Nikki Bella Talks Being Unhappy With WWE In 2012, Why "Diva" Shouldn't Be Treated Like The "F Word"
Yesterday, Cathy Kelley spoke with Nikki Bella, Charlotte, and Shayna Baszler in a WWE roundtable interview. Topics included if Baszler could have seen herself as the Divas Champion, Charlotte talking about the Four Horsewomen moniker, and Nikki leaving WWE in 2012 because she wasn't happy with the division at the time.
"I've been here for almost 12 years, so I've seen the locker room change tremendously," Nikki said. "I think that was the hardest part, I mean, I saw the frustration of the women and we'd be on live events and it was like freedom, because we'd have more time and have these great matches. You'd come to TV and be demoralized, it was like 'this is our worth?' I remember when my contract was up, they wanted Brie and I to re-sign and I walked away. I remember saying, 'I'm not here for two minute matches and I'm not here for how women are treated' and I left for 11 months."
Nikki continued that previously being called a diva and carrying around a butterfly shaped title was not something that women were begging for, but it was a step in the right direction compared to wrestling in "meaningless" matches previously.
"Seeing how much the locker rooms have changed and where women are at," Nikki said. "I think, Evolution means something different to me. Sometimes, I have an issue when diva, that word, becomes the four letter word it's like saying the 'f word.' No, that's not it, us women tried to make it mean something, but then they wanted to change or make it mean something bad. And believe me, we weren't all begging to be called diva and hold up a championship that looked like that, but it gave us SmackDown women something to fight for because for so long we had to be stuck in these matches that were meaningless. I remember the day they debuted that [title] and we got to compete? might have been three minutes, but we got to compete."
You can see their full comments in the video above.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.