Original subtitles

- The one thing my sisters always did

Is they loved a challenge.

They walked into a man's world and basically gave

All the men the middle finger and say, "we're here".

- You better make sure to do it better than a man.

And I was like, oh, that's all you had say to me.

- Twins are strange.

Trouble may come looking for brie.

Nikki goes looking for trouble.

- I found them to be the greatest athletes, performers.

Well-rounded, hardest working,

Most compassionate, who had to command an audience

Of 30,000 people.

- [announcer] one half of the bella twins,

Hall of famer,

Brie bella in full blown brie mode.

- Brie is a knife.

She is a sharpened blade.

- [announcer] and brie bella --

Oh, pencil drop kick! Oh my god!

- Nikki is not afraid of conflict.

She shows it in her work.

She shows it in the way she loves.

She shows it in the way she dances.

She shows it in everything.

- Two of the most famous wwe superstars in history.

- [announcer] brie is the new diva's champion.

- The gloves were off.

There was no turning back.

- [announcer] nikki bella is the longest reigning

Diva's champion in history.

- We've been a tag team since the womb.

- [announcer] whoa! Look out! Who doesn't wanna be a bella?

- Every time you turn around

I would see something online about them.

- It's the bellas. Do you know the bellas?

- Of course.

- This is bigger than I think

We all could have ever imagined.

- [narrator] reality tv stars brie and nikki bella!

- Nearly 35 million followers

Across their social media platform.

- Whoa!

- Muscle and fitness cover. - [nikki] uh oh!

- [harry] that's ridiculous.

- From your show, to your podcast,

To your beauty line, to your sportswear line,

To your wine line, your youtube channel.

- We are part of wwe history.

(explosion) (dramatic impacts)

- You know, home life wasn't easy growing up.

My parents were forced to be parents at 19 years old.

It was kids raising kids.

- Their father and I came

From two different worlds and those worlds crashed.

- My dad was a pistol.

I always felt like I was walking on eggshells and

My dad was a drug user and he would get angry

At a drop of the hat and he would black out.

And that was really hard to live with.

- There was a lot of partying and anger

And discipline was above what discipline should be.

Brie and I were raised that when there's conflict

You settle it in an aggressive way.

We were taught to fight at a very young age.

We were told that no, we yell

At each other because that's how we love each other.

- It was wild. (laughing)

It was a wild upbringing.

Everything was just more amplified.

We sort of almost had training in a way of,

Standing up to people who either lose their fuse

Or scary or try to intimidate you.

We sort of knew how to handle that situation

Because of our household situation with my father.

- But I have to say I had a lot of happy moments.

My parents were both athletes growing up

And they were obsessed with us kids being athletes.

And I think the one thing too is at a young age

My parents noticed that all three of us kids

Had this natural athletic ability.

So they figured you gotta push 'em that way.

(techno music)

- Soccer came into my life at the perfect time.

I was in fourth grade and soccer brought a lot

Of structure that I didn't have at home.

I really loved that feeling

Of having all these parents around,

Having this coach who was like a father,

Having these other sisters around

That I could vent to, or I could come to or laugh with

Like I needed their strength to get through what I was going

Through behind closed doors at my home.

- One thing that my sister and I learned

With our soccer team is being a team player,

Pretty much having a tag partner.

There's 11 of us on the field.

And if you're in business for yourself

You are going to lose the game for your team.

It really taught us

That we don't have to fight with other women for a spot.

Instead, you can find unity

And make magic happen for so many women.

- Sophomore through senior year was actually very tough,

But 15 is when my world really started to fall apart.

And I just like lost myself.

I wanted to rebel

Because I didn't understand what I was going through

Mentally and emotionally.

At that age, I hadn't done anything sexually, like at all.

I mean, I kissed a boy.

So, the first time that I was raped in high school

Everything was new and was taken from me.

Like my virginity was taken from me.

My innocence was taken from me.

And the worst part was like, I blamed myself.

I blamed myself for going to a 4th of July party

And then having drinks and passing out.

It's -- you think you can always like get past it

But you can't, it's hard.

And I think the one regret I have

And the one thing I want people to learn is, like,

You have to, like, talk to people.

I didn't wanna tell anyone, except my sister.

I took the shame with that and I locked it away.

And that changed who I was.

That next day I changed.

- I had no idea.

She was good at making me think everything was okay.

And so it was hard to find out years later

That she had been sexually assaulted, not once, but twice.

- Two years later,

I get into another bad situation that didn't feel right.

And I still went.

And next thing you know,

Just being drugged and hit in the head and raped.

And it was like, after those two situations, I just was done.

And instead of lifting myself up

I just went into a deep depression for a few years.

And then it took finally one day where I just

Knew I wanted to survive that all.

I think it took just looking at myself in the mirror one day

And just being like, you're better than this.

Like, let's start to build ourself up.

Let's survive.

- I'll never forget this christmas.

My dad was going on a soul searching trip.

And shortly after he left

My mom got a phone call that my dad was

On his way to go on a cruise with this woman,

The team mom, of my brother's baseball team.

And my mom was devastated.

- And I just remember thinking

Like, she deserves so much better

And I'm not gonna let her be in this situation anymore.

My dad and I get into a massive fight that turns physical.

And I literally walked outta the house.

I might have been barefooted.

I had nothing.

And brie and I walked out that front door

And I didn't even look back.

I was on the run for a week

And I actually talked to my school principal first

Before I went home because I was refusing to go home.

And I just said, I will not go home if my dad's there.

- Now I'll tell you one thing.

My dad has one of the biggest hearts ever

But he just would lose his fuse pretty quick.

It's a building moment, I think for nicole

To really put her foot down

Not just like, "hey, listen, I know you're my parents

But I'm not comin' back

Until that house is safe." or that she felt it was safe.

- So the cops had to get involved

And my dad was thrown out of my house.

And it was very awkward for my mom in the beginning

Because I pretty much, in the end,

Forced the decision on her.

I needed him to be gone.

(pensive guitar music)

- When finally my parents figured

Out that they couldn't be together.

They had to get a divorce.

And all of a sudden our house became happier.

I started to be like, well, what makes me happy?

Because it's not soccer.

Like I loved soccer,

But I also loved the arts, painting, music and drama.

I just felt like my life is changing now.

I'm 16. I'm driving.

I'm feeling a little more free.

Like I wanna start living for me then.

And I started to.

So I slowly started to pull out of soccer

And then I meet bear and I fall in love.

He was this just really vibrant artist.

I'd go to bear's house

And he'd be writing music and he'd be painting.

And he would paint me a lot.

And I was just like, "am I like, in a movie?"

Bear brought to me everything I loved,

Which was the arts, music.

And he became my everyday, everything.

I finally felt purpose.

And I finally felt this sense

Of direction where I wanted my life to go.

(camera flash)

(dramatic boom)

- Soccer was my life.

11 years I played competitive ball and I loved what I did.

There was something about being

On that field and being a badass.

There was so much on me, but I loved it.

I thrived on it.

And I had the dreams of being on the women's world cup team

Me, hamm, carla overbeck, brandi chastain,

All those women were who I looked up to growing up.

I'm about to sign with arizona state university.

And I have all these other offers

From all over the country.

I'm gonna have a spot on the arizona heatwave,

Play in the women's professional league.

I'm making my way up to see that dream

Of being on the world cup team one day.

That's how I see it, right?

Third place game from a high school team,

Striker gets a breakaway.

I go to slide tackle her.

She takes a shot.

We hit shin to shin

And mine snaps right in half.

And the break was just so bad.

It was like, sorry, we don't know how you're gonna heal.

Scholarships are off the table.

We couldn't afford college.

Everything that I worked for for 11 years straight,

What was gonna get me out of arizona, outta my home.

It's just all gone.

And it was just like everything crumbled.

- January of my senior year, my boyfriend, bear,

Was picking up a friend and they were on their way to my house.

And I was talking to him on the phone, excited to see him.

And 45 minutes later, I get a phone call that bear is dead.

He was killed by a drunk driver.

And in that moment, my life had changed forever.

When that love was taken away,

I just was on such a high in my life.

And I went to the lowest low,

And even more so than the (beep) I dealt with my dad because

The stuff I dealt with my dad,

Well, we made up, we could like deal

And it's like, I'm still breathing, but like,

To lose someone who means so much to you

And know you'll never ever talk to them again.

