A female WWE legend recently opened up on the controversial Divas Era.
The Divas Era is one of the most polarizing eras in WWE, with many feeling that the female wrestlers at the time were not shown in great light during the time. Several other fans were a fan of the era, which arguably extended from 2008 – 2016, due to some of the storytelling, and perhaps even some of the top female wrestlers were part of the era. Some of the stars, such as Nikki Bella, AJ Lee, and Paige, among a plethora of others, made a name for themselves during this time. The Divas Era was epitomized with the introduction of the Divas Champion, which replaced the WWE Women’s Championship in the company. This era also saw the introduction of the highly popular Total Divas show.
Nikki Bella, who was part of the famous Bella Twins, won the Divas Title twice and became a Hall of Famer in 2020. The star recently made a return to WWE and was part of the second-ever all-women’s Evolution PLE. While speaking on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About? Podcast, the star recently opened up about the Divas Era and how she thought it was cool.
While speaking on the podcast, Cody Rhodes asked the legend regarding how she felt about the Divas Era in WWE and how fans look at the modern women’s division versus the Divas division.
“The greatest thing about being a woman is that we hold a lot of power. We get to have a beauty that men don’t have, and we could use that as power. And that’s what I always looked at as the Divas. They had it all. They had empowerment, they had inspiration, there was motivation, and then they had beauty, and they used that as their strength. A lot of the girls, especially the NXT girls, were talking to me today, and I was telling them about connection and all that. I was telling them that I have always made sure that even though I’m a pro wrestler and I’m a fighter, I find the moments that people don’t realize to also show that I’m womanly, I’m sexy and I’m comfortable in my body. So whether I’m selling or I’m crawling to a pen, I’m gonna do it in a way that a man can never do it. And that’s like the power of a woman. And that was the power of the Divas. I loved that era.”
Nikki Bella further stated that the Divas had to earn their place in WWE
Continuing on the podcast, Bella further elaborated on the Divas Era and stated that the stars had to earn their place and that it was always a “tug of war.”
“The Divas were kind of like…we had to earn our place. There was only one place. If we earned it too much, if we worked too hard we needed to be more feminine and if we showed too much masculinity. It was always a tug of war there. And so, but it made us such great fighters and never give up. And so it’s such a special era. I thought at WWE, we really changed that name Diva. We worked hard on making it a very special name. And people will always ask me, like, are they gonna ever bring back the Divas Championship? Like, even the fans miss it.”
The Hall of Famer further elucidiated that there was nothing wrong with being called a Diva.
“I don’t think there was anything ever wrong with that being called a Diva. I think it’s cool. It’s character, it’s fun.”
Nikki Bella is yet to secure a match after her Evolution appearance. It remains to be seen what the future holds for the star in WWE.
If you use the quotes in the piece, please credit the What Do You Wanna Talk About Podcast and give an H/T to ITR Wrestling.