Brie Bella Explains Why She Was 'Bummed' Over WWE SmackDown Singles Return

For the first time in eight years, WWE fans saw Brie Bella in singles action as she took on Fatal Influence's Lainey Reid on last week's edition of "WWE SmackDown." Unfortunately for the WWE Hall of Famer, her outing resulted in a loss; moreover, it left her with a sense of disappointment.

"I've been pitching a while to have a single match. I've been wanting it forever, so when I finally was like, 'Oh, I get a singles match.' I was super excited. When I heard the times, I was bummed," Brie said on "The Nikki & Brie Show," referencing the match's three-minute time limit. "But also, I understand, SmackDown is back to two hours. It'll be two hours until January. So, all of a sudden, when you have all these storylines going on SmackDown and it's a three-hour show and then boom, you get cut down to two hours, you're back to fighting for TV time. They're going to condense a lot of stuff. So a part of me understood it."

As Brie alluded to, the July 3 "SmackDown" broadcast marked the first to adapt a two-hour runtime in 2026, with the length reportedly set to alternate between that and three hours every six months. Through December 2026, though, WWE's blue brand will produce one hour less of content, which means screen-time for in-ring talents will become even more coveted.

Given her previous work in WWE's Divas era, which frequently saw women underrepresented on programming, Brie joked that the company knew that she, out of everyone in the current roster, could best handle the minimal screentime that her match had. Nevertheless, Brie feels she made the most of it anyway.

"This is how I've always looked at it. You can give me s*** and I'm gonna make something out of it," Brie said. "I do think at times things can be done to bring people down or to not go with any type of momentum. There's definitely things, but I've always been used to obstacles. I'm the type of person. It's like give me lemons, I'll make lemonade. I had a lot of great ideas."

One of Brie's ideas involved her cinching in the Yes Lock, the famous submission of her husband and former WWE star Bryan Danielson, on Reid. Initially, Brie was unsure if WWE officials would grant her permission to perform the hold during her matches. As it turns out, they did, as the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champion trapped Reid in it during their singles bout on "SmackDown." Brie also nailed Reid with a series of Yes Kicks, another signature move of Danielson's.

"I was very grateful," Brie said. "I wanted to do my move that I did when I retired at WrestleMania, when I knew I was going to go off and get pregnant. I wanted to bring in that movement that Neil from UFC taught me. There's things that I have to look at the bigger picture, and see there's so many more positives than the negatives."

With the help of Fallon Henley, Reid escaped the Yes Lock. Brie's co-tag team champion Paige wiped out Jacy Jayne on the outside floor shortly after, only to meet a forearm strike from Henley in return. When Brie then disposed of Henley, she walked into a knee from Reid, which secured victory for the Fatal Influence member. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Nikki & Brie Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.