That was hard to swallow.

And that was hard for me to think like,

How do I get out of this?

- And that's when I knew I had to go.

I had to get outta arizona.

But at that time, my sister and I knew we needed each other.

One night, this was like, not even a week after bear died.

I was bawling my eyes out. In her, like cast,

She crawled over to me and cuddled me.

And she's like, let's just get out of here.

That's all we wanted.

We were like, let's go.

And we did.

We were out.

(mellow music)

- [nikki] we get to graduation day, brie and I literally,

I think it's the next day, pack up our car.

And we're like, we're moving to san diego.

- And of course, when we get there, we're like, okay

Well, we need full-time work.

- So my sister and I were like

Where could we make really good money at 18 years old?

And we're like, hooters!

♪ who's getting happy? ♪

- When brie and I first walked into hooters, I was like,

"oh gosh, brie, like, how are we gonna tell the family?"

Like, are we sure about this?

I don't know about those outfits.

Then when we like heard, they got more than minimum wage,

They could walk out

With a hundred dollars cash tips at night,

We were like, okay, we have to do this.

- You know, it takes a lot to be a waitress and to walk

Up to strangers, especially in a hooters atmosphere.

And demand attention, demand respect

And we were taught that.

Feminine energy is the most powerful energy

You can ever use. Ever, ever, ever.

Sometimes women are taught to hide our feminine energy.

We were taught not to use our voices,

Let everyone else talk, be polite.

Hooters taught me not to be polite, to actually speak up.

It really started to blossom me into this young woman.

- I never thought in my life

That when I was working at hooters for two and a half years

That those pantyhose would come back and haunt me

Because those were the same pantyhose that I wore

For over 10 years in the wrestling ring.

(dramatic music)

(bell ringing)

- We started to be like, okay,

Everyone at home keeps asking,

"so what are you doing with your lives?"

And we can't just keep saying, you know, figuring it out.

And I know nicole really wanted to get back into soccer.

- And I had the head coach

Of grossmont college soccer team call me and be like,

"look, I know what you've done in your career.

And if your shin's great, come play for us."

And I was like, you know what?

I'm gonna go back and still see if I got it.

And then I got back on that soccer field

And we made magic happen.

We had an incredible season.

We were champions.

I had my head coach calling me saying like

Italy's starting to thrive.

You're half italian.

Why don't you go play pro ball in Italy?

And I was like, you know what?

This is like, what I need, like,

This is the change I need.

- And for myself, I really didn't know.

I was kind of waiting for a sign.

I was waiting for something.

And that's when I saw it.

- [announcer] it's back, the quarter of a million dollars

Wwe diva search.

Head to wwe.Com for all the details.

- And I thought to myself

Oh? Wrestling.

Well, I feel like I've wrestled my sister, my whole life.

I know about fighting.

And if it's dealing with athletics,

All I've ever been told my whole life is

That I have a natural athletic ability.

But at the same time, this is entertainment.

It clicked.

- I actually went to the audition first by myself.

- [woman] tell me your name, please.

- It's brianna colace.

- Brianna.

And brianna, you have an identical twin.

- I do.

We're actually known as the garcia twins.

I was like, oh, this is perfect.

I'm totally getting it.

But they're like this actually really isn't the audition.

This is just an interview

If we want you to go to the audition.

I'm like, oh shit okay.

They're like, but please bring your twin.

So begged my sister, begged her,

- And she goes, "hey, look,

Before you make the decision to go to Italy,

To play pro soccer, come check this out with me."

- We show up, you hate it, you know,

This wasn't meant to be.

I'm like, or we show up and we're like, this is for us.

- And I was like, hmm.

So watching Monday night raw, seeing the girls kick butt.

I'm like, I really like this.

It's like being athletic and showcasing our athletic ability

And competing and being a champion.

- [announcer] very impressive, the women's champion!

- So I was like, you know what? I'll listen to brie.

I'll give it a chance.

When we showed up to diva search,

Brie had steered me very much in the wrong direction.

She told me we were going there to fight.

- It looked like a line of go-go dancers.

- Everyone was in sparkly bras.

And I was dressed like, in jeans and a tank top.

I don't even know if I had makeup on.

- She's calling around trying to get some wrestling ideas,

Some moves.

She's on the phone with the rock.

- We were still so off.

That's okay.

Even when I look at us in our swimsuits

And I love it because it's brie night.

- No. Oh, we -- do the same thing did, right?

- The dwayne thing.

- Even when you see us in the swimsuit competition part,

Brie and I don't really have a lot of makeup on

And we have our hair thrown up.

Like girls were in full glam

As if they were trying out for miss usa.

Not brie and I.

You put two tomboys into swimsuits

And that's what you got.

But that's what made us to realize very quickly

That we are very drawn to the wrestling side of wwe.

And we wanted to become that.

- 'cause you know when you walk into a ring,

You have everyone cheering.

It's just you, you can't help, but go, "yeah!"

And here you walk in and you can just tell they're ready,

Just to, like, pick you apart.

- It was an awful experience.

- Say if I was your boyfriend and I slept with your sister

While I was dating you, what would you say to me?

- Oh, I don't even think I'd say words. I'd knock you out.

- [man] you, that was the same answer your sister said.

- [woman] exact same answer. That's so weird.

- Thank you so much. - [woman] you're welcome.

- We got told we don't have boobs.

I mean, you name it.

- [judge] why do you have bear claws?

- Well, it's a sad story.

I don't wanna bring people down, but I --

I got it for a boyfriend who passed away.

So his name was bear.

Yeah. High school sweetheart.

- We walked out of there.

My sister looked at me like, I hate you.

And then this woman, her name's kristin prouty.

She pulled my sister and said, she was really sincere.

- I knew and saw and we all did.

They checked every box.

Charisma, athleticism, confidence. They popped.

And so yeah, I pulled brie and nicole aside and told them

- "please like, if you really wanna wrestle,

Can I talk to you?

'cause we'd love to fly you out to our developmental program

In the deep south and get you guys in the ring.

And let's really see like, if there's a good fit."

- And the next thing you know

We are flying down to mcdonough, georgia, the dirty south.

And then we had to make our way to the training facility.

- Like I was expecting to see like this gorgeous,

Big, elaborate, developmental program.

And it was not that. And I'm like,

- Oh. - Oh.

- Oh.

- Okay. It was grungy.

They don't want you to be impressed.

They're like, come here and you impress us.

- And I just remember, they're like bellas, get in there.

Let's see how you can do bumping.

- Bill demont was like, "you know what a back bump is?"

And I'm like, no.

And he just went boom.

- And I just remember hitting the mat, like,

That was so cool.

I love this.

- We watched a show and I remember just seeing

All of them nervous backstage, like figuring everything out

And seeing them come out with their characters.

And nicole and I were just like, whoa,

Like, this is like awesome.

- That was our first taste of just hearing a crowd react.

Booing and cheering and chanting.

And I remember going back to our hotel room that night.

Brie and I start wrestling around like

We look like five year olds,

Like after you watch wrestling

Or you wanna be your superhero.

That was brie and I at 22 years old

In a hotel room, broke a tv, broke a drawer.

And then we're laying on bags of ice.

- I mean, we just laid on the bed in so much pain, but

With the biggest smiles on our faces, like her and I looked

At each other and we're like, oh yeah, this is for us.

And that was it.

Like we knew in our hearts

Like we were made to be professional wrestlers.

(phone buzzing)

- [brie] after "deep south",

They reached out to my sister and I and they're like,

"let's talk about a contract. We'd love to sign you two."

- [nikki] "and we will pay you weekly

To learn how to wrestle,

But you need to move to tampa."

And I just remember being like, oh, this is real, but yes!

- We decided that we're gonna be the bella twins.

It was like a cheeky little nod to our grandfather

Who was full blooded italian and that was it.

We decided to become wwe superstars.

(rock music plays)

We drive into tampa, florida, and we're like

Palm trees and water and everything.

I'm like, okay, florida's pretty cool.

My mom was terrified, I just want everyone to know.

She thought alligators, literally,

Like walked the streets like cats.

(alligator growls)

Fcw was a developmental program for the wwe

And the head trainer was dr. Tom prichard.

Dr. Tom was like, we're teaching you a lockup,

How to take an arm, choke holds, leg locks,

And we'd started to learn wrestling moves.

