Nikki Bella has opened up about why she and her sister Brie missed the 30th anniversary of Monday Night Raw.
The WWE Hall of Famers had been advertised for the show but didn’t end up appearing. After the event, the Bella Twins sparked controversy on social media by suggesting that there were a number of women WWE deliberately didn’t want to show on television. Nikki went as far as commenting that “Mercedes [Mone] is too over”
Nikki Bella Claims Bella Twins Weren’t Booked For Raw
Speaking on Instagram Live, Nikki Bella has now revealed that the twins missed the show as WWE had “nothing” for them.
“I want to take a second to get on and talk about a few things. First about, maybe a few wrestling headlines I saw. As you will see, the narrative will try to get changed so some people look good and others look bad. This is what is so amazing about this platform, we get to talk about truth.
This week, from Monday until Thursday, Brie and I, and Artem (Chigvintsev), have been booked on crazy media because of the premiere of Nikki Bella Says I Do is Thursday night. WWE-owned show, which is why you see trailers on Monday Night Raw. We were hoping, I think it was weeks ago, we were talking about going to Raw. They said they had nothing for us. We were booked on media on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then there was maybe an idea. Our whole team, including WWE and everyone else, had booked us for Monday in New York.
Whatever you see of stuff, all of a sudden stories change, that’s to clean up and throw it on people, nope. We had all these commitments per the company we work for and everyone else. I know people like to throw it on people, but I’m not going to let that happen,”
In the hours after the show “WWEWomenDeserveBetter” trended on social media as fans hit back at the comapny for female representation on the show. Nikki added that she was happy to see fans sticking up for female stars while discussing her own fandom.
“I also love the fans for sticking up for women. There are so many crybabies, ‘Oh they just wine.’ Let me tell you why people get upset. This is speaking on behalf of the majority of women. ‘Oh, they always make it about them.’ No, just because we speak up, we’re not making it about ourselves. It’s about the women from the very beginning to the ones that are there. I understand why so many people are upset, especially our fans, when it’s something like Raw 30.
I remember when I first started watching Raw, as you all know, some of you like to give me shit that I wasn’t a fan the day I was born. I was obsessed with the matches with Beth Phoenix, Candice Michelle, Melina, Mickie James. That, for me and my era of wrestling when I became a fan, that was Raw to me.
People have all their own memories, and that’s why it’s so important to have women represent because, for so many of the fans, they have their different eras of Chyna, Lita and Trish (Stratus), Melina, Mickie, Michelle (McCool), Beth, Candice (Michelle), those incredible women of that era. Then, our era with AJ (lee), Paige, Brie and I, and so on.
I love that you’re doing the hashtag and you’re going to see a lot of narratives play because people have to protect themselves and you’re going to get a lot of women blamed and people calling them crybabies. No, we put in just as much effort and work. All those women do, all of them, from every era. Not just women, men too.”
WWE have come in for huge criticsim for how they featured women on the show as even their most advertised match featuring Becky Lynch was scrapped. Commenting after the show, former WWE writer Vince Russo stated that Lynch had been “buried.”
Ht to Fightful