PWP Nation’s Derek Gifford recaps the WWE career of Brie Bella
As Brie Bella is planning a life away from the squared circle with her husband Daniel Bryan, why not look back at highlights in her career and celebrate her contributions to WWE. She looks like she is planning to step away when she told WWE.com ;
“I wouldn’t say my last match forever, just my last match that you’ll see in a while. I am here at home because Daniel Bryan and I want to start a family soon. Or I shouldn’t say soon — we want to start it now! We’re going to start having babies, so I have to put my career on hold.
It doesn’t mean that I’m going to be gone. I’m going to be an ambassador for WWE. But I’m going to try motherhood.”
So lets take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
Before WWE
Let’s start with life before wrestling, as Brie and her sister Nikki, made their names on TV as stars under the name “The Garcia Twins” and made small appearances on shows like “Meet My Folks,” which led to the pair finding moderate success which led to their success in WWE.
The Diva Search
The pair entered the 2006 Diva Search which didn’t lead to a career in WWE just yet as they were unsuccessful, but WWE contacted them and put them in the developmental program FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling). Here is where the ‘Magic’ began, as the twins learned the basics of professional wrestling, that would make their run on the main roster so memorable. It was clear that Brie (an Nikki) had a future in wrestling.
SmackDown debut
Brie was eventually moved up to Smackdown on August 29th, 2008. She then had a feud with former WWE Diva Victoria along the way, Brie won her first SmackDown match, where she used “twin magic” and swapped herself for Nikki when the referee wasn’t looking and got the pinfall.
This would go on for two months until finally Victoria was able to discover the truth behind Brie’s tricks under the ring. With Nikki in the picture, the pair went on to form the Bella Twins and compete in numerous tag-team matches going forward.
The pair were entered into an on screen relationship with the Colon Brothers (Carlito and Primo), but found themselves involved in a love pentagon when the twins attracted the attention of then tag-team champions The Miz and John Morrison. The two teams would fight for the affection of the Bella Twins for a prolonged period which lead to the ladies separating for a short time due to an argument and Brie would go on to win that rivalry.
(Almost) Champion
2009 saw the pair moving constantly between the two brands. They moved to Raw in April then ECW in June, where the pair entered a feud with Katie Lea Burchill. Eventually, the pair was sent back to Raw as part of a larger trade, where they continued to compete well into 2010. Brie’s attempts at capturing the Divas Championship proved futile at this stage – being defeated by Maryse.
NXT Mentor
In season 3 on NXT which was a game show type to try and find the next breakout star, the twins were mentors for Daniel Bryan, who was eliminated within the first 3 weeks, which led to the Bellas having a storyline with Daniel Bryan, which saw Brie accompanying him to the ring.
Over time they began to act as Daniel Bryan’s managers, something that would eventually lead to the couple dating in real life. However their on screen romance ended when the pair found Bryan kissing Eve Torres, leading to a rivalry with Torres and Bryan being roundly dumped.
Sweet Sweet Gold
2011 was an amazing year for Brie, as she watched her sister unsuccessfully capture the Divas Championship and her herself capture the gold by defeating Eve Torres on the March 7th episode or RAW. She became the first of the two twins to capture the championship. Brie would go on to hold the Championship until June 20th when she’d be defeated by Kelly Kelly.
The Downfall
After WrestleMania of that year, we saw the downfall for Brie and Nikki, as Nikki captured the divas championship from an injured Beth Phoenix a week before the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.
At the pay-per-view, Twin Magic failed when Nikki brought in Brie and got pinned by a returning Layla that night. The Bellas wouldn’t show their face after that for a while.
The Return
When Brie lost her sisters championship for her, the pair left WWE to participate in some Independent events and some media stuff for WWE, then the two returned to the company back in mid-2013. Their return came as a surprise to fans who hadn’t been given any indication of their return.
Total Divas
The return of Brie and Nikki saw the start of a new WWE reality show named ‘Total Divas.” The pair found themselves as the stars of the show, exposing WWE to a wider audience and quickly becoming figureheads for a new brand of Diva within WWE.
It allowed WWE fans to glimpse into the real world relationship of Brie and Daniel Bryan, whom had worked together previously. Their real life engagement prompted WWE to acknowledge the pair on TV and bring Daniel Bryan onto the Total Divas.
Crazy Chick
Back in the ring, Brie has numerous rivalries but a really emphatic one was with the female lunatic AJ Lee over the Divas Championship. Challenging numerous times for the title throughout 2013 unsuccessfully.
Brie and Nikki found themselves involved in the Survivor Series Divas Match which saw the Total Divas claim victory over the rest of the divas, however both Nikki and Brie failed to capture the Divas Championship from AJ at Wrestlemania 30 in the massive battle royal organized by at the time Smackdown GM Vickie Guerrero.
Wedding Bells
With all the hype from WrestleMania 30 there, Brie and Daniel Bryan finally got married on air on Total Divas. Sadly a serious concussion injury to Daniel Bryan meant that Brie was thrust into an on screen rivalry with Stephanie McMahon.
The SummerSlam storyline
The Summerslam storyline was the story of Stephanie McMahon bullying Brie Bella because of the storyline that Daniel Bryan had with Triple H and it lead to Brie Bella sensationally quitting (on-screen) in order to protect her husband from handing over his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
At Summerslam, a match between Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon in which Brie’s sister, Nikki turned on her and got Stephanie McMahon the pinfall. Sadly this came to nothing as Bryan had to relinquish the belt anyway soon after due to the severity of his injury.
Servant duties
Nikki and Brie had a on screen rivalry which culminated in the two competing over who would be the other ones servant. Brie lost and so was forced to be Nikki’s servant. This didn’t last long as the two reconciled and moved on, allowing Brie to be in Nikki’s corner as she finally captured the Divas Championship in late 2014.
Brie Mode activated
This sadly was the peak of her career when she saw Nikki go out of action with a career threatening neck injury and here beloved husband being forced to retire which deeply saddened the WWE Universe. For Brie it was a tough period that ended up playing out on WWE. She stood by her man and in his darkest hour she was there to support him as he hung up his boots one final time.
After this, it was clear that Brie’s career was coming a a slow end and WWE gave her one last spotlight as she went up against Charlotte for the Divas Championship, which was a real heated rivalry with Charlotte even saying, ‘I wonder what your goat face vegan babies will look like’ and making fun of Daniel Bryan’s height which sparked the WWE Universe in to cheering Brie Bella on for one last championship run for her husband and for her sister which was unsuccessful.
Goodbye?
In what looked to be Brie Bella’s last match in WWE, she competed in a 5-on-5 Tag team match on the Pre-Show of the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania 32 which saw her team pick up the victory and with it closed out a career that has been defined by ups and downs. Nikki Bella returned to see her sister off – signalling that this was the end of the road for the former Divas Champion.
Brie Bella did have a great career in WWE and I do hope her the best in the future with her husband Daniel Bryan.
Thank You, Brie.
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