It was so exciting that my sister and I asked

Can we do night school?

He's like, "you guys are with us eight hours a day!"

We're like, yeah, we'll go get dinner

And then we'll come back.

So, we started to do night school with dr. Tom

And he's like, "let's think of your entrance.

How do you guys wanna come out?

What is it you wanna do?"

That's how we came up with the bella booty shake

And the back flip.

And so it was like during the day,

Hardcore wrestling moves,

And at night, it was like the fun stuff.

- Bellas, bellas, bellas.

(crowd cheers)

Pobrecitas!

You thought you were so cute.

- [nikki] from the men and women, we got a lot of hate.

- [brie] what are they just models?

Oh, they came through diva search?

They're not athletic. They're not wrestling fans.

They don't belong here.

- [nikki] I even remember some of the other women

Were teaching us moves wrong.

- [brie] like when someone told me like, back elbow,

I didn't know it meant block it too.

And I would eat it.

I literally would eat people's forearms and back elbows

Cause I thought I had to.

Maybe I should have been in ufc.

- [nikki] people were trying to make us so miserable

So we'd quit.

What those women didn't realize is

They were giving us more fire to succeed.

- [brie] I was like, if this is how it is to earn respect,

Fine.

I'm gonna make people respect us.

(bodies thudding)

But two girls I didn't have to earn their respect.

They were just so great from beginning;

Natalya neidhart and krissy vaine.

- Krissy and naty were amazing mentors.

- [announcer] natalya neidhart,

The third generation diva.

Daughter of jim "the anvil" neidhart.

A diva with a dangerous dna.

- [natalya] I was brand new as well,

And, of course, being brand new to wwe,

I was scared of my own shadow.

So, I was just happy to have somebody else

That was like also being judged as well

So that I wasn't the only one being judged.

(natalya laughs)

We kind of had like a mutual unspoken agreement

That they were gonna teach me everything

They knew about presentation,

About my costumes, my promos,

My whole total package.

They helped me fake it until I could make it.

And I was gonna teach them everything I knew

About pro wrestling

Because I had grown up around it my entire life.

- [announcer] from greensboro, north carolina, krissy vaine!

- [nikki] and krissy was also amazing because krissy came

From the independent.

She was a massive star there.

- They taught us about wrestling etiquette;

The important things as a female here.

And they started teaching nicole and I moves

And the psychology of wrestling matches.

- Every day we are learning all of this.

We all were trying to prep to be superstars on tv,

But brie and I deep down, we wanted to be the best.

- [natalya] even in our very early years at fcw,

You're a sitting duck in developmental.

It's sink or swim.

Either you rise to the top and you break through,

Make it to the main roster like raw or smackdown,

Or you don't make it and you get fired and that's it.

Those are your dreams. They're done.

- [nikki] so, we were all really excited

Because wwe used to have their own magazine

And they were doing a feature on fcw

And it had just came out.

So, jack swagger was sitting up on the apron

And he and I both were reading the article like,

"oh my gosh, we're finally in a magazine."

We were all so pumped.

And then sweet papi chulo is in the ring.

He's 200 and something pounds.

So, sweet papi chulo hits jack swagger as hard as he can

Which causes, by accident, jack swagger to head butt me.

Sure enough, I had a shattered nose

And then of course murphy's law.

(suspenseful music plays)

(pyrotechnics exploding)

- [brie] they were gonna debut nikki and I on smackdown.

- And I'm like, are you kidding me?

I just shattered my nose.

I have black and purple eyes like,

Okay, fine, I'm not gonna tell him.

- [brie] this is what we trained for in our last

14 months of in-ring work.

I just was like, you mess up this,

Like one time you go out, that's it.

You go back down developmental and you probably get fired.

(suspenseful music continues)

When they told me my first match was against victoria,

A well-respected veteran that the crowd loves,

Who's an amazing wrestler,

I'm like, is this good for me or not?

(soft music)

- [brie] when nikki and I started with wwe

And we showed up to pittsburgh,

Nikki and I are walking into the arena,

I was very nervous to go to tv.

I just had a lot of pressure.

- [nikki] we were entering a whole new group of women

And dealing with the tv time and money.

It was almost like when you graduate middle school,

Now you're entering high school,

This is where we were at.

- [freddie] we had a big roster of women then,

But they were all underutilized.

None of them were given the storylines

That the men were given.

None of them were given a compelling storyline at all.

- [brie] you look at television and there's probably

10 different segments, maybe 12,

But there's only one for women

And that's a lot of women fighting for a spot.

- Which resulted maybe in not the healthiest

Of locker room environments.

It was less about supporting one another

And more about getting one over on each other,

Which is not necessarily unusual in a competitive environment,

But certainly wasn't the most familial.

- [nikki] you know, brie and I show up and they're like,

"let's go with brie

Cause she doesn't have the messed up face.

Nikki, let's try to get as much makeup on as we can on you."

And then it's like, "no you can't be in our locker room."

- I understood it.

If you want us to change in the bathroom

Before we debut on the live television on smackdown,

Sure, okay.

And then we put on our outfits

And then we were told,

"oh it looks like your pants look like bell bottoms.

Some other girl wears bell bottoms."

We're like, oh my gosh.

"oh black and red.

Well, someone else wears black and red.

You guys can't wear that."

And nicole and I just looked at each other

And we were like,

We're supposed to debut tonight and like,

What are we gonna do?

The seamstress at wwe, they were amazing.

They were like, "we'll help you.

What do you have in your bag?"

And we're like well we have a tankini swimsuit,

Some bebe workout pants.

And they literally cut our swimsuits,

They sewed them onto our workout pants

That we actually worked out in that day,

And we made our wrestling gear for the night.

♪ I ain't the lady to mess with ♪

(upbeat music)

- [brie] her music hit; crowd goes nuts.

My music hits,

♪ feel my body swayin ♪

- And the crowd is dead quiet.

Like you could hear a pin drop,

And I walk out with this big smile on my face,

And my teeth are like chattering like everything.

I'm nervous, I'm shaking, I wanna vomit.

I just was like,

Here we go.

(bell ringing)

(intense rock music plays)

(brie yells in pain)

- [brie] but, I will say this,

Victoria took care of me out there

When it came to the wrestling.

(intense rock music continues)

- [announcer] there, victoria trying to make a statement.

- [brie] and then it was time to do a twin switch.

(bell rings)

- [natalya] the twin switch,

It's something that only happened

In singles matches with the twins.

For example, if nicole gets chucked out of the ring

And the ref doesn't see it,

Brie would come up and get back in the ring

And pretend she was nicole.

Essentially, it was cheating.

- [nikki] I knew that it all depended on my timing

And how I came out for them to buy it.

- [referee] get in the ring!

(nikki screams)

- And if they didn't buy it,

There was gonna be no bella twins.

(victoria screams)

You get one chance.

(victoria yells)

- [brie] we do the twin switch.

- [announcer] wait a minute!

It's a cradle (indistinct)

(bell rings)

Oh, victoria has (indistinct)

- [brie] we beat victoria.

The crowd was so upset.

We're like, that actually worked.

- [announcer] wow. Where did brie get that energy?

- [nikki] celebrated on the ramp

And I'm doing all the cute stuff,

But you can see where so much makeup

Is covering up my broken nose.

So, that's how we debuted.

(crowd screaming)

- [announcer] brie bella, from scottsdale, arizona.

Successful debut!

- So, we were able to get away with doing

Twin switches for three months.

(intense rock music plays)

- [announcer] uh oh. Here we go!

Now the other side of the ring.

Wait a minute.

(blow thudding)

- [nikki] and then finally vince is like,

Okay, we need to reveal the twins.

- [brie] we need to make it where

It almost looks impossible.

Like, victoria has the girl's arms,

Natalya has the girl's leg.

And all of a sudden she looks really, really long.

- [announcer] what the heck is this?

- Was kind of like, wait a minute,

What's happening here?

And, ultimately, they each pulled out a twin.

- [announcer] two bellas!

They're twins! They're identical twins!

- [stephanie] and it was the beginning

Of a very long legacy of the bella twins.

(upbeat pop music)

- [brie] nikki and I knew in that moment

That being the first ever twin girls to debut at wwe,

That was something special.

And you know what the crazy part is,

People talk about trending on twitter.

