Yesterday, Nikki and Brie Bella announced that they were leaving the Bella name behind and would now be known as Brie and Nikki Garcia going forward.
After announcing their name change on social media, the twins took to their podcast to explain their decision while also confirming that they were no longer contracted to WWE. Speaking on the latest episode of the newly-renamed Nikki & Brie Show, Nikki Garcia had this to say:
“Our listeners and everyone in the world right now is asking why? Why, you had this amazing name that you got from your grandfather Pop-Pop who’d always call us ‘my bellas, my bellas.’ And so why after 17 years is that gone?
“Brie and I, almost 40, we’re going to be 40 in November. We’re mothers, we’re entrepreneurs, we’re executive producers, we’re starring, now we’re hosting shows, winemakers, and when our contracts came up with WWE, mutually we all knew like, we just needed to head into this new chapter.” (h/t Inside the Ropes)
As they’re now free agents, speculation about the twins’ future has been running rampant since their announcement, with many fans wondering if they’ll join Brie’s husband Bryan Danielson in AEW now that they’re no longer under contract to WWE. The sisters were recently spotted backstage at AEW Revolution, adding to fan speculation that they might be jumping ship to the rival promotion after seemingly being unhappy with WWE in recent months.
“We’re Not Going To AEW” – Nikki Garcia On The Former Bella Twins’ Future
However, taking to Instagram Live, Nikki Garcia explained that they were simply backstage at Revolution to visit friends and that the twins are not joining Bryan in AEW. She began by addressing the twins’ split from WWE, insisting that there are “no hard feelings” despite recent events before making it clear that the Garcia Twins were simply backstage at Revolution to visit friends and family.
“We are not going to AEW. I know, I’ve seen a lot of that because, I think, we were just there visiting Renee and Paige [Saraya].”
Continuing, Nikki spoke about having the opportunity to take her son Matteo backstage with her to see his uncle Bryan in action. Bryan Danielson competed against MJF in a 60-minute iron man match at the event, and despite the match initially ending in a draw, MJF forced Danielson to tap out when the bout was sent into overtime, meaning Danielson failed to capture the AEW World Championship.
“I was like, I haven’t had the opportunity to take Matteo backstage to a wrestling event and when he knew uncle Bryan was going to be there, Matteo loves his uncle Bryan, Brie and I were like, we have to go see Bryan. The kids had so much fun.” (h/t F4WOnline)