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The Bella Twins are perhaps the most famous female wrestlers in the world right now, despite both being currently on hiatus from WWE as they both adapt to recent changes in their personal lives.
Nikki and Brie haven't always been the faces of the WWE Women's Division when Brie debuted on WWE TV back in 2008, it was obvious that the twins were two more women who had been signed by WWE following the annual Diva Search. The sister didn't have any in-ring experience but they did have a quality that WWE TV was lacking, they were twins.
The early years
Nikki made her WWE debut a few weeks after her sister since WWE went with a storyline where Brie would disappear under the ring and seemingly come back out refreshed and win her match. It was later discovered that she had a twin sister called Nikki and that was then the beginning of The Bella Twins.
In their first WWE stint, Nikki and Brie were part of a division that wasn't taken seriously, it took until 2011 for Brie to lift the Divas Championship for the first time, a title she held for two months before she lost it to Kelly Kelly.
Nikki then won the same Championship the following year after she defeated Beth Phoenix, but twin magic failed and Brie lost her sister's title to Layla at Extreme Rules in 2012, which meant that Nikki's first Divas Championship reign lasted less than a week.
The Bellas are 'fired' by WWE
After four years of being part of WWE Women's Division, Nikki and Brie had seemingly accomplished everything they once set out to, it was the night after Extreme Rules back in 2012 and because the twins failed to win back the Divas Championship from Layla, they were later fired by Executive Administrator Eve Torres.
The company released an exclusive video on their website that showed Eve Torres telling Nikki and Brie that it was "with the way the economy is and due to budget cuts" before the Twins reacted and then stormed off telling her "good luck finding twins like The Bellas."
The reality of the situation
The Bella Twins firing seemingly came out of nowhere for many fans of the twins and this was because it wasn't the way that WWE planned it. The Bella Twins actually asked for their WWE release and allowed their contracts to run out since they had already started making plans for a life outside of WWE.
The twin sisters explained that after being on the road with WWE for six years straight, (They were signed to the company following the 2006 Diva Search) they just looked at each other one day and decided that they were exhausted and needed a break.
The break obviously didn't last very long since WWE convinced Nikki and Brie to return to the company less than a year later and has since been able to build their entire women's division around the two women.
Why did Nikki and Brie Bella return?
When the former Divas Champions returned to WWE in March 2013, it is thought that the idea had already been pitched to them to be part of Total Divas. Brie was engaged to Daniel Bryan and Nikki had been dating John Cena for a year at that point, so it made sense that the duo would want to return to the company that their boyfriends were still a part of and be part of a reality show centred around them.
Since their return Nikki has gone on to become the Longest Reigning Divas Champion whilst her sister Brie was able to be part of the main event of Monday Night Raw alongside Stephanie McMahon ahead of their match at SummerSlam back in 2014.
Over the past five years, Nikki and Brie have become two of the most recognisable female athletes in the world. Nikki is currently starring on Dancing with the Stars whilst Brie is adapting to her life as a mother for the first time. Their lives have changed a lot since 2012, but it seems that that break was one that was needed since they returned to WWE and became two forces to be reckoned with following it.
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