There was none of that back in the day.

We trended on yahoo,

Which was a big deal.

When you were in like the top 10 in yahoo,

Which we are the top one

For like two or three days straight,

That was big.

♪ cus you can look, but you can't touch ♪

- [nikki] but for some reason it was so hard

To stick as wrestlers

Because they always saw us as a duo and not individuals.

- [brie] and we debuted as wrestlers.

So, all we wanted to be was wrestlers.

So, it was, I think really hard for them

To place where to put us.

You look at us, it's like, "oh, easy, twins, arm candy.

There you go."

Their idea was to put us with the colons.

- [bella twins] hey guys.

- [brie] and for miz and morrison

To kind of fight over us.

- [miz & morrison] that would be us.

- [freddie] it's boys and girls.

In the beginning,

They weren't giving women much time in the ring,

So a lot of their storylines were focused backstage.

- [bella twins] hi, alberto.

- [nikki] so, brie and I keep getting stuck

In these boyfriend storylines.

And this is not how brie and I are.

We're not those type of girls.

If they guys are valeting us, now that would make sense.

That's how brie and I are.

- When the writers came up to nicole and I

And they're like, "we thought of a hilarious story

For you two to work with daniel bryan."

Daniel, oh my gosh.

Are you okay?

- Yeah.

- [brie] and they're like, "well, he's a vegan.

And we thought you two could be fighting for his virginity

And see which bella gets his virginity."

- May the best bella win.

- Aw, thank you, nikki.

And then you end up finding that he's not a virgin,

He's a vegan.

- I would still love to be in that meeting

Of when that all was discussed and decided, but okay.

- [nikki] oh my gosh.

So we do this crazy, corny story.

- [bella twins] we thought you were a, you know, a...

- Vegan? Oh, absolutely.

I don't, I don't eat any meat.

- But I will admit there was a lot of fun.

You want this afterthought over us?

- Yeah. I mean when was the last time

The afterthought was on tv?

- Afterthought?

- Yeah.

(brie gasps)

- [nikki] now I kind of realize why my sister

Fought so hard.

I think there was true fire there.

(referees yelling)

- [brie] but what this meant

Is that we had to spend a lot of time with brian.

- Did you see, he looked at me after twin magic last week?

- Nikki, our connection is so strong.

- [nikki] during this whole storyline,

I'm starting to notice something.

When I couldn't find brie,

I'm like where's brie, 'cus she was always with me.

She'd be flirting with daniel brian.

- [brie] you know you're sitting there waiting

To film your pre-tape

And brian and I start talking

And we start realizing how much we have in common.

And I was like, wow.

You're like cool.

Before you know it, we're going to museums before raw.

We're meeting up on live events, and then

We start dating and the rest is history.

(birdie screaming)

(dog barking)

You know, the really neat thing is brian,

He really started to open my eyes to just women's wrestling.

It was really hard for us to debut as wrestlers

Especially having my match,

My first one against victoria,

To all of a sudden having to be like

Arm and arm with a guy and the story's all about them.

- [nikki] I have to say it was a lot of fun

And I learned a lot from the men at that time,

But I craved to just be that wrestler.

When I saw the girls, having their individual matches

And fighting for championships

And just fighting.

- [brie] we were getting frustrated.

We were like, okay, then what's next?

They're like, "well we're not sure."

Okay. Like, can we get back into the women's division

And try to go for a run?

And it was like, "well, no."

We're like, what can we do?

- [nikki] brie and I would be pitching every week,

Trying to find any way we could to get into that ring

And fight.

And it was like they just couldn't

Wrap around any storyline besides being twins.

So, for a little bit, we were off tv,

- [brie] but we're like we can't be off television

Because when you're off television,

The crowd forgets about you

And you're not as valuable anymore.

Well, nicole and I were like, hmm,

They look at us right now as like arm candy.

- Ooh, roar.

- Why don't we use it to stay on television

As we're still working the back

And having the writers try to think

Of the wrestling storylines for us?

And we heard that vince was starting to bring in

Celebrity guests as hosts.

So, we pitched to be the guest host's assistants.

- Did not realize that was gonna be two years booked

Of celebrity guest hosts.

- Hey cheech. Hey chong.

- Hey criss angel.

Hey flav.

Reverend al, reverend al.

Oh my gosh, mark feuerstien.

- We love you in royal pains.

- But I'll take it because it got us back on live events.

But brie and I just kept thinking in our heads,

How do we get back to wrestling?

(keyboard keys clicking)

There was an internet show we started to do

Called superstars.

No one ever wanted to wrestle on it.

- Let me tell you, when you were asked to wrestle

On superstars main event,

You were almost like

I'm gonna take back bumps for not-television?

But for me I was like, it's practice.

I get to wrestle.

Someone's watching we have to impress.

- Give us a storyline on that.

We will be good.

- [stephanie] when I first heard of the bella twins,

I thought, oh, you know, that's pretty unique.

You have these gorgeous identical twins

That wanna be a part of wwe, but

Do they really have the goods to deliver?

(rock music plays) (bodies thudding)

- [nikki] brie and I started to wrestle our hearts out on there.

They turned us bad

'cause it's a lot easier to have your bad guys lose.

Producers and all that started to realize

The bellas really love wrestling.

They really wanna wrestle.

And brie and I were the type of girls like,

I'll lose every week. I don't care.

I'll put over your girls. Just let us in.

And we started to do that

And become these heel characters.

(nikki yells in excitement)

And losers.

- [stephanie] they never gave up.

They're taking bumps.

They're not complaining.

They're coming every single day showing up for work,

Ready to go.

And I think that speaks to the true character of the bellas.

- [nikki] but we started to get really over with the crowd.

The crowd wanted more and more from brie and I.

(tense music)

- [brie] I remember I was at this new york hot spot

With my girlfriends talking

And all of a sudden, I get a text

From one of the writers and I'm like,

That's weird.

And I'm reading it, and they're like,

"brie, vince wants you to win the divas championship

This Monday on raw against eve torres

And do a fun twin thing."

And I'm like, what?

The divas championship?!

- [stephanie] the divas division

Is actually a term to put a spotlight on our women.

To give them something special.

You had divas on vh1;

That was whitney houston and aretha franklin.

And at the time, it was really a term of empowerment.

- Well it's, it's about time that our divas

Had a championship of their own.

- [stephanie] and from a company standpoint,

There was a decision that brie

Really deserved this opportunity.

- I am a little envious, not jealous,

But I am a little envious.

I wish I could say that

I was the first bella champ. I can't.

But I was also so excited for my sister.

And I knew that whatever I can do in her moment

That night, I was gonna do the best.

I was like, you keep telling me your match.

Whatever you need me for.

Use my body, use my character, use everything.

Like I just wanted brie to have like

This insane shining moment.

(crowd cheering)

- [brie] so, here we are on a huge night.

- [announcer] using distinguishing marks so

You can tell the bella twins apart.

- [nikki] I was really grateful that

They wanted to put the title on me

'cause that says they trust you.

(bell rings)

So, we do it.

I wanted to sit and put a badass match together,

But we get our time cut.

So, it really felt like silly, but I'm a heel, so.

- [announcer] did you see the switch?

- [announcer 2] I did.

- [announcer] the switch was made by the bellas.

The referees attention was with eve.

- [brie] and I actually will never forget because for me

Like you tell me about my heel character.

Well,

- [announcer] but twin magic may have worked out anyway.

Brie with the cover here

And brie is the new divas champion!

- [brie] I win, but I'm gonna be like, haha loser,

Cause loser was our thing.

And I remember walking back and they're like

"you didn't even smile when you won."

And I'm like, oh, was I supposed to?

And they're like, "well aren't you happy you won?"

And I'm like back here, yes.

Out there, I'm brie bella, the heel who cheated to win.

And they're like, "good point, but still

Smile when you win a title."

And I'm like, oh damn it.

I already screwed up.

And I haven't even been champ for 10 minutes.

(camera flash clicks)

But my run was short.

- [referee] one, two, three.

(crowds cheering)

(bell rings)

- And then,

It was like back to the drawing board.

I think, maybe, going back to the drawing board

So many times was exhausting.

It was like, if you weren't going for the title shot

Then you were hanging out in catering.

And like, I didn't wanna hang out in catering.

And I didn't wanna constantly think of some arm candy spot.

