents separated.

*They dealt with lots of racism for being Latina growing up, even going into a bar where the bartender refused to serve them.

* Brie had a boyfriend in high school nicknamed Bear who she was deeply in love with, and was heartbroken when he died in a car crash. The bear claw tattoos she has on her midriff are a tribute to him.

* They speak highly of Natalya and Krissy Vaine, who helped them in developmental. Nattie was one of their favourite people to work with, and she taught them so much in the ring. In return, they taught her how to do the 'Diva thing' and she still keeps some of the costume pieces they loaned her. Paige is mentioned as another favourite to work with. They thank Victoria for helping them out in their debuts, saying she would sometimes crack sex jokes while she was calling spots. Nikki mentions loving working with Tamina and Beth Phoenix as well.

* Brie and Bryan's relationship is talked about in great detail. They didn't start dating until after their storyline was over, and she recaps the moment where the others found out; Sheamus and Ted DiBiase caught them driving together and were staying in the same travel lodge, and burst in on the two of them in bed. Bryan didn't say "I love you" until the day he proposed.

*Nikki's relationship with John Cena is only lightly touched on (she had to sign an NDA with him) and she only says she wishes she'd communicated her feelings better.

*Nikki's relationship with Dolph Ziggler is detailed, though he's referred to by a pseudonym. She discovered he was cheating on her with a close friend of theirs. The woman isn't named, but Reddit seems to think it's Angela Fong - who came in through the same Diva Search, trained in FCW, was on the main roster as an interviewer called Savannah, got released in 2010 and showed up in Lucha Underground as Black Lotus.

*The segment where Brie challenges Stephanie to a match at SummerSlam was completely unscripted. Triple H and Stephanie was too busy throughout the night to rehearse anything or put a script together, so they could only hurriedly discuss it in gorilla position right before they went out and Brie had to improvise.

*When they'd been on the main roster for a year, they were dragged into Wrestler's Court along with Natalya for getting too much TV time. Natalya was also dragged for being "annoying". They were friendlier with the males than the females because there was "less drama".

*They only agreed to do Total Divas in the hopes that it would result in more TV time for the women's division. They'd left WWE precisely because they hated how poorly the women were treated. Brie found it hard because she's normally a private person but it was "too good an opportunity to pass up". The producers of the show didn't even know Nikki was dating John Cena when she was asked to do the show. A lot of the talent backstage called them "sell outs" for doing the show, and some would cover their faces whenever the cameras were around. They got **** from some smarks for ruining kayfabe too.

*There was legit heat between the Bellas and AJ. The latter's Pipe Bombshell promo was unscripted (according to AJ's autobiography, Vince gave her free reign to say whatever she wanted), and the Bellas got genuinely offended by AJ mocking their "daddy issues" right after an episode of Total Divas had aired detailing that their father was abusive. But Brie was able to talk it out with AJ backstage. Nikki describes it as AJ "going into business for herself".

*The infamous 30 second match that sparked 'Give Divas a Chance' had originally been given eight minutes, was cut to five and then down to two literally right before they went out.

*They wanted their tag match at WrestleMania 31 against AJ and Paige to be more exciting and impactful, but were forced to tone it down by WWE.

*Brie describes having body image issues that got exacerbated by her pregnancy, and she nearly turned down an appearance at the 2018 Royal Rumble because she was shy about her weight. Bryan also suffered from depression after Birdie was born. His depression was worse when he had to retire from wrestling, and he allowed Total Bellas to document it unedited in the hopes of showing fans that their heroes can struggle with mental health too.

*Both twins hated the 2015 Divas Revolution storyline, particularly how they were portrayed as the ones holding the division back - feeling it invalidated all the hard work of the women wrestlers of the past. Nikki in particular suffered a breakdown during this period because of how the story blurred kayfabe and reality. She liked working with Charlotte Flair however.

*The male Superstars were pissed when the women's Royal Rumble was chosen as the main event, and messed Nikki and Asuka around by deciding to do their planned finish. They spent a couple of hours coming up with a new finish before the men changed their mind and let them use the original one. Nikki wasn't a fan of Ronda Rousey debuting right after the Rumble, feeling it took the attention away from Asuka's historic win and deprived Ronda of a meaningful debut.

Nikki detailed a traumatic experience from her teen years, so content warnings here:

She was date raped twice, first by a friend and secondly by a college boy who lured her and another girl to their dorm and knocked her out as she realised what was about to happen

Itssoeasy

This post deserved a thanks for the fact you read the Bella twins autobiography. So Nikki had to Sign an NDA when she was in a relationship with cena ? That doesn’t surprise me as he’s a weird fish in that regard.

I loved the AJ lee promo but unless AJ was aware of the history with their father then I don’t get why they got hot with AJ.

bobby_says_hi

Supposedly the NDA thing is routine with most celebrities.

I can see both sides but I'd take the Bellas' on this one. AJ mocks the 'daddy issues' in her promo, meaning she had to have at least been aware that there was something there. The decent thing to do would be to say "Hey, I'm thinking about saying this on the microphone, that okay? No? Oh no worries, I'll say something else instead" since AJ was given free reign to write her own promo. The way it's written in the book (sorry if it doesn't come across here) it seems as though Brie just said "hey, can you not make fun of our abusive childhoods in the rest of your promos please" and that was it.