Like, I wanted to wrestle.

- [natalya] and they just kind of were like

Not happy with how they were being treated.

They just didn't feel like they were being used well.

They felt kind of neglected and they just wanted more.

And they're very, very ambitious, driven women

That want more.

- [nikki] I remember they were like,

"yeah, girls, we're gonna talk to you about your contracts."

Week goes by. Two weeks go by. A month goes by.

And brie and I kind of were like

If we're not satisfied, why are we here?

If we're not fulfilled, why are we here?

- [brie] so, my sister and I were just like,

Are we okay being this for the rest of our careers?

And the answer was simple.

No.

They wanted us to re-sign,

And we said no, we're not happy.

We want to wrestle and that's that.

And boom, we left.

(rocks music fades)

- So, my sister and I took that leap of faith.

We left wwe.

It was tough but we trusted it.

- Now, I will say that when we walked away from wwe,

They were pretty consistent on calling every few weeks like,

"you sure you girls don't wanna come back and wrestle?"

And brie and I were standing our ground

But deep down inside brie and I wanted to go back so bad.

- They missed it.

They missed being in the ring,

They missed the co-workers,

They just missed the industry.

- We even went and did a few indie shows

Because we just needed to be around it.

We were craving it.

11 months go by and my phone rings.

It's triple h.

He said that they wanted to do a reality show with e!,

And that they want my sister and I to come back

To lead this reality show to showcase women's wrestling.

Literally pulling back the curtain

And letting them see the backstage

And how we make the magic.

- And brie and I start talking and we're like,

"you saw backstage stuff on hogan,

And macho man, and ultimate warrior,

But you never saw anything on the women."

This can actually give women the time

That they deserve,

And the love and the respect.

- If it's my way to get back to wwe,

If this is my way to get the storylines I want in wrestling,

Hell yeah, bring the cameras.

Let's do this.

♪ ain't gonna stop me now ♪

(energetic techno music plays)

When we got the call that it was a massive hit,

That we were right under the kardashians in ratings,

We all were like,

"oh my gosh, like people care."

- [nikki] total divas is on fire.

I mean, we literally are making mainstream shake.

- Brie and nikki bella.

- Please welcome brie bella, nikki bella

- It's the bella twins and family.

- Thanks for having us back.

- [brie] and with the success of total divas,

We went on to do six more seasons

Of our own show, total bellas.

- What I loved about total divas is

It finally gave you the opportunity

To really get to know brie and I as individuals.

- If you get pulled over by a cop,

What are you gonna do when you say it's not your car?

- I'm gonna show 'em my tits and get out of the ticket.

I'm just kidding.

- And my sister and I had this idea

That we should start to showcase in wwe

Who we really are.

We finally got to be authentic

To who we were as individuals.

Why do we have to dress identical?

We're twins, yes that's great.

We're not clones.

I think people then related to us.

They were like, "I'm a nikki."

"no, I'm a brie."

- You just got to see this different side

Of all of us women that created an emotional connection

For the audience,

Where women that watch total divas

Would all of a sudden be tuning in to watch wwe

Because they're like,

"we wanna see the bella twins."

- And it was amazing because you started to see

That change in the crowd.

Little girls and women were inspired by us,

They were empowered by us,

And they started to show up.

And this was a first for wrestling.

- The bellas started to realize,

"we're not just wrestlers, we're superstars."

We can compete for time in the ring,

But there's also this other world

That we can build out our brand,

And we are gonna build the bella army.

- And now, the bellas had their army

And it gave them a power that they were able to use

To demand the attention that they needed

In the wwe and the attention they deserved.

- And they were the perfect talent to do that show with

Because they're just not afraid

To show the good, bad, and the ugly.

- (beep) my life.

- You got to see brie's relationship

With daniel bryan really coming to life.

And then nikki's relationship with john,

And as an audience member,

We fall in love with their love.

- They weren't afraid to get judged,

They weren't afraid to be real,

They weren't afraid to leave it all on the table.

And that's why people were intrigued by them,

Because they were okay to let it all hang out a little bit.

- I just want to take a second

To tell everybody here and everybody watching

That these girls are extremely brave.

I've loved filming the show,

I've loved watching the show,

But I also understand how difficult it is

Putting their lives out there for everybody to see.

It's extremely challenging at times.

- The crazy part about a reality show is that

The messy stuff gets aired to everybody.

- The thing is is that what people say out there,

It hurts me inside.

And then for my own sister

To get on me and say stuff like,

"you don't know how bad it hurts."

Yes, I was born bigger, I am bigger, I'm sorry.

And now today, - but this is entertainment,

And we're twins. - You should be supporting me,

But instead you make me feel like (beep)

And it sucks.

- Just like the matches all tell stories

About human emotion,

Total divas was able to take that even deeper

And show the depth of people's lives.

- Ladies and gentlemen, my new fiance.

- [kristin] with all the drama,

The tears, the laughter.

- As the audience got to learn more about us,

We started getting more storylines

And some of those storylines would

You know, cross over from things

That people saw of us on total divas.

- Like brie mode.

- Brie mode.

Don't you guys wanna see some brie mode tonight?

(upbeat techno music)

- Okay, on the reality show,

It's when I drink a lot

And this really fun, crazy side comes out.

So, I came up with this thing

Of being "brie mode" activated.

When you really take me to a certain place,

And then brie mode gets activated,

Which means I'm going kick your butt.

Brie mode!

- It was such a moment for me because

I felt like I could start to really prove

Who I always was in this industry,

Because I was always told,

No you can't do these moves.

No, you can't be this person.

No, you can't wear that."

And finally, I was like,

I'm over following the rules.

I'm gonna break rules and I'm gonna apologize later.

(upbeat rock music)

That's when I started to change my own game.

I'm a powerhouse and I'm gonna showcase that.

I started to watch a lot of beth phoenix's footage

And all of these women in the past that were very strong.

And I started to look at what men were doing.

I don't care if I'm a woman,

I'm gonna learn a spinebuster,

I'm gonna learn how to do a spear in this way,

I'm gonna learn how to lift someone from this

To get him here,

And I just started to put it all together.

And I started training on different moves.

And gosh, when the rack attack was born...

- [announcer 1] she's got her in the rack,

That's the best rack I've ever seen.

- [announcer 2] I think this is over.

- [nikki] that's when I became a force to be reckoned with.

So, women's wrestling is finally getting respect,

It's getting loved,

We're finally doing what we wanna do and what we love.

Our voices are being heard,

The fans are being heard,

We're bringing in little girl fans,

We're bringing in women fans.

We have found our place

And we are becoming equal to the men.

Like, people are literally buying a ticket

To see the total divas,

And then my leg breaks again.

I can't even freaking move.

- Dude, that's not good.

We're gonna have to go to doc.

- I don't wanna go to doc.

I knew something was wrong,

But I wanted to ignore it because I knew I was in a moment

That was about to break a glass ceiling.

- When you get injured in wrestling,

You're taken out.

You can't perform? Then you're not in it.

We're a tag team, we're the bella twins.

I thought that was it for me too.

- I mean, I tell you the timing of my life,

It is just not in sync with me.

- So, they made me go to the hospital

And I remember the doctor coming in like,

"you have an insane stress fracture,

How are you walking?"

- It's pretty significant for a stress fracture.

So, what I had talked about last week,

About the four to six weeks,

Added crutches to it and extended it.

So, what we're gonna do is crutches,

Non-weight bearing,

So no weight on that for four weeks.

Second four weeks, weight crutches,

Partial weight bearing.

After that, no crutches.

I'd say by 12 weeks, back to the ring.

- And I just remember feeling so down.

12 weeks, I mean,

That's like six lifetimes in wrestling.

- With nikki out,

I knew I had to go back to the drawing board.

I had to think really hard,

"how can I keep myself on television?"

- You know during this time,

Stephanie and bryan have this story

That is building and becoming the top story

To tune into, on Monday night raw.

- You have wanted to strip me of this title

Ever since I beat your husband at wrestlemania 30.

- My husband, of course, triple h,

We were the authority and I am a villain, right,

So I was abusing my authority.

- She slapped him, she's threatened to fire him,

She's done all these mean things to him

But as a man, he physically can't do anything back.

And they all were like,

"but brie can."

I was like, "I know my story.

My story is getting revenge on a woman

Who is being so awful to my husband."

- Stephanie didn't always work with talent.

She was very picky with that

And it was just something you couldn't fight.

- [announcer] one of the principal owners of wwe,

Stephanie mcmahon!

- Stephanie grew up in the industry

And she'd been a part of so many high profile storylines.

With the mcmahons, it's always very black and white,

Good and bad.

They had this really beautiful foundation

For an incredible story.

- Let's have a very warm round of applause

For the wwe world heavyweight champion, daniel bryan.

- It was almost like they gave a tutorial,

A lesson to everybody else about storytelling.

- Stay away!

- And because there's so many people

Tuning into total divas,

You have all these new females watching,

So they're like, "brie, how dare this woman?"

And it was amazing because they were invested.

They were so invested in brie and bryan's life

Inside wwe and outside of wwe.

- You only like me cause I'm the champion.

- Ew!

- Like, if they make me get rid of the titles,

You're just gonna leave me.

- And this is when pure magic started happening.

Like, we couldn't even stop it.

It was just a story unfolding.

- Surrender the wwe world heavyweight championship,

Or she is fired!

- Wild! This is why I love wrestling.

- [stephanie] come on out here, daniel.

- [nikki] I'll never forget that night.

Daniel bryan's music hits.

("flight of the valkyries") (crowd chanting)

Brie comes out and then, just like a wife would,

She tells a woman off.

- Actually, I refuse to be a powerless victim.

You don't control me.

- See, but brie, I do because you work for me.

- You can't fire me.

I quit!

(crowd roars)

- I think it's one of the hardest slaps

I've ever been on the receiving end of.

I saw stars.

- Everyone used to say this,

"that was a slap you heard around the world."

It was kind of like,

"oh, was there something there?"

As talent in wrestling,

If you could make your fans discuss,

"was that real or fake?",

That's when you got it.

That's when you sold the story.

- It took me to a completely different level

And I have to say, I felt like I became a top star.

(crowd chanting, "yes!")

- [nikki] and then it was so cool

Because at this point,

I'm back, I've overcome this injury.

- [doctor] good to go.

- I'm cleared!

- [doctor] all right.

- Yay!

So, to keep the story of brie and stephanie going,

We felt that naturally it'd be amazing

For stephanie to put me in these moments

That there's no way I could get out of.

- Tonight's match, should by all rights,

Be a tag team match, but instead,

You're gonna have to go it alone.

- Like two versus three,

Tie my hand behind my back.

But I always show up, I'm always ready to fight.

And I took that going into it like real life.

Like, I made sure that that was the feeling,

And we naturally kept doing more and more

Because the fans were getting behind it,

To where the bella army

Literally started to call me fearless nikki.

It naturally came about,

It was not from the company,

It was not from me, it was from my fans.

I became a star.

I became who I was meant to be.

Fearless nikki was born.

And brie gets a match against stephanie at summerslam.

(dramatic impact)

Tickets sold so quick,

And so many of that female demo,

Especially from the e! Network.

So many women showed up because they could not believe

Brie bella was fighting her boss.

They didn't even care

That it was john cena or brock lesnar on the card.

They wanted to see brie bella fight her boss.

- I mean, she truly is a fan favorite

And I truly am not,

So that in and of itself really worked together.

- And then because fearless nikki was on the rise

During this time that no one expected,

They were like,

"we have to have nicole a part of this."

So, we get to summerslam.

- And I was so nervous.

I think it was over 10 years

Since I had had a match at that point,

And brie really helped keep me calm

Through the whole scenario.

- Brie and stephanie kill it.

The crowd is so invested, they have this match.

- Brie mode!

- Out comes triple h, so people are like,

"what's gonna happen?"

I come down, I get in the ring

And I get behind stephanie,

'cause, of course, double trouble.

We're gonna block her in,

We're gonna twin sandwich her.

- [commentator] twin magic.

This is two on one.

- And this is when vince is a genius.

He was like, "you're turning on your sister tonight."

And I was like, "what?"

- Wow, the crowd has no idea what they're in for.

- We only had one chance to make people believe

That I was sick of being brie's twin,

And I was sick of being the one

Who was getting beaten up on her decision.

Our timing, our spacing,

Everything couldn't have been so perfect.

And when I grabbed stephanie

And chucked her as hard as I could,

Which I did, and I gave brie that mma forearm

That belonged in ufc and probably not wwe.

(crowd roars)

That crowd.

I never felt that before just being women in the ring.

There's just three women.

- [commentator] oh my god, what?!

What the hell just happened?

- You had triple h out on the side,

But when you really look at that moment,

Women made the crowd roar like that,

Not men, purely women.

- Those are the moments that

You get in this business for, you know.

Those are the moments that you take with you forever.

(bell rings)

- Right after I make a comeback at summerslam,

I start to have one of the best runs of my life.

And I show up one day and they're like,

"we want you to be a leader of the division.

We have all these plans.

We know you can carry it."

And I just remember feeling so honored that day

And so excited and they're like,

"okay, you guys have 15 minutes, tell a story."

And I was like, "this is perfect."

Aj lee and I, we come up with a great match.

It was amazing.

And right before we got in the grill they were like,

"so, you guys have about five minutes."

And we're like, "five minutes?"

- But you have a two hour show.

So, if the first match goes longer,

The second match goes longer, the third match goes longer,

Time runs out.

- And when time gets cut on the show,

A lot of the time, it comes from the women's matches.

And a lot of fans had taken notice

That for a long, long time, they were saying,

"why are the girls matches so short?"

- But okay, we're gonna try and make it work.

We get in grill and they go,

"so, you think you could do this in less than a minute?"

And I just remember thinking, here we go.

So, brie came up with this amazing idea like,

"aj if you're okay with it,

What if I jump up and I give you that kiss to death,

Which turns in nikki's finisher,

And it kind of gives it meaning."

So we're like,

"okay, we can do it in less than a minute."

So now, I've become the new divas champion

But deep down, I wasn't happy about it.

I wanted to give them an epic match,

I wanted the crowd to be on the edge of their seat

And I didn't want them to see my win coming.

I felt like, "are we really taking steps back, and why?"

- We were on this huge high in top stories

And all of a sudden we're getting told like,

"hey you guys have 10 minutes."

And then all of a sudden,

"hey, you guys have five minutes."

"oh hey, you guys have two minutes."

"can you just do a little heat and then a finish?"

- [announcer] and their opponents

From scottsdale, arizona,

Brie, and the divas champion nikki,

The bella twins!

- Brie and I have a tag match against paige and emma.

And the people in the back literally came to us

Before we were about to go out.

They said, "can you guys make your tag match

Two minutes, but with entrances.

So, you probably will have like,

I don't know, a minute 30 in the ring?"

A minute 30 in a ring to tell a tag match.

We're furious.

- And I'm like, top guys don't have to

Tell stories in two minutes.

No one who has a top story has to tell

A story in two minutes.

It's impossible.

- When you give us less time and (beep) on what we're doing,

You're (beep)ing on what the fans want as well.

What they believe in,

You're taking it away from them

And that's not what they want as a viewer,

As someone who pays a ticket to watch their superhero.

We were mad.

- There was something inside all four of us.

We all looked at each other and we're like,

"let's just give him a finisher.

If that's all they really want is to see us walk out there,

Then it doesn't matter what we do."

And we went out there,

Gave a finisher.

- [referee] one, two, three!

(bell rings)

- We walked back.

Our producer was like,

"you guys still had another minute and 15 seconds."

- We are giving them the middle fingers,

I'll be honest.

- And you know what?

We all were gonna take the chance

Of getting fired and that's okay.

(twitter whistles)

- The fans just went crazy.

They didn't understand like,

Why did the girls have such a short match?

This is ridiculous.

This is embarrassing.

It was like the last straw.

- Because we gave them a taste of what we can do,

We gained their respect,

They wanted more,

And our company wasn't giving it.

- They hashtagged #givedivasachance

Because they were so tired of seeing

The ups and downs for divas.

- And this hashtag trended worldwide for three days

Specifically demanding better storylines,

Better character development,

Longer matches, more athleticism.

And we responded in the biggest way possible

With vince mcmahon saying,

"we hear you. Keep watching. #givedivasachance."

- And that was super inspirational

For everyone to see.