Speaking as someone who's suffered abuse and bullying in the past, it can be difficult to predict how or when but sometimes the slightest thing that could be associated with that time will trigger really nasty memories and emotions - and I had really bad bouts of depression brought on by repressed memories coming back. There's no way to prevent this and you do slowly get better at managing it, so I guess if I was in that position and someone mocked my trauma on live TV with no warning, I'd want to let the person know that they could be doing a lot of damage by being that careless.

But supposedly fame went to AJ's head around this time, and alienated a bunch of other people (she herself suffers from bipolar disorder) so perhaps she wasn't in the mindset to be that considerate - especially since even in 2013 we didn't take mental health problems as seriously as we do now.

B.A._Baracus

That WWE locker room seems like one toxic environment that would do your head in. Of course there's big money in WWE so you'd deal with it. Still at the same time it would annoy you.

As the Bellas say, not being allowed to change in the locker room - that you haven't "earned" that right. What's this? A highschool locker room? :pac:

Then being brought to "wrestlers court" cause you got too much TV time ... which is pure jealously cause everyone is fighting for TV time. But what next? You wore odd-socks to TV and brought in to the court? Lol.

Charlie Haas gave an interview recently about being brought down at every opportunity in WWE. Like niggling at everything. Sure when you step back it's a business where you can get "heat" if you didn't shake someone's hand that night yet you did the previous. To not being allowed to talk to another peer because you haven't earned that right, which is mad lol.

So let me get this straight, if I signed with WWE tomorrow and get moved up to the main roster I cannot speak to Randy Orton (besides shaking his hand that night) but if it were in any other situation in the world it would be perfectly acceptable to shoot the breeze with him.

I can't wear red rights if randy is wearing them (or who ever) yet colours are so interchangeable these days.
I can't use a basic move like a ddt or a snapmare because someone else is (Charlie Haas mentioned this)
I have to show respect to all my peers yet everyone is politicing behind each others backs to get on.

Mental :pac:

The White Wolf

If AJ was ripping on something they detailed on Total Divas I don't see the big deal. They used it for their own show so I'm sure AJ thought it was fair game.

J. Marston

With hindsight, never understand how that AJ "pipebomb" is held in high regard and considered the unofficial kick start for the women's revolution. It was just slut-shaming smark bait, talking about how they allegedly sucked their way to the top.

Nikki was a far better wrestler than AJ also, for what it's worth.

bobby_says_hi

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

That WWE locker room seems like one toxic environment that would do your head in. Of course there's big money in WWE so you'd deal with it. Still at the same time it would annoy you.

As the Bellas say, not being allowed to change in the locker room - that you haven't "earned" that right. What's this? A highschool locker room? :pac:

Then being brought to "wrestlers court" cause you got too much TV time ... which is pure jealously cause everyone is fighting for TV time. But what next? You wore odd-socks to TV and brought in to the court? Lol.

Charlie Haas gave an interview recently about being brought down at every opportunity in WWE. Like niggling at everything. Sure when you step back it's a business where you can get "heat" if you didn't shake someone's hand that night yet you did the previous. To not being allowed to talk to another peer because you haven't earned that right, which is mad lol.

So let me get this straight, if I signed with WWE tomorrow and get moved up to the main roster I cannot speak to Randy Orton (besides shaking his hand that night) but if it were in any other situation in the world it would be perfectly acceptable to shoot the breeze with him.

I can't wear red rights if randy is wearing them (or who ever) yet colours are so interchangeable these days.
I can't use a basic move like a ddt or a snapmare because someone else is (Charlie Haas mentioned this)
I have to show respect to all my peers yet everyone is politicing behind each others backs to get on.

Mental :pac:

They said the same thing as well about the handshake. Like if two people were having a private conversation, were you rude for interrupting them to shake the hand or not? Someone else in developmental tried to mess with them as well by lying that their call time (when they had to be at the arena) was 7pm when it was actually 2.

Maria Kanellis said that during the Diva Search, she and the rest of the contestants were told not to bother the other wrestlers (she and Michelle McCool were big wrestling fans) but the talent assumed they were being snobby and started trying to antagonise them.

And Amy Weber - who was with WWE as JBL's 'image consultant' for a year or so - did a YouTube video elaborating on the Randy Orton thing. She was training for a match and injured her hip. The trainer told her to take two Ibuprofen and that they had some in the men's locker room. Then on a flight back from Japan, Randy Orton ambushed her by running into her chair and knocking her out of it screaming "you're gonna learn, bitch!" and Edge poured a drink over her while she was asleep.

I assume the only reason they didn't have some physical rule book lying around was because they enjoyed punishing people for breaking them so much.

JP Liz V1

J. Marston wrote: »

With hindsight, never understand how that AJ "pipebomb" is held in high regard and considered the unofficial kick start for the women's revolution. It was just slut-shaming smark bait, talking about how they allegedly sucked their way to the top.
Nikki was a far better wrestler than AJ also, for what it's worth.

I don't even remember AJ's pipebomb

They thank Victoria for helping them out in their debuts, saying she would sometimes crack sex jokes while she was calling spots

Was Victoria linked to John Cena? As in they hooked up