Like, sometimes you have to go out and get it,

And you've gotta demand it.

It was the fans, it was the wrestlers,

It was the girls being like, done,

We're not doing this anymore.

- I'm happy that night we did it because I feel like that

Changed women's wrestling at wwe for good.

(soft music)

I remember I was driving on my own.

I was doing live events

And I didn't have bryan or nikki,

And I was really thinking, I'm like,

"you know what?

I've done amazing things in my career.

I've learned, I've grown, I've become a woman.

I've fought for women.

It is okay for this chapter in my life to be done.

It is time for me to be a mom."

And when I told my husband,

"I will retire at wrestlemania

And we can start to try for a baby."

His face, it was like we could do something together.

And that was my decision to retire.

(intense music)

- In this moment of fighting for change,

And most importantly, fighting for equality,

Wanting to be equal to the male superstars,

A lot of us felt we had to wrestle like the males.

I wanted to do a stair spot.

And I remember before I walked out,

One of the guys were like,

"well, if you're doing that stair spot,

You'd better make sure to do it better than a man."

And I was like, "that's all you had to say to me.

I will definitely do so."

When you hit the stairs, the stairs break apart,

And they make this incredibly loud noise.

But then the visual of it,

You are just like, "oh my gosh."

It is such an incredible reaction from the crowd.

So, I go out there and I'm prepared to take

Those stairs better than any man has ever taken 'em

But what we didn't realize,

There was a steel cage match that night,

It was main eventing.

So usually, they put the poles through the stairs

To prep the steel cage.

And I did a sprint with it.

I was like, "I'm gonna make myself a bullet."

I felt like I hit the strongest brick wall in the world.

And I remember laying on my back

And I had knocked the wind outta myself.

I think I just snapped my collar bone in half.

- In professional wrestling, we're out there to entertain.

But the one thing I think sometimes people forget

Is that we give our bodies.

(wrestlers grunting) (bodies thudding)

- So, I'm wrestling five nights a week

And just giving it my all.

- [commentator] a risk here for nikki taking out both.

- I'm hitting the rack attack every night,

And I didn't wanna stop.

And nothing like a cortisone shot

To just get you through the next day

Because at the time I was the champion,

So I'm not gonna go tell the doctor and get x-rays.

I don't wanna lose my momentum.

I don't wanna lose my spot.

I wanna stay to be the champion.

Not smart though.

I start to get these lumps on my back.

And I start to tell brie,

"brie, I'm in a lot of pain.

When I wake up in the night,

I have to stand up because it hurts too much to lay down."

- She kept feeling this severe pain

In her neck, her back, it was getting to her legs,

She was losing feeling.

There's something wrong.

- We're live on tv

And there was some type of move going on

Where with paige in my rack,

I get knocked and it causes her to hit my neck,

And my legs just went out.

They were like paralyzed.

It was only for a few seconds but I remember thinking like,

"holy cow, something's wrong."

And that's when I demanded the x-ray and the mri.

I go in, and literally the guy at the hospital

Comes out and was like,

"you are about to be paralyzed."

He's like, "or lights out.

You need emergency surgery."

And we realized it was the rack attack

Over time was slowly breaking my neck.

So, I knew about this doctor who was incredible with spines

And I was like, "hey dr. Uribe,

I think my neck is about to break in half."

And he's like, "you need emergency surgery.

I think I can go and clean everything up

And then we do a bone fusion."

He goes, "you can work out again.

Wrestling? You are completely done."

And I just remember hearing those words like,

"what was that?"

(soft suspenseful music)

Going into surgery,

There's a lot of risk.

Literally one touch to your spinal cord

And you could be paralyzed.

If I can't compete in that ring

At least I wanna walk through life as strong as possible.

So no matter what,

I am going to stay fearless

And do the best I can.

So when you're signing all those papers before surgery

You're kind of like,

I just remember freaking out.

Okay I might get paralyzed,

Maybe I won't wake up,

And I think john really felt that.

He was a big part of how I got through that

And he never left my side.

I just remember as I was slowly falling asleep,

I was like, "I'm so scared."

(triumphant music)

But then waking up,

I'm around family, I'm around loved ones,

And seeing dr. Uribe and him telling me,

"it was successful nikki.

You are good."

Oh my gosh!

It was like the best orgasm in the world.

It's so crazy, amazing good news.

That means I can do whatever I want.

- It means you're gonna recover very healthy.

- Yeah.

- She's already planning her comeback.

- [commentator] it is the night

Legends show youthful exuberance!

Legacies are born or laid to rest forever!

- This is brie's last match tonight.

- Everyone knew that my last night

Was gonna be at wrestlemania

And vince wanted to make it special

By me wrestling with all the girls.

Brie mode!

(crowd cheering)

Winning the match

And then them just kind of celebrating me

And it was neat because last minute they were like,

We need to have nikki walk down that ramp

And they weren't sure

Just 'cause she was still in her neck brace.

- I had to be in a neck brace for six months.

I was really embarrassed at first but I was like

You gotta let go nicole, like just go.

(upbeat dance music)

Oh my gosh! To feel the crowd again was so incredible.

To be there for brie's retirement match was amazing

But I was really happy for her for making that

Decision in her life of like,

"this is what I wanna do, I wanna be a mom."

That's pretty badass in its own way.

- I wasn't the girl

Who needed to have that big singles match, one on one

And all the attention on me.

I always wanted to empower, support other women.

To have that moment

With all these girls I wrestled with,

Filmed a reality show with,

Where we had to put our lives out to everyone,

To be in the ring with all of them,

It's all I ever wanted.

And the topper that night

Is when they took away the divas title belt

And they said women are no longer called divas.

- They are so much more than divas here in this ring today,

They are all wwe superstars.

- And they introduced the women's raw championship

And we didn't have to have this feminine title,

We could have the same title as the men.

And I was like, I helped do this.

I helped this night happen by turning all our no's into yes's,

All the negatives into positives and believing in one thing.

There's not one spot for one woman.

That many women can have many spots

And that all of us can be successful.

- It was weird because in that moment,

Your soul and your intuition, your gut,

Kinda tell you when things are done.

You kinda just have that feeling when a door is closed.

My door didn't feel closed with wrestling.

- After I retired from wrestling

I started to try to have a baby with brian

And we were lucky, four months later I was pregnant.

And now that I'm a mom,

What an amazing job if you call it, it is.

I think it's time to take a bath what do you think?

I thought okay,

I'm gonna make sure I'm really into my career

And then yes I'm a mom and all that but now,

After I held my baby for the first time

It's like no, I'm a mom first

And then I'm a career woman.

I didn't realize how much I would love to be a mom

And I would never trade any of that

For anything in the world.

- [bryan] all right brie, I love you.

- Okay, love you too.

- So I come back at summerslam in brooklyn, new york,

Which brooklyn, ugh, the crowd goes wild.

I wasn't even expecting that.

I almost forgot how to do my booty shake in that moment

Because I was so floored by the reaction.

You felt the love,

You even see some of the girls in the ring break character

Because they felt the emotions.

- For anybody to come back from any sort of an injury is tough.

To come back from neck injury is a different animal.

- [commentator] oh wow.

She's showing us how fit she is.

- [becky] she's a beast.

And absolutely nothing can stop her.

She is what she says she is, she's fearless.

(crowd cheers and screams)

- [nikki] when I look back

I never would've thought it would have ended where it did,

Having this beautiful tag team match

With john at wrestlemania.

- [commentator] the rack attack 2.0.

- [commentator 2] a double can!

- With john grabbing a mic

In front of millions and millions of people.

(crowd cheering)

- Stephanie nicole garcia colace,

Will you marry me?

(crowd cheering)

- I just remember feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.

- It was huge!

This proposal was massive and the fans were all a part of it

And it was so cool.

I think that's why it was so challenging probably after

Because everyone was so emotionally invested

In their journey through the show.

And then through the proposal

That when it was over, it was hard for people to handle it.

- For some reason, since birdie been born

And I've spent a lot of time with birdie,

It has just brought up these feelings

Of really wanting to be a mom and,

I thought I could really sacrifice that.

And I just can't.

- In a time that everyone was excited about this wedding.

She had the strength

And the fortitude knowing she needed to make a decision

That would be extremely hard.

And as her mother, I saw the heat she got.

Every time you turn around, you know

I would see something online about them.

- I still see the trolls online that still make comments

That won't let it go.

And it's really hard as her sister to not be able to

Protect her from all that.

- I don't wanna do it without you.

I took away everyone's fairytale ending.

People hated me for it.

I couldn't do easy.

I knew I had to go through hard.

And that is the hardest thing to do, to walk away

From someone that you love.

But it's also empowering when you can walk away

From something that you know isn't right

So that the future would be happy.

Here I just had this massive public breakup with john

And I was avoiding wwe.

Vince mcmahon calls me and he says,

"we're gonna do an all women's pay-per-view.

And I want you to main event it against ronda rousey

With brie by your side."

To get that call from vince.

I mean, that's huge.

- This is what we've been waiting for.

This is what us women were fighting for

To have an event, just women on one card for one night.

That's incredible.

And to finally main event something like that.

Now that for me is my oscar.

- There was a lot of belief that it wouldn't draw

Or that it wouldn't be any good.

And yet wwe decided that they were going to do this

And plant their flag in the ground.

- [commentator] the bellas believe that

They're the reason there's a evolution tonight.

- [commentator 2] I do agree with them.

I think that they were the first women that were

Part of the hashtag, #givedivasachance.

They've been here through the entire journey.

- It was quite remarkable.

And we sold out nassau coliseum.

Our women just absolutely shined.

We did trend number one worldwide for

Over two and a half hours during the last game

Of the world series and nfl Sunday night football.

- That was probably my favorite time losing,

My ultimate fave.

- It was amazing for all the women

To be able to come together as a collaborative group

To go, "hey, we just sold out an arena with just women."

- [nikki] it was like the perfect ending.

I just knew it was time for me to retire

And pass the torch to the next generation.

My sister and I, we had accomplished

All we set out to do in the ring

For ourselves and for women's wrestling as a whole.

And I just knew it was time for me to focus

On the next chapters of my life.

- When I got the call to do dancing with the stars,

I was super excited.

I was like, you know what? The timing's perfect,

Let's see what I got on the dance floor.

- But what's the first thing you say

When you get someone new,

'cause you get someone new all the time.

What's the first thing you say?

- You wanna make sure that they're not just doing steps,

They're bringing themselves in to,

Because people like them for certain reasons

And we want to see nicole in that soundbite.

So it's not just the steps.

- I'm happy that my sister found

Who she's really meant to be with,

And that's artem.

- Yeah I don't think there is the words,

Can describe how you make me feel.

Will you marry me?

- Yes.

- [brie] yay!

- [nikki] you guys!

You all knew.

I have found the next step in my life.

I have a beautiful fiancé and I'm living the life

I've always wanted to live.

- Artem calms nicole.

Artem has a very soothing personality

And she is relaxed around artem.

- He brings out who my sister really is.

- [nikki] there's just something so

Special about him, it's crazy.

And he's so open about me reconnecting with my dad.

- I never stopped being a good father.

It's just, my addiction made me stop being there.

So I promised to my god that

I will be a different man and I-

- [nikki] you are, dad.

I'm pregnant.

- [artem] no, you are not. - Yes I am.

- No, you're lying.

- I haven't told you but

Brie told me that she's pregnant.

- So, hold on wait, wait a second.

You're both pregnant?

- When your stomachs were right next to each other

They look like two boobs.

- Oh yeah, cause of the nipples. (bryan laughing)

- You, and artem, the one thing I'll say.

Your guys' excitement's so cute.

- Thank you.

- You guys are gonna be amazing parents.

- I really love being this career woman

Who gets to be a hands on mom.

It's the toughest job I've done.

And yet the most rewarding.

We just truly get to enjoy being hands on parents

Not worrying about the world

Or you know, what we do for work.

We get to totally just connect with him

And just get to be present with him when we're home.

Oh, yeah.

You want cameras don't you, mister.

Now I'm an entrepreneur with brie.

I love running companies.

I love being creative.

I love being in the wine industry.

- So for us to move to napa valley meant, we are just

Gonna blossom one of our other companies,

The way we did in wrestling.

- [nikki] you know, the one thing in wwe is

You learned about branding.

So we wanted to take that into the business world.

- [brie] I love how it says bellas.

- [nikki] it's like clean.

- [brie] I love it.

- [nikki] it's really cool.

- [brie] so us.

- You like it, huh?

See this is why mama wanted to make it.

- I think people are shocked because

If you come into our lives here in napa valley, you realize

That we have just a simple, very normal day to day life.

- Can you say hi, daddy?

- My sister and I joke about this all the time,

But we understand way back in the day when

Pretty much all families lived together.

Because it does take a village to raise a child.

And I've been really blessed,

Nicole and I have always figured out a way

To live by each other 'cause we realized

Life's just easier.

- I couldn't imagine being in napa living life

Without my sister and her family across the street.

- It's never boring, let's just say that.

(children crying)

- Artem and I got very little decision making in this,

In this whole move to napa.

- Yeah, it is crazy to think about.

- All of a sudden it occurred to me.

If I die, I can be replaced.

She can't replace nicole.

(soft music)

- [nikki] 2022, the bellas will be back.

Oh my gosh.

Brie, this just made it so much more real!

And we're back.

- [brie] bellas are back, baby.

- It's so funny because I feel like

I've told everyone I retired like seven times already

And I keep coming back for these little matches but

I will say this one's special.

My daughter birdie was like, "mom,

I really wanna go see you wrestle."

And in my head I'm thinking

I don't know the next time wwe's gonna call

And ask me to come again.

Like you just never know.

I mean the last time I wrestled was evolution,

That was three years ago.

- We're here to celebrate but

We are here to prove something you know,

Prove that the bellas are back.

We're a force to be reckoned with.

And that, I don't know, we're still amongst the best.

There's also that feeling of like, will I be accepted?

Like, as who I am now.

- I told her it's different

After you have kids it's different.

- Yeah.

- Woo, tomorrow, I'll be in my jersey,

My snap back, my kicks, running out to

"you can look but you can't touch".

Putting on my gear for the first time since

Having a baby made me a bit insecure

And I kind of had to fight myself like,

Do I look like I'm dressing up as nikki bella?

Or do I look like nikki bella?

Brie warned me, she goes, "when you become a mom,

You can't expect to be who you were.

You're someone new and you have to accept that

And find who she is."

And I finally found myself,

But then putting my gear back on, that was tough.

That was really tough.

- [announcer] the following is the

30 woman royal rumble match!

- [commentator] whoa!

- [commentator 2] bella army rejoice.

- [commentator] one half of the bella twins,

Hall of famer, divas champion.

She was in the first world rumble 2018.

You're talking about not having friends,

Eliminated by her sister if you remember.

Woah! - [commentator 2] wow!

- To go back out to the wwe universe.

- [commentator] brie bella and full blown brie mode.

- Hear the "yes" chant.

In front of my daughter.

- [commentator] and listen, listen to this place.

- [commentator 2] this crowd here in st. Louis loving it.

- It was really incredible.

- [commentator] the bella army is

Gonna be on their feet now.

- [commentator 2] this is a sight

Many thought we would never ever see again.

Nikki bella making her entrance into

The women's royal rumble match.

- [commentator] great physical condition.

- When I saw ronda rousey come out,

It's like, all right, we're outta here.

So I'm gonna take nikki out with pleasure.

With a big smile on my face.

- Okay I gotta give it to brie.

You know, brie taking me out of the rumble.

It felt pretty good.

- I had to eliminate nikki in the royal rumble

Because revenge is a bitch.

- It's always been me getting the one up on her

And nothing made it feel more full circle for me

Than brie getting her one, one up on me.

It made it pretty iconic.

- And it felt so good.

- The bellas have become huge role models

For everyone everywhere.

- To see the things that they've accomplished

Within the business, for the business.

And now outside of the business is truly impressive.

- They're driven by passion and

The things that they love and are interested in.

They don't fake anything.

- They're showing and inspiring women around the world

That you can dream big.

And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't

But you gotta keep fighting.

- [announcer] please welcome to the wwe hall of fame,

Nikki and brie bella.

- I feel blessed of the next step in my life

But wrestling will never be done.

That door will always be open.

That will always be home.

And I will always make a comeback.

- [brie] we are part of wwe history.

And let me tell you, when you fight for something,

And it is recognized,

That is the ultimate feeling